it was long since judiciously noted by Aristotle That moral and proverbial speeches are not to be taken too strictly as if they were universally true and in all cases It is sufficient if they be true for the most part and in several respects which are very considerable And of this nature are most of the Proverbs of Solomon and whosoever shall go about to make out the truth of them in all cases does in my opinion take a very hard task upon himself But which is nearer to my purpose our Saviour himself in the Chapter before my Text and in the moral application of a Parable too namely that of the unjust steward useth a proverbial speech just in the same manner The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light Which is only a wise observation that is generally true and in many respects but not absolutely and universally For some men have been as wise and diligent for the glory of God and interest of their souls as ever any man was for this world and for the advancement of his temporal interest Of the like nature is this saying used by our Saviour probably taken as our Saviour did many other proverbial speeches from the Jews and applied to his own purpose For there are several sayings of the Jewish Masters much to this purpose As Great is the dignity of penitents Great is the vertue of them that repent so that no creature may stand in their rank and order And again The righteous may not stand in the same place with those that have repented These I confess were very high sayings but yet very well designed for the encouragement of repentance And they are not without good reason as will appear if we consider these two things First That the greater the difficulty of vertue is so much the greater is the praise and commendation of it And not only we our selves take the more joy and comfort in it but it is more admirable and delightful to others Now it cannot be denyed to be much more difficult to break off a vicious habit than to go on in a good way which we have been trained up in and always accustomed to Those that have been well educated have great cause to thank God and to acknowledg the care of their Parents and Teachers For piety and goodness are almost infinitely easier to such persons than to those who have wanted this advantage It is happy for them they never tasted of unlawful pleasures if they had they would possibly have drank as deep as others It is well they were never entangled in a sinful course nor enslaved to vicious habits nor hardened through the deceitfulness of sin if they had they might possibly never have been recovered out of the snare of the Devil By the happiness of a good education and the merciful providence of God a great part of many mens vertue consists in their ignorance of vice and their being kept out of the way of great and dangerous temptations rather in the good customs they have been bred up to than in the deliberate choice of their wills and rather in the happy preventions of evil than their resolute constancy in that which is good And God who knows what is in man and sees to the bottom of every man's temper and inclination knows how far this man would have fallen had he had the temptations of other men and how irrecoverably perhaps he would have been plunged in an evil course had he once entered upon it So that repentance is a very great thing and though it be the most just and fit and reasonable thing in the world yet for all that it deserves great commendation because it is for the most part so very hard and difficult And therefore though absolutely speaking innocence is better than repentance yet as the circumstances may be the vertue of some penitents may be greater than of many just and righteous persons Secondly There is this consideration further to recommend repentance that they who are reclaimed from a wicked course are many times more thoroughly and zealously good afterwards Their trouble and remorse for their sins does quicken and spur them on in the ways of vertue and goodness and a lively sense of their past errours is apt to make them more careful and conscientious of their duty more tender and fearful of offending God and desirous if it were possible to redeem their former miscarriages by their good behaviour for the future Their love to God is usually more vehement and burns with a brighter flame for to whomsoever much is forgiven they will love much And they are commonly more zealous for the conversion of others as being more sensible of the danger sinners are in and more apt to commiserate their case remembring that it was once their own condition and with what difficulty they were rescued from so great a danger And for the most part great penitents are more free from pride and contempt of others the consideration of what themselves once were being enough to keep them humble all their days So that penitents are many times more throughly and perfectly good and after their recovery do in several respects outstrip and excel those who were never engaged in a vicious course of life As a broken bone that is well set is sometimes stronger than it was before 2. It will conduce also very much to the extenuating of this difficulty to consider that our Saviour does not here compare repentance with absolute innocence and perfect righteousness but with the imperfect obedience of good men who are guilty of many sins and infirmities but yet upon account of the general course and tenour of their lives are by the mercy and favour of the Gospel esteemed just and righteous persons and for the merits and perfect obedience of our blessed Saviour so accepted by God Now this alters the case very much and brings the penitent and this sort of righteous persons much nearer to one another so that in comparing them together the true penitent may in some cases and in some respects have the advantage of the righteous and deserve upon some accounts to be prefer'd before him 3. Which is principally to be considered for the full clearing of this difficulty this passage of our Saviours is to be understood as spoken very much after the manner of men and suitably to the nature of humane passions and the usual occasions of moving them We are apt to be exceedingly affected with the obtaining of what we did not hope for and much more with the regaining of what we looked upon as lost and desperate Whatever be the reason of it such is the nature of man that we are not so sensibly moved at the continuance of a good which we have long possest as at the recovery of it after it was lost and gone from us And the reasons of a judicious value and esteem of a settled pleasure and contentment are one thing
to deal with us as Absalom did with Joab he sent one civil message to him after another but he would not come at last he sets on fire his Corn-field to try whether that would bring him This course God hath taken with us we would not be perswaded by messages of kindness by his many blessings and favours to return to him and therefore hath he sent amongst us the terrible messengers of his wrath First we were engag'd in a Foreign War and though God was pleas'd to give us some considerable success in it yet it seems our provocations were so great that he was resolv'd to punish us He was loth to let us fall into the hands of men and therefore he took the work into his own hand and punish'd us himself by sending a Pestilence amongst us the sorest and most destructive that hath befallen this Nation for many Ages But we did not upon this return to him and therefore his fierce anger kindled a fearful Fire amongst us which hath laid the honour of our Nation one of the greatest and richest Cities in the World in the dust and that by so sudden and irresistible so dismal and amazing a devastation as in all the circumstances of it is scarce to be parallel'd in any History I doubt not but most of us were mightily affected with this Judgment whilst it was upon us So astonishing a calamity could not but make us open our eyes a little and awaken us to consideration Even the rich-man in the Gospel though he had all his life-time been immers'd in sensuality yet could not but lift up his eyes when he was in Flames And surely God expects that such Judgments as these should not only rouze us a little for the present but that they should have a permanent operation and effect upon us and work a thorough and lasting reformation amongst us but yet I am afraid that this dreadful Fire hath had no other influence upon us but what it uses to have upon Metals which are only melted by it for the present but when the Fire is removed they suddenly cool and return to their former hardness One would have thought that the sense of such a calamity as this should have remain'd longer upon us Methinks God seem'd to say to us after this Judgment as he did once to Jerusalem Zeph. 3.7 Surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction but we like them have been but the more forward to provoke him they rose early and corrupted their doings we have after all this harden'd our hearts from his fear and refused to return And therefore God is now come to one of his last Judgments Our Enemy distresseth us in our Gates God hath begun to let us fall into the hands of men and by giving our Enemies a sudden and fatal advantage upon us hath smitten us with a Breach great as the Sea These were terrible calamities indeed to come so thick and so swiftly upon us like desolation and as a whirlwind Such a quick succession of Judgments treading almost upon one anothers heels does but too plainly declare that God is highly incens'd against us For surely these are not the wounds of a Friend but the terrible assaults of an Enemy They do not look like the displeasure of a Father but the severity of a Judg not like visitation but like vengeance And besides these more visible Judgments upon the Nation we are by a secret curse of God insensibly decayed in our riches and strength We are I know not how strangely impoverisht in the midst of plenty and almost undone by victories And which adds to our misery few among us seem to be sufficiently sensible of it or to take any notice by what silent steps and imperceptible degrees like gray hairs and the infirmities of old age poverty and weakness are stealing in upon us so that we may fitly apply to our selves what the Prophet says of Ephraim Hos 7.9 Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not yea gray hairs are here and there upon him and yet he knoweth it not And our condition as we are a Church is not much better How is this famous Protestant Church of ours which was once the admiration of her Friends and the envy of her Enemies sunk and declin'd in her glory and reduc'd into a very narrow compass So that she is left like the Daughter of Sion Isa 1.8 as a Cottage in a Vineyard as a Lodge in a garden of Cucumbers as a besieged City straitned and hem'd in on all parts by the impudence of Atheism the insolencies of Popery and the turbulency of Faction all which do every day visibly and apace gain ground upon her and distress her on every side just as the condition of the Jewish Church is describ'd before my Text The Syrians before and the Philistines behind both ready to devour Israel with open mouth And surely it is not for nothing that God hath brought us thus low that he hath sent all these Judgments upon us and that he doth still threaten us with more The reason is plain because we are still impenitent the people turneth not to him that smiteth them There hath been almost an universal degeneracy amongst us and there is still I fear a general impenitency the people turneth not c. Notwithstanding all those dismal Calamities which our eyes have seen wickedness doth still prevail in the Nation and overflows it like a mighty Deluge so as to overspread all Ranks and Orders of men And not only so but is grown impudent and appears with a whores forehead all kind of modesty seems to have forsaken the sinners of this Age. And is this Repentance to live in filthy and abominable lusts to teare the Name of God by horrid Oaths and Imprecations to be Atheistical and prophane and by an unexampled boldness to turn the Word of God it self and the gravest and most serious matters of Religion into Raillery This is not to turn to him that smiteth us but to turn upon him and smite him again And yet such crying and clamorous sins as these are almost come to be the garb and fashion of the Nation and to be aecounted the wit and gallantry of the Age. And Shall not God visit for these things shall not his soul be aveng'd on such a Nation as this Yes he hath visited and 't is for these things that the wrath of God hath been so manifestly revealed from Heaven against us For this cause misery and destruction have been in our ways and the way of peace have we not known because there hath been no fear of God before our eyes Hence it is that God's anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still because the people turneth not to him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts But do not we seek God Do we not every day acknowledg our sins to him and pray that he would have mercy upon us miserable offenders
Scripture Does our Saviour any-where speak one word concerning the worshipping of Her Nay does he not take all occasions to restrain all extravagant apprehensions and imaginations concerning the honour due to Her as foreseeing the degeneracy of the Church in this thing When he was told that his Mother and Brethren were without Who says he are my mother and my brethren He that doth the will of my Father the same is my mother and sister and brother And when the Woman brake forth into that rapture concerning the blessed Mother of our Lord Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck Our Saviour diverts to another thing Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Does either our Saviour or his Apostles in all their particular Precepts and directions concerning Prayer and the manner of it and by whom we are to address our selves to God give the least intimation of praying to the Virgin Mary or making use of her Mediation And can any man believe that if this had been the practice of the Church from the beginning our Saviour and his Apostles would have been so silent about so considerable a part of Religion Insomuch that in all the Epistles of the Apostles I do not remember that her Name is so much as once mentioned And yet the worship of her is at this day in the Church of Rome and hath been so for several Ages a main part of their publick worship yea and of their private devotions too in which it is usual with them to say ten Ave Maries for one Pater Noster that is for one Prayer they make to Almighty God they make ten addresses to the blessed Virgin for that is the proportion observed in their Rosaries He that considers this and had never seen the Bible would have been apt to think that there had been more said concerning Her in Scripture than either concerning God or our blessed Saviour and that the New Testament were full from one end to the other of precepts and exhortations to the worshipping of Her and yet when all is done I challenge any man to shew me so much as one sentence in the whole Bible that sounds that way And there is as little in the Christian Writers of the first three hundred years The truth is this practice began to creep in among some superstitious people about the middle of the fourth century And I remember particularly that Epiphanius who lived about that time calls it the Heresie of the Women And thus I have given you some Instances of several Doctrines and Practices which the Church of Rome have built upon the Foundation of Christianity Much more might have been said of them but from what hath been said any man may easily discern how dangerous they are to the salvation of men I proceed now in the Second place II. To consider whether our granting a possibility of salvation though with great hazard to those in the Communion of the Roman Church and their denying it to us be a sufficient argument and encouragement to any man to quit our Church and go to theirs And there is the more need to consider this because this is the great popular argument wherewith the emissaries and agents of that Church are wont to assault our people Your Church say they grants that a Papist may be saved Ours denies that a Protestant can be saved therefore it is safest to be of our Church in which salvation by the acknowledgment of both sides is possible For answer to this I shall endeavour to shew that this is so far from being a good argument that it is so intolerably weak and sophistical that any considerate man ought to be asham'd to be catch'd by it For either it is good of it self and sufficient to perswade a man to relinquish our Church and to pass over to theirs without entring into the merits of the cause on either side and without comparing the Doctrines and Practises of both the Churches together or it is not If it be not sufficient of it self to perswade a man to leave our Church without comparing the Doctrines on both sides then it is to no purpose and there is nothing got by it For if upon examination and comparing of Doctrines the one appear to be true and the other false this alone is sufficient inducement to any man to cleave to that Church where the true Doctrine is found and then there is no need of this argument If it be said that this argument is good in it self without the examination of the Doctrines of both Churches this seems a very strange thing for any man to affirm That it is reason enough to a man to be of any Church whatever her Doctrines and Practices be if she do but damn those that differ from her and if the Church that differs from her do but allow a possibility of salvation in her Communion But they who use this argument pretend that it is sufficient of it self and therefore I shall apply my self to shew as briefly and plainly as I can the miserable weakness and insufficiency of it to satisfie any mans conscience or prudence to change his Religion And to this end I shall 1. Shew the weakness of the principle upon which this argument relies 2. Give some parallel instances by which it will clearly appear that it concludes false 3. I shall take notice of some gross absurdities that follow from it 4. Shew how unfit it is to work upon those to whom it is propounded And 5. How improper it is to be urged by those that make use of it I. I shall shew the weakness of the principle upon which this argument relies And that is this That whatever different parties in Religion agree in is safest to be chosen The true consequence of which principle if it be driven to the head is to perswade men to forsake Christianity and to make them take up in the principles of natural Religion for in these all Religions do agree For if this principle be true and signifie any thing it is dangerous to embrace any thing wherein the several parties in Religion differ because that only is safe and prudent to be chosen wherein all agree So that this argument if the foundation of it be good will perswade further than those who make use of it desire it should do for it will not only make men forsake the Protestant Religion but Popery too and which is much more considerable Christianity it self II. I will give some parallel instances by which it will clearly be seen that this argument concludes false The Donatists denied the Baptism of the Catholicks to be good but the Catholicks acknowledged the Baptism of the Donatists to be valid So that both sides were agreed that the Baptism of the Donatists was good therefore the safest way for St. Austin and other Catholicks according to this argument was to be Baptized again by the Donatists
determined For though a man endeavour never so much to settle himself in the principles of Infidelity and to perswade his mind that there is no God and consequently that there are no rewards to be hoped for nor punishments to be feared in another life yet he can never attain to a steddy and unshaken perswasion of these things And however he may please himself with witty reasonings against the common belief of mankind and smart reparties to their arguments and bold and pleasant raillery about these matters yet I dare say no man ever sate down in a clear and full satisfaction concerning them For when he hath done all that he can to reason himself out of Religion his conscience ever and anon recoyls upon him and his natural thoughts and apprehensions rise up against his reasonings and all his wit and subtilty is confuted and born down by a secret and strong suspicion which he can by no means get out of his mind that things may be otherwise And the reason hereof is plain because all this is an endeavour against nature and those vigorous instincts which God hath planted in the minds of men to the contrary For whenever our minds are free and not violently hurried away by passion nor blinded by prejudice they do of themselves return to their first and most natural apprehensions of things And this is the reason why when the Atheist falls into any great calamity and is awakened to an impartial consideration of things by the apprehension of death and judgment and despairs of enjoying any longer those pleasures for the sake of which he hath all this while rebelled against Religion his courage presently sinks and all his arguments fail him and his case is now too serious to admit of jesting and at the bottom of his soul he doubts of all that which he asserted with so much confidence and set so good a face upon before and can find no ease to his mind but in retreating from his former principles nor no hopes of consolation for himself but in acknowledging that God whom he hath denied and imploring his mercy whom he hath affronted This is always the case of these persons when they come to extremity not to mention the infinite checks and rebukes which their own minds give them upon other occasions so that 't is very seldom that these men have any tolerable enjoyment of themselves but are forced to run away from themselves into company and to stupify themselves by intemperance that they may not feel the fearful twitches and gripings of their own minds Whereas he who entertains the principles of Religion and therein follows his own natural apprehensions and the general voice of mankind and is not conscious to himself that he knowingly and wilfully lives contrary to these principles hath no anxiety in his mind about these things being verily perswaded they are true and that he hath all the reason in the world to think so And if they should prove otherwise which he hath no cause to suspect yet he hath this satisfaction that he hath taken the wisest course and hath consulted his own present peace and future security infinitely better than the Atheist hath done in case he should prove to be mistaken For it is a fatal mistake to think there is no God if there be one but a mistake on the other hand hath no future bad consequences depending upon it nor indeed any great present inconvenience Religion only restraining a man from doing some things from most of which it is good he should be restrained however so that at the worst the religious man is only mistaken but the Atheist is miserable if he be mistaken miserable beyond all imagination and past all remedy 2. Another and indeed a principal cause of trouble and discontent to the minds of men is Guilt Now Guilt is a consciousness to our selves that we have done amiss and the very thought that we have done amiss is apt to lie very cross in our minds and to cause great anguish and confusion Besides that Guilt is always attended with Fear which naturally springs up in the mind of man from a secret apprehension of the mischief and inconvenience that his sin will bring upon him and of the vengeance that hangs over him from God and will overtake him either in this world or the other And though the sinner while he is in full health and prosperity may make a shift to divert and shake off these fears yet they frequently return upon him and upon every little noise of danger upon the apprehension of any calamity that comes near him his guilty mind is presently jealous that it is making towards him and is particularly levelled against him For he is sensible that there is a just power above him to whose indignation he is continually liable and therefore he is always in fear of him and how long soever he may have scaped punishment in this world he cannot but dread the vengeance of the other And these thoughts are a continual disturbance to his mind and in the midst of laughter make his heart heavy And the longer he continues in a wicked course the more he multiplies the grounds and causes of his fears But now Religion frees a man from all this torment either by preventing the cause of it or directing to the cure either by preserving us from guilt or clearing us of it in case we have contracted it It preserves us from guilt by keeping us innocent and in case we have offended it clears us of it by leading us to repentance and the amendment of our lives which is the onely way to recover the favour of God and the peace of our own consciences and to secure us against all apprehension of danger from the divine Justice though not absolutely from all fear of punishment in this world yet from that which is the great danger of all the condemnation and torment of the world to come And by this means a man's mind is setled in perfect peace Religion freeing him from those tormenting fears of the Divine displeasure which he can upon no other terms rid himself of whereas the sinner is always sowing the seeds of trouble in his own mind and laying a foundation of continual discontent to himself Secondly As Religion removes the chief grounds of trouble and disquiet so it ministers to us all the true causes of peace and tranquillity of mind Whoever lives according to the rules of Religion lays these three great foundations of peace and comfort to himself 1. He is satisfied that in being religious he doth that which is most reasonable 2. That he secures himself against the greatest mischiefs and dangers by making God his Friend 3. That upon the whole matter he do's in all respects most effectually consult and promote his own interest and happiness 1. He is satisfied that he does that which is most reasonable And it is no small pleasure to be justified to our selves to be satisfied
he has it And accordingly good and holy men in Scripture do every where with great confidence and assurance appeal to God concerning the integrity and sincerity of their hearts towards him Job and David Hezekiah and Nehemiah in the old Testament and in the new St. Paul for himself and Timothy makes this solemn profession of their sincerity 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have our conversation in the world And I cannot call to mind so much as any one passage in Scripture from whence it can be collected that any good man ever doubted of his own sincerity And to say the truth it would not be modesty but impudence in any man to declare that he suspects himself of hypocrisie good men have always abhorred the thoughts of it Ye have heard of the patience of Job and yet he could not bear to have his integrity questioned It was a brave and a generous speech of his Till I dye I will not remove my integrity from me And yet it hath so happened that this is become a very common doubt among religious people and they have been so unreasonably cherished in it as to have it made a considerable evidence of a mans sincerity to doubt of it himself It is indeed said in Scripture Jer. 17.9 That the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it which is true concerning our future intentions and actions no man knowing how his mind may change hereafter Little did Hazael think that ever he should do those things which the Prophet foretold him But though this be true in it self yet 't is not the meaning of that Text. For the Prophet in that chapter plainly makes use of this consideration of the falshood and deceitfulness of mans heart as an argument to take off the people of Israel from trusting in the arm of flesh and in those promises which were made to them of forreign assistance from Egypt Because men may pretend fair and yet deceive those that rely upon them for the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked and none but God knows whether mens inward intentions be answerable to their outward professions for he searcheth the heart and tryeth the reins And this I verily believe is all that the Prophet here intends That there is a great deal of fraud and deceit in the hearts of bad men so that no man can rely upon their promises and professions but God knows the hearts of all men But now because God alone knows the hearts of all men and the sincerity of their intentions towards one another doth it from hence follow that it is a thing either impossible or very difficult for any man to know the sincerity of his own present intentions and actions To make any such conclusion were to condemn the generation of Gods children those holy and excellent men in Scripture Job and David and Hezekiah and St. Paul who do so frequently appeal to God concerning their own integrity And surely when the Apostle saith No man knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him he plainly supposes that every man is conscious to the motions and intentions of his own mind I have insisted the longer upon this that I might from the very foundation destroy an imagination which is not only untrue in it self but has likewise been a very great hindrance to the peace and comfort of many good men III. Let us enquire whence it comes to pass that notwithstanding this so many persons are at so great uncertainty about their spiritual condition For the clearing of this matter we will distinctly consider these three things First The grounds of the false hopes and confidence of men really bad concerning their good condition Secondly The causeless doubts and jealousies of men really good concerning their bad condition And thirdly The just causes of doubting in others As for the troubles and fears of men who are notoriously bad and live in the practice of known vices these do not fall under our consideration If they be troubled about their condition it is no more than what they ought to be and if they be only doubtful of it it is less than they ought to be To persons in this condition there is only counsel to be given to leave their sins and become better but no comfort to be administred to them till first they have followed that counsel For till they reform if they think themselves to be in a bad condition they think just as they ought and as there is great reason and no body should go about to perswade them otherwise First then we will consider the grounds of the false hopes and confidence of men really bad concerning their good condition I do not now mean the worst of men but such as make some shew and appearance of goodness It is very unpleasing to men to fall under the hard opinion and censure of others but the most grievous thing in the world for a man to be condemned by himself and therefore it is no wonder that men use all manner of shifts to avoid so great an inconvenience as is the ill opinion of a mans self concerning himself and his own condition Some therefore rely upon the profession of the Christian Faith and their being baptized into it But this is so far from being any exemption from a good life that it is the greatest and most solemn obligation to it Dost thou believe the Doctrine of the Gospel thou of all men art inexcusable if thou allowest thy self in ungodliness and worldly lusts Others trust to their external Devotion they frequent the Church and serve God constantly they pray to him and hear his word and receive the blessed Sacrament But let us not deceive our selves God is not mocked All this is so far from making amends for the impiety of our lives that on the contrary the impiety of our lives spoils all the acceptance of our devotions He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law that is from obeying it even his prayer shall be an abomination Others who are sensible they are very bad depend very much upon their repentance especially if they set solemn times apart for it And there is no doubt but that a sincere repentance will put a man into a good condition But then it is to be considered that no repentance is sincere but that which produceth a real change and reformation in our lives For we have not repented to purpose if we return again to our sins It is well thou art in some measure sensible of thy miscarriage but thou art never safe till thou hast forsaken thy sins thy estate and condition towards God is not chang'd till thou hast really alter'd thy self and the course of thy life Others satisfie themselves with the exercise of some particular graces and vertues Justice and Liberality and Charity And is it not
to go on and fortifie their good resolutions to be more vigilant and watchful over themselves to strive against sin and to resist it with all their might And according to the success of their endeavours in this conflict the evidence of their good condition will every day clear up and become more manifest The more we grow in grace and the seldomer we fall into sin and the more even and constant our obedience to God is so much the greater and fuller satisfaction we shall have of our good estate towards God For the path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever I shall only make two or three Inferences from what hath been discoursed upon this Argument and so conclude 1. From hence we learn the great danger of sins of Omission as well as Commission Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God The mere neglect of any of the great duties of Religion of piety towards God and of kindness and charity to men though we be free from the commission of great sins is enough to cast us out of the favour of God and to shut us for ever out of his kingdom I was hungry and ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink sick and in prison and ye visited me not therefore depart ye cursed 2. It is evident from what hath been said That nothing can be vainer than for men to live in any course of sin and impiety and yet to pretend to be the Children of God and to hope for eternal life The Children of God will do the works of God and whoever hopes to enjoy him hereafter will endeavour to be like him here Every man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure 3. You see what is the great mark and character of a mans good or bad condition whosoever doth righteousness is of God and whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Here is a plain and sensible evidence by which every man that will deal honestly with hâ—mself may certainly know his own condition and then according as he finds it to be may take comfort in it or make haste out of it And we need not ascend into heaven nor go down into the deep to search out the secret counsels and decrees of God there needs no anxious enquiry whether we be of the number of Gods elect If we daily mortifie our lusts and grow in goodness and take care to add to our faith and knowledg temperance and patience and charity and all other Christian graces and vertues we certainly take the best course in the world to make our calling and election sure And without this it is impossible that we should have any comfortable and well grounded assurance of our good condition This one mark of doing righteousness is that into which all other signs and characters which are in Scripture given of a good man are finally resolved And this answers all those various phrases which some men would make to be so many several and distinct marks of a child of God As whether we have the true knowledg of God and divine illumination for hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Whether we sincerely love God for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments And whether God loves us for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance will behold the upright Whether we be regenerate and born of God for whosoever is born of God sinneth not Whether we have the Spirit of God witnessing with our Spirits that we are the children of God for as many as have the Spirit of God are led by the Spirit and by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh Whether we belong to Christ and have an interest in him or not for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof In a word Whether the promise of heaven and eternal life belong to us for without holiness no man shall see the Lord but if we have our fruit unto holiness the end will be everlasting life So that you see at last the Scripture brings all to this one mark viz. holiness and obedience to the Laws of God or a vicious and wicked life In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Let us then deal impartially with our selves and bring our lives and actions to this tryal and never be at rest till the matter be brought to some issue and we have made a deliberate judgment of our condition whether we be the children of God or not And if upon a full and fair examination our consciences give us this testimony that by the grace of God we have denyed ungodliness and worldly lusts and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world we may take joy and comfort in it for if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But if upon the search and tryal of our ways our case appear clearly to be otherwise or if we have just cause to doubt of it let us not venture to continue one moment longer in so uncertain and dangerous a condition And if we desire to know the way of Peace the Scripture hath set it plainly before us Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Though our case be very bad yet it is not desperate This is a faithful saying and worthy of all men to be embraced that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And he is still willing to save us if we be but willing to leave our sins and to serve him in holiness and righteousness the remaining part of our lives We may yet be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God We who have ventured so long upon the brink of ruin may yet by the infinite mercies of God and by the power of his grace be rescu'd from the base and miserable slavery of the Devil and our lusts into the glorious liberty of the sons of God And thus I have endeavoured with all the plainness I could to represent every man to himself and to let him clearly see what his condition is towards God and how the case of his soul and of his eternal happiness stands And I do verily believe that what I have said in this matter is the truth of God
of joy any more than of grief or any other passion Because this would be to imagine some new accession to his pleasure and happiness which being always infinite can never have any thing added to it And therefore we are to understand this as it relates to God in the same manner as we do infinite other passages of Scripture where humane passions are ascribed to him to be spoken by way of condescension and after the language and manner of the sons of men and to signifie only thus much to us that the conversion of a sinner is a thing highly pleasing and acceptable to God As it refers to Angels and other blessed Spirits I see no inconvenience why it may not be understood more strictly and literally that they conceive a new joy at the news of a sinners repentance and find a fresh pleasure and delight springing up in their minds whenever they hear the joyful tydings of a sinner rescued from the slavery of the Devil and the danger of eternal damnation of a new member added to the Kingdom of God that shall be a companion and sharer with them in that blessedness which they enjoy There seems to me to be nothing in this repugnant to the nature and happiness of blessed Spirits in another world For it is certain that there are degrees of happiness among the blessed From whence it necessarily follows that some of them may be happier than they are And it is very probable since the happiness of Angels and good men is but finite that those who are most happy do continually receive new additions to their blessedness and that their felicity is never at a stand but perpetually growing and improving to all eternity and that as their knowledg and love do encrease so likewise the capacity and causes of their happiness are still more and more enlarged and augmented So that it is reasonable enough to suppose that there is really joy among the Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect over every sinner that repenteth II. Who are here meant by the just persons who need no repentance That our Saviour in this expression gives some glance and reflection upon the Pharisees who prided themselves in their own righteousness and instead of confessing their sins to God stood upon their own justification as if they needed no repentance is very probable because this Parable was designed to answer their murmurings against him for conversing with publicans and sinners and by the by to give a check to those who were so conceited of their own righteousness as if they had no need of repentance And this is very suitable to what our Saviour elsewhere says to them upon the like occasion that the whole have no need of the Physitian but the sick that he came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance But yet though our Saviour expresseth himself so as that the Pharisees might with reason enough apply it to themselves that there was more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine of them who were so conceited of their own righteousness that they thought they had no need of repentance for indeed our Saviour delivers himself so as to leave room for such a severe application yet I think there is little doubt to be made but that he intended something further and that supposing the Pharisees were as just as they pretended and were really righteous men so as to stand in no need of such a repentance as great sinners do yet our Saviour affirms there was more joy in heaven over one penitent sinner than over ninety and nine such just persons But are there any persons in the world so just as absolutely to stand in need of no repentance No there was never any such person in the world him only excepted who said this our blessed Saviour who had no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And therefore this phrase of needing no repentance is to be understood in a qualified sense and with some allowance otherwise our blessed Saviour had supposed a case which never was of a great number of perfectly righteous men And our Saviours meaning in this is sufficiently explained in the last Parable of this Chapter concerning the prodigal Son Where the prodigal son is the sinner that repented and his elder brother who had always observed and obeyed his father he is the just person who needed no repentance So that by him our Saviour plainly designs those who being religiously educated and brought up in the fear of God had never broke out into any extravagant and vicious course of life and so in some sense had no need of repentance that is of changing the whole course of their lives as the prodigal son had Not but that the best of men are guilty of many faults and infirmities which they have too much cause to repent of as our Saviour sufficiently intimates in that Parable For certainly it was no small infirmity in the elder brother to be so envious and to take so heinously the joyful welcome and entertainment which his prodigal brother at his return found from his father But yet this single fault and sudden surprize of passion considering the constant duty which he had paid to his father throughout the course of his life did not make him such a sinner as to need such a repentance as his brother did which consisted in a perfect change of the whole course of his life And of such just persons as these and of such a repentance as this it seems very plain that our Saviour intended this discourse III. But the main difficulty of all is with what reason it is here said that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance Is it not better not to offend than to sin and repent Is not innocence better than amendment and the wisdom of prevention to be preferred before that of remedy Is it worth the while to do amiss to make way for repentance and is not this almost like sinning that grace may abound And if repentance be not better than righteousness why is there more joy in heaven over the penitent than over the righteous nay over one penitent sinner than over ninety and nine just persons Do not the blessed always rejoyce most in that which is really best Here is the difficulty and it requires some care and consideration clearly to remove it In order to which be pleased to consider these three things which I think to be very material to the clearing of it I. That the same thing considered in several respects may in some respects have the advantage of another thing and for those reasons be preferred before it and yet not have the advantage of it absolutely and in all respects Moral comparisons are not to be exacted to a Mathematical strictness and rigour To this purpose I have observ'd in a former discourse that
and the causes of sudden joy and transport another A continued course of goodness may in it self be more valuable and yet repentance after a great fall and long wandrings may be much more moving and surprizing For where things are constant and keep in the same tenour they are not apt in their nature to give any new and sudden occasion of joy And this is the reason given in the Parable of the Prodigal Son where the Father tells his eldest Son who was so offended at the joyful reception and wellcome of his prodigal Brother That He had been always with him and all that he had was his That is he was sensible of his constant duty and obedience than which nothing could have been more acceptable and that it had not nor should not lose its reward But the return of his other son after he had given over all hopes of him and looked upon his case as desperate this was a marvellous surprise and a happiness beyond expectation which is the proper and natural cause of joy and gladness And therefore he tells him that upon such an occasion it was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again was lost and is found His elder sons continuance in his duty was the enjoyment of what he had always had but the return of his prodigal son was the retrieving of what he had given up for lost and a kind of resurrection from the dead And thus our blessed Saviour to encourage the repentance of sinners represents God after the manner of men as if our heavenly father did conceive such a joy upon the repentance of a sinner as earthly parents are wont to do upon the return of a wild and extravagant son to himself and his duty Having thus as briefly and clearly as I could explained the several difficulties in the Text I shall now deduce some Inferences from it and so conclude 1. First That the blessed Spirits above have some knowledg of the affairs of men here below because they are said to rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner This is spoken more particularly of the Angels as appears by comparing what is more generally said in the Text that there is joy in heaven with what is more particularly express'd in the 10 th verse that there is joy in the presence of the Angels over one sinner that repenteth Now whether the Angels come to this knowledg by vertue of their ministry here below for the good of the Elect and so in their continual entercourse between heaven and earth bring to their fellow-servants in heaven the joyful news of the repentance of sinners upon earth or whether God be pleased from time to time to reveal it to them as a thing extreamly welcom and delightful to good spirits and tending to the increase of their happiness as it is not very material to enquire so perhaps impossible for us to determine However it cannot from hence be concluded that the Angels or Saints in Heaven have such an universal knowledg of our condition and affairs as to be a reasonable ground and warrant to us to pray to them yea or to desire them to pray for us no though this were done without any solemn circumstances of Invocation For they may very well know some things concerning us wherein their own comfort and happiness is likewise concerned and yet be ignorant of all the rest of our affairs This one thing we are sure they know because our Saviour hath told us so but we are sure of no more And there is neither equal reason for their knowledg of our other concernments nor is there any revelation in Scripture to that purpose 2. Secondly If God and the blessed Spirits above rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner so should we too and not fret and murmur as the Pharisees here did This is the temper of the Devil and of very bad men to regret and envy the good and happiness of others For it is reasonable to believe that proportionably to the joy that is in heaven at the repentance of a sinner is the grief and vexation of the Devil and his instruments of evil Spirits and wicked men And as the Devil delights in destroying souls and goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour so no doubt he is in great rage and gnasheth out of very discontent when at any time he is frustrated of his hopes and the prey which he thought himself sure of is snatched out of his jaws And thus we see it is with bad men they do persecute those that forsake them and their wicked ways and refuse any further to go along with them to the same excess of riot And this is no where more visible than among those of the Church of Rome How full of wrath and indignation are they against those who out of pure conviction of the errours and corruptions of their Church come over to Ours How do they persecute them with slanders and reproaches and with all the effects of hatred and malice So that many times they can scarce refrain from doing them a real mischief even where it is dangerous to themselves to attempt it As if they envied them the grace of God and the opportunity of being saved I know it is too natural to those of all Communions to be eager and fierce against those that desert them And yet supposing they had the truth certainly on their side which they cannot all have I see no great reason for this temper and carriage For why should I cast away my patience and my charity because another man hath made shipwrack of his faith But I do not remember any where among mankind to have observed a more implacable malice a more sincere and hearty ill-will than they of the Church of Rome do constantly express towards those that forsake them nay though they give never so modest and reasonable an account of their change and behave themselves towards their old friends with all the kindness and compassion in the world yet their hatred and indignation against them runs so high that one may plainly see they would sooner forgive a man the greatest sins that humane nature can be guilty of and the breach of all the ten Commandments than this one Crime of leaving their Church that is in truth of growing wiser and better 3. Thirdly The consideration of what hath been said should mightily inflame our zeal and quicken our industry and diligence for the conversion of sinners For if the conversion of one soul be worth so much labour and pains and matter of such joy to the blessed God and good Spirits what pains should not we take in so corrupt and degenerate an Age as this of ours where impenitent sinners do so much abound and the just are almost failed from among the children of men Our blessed Saviour indeed according to the extraordinary decency of all his Parables puts the case very