be scandalized at the Dissent and Opposition of the Jews and Greeks Much less ought we to suffer our selves to be led away by the same Prejudices with them Men perhaps professing Christianity may imagine this to be impossible while they continue in the open Profession of it and so take no Care to prevent it But if we examine our selves I fear we shall find our selves obnoxious to the same Prejudices and to have been often seduced by them if not to a Desertion of our Religion yet to a Violation of it Was the Christian Faith a Stumling-block to the Jews because defeating their hopes of a temporal Messias and worldly Happiness And are not we often tempted by the Pleasures of this World to withdraw our Obedience from the Laws of God and thereby in effect to deny him As often as Men preferr their worldly Interest to the least Duty of Religion as often as by too anxious a Diligence about the Affairs of this Life they neglect the care of another they give just Reason to others to suspect them Guilty of the same Errour of placing all their Happiness on this side Heaven and dis-believing the Joys of Paradise Did the Jews often unseasonably and importunately require a Sign And are not we often induced to distrust Providence and murmur against the Divine Goodness as often as God deferrs to rescue us from imminent Dangers and Calamities and immediately ingageth not his miraculous Power in our Assistance Do not Men call in question the Justice of the Divine Dispensation because God refuseth to violate the established Laws of his Government and sometimes permitteth the good to pass unrewarded and the wicked to escape unpunished in this life Was the Christian Religion Foolishness to the Greeks because proposed by mean and unlearned Persons And have not the Effects of spiritual Pride been deplored in all Ages of the Church and continue to this day while Men puffed up with a vain Opinion of their own extraordinary Knowledge in Divine Matters refuse to hear the Voice of their ordinary Pastor Scorn to be instructed by him and rudely turn their backs upon him Did the Greek Philosophers despise Christianity because plain and simple easie to be understood and not difficult to be performed And are not we often betrayed by a like Pre judice to neglect our Duty and lay aside the Study of Divine Things How many Christians are at this day displeased with a sober and rational Form of Worship either because it is not fraught with pompous and unuseful Ceremonies or because it is devoid of Enthusiastick Raptures and unintelligible Impertinencies So that we must acknowledge our selves to be no less concerned in the words and meaning of my Text than were formerly either Jews or Greeks To conclude if the most certain Truths and most Holy Religion be notwithstanding liable to the contradiction of foolish and unreasonable Men if the Prejudices against Christianity be found to be unjust and false let us neither be offended at the Opposition of her Enemies nor drawn into like Mistakes with them either by Passion or Inadvertency Let us give most humble and hearty Thanks to God for sending his Son as at this time into the World to redeem us and reveal to us his Will and Pleasure Let us adore his Wisdom and Goodness who hath contrived such excellent Methods whereby the knowledge of this Mystery and Revelation may with sufficient certainty be transmitted to all Ages improving the Happiness of our Knowledge by securing to our selves the Rewards of it in a careful Practice of our Duty that so we may here with Comfort hold fast and hereafter with Glory obtain the Promises of everlasting Life To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Seventh SERMON PREACH'D January 20th 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Hebr. IX 27. It is appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment I Intend not from these words to prove the Mortality of Mankind or shew that all the Members of it are subject to that fatal Doom The experience of almost Six Thousand Years may abundantly convince us of this And least we should imagin our selves to be particularly exempted from the common calamity of Mankind that decay which we find in our Bodies and those frequent Infirmities to which we are all subject permits us not to entertain any hopes of such an extraordinary priviledge The necessity of ending this Life is so apparent that it would be trifling to endeavour to demonstrate it however the consideration of that necessity is a matter of the greatest Moment and which may justly require the most serious reflections of our Mind But that is not my present purpose nor the design of the Apostle in these words wherein is expressed the divine Determination in relation to the Mortality and future Judgment of Men and the Order of them namely that God hath decreed that all Men shall once Die and that after Death they shall receive either the reward or punishment of their Actions Now however the secret Decrees of God be unsearchable and his ways past finding out however a curious desire of knowing the Nature and Reasons of them may be rash and fruitless yet in these which so immediately and universally concern Mankind and are in effect the great object of our Religion no enquiry can be unnecessary or unuseful the reasons of them are obvious and satisfactory such as may not only be discovered by us but even ought not to be unknown to us and surely not without reason For nothing tends more effectually to secure the Honour of God and induce us to acquiesce in his Decrees than an intire satisfaction of the Justice and Wisdom of them And if this be necessary in relation to all the divine Decrees which respect us how much more will it concern us to have a perfect knowledge of the reasons of those grand Decrees of Death and Judgment which the Apostle hath comprehended in the words of my Text And from whence I shall take occasion to Discourse upon these two Heads I. The Justice of the Divine Decreâ—… of Death to all Men. It is appointed unto Men once to die II. The Justice and Wisdom of the Divine Decree of Judgment to be executed after Death and not in this Life But after this the Judgment First then if we consider only the light of Reason nothing can appear more just than the Divine Decree which imposeth a necessity of Dying upon all Men. God being the Author of our existence and the Lord of Life and Death might justly dispose of or dispense either according to his Good Pleasure It was a sufficient obligation to Man to have received the benefit of Existence without expecting a perpetual and invariable conservation of that Existence The very Nature and Constitution of Man declares him to be Mortal and then surely it could neither be unjust or unreasonable in God to permit
hope by mortifying and changing our former vicious Course of Life into a new and Heavenly Life or by conceiving firm hopes and assurance of the Divine Promises concerning our own Resurrection by the Example of our Lords Resurrection The former manner indeed is purely Allegorical but an Allegory as well most natural in its self as most familiar to the Apostle who treats of it often and largely and inculcates it in almost all his Epistles As in the Chapter preceding my Text he tells the Colossians Col. II. 12 20. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also ye are risen with him and ye are dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the world Galat. II. 20. I am Crucified with Christ. Philip. III. 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his Death 2 Cor. IV. 10. Alwayâ—… bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body But more especially in the III. and IVth Chapters of 1 Pet. and Rom. VI. this Conformity between our Lord and us in dying and rising again is at large explained We were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life c. These Allegorical Conclusions were not the mere products of Fancy but the designs of the Divine Wisdom which so admirably contrived the Christian Religion that all the Actions of our Saviours Life tend no less to our Instruction than his Precepts and could not but have exceeding influence upon the Minds of Christians whose thoughts were then and ought now to be chiefly employed about our Saviours Resurrection They were excellently fitted to the Genius of the World at that time when both Heathen Philosophers and Jewish Doctors employed themselves almost wholly in Allegorical Explications of Natural or Divine Truths and were more particularly adapted to the Religion of the Jews and the Writings of the Old Testament concerning the Messias consisting in Types shadows and symbolical Representations of things to come And lastly least we should conceive any unreasonable prejudice against these Allegorical inferences besides that they are recommended by the Authority of the Divine Pen-man the present Allegory drawn from our Saviours Resurrection doth most excellently describe to us the Nature and Duties of our spiritual Regeneration as it will appear if we consider it more fully The design of the Christian Religion was to recover Mankind from his lost Condition free him from the Subjection of the Devil reform his Life and fit him for the Reception of those infinite Benefits which God had designed for him in another Life To this end a total Desertion of that corrupted state of Life wherein he was before engaged was absolutely necessary As well in the Nature of the thing it being wholly impossible that a vicious Soul should receive that Reward as by the Appointment of God who had determined not to grant the Reward on any other Condition And therefore our Saviour had assured his Followers That unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It was required that every one should relinquish all those temporal Enjoyments and Satisfactions which were contrary either to right Reason or the express Command of God and because the greatest part of Mankind placed the whole Satisfaction of their Life in these unlawful Enjoyments whoever renounced the use of them might well be said to die unto the world And this was it which all Christians were obliged to Promise at their Baptism solemnly to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and give themselves wholly to a new Life instituted by God which was excellently represented in the antient Form of Baptism to which the Apostle in all the places before mentioned referrs wherein the Person baptized was wholly immerged in the water so that the Immersion represented his Resolution of dying to the World and imitation of our Lord who was by Death taken from the World and then his Emersion presently following signified his entrance into a new state of Life and the Resurrection of our Saviour reviving and appearing after Death It is not sufficient therefore to mortifie one single Lust or to give up this or that sinful Affection in exchange for eternal Rewards and retain the rest This is not to die in imitation of our Saviour whose Soul was fully separated from his Body and continued in a separate state till the Resurrection He satisfied not himself to have endured Scourgings Reproaches and Buffettings he descended not from the Cross after he had endured most bitter Torments till he had completed his Sufferings by Death and laid down his Life as a Sacrifice to God which it could not be till it were destroyed It being the necessary Condition of all Sacrifices to be annihilated If then we be really baptized into his Death if we resolve to offer up our selves a Sacrifice to God we must yield up all our Pretences to the Pleasures of this World and enjoy no more of them than God permitteth to us we must absolutely free our selves from the Slavery of Sin and Satan and devote our selves intirely to the Divine Pleasure To die unto the World supposeth a full Conviction that the true Interest of a Christian is not placed on Earth and that his great Concern here is only to improve his short term of Life to the Acquisition of a more excellent and more durable Happiness hereafter From this perswasion it will easily follow that different Interests from this are not to be pursued in this Life which ought to be no other than a Preparation for a better And herein a Christian truly imitates the Death of his Lord and Saviour who best of all manifested that his Kingdom was not of this world by laying down his Life willingly that his Designs were far from founding an Empire and procuring to himself worldly Advantages when he submitted to undergo the Pains of Death Thereby teaching us that we are not truly Crucified with him until we as absolutely forsake all Desires and Inclinaons to our former sinful Life as if we were deprived of Life it self that we retain not the least Claim or Title to our former vicious Satisfactions but by a total relinquishing of them even put it out of our Power to recal and re-establish them In the next place if we view the dreadful Horrour and Anxiety under which our Saviour laboured while he bore the Sins of Mankind upon the Cross if we reflect on the Melancholy state of the Church his ignominious Condition and the Triumphs of the infernal Powers while he was detained in the Grave we may perceive the desperate and deplorable State of Man while yet detained in Sin labouring under the just Displeasure of an angry God
execution of Judgment till after Death and not dispensing the final rewards and punishments of Men in this Life It is appointed unto Men once to die but after that and not before the Judgment The continual Infirmities and Temptations incident to Mankind the daily Sins committed by us and the fatal Example of our first Parent Adam not able to retain his Primitive Innocence under so many and so great advantages evidently cause us to perceive that few or rather none would ever attain to Happiness if that were bestowed in reward to unsinning Obedience only That therefore to make any considerable part of Mankind partakers of this Reward it was necessary that God should proclaim an Universal Pardon to penitent sinners and forego the punishment due to former sins if an earnest abhorrencâ—… of them and true reformation of Life did succeed If notwithstanding all the highest demonstrations of repeated Mercy and frequent Pardon of sins our Saviour still assureth us that strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way which leadeth unto Life and few there be which find it How unaccessible would it be if every single Act of Disobedience defeated the hopes of it and laid us open to the utmost Execution of the Divine Wrath If therefore we desire that this merciful dealing should be continued to us if a Covenant of this nature be Established it is impossible that the final rewards and punishments of Men should be dispensed in this Life For if a proportionate punishment should immediately follow the Commission of every sin in this Life how can God be said to pardon our offences and await our amendment Or if it should not attend it how can exemplary Justice be executed here since we suppose it not to be executed hereafter Or if God should presently crown every good Action with as great a degree of Happiness as the present State of Human Nature will receive what shall be done when such a Person shall exchange his Piety for Vice or wickedness Or if the reward of Temporal Happiness should not be inseparably annexed to a vertuous course of Life how can God be said to reward Vertue in this Life Must God as often change the Scenes of Human Life as Man changeth the inclinations of his Will Assuredly such an inconstant proceeding would derogate as much from the Honour of God as the Quiet of the World Or must God await the last Scene of every Mans Life wherein to display either his Favour or Anger to him when the shortness of the remaining time defeats the possession of any great reward and rescues the Delinquent from the misery of his punishment So that it is impossible to dispense the rewards and inflict the punishments of Men in this Life but where Rewards and Happiness are annexed to unsinning Obedience only Again such a manner of proceeding is not only unpracticable but unuseful even for those ends for which it is commonly proposed namely to manifest the Justice of God to vindicate the Innocence of Men to deterr them from Sin and Wickedness and to allure them to Piety and Holiness For such is the dissimulation of Men so secret are many of the most enormous Sins so usual is it to palliate the most horrid Crimes and not only to conceal them from the knowledge of the World but to create a contrary Opinion of Holiness and Integrity that no discrimination could be made by Rewards and Punishments in this Life which might conduce to any of the ends before mentioned Hypocrites are no less odious to God than the most prophane and debauched Sinners and are perhaps in no less number Now as it would be unreasonable to bestow any Reward upon these least the Justice of God should be called in question for suffering appearant vertue to pass unrewarded so it would be impossible to hinder Men from censuring the Divine Dispensations in relation to them while they retained a false Opinion of their supposed merits How many Innocent and Worthy Persons are oppressed calumniated and generally esteemed the worst of Men whom if God should therefore refuse to reward his Justice would be destroyed if he Rewarded them while labouring under these false suspicions the opinion of his Justice would perish If then Piety and Wickedness may be hid from the eyes of Men if contrary Judgments may be so easily and so often framed of their merits and demerits the Justice of God can in no wise appear in dispensing Rewards or Punishments to them no Argument can be thence framed in favour of Vertue or diminution of Vice until the Secrets of all Hearts be disclosed and laid open which the present Circumstances of this Life will not permit Not only is the Execution of Judgment in this Life incongruous to the Mercy and Justice of God but also the Nature of the Rewards and Punishments to be bestowed or inflicted And first it is impossible that Punishments should be imposed upon the wicked in this Life proportionate to the Greatness of their Demerits Every single Sin committed against the infinite Majesty of God by a Creature and Dependant of his own is of an infinite Guilt and therefore in Justice requires a not inferiour Degree of Punishment Whereas an infinite Punishment cannot be suffered in this Life and then how shall a Sinner answer for Ten thousâ—…nd Sins of equal guilt If we place the Execution of Punishment in destroying the Existence of a Sinner this is so far from being terrible that many have placed the utmost Degree of Happiness in Indolence or an insensible State which is a necessary consequence of such a Destruction And then since good Men are not reprieved from an immature Death being no less subject to Sickness Dangers and Violence what an horrible Confusion of Justice would it be that both good and bad should undergo the same Punishment and not be diâ—…tinguished in their End Or if the Punishment of the wicked should be placed in insupportable Torments continual Crosses and dreadful Pains what a slight matter would this be to an infinite Guilt which deservedly calls for eternal Torments The greatest Aggravation of the Pains in Hell will be that the wicked will be assured they shall have no end and will be thereby cast into the most extreme Despair whereas in this Case the Sinners would comfort themselves with the hopes of approaching Death which may end their Torments and their Life together Nay they will be able to rescue themselves from Punishment and escape the Divine Anger by laying violent hands upon themselves which they will not fear to do when not awed with the terrour of any ensuing Punishment after Death And after all Punishments in this Life can only respect precedent Sins how then shall a Sinner satisfie for those more dreadful Sins which will escape him in the midst of his Pains such as Blasphemy Malice and Unrepentance Shall God suffer these to go unpunished or not rather reserve them to Judgment in another World But if Judgment cannot
and withal acknowledge that there is no other method whereby to obtain the one or escape the other but a hearty and sincere Repentance and yet with this Belief and Confession should continue in a state of Unrepentance Or if perhaps it may be possible that two such contrary things should consist together yet it cannot be denied but that by his Actions he proclaims his Unbelief to the World who neglects this necessary Duty of Repentance or which is all one deferrs to perform it This was the Second Head proposed namely the time prefixed by God to our Repentance To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Or as the Apostle expresseth it Hebr. III. 13. While it is called to day Which may either import the term of our natural Life for that Repentance will take no place after Death agreeably to that of our Saviour John IX 4. The night cometh wherein no man can work So that Repentance being necessarily to be performed in this Life and no more of this Life being certain to us than that moment which we now enjoy it ought to commence from this very moment Or else which seems most natural and agreeable to the Design of the Psalmist and the Apostle in the III. of the Hebrews Repent to day That is immediately while God continueth his offers of Mercy before it be too late for that he will not await our Repentance till we please nor suffer his Goodness to be willfully slighted This term of Repentance fixed by God to every Man may be easily discovered as being no other than the first moment of his Conviction of the necessity of Repentance When that Conviction is once throughly formed when Men are fully satisfied that it is their indispensable Duty to conform themselves to the Will of God when they know withal that this Conformity consists in practising all the Divine Precepts of Holiness Justice and Sobriety and that all habitual Sins are an open Opposition to it when they are asâ—…ured that God hath proclaimed his Pardon to Penitent and denounced his Wrath to Impenitent Sinners Then is Life and Death truely set before them Then is it committed to their Choice which they will preferr An easie Choice one would imagine had not the deplorable Experience of so many obstinate Sinners taught us the unhappiness of Mankind in choosing the worse even under Convictions of their Interest and Obligation to the contrary If we enquire after the Cause of this miserable Perverseness we find indeed the Temptations to which Mankind is exposed to be very violent the Lusts of the World and the Flesh to be very powerful and the Pleasures of sin of a bewitching Nature Yet all this would not be sufficient to Master the Dictates of Reason and natural desire of true Happiness which is found in all did not an unhappy mistake misguide the practice of Men and render all the present Convictions of Conscience ineffectual Men are apt to raise false Notions from the Divine Attribute of infinite Mercy and flatter themselves with vain Hopes that the term prefixed by God to their Repentance is not yet expired that it will never be too late to begin their Repentance and in Vertue of it take out their Pardon This is that Deceitfulness of sin of which the Apostle warns us in the afore-mentioned place least any of us be hardened through it after the Example of the Jews of whom some when they had heard did provoke Verse 16. That is after a full Conviction of the Power and Veracity of God refused to obey his Commands or rely on his Pomises as in the Case of their refusal to go up and take possession of the Land which God had given to them related in the XIV of Numbers to which this Psalm particularly relates They immediately indeed repented of their Folly and resolved forthwith to take up Arms and enter upon the Design but then it was too late they had slipt their time and God refused to be among them or to give them Success It is frivolous therefore to plead the Hopes of continual offers of Pardon for deferring of Repentance and to pretend that if they exactly knew the time beyond which the Patience of God would not await they would immediately begin to form a sincere Repentance Such Resolutions may possibly be true and indeed unless a monstrous stupidity intervenes it cannot be otherwise But then the term is manifest and cannot be unknown to any being the moment from which we are convinced that it is our Duty to obey God and know what are the Rules and Measures of Obedience We must believe that God can do nothing irrational now the reasonableness of Pardon to sinful Man is founded either in the invincible ignorance of his Duty or in the Infirmity of his Nature prone to yield to powerful Temptations The latter supposeth an endeavour of Obedience and Piety and cannot consist with a fixed and resolved unrepentance for then every Sin will be the effect not of humane Infirmity but of Resolution The former Cause vanisheth when the Ignorance of Men is removed by a clear Revelation of the Will of God And therefore the Apostle tells the Athenians That God winked indeed at the times of ignorance but now after the Manifestation of the Gospel Willeth all men every where to repent As for us Christians we cannot pretend an Ignorance of our Duty much less those who have the Happiness to be Members of a Church so excellently Constituted We have the Scriptures open to us are admonished and incited to the Practice of our Duty by weekly Exhortations and disown all little Arts so usual in other Churches of procuring Salvation without a strict and real Obedience There remains then to us only the Plea of Infirmity whereby to excuse our Sins and not wholly to despair of the Divine Mercy This supposeth our sincere Endeavours of performing our Duty and a settled Course of Vertue and Piety in which Course we may be overtaken with Temptations and being unawares insuared by them may be betrayed into Sin while the Soul is clouded with a Passion and by violent impressions from the Body or outward Objects hath scarce the Liberty of directing her thoughts aright But if when this Tempest is allayed this Cloud removed when the Mind regains its perfect Freedom and enters into a serious thought of its Condition it entertains any Complacency with the Sin performed or is willing to permit a continuance of it this is no longer a Sin of Infirmity but of deliberate and resolved Choice much more when any Man resolves wholly to stand out against the Divine Command and Convictions of his own Conscience and to proceed in his unrepentance although but for a certain time This is a Sin of so heinous a Nature that no Pardon is promised to it under the Gospel nor indeed can it consist with the Justice and Holiness of God to give it And then even for Sins of Infirmity it is
wonderful Miracles should be wrought by him And some such extraordinary Actions were required to excite the Jews to a serious consideration of the Quality and Character of the Person who wrought them If the Actions of Christ had been deficient in any one point of Conformity to the precedent Prophesies it had been irrational as well as unlawful for the Jews to have admitted his Revelations altho' confirmed by the greatest Miracles imaginable Since they must have owned thereby the falsity of those Prophesies of the truth of which they were abundantly convinced as being confirm'd to them by an equal Authority of Miracles But not only doth the Reason and Nature of things demonstrate this Truth The Practice and Example of Christ and his Apostles evidently manifest it The first while yet on Earth constantly asserted his Divine Mission and Quality of Messias from the Scriptures of the Old Testament which had Testified of him And his Disciples after his Death carryed on the same Argument He perform'd indeed greater Miracles than any ever had done before him But in Disputing with the Jews he commonly waved that Argument and appealed to the Scripture As well knowing That if they would not hear Moses and the Prophets neither would they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead By which words he plainly infinuates that the greatest of his Miracles his Resurrection was a less valid proof and inferiour to the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets This he often thought alone sufficient to propose as a necessary motive of belief to the Jews And such a motive as could not be rejected without disowning and destroying the Authority of the Old Testament For thus he Disputes in the Vth. of St. John Verses 39 46 47. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which Testifie of me For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me For he wrote of me But if ye believed not his writings how shall ye believe my words No other Method did he make use of to convince his Disciples walking to Emmaus that all those Calamities which had befallen his Person ought necessarily to be inflicted on the Messias All those Glorious Miracles of which themselves had been witnesses proved unsuccessful and could not secure their Faith from a shameful fluctuation Until Christ beginning at Moses and all the Prophets expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself and opened their understanding that they might understand the Scripture that it was thus written and that it thus behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the Dead the Third Day If the constant Companions of our Saviours Life could be drawn to the true knowledge of him by no other Argument than a full and plain Interpretation of the Prophesies of the Old Testament In vain do we hope that any other Arguments could convince the remaining Jews who were less acquainted with the Holiness of his Life and greatness of his Miracles In the next place we may observe that the Apostles were chosen by Christ and used as the inseparable Companions of his Life Not so much to be instructed in the Mysteries of the Christian Faith or trained up in the necessary qualifications of Preachers who might propagate the Gospel after the departure of their Master As to be Witnesses and Spectactors of his Actions and Conversation which they might afterwards Testifie to the World and thereby convince Mankind that they were intirely conformable to the Antient predictions of the Prophets That the former could not be the end or intention of their accompanying Christ through the whole discharge of his Prophetick Office appears plainly from their Ignorance both of the Mysteries of Religion and their own Duty at the time of our Saviours Crucifixion Yet can we not suppose but that Christ obtain'd his chief aim which he proposed to himself in selecting certain Persons for the Companions of his Life This end therefore could indeed be no other than that which I have already assigned of witnessing and publishing to the World the Actions of Christ whose reasonableness and agreement to the predictions of the Mosaick Law was to be judged and determined by every private Man For we no where find that the Apostles from the Authority of their Miracles which were not inferiour to those of Christ himself pretended to set up themselves for infallible Judges or exercise an arbitrary command over the judgments of other Men. They might indeed much more justly have claimed such a priviledge than any ever since their times As being personally infallible and endued with the power of working Miracles Yet they never endeavoured to command the assent of their hearers before they had informed and satisfied their Understandings But proceeded in a more rational method and following the example of their Master chose rather to convince their judgment with Arguments whose attention they had before excited by Miracles These Arguments when directed to the Jews were chiefly taken from the Old Testament Whose Prophecies they demonstrated to have plainly soretold and described the Actions and Sufferings of Christ of which Actions themselves were witnesses Thus we find St. Peter in his Sermon made to the Jews upon this Day to have used no other Method And not so much to have urged the Illustrious Miracle of the gift of Tongues newly conferred on them as the conformity of that and all other Actions of Christ to the Antient Predictions of the Prophets His Sermon in the following Chapter proceeds from the same Foundation And St. Stephen in the VII Chap. St. Paul in the XIII use no other Argument when Disputing against the Jews From a clear Interpretation of the Prophecies in Scripture concerning the Messias Philip convinced the Eunuch who was a Jewish Proselyte of the Divinity of Christ Acts VIII and Acts XVIII Apollos is said to have mightily convinced the Jews and that publickly shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. St. Paul pleading before King Agrippa endeavoured before all things to prove that he stood there to be judged for the hope of the Promise made by God unto the Fathers Acts XXVI 6. And ver 27. appealed to the Prophets and asked Agrippa whether he believed not them insinuating that if he truly believed the Prophets and understood their genuine Sense he could not but embrace the Christian Religion Lastly to say no more his Disputes with the Jews at Rome were employed in expounding and Testifying the Kingdom of God Perswading them concerning Jesus both out of the Law of Moses and out of the Prophets from Morning till Evening Acts XXVIII 23. It appears then That the chief reason of the choice of the Apostles to a familiar conversation with our Saviour before his Ascension was no other than that they might thereby be enabled to Testify and publish to the World his Actions Miracles and Sufferings which being received from them might then by every private Man be examined and compared with the
whether Divine or Humane who never could equal the Excellency of their Laws by the spotless Sanctity of their Lives Even Moses who had this Testimony from God that he was faithful in all his House did not always preserve inviolate that intire reliance on the Divine Power which he so earnestly and so often recommended to his People but offended at the waters of strife and was provoked to speak unadvisedly with his lips As for other Lawgivers whose Pretences to Revelation were either none or feigned they were little sollicitous to recommend the Practice of their Laws by their example thereby giving just occasion to suspect that they intended them rather for Politick than Religious ends not so much to promote vertue as to secure their own Interest It is the peculiar advantage of the Christian Religion that all the Precepts of it were exactly performed in the person of its Founder who gave us not only a Rule but an Example of perfect Piety In him all Noble and Divine Vertues eminently shone forth and yet in such a manner as might rather attract our Imitation than dazle our Contemplation Justly did he say of himself John IX 5. that while he was in the world he was the light of the world directing all Persons the way to Happiness by his illustrious Example and in the highest degree practising all those Vertues which in other Persons were singly admired Insomuch as we may justly apply to him in respect of all the parts of our Duty to God our selves and others what he said of himself in respect of Humility For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Joh. XIII 15. For it is not sufficient for us his Disciples to admire the Greatness and Excellency of his example he requires farther of us to do as he hath done that we express our obedience to him by the constant Imitation of his Life and Practice that we continue the remembrance of his incomparable Vertue and Piety by proposing them as a Pattern of perfection in all our Actions That we manifest our selves to be his Followers by the similitude of our Conduct in a word that the same mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus In treating of these words I shall divide my Discourse into three Heads I. I will shew that the Life of our Saviour was by God intended to be the Grand Example and Pattern of our Actions II. That it was the best and most compleat Example which could be proposed to us III. I will produce some Arguments inducing us to a careful Imitation of this Example I. That the Life of our Saviour Christ was intended to be the grand Pattern and Example of our Actions This appears not only from hence that it is the Duty of all Christians to live up to the Rules of Piety Temperance and Justice which the Gospel prescribeth and our Saviour in the most perfect manner practised and consequently to conform our Lives to his Example which however indirect is yet a most evident Argument but also from many other direct Arguments Of which I shall name some few 1. It appears from the whole Sequel and design of the four Gospels One great part of which is taken up in relating those Actions of our Saviour which serve only to demonstrate his admirable Vertue and Holiness In the whole Conduct of our Saviour and the History of it contained in the Gospels we may chiefly observe four Kinds of Matters which the Holy Ghost hath thought fit to convey to us by the writing of inspired Persons his Miracles the Conformity of his Life Death and all the Circumstances of them to the antient preceding Prophesies concerning the Messias his Doctrines and his Actions Of these the two first lead us to the knowledge of Christ the two latter direct us in it By his Miracles and the Conformity of his Life to the antient Prophesies of the Messias he abundantly proved himself to be a Divine Person the Son of God and the true Messias Who was to come into the world By his Doctrines and Practice he hath taught us the way to attain the same Happiness into which he is gone before us Now if we observe how great a part of the Gospels is taken up in relating Matters of the last sort if we consider that the Evangelists have taken no less care to acquaint us with these than with his Doctrines the immediate Rule of our Belief and Practice We cannot but conclude that they also were intended for a certain and infallible Rule of our Life and Conduct and proposed as the Object of our Imitation The Holy Ghost assureth us That all Scripture was written for our Instruction and although this is undoubtedly true of all parts of the Divine Scripture yet can it not with such evidence of Truth be affirmed of any part of it as of the Holy Gospels which contain the History of our Saviours Life and Actions These the Church in all Ages esteemed the most considerable part of that sacred Rule which was committed to her Care and given for her Direction It manifestly appears to have been the design of each Evangelist apart to deliver a compleat System of all things necessary to be known and done by all Christians and yet all conspired in nothing more than in giving a full Relation of the Vertues and Graces of our Blessed Saviour a plain Argument that the Holy Ghost which directed those sacred Pen-men and whose infallible Wisdom doth nothing in vain thought nothing more necessary than it to the knowledge of all Christians It becomes us as to adore the admirable Wisdom and Goodness of God in this Matter so to take Care least by neglecting to imitate the Example so studiously and fully proposed to us we defeat his most wise Contrivance 2. It is evidently manifest from the express Testimony of Scripture Our Saviour after he had performed that stupendious Act of Humility in washing his Disciples feet John XIII tells them ver 15. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you thereby intimating that by that Ceremony he designed nothing else than to teach them Humility that they should not presume to retain high Conceptions of their own worth and merit much less Pride and Ambition when they had seen him their Lord and Master condescend to execute the meanest Office of a Servant to them who were his domestick Servants And indeed the Action could be designed for no other end It had nothing miraculous in it tended not to the Completion of any antient Prophesie served not to demonstrate the Divinity of his Person and indeed had nothing excellent or admirable in it but as it conduced to this end And what greater Argument can we desire of the Life of Christ being proposed for our Imitation than that many of his Actions aimed at no other end than to draw us to the Practice of the most noble Vertues by the
priviledges of Nature and derogates not in the least from the Rules of Justice but forbids Men to be transported by Passion against their Adversaries and not to seek revenge for revenge sake that is it does not forbid to repair the loss of this Injury or prevent the like Injustice to himself or others for the future but to return the Injury and gratifie his anger in creating a like Inconvenience to his Adversary or maintaining an inward Hatred to him And herein the Spirit of Christianity most eminently discovers it self For to preserve the common Rights of Justice is no extraordinary matter for a revealed Religion to perform This the Dictates of Nature the Sense of our own temporal Interest and the Rules of civil Society may effect But to conquer those violent Passions of Hatred Anger and desire of Revenge to retain a quiet and undisturbed Mind amidst provoking Injuries and Affronts to entertain the insults of an Enemy rather with Pity than Resentment and manifest how little we were affected with them by a constant readiness to forgive them These are the proper Characters and most certain Marks of a Soul filled with the Love of God and plac't above the reach of humane things which hath an intire Command of the inferiour Faculties of the Body and doth in earnest pursue the ends of a Divine Religion These chiefly rendred the Life of Christ admirable and extraordinary and will make us the not unworthy Disciples of so great a Master Lastly the Charity of our Lord was correspondent to all the other perfections of his Mind that is most intense and of the highest degree Indeed this seems to have been the darling Vertue of the Blessed Jesus Which he studiously cultivated above all others to promote which all his designs did in some measure tend and his Example most directly lead All the Actions of his Life were almost so many Demonstrations of his Love to Mankind Even his Miracles which were primarily wrought to testifie his Divine Power bore eminent Characters of this Loving kindness being employed in healing the Diseases and supplying the wants of Men upon account of which the Apostle saith That he went about doing good and even his Enemies were forced to confess Mark VII 37. He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak But the highest Testimony of the Charity of our Saviour was his inestimable Love in the Redemption of Mankind his descent from Heaven ignominious Life upon Earth and at last most painful Death upon the Cross to rescue his own Creatures who had rebelled against him from the Power of Satan and the consequences of their own sins Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us 1 John III. 16. And greater love than this hath no man A Love so stupendious that it no less confounds the Apprehension than exceeds the imitation of finite Men. To this the highest Expressions of our Charity are but faint attempts and imperfect shadows A perfect imitation of it is beyond our Capacity and therefore not required but whatsoever is possible to us can be but a mean return to so vast an Obligation St. John therefore makes this easie and natural inference from it Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 John IV. 11. If our Creator loved us his Creatures who had nothing in us worthy his Love but had many ways offended and deserved his extreme Displeasure if he loved us to so wonderful a degree surely we ought to love our Fellow Creatures who have in them no less excellent Perfections than our Selves with all possible affection which however to the utmost of our power is yet infinitely beneath the Love wherewith he loved us Especially since our Saviour chiefly imposed this Condition on us in return of his infinite Kindness and that also in respect to his own Example John XIII 34 35. A new commandment I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another So that in this consisteth the very Life of Christianity without this no man can pretend to be the Disciple of our Lord. By this in the Apostolick times Christians were eminently distinguished from the rest of the world when they devoted all their Possessions to the Offices of Charity and had all things common An excess of Charity which however no longer Practicable than while the number of Disciples continued to be small and was therefore laid aside when the Church became numerous as being neither necessary nor convenient nor even possible yet clearly shews what was the primitive Genius of Christianity how exactly they followed the Footsteps of their Blessed Master and with what fervour of Charity they were indued A fervour which expired not with the disuse of that Apostolick Custom of sharing their Possessions in common but continued to exert it self for some Ages after in all possible Demonstrations of a real Charity Insomuch that the Heathens used to cry out in admiration See how these Galileans love one another If then we be unwilling to be accused of having disobeyed the great Commandment of our Saviour forsaken his Example and intirely lost the genuine Spirit of Christianity we must retreive that admirable Charity which was by him so mightily enjoyned practiced and bequeathed to his Disciples Thus I have considered the Example of our Lord in some of the greater lines and strokes of it and shewn it to have been in all respects the most excellent which could possibly be proposed to Mankind It remains that I urge the imitation of it in some few words First then the imitation of this Divine Example is the Duty of every Christian considered in the Notion of a Disciple which includes not only an Obligation of yielding an intire Obedience to the commands of Christ but also of following his Example as near as possible and that in the first place To assent to and obey the Divine Precepts is properly the Notion of a Believer but of a Disciple to imitate the Actions and Conduct of his Master And therefore the Patriarchs and Jews might well be called Believers in God but not the Disciples of God Precepts only were given to them the Divine Example was not proposed as a Rule unto them The Apostles of our Lord are also by way of eminence called his Disciples Because they were the constant Witnesses and Attendants of his Life who did partake of the same manner of living and were supposed to be his Companions as well in moral as natural Actions Although this Title is not so far appropriated to them as to be denied to us if we take the same care to follow the Example of our Lord and Master as they did We may follow it though at a distance we may pursue it though we cannot attain to it And that
worthily be executed upon Sinners in this World much lefs can the righteous receiâ—… the recompence of their just Deeds therein What Happiness can be bestowed upon Man in this mortal Life worthy either the Supernatural Gift of God or constant endeavours of Men Is it Riches or Prosperity sensual Delights and temporal Conveniences Alas that God should conferr no more noble Reward on his Servants and Followers That for such trifles only we should employ all the Faculties of our Soul and Body in a careful discharge of our Duty and universal Obedience to the Divine Laws That after our Labour and Study to procure the perfection of our Nature by Vertue Holiness and Obedience we should attain no other Reward than what even brute Beasts are capable of the Satisfaction of our Senses and ease of our Bodies Or if any voluptuous Person should be found so degenerous as to place his utmost Felicity in these carnal Enjoyments he would fall infinitely short of his designed Satisfaction although heaped with all the temporal Blessings of Heaven and Earth The constant thoughts of his approaching End which may be deferred but cannot be removed will imbitter all his Pleasures create a continual disquiet and torment him with perpetual Fears And then what an inconsiderable Happiness is that which an Ague or a Fever a Mistake or a Casualty may destroy So foolish is it for a pious Man to expect or desire the Completion of his Reward in this Life And yet much more if we consider that it would be as well impossible as unreasonable to exercise the most Noble and pleasing Acts of Vertue and Religion in such a state If Riches and Prosperity were entailed on just Men only there would be no room left for the exercise of Patience and Constancy under Affliction no occasion for Charity and Contentment in a word all the Beatitudes of the Gospel would be destroyed What greater Demonstration of Religion can there be than to conquer all the Temptations of the Flesh and despise the Pleasures of the World Yet this would then become not only indifferent but even unlawful being in that Case a Renunciation of the Supream Happiness and relinquishing the assigned Reward by God What more certain Manifestation of an ardent Love of God than to lay down our Lives for his sake or at least to forego all worldly Possessions when called to it Yet this would be then no less foolish than impracticable when God should suffer no Persecutions to arise and dispense no Rewards after Death It would then in Wisdom concern every Man to continue his Life and Possessions by all possible means and over-look all Interests standing in Competition with them Charity to miserable Persons would be unlawful for to the good who should be free from all Calamity it would be unuseful and to shew it to the bad in whom Misery were a Punishment would be to reverse and overthrow the Sentence of God Nay to proceed yet farther no Vertue or Vice Obedience or Disobedience to God would then take place For no Vertue is acceptable no Obedience deserveth any Reward from God any otherwise than as it is a free Act of our Soul strugling with the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil or its own corrupt Inclinations as it includes somewhat of difficulty in it somewhat which evidenceth a mature Choice of right Reason prevailing over the opposition of Lusts and Passions Whereas if Rewards and Punishments be executed in this Life nothing will be left wherein free-will may interpose all will indifferently strive to be good and it will be no less difficult then to be Wicked than it is now to be Pious when the Commands of God and the Temptations of the World and the Flesh shall draw the same way and the means to gratify our Carnal desires will be to yield our selves up to the Obedience of God What wonder will it be if Men then serve God when it is even their Temporal Interest and believe him to be a Righteous Judge when their own Senses permit them not to disbelieve it So that while the Nature of things remain while the Notions of Good and Evil continue while a real difference between Vertue and Vice is maintained and room left for the laudable exercise of free-will We cannot judge it possible or expedient that the Final Sentence of God upon all Men should be Executed in this Life I will add but one consideration more which is that Punishments cannot be inflicted on Wicked Men in this Life without making Good Men at the same time miâ—…erable It would be highly unreasonable to expect from God the benefit of a constant Miracle in favour of Good Men which may rescue them from the common calamities of Pestilence Sword or Famine Or if so great a discrimination could be allowed Good Men would necessarily be involved in the same sufferings by their compassion by the loss and torments of their dearest Friends and nearest Relations who being tormented for their Sins in this Life would interrupt all the pleasures of Pious and Compassionate Men by their Shrieks and Clamours It is impossible to conceive what a Scence of horror theEarth would then be if God should choose to execute his Vengeance upon Sinners in this World What a Face of Cruelty and Desolation would then appear It would then bear so true a resemblance of Hell that Good Men would rather choose to be annihilated than to be present in it So that even for the sake of Good Men the Punishment of the bad is deferred to another Life And thus I hope I have at last abundantly satisfied you both of the Justice and Wisdom of God in Forming both the Decrees mentioned in my Text of appointing all Men once to Die and in exercising a Final Judgment not till after Death We may perhaps imagine that we are long since convinced of the Truth of this But if we descend into our own Souls and examin them throughly I fear we shall find too much reason to question the reality of our conviction We are inured to sensual things and sensual proofs and apt to disbelieve all that we are told of another Life because the experience of sense doth not confirm it We are too prone to call in question the Justice and Providence of God if he interposeth not in our behalf in this World we are ready to believe that the wicked escape his knowledge when they Die in peace and a seeming neglect of the Righteous in this Life betrays us into a false opinion that they are equally forgotten in the next Or if we cannot find in our Souls any traces of such incredulity and suspicions I am sure our Actions will discover them We believe that it is appointed for all Men once to die and yet put the thoughts of it far from us We are assured that we cannot escape that Fatal Sentence and yet live as if we were not concerned in it We despair of prolonging our Life
them and when neglecting their Duty punished them in an extraordinary manner as he tells them in the Prophet Amos Chap. III. Ver. 2. You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore you beyond others will I punish for all your Iniquities And if God requireth a greater return of Obedience in proportion to a clearer manifestation of himself and more signal Obligations we must conclude our selves far more nearly concerned than were the Jews as in the Divine Favours so in the obligation of Obedience according to the Apostles Argument Hebr. X. He that despised Moses Law died without mercy Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace Such is our Relation to God considered as a King But then the Apostlc implyeth yet somewhat further by calling him a King eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where I will not insist on their interpretation who suppose by the Term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be meant all other immaterial Beings of what Dignity soever that so the opinion of some HeathenPhilosophers and many Ancient Hereticks may be excluded who introduced many immaterial Beings co-ordinate to God and not subject to him This Interpretation even although it should be true is too nice for a Discourse of this nature The more natural and useful Importance of this word is that as God hath been our King ever since the first Creation of the World so he will continue his Government for ever and exercise it not only till the dissolution of this present Fabrick of the World but as long as any immaterial Beings shall exist that is through all Ages A consideration which cannot but powerfully incline us to adore the Majesty of God and strike us with a Reverent awe of him while we remember that even Death cannot rescue us from the influence of his Government and execution of his Wrath if we shall have deserved it Earthly Princes can maintain their Power no longer than their Lives and reach not the Soul of Man whereas God is our King not only in this Life but to all Eternity not only while the Soul is joyned to the Body here but after Death whiles it continueth in a separate State and after the Resurrection also when it shall be again re-joyned to the Body How then ought we to revere how to Adore that God to whose Government we shall be subject to all eternity from whose Dominion not even Death can rescue us and in whose Hands are both Soul and Body Further while we reflect on the continuation of the Divine Government over us to all Ages we cannot but remember and prepare for a Judgment to come If he be then also our King he will certainly exert his Power in a severe trial of our Lives and Actions and in dispensing Rewards and Punishments when the Nature of things the Constitution of the World and his own most wise Decrees shall permit an impartial Judgment to be exercised that is after Death It was the comfort antiently of brave spirits among the Heathens by whom self-Murder was generally though erroneously believed in many cases to be Lawful that they could easily free themselves from the threats and oppression of a Tyrant by a voluntary Death and is the comfort of us Christians that we can baffle and overthrow all the designs of the most outragious Violence at least by a generous Death but who can rescue a Sinner from the anger of God or how shall we escape his Judgment if he be our Governour after Death also to all Ages the King Eternal The next Attribute ascribed to God in my Text is Immortality which however it may seem coincident with the former Attribute is very different from it That denotes the Eternity of his Government this either the Eternity or the Immutability of his Nature For the word used in the Original implyeth both and both mightily conduce to raise in us an extraordinary dread and veneration of God Eternity confidered in the Divine Nature is the most Transcendent and Essential of all the perfections belonging to it and indeed the Fountain of them For whatsoever is Eternal that is independent of any other Cause includeth a necessity of Existence in its own Nature and therefore may in some sense be said to give a Being to it self But whatsoever can give a Being to it self can add all other perfections so that no Being can be Eternal which is not infinitely and supremely perfect From hence all other Beings derived their perfections which being variously and obscurely divided among the several parts of the Creation are all united and concentre in the Creator It is impossible for our finite Souls to comprehend the fulness of this infinite Perfection we can only entertain a faint resemblance of it and comparing it to the several excellencies of Created Beings imagin it yet somewhat greater than them all We admire the brightness of the Sun and cannot without astonishment view the Beauty of the World We revere the Power of Princes and have sometimes been amazed at the Wisdom and Knowledge of Men. The Nature of Angels is far more Glorious and their perfections more refined These are the most excellent Patterns of the Divine Attributes but alas imperfect Patterns which hold no correspondence with the Original Yet if we cannot but admire these how Glorious and far exceeding all imagination must the Fountain of them be of which these are no other than minute Streams or obscure Rays To so glorious so infinitely perfect a Being what Adoration is not due what Sacrifice less than of our selves and all the faculties of Soul and Body can be proportionate On the other side if we reflect that this so infinite and perfect a Being hath admitted us to a near participation of himself in this Life and promised to us a much nearer in the next that he hath entailed unconceivable Rewards on the faithfulObservers of his Commands and threatned the most rigorous punishments to the Violaters of them and then that all this will be most certainly performed that his Nature and Decrecs are immutable that in him there is no variableness neither shadow of change we have all imaginable reason to apply our selves diligently to perform the conditions annexed to these Rewards as being assured of the success if we faint not because he who is faithful hath promised The next Attribute of God is Invisibility which is a necessary consequence of the precedent Perfections it being impossible that any thing visible or material should be infinitely Perfect or Eternal For the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal 2 Cor. IV. 18. This formerly distinguished the true Worshipers of God from Heathens and Idolaters who framed to themselves visible Gods and is not without use even
Promises of Reward annexed to Repentance because these ought so much the more to affect us by how much the more they concern us The Reward proposed to the Jews was no more than the temporary Possession of a fruitful Countrey to which perhaps some Men would not value their Title that they might gratifie their Lusts. Yet it is recorded as a heinous Aggravation of the impiety of the Jews That they thought scorn of that pleasant land and gave no credence unto his words In the Christian Religion more noble Rewards are proposed Rewards with which nothing in this World can stand in Competition and yet all bestowed upon this single Condition of Repentance which if it be neglected may we not reasonably conclude that the Reward it self is despised How then shall God oblige Men to his Service if this be ineffectual He propofeth eternal Felicity they preferr temporal Satisfaction a Satisfaction so far beneath true Happiness that it carrieth no Contentment along with it and in a short time becometh nauseous He grants this upon easie Conditions and yet Men think it not worth the while to bestow that easie Labour he bestows it upon sinful Men who are thereby his professed Enemies and yet they think not themselves obliged by the Gift of it They harden their Hearts against these powerful Impressions and suffer not themselves to be mollified by the most endearing kindness Men may perhaps imagine that it will never be too late to undertake the Acquisition of this Reward that it may be securely neglected till the last Scene of Life But surely it cannot but be highly unreasonable even to endanger the hopes of so great a Purchase for the sake of any worldly Pleasure which so infinitely transcends all the Satisfaction which this Life can afford Not to say that it is impossible to preserve any true Satisfaction in this Life without a probable assurance of the Fruition of the next Men may for a while stifle the natural Desires and Notions of their Souls and cloud the Dictates of Conscience Yet the Soul cannot but sometimes free it self from this affected Stupidity and being by the Light of Reason assured of its own immortal Nature look forward into the Ages to come and be folicitous of its future State It will then perceive that that future state is an Abyss of time in comparison to this present Life and remember the distinction of Bliss and Misery appointed by God to the departed Souls of good or wicked Men. What a dismal Prospect will it then be to a Soul employed in these Meditations to consider that the distinction of these States is most certain but the Application of either of them to themselves most uncertain unless the hopes of Happiness be secured by a timely Repentance Not to say that that Soul cannot appear before God without extream Astonishment which God by all his glorious Promises could not induce to Repentance and Obedience to his Laws when the Devil could tempt it by petty Lusts and foolish Pleasures to its own destruction If then the Propositions made by God to penitent Christians be infinitely more perswasive than all the Temptations to Sin and Disobedience surely to stand out against them and refuse to embrace them till we can Sin no more is a most foolish and deplorable Obduration Further the impenitent Sinner manifests the hardness of his Heart by contemning the dreadful Punishments denounced by God against him And in this beyond other Arguments consists that execrable Obduration which is charged upon Impenitence And upon this account Pharaoh is chiefly said to have hardned his Heart that when he had felt the most terrible Punishments inflicted upon himself and his Nation and saw others yet more grievous ready to be executed upon him after so many Plagues and Threats employed for his Correction he continued yet obstinate and as it were defied God Or that I may come nearer to my Text The most wicked Aggravation of the Obduration of the Jews in the wilderness was their contempt of the Divine Punishments To them the highest Punishment was a temporal Death And although by natural Reason they might conclude that a Judgment and more impartial Execution attended Sinners in another Life yet that was not revealed to them to whom as no more than temporal Rewards were promised so no other than temporal Punishments were threatned God had given frequent and terrible Instances of his Justice in this kind by destroying the most notorious Delinquents among them by Sword Pestilence Earthquake Fire from Heaven and many other ways yet far from being terrified by these and discouraged from displeasing God when their foolish Desires were not gratified in opposition to the Divine Pleasure they feared not openly to declare their Contempt of his punishments and themselves rather willing to undergo them than submit to his Commands As when they cryed out Numb XIV 2. Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness and more remarkably Numb XX. 3. Would God that we had died when our brethren That is Core Dathan and Abiram died before the Lord. A sober Man might perhaps imagine it impossible to parallel so enormous an Obstinacy did not the daily Experience of Christians confute his Supposition who dare withstand the Threats of eternal Fire and harden their Hearts against any impression from them It may perhaps not be unaccountable that resolute and desperate Persons should despise a temporal Death when not affrighted with any succeeding Judgment but to slight a Punishment extream in its sharpness and perpetual in its Duration is such a hardness of Heart as although acccompanied with no other Crimes might justly deserve to undergo the utmost Extremity of the Punishment For the most wise contrivance of God provided the Torments of Hell not only for the Punishment of the wicked after Death but also for the Correction of all in this Life that by the Fears of them they might be affrighted from the Commission of Sin and even enforced to Repentance if a most stupid Obduration of mind did not intervene To all these Aggravations of impenitence I should be unwilling to add that none of the least or less usual Causes of it is a perfect unbelief of the Revelations Promises or Threats of God all Professors of Christianity being unwilling that the sincerity of their Belief should be called in question did not the Apostle ascribe it to this cause who citing the words of my Text Hebr. III. and exaggerating the Obstinacy of the Jews ascribes it chiefly to their unbelief in the last Verse having before warned all Christians least there be in any of them an evil Heart of unbelief And surely not without reason For it cannot well be conceived that the Belief of these things should consist with a willful continuance in Impenitence that any Man should really believe that there are Rewards and Punishments prepared for Men in another Life both infinite and inexpressible
not the part of a Rational Being considers not what distinguisheth him from a Beast the existence of his Soul after death and the capacity of receiving Rewards or Punishments from his Supreme Judge after the dissolution of the Body Beasts are capable of a good or bad Condition while Life is continued to them and if a Man imagins that nothing attends him beyond this Life he doth therein compare or level him-self with the Beasts that perish Yet perhaps it may be imagined that this mistake was pardonable in the Jews to whom our Saviour spoke whose Religion taught them not to expect any Rewards or Punishments beyond the extent of this Life whose Arguments of Obedience were an Earthly Canaan a fruitful Land a long Life and abundance of Temporal Blessings their punishments no other than the loss of these by Captivity Oppression Calamities or sudden Death Their Fathers received no other promises their Law taught no other and therefore it was but natural for them to believe that signal Calamities were the Indications of the Divine displeasure arising from Sin and freedom from Misfortunes Arguments of the continuance of the Divine Favour to particular Persons Thus the Apostles seeing a blind Man presently asked their Lord whether for his own sin or for the sin of his Parents that Calamity was inflicted on him And in this Chapter the Jews not partaking with the Galileans in their miserable end immediately concluded that neither had they partaken with them in the guilt which they supposed drew that end upon them Yet notwithstanding all this the Error of the Jews was not excusable Their Religion did not warrant them to make any such conclusions which proposed indeed no other than Temporal Rewards or Punishents to them yet did not Teach that no other were to be expected by them The cause of their mistake was that what God had only promised to the whole Nation of the Jews together they applyed to all the Members of it in particular He engaged by his promise to bestow upon that Nation a Fruitful Land to continue the possession of it to them while his Worship and Obedience to his Laws was publickly and generally maintained to make them fruitful to multiply them and bless them by giving them Fruitful Seasons secure Peace or at least Victory over the disturbers of their Peace He threatned to deprive them of their Possessions to afflict thém with the Sword and Pestilence to deliver them up to the Will of their Enemies and deny the kind influences of Heaven to them if they sorsook his Worship or generally violated his Laws In this general Prosperity and Calamity of the whole Nation the promised Rewards or threatned Punishments of every particular Man were included and no otherwise God no where promiseth to them that he would by an extraordinary interposition preserve the Possessions the Peace and Plenty of a few good Men when the prevailing and almost Universal Apostacy of the Nation did require a general Punishment In that case those few good Men were to share in the common Calamity and retain no advantage beyond the others besides the peace of their own Conscience and the hopes of receiving from God hereafter a Reward of their Obedience Neither did he threaten that he would extraordinarily punish the wickedness of a few Men when the generality of the Nation should continue in Obedience to him They shared in the common Benefits of their Nation and for the punishment of their particular Sins were reserved to a future Judgment We find indeed in the History of the Old Testament that God did oft-times rescue good Men from a general Calamity as Caleb and Josh'ua in the Wilderness Jeremy in the Captivity of Babylon and many others On the other side he sometimes inflicted exemplary punishments upon private Sinners while the whole Body of the Nation preserved intire their Obedience and therefore still enjoyed their Peace as in the case of Achan and Uzziah But these are to be esteemed so many extraordinary Acts of Providence exercised for the vindication of his Justice and Government not in vertue of the Covenant which he made with that People which we find chiefly in the Book of Deuteronomy and therein can discover no other than general threats or promises made not to particular Persons but to the whole Nation taken in Society That the Covenant of God included no more is manisest from the practice of following Times For far be it from us to imagine that God violated his Covenant yet we find that in after Ages the Good were involved in the general Calamities of the Nation and the Bad often escaped unpunished in this World An undeniable proof that the contrary practice was never any part of the Covenant made by God with that People Thus Mordecai and Daniel were carried away in the Captivity thus Jeroboam and Ahab reigned securely The Psalmist complains that the Wicked enjoyed all the satisfactions of Life and came in no misfortunes like other Men while the Good were Persecuted Afflicted and Killed all Day long Whereas if God had promised external Happiness to every good Man of that Church in particular or denounced visible Punishments upon the hainous Sins of every single Sinner it is no more possible any such Conduct should have followed than that God should lye It was therefore no other than a falsé perswasion of the Jews that such sensible Rewards or Punishments were entailed upon every one of them in particular That terrible Calamities were certain Arguments of every hainous Crimes though unknown to Men and that eminent prosperity was a certain mark of the Favour of God was the Opinion of the Jews whom our Saviour here opposeth and before them of the Friends of Job whose Arguments do all proceed upon this Principle and which occasioned all those querulous expostulations with God in the Book of Psalms concerning the prosperity of the Wicked and the afflictions of the Pious Rather the Jews ought to have concluded that since God distinguished not always the Good and Bad by visible Marks of his Favour or Disfavour since he suffered his Prophets and Devout Worshippers to be Stoned to be Sawn asunder to Wander about in misery and suffer all those afflictions which the Author to the Hebrews Elegantly describeth since he permitted the most notorious Sinners to go on still in their wickedness to live in Plenty and dye in Peace themselves had grosly mistaken the Intent of his Promise and the Nature of his Covenant and that a visible Impunity in this Life was no more an Argument of their own Innocence than it was of those prosperous Sinners at whose continued Happiness they murmured and whose impiety at the same time they could not deny A right Notion concerning the manner of the Divine Conduct and distribution of Justice under the Jewish dispensation will contribute much to remove a like prejudice from our Minds with what they entertained For if under the Jewish Law which confined it self wholly
to the Actions and Concerns of this Life God neither promised nor exercised any such constant visible Justice which might distinguish the Good from the Bad and sensibly teach Men the necessity of Repentance much less can it be expected that in the more spiritual Religion of Christ and more abstracted from the Interests of the World any such discrimination of Good and Bad by External Circumstances of prosperity should take place that God should constantly awaken the negligence of slothful Christians by severe and visible Judgments or if he doth not should be thought to approve their Conduct Yet is this Error almost as frequent among Christians as it was formerly among the Jews While Men enjoy the satisfactions of this Life securely and find themselves at ease they fondly imagine that Heaven also hath declared it self in Favour of them and are not willing to entertain a thought of the displeasure of God towards their vicious Courses least the thoughts of it should abridge their present Happiness They are told indeed of the pleasures and punishments of another Life but conceiving no greater pleasure than what they now enjoy nor fearing any greater punishment than the deprivation of that enjoyment because they find the possession of it continued to them they â—…magine themselves secure and think that they either have escaped the Divine Punishment or not deserved it To be convinced of the unreasonableness of this conclusion we need only reflect upon the example of our Blessed Saviour who notwithstanding he was most dear to God publickly declared to be his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased and even in respect of his Humane Nature taken separately said to increase in favour with God and Man yet in the Opinion of the World led a miserable and afflicted Life underwent all those things which the sensual appetite of Man most dreadeth as Poverty Hunger Pain and a Violent Death yet all this while continued to be the most beloved Son of God In conformity to his Example his Apostles to whom he so often professed an extraordinary Love suffered all the sensible inconveniencies of this Life and were yet the peculiar Favourites of their Lord and Master now Exalted into Heaven So that Temporal affliction is by no means any Indication of the displeasure of God nor the contrary of his Favour So then in vain do Men reject or deferr Repentance because they see not the constant execution of his displeasure upon Notorious Sinners in this World For how should that displeasure exert it self Not in Poverty Afflictions or in Temporal Calamities For these we find in our Lord himself and his dearest Servants and therefore can never be any Argument of the dis-favour of God Yet from these Characters alone Man would take his measures who fondly imagineth nothing to be more dreadful than such Disasters and knoweth no greater misery than what ariseth from them while he consulteth his Sense alone But God seeth not as Man seeth he knoweth what will be real Happiness and Misery to Man and therein placeth his Rewards and Punishments As his Rewards are not adapted to the sensual imaginations of Men so neither are his Punishments to their Fears and Passions What they suppose to be a severe Punishment may possibly be a Benefit but certainly is so small a Punishment as does not at all compensate the guilt of having offended an Infinite Majesty To revenge therefore the Wickedness of Men wholly in this Life could not but come far short of the demerit of their Actions and after all would but little contribute to manifest the Divine Justice of God or excite the Repentance of Men since what God would in that case inflict would be far different from what Men esteem the greatest misery which renders the constant execution of Divine Justice in this Life unpracticable Other considerations make it unreasonable And first the Wisdom of God hath appointed some time wherein Man should give a trial of his Obedience and live in a State of Probation during which time neither Rewards nor Punishments of his Actions should ordinarily be distributed but both reserved till that Probation should expire and the last resolutions of Man were known This time can be no other than that of Life on Earth in which Man at his first entrance hath proposed to him the Arguments of Obedience to God the Rewards of that Obedience and all other Motives to his Duty On the other side the pleasures of Sin allure him the suggestions of evil Spirits tempt him the want of consideration fits him to follow the directions of sense alone and not to trouble himself with any other Interest than that of this Life His Will and the freedom of choice is still reserved intire to him Life and Death is set before him as it was by Moses before the Jews he is at liberty to choose which he pleaseth still remembring that upon his conduct in this Life depends the Happiness or Misery of his future State In the mean time God ordinarily affrights him not into his Duty by a certain Execution of Punishment consequent in this Life to the Commission of his sins neither doth he draw him to Obedience by the sensible experience of Rewards For that would destroy all the merit of Faith or Obedience since the Actions of Men would then proceed from the dictates of their own sense not upon the principle of believing this because God hath said it or doing that because God hath Commanded it I say that ordinarily God doth not dispose Men to Obedience by the sensible experience of Justice executed in this Life although often in mercy to Mankind he doth extraordinarily in this Life Reward the eminent good Actions of his Obedient Servants and Punish the more notorious Sins of wicked Men. This he doth for the Vindication of his Justice and for the Instruction of other Men to whom beside the ordinary Light of Revelation he doth sometime indulge these extraordinary admonitions But this is not to be drawn into any Rule by us we may not hence conclude that Prosperity is an Argument of the Favour of God or the not inflicting of exemplary Revenge a sign of Reconciliation with him Rather we ought to judge that the time of this Life God hath given us for a Trial of Obedience during which he patiently awaits our Resolution All this our Lord manifests to us in the parable of the Tares which the Housholder would not suffer to be plucked up till the time of Harvest but till then be mixed securely among the Corn plainly insinuating that the ordinary providence of God should in this Life make no discrimination between the Good and Bad but suffer both alike to live secure without any denunciation of his Judgment till the time of Harvest which himself explains to be the time of the last Judgment when the Tares and the Wheat should be severed from each other This proceeding indeed doth shock the common understanding of Men but that ariseth from
this prejudice that Men forming Rules from like Cases of this World fondly imagine that Men have escaped all possibility of punishment when they have put off the Body as the Tyrant said of his Adversary who had killed himself that he had escaped his Hands In that case Men see not the punishment inflicted on them and then those who are wont to consult the report of sense alone will not believe it little considering that it is impossible the Soul of Man should perish that after the dissolution of the Body it is no less capable of Reward or Punishment since by that alone it is that Man even in this Life is sensible of either that after Death it ceaseth not to be the Creature of God subject to his Dominion and responsible for all its Actions done in this Life which was the time of Probation allowed to it All this is illustrated by the Parable following in this Chapter which our Lord purposely delivered in confirmation of what he had spoken in the Text. There God is represented in the Person of the Possessor of a Vineyard wherein was an unfruitful Vine the ordinary apprehensions of Men are represented in the Dresser of that Vineyard who perceiving the unfruitfulness of the Vine presently crieth out that it ought to be cut down that it cumbreth the Ground that it should be rooted up and cast out of the Vineyard The Owner of the Vineyard on the contrary commandeth it should be let alone for some while longer that it may fully appear if perhaps it will ever bear Fruit during which he willeth the Dresser of his Vineyard to dig about it and dung it to promote the fertility of it by all means possible and if after all it continueth unfruitful then giveth sentence that it shall be cut down During the time of this Life God executeth not his final sentence upon Men he doth not immediately deliver them up to the Tormenter upon the first Act of disobedience for then alas who could be saved But with an admirable patience awaits their Repentance till the end of Life when there is no more place of Repentance left and in the mean time promotes it by the solicitations of his Spirit by the admonitions of his Pastors by all imaginable methods which may incline the Will of Man without putting any force upon it If then in this Life we find not the just recompence of our evil Actions it is not because they have escaped the knowledge of God or pass unregarded by him it is not because they deserve not the Divine Vengeance or that we continue in his Favour but because he will not alter the method of his most prudent Government of the World nor violate the ordinary Rules of it by which he hath determined this World to be the Stage of Action for Mankind and the next to be the Seat of Judgment Yet may not this forbearance of God encourage Men to deferr their Repentance till the end of their Life That St. Paul tells us Rom. 2. Is to despise the riches of the goodness forbearance and long-suffering of God and thereby to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Our Lord throughout all his Gospel warns Men concerning the suddenness and unexpected time of his coming to Judgment in prevention of this fatal errour What his second coming was to the Jews and what his last coming in Judgment will be to all Mankind that Death is to us which if it finds us unprepared all the miseries which Christ denounced should befall them will fall on us Nor if Life were assured to us could we at all times form such a true Repentance as would qualifie us for the Mercy of God which consists not in a transient sorrow for past Sins but in a total change of all the vicious habits and inclinations of the Will Nor lastly is there any pardon promised to presumptuous sins deliberately committed in prospect of the pardon offered to all truly penitent sinners But of the Nature Necessity and Benefits of Repentance I shall speak more largely in the further prosecution of these words in my next Discourse The Eleventh SERMON PREACH'D March 23d 16889 90. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Luk. XIII 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish IN my last Discourse I described to you the Reason and the Excellency of the Institution of this Holy Season To improve which I proposed to treat of Repentance from these words and therein observed the occasion of them which was a pernicious mistake of the Jews that the Divine Justice not punishing the Sins of men in this Life did thereby warrant them and that the Defect of such a visible Execution was an Argument of the little necessity of Repentance In opposition to which I shew you that however the Jewish Revelation might give some Countenance to such an Opinion yet that they had therein mistaken their Law That under Christianity there is yet much less Pretence to entertain such a perswasion which is contrary to the Constitution of humane Nature to the Wisdom of God and to the present Order of the world settled by him the Author of it Lastly That however God doth ordinarily bear with the Sins of men in this Life and deferr the Punishment of them to another world yet that this giveth no reasonable Encouragement to men to put off their Repentance till the end of their Lives After having removed these obstacles of Repentance I proceed to enforce the Duty and direct you in the use of it The Motive to Repentance is taken from the plain words of the Text being the certainty of Destruction without Repentance pronounced by our Lord Except ye repent ye shall perish And the Usefulness of it is insinuated in the same words that by Repentance if true sincere and rightly applied Destruction may be avoided These two then shall be the Heads of my present Discourse And first I will improve the Argument of Repentance drawn from the inevitable consequence of Destruction attending the want of it and endeavour to convince you of the certainty of that Consequence The Evidence of the Argument when once a full Conviction is formed of the truth of it is manifest being taken from that which most affects Mankind their own Interest It were indeed more noble to pay our just Obedience to God rather from a Sense of Duty than that of Interest rather out of Gratitude to God for the many Benefits received from him and a Conviction of the entire Subjection due to that Almighty Being than from the fear of Punishment or the hope of Reward But such is the weakness of humane Nature so corrupted is his Will and so much darkened his Understanding that this Argument hath been ever found insufficient God therefore of his infinite Mercy hath been pleased to employ that more sensible Argument of Profit and Interest by propofing Rewards to his obedient Servants and denouncing Punishments to obstinate Sinners An Argument which cannot fail if Man
and not broke loose from the Chains and Dominion of the Devil The state of our Lord and his Church were indeed at that time in the highest confusion without any Consolation or apparent possibility of Recovery Yet much greater is the Misery of an unrepentant Sinner who suffers all this thro' his own Fault and until he be regenerate seeth no approaching Delivery From all these Calamities our Saviour and his Church were rescued by his glorious Resurrection And from all these Miseries is unhappy Man delivered by his Regeneration Our Lord by his Resurrection vindicated his Honour from the Blasphemies of Jews and Gentiles who had argued against his Divinity from the seeming Imperfections of his Sufferings overthrew the design of wicked Spirits endeavouring to defeat the Success of his Mission by the Ignominy of the Cross and delivered his Church from that Disgrace and Despair which it had by his Death incurred Such were the Benefits and Glories of this days Resurrection and no less are the Advantages of rising with Christ from Sin unto a new Life which removeth that Stain and Imperfection introduced into our Nature by Sin restores it to that primitive Glory which it obtained in the State of Innocence rescueth us from the Slavery of the Devil repairs the Honour and Integrity of our Souls and renders us infinitely Happy by making us Partakers of the Divine Favour For this was none of the least Arguments which inhanced the Glory os Christ's Resurrection that God by interposing in so extraordinary a manner in his behalf evidently manifested how dear he was unto him whom he would not leave in Hell in a state of Disgrace nor suffer to see corruption This raised him beyond the Degree of all mortal and corruptible Men and placed him in such an height of Glory as cannot be resembled by any thing but the Regeneration of a Christian wherein God interposeth by his Power not so visibly indeed but no less miraculously converting assisting and confirming him by his Grace without which this admirable Change cannot be effected A Change which however in an inferiour Degree declares the Power and the Love of God who produceth Habits of the most exalted Vertue in a Soul before overwhelmed with Sin and Wickedness For Resurrection denotes not only a Deliverance from the Calamities of Death and Corruption but also an enabling any one to renew an active Course of Life Our Lord was not barely content to rescue his Body from the Grave and the insults of his Enemies but he carried it with him triumphantly into Heaven and there sitting at the right hand of God employeth it in Conjunction with his Divine Nature to mediate continually the Redemption of Man If then we be risen with Christ we must manifest the truth of our Resurrection by vital Actions proper to a new and spiritual Life which are the Exercise of all spiritual Vertues and a strict Conformity to the Laws of that new Society with Heaven wherein we are engaged Farther a bare recovery of Life deserveth not the Title of a Resurrection for then the intermediate Death would have been of no advantage at least it reacheth not the illustrious Example of our Lord's Resurrection who after that was endued with a farr more glorious State than before his Death Before his Crucifixion he was subject to all the Infirmities of humane Nature Sin only excepted after his Resurrection exempted from them all-Before his Passion subject to change and decay after his Resurrection instated in an eternal and immutable Possession of Glory For as St. Paul amplifies this very matter Rom. VI. 9. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him His Life preceding and following his Resurrection were infinitely different that contemptible and mean this glorious and terrible that common with the rest of Mankind this exalted above all the Infirmities of humane Nature And this is the Reason why our Saviour conversed not openly among the Jews after his Resurrection as he had done before from that time a new and different State of Life was to commence never any more to be altered or relinquished Whence we are taught that to come up to the Resurrection of our Lord and Master and express it nearly in our Lives we ought to exceed what is required of us in a Natural State and improve our Obedience farther than was exacted of us in a State wherein no more than temporary Rewards were promised at least that after our Entrance into a new Life after our Profession of Christianity we walk invariably whereunto we have attained that we suffer not our selves to relapse into our former State which we relinquished bydying with Christ and deprive our selves of the Benefit of partaking in his Resurrection by a similitude in this Life which might otherwise secure to us a nearer imitation of him by a glorious Resurrection in the next Of this the Resurrection of our Lord giveth us the greatest assurance Without that signal Confirmation of the truth of the Divine Promises Men would have been prone to dis-believe them It seemed a matter incredible both to Jews and Gentiles that God should after many Ages recollect the scattered parts of a dead Body and reuniting them into their former Frame once more animate them with a living Soul This to some seemed impossible to others improbable But both were refuted by the Example of our Lord's Resurrection which was to that purpose always urged by the Apostles in their Preaching and is employed by St. Paul as the chief Argument against the incredulity of the Corinthians in the 1 Epist. XV. Chapter God had promised as well to raise up Mankind at the last day as to raise up his Son on the Third day and the certain Completion of this latter Promise secured the Belief of the former there being no more effectual Argument to perswade Men to rely upon the Promise of future Benefits than to demonstrate to them how all preceding Promises were infallibly performed And thus in some sense all Mankind may be said to rise with Christ inasmuch as Christ being risen from the dead is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. XV. 20. That as the whole Mass is sanctified by the Dedication of the first Fruits so all Mankind received an earnest of the Divine Promises concerning their Resurrection in the Person of Christ. But then in a more particular and proper manner all faithful Christians may be said to rise with Christ. There is a Resurrection to Death as well as Life a terrible as well as a desireable Resurrection To rise therefore with Christ is the happy Resurrection and That as St. Peter tells us 1 Epist. I. 4. is to rise to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us That this will be the Reward of all good and pious Christians the Resurrection of their Lord and Master is sufficient assurance to them To such Christ is a Head