incomprehensible Mysteries how a Man by Nature can be a God really and truly by Office how the incommunicable Perfections of the Divine Nature can be communicated to a Creature how God should give his Glory to another and by his own Command require that to be given to a Creature which himself had absolutely forbidden to be given to any besides himself It is said by a famous Jesuiâ— I will not say how agrecably to their own Doctrines and Practices about Divine Worship that the Command of God cannot make him worthy of Divine Worship who without such a Command is not worthy of it And it is very absurd to say that he that is unworthy of it without a Command â—an become worthy by it for it makes God to command Divine Honour to be given to one who cannot deserve it For no meer Man can desâ—rve to be made God But it is more agreeable to the Divine Nature and Will not to give his Honour to a Creature 3. But after all the Invectives of these Enemies to Mysteries we do not make that which we say is Incomprehensible to be a Necessary Article of Faith as it is Incomprehensible but we do assert that what is Incomprehensible as to the Manner may be a Necessary Article as far as it is plainly revealed As in the Instances I have already mentioned of the Creation and Resurrection of the Dead would they in earnest have Men turn Infidels as to these things till they are able to comprehend all the Difficulties which relate to them If not why should this suggestion be allow'd as to the Mysteries which relate to our Redemption by Jesus Christ If it be said the Case is not alike for those are clearly revealed and these are not this brings it to the true and proper Issue of this Matteâ— and if we do not prove a clear Revelation we do not assert their being Necessary Articles of Faith but my present business was only to take off this Objection that the Mâ—steries were incomprehensible and therefore not to be received by us II. And so I come to the second Way by which we are to examine the several Senses of Christ Jesus coming to save Sinners Which of them tends more to the Benefit and Advantage of Mankind or which is more worthy of all Acceptation And that will appear by considering these things 1. Which tends most to the raising our Esteem and Love of Christ Jesus 2. Which tends most to the begetting in us a greater Hatred of Sin 3. Which tends most to the strengthening our Hope of Salvation by Jesus Christ. 1. As to the raising in us a greater Esteem and Love of Christ. We are certain that the Infinite Love and Condâ—â—cension of Christ Jesus in undertaking such a Work as the saving of Sinners makes it most worthy of all Acceptation Some Men may please themselves in thinking that by taking away all Mysteries they have made their Faith more easie but I am certain they have extremely lessen'd the Argument for our Love viz. the Apprehensions of the wonderfull Love and Condescension of Christ in coming into the World to save Sinners And yet this is the great Argument of the New Testament to perswade Mankind to the Love of God and of his Son God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. This is indeed a mighty Argument of Love if by the only begotten Son be meant the Eternal Son of God who came down from Heaven as St. John speaks just before but if no more be meant but only that God made a meer Man to be hâ—s Son and after he had preached a while here on Earth and was ill used and crucified by his own People he exalted him to be God and gave him Divine Attributes and Honâ—urs this were an Argument of great Love to the Person of Christ but not to the rest of Mankind But God's Love in Scripture is magnified with respect to the World in the sending of his Son In this was manifested saith the Apostle the Love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we should live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our Sins The great Love we still see is towards us i. e. towards Mankind but according to the other Sense it must have been herein was the Love of God manifested to his Son that for his Sufferings he exalted him above all Creatures He that spared not his own Son saith St. Paul but deliver'd him up for us all If he were the Eternal Son of God who came to suffer for us there is a mighty Force and Emphasis in this Expression and very apt to raise our Admiration and our Love but what not sparing his own Son is there if nothing were meant but that he designed by Sufferings to exalt him For not sparing him supposes an Antecedent Relation of the highest Kindness but the other is only designing extraordinary Kindness for the sake of his Sufferings Therefore the Argument for the Love of God is taken from what his Son was when he deliver'd him up for us all he was his own Son not by Adoption as others are St John calls him his only begotten Son and God himself his beloved Son in the Voice from Heaven and this before his Sufferings immediately after his Baptism when as yet there was nothing extraordinary done by him as to the great Design of his coming Which shews that there was an Antecedent Relation between him and the Father and that therein the Love of God and of Christ was manifested that being the only begotten Son of the Father he should take our Nature upon him and for our sakes do and suffer what he did This is indeed an Argument great enough to raise our Admiration to excite our Devotion to inflame our Affections but how flat and low doth it appear when it comes to no more than this that there was a Man whom after his Sufferings God raised from the Dead and made him a God by Office Doth this carry any such Argument in it for our Esteem and Love and Devotion to him as the other doth upon the most serious Consideration of it 2. Which tends most to beget in us a greater Hatred of Sin For that is so contrary to the Way of our Salvation by Jesus Christ that what tends most to our Hatred of it must conduce most to our Happiness and â—herefore be most worthy of all Acceptation It is agreed on all hands that Christ did suffer very much both in his Mind and in his Body In his Mind when it is said that he was troubled in Spirit that he began to be sorrowfull and very heavy and soon after My Soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death St. Luke saith that he was in an Agony wherein he not only prayed more
not seem to confine the Consequences here mention'd to another World altho' the full Accomplishment of them be only there to be expected but if we attend to his Scope and Design in the End of the foregoing Chapter and the Beginning of this we shall find that even in this Life the result of a carnal Mind is a sort of a Spiritual Death and of a Spiritual Mind is Life and Peace For when St. Paul in the 7â—h Chapter had represented himself as carnal and sold under Sin although there were great strugglings between the Convictions of his Conscience and the strength of carnal Inclinations yet as long as the latter prevailed so that he could not do the things that his Mind and Reason told him he ought to do but did those things which he was convinced be ought not to have done The more he reflected upon himself the more sad and miserable he found his Condition to be as appears by that Emphatical expression which follow'd upon it O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But he no sooner finds hopes of Delivery and Escape out of that Estate but he breaks forth into Transport of Joy and inward Satisfaction Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not meerly a Victory over Death but over Sin too And so he begins this Chapter after a triumphant manner There is therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Lord of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus hath made me â—â—ee from the Law of Sin and Death He that groaned under his Captivity before to the Law of Sin doth now rejoyce in his Deliverance from it by the Grace of the Gospel For what could not be done by natural Freedom by the Power of the Law and the Force of Reason is brought to pass by the Assistance of Divine Grace given to the Souls of Men by Jesus Christ. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh What was that which the Law could not do It could awaken convince terrifie and confound the Consciences of Sinners under the Sense and Apprehension of their Sins but it could neither satisfie the Justice of God nor the Minds of Men it could not remove the Guilt nor take away the Force and Power of Sin But God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. Jesus Christ becoming an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin took off the damning Power of Sin and by the prevailing Efficacy of his Grace subdued the strength and force of it to such a degree That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How could this be if St. Paul still considered himself in the same Condition he did in the foregoing Chapter For if he were still in Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members how was it possible that the Righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in him How could he walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit if the Good which he would he did not and the Evil which he would not that he did For these things are so repugnant to each other that when they are spoken of the same Person it must be under different Considerations the one of him as meerly under the Power of the Law the other as under the Grace and Influence of the Gospel The one was like rough and a churlish sort of Physick which searches into every Part and puts all the ill Humours of the Body into Motion and makes a general Disturbance and Uneasiness within but yet lets them remain where they were the other is like a gentle but more effecutal Remedy which carries off the Strength and Power of inward Corruptions and alters the Habit and Temper and puts quite another Disposition into us which produces very different Effects upon us For instead of Horrour and Despair and inward Anguish and Confusion there will follow a new Life of Joy and Peace here and Eternal Happiness hereafter And this is what the Apostle means in the Words of the Text To be carnally minded c. Wherein are two things which very much deserve our Consideration I. The different Tempers of Men's Minds some are carnally and others spiritually minded II. The different Consequences which follow them To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace I. The different Tempers of Men's Minds The different Denominations are taken from the Flesh and the Spirit which are here represented as two Principles so different from each other that the same Person cannot be supposed to be acted by both of them For as the Apostle saith in the foregoing Words They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Where the Flesh in a Moral sense takes in all our sensual Inclinations which are sinfull either in their Nature or Degree The Spirit is that Divine Principle which possesses the Mind with the Love and Esteem of Spiritual things and keeps our natural Inclinations within the Compass of God's Law To be carnally minded is to be under the Influence of carnal things so as to make the Pursuit of them our chief Design To be spiritually minded is to have so deep and just a Sense of God and his Law upon our Minds as to make it our business to please him and therefore to subdue all such Inclinations which are repugnant to his Will But here lies the main Difficulty how to judge concerning this matter so as to be able to determine whether we our selves be carnally or spiritually minded Which is a thing of so great Consequence for us to know that the Peace of our Minds the true Comfort of our Lives our due Preparation for Death and a happy Eternity do all depend upon And yet that this is a real Difficulty will appear from these Considerations 1. It requires a greater Knowledge of our selves as to our spiritual Condition than most Persons in the World can pretend to For it is not a slight and superficial View of our selves not a transient sudden Reflection nor a partial Inquiry into our inward Passions and the Course of our Actions which can make us capable of passing a true Judgment upon the Temper of our Minds but there must be a true Light a serious and diligent Search frequent Recollection free and deliberate Thoughts long Observation and due Comparison of our selves with our selves and with the Law of God before we can form a just Opinion as to the prevailing Temper and Disposition of our Minds It 's true this is not necessary in all Persons for some and I am afraid too many are so carnally minded that
believe no Life after this be compared with the Pains and Martyrdoms of those who have suffer'd for their Religion these will appear to be far more eligible than the other because the Mind hath far greater Satisfaction under them and a certain Expectation of an infinite Reward to follow upon them Whereas the other can have no Comfort in looking back on what they have done or forward in what they are to expect For they have destroy'd their own Happiness and hasten'd that upon themselves which they account their only Misery 2. As to the common Calamities of Life which none can prevent or avoid the spiritual Mind hath very much the Advantage of the carnal for the one â—ills them with inward Peace and Satisfaction of Mind which of all things carry Men best through the Troubles of Life being joyned with Patience Humility Self-denial and Submission to the Will of God which are all the genuine Effects of a spiritual Mind but a carnal Mind is froward and impatient uneasie to it self and to all about it and this makes every Pain and Trouble to be much greater than it would have been like the Ass in the Fable Which lay down in the Water with his Burthen of Wool and so made it heavier than before There were two things the philosophical Men of Pleasure sought to comfort themselves by under the unavoidable Troubles of Life which the spiritual Mind hath far greater Advantages than any of them had as to both of them and these are Reflection and Expectation 1. Reflection When Epicurus was in his last Agonies under the Stone what a miserable way was it for him to go about to comfort himself by reflecting upon his Atoms and his Maxims his imaginary Notion of the Happiness of Life consisting in Pleasure when his Life was so near being ended by excessive Pain But a good Man that hath sincerely endeavour'd to serve God in his Generation and to do all the good he could and to promote the Interests of Religion and Vertue in the World may in the Midst of many Failings and Infirmities look back with comfort on the Course of his former Life and by the Peace of a good Conscience may injoy inward Satisfaction under such Pains and Distempers which make Life uneasie and Death more welcome as it is a Passage to a far better State And that is the next thing 2. Expectation It was a sorrowfull Expectation which Epicurus supported himself with when he was in the Prospect of Death which was no more than that the subtle Atoms which made up his Soul would soon be scatter'd and dispersed he knew not where and then he should be as if he had never been But what Comfort is there in such a Dissolution Men that have deserved it may heartily wish it but they have deserved something worse and that they must expect For the just and holy God will certainly call them to an Account for all their Vices and Follies and it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God and what a miserable Case are those in who have nothing to look for but Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall consume the Adversaries of God and Religion But O the blessed Hope and joyfull Expectation that attends a spiritual Mind Especially when it is enliven'd and assisted by the powerfull Influences of Divine Grace For without that even good Men may be liable to some Dejections and Fears as to another World from the Vastness of the Change the Sense of their Failings the Weakness of their Minds and Mistrust of their own Fitness for Heaven but so great is the Goodness and Mercy of God towards them that sincerely love and fear him that he always makes their Passage safe though it be not so triumphant And although the Valley of the Shadow of Death may seem gloomy and uncomfortable at a Distance yet when God is pleased to conduct his Servants through it he makes it a happy Passage into a State of a glorious Immortality and everlasting Life and Peace To which God c. SERMON IX Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL ON Christmass-Day 1693. St. John III. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved THese words are part of the Gospel written by St. John wherein he doth not only fill up the History of our Saviour with many particular Discourses omitted by the other Evangelists but the whole seems to be penned in another Strain and with some different Purpose and Design It 's true that they all agree in the same general End of Writing which St. John mentions viz. That we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his Name but they make use of several Methods as most agreeable to the Circumstances of the Time and Place and Occasion of their Writing St. Matthew wrote his Gospel for the sake of the Jews and therefore he begins with the Genealogy of Jesus Christ from Abraham and shews that the Prophecies were accomplished in him and how he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it and that his Miracles and Doctrine were sufficient to convince them that he was the promised Messias St. Mark wrote only a summary Account of the most material Passages relating to the Person and Doctrine of Christ for the sake of the Gentiles St. Luke takes a larger Compass and puts things into an exacter Order of Time as himself tells us and adds many Circumstances relating to the Birth of Christ and the general Advantage to Mankind by his coming that he was to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the Glory of his People Israel St. John succeeding the rest found two great things which gave him occasion of writing his Gospel 1. The perverting the Doctrine of Christ by the Ebionites and Cerinthians who pretended to give great Honour to Christ as an excellent Person both for Wisdom and Holiness but yet so that he was but a meer Man to whom God upon his Baptism had given extraordinary Gifts and Assistances of his Holy Spirit 2. The other was that the Gospel which was designed for the Universal good of the World met with such cold Reception and Entertainment from it He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not What could be more uneasie to so true a lover of Christ as St. John was than that he lived to see his Doctrine perverted and his Design in so great a Measure rendred ineffectual And therefore in the writing of this Gospel 1. He begins after another manner and in a very short significant and lofty Style he sets forth his Eternal Being and Godhead In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
of the Body are enter'd which he knows exactly and so can easily bring them together We all know that if the leaves of a Book are scattered up and down thro' many hands and carried to the most distant places if the Author of it knows where they are although they were bound up in other Books yet he can easily find out the several parts of it and put them together again so as to make the same entire Book which they were before If therefore God certainly knows and disposes the several parts of our Bodies for although they are under many Disguises to us they are under none to him he can much more easily gather them and joyn them together as his Wisdom and Power is infinitely greater than ours But Suppose the parts of one Body be turned into the Substance of another as in those who eat Man's Flesh how is it possible there should be distinct Bodies when the Substance of one goes into the Substance of another This hath been thought by some a terrible Objection against the Possibility of the Resurrection but according to the Principles I have already laid down it will admit of a clear and distinct Answer For 1. The Difficulty would appear much greater if there were any such Cannibals in the World as lived wholly upon Man's Flesh. It cannot be denied that there are Instances of People so rude and barbarous as to account it a piece of Gallantry to devour their Enemies whom they have taken in Battle and of others who by extremity of Famine have been driven to it But such extraordinary Instances have no force against a general Doctrine unless it be proved to be impossible by them for against extraordinary Cases extraordinary Care may be set to make up the parts of those Bodies But 2. It is but a very inconsiderable part of one Body which in such Cases goes into the Substance of another That which may stop a ravenous Appetite may go but a little way towards increasing the Substance of the Body How little of what we take into our Stomachs is united to the solid parts of the Body The Flesh is dissolved into a spirituous Liquor which at last turns to a Nourishment but after many Passages and refinings in the several Vessels for that purpose the grosser part and far greater quantity going off So that according to the most received Doctrine of Nutrition suppose the Body of a Man were eaten by Cannibals a very small part of it would pass into the Substance of their Bodies 3. Suppose there were more yet there cannot be so much as is already gone off from the Body of the same Man If a Man lives to thirty or forty years his Body hath undergone many new Repairs in that time and all the old Materials were as true and real parts of the Body as the new ones and yet it is the same Body in the sense of all Mankind Why should it not be then the same Body at the Day of Resurrection if some of the parts before consumed be taken to make it up as well as those very individual parts which a Man had at the time of his Death Suppose a corpulent Man to fall into lingring Diseases or a gradual Consumption of all the parts of his Body must this Man at the Day of Resurrection have no more as belonging to his Body than he had left upon him at the hour of his Death Would it not be the same Body if it were made up of the parts he had at the beginning of his Consumption If it be then the same Reason will hold as to other times of his Life and so this mighty Objection from the Cannibals devouring those parts of the Body which a Man had at the time of his Death can be of no force to overthrow the Possibility of the Resurrection 2. Having thus endeavour to clear the Notion of the Resurrection in general I come to the particular Consideration of it 1. With respect to the Resurrection of Christ which St. Paul had here a regard to that being the chief Point contested at that time between the Jews and the Apostles as the Foundation both of the Faith and Hope of Christians For saith St. Paul If Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain And St. Peter That they are begotten again to a lively Hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead It was by this saith St. Paul That he was declared to be the Son of God with Power It was by this saith St. Peter that God exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and remission of sins And therefore the Apostles after the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon them insist chiefly upon this Point and that not in distant places at first where Circumstances could not be known or examined but at Jerusalem while all things were fresh in their Memories and all Matters of Fact might be strictly examined Thus St. Peter on the Day of Pentecost standing up with the eleven said Ye Men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem hearken unto my words And then follows his Charge upon them for the Death of Christ Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God him have ye taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain And what then Whom God hath raised up This might seem incredible to them at first hearing but St. Peter goes on and having proved it foretold by David he saith again This Jesus hath God raised up But how doth this appear Whereof saith he we all are witnesses i. e. We that stand here before you and are ready to undergoe any Trial of our Sincerity in the Matter we do not tell you of Witnesses that live at a great distance but we whom you see and hear testifie what we have seen and heard If you are unsatisfied go and search the Monument where his Body was laid examine the Soldiers that were to guard it go to the Council and let them search into the bottom of it here we stand and are ready to give our utmost Testimony to the Truth of it Not long after as Peter and John were going into the Temple and a great number of People were gathered together upon a Miracle wrought by them St. Peter again tells them That they had killed the Prince of Life whom God hath raised up from the Dead whereof we are Witnesses This extremely galled the Priests and Sadduces present as appears afterwards and they seized upon them and the next day a solemn Council was called to examine them But do they flinch from their Testimony then No so far from it that St. Peter speaks more boldly to them Ye Rulers of the People and Elders of Israel be it known unto you all and to all the People of Israel that by the Name of Jesus of Nazareth whom ye crucified whom God
earnestly but his sweat was as it were great Drops of Blood falling to the Ground What made this Amazement and dreadfull Agony in the Mind of the most innocent Person in the World Was it merely the Fear of the Pains of Death which he was to undergo That is impossible considering the Assurance which he had of so glorious a Reward so soon following after when so many Martyrs endured such exquisite Torments for his sake without any such Disturbance or Coâ—sternation But the Apostles give us another Account of it St. Peter saith he was to bear our Sins in his own body on the tree that Christ suffer'd for Sins the just for the unjust St. Paul that God made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Hereby we understand how so innocent a Person came to suffer he stood in our stead he was made Sin for us and therefore was to be treated as a Sinner and to suffer that on our Account which he could not deserve on his own If he suffer'd on his own Account this were the way to fill our Minds with perplexity concerning the Justice of Providence with respect to his dealings with the most innocent and holy Persons in this World if he suffer'd on our Account then we have the Benefit of his Sufferings and therein we see how displeasing to God sin is when even his own Son suffer'd so much by taking the guilt of our Sins upon him And what can tend more to the begetting in us a due hatred of sin than to consider what Christ himself suffer'd on the Account of it What can make us have more dreadfull thoughts of it than that the great and mercifull God when he designed to save Sinners yet would have his own Son to become a Propitiation for the Sins of Mankind And unless we allow this we must put force upon the plainest Expressions of Scripture and make Christ to suffer meerly to shew God's Power over a most innocent Person and his Will and Pleasure to inflict the most severe Punishment without any Respect to Guilt And surely such a Notion of God cannot be worthy of all Acceptation 3. Which tends most to strengthen our Hope of Salvation by Christ Jesus If we believe that he suffer'd for our Sins then we have great Reason to hope for the Forgiveness of them although they have been many and great if we sincerely repent because the most prevailing Argument for Despair will be removed which is taken from the Justice of God and his declared Hatred of Sin and Displeasure against Sinners If God be so much in earnest displeased with the Sins of Mankind and his Justice be concerned in the Punishment of Sinners how can they ever hope to escape unless there be a way for his Displeasure to be removed and his Justice to be satisfied And this the Scripture tells us is done by Christ who died that he might be a Sacrifice of Attonement to reconcile us to God by his Death as St. Paul expresly affirms And by this means we may have strong Consolation from the Hopes of Forgiveness of our Sins Whereas if this be taken away either Men must believe that God was not in earnest displeased with the Sins of Mankind which must exceedingly lessen our Esteem of the Holiness and Justice of God or if he were so displeased that he laid aside this Displeasure without any Atonement or Sacrifice of Expiation And so as many as look on God's Justice and Holiness as necessary and essential Attributes of God will be in danger of sinking into the Depths of Despair as often as they reflect seriously on the Guilt of their Sins But on the other side if we believe that while we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son then we may have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and have Reason to believe that there will be no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus by a lively Faith and sincere Repentance then they may with Comfort look up to God as a reconciled Father through Jesus Christ our Mediatour then they may with inward Satisfaction look beyond the Grave and stedfastly hope for that Salvation which Christ purchased on Earth and will at last bestow on all such as love and obey him To which God of his Infinite Mercy bring us all through Jesus Christ. For This is a faithfull Saying and worthy of all Acceptation that he came into the World to save Sinners SERMON VII Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 1st 1690 1. S. Luke VI. 46. And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say THese few Words contain in them a smart and â—erious Expostâ—lation of our Blessed Saviour with such who proâ—essed great Kindness to him in their Worâ—s but shew'd no Regard to his Commands They owned him to be the Messias and depended upon him for their Happiness and were willing enough to be known to be his Disciples and Followers but yet his Doctrine made little Impression on their Minds and scarce any Alteration in the Course of their Lives They loved to be where Christ was to hear his Doctrine to see his Miracles to observe his Conversation to admire what he did and said but herein lay the whole of their Religion for although they named the name of Christ and it may be rejoyced and glory'd in it yet they did not depart from iniquity Now considering the Circumstances of that time this seems to have been an unaccountable kind of Hypocrisie For their calling Christ Lord Lord spoiled their Interest in this World and not doing what he said debarr'd them from the hopes of Happiness by him in another For if they own'd him to be their Lord they were bound to believe him in what he declared and there is nothing he doth more expresly warn men of than hoping to be saved by him without obeying his Commands Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Which is shorter expressed but to the same purpose here by S. Luke And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say As though he had said to them It is in vain to think to please and flatter me with your Words when your Actions are disagreeable to them To call me Lord Lord is to own my Authority in commanding you but to do this and yet wilfully to disobey me is to shew your Hypocrisie and Folly together Which Expostulation of Christ was not confined to that time no more than his Commands were but it hath always the same Force where Persons are guilty of the same Folly For although now none can plead for themselves as they did We have eaten and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets yet we