them to appease the displeasure of God and to make some compensation for their offences against him as by punishing themselves for them by severities which they exercised upon their own bodies and sometimes upon their own children I mention these things to shew in what anxiety of mind the very Heathen were by reason of the operation of natural conscience under the sense of their guilt of sin and of their obnoxiousness to God thereby And this sense and these fears as the effect of natural conscience were increased and heightned as it pleased God by his secret operation upon the mind to give weight unto them as we may easily conceive by what befel Cain and Judas in that case when they were so unable as they were to bear the lashings of their own consciences Nor could their Sacrifices give that case to their guilty consciences which they sought for by them unless they could have discerned more of proportion in them to the nature of the Immortal God which made Heaven and Earth than they could with any great confidence fansie there was to make compensation to him for their offences Those Sacrifices which the Jews offered from time to time though by Gods own appointment could never make those for whom they were offer'd perfect as pertaining to the conscience as the Apostle speaks Heb. 10. They could not purge the conscience from those fears and troublesome apprehensions which the sense of the guilt of sin raised in them For which cause they and not onely sinners of the Gentiles were through fear of death all their life time subject unto bondage as not knowing for all those Sacrifices what the event and consequence of death might be unto guilty persons obnoxious to God Heb. 2.15 It is true indeed these impressions of natural Religion are not made by God on all men alike and consequently all are not alike awakened by them though none I presume are without fears and doubts more or less about their future state until they are cured of them by living up to principles of revealed religion or else by a desperate course of sinning have sinned themselves into a kind of reprobate mind and become past feeling And then indeed they may through searedness of conscience come to have little or no feeling of those disquieting effects of the guilt of sin where of I speak But men do not come to this until they have greatly neglected and not attended to this teaching of the Father by impressions of natural Religion not until they have been labouring to put all thoughts about their future state and their liableness to Gods displeasure out of their minds that they might be no more troubled with them But when men will needs deal thus from time to time with God and themselves and bid God himself and all serious thoughts about another World depart from them then indeed God many times withdraws his secret way of working upon their minds by powerful impressions of natural Religion yea and of revealed Religion too in like case and leaves them to fall into that spiritual slumber or sleep St. Paul speaks of Rom. 11.8 By which sleep the inward senses of their souls are bound up as the bodily senses in bodily sleep are so that they no more hear see feel or perceive in a spiritual sense what God says or does to them than a man in a natural sleep does perceive what is spoken or done to him But this is not the case of those whom the Father by his teaching draws to Christ he keeps their conscience waking and makes sin uneasie to them by the fears it raises in their minds of what may be the event of all at last Now such an operation of God upon the mind as I have been speaking of hath certainly a tendency in it to draw men to Christ when sufficiently revealed and to make them willing to receive the Gospel and to become his Disciples And the reason hereof is taken from the suilableness that is between the minds of men so affected and the Gospel Men so prepared by the Fathers teaching are sensible of the troublesom and dangerous condition into which Sin hath brought them And nothing can be more acceptable to such than a discovery and offer of that which will give ease unto their troubled thoughts and doubtful minds and this the Gospel of Christ is exactly fitted and provided to do This Gospel discovers unto them that the guilt of sin as to the penal part is taken away by the Son of God and by his suffering for them This Gospel contains a Proclamation from Heaven publishing and declaring Gods willingness upon the account of his Sons suffering for them to be reconciled to and to pardon all sinners whatsoever that will but cease from their wilful rebellion against him and come under his Sons most gentle and gracious government his easie yoke and light burden Such good news as this was a suitable good to such as were before under doubts and fears whether God would not prove an enemy to them at last who had carried it as enemies to him all along and avenge himself on them for their opposition against him This is a good so suitable to such that nothing could give ease to their minds like it All the things this World affords can no more do it than silver and gold can ease the pain of hunger and thirst when food is denied It is the suitableness of the Gospel and a mind so prepared as I have shewed that draws men to Christ when the Gospel reveals him for such a Saviour as he is This is that which makes the very Messengers which bring the glad tidings of the Gospel acceptable to such for their message sake How beautiful saith St. Paul are thee feet of them which preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10.15 And how beautiful were his feet in the eyes of the Galatian Gentiles when he first brought the Gospel among them who before were in fear and doubt about their future state and without hope I say how beautiful were his feet upon this account when they received him as an Angel of God yea as Christ Jesus as he himself saith and counted the blessedness so great that as he says they could if it had been possible have plucked out their own eyes and have given them unto him Gal. 4.14 15. The news of such a Saviour as the Gospel declares him to be is to such as are in darkness and anxiety of mind concerning their future state after death like the Day-Star and Rising Sun to such as have been in the uncomfortableness of a gloomy and dark night Hence he is stiled the bright and morning Star the Day-Spring from on high the Sun of Righteousness that does arise with healing in his wings The Angel which first published the Birth of Christ to the Shepherds said Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all People Luke
in him to embrace the grace offered through him and by him and to submit to the terms on which it is offered must needs be that effect upon the Soul which our Saviour here speaks of without which no man can come to him And this I conceive we shall find to be a strong sense upon the mind of the guilt of sin and of a liableness to Gods wrath thereby accompanied with a fear of it and with anxiety of mind about ones future state after death and likewise a sense of the different tendency of moral righteousness and goodness and a teachable frame of spirit as the effect and consequence of such a sense For that uneasiness of mind which the foresaid sense causeth begets a teachable frame of Spirit makes men willing to hearken to those terms which are offered in the Gospel to free them from the foresaid fears pain and anxiety of mind The sense I speak of and the pain caused thereby prevails against those prejudices by outweighing them which men before and till then had against those terms without submitting to which Pardon and Salvation are not to be had and makes them willing to accept of them Though while they are but in the way of preparation to perform the condition of the Promise they are not come so far as to chuse to submit to that condition out of love to those things of which it does consist yet their sense of danger and the pain of fear of falling under it may incline them to think their submitting to the condition of the Promise much more tolerable and supportable than their sense of danger and pain of fear is which is upon them and that will dispose them to take such things into consideration as will in a little time reconcile their minds and wills to those things in which the condition of the Promise doth consist and if it do but that yet it is preparatory to that performance Now this sense of guilt and danger and of the better tendency of moral righteousness and goodness may be raised in the mind by the operation of principles of natural religion when God is pleased to set them home and to make the force and power of them to be felt as I shall after shew And that may be the reason why all this preparatory work upon the mind is ascribed unto God the Father as we see it is by our Saviour For natural Religion and the essects of it upon the mind are most properly ascribed unto God the Father and the reason is because natural Religion was planted by him in the nature of man before the Fall while supernatural Religion by the Mediator had not yet any being in men And preparation for Religion supernaturally revealed as the Religion of believing in Christ is may well be ascribed unto our being taught by natural Religion because Religion supernatural is founded in that which is natural Men must first believe the Being of God and his Attributes before they can believe supernatural revelations to be from him and so to be undoubtedly true He that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 Men may indeed be prepared by the Father to come to Christ by some of the same doctrines which our Saviour himself taught when powerfully imprest upon the mind and yet this be done by principles of natural Religion because a great part of his doctrine is the same with natural Religion onely natural religion is more perceptible by his doctrine than while onely in the dark minds of men He came as he himself says not to destroy but to fill up the Law to make a more compleat discovery of the latitude and spirituality of the natural Law than Moses and all the Prophets had done Mat. 5.17 But the Fathers teaching and drawing mentioned by our Saviour being but to prepare men to receive principles purely evangelical it cannot reasonably be thought to be done by such but by those which are natural To believe then the being of God and his Attributes the Immortality of the Soul and a future state the different tendency of moral good and evil and the Rewards and Punishments in another World are principles of natural Religion And a powerful impression of these Principles upon the minds of guilty persons by Almighty God hath a great tendency in it to prepare and dispose them for a belief of the Gospel when made known to them with the evidence of its divinity and that in a double respect 1. As they come to be convinced thereby of the guilt of sin and of their obnoxiousness by that to the wrath of Almighty God and to be anxiously concerned in their own minds about their future state after death 2. As they come thereby to a sensible discerning of the nature and tendency of moral righteousness and goodness 1. Such a powerful impression upon the mind of principles of natural Religion as I have said prepares men for a belief in Christ as they come thereby to be convinced of their guiltiness and of their obnoxiousness by that unto the wrath of Almighty God and to be anxiously concerned in their own minds about their future state after death The natural operation of natural conscience doth something to make men sensible of the guilt of sin and of their liableness to divine displeasure thereby St. Paul speaking of the Heathen that had not the Law saith that their thoughts did accuse them when sin was committed against the dictates of the light and law of Nature and that their conscience did bear them witness that such accusations were true they knew the judgment of God that those who did such things were worthy of death Rom. 2.15 and 1.32 The consequence of all which when set home upon the mind by God by a vigorous operation must needs be disquietness fear and anxiety of mind and doubtful apprehensions touching Gods displeasure and the future state And that the very Heathen were upon this account in an uneasie condition and under disquieting apprehensions of the divine displeasure appears by the many sacrifices which they offered to attone God and to appease the clamour of their own consciences And well might their condition be very uneasie to their minds while they were certain of their liableness to the divine displeasure but ignorant and uncertain of any remedy against it S. Paul describes their condition to be such as that they were without hope Eph. 2.12 that they were darkness not knowing whither they were going or what would become of them at last They had nothing of revealed Religion whereby to know with any certainty that God would pardon them upon repentance And therefore their future state must needs have hung in doubt before them and have caused fear day and night From this fear and doubtfulness of mind doubtless it was that besides their Sacrifices they ran into so many other superstitions as they did as hoping by
by his kindness he would gain upon them and draw them to better thoughts of him and to a better behaviour towards him He left not himself without witness viz. of his seeking to draw all Nations from walking in their own ways in that he did good and gave them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness Acts 14.17 If any conclude from Gods forbearance and goodness to wicked men that he is not displeased with their evil ways no more than they themselves are like those Psal 50.20 These things thou hast done and I kept silence saith God thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self I say if any can persuade themselves thus to conclude it must be onely profligate wretches sinners of no ordinary rank For very Heathens and such as the Apostle brands with a very black character thought otherwise Their thoughts did not onely accuse them but they knew the judgment of God as he says that they which commit such things are worthy of death and therefore sought to appease God by their sacrifices And this is evidence enough that such as they as bad as they were did not think God was not displeased with their evil ways or that he did forbear them upon that account Now this long-suffering and this goodness of God is a piece of Divine Assistance toward repentance which God vouchsafeth even to the Heathen and barbarous Nations And however this assistance may be much inferiour to what is vouchsafed them who have the Oracles of God among them yet this with the secret operation of God by impressing principles of natural Religion upon the minds of such have as I have shewed so far prevailed upon many of them as that they have been thereby prepared to receive and believe the Gospel as soon as it hath been sufficiently revealed and made known to them and so far also as in the mean time to become morally religious in devotion towards God and in justice and charity towards men This seems very evident in those uncircumcised Gentiles which are stiled Religious Proselytes Act. 13.43 men fearing God ver 16.26 devout men Act. 10.7 as Dr. Hammond hath observed in his Notes upon Acts 10.2 Of which sort were Cornelius and the Eunuch And when the Lord said to S. Paul in a Vision at Corinth I have much people in this City as a reason why he would have him continue preaching there notwithstanding the Jews in that place opposed themselves and blasphemed Acts 18.10 I question not but he meant it of such Gentiles as were in the first degree morally religiously disposed and so were prepared to receive the Faith of the Gospel as other such so prepared had done before them And of such as these onely further improved in morality I suppose S. Paul speaks Rom. 2.26 when he saith If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision And in reference to such it was that S. Peter also said I perceive of a truth that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.34 35. These several considerations tend you see to evince that God does not deny his preparatory assistance to any of those that perish and that therefore their perishing is not for want of so much mercy in God towards them as by which their perishing might have been prevented had they not refused and opposed the mercy of God it self towards them in that way and method of saving in which he saves others that are saved God hath concluded all under unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Rom. 11.32 And those who will not be saved by the mercy of God in that way and method of his mercy in which he saves those that are saved nor unless they can be saved by Gods mercy in a way of their own chusing in opposition to Gods must sit down with their own choice and go without that salvation which they might have had if they would and which God of his compassion did more than barely offer them while his Spirit did strive with them as it did with them of the Old World These are they that receive the grace of God in vain against whose folly S. Paul does with great seriousness and earnestness beseech and admonish men 2 Cor. 6.1 And truly they are men of a strange presumption that can promise themselves that which God never promised them as if God should for their sakes alter his ordinary method of his mercy in saving men to save them when he hath many and many times peremptorily declared the contrary in the Scriptures of truth They doubtless that can do thus are the men the Scripture speaks of that despise their own souls that set little by them and concern themselves little about them By the reasons given to induce a persuasion that God affords his preparatory assistance unto all I do not say nor mean that he does vouchsafe it to all equally and alike For the scope of our Saviours Parable I conceive doth intimate the contrary when he said To one is delivered one talent to another two and to another five Mat. 25. But then if he which hath but the least doth but use that for the end for which he received it he seems by parity of reason to be capable of being dealt with as a faithful servant in opposition to him who is doomed as slothful though he does not do so much as he does who hath received more He that gained but two talents by using the two which he had received was pronounced a faithful servant and dealt with as such as well as he who gained five with using the five which were delivered him So that we see a mans faithfulness and unfaithfulness is estimated by his using or not using what is afforded him for the end for which it is vouchsafed him If he that hath but one talent gain though it be but one with using that one he hath received he we may suppose will be dealt with as a faithful servant as well as he that gains two with two or five with five If a mans repentance faith and usefulness in the World do but hold some good proportion to the measure and degree of assistance he hath from God in means and helps external and internal though both the one and the other be but of the lesser size yet we cannot deny such to be capable of better usage from God than such as are and will be sentenced for impenitent unfaithful and unprofitable We cannot say that so little will make a man which hath more means and helps capable of the reward of a faithful servant as will another which hath not so much For to whom much is given much will be required and to whom men commit much of him they ask the more saith our Saviour Luke 12.48 That probably will not be sufficient to