that although Christ Jesus were born six Months after John yet he was in Dignity before him Yet this was a Mystery which as I remember Faustus Socinus glories in that his Uncle Loelius obtained by Revelation 2. It is a more reasonable thing to suppose that a Divine Person should assume humane Nature and so the Word to be made Flesh than to say that an Attribute of God his Wisdom or Power is made Flesh which is a Mystery beyond all Comprehension There may be some Difficulties in our Conception of the other but this is a thing beyond all Conception or Imagination For an Accident to be made a Substance is as absurd as to imagine it to subsist without one 3. It is more reasonable to suppose that the Son of God should come down from Heaven and take our Nature upon him than that a Man should be rapt up into Heaven that it might be said that he came down from thence For in the former Supposition we have many other Places of Scripture to support it which speak of his being with God and having Glory with him before the World was whereas there is nothing for the other but only that it is necessary to make some tolerable Sense of those words 4. It is more reasonable to believe that God should become Man by taking our Nature upon him than that Man should become God For in the former there is nothing but the Difficulty of conceiving the Manner of the Union which we all grant to be so between Soul and Body but in the other there is a Repugnancy in the very Conception of a Created God of an Eternal Son of Adam of Omnipotent Infirmity of an Infinite finite Being In the former Case an Infinite is united to a Finite but in the other a Finite becomes Infinite 5. It is more reasonable to believe that Christ Jesus should suffer as he did for our sakes than for his own We are all agreed that the Sufferings of Christ were far beyond any thing he deserved at God's Hands but what Account then is to be given of them We say that he made himself a voluntary Sacrifice for Expiation of the Sins of Mankind and so there was a great and noble End designed and no Injury done to a willing Mind and the Scripture as plainly expresses this as it can do in Words But others deny this and make him to suffer as one wholly Innocent for what Cause To make the most innocent Persons as apprehensive of suffering as the most guilty and the most righteous God to put no Difference between them with respect to Suffering 6. It is more reasonable to suppose such a Condescension in the Son of God to take upon him the Form of a Servant for our Advantage than that a meer Man should be exalted to the Honour and Worship which belongs only to God For on the one side there is nothing but what is agreeable to the Divine Nature viz. Infinite Love and Condescension and Pity to Mankind on the other there is the greatest Design of Self-exaltation that ever was in Humane Nature viz. for a meer Man to have the most Essential Attributes and Incommunicable Honour which belongs to God And whether of these two is more agreeable to the Spirit and Design of the New Testament let any Man of understanding judge For as it is evident that the great Intention of it is to magnifie the wonderfull Love of God in the sending of his Son so it is as plain that one great End of the Christian Doctrine was to take Mankind off from giving Divine Worship to Creatures and can we then suppose that at the same time it should set up the Worship of a meer Man with all the Honour and Adoration which belongs to God This is to me an incomprehensible Mystery indeed and far beyond all that is implied in the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation For it subverts the very Foundation of the Design of Christianity as to the reforming Idolatry then in Being it lays the Foundation for introducing it into the World again for since the Distance between God and his Creatures is taken away in the Matter of Worship there is nothing left but the Declaration of his Will which doth not exclude more Mediators of Intercession but upon this Ground that the Mediation of Redemption is the Foundation of that of Intercession And it is far more easie for us to suppose there may be some things too hard for us to understand in the Mystery of our Redemption by Jesus Christ than that at the same time it should be both a Duty and a Sin to worship any but the true God with proper Divine Worship For if it be Idolatry to give it to a Creature then it is a great Sin for so the Scripture still accounts it but if we are bound to give it to Christ who is but a Creature then that which in it self is a Sin is now become a necessary Duty which overthrows the natural Differences of Good and Evil and makes Idolatry to be a meer Arbitrary thing And I take it for granted that in Matters of Religion Moral Difficulties are more to be regarded than Intellectual because Religion was far more designed for a Rule of our Actions than for the Satisfaction of our Curiosity And upon due Examination we shall find that there is no such frightfull Appearances of Difficulties in the Mâ—stery of the Incarnation as there is in giving Divine Worship to a Creature And it ought to be observed that those very Places which are supposed to exclude Christ from being the true God must if they have any force exclude him from Divine Worship For they are spoken of God as the Object of our Worship but if he be not excluded from Divine Worship then neither is he from being the true God which they grant he is by Office but not by Nature But a God by Office who is not so by Nature is a new and incomprehensible Mystery A Mystery hidden from Ages and Generations as to the Church of God but not made known by the Gospel of his Son This is such a kind of Mystery as the Heathen Priests had who had Gods many and Lords many as the Apostle saith i. e. many by Office although but one by Nature But if the Christian Religion had owned one God by Nature and only one by Office the Heathens had been to blame chiefly in the Number of their Gods by Office and not in the Divine Worship which they gave to them But St. Paul blames the Heathens for doing Service to them which by Nature are no Gods not for doing it without Divine Authority nor for mistaking the Person who was God by Office but in giving Divine Worship to them who by Nature were no Gods which he would never have said if by the Christian Doctrine Divine Worship were to be given to one who was not God by Nature But these are indeed
be not something Negative viz. because great Absurdities would follow if we attributed any thing Corporeal to God for then he must be compounded of Parts and so he may be dissolved then he must be confined to a certain Place and not every-where present he cannot have the Power of acting and self-determining which a meer Body hath not For the clearest Notion we can have of Body is that it is made up of some things as parts of it which may be separated from each other and is confined to a certain Place and hath no Power to move or act from it self But some of these Men who cry down Mysteries and magnifie Reason to shew how slender their Pretences to Reason are have asserted a Corporeal God with Shaps and Figure It was indeed well thought of by those who would make a Man to be God to bring God down as near to Man as might be But how to reconcile the Notion of a Body with Infinite Perfections is a Mystery to me and far above my Comprehension But if it be no Mystery to such Men they must either deny God's Infinite Perfections or shew how a bodily Shape can be capable of them But some Men can confound Finite and Infinite Body and Spirit God and Man and yet are for no Mysteries whereas these things are farther from our Reach and Comprehension than any of those Doctrines which they find fault with But to proceed If we believe Prophecy we must believe God's fore-knowledge of future Events For how could they be foretold if he did not foreknow them And if he did fore-know those which he did foretell then it was either because those only were revealed to him which is inconsistent with the Divine Perfections or that he doth fore-know all other Events and only thought fitting to reveal these But how can they solve the Difficulties about Divine Prescience Is there no Mystery in this Nothing above their Comprehension What then made their great Master deny it as a thing above his Comprehension Because nothing can be fore-known but what hath a certain Cause and therefore if evil Actions be fore-told God must be the Cause of them and Men will not be free Agents in them And yet it is most certain that the Sufferings of Christ by the Wickedness of Men were foretold What then Must we make God the Author of Sin God forbid Will the righteous Judge of all the Earth punish Mankind for his own Acts which they could not avoid Then we must yield that there is something in the Manner of the Divine Prescience which is above our Comprehension And the most searching and inquisitive Men have been forc'd to yield it at last as to the Connection between the Certainty of Prescience and the Liberty of humane Actions Is it not then much better to sit down quietly at first adoring the Infiniteness of God's incomprehensible Perfections than after all the Huffings and Disputings of Men to say In ignorantiâ solâ quietem invenio as the great Schoolman did Surely then here is something plainly revealed and yet the Manner of it is still a Mystery to us I shall not now insist on any more of the particular Attributes of God but only in general I desire to know whether they believe them to be finite or infinite If to be finite then they must have certain Bounds and Limits which they cannot exceed and that must either be from the Imperfection of Nature or from a superiour Cause both which are repugnant to the very Being of God If they believe them to be Infinite how can they comprehend them We are strangely puzzled in plain ordinary finite things but it is madness to pretend to comprehend what is Infinite and yet if the Perfections of God be not Infinite they cannot belong to Him I shall only add in Consequence to this Assertion That if nothing is to be believed but what may be comprehended the very Being of God must be rejected too And therefore I desire all such who talk so warmly against any Mysteries in Religion to consider whose Work it is they are doing even theirs who under this Pretence go about to overthrow all Religion For say they Religion is a Mystery in its own Nature not this or that or the other Religion but they are all alike all is Mystery and that is but another Name for Fraud and Imposture What were the Heathen Mysteries but tricks of Priest-Craft and such are maintained and kept up in all kinds of Religion If therefore these Men who talk against Mysteries understand themselves they must in pursuance of their Principles reject one God as well as three Persons For as long as they believe an Infinite and Incomprehensible Being it is Nonsense to reject any other Doctrine which relates to an Infinite Being because it is Incomprehensible But yet these very Men who seem to pursue the Consequence of this Principle to the utmost must assert something more incomprehensible than the Being of God For I appeal to any Man of common Understanding whether it be not more agreeable to Reason to suppose Works of Skill Beauty and Order to be the Effects of a wise and intelligent Being than of blind Chance and unaccountable Necessity whether it be not more agreeable to the Sense of Mankind to suppose an Infinite and Eternal Mind endued with all possible Perfections to be the Maker of this visible World than that it should start out from it self without Contrivance without Order without Cause Certainly such Men have no Reason to find fault with the Mysteries of Religion because they are incomprehensible since there is nothing so absurd and incomprehensible as their darling Hypothesis And there is nothing which can make it prevail but to suppose Mankind to be as dull and insensible as the first Chaos Thus I have shewn that it is not unreasonable for God to require from us the Belief of something which we cannot comprehend 2. I now come to consider whether those who are so afraid of incomprehensible Mysteries in our Faith have made it so much more easie in the Way they have taken And notwithstanding all the Hectoring talk against Mysteries and things incomprehensible in Religion I find more insuperable Difficulties in Point of Reason in their Way than in ours As for Instance 1. It is a more reasonable thing to suppose something mysterious in the Eternal Son of God's being with the Father before the World was made by him as St. John expresses it in the beginning of his Gospel than in supposing that although John the Baptist were born six Months before Jesus Christ that yet Christ was in Dignity before him What a wonderfull Mystery is this Can Men have the Face to cry down Mysteries in deep Speculations and Matters of a high and abstruse Nature when they make such Mysteries of plain and easie things and suppose the Evangelist in profound Language and lofty Expressions to prove a thing which was never disputed viz.
Parts of a Man but not the Power of moving them And where God by his Grace doth recover Mankind to a new Life yet there are such Remainders of the former Deadness upon us as makes us unable to do that which we most desire to do and do fail in the Manner of Performance where we are sincere as to our Purpose and Design But will God lay these moral Defects or Infirmities of our corrupt Nature on us as wilfull Sins now under the Gospel God forbid I do not question God's Right to command us all that which is just in it self and he hath given us Faculties to do but I consider him as a gracious Lord towards a decayed Tenant of whom if he be willing to pay what he is able he will not exact the uttermost Farthing As a compassionate Commander to a wounded Soldier who is willing to accept what Service he is able to do although he fails in many Points of his Duty As the good Samaritan which poured in Wine and Oil into the Wounds which he had not made and diseharged the Debt which he had not contracted If God were not infinitely gracious and mercifull there were little hopes for us to avoid Punishment but since he is pleased to deal with us upon the Terms of a new Covenant we have reason to hope that he will not charge Involuntary Neglects and Moral Disabilities upon us as Sins of Omission 2. There are Duties of External Worship and Service owing to God and how shall we know when the Omission of these becomes a Sin to us For these are not always necessary and sometimes we may be hindred from them To answer this I lay down these Rules I. A constant or habitual Neglect of those Duties which God hath appointed for his Worship and Service cannot be without a Sin of Omission because that must arise from an evil Temper and Disposition of Mind When it comes from a Contempt of God and his Service it must be a Sin because the Reason of it is a very great one When it comes barely from a careless indifferent slothfull Temper which is glad of any Excuses for the Neglect or Omission of them it argues very little Sense of Religion or Regard to God and his Service when they are so ready to find an Excuse for their Fault But some are ready to justifie themselves in such a Neglect as though all the outward Worship of God were meer Ceremony and only a decent way of entertaining the People with some outward Pomp and Shew of Devotion towards a Divine Majesty I am afraid such hardly mention a Divine Majesty but in a Complement however we are willing to believe that they do own such a Being but they think it a vain thing to serve him as though he could be moved by our Prayers to him or Praises of him We do not deny that God is infinitely above all our Services But is that a Reason why we should not serve him in the way he requires it from us He doth not want our Services but we want his Favour and Blessings and can we expect them when we slight that little Service in comparison of the time he allows for other Imployments which he expects from us If we had nothing but the Light of Nature to direct us we should conclude it very reasonable that Mankind should own their Creator by some outward and publick and stated Ways and Times of Worship For this is no more than natural Justice to own our Maker and Benefactor and can it become less necessary when he hath declared himself pleased with the Performance of them and made great Promises to those who call upon him But this say they is the greatest Difficulty of all to understand what Effect our Prayers can have upon the Eternal Counsels of Heaven since they are already fixed and cannot be reversed by our Prayers As great as this Difficulty is the true Point of it is only this Whether we are to believe and trust the frequent and repeated Promises of God altho' we are not able to comprehend how the Efficacy of our Prayers is taken in as a necessary Condition towards the Execution of God's Eternal Purposes For if they are Conditions as the Scripture often tells us then we may easily understand what is meant by the Efficacy of Prayers and as to the manner of reconciling such contingent Conditions with God's Eternal Purposes it is a Difficulty which will afford perpetual Matter of Dispute but ought no more to hinder us from plain Duties than a Man should be from going a necessary Journey till he be satisfied whether the Earth moves about the Sun or the Sun about the Earth II. Whether the Omission of such publâ—ck Duties of Divine Worship be a Sin or not depends very much on the Reason and Occasion of it For if it be a wilfull Neglect it doth imply a Degree of Contempt and that cannot be without Sin And that is a wilfull Neglect when nothing but an Act of a Man 's own Will hinders him from serving God in publick I do not mean only at the very time but if he hath by some former Act of his Will brought an Incapacity upon himself that want of Power doth not excuse when the Impotency arises from a voluntary Act of his own If it be intended on purpose to hinder it is as wilfull in its Cause as if there were no such Impediment For although the actual Impediment be the immediate Cause of the Omission yet it is the Design and Purpose which makes it wilfull But if Persons by an Act of Providence without their own Fault be hindred from the Worship of God as by long Sickness no one can say that this Omission is wilfull and therefore cannot be accounted a Sin But if a Person by his Intemperance and Debauchery hath brought himself into an Incapacity of attending on the Service of God we cannot say that the actual Omission was wilfull but we may justly say that the original Cause was so and that it cannot excuse the Omission II. But besides the Duties which we owe to God there are such which we owe to one another which cannot be omitted without Sin But here the stating of the Case seems yet more difficult since there is not so plain an Authority to oblige nor such a Relation to each other as we stand in to God And besides the Circumstances of humane Affairs are oftentimes so intricate and perplexed that it is very hard for Persons to know their Duties and much more to practise them But there are certainly such Duties which we owe both to the Publick and to one another and it may be of some Use to us to understand the force of the Obligation and what those are which cannot be Omitted without Sin 1. As to the Publick and concerning that we may take Notice of two Rules 1. Those Duties cannot be omitted without Sin which cannot be omitted without Prejudice to the publick Good
Yet taking altogether our Saviour tells them They ought to watch and pray that they enter not into Temptation and he gives the Reason for it in the following words The Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weak 2. In which words he gives an account of the reason of the Inconstancy and Insufficiency of good Resolutions viz. that although the Spirit be willing yet there is something we carry about us which weakens our best Resolutions and betrays us into Temptations our Flesh is weak which being so near us as to be a part of our selves makes our Case more dangerous and enforces the necessity of Watchfulness and Prayer But here arises one of the most useful necessary and important Cases that relates to practical Christianity which I shall first set down in its full Force and then endeavour to clear it The Case is this how far and in what Circumstances the weakness of the Flesh doth lessen the guilt of Sin which is committed by it If it be not an Extenuation of the Sin why doth our Saviour mention it in such a manner And if it be then these Inconveniencies follow 1. It seems to abate the necessity of our Care and Watchfulness if the Sin be lessened through the weakness of the Flesh which is unavoidable in this imperfect State 2. It seems to be a fair Plea and Excuse for the greatest part of the Sins of Mankind For 1. The Original inclination to Sin in Mankind comes from the weakness of the Flesh the very frame of humane Nature being such as exposes them to continual Temptations There is a natural Combat between the Flesh and the Spirit for the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other as the Apostle speaks and all Mankind find it too true Now wherever the Flesh is there are Inclinations agreeable to it and these being contrary to the Dictates of the Mind all the Sins of the Flesh will appear to come from the weakness of the Flesh. 2. The frequent Commission of the same Sins will be laid upon the weakness of the Flesh. For the generality of Mankind do not sin out of defiance to God or his Laws or with an obstinate Resolution to sin for they know their Duty and wish they could perform it but alas The Flesh is too hard for the Spirit in them They have many Convictions in their Minds many good Purposes and serious Resolutions at some times and if they do sin it is not with their whole Wills for they have great strugglings and checks of Conscience within even while they commit those Sins And therefore what can their continuing in sin be so properly attributed to as to the weakness of the Flesh. 3. Relapses into the same sin after Repentance seems to proceed from the weakness of the Flesh. For he that hath once smarted severely for his Sins and suffered under the Agonies of Conscience for them he that hath gone so far as not meerly to lament his Folly and to abhor his Wickedness but to make solemn Vows and Promises and Resolutions never more to return to the Practice of them it is hard to conceive that such a one should fall into his Sins again with his whole Mind and Soul for the Light of Conscience when it is once throughly kindled is not easily put out it is a secret Fire which burns inward and can hardly be extinguished and all those who sin against Conscience the Dictates of their Minds are right while they commit their Sins and therefore even these Sins seem to be excused by the weakness of the Flesh. But on the other side the Scripture is plain and express that Sins which do come from the Flesh do exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven The works of the Flesh are manifest saith St. Paul Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness c. Drunkenness Revelling and such like which are properly Sins of the Flesh. Of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And in another place For this ye know that no Whoremonger nor unclean Person nor Covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometâ— the wrath of God on the Children of Disobedience Would God be so severe under the Dispensation of his Mercy to punish Mankind with utter exclusion from Heaven and eternal Misery for Sins which came meerly from the weakness of the Flesh Then indeed there were just cause to bewail the sad Condition of Humanity born under one Law to another bound created Sick commanded to be Sound But God will vindicate his Justice at the great Day and Mankind shall be fully satisfied that none shall be damned for the meer weakness of the Flesh but for the Sins of their Will and Choice That as they had evil Inclinations from the Flesh so they had good Inclinations from the Grace of God and the Law of their Minds ought to have governed and kept under the Law of their Members that others by the same Assistance which was offered to them have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof That the Grace of God doth enable them to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World That if Men do fail of the Grace of God it is through their own fault that those who relapse into sin after Repentance and escaping the pollutions of the World Their latter end is worse than the beginning and in short If Men do live after the Flesh they shall die but if through the Spirit they do mortifie the Deeds of the Body they shall live All which shews That there is so great a Possibility of fubduing the Inclinations of the Flesh that if Men neglect it and give way to the fulfilling of them this very thing will be imputed to them as a wilfull and damning Sin But here the Difficulty still rises for Christ supposes that his own Disciples even the most forward and the best resolved might fall through the infirmity of the Flesh and they did so upon no great Temptation as appears by St. Peter's denying his Master in so dreadful a manner upon so slight a Provocation as the Damsels saying to him Thou also wast wâ—â—h Jesus of Galilee What a mean low and timorous Spirit had possessed St. Peter at that time Was this he who but a few hours before said That though he should die with him he would not deny him Lord what is Man Verily in his best Estate he is altogether Vanity What St. Peter deny his Lord who made that Confession of him which Christ owned was not revealed to him by Flesh and Blood but by his Father in Heaven viz. That he was
any one Precept of the Law especially such as respected God and his Worship that would make amends for all the rest and this was the true Reason why the Pharisees made long Prayers and yet devoured Widows Houses for they thought the Duties of the first Table would excuse the neglect of the other But S. James saith If a Man keep all the rest of the Law and yet allows himself in the wilful breach of any one Point that implies such a Contempt of the Lawgiver as renders him as obnoxious to Divine Justice as if he had broken the whole But here a great difference is to be made between a single Act committed through the Power of Temptation against a contrary habit of Vertue and the habitual Practice of known Sins It is possible for a sober Man to be surprized into an Act of Intemperance and to be overcome by the strength of Wine but see the difference between such a one and one that hath a habit of Intemperance The one goes on in his Course and hath lost the very Sense of his Sin and the Power of resisting it and by degrees thinks he cannot live without it the other looks with Indignation upon himself for his Folly he repents presently and resolves to avoid all occasions of being guilty of the like Folly And the same holds as to other Sins if Persons do love God and their Souls and be overcome with Temptations they presently repent with great Sincerity and return no more to the Practice of it 3. All Acts of known Sins presumptuously committed are inconsistent with a constant and sincere Endeavour to please God Where there is true Friendship among Men it is not presently broke by every Neglect or sudden Heat and Passion but if a Man sets himself with Study and Deliberation to affront another that is a reasonable Cause to break off any Pretence of Friendship because such an Action was not consistent with the love of a Friend so it is with notorious Sins committed wilfully and deliberately notwithstanding all the Motions to the contrary from God's Honour and Justice and Soveraignty and from the Commands and Threatnings of the Gospel these are inconsistent with being in a State of Friendship with God which is all one with a State of Salvation Not that all who commit them must immediately or necessarily be damned for them but tho' hereby they renounce any Title to Friendship with God and all their hopes as long as they continue in such a State without true and hearty Repentance are vain and groundless And to entertain such hopes notwithstanding such sins is properly the Sin of Presumption which is Confidence of anothers Favour without any Reason for it 2. By these we may now easily understand what those Failings are which the Gospel allows for Infirmities viz. such which are unavoidable by us in this imperfect State notwithstanding a constant and sincere Endeavour to please God by doing his Will God knoweth our frame and remembreth that we are but dust Not meer Dust for then it were to no purpose to take Care to save our Souls but a Mixture and Composition of dull heavy lumpish Matter and a sprightly vigorous active Soul which grows uneasie by being fettred and clogged and distracted in its best and freest Motions by it The Soul can hardly raise it self above this Region of Darkness and Temptation and attempt a Flight towards the State of Serenity and Happiness above but it is pulled down by that weight which hangs upon it and diverted by the various and restless Impertinency of wandring Imaginations The most watchful Mind cannot prevent all the disorders of a roving Fancy in the midst of our more serious Devotions If we set our selves to fix our Minds upon the best Objects and to prevent any wandring thoughts the Success seldom answers our Design and our thoughts are gone before we are aware of it Our Minds are like a Ship tossed upon the rowling Waves but although we cannot hinder their unequal Motion we may steer their Course to the Port we aim at But beside the Extravagancies of Imagination our Desires are hard to be kept within their due Bounds there are many Failings in our best Duties great Coldness and Lukewarmness at least in our Devotions and yet too great Proneness to think well of our selves for them though God knows our Omissions and Neglects are so many and those we do perform are so mean and slight that we have more cause to pray to God to forgive than to hope he will accept our mean Performances But yet I do not say our best Actions are Sins for there is a real difference between Actions imperfectly good and morally evil in these the Substance is bad but in the other the Acts themselves are good but only lessen'd by the manner of doing them And to these Failings in our best Actions we must add the great unevenness in our Tempers the Inconstancy of our Resolutions the uneasiness of our Minds under the Troubles of Life arising from want of due Resignation and Submission to the Will of God the many secret lurking Passions within us which are called the Motions to sin and S. James styles The lust which conceives and brings forth sin and St. Paul The Law in our Members warring against the Law in our Minds which may give a great deal of disturbance where it cannot prevail It is a sad thing to read the Complaints of such Persons as St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Jerom about the inward Motions to sin after an Age spent in Mortifications and when their Bodies were wither'd with Age and broken with Diseases and hard Usage But there is a greater Instance than these of St. Paul himself who after all his Perils by Land and by Sea after all his Watchfulness and Fastings and Prayers yet he was forced to keep under his Body and to bring it in Subjection lest that by any means saith he ' when I have preached to others I my self become a cast-away But still there is a great difference between pursuing the things of the Spirit with the Reluctancy of the Flesh and pursuing the things of the Flesh with the reluctancy of the Spirit the former shews only the Motions of the Flesh which being subdued are but Infirmities but the latter do not cease to be wilful Sins tho' there be inward struggling in the Commission of them and the prevailing Party ought to give the Denomination to the Person whether carnal or spiritual For They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit And according to the great Design and Tenour of our Lives and Actions will be our Character in this World and recompence in another Nothing now remains but to conclude with recommending to you the Duties of Watchâ—ulness and Prayer 1. Watchfulness which is a constant Care of our selves and Actions We walk as
it were upon Precipices and therefore had need to look to our standing when we see Persons falling on every side There is no force indeed in our Case because we are in a State of Trial but we live in the midst of Snares and Temptations and Sins which do so easily beset us that we cannot walk one step in our way without Danger and therefore there is continual Reason for Watchfulness But that is not enough For 2. We must add Prayer to our Watchfulness Otherwise our Presumption of our own strength may make us fall God will have us owe our standing to his Assistance which he hath promised to give upon our earnest Prayer to him for it No Duty more proper for us in this State of Temptation no Duty more effectual for obtaining suitable Supplies for our present Necessities where a Man falls by Temptation St. Chrysostom saith it is because he knew not how to Pray For Prayer when duely performed not only diverts and raises and composes the Mind and so breaks the force of a present Temptation but when a close Siege is laid it keeps the Passage open for Supplies from Heaven and brings down those Supports which may enable us so to endure Temptation that when we are tried we may receive the Crown of Life which God hath promised to them that love him SERMON XII Preached at HAMPTON-COURT Before the King and Queen August the 7th 1689. Acts XXVI 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead THESE words are part of the Excellent Defence which S. Paul made for himself before King Agrippa and the Roman Governour for embracing the Christian Religion And if it were so desirable a thing to have heard S. Paul Preach as one of the Fathers of the Church thought it when he parallel'd it with seeing Christ in the Flesh it was especially at that time when before so great an Audience and upon so Solemn an occasion he was to give an account of himself touching all the things whereof he was accused of the Jews Ver. 2. There had been a long and implacable Hatred both in the Rulers and People of the Jews against him above any other Apostle having had greater advantages of Education among them and being more remarkably zealous for preaching up that Doctrine which himself had furiously opposed and that upon a Principle of Conscience as he saith Ver. 9. I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth And such a Conscientious Persecutor would not do that which he accounted the work of the Lord negligently as he shews Ver. 10 11. But that the same Person should on a sudden quit all his Hopes and Expectations among the Jews and not only betake himself to a Sect so much hated and despised as that of Christianity was but to be so active in all places for the promoting it was a thing which did both surprize and enrage them Insomuch that when he came up to Jerusalem a popular Tumult was soon raised against him which had like to have cost him his Life if the Roman Officers had not rescued him from their Fury But after he had made several Defences of himself to the People to the Council to the Roman Governour and found their Rage and Malice against him to continue still when Festus would have sent him to Jerusalem to be tried He appeals to Coesar and during this Appeal when Agrippa came to visit Festus hearing of this remarkable Cause and the vehement Prosecution of it he had a Desire to hear what S. Paul had to plead for himself But before I come to the particular Matter of his Plea in these words there are 2 things observable concerning him 1. That although he knew he could not suffer in a better Cause and had a Prospect of his Sufferings before he went to Jerusalem and went thither with a Resolution to undergo any thing for the sake of Christ yet he quitted no advantages which the Law gave him For when the Officer would have scourged him he pleaded his Freedom as a Roman Citizen and all such were exempted from Scourging by the Porcian and Sempronian Laws And when he found the Design was laid to carry him back to Jerusalem and there to make him a Sacrifice to the Rage of the Jews he makes use of the Privilege of the Roman Laws and before Sentence made his Appeal to Coesar So little did he think it inconsistent with the Christian Doctrine of Suffering to make use of Legal Privileges for his own Defence against unjust Violence 2. That in all his Defences he insisted on the Resurrection as the main Point For although the true Ground of the violent Hatred and Malice of the Jews against him was his constant and zealous Preaching Jesus and the Resurrection as he did at Athens and other places yet those who persecute Men for the sake of Truth always pretend some other Reason for it and nothing is more common and plausible than that of breaking the Laws And the Jews now thought they had this Advantage against S. Paul for they charged him with profaning the Temple by carrying a Gentile into it but the Matter of Fact was mistaken however this served for a popular Pretence against him and that was all they sought for Malice working most mischief under a Disguise And this took presently and spread so suddenly That it is said All the City was moved and the People ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the Temple When Tertullus pleaded against him he faintly urged his going about to profane the Temple but the main of his Accusation was That he was a Ringleader of the Sect of the Nazarens therefore S. Paul in his Answer in short saith to the other things objected That they could not prove them but as to the Way which they câ—lled Heresie i. e. owning the Doctrine of Christ he was so far from denying it that he professed it before them all And as he declared his Faith freely so he did his Hope too And have hope towards God which they themselves also allow that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust This was the Point S. Paul reduced all to Touching the Resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day And so here to Agrippa And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the Promise made of God unto our Fathers unto which Promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come for which Hopes sake King Agrippa I am accused of the Jews And then immediately follow the words of the Text Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Wherein we have the Strength of the Apostles Argument to prove the Truth of this