may stain the Execellence of an understanding Creature To live righteously which respects the State and Situation wherein God has disposed Men for his Glory It comprehends all the respective Duties to others to whom we are united by the Bands of Nature or of Civil Society or of Spiritual Communion And to live godly which includes all the internal and outward Duties we owe to God who is the Soveraign of our Spirits whose Will must be the Rule and his Glory the End of our Actions In short The Law is so form'd that prescinding from the Authority of the Law-giver its Holiness and Goodness lays an eternal Obligation on us to obey it Now Sin is not only by Interpretation a Reproach to the Wisdom and other Perfections of God but directly and foimally a Contrariety to his Infinite Sanctity and Purity for it consists in a not doing what the Law commands or doing what it forbids 'T is therefore said That the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God An active immediate and irreconcilable Contrariety to his holy Nature and Will From hence there is a reciprocal Hatred between God and Sinners God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity without an infinite Displicence the Effects of which will fall upon Sinners and tho 't is an Impiety hardly conceivable yet the Scripture tells us that they are Haters of God 'T is true God by the transcendent Excellence of his Nature is uncapable of suffering any Evil and there are few in the present State arrived to such Malice as to declare open Enmity and War against God In the Damned this Hatred is explicit and direct the Fever is heightned to a Frenzy the blessed God is the Object of their Curses and Eternal Aversation If their Rage could extend to him and their Power were equal to their Desires they would dethrone the most High And the Seeds of this are in the Breasts of Sinners here As the fearful Expectation of irresistible and fiery Vengeance increases their Aversation increases They endeavour to raze out the Inscription of God in their Souls and to extinguish the Thoughts and Sense of their Inspector and Judg. They wish he were not All-seeing and Almighty but Blind and Impotent uncapable to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God The Heart is the Fountain of Desires and Actions interpret the Thoughts and Affections from whence the Inference is direct and conclusive that habitual Sinners who live without God in the World have secret Desires there was no Soveraign Being to observe and require an Account of all their Actions The radical Cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that Attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are Enemies to God in their Minds through wicked Works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1st His creating Goodness 'T is clear without the least shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first Being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy Works and that my Soul knows right-well Thine Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my Members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy Hands have made me and fashioned me round about The Soul or principal Part is of a Celestial Original inspired from the Father of Spirits The Faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorify and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of Time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no Necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superiour Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the Consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was God's end in making us Certainly it was becoming his Infinite Unerstanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fulness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgment of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all Things and for thy Pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments as not to acknowledg 't is our indispensable Dutry Our reasonable Service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his Glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Nature I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of Light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed
for some growing Distemper every Corrosive is for some proud Flesh that must be taken away In short they are deliberate Dispensations to cause Men to reflect upon their Works and Ways and break off their Sins by sincere Obedience Therefore we are commanded to hear the Voice of the Rod and who hath appointed it 'T is a Preacher of Repentance to lead us to the Knowledg and Consideration of our selves The Distress of Joseph's Brethren was to revive their Memory of his Sorrows caused by their Cruelty Now when Men disregard the Embassy of the Rod are unconvinceable notwithstanding its lively Lessons when they neither look up to him that strikes nor within to the Cause that provokes his Displeasure when they are careless to reform their Ways and to comply with his holy Will as if Afflictions were only common Accidents of this mutable State the Effects of rash Fortune or blind Fate without Design and Judgment and not sent for their Amendment this is a prodigious despising of God's Hand For this reason the Scripture compares Men to the most inobservant Creatures to the wild Asses Colt the deaf Adder to the silly Dove without Heart and the Advantage is on the Beasts side for their Inconsideration proceeds meerly from the Incapacity of Matter of which they are wholly compos'd to perform reflex Acts but Man's Incogitancy is the sole fault of his Spirit that wilfully neglects his Duty The Prophet charges this Guilt upon the Jews Lord when thy Hand is lifted up they will not see 2. Insensibility of Heart is an eminent degree of despising the Lord's Chastenings A pensive feeling of Judgments is very congruous whether we consider them in genere Physico or Morali either materially as afflictive to Nature or as the signs of Divine Displeasure for the Affections were planted in the Human Nature by the Hand of God himself and are duly exercised in proportion to the quality of their Objects And when Grace comes it softens the Breast and gives a quick and tender sense of God's Frown An eminent Instance we have in David tho of Heroical Courage yet in his sad ascent to Mount Olivet he went up weeping with his Head covered and his Feet bare to testify his humble and submissive sense of God's Anger against him Now when Men are insensible of Judgments either considered as natural or penal Evils if when they suffer the loss of Relations or other Troubles they presently fly to the Comforts of the Heathens that we are all mortal and what can't be help'd must be endured without the Sense Humanity requires that Calm is like that of the dead Sea a real Curse Or suppose natural Affection works a little yet there is no Apprehension and Concernment for God's Displeasure which should be infinitely more affecting than any outward Trouble how sharp soever no serious deep Humiliation under his Hand no yielding up our selves to his Management this most justly provokes him of this Temper were those described by Jeremiah Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they refused to receive Correction Secondly The Causes of this despising of God's Chastenings are 1. A contracted Stupidity of Soul proceeding from a course in Sin There is a natural Stubbornness and Contumacy in the Heart against God a vicious Quality derived from rebellious Adam we are all hewn out of the Rock and dig'd out of the Quarry and this is one of the worst Effects of Sin and a great part of its Deceitfulness that by stealth it increaseth the natural Hardness by degrees it creeps on like a Gangreen and causes an Indolency The Practice of Sin makes the Heart like an Adamant the hardest of Stones that exceeds that of Rocks From hence proceeds such Unteachableness of the Mind that when God speaks and strikes yet Sinners will not be convinc'd that Briars and Thorns are only effectual to teach them and such an Untractableness in the Will that when the Sinner is stormed by Affliction and some Light breaks into the Understanding yet it refuseth to obey God's Call 2. Carnal Diversions are another Cause of slighting God's Hand The Pleasures and Cares of the World as they render Men inapprehensive of Judgments to come so regardless of those that are present Some when ever they feel the Smart of a Cross use all the Arts of Oblivion to lose the Sense of it The Affliction instead of a leading them to Repentance leads them to vain Conversations to Comedies and other sinful Delights to drive away Sorrow Others altho they do not venture upon forbidden things to relieve their Melancholy yet when God by sharp and sensible Admonitions calls upon them they have presently recourse to Temporal Comforts which altho lawful and innocent in themselves yet are as unproper at that time as the taking of a Cordial when a Vomit begins to work for whereas Chastisements are sent to awaken and affect us by considering our Sins in their bitter Fruits this unseasonable Application of sensual Comforts wholly defeats God's Design For nothing so much hinders serious Consideration as a voluptuous indulging the Senses in things pleasing like Opiate Medicines they stupify the Conscience and benumn the Heart 'T is Solomon's Expression I said of Laughter It is mad for as Distraction breaks the Connexion of the Thoughts so Mirth shuffles our most serious Thoughts into disorder and causes Men to pass over their Troubles without Reflection and Remorse And as the Pleasures so the Business of the World cause a supine Security under Judgments We have an amazing Instance of it in Hiel the Bethlemite who laid the Foundation of his City in the Death of his First-born and set up the Gates of it in his youngest Son yet he was so intent upon his Building that he disregarded the Divine Nemesis that was apparent fulfilling the terrible Threatning prophesied against the Builder of Jericho 3. An obstinate fierceness of Spirit a Diabolical Fortitude is the Cause that sometimes Men despise afflicting Providences so far as to resist them There is a passive Malignity in all an Unaptness to be wrought on and to receive Spiritual and Heavenly Impressions from God's Hand but in some of the Sons of Perdition there is an active Malignity whereby they furiously repel Judgments as if they could oppose the Almighty Their Hearts are of an Anvil-Temper made harder by Afflictions and reverberate the Blow like that Roman Emperor who instead of humbling and reforming at God's Voice in Thunder thundred back again All Judgments that befal them are as Strokes given to wild Beasts that instead of taming them enrage them to higher degrees of Fierceness The Prophet described some of this Rank of Sinners who said in the Pride and Stoutness of their Hearts the Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars And many though not Explicitly yet
Wit to dispute and deride the most sublime and sacred Truths out of the World Their Faces are full of Death the Tokens of Reprobation are visible upon them The Issue will discover them to be the wretched Examples of that fearful Rule Those who are destin'd to final Ruin are infatuated Others are Believers in Profession and their own Conceit but Infidels in Practice Their Faith is but a vain Opinion a loose Assent to the Christian Doctrine because 't is the Religion of the Country but with our Radication and Establishment This is evident considering that the Doctrines of the Gospel are not meerly intellectual the Objects of Theory and Speculation but moral and practical the Objects of our choice and seeking This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners Accordingly the unfeigned belief of them is seated not only in the Mind but in the Heart and is correspondent to the infallible Truth and transcendent Goodness of the thing revealed they make such an Impression on the Soul that the value of them is above Life and whatever comes in Competition is with despising Disdain rejected But when Men seldom remember and little regard eternal Things how specious soever the Profession is can there be a reasonable Belief of their Words against their Works Therefore in the Language of the Scripture all that do not first seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof are Unbelievers it being morally impossible that Men should sincerely believe and have a due Apprehension of it but it must be the great Design of their Souls and the main Business of their Lives to obtain it 2. Security is the constant Effect of Infidelity and hardens Men in their Sins and the neglect of Salvation so dearly purchas'd and graciously offered to them in the Gospel Direct Infidels set their Mouth against Heaven and defy the Furnace of Hell They are blindly bold and fearless of that Judgment that makes the Devils tremble Others tho not open and palpable Infidels are in a dead Calm not sensible of their Sins and have slight Apprehensions of their great Danger Infidelity lies at the bottom of their Security As the Egyptians in the thick Darkness that covered the Land moved not from their Places so many in ignorant Darkness sit down and are at rest careless of the Saviour that can deliver from the Wrath to come Only those who have strong Apprehensions of Evils imminent and destructive will fly to Christ as a Sanctuary and Shelter and submit to his Terms of saving them Secondly The Corrupt Nature will not submit to the Sanctity and Purity of the Gospel The forecited Scripture tells us the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God and that Enmity is arm'd with many strong Lusts-opposing his Law The principal Cause of rejecting the Gospel is common to all We will not have this Man to reign over us 'T is observable that as Holiness is that Attribute wherein God doth most excel and Men are most defective so the corrupt Will is most opposite to it The Justice and Power of God in some cases Men do approve and apply themselves to if injuriously accused or opprest they desire his Justice to vindicate their Innocence and revenge their Wrongs if in Distress and Exigencies they pray that his powerful Providence may regard and relieve them but they are extreamly averse from his Holiness shining in his Laws which excites his Justice and Power to punish those who rebel against it They are ready to say to Christ what the rebellious Israelites said to Rehoboham Thy Father made our Yoke grievous now therefore make thou the grievous Service of thy Father and his heavy Yoke which he put upon us lighter and we will serve thee They will measure out the scantling of their Obedience how far he shall rule and farther they will not yield But our Saviour declares I am not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it 'T is true the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace a soveraign Composition of precious Promises of recovering Grace and pardoning Mercy but 't is also a Law and enjoins Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As without Compensation to the Justice so without Conformity to the Holiness of God we can never be restored to his Favour and enjoy him as our Felicity Our Saviour prescribes this indispensable Rule to his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me This is a comprehensive Fundamental Duty and the natural Man has a strong Reluctancy to every part of it 1. Self-dependance upon our own Vertues and Duties for the obtaining the Favour of God and the Eternal Reward is very natural to Men it was the Condition of the first Covenant to which they cleave Men of a fair Conversation and unblemish'd in the Eyes of the World have some Sparks of the Pharisee in them who justified himself that he was no Extortioner nor Unjust nor an Adulterer nor as the profane Publican and that he fasted and paid Tithes Upon such Reasons many presume of the Goodness and Safety of their Spiritual State they take Pride and Content in themselves in their Moral Goodness and do not feel the want of a Saviour nor apply themselves with humble mournful Affections to him for Reconciliation to God Others think by the Worthiness of their Works to compensate for the Unworthiness of their Sins to commute one Duty for another and ballance their Accounts with Heaven not considering that if their Works were perfectly good they are but the Performance of their Duty if they had never sinn'd It was one great Obstruction that hinder'd the Jews from receiving the Gospel They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness did not submit themselves to the Righteousness of God One of a high Spirit will rather wear a mean Garment of his own than a rich Livery the Mark of Servile Dependance Pride resists Grace and Grace resists Pride The Law of Faith requires us to renounce not only our Unrighteousness but our Righteousness even the most excellent Graces and the Fruits of them in comparison of Christ and as a Foundation of obtaining the Pardon of Sin and Salvation for ever Our Righteousness is defective and defiled and cannot endure the trial of God's inlightning Tribunal All our Doings and Sufferings cannot expiate the least Sin we must only rely upon the Lord our Righteousness to reconcile us to God and that we may stand in Judgment He was made Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him not in our selves How hard it is to awaken Men out of the Pharisaical Dream of their own Righteousness is evident both in the Doctrine and Practice of those of the Roman Communion They assert the formal Cause of our Justification in
the sight of God is our inherent Holiness they blaspheme the imputed Righteousness of Christ as a fantastick Apprehension they declare that good Works have the merit of Conâ—… and Condignity to eternal Life and that by Penance Satisfaction is paid to God for their Sins as if there were a Proportion between the one and the other They succeed the Pharisees in their proud and stubborn Resistance of the Gospel And among other carnal Motives that fasten Men in that corrupt Religion these have a special force as quieting Conscience and gratifying their Lusts that they can make Compensation for their Offences against God and that the Absolution of a Priest seals their Pardon thus being clear they may begin a new Score and return to their old Lusts with new Affections 2. As Self implies the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts so Self-denial and Sin-denial are of the same extent The whole Body of Corruption with all the parts of it even the dearest the most tender and most cherish'd by carnal Men must be mortified Severe Restraints are laid upon the desiring and the angry Appetites the Springs of all the Sins and Miseries in the World We are strictly commanded to pluck out the right Eye and to cut off the right Hand upon the most fearful Penalties the suffering Torments insupportable and everlasting The Gospel has the Perfections of a Rule 't is clear and compleat in the Direction of our Duty It teaches us to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this World Now carnal Men are apt to say with the Capernaites This is an hard saying Every one has a peculiar Favourite Lust the Sin of his Complexion or of the Country wherein he lives which if you pluck out of their Bosoms they will fly in your Face Men willingly enough hear Reproofs against Sins to which they are disinclin'd but if directed against their own Sins whether of Pleasure or Profit they will scorn the Reproof and storm at the Reprover They will perform some Duties that are consistent with their Carnal Ease and Interest but obstinately stick at others Herod is a notorious Instance of this 't is related he heard John Baptist gladly and observed him and when he heard him he did many things but his incestuous Affection made him prefer a filthy Harlot before the pure Law of God One indulged Lust captivates the Soul and keeps it under the Power of Satan If one Leg of a Bird be catch'd in the Net 't is as surely held as if its whole Body were entangled One Lust separates from Christ and is a Bar against our entrance into Heaven for Christ is the only way to it The Word of God is sharper than a two-edg'd Sword but carnal Men will interpose their Souls between their tender Lusts and the Word and receive its deadly Strokes to spare them The Lord Christ tells the Jews Ye will not come to me that ye may have Life They would readily embrace a Saviour that would allow the Pleasures of Sin and free them from the Punishment but their Wills were so strongly engaged they would suffer no Divorce from their beloved Lusts they chose Hell with Sin rather than Heaven with Holiness 3. The denial of Self includes all that in the order of Nature belongs to us Life and all the Supports the Comforts the Ornaments and Endearments of it the sweetest Relations Father and Mother Brother and Sister Wife and Children the richest Possessions Houses and Land must be always parted with in the Preparations of our Heart and Resolutions of our Wills and actually rather than desert our Duty Such a Supremacy of Affection is required by our Saviour that suspends the Operation of our Love upon all inferior things when they are in Competition with his Interest and Glory This Command binds all without exemption therefore he directs his Followers to be arm'd with Expectation of hard Entertainment in the World Now this Precept seems so severe to carnal Men that no Motives can reconcile their Affections to it If they are spoiled of the Advantages and deprived of the Pleasures of this World they are ready to complain as Micah to them who robb'd him of his Image and Teraphim You take away my Gods As if the Son of God were such a poor or illiberal Rewarder either defective in Power or Love that they should be Losers for his sake Thirdly The promised Rewards of the Gospel have no affective Force upon the Carnal Mind and Affections 'T is true the Gospel has open'd Heaven and brought Life and Immortality to light a State of entire endless Joy in the Presence of God Is it possible that Men should be indifferent and careless of their final Happiness 'T is almost equally difficult to induce Men to believe and chuse the Favour and Fruition of God as their only Felicity as to convince them they do not believe and choose it But their Actions declare their Choice and their Choice declares their Esteem for if his Favour were esteem'd an unvaluable Treasure it would be the chief Object of their Desires they would not forfeit it for all the World 't is therefore evident that the chusing the Pleasures of Sin and the Profits of the World is the direct despising the Favour of God And the account of it is clear for tho Heaven be a State of eternal and inexpressible Blessedness yet 't is future and spiritual it makes but a weak Impression upon their Minds and is unsutable to their Affections Can carnal Men have but an imaginary Representation of the World to come and their Assent to it is overshadowed and eclips'd by the present World with its Advantages and Pleasures they cannot relish a Happiness purely spiritual 'T is not the Goodness of the Object but the Inclination of the Heart that makes it desirable The wise Philosopher observes That such as the radicated Disposition and Habit of a Man is such will the End appear of him Therefore a supernatural spiritual Good cannot appear to a sensual Man so attractive as to be chosen as his Felicity Only the pure in Heart can see God and love him and enjoy him in his amiable Excellencies the Unrenewed have no certain nor satisfying Notions of the Happiness that his Presence diffuses among the Blessed above This will be discoursed of more particularly under another Head Fourthly Satan has a great Agency in Mens Opposition to the Gospel and their neglect of Salvation His Title the Tempter implies his constant Practice 'T is true he cannot hurt us against our Wills the Enemy without could not surprize us if the Traitor within the corrupt Nature did not give him Admittance he cannot immediately work upon the Will nor discern the Mind without our Consent he cannot obtain a Conquest over us therefore his prevailing Temptations do not disculpate Sinners that yield to them he rules only in the Children of Disobedience they are his
admits of no Apology and Defence Nay it aggravates the Sin and Sentence of such depraved Creatures As there is in Vertue and Holiness a Divine Degree of Perfection that makes Persons not capable of departing from their Duty so there is a Diabolical Degree in Sin when the Soul is so depraved that it cannot abstain from doing Evil. And as consummate Vertue is most worthy of Esteem and Praise so when a vicious Habit contracted by long Custom in Sin absolutely possesses the Soul 't is most worthy of Abhorrence Now only Divine Grace compels Sinners to come to Christ and to partake of saving Mercies that is changes the Biass of the Will and makes it obedient to the Heavenly Call God is the supream Mover and turns all Occurrences in the World to his Purpose and Praise and the Hearts of Men are not exempt from his Dominion but he turns them as the Rivers of Waters The effectual Operation of Grace does not violate the native Freedom of the Will but is congruous to it God's drawing is by teaching Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to me When the Author of the Gospel is the Teacher of it the most stupid and obstinate Sinners shall be convinc'd and obedient To make this more clear I will briefly consider the Intellectual Frame of Man and the natural Subordination of the Faculties in their various Operations As the Spring in a Watch so the Understanding is the first Mover in the reasonable Creature the Understanding has a double Faculty the Apprehensive to discover the Good and Evil in Objects presented to it and the Judicative to compare and ponder the Good and Evil discern'd in things and accordingly to esteem or disvalue to approve or dislike The Will chooses what the Understanding commends and rejects what the Judgment condemns The Affections of Desire and Delight are from the Choice of the Will the Affections of Aversation and Flight are from the Rejection of the Will The Pursuit or Neglect of Things the Application or Opposition we make in our Actions and Practice to them is from the Delight or Distaste of Things in our Affections But when Lust enter'd into the Soul it perverted this Order As the strong Tide of the Sea pouring into Rivers turns them back to their Springs in a Course contrary to their natural Motion thus the Heart overflowing with a strong Tide of Corruption empties it self into the Head the Spring of Actions the unholy Affections work upon the Will to reject the Offers of Grace in the Gospel and the corrupt Will works upon the Mind to vilify them 'T is to be observ'd that the Tempter works upon Mens Minds in the unnatural way he makes use of the disorder'd Affections to pervert the Will and of the perverted Will to divert the Understanding from due Consideration of Objects and to corrupt its Judgment But God works by the Understanding on the Will and Affections according to the regular Dependance of those Faculties The first Beam of saving Grace shines into the Mind with so strong a Light discovering Spiritual and Eternal Things in their Reality and Glory that the Will and Affections are drawn to choose and embrace and to follow them with Zeal and Constancy In this blessed Work we are to consider the Revelation of the Object and the Irradiation of the Mind As in the discerning of Corporal things there must be Light in the Eye or there can be no Seeing and Light in the Air or there can be no Sight So the great Mysteries of Godliness which are of impossible discovery without Revelation are made known in the Gospel and the Understanding is illuminated to see them in their Reality and transcendent Goodness as the Apostle expresses This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners He prays for the Ephesians That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledg of him that the Eyes of their Understanding being inlightened they may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Altho the Evidence of Faith be not so clear as that of Sense yet 't is so sure that the Adherence of Faith is more firm to its Objects tho future than of Sense to things present With the Irradiation of the Mind there is such a determining fluence on the Will and the Affections that Christ and Heaven are joyfully chosen before all things In converting Sinners there is not a bare proposal of the Objects of Faith with the Motives to believe and accept them and Men are left to their own Discretion and Choice The Holy Ghost who certainly knows the manner and efficacy of his own Operations expresses converting Grace by the exceeding Greatness of his Power toward them that believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the Dead and set him at his own Right-hand in Heaven 'T is true the Principle of Resistance in corrupt Nature is not quite extinguish'd but actual Resistance is overcome by the holy Spirit who works to will and to do of his good Pleasure In the Human Will we are to consider the Faculty of choosing and refusing which includes in it Freedom and Liberty without which it ceases to be a Will 2. The Depravation of it and this consists in a necessity of choosing the Evil of Sin represented as pleasing to the Carnal Affections and rejecting the Law of God which is holy and good The sinning Will contracted this necessity Now Grace does not destroy the Nature of the Will but changes its Quality of Carnal and Earthly makes it Holy and Heavenly this is exprest by a new Heart and a new Spirit And when the Spirit of the Mind is renewed by illuminating Grace and the Will and Affections of the Heart are renewed by purifying Grace the Will does as freely and necessarily choose Spiritual and Eternal Things as in the State of Nature it chose Things pleasing to the corrupt Appetites God draws Sinners to himself with the Cords of a Man in a rational way without Violence to their Faculties and fastens them by Bands of Love He instructs the Soul and infuses such a Principle and Disposition as is sutable to the Doctrine When the Will is directed and drawn by the illuminating Guidance of the Mind to choose and embrace the most excellent Good and the other Faculties to obey this is Man's true Liberty In Heaven the unvariable fixing the Will upon God our Supream Good is its Perfection and Felicity The outward Means of inducing Men to comply with God's Call is the preaching of the Word If it were the Will of God he can immediately create Men as Adam in compleat Stature and with the Perfection of Reason but he makes use of Second
Causes forms them in the Womb brings them into the World by the ordinary way of the Earth and raises them from Infancy to a mature State according to the Rules of Nature Thus God could by one Act sanctify Sinners in Perfection but he is pleased by the preaching of the Word to convert Sinners and gradually perfect the Saints The Gospel is the Ministry of Reconciliation and of Regeneration And this is very congruous to the Human Nature for the Sinner is not converted as a Stone ascends by a forc'd and blind Motion but is instructed and affected by proposing Objects to his Mind and Will and acts according to the Impression he received from them Now the Natural Man being a Servant to Corruption the external propounding of the most powerful Objects and Motives cannot change him the converting Efficacy of the Word is from Jesus Christ. To make this more evident let us consider In every Action where an Instrument is us'd the Action is properly ascrib'd to the Agent God is a pure Spirit without any Composition of bodily Organs of Speech yet when he form'd a Voice in the Air for the proclaiming the Law He spake and whether by any created Voice or by the Voice of Men appointed for preaching the Gospel he speaks In human speaking the Voice is from the Tongue but the Sense and Meaning is from the Mind that directs it From hence it is that the Gospel preached is of admirable Efficacy and works above the Power of any Creature The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joints and Marrow and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart It subdues open Rebels and makes their Pride and Confidence fall as low as Hell it mollifies the most obdurate and makes them compliant to the Invitations of Grace And altho the Minister be never so mean in his Person and Appearance yet a weak Instrument in an Almighty Hand does Wonders Our blessed Saviour in his Person was the first Preacher of the Gospel and in his Sermons we are directed how to work upon the Reason and the Affections of Sinners by which alone they are capable to be moved The Substance of his several Sermons was Repent ye and believe the Gospel 1. The Order and Progress of converting Grace is by the Conviction of the Mind to turn the Will and Affections Sin prevails in Men by the love of Pleasure and till there be a mixture of what is more bitter than Sin is sweet they will not forsake it The World corrupted by Lust is an imaginary Paradise wherein there is nothing but forbidden Fruit and the Fruit is so pleasant to the Eyes and Taste that only flaming Terrors will expel them out of it No Man will cut off his Right-hand till an incurable Gangreen has seiz'd on it The light neglected Notions of Heaven are ineffective to reform Sinners till the Terrors of the Lord are set in array against them they are fasten'd in their Sins Of this there is visible and frequent Experience how many that have lived in a careless Contempt of God till their last Sickness and when they feel themselves sinking to the Grave and Hell and Conscience is an exact Remembrancer and terrible Accuser of all their inward Wickedness and notorious Sins then what furious Reflections do they make upon themselves and what Promises do they make if they might be spar'd 'T is therefore the first Duty of Ministers by clearing Light and convincing Strength to work on Conscience and by the Mediation of it to apply Guilt and Wrath to the Sinner that he may be restless in his Sins The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men 't is decreed before the World was 't is denounc'd in the Word and shall be fully executed in the Day of Wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God nothing is more certain than that Day and nothing so heavy as that Wrath. 'T is a Burden so insupportable that the Son of God was ready to sink under its Weight he meekly and silently endur'd all the cruel Rage of his Enemies but mournfully broke forth My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me Who can understand the Consequence of that Complaint Who can support himself under the Apprehension of an absent and angry God When the convinced Person ponders his Sins what Indignities he has offered to the glorious God his Maker and Preserver his Law-giver and Judg that he has abus'd his Mercies perverted his Benefits and emploied them in the Service of Satan that he has despis'd his Justice and ventur'd upon his inflam'd Anger for transient Pleasure and trifling Profits when these killing Aggravations are duly consider'd and laid close to the Heart how are all the sorrowful Affections moved serious Grief that springs from the Depth of the Soul confounding Shame anxious inquiring Fear to stop the Execution of the fatal Sentence past against him Thus 't is related of those Converts at the first Sermon of St. Peter that being convinc'd of their Crimson Guilt in their crucifying of the Lord Jesus they were pricked in their Heart and said to the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Then Sinners will humbly sue for Peace by the blessed Peace-maker Jesus Christ then Salvation will be so much the sweeter by how much the Danger was more threatning The Recovery from Death to Life is a double Life 2. The Lord Jesus must be propos'd as an all-sufficient and compassionate Saviour who invites the weary and heavy-laden to come to him for Rest. This is the order of the Spirit 's Operations first to convince of Sin then of Righteousness 'T is true there are diversities of Workings the Spirit instructs and terrifies Sinners by his Office of Bondage but not always in the same manner and degrees but the Soul is so humbled by the sight of Sin and impendent Wrath as it sees and feels the necessity of a Saviour and is willing to comply with the Terms of Mercy offered in the Gospel The whole need not a Physician but those who are sick A condemned Man values a Sheet of Paper wherein his Pardon is written and sealed more than the Conveyance of a rich Estate One near drowning values a Cord thrown out for his Rescue more than a Crown Thus when the Guilty are deeply sensible they have lost the Favour of God and cannot fly from his Power and there is but a step between them and Eternal Death then a Saviour will be infinitely precious and they will entirely close with him Now the Gospel represents the Son of God incarnate 1st An all-sufficient Saviour by his Propitiation and Intercession The Excellency of his Obedience and the Excellency of his Person were influential to obtain the Pardon of Sin His Propriety in the Sacrifice and the Value of