down upon the Return of his disobedient Child Jer. 31.18 19 20. Gataker in locum Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child Or rather as a Learned Man reads the words Is not Ephraim my dear Son Is he not a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I remember him still Therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. The Publican who in a sense of his Vileness Luk. 18.13 14. stood afar off and as an Argument of his Shame would not so much as lift up his Eyes towards Heaven but in token of his great Contrition smote upon his Breast saying God be merciful to me a Sinner went down to his house justified i. e. absolved and acquitted of God and so the wretched Thanksgiving of the Proud Pharisee Lord I thank thee I am not as other men or even as this Publican was utterly ruin'd V. § V Meer Natural Light and Reason gives us no Assurance whether and how often God will renew his Pardon Fresh Breaches after a Reconciliation are very provoking Every one would be apt to despise that Government which still should Spare a Traitor who hath been pardon'd once and again and after that breaks out into other Rebellions There is such a Complication of aggravating Circumstances in returning to the Commission of Folly that we could rationally expect no other than that Divine Justice thereupon should seize us and say to us Pay me what you Owe If God in his holy Word had not encouraged us and made it our Duty to believe and hope that upon our deep Humiliation and renewed Faith in the Blood of Christ he will yet be pacified towards us Ye have played the Harlot with many Lovers which is an Offence of that nature that a man would never pass by one Single act of it but it hath been frequently repeated by you with Variety of Persons and therefore you can well look for no other than a Bill of Divorce Jer. 3.1 22. yet return unto me saith the Lord. Return ye back-sliding Children and I will heal your back-slidings And if an awaken'd Conscience tells us our Treacherous Dealings have been many and we are no more worthy to be regarded by him yet the Invitation is Hos 14.2 4. Take unto you Words and turn to the Lord and say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously and then follow those reviving Words I will heal all their back-slidings and I will love them freely There are indeed two Passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews which seem to oppose this and 't is sufficiently known how the Novatians abused them of Old and many serious but weak Christians have in all Ages been tormented through a misunderstanding of them Which therefore I shall largely consider and so much the rather because being rightly interpreted I am afraid they will appear to have a very black Aspect on some of our present Deists The one is Heb. 6.4 5 6. That it is impossible for those who were once enlighten'd c. If they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they Crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open Shame The other is of the like Import Ch. 10.26 27. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sins but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries This passage at the first View seems to render the case of every Man wholly desperate And it would much more do so if one word were exactly translated For whereas we render it If we sin Wilfully according to the Original it should be translated If we sin Willingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Softer word of the two And who is there that dares to deny but that he hath been guilty of many Voluntary Sins even since he hath received the Knowledge of the Truth Now I shall endeavour to prove that both these Places are to be understood barely of the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost only it would be attended in these Hebrews if they should be guilty of it with more aggravating Circumstances than that same Sin in the Pharisees was accompanied withal Because the Persons offending are supposed by the Apostle once to have been the Professed Disciples of Christ which the Pharisees never were and because if they should commit it they would sin against greater Miracles for the proof of Christianity since the more plentiful Effusion of the Holy Ghost after the Ascension of Christ For here is the Characteristical Note whereby our Blessed Saviour hath distinguish'd the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost from all other Sins and Blasphemies whatsoever viz. the Unpardonableness of it In the former of these Places it is said that 't is Impossible to renew these men to Repentance Which is in other words to say 't is Impossible they should be forgiven For why is it that the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven but because 't is impossible they should ever Repent who have been guilty of it And then the Apostle in the very next words doth oppose them that should be guilty of this Sin to that Ground which receiveth Blessing from God Heb. 6.7 8. and compares them to that which beareth thorns and briars and is rejected and nigh unto Cursing and whose End is to be burnt And in the latter place the Apostle tells us that as for these Men Ch. 10.26 there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sins Which words are a plain Allusion to the Law of Moses in which no Expiations were allowed or appointed for Heinous and Presumptuous Sins but he who was guilty of them was to be put to Death without any Favour 'T is as if the Apostle had said There is no other Sacrifice for Sins but what the Son of God hath offered up this they impiously reject and Christ never design'd to make any atonement by his Blood for the Sin I am now speaking of and there is no other And where there is no Expiation there can be no Pardon He further adds Ver. 27 There remains nothing for these men but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the adversaries What more Significant and Emphatical Words could the Apostle use to express the Unpardonableness of their Crime And yet as tho' this had not been enough he further compares their Case to that of those Men who despised the law of Moses Ver. 28 either by renouncing or abjuring it or Sinning impudently and presumptuously against it and who therefore died without Mercy And to convince us that the Offenders he is speaking of should be unavoidably pressed to Death he lays more Weight on them than on the Despisers of Moses's Law For saith he Of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye shall he be thought
Importance of any that can be mentioned viz. The Pardon of Sin while we are in this World and our Future State when we leave it and pass into the next And in treating on both of them I shall compare Reason and Revelation set one against the other and endeavour to demonstrate against the Deists of the present Age That if we have no other Guide than the Former we must needs be at a dreadful Loss and remain covered with the Shadow of Death Psal 44.19 but if we follow the Later we shall have such a clear and satisfactory Account of both of them as will be comfortable as the Light of Life unto our Souls John 8.12 A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST DEISM CHAP. I. Of Pardon of Sin WHenever we are Serious and Retired our own Hearts will tell us That God is justly and highly displeased with us for our Sins and that this Displeasure of his will end in our total Ruin if it be not removed Conscience indeed is not always sensible of our Guilt but 't is soon awaken'd by any very sharp Affliction As the Seeds of some Distempers floating in a man's Blood upon the Change of Weather are apt to drop down into a tender and sensible Part causing most acute Pains in the languishing Patient No man therefore can have any rational and lasting Peace and Comfort of Mind who is not well informed about the Forgiveness of Sins which the Christian alone by the help of his Bible can attain unto but the Deist must be greatly bewildred about who hath no other Instructor than the Light of Nature and Reason For I. § I That cannot fully assure us that there is Forgiveness of Sin with God If this could be Certainly known by meer Reason it must be gathered either from the Essential Goodness of God or else from the visible Effects of his Bounty and Kindness From the Former of these it can't be Assuredly inferr'd For tho' Forgiveness of Sin hath its Rise and Spring in the Infinite Benignity of God yet it doth not flow thence by Necessity of Nature but 't is a free Act of his Will and the Work of his Soveraign Grace and Pleasure And therefore the Argument of the Apostle is very strong and clear 1 Cor. 2.11 As no man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him even so these things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God and he to whom he is pleased to Reveal them A shrewd Man may guess at the secret Thoughts and Resolves of his fellow-Creature but he can't certainly know them much less can we in affairs of This nature penetrate into the Mind of God That Eye which is too weak to reach to the bottom of a shallow Stream can never pierce to the lowest Depths of the Ocean Sinners are worthy of Punishment and 't is not inconsistent with Goodness to inflict a deserved Punishment on an Offender God hath a Right to inflict and who can assure us that he will remit his own Right unless he himself declare his willingness to part with it God neither will nor can exercise one Attribute of his to the Prejudice of another He will not raise the honour of his Goodness on the Ruins of his Holiness and Justice or the Contempt of his Authority and Government And how to reconcile these with the Pardoning of Sinners is a puzzling Difficulty in which Reason cannot help us And tho' it could yet he is infinitely Just and Righteous and therefore at least he may resolve to punish the Offender for ought that he knows so that at the best it would be with our Souls as 't is fabulously reported to be with Mahomet's Body in his Iron Coffin that hangs in the Air between the upper and the neather Load-stone so should we be in Suspence between encouraging Hopes and uneasy Fears which must needs create a mighty Torment in our Minds this being a matter whereon our Welfare in both Worlds doth so intirely depend The Scriptures tell us and tho' that will have no weight with a Deist yet it will with those who own their Authority that notwithstanding the immense Goodness of God yet Devils who were originally more noble Creatures than we remain bound in Chains of Guilt as well as Darkness and are reserved to the Judgment of the Great Day And that there should be Forgiveness for fallen Man when there 's none for Apostate Angels who can assure us Nor can this be Certainly inferr'd from the visible Effects of Divine Bounty and Goodness Men perceive indeed that God is Kind but withal they frequently feel to their Cost that he is Just and know within themselves that 't is Righteous in him to render Tribulation and Anguish to every evil-doer He doth do it in some terrible Instances in this World and for ought that meer Reason can tell us he may do the like in the other World too tho' he may defer it for a Season as long as this present Life doth last and fill mens Hearts with Food and Gladness for a Time to reward those broken Mixtures of Good that may be in them or as a Recompence for some useful Service they may do tho' his Glory be not designed by them therein or to employ them as the Instruments of his Providence for the relieving or vexing of others or for some other wise Ends that may be past our finding out A Malefactor may know that his Prince is very good and kind who for wise Reasons of State which he can't penetrate into gives him an uncertain Reprieve sine Die keeps him in an airy Prison and feeds him there very plentifully at the Publick Charge Yet this is but a very slender Argument that therefore he shall undoubtedly be pardon'd Especially if he know him to be a very Just and Righteous Governor who greatly hates and detests the foul Crimes he hath been guilty of And most of all if the Prisoner enter into new Conspiracies and Rebellions against him while he is so lovingly treated Which is the case of all Mankind with reference to God who are daily provoking him while they live every moment on his Bounty The utmost that can be solidly gather'd from the common Patience and Goodness of God is but some loose and faint Hopes which may encourage Sinners to hearken out and enquire after a way of Reconciliation with God The Ninivites carried this matter as far as any can by meer natural Light and Reason Jonah 3.9 when they said Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from the fierceness of his Anger that we perish not But then on the other hand nothing being so suspicious as a Guilty creature especially when he hath to do with a Holy and a Jealous God he may as well say Who can tell but that God will Not turn nor repent nor turn away from the fierceness of his Anger and then we must perish and there is
looked odly for him to have been less forward and zealous to provide for God's Worship than his Subjects were But yet for all this Samuel charges him roundly for it and tells him it was Rebellion and Stubborness which are as the Sin of Witchcraft Iniquity and Idolatry And holy Men have been wont to think as ill of their Own as of other mens Sins upon this Account Holy David aggravates his folly from this Circumstance viz. the Person against whom it was committed And he so intently fixed his Eye upon this as tho' none else had been offended by him Against thee Ps 51.4 thee only have I sinned And God himself by the Mouth of Nathan whom he sent to him warmly expostulates with him 2 Sam. 12.9 10. Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do Evil in his Sight And agen immediately after Thou hast despised Me saith he to him in the Name of God And this is not only the Language of God in the Scriptures but in his daily Providences too Let any man consider the numerous Calamities wherewith many times the World is covered as with a black Cloud behold the Strugglings of dying Infants listen to the Cries of a wounded Spirit and attend to the Groans of a departing Sinner and then let him judge whether the Sins of Men are Acts of Weakness in God's Account and Esteem Scripture indeed is brought in to countenance this strange Assertion For 't is said * Id. p. 322. he knoweth our Frame Ps 103.14 But if we read on to the end of the Verse it will appear that this is not spoken of the Corruption of our Natures but the Weakness and Frailty of our Constitution For 't is added He remembreth that we are but Dust And the same is the true sense and meaning of that other Text which is press'd into this Service Isa 57.16 For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth as is evident from the following words which contain the true reason of these not because their Miscarriages are the weak Acts of finite and fallible Creatures c. but because then the Spirit should fail before me and the Souls which I have made I might add This is a Gracious Promise which we know by meer Revelation whereas we are treating of what may be known by the meer Light of Nature and Reason In short no Man would with any Patience bear such a Plea as this in the Mouth of his Servant or Child for their wilful Contempt and Defiance of his Authority And such talk as this is one of the most effectual ways to give a fatal Check to the working of that Repentance which some design so much to extol and which indeed can hardly be extolled too much provided Men do it not so as to justle a Mediator and the Necessity of Faith in him in order to forgiveness out of the World For the chief Consideration that melts down an Ingenuous Spirit into a Godly Sorrow is this the Wisdom Majesty Authority Power Goodness and Justice of God whom he hath displeased So that some Men by endeavouring to advance Repentance do indeed diminish and discourage it as the Sun by raising up Vapours out of a River lessens the Quantity of Water that was in it 6. 'T is urged That for * Peccata Hominum non tam in Dei contumeliam quà m in propriam utilitatem sub boni alicujus apparentis obtentu fieri plerumque ac licet in eo Nomines fallerentur nihil tamen infenso in Deum animo patratum fuisse Herbert ubi supra the most part Mens Sins are not committed so much in Despight to God as for their own Advantage under the plausible shew of some Appearing Good And if this be all that a Thief or a Murderer have to say for themselves That the one robbed and the other assassinated his Neighbour not out of any direct Design to affront the Law or Government but meerly to get a good Sum of Money or to be reveng'd on his Enemy which to them did seem very desirable this would never prevent the pronouncing or executing the Sentence of Death upon them 7thly Lastly 'T is yet further argued That 't is Worthy * Dr. Whichcot's Serm. p. 313. of God to Pardon Penitents It is more effectual to the Purpose of God's Honour and Glory For when he Pardons he procures himself Love and gains the Heart and Soul of his Creature But if he punish the Party endures because God is Stronger and the Creature cannot make Resistance And again 'T is †P. 318 319. a greater Excellency to win and reconcile by Gentleness and Fairness than to overcome by Power and Force To win and overcome by fair Means by Reason and Argument by Courtesy and Gentleness these shew Wisdom and Goodness but to crush and subdue may be done by Power and Subtilty by Power because the Person cannot make Defence by Subtilty because the Person was surprized and taken at unawares But the Case is not very fairly put Here is mention made of the invidious Words of Power and Force and Subtilty and the Creatures Weakness which are not the Springs of God's punishing Men but not a word of Holiness and Justice Preservation of Publick Order the Honour of the Divine Law and Government or the Desert of the Offender which are the true Causes of it Men do not suffer because God bears them down by main Force as an Oppressor or outwits and over-reaches them by Craft but because they have deserved Punishment and these valuable Ends which I am sure 't is Wisdom effectually to secure do call for the inflicting of it And as for Goodness it never was the Intent of God nor can it be for his Glory as Governor of the World to represent himself as a Being of meer Clemency and Kindness No Creature would be more despicable than a living King resembling his own Marble or Brazen Statue with a Scepter in its Hand which it never stirs and a broad Sword lifted up in a very threatning Posture as tho' it would cleave any Man in two that came near it but this terrible Instrument is in a dead Hand that never gives a Stroke and therefore is fit only to take up so much Room and stand for a Shew in a Publick Place where the smallest Bird or Insect would quickly make bold with it and pitch upon it without any Fear or Concern And God may tho' he Chastize the Guilty be for ever secure of the Reputation of that his Goodness having given abundant Demonstrations of it towards all his Creatures and knowing further how in a glorious manner to display it towards those who never offended him And Sinners having abused that Attribute 't is but rational to fear that his other Attributes should be employed to repair the Injuries and Dishonours which have been cast upon it But he adds to the same purpose The Creatures suffering
Punishment * Id. p. 319. is but a very SORRY AMENDS for Transgression For what doth God GAIN by it God is so far from being recompenc'd by the Sufferings of CONTUMACIOUS Sinners that I dare say 't is more satisfactory to God more according to his Mind that a Sinner should repent and humbly acknowledge his Offence in this State in which he is than undergo the Suffering of the Damned to Eternity For God GAINS NOTHING by the one but he hath the Heart of the Delinquent by the other These Words and they are not the only ones in this Learned Man's Sermon as published by his Friend may be carried so far as to countenance the wild Opinion of Origen That the wicked in Hell yea Devils themselves at last shall be saved and it may be a little further For 't is hard to think That God should continue CONTUMACIOUS SINNERS in exquisite and Eternal Torments or indeed severely punish them for any long Period of Time if he GAIN NOTHING at all thereby But I will Confront this with another Passage in a Sermon of this * Id. p. 50. Great Man Where mentioning that Scripture God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. He adds It must be attributed to his Goodness and Compassion c. It was that which he was NO GAINER by for our Righteousness is not profitable to him and I say no more is our Love So that it seems whether God save or destroy he gains nothing at all either by the one or the other Neither indeed is it possible that he should if thereby be meant any Addition to his intrinsical Excellency or Happiness for that was always and ever will be infinitely perfect and incapable of any Increase or Diminution But in a way of Manifestation he doth Gain very much in punishing Sinners For hereby he doth evidence his Holiness and Hatred of Sin the Severity of his Justice and the Exactness of his Truth which is no such very SORRY AMENDS for Transgression as it is very unwarily asserted to be And 't is as true he may and doth Gain very much in this Sense in pardoning Sinners for the sake of Christ's Satisfaction on their Repentance and Faith in him For upon this Bottom he doth it on Terms that are Honourable to himself but that it would be so to do it on meer Repentance without any respect to the atoning Blood of a Mediator of which unenlighten'd Reason knows not a Syllable doth not yet appear And tho' he lose the Hearts of Sinners whom he punishes yet we have Reason to suppose what Revelation doth abundantly assure us of that the bright and spacious Heavens are filled with nobler Inhabitants than the little Spot of this dirty Earth on which we tread that there are to use the Words of an * Mr. How 's Right Use of that Argument from the Name of God p. 34. Excellent Person Numberless Myriads of Wise and Holy Sages in the other World the continual Observers of all his Dispensations that behold them with equal unbiass'd Minds and from the Evidence of the Matter give their Concurrent Approbation and Applause Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways But it is Enough and much more Considerable to approve himself to himself and that all his Dispensations are guided according to the Steady and Eternal Reason of Things For as he well Speaks in another place of the same * Id. p. 8 9. Discourse The Glory of God's Name must be understood to be Primarily an Objective Glory that shines with a Constant and Equal Lustre in all his Dispensations whether Men Observe or Observe it not And shines Primarily to Himself so as that he hath the perpetual Self-Satisfaction of doing as truly becomes him and what is in it Self reputable Worthy of him and Apt to approve it Self to a right Mind as his Own ever is let Men think of his Ways as they please No Travellers have yet found out that imaginary Neck of Land whereby 't is supposed that Asia and America are joined together No man by meer Reason can discover the certain Connection between Repentance and Pardon But here Revelation doth relieve us The Holy Scriptures acquaint us that Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ on the one hand and Remission on the other are inseparably united The Apostles Commission runs in this form To open mens Eyes Acts 26.18 and to turn them from Darkness to Light and the Power of Satan to God that they may receive the Forgiveness of their Sins and an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified by Faith that is in me IV. § IV We can have no Certainty by meer Natural Light When God will Pardon us if he do it at all Wise Governors are not wont to receive into Favour great Offenders who have gone on in a long course of Rebellion upon their first Offers of Submission If we have nothing but our own Reason to guide us we might well suppose that in Order to make us more deeply sensible of our Crimes and teach us the Value of so great a Mercy God may let us stand a long while in an humble Penitent manner at his Gate before he vouchsafe to open it to us if ever he do so Now besides that Uneasiness of Mind which the being held in Suspence in so important an Affair must needs create in a Serious and Considering Person there is this further afflictive Consideration That our Lives are very short and uncertain And if the King of Terrors should seize us before our Peace be made with God we are undone Or if it surprize us before we have any solid Grounds to believe he is reconciled to us our Departure out of this World will be like that of a Malefactor out of his Prison who goes trembling to the Place of Execution knowing nothing of a Pardon till he comes thither being half killed with the Fears tho' he escape the Stroke of Death But here Revelation gives us Light and Comfort For it certifies us that no sooner do we sincerely turn to God in Christ but immediately our Sins are blotted out Ps 32.5 I acknowledged my Sin unto thee saith David and mine Iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my Transgression unto the Lord and then it is presently added in the same Verse And thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin The Words do not more closely follow one another than God's gracious Pardon did his Candid and Penitent Confession nor was this a Favour peculiar to the Psalmist but 't is recorded for the Encouragement of others As he himself intimates in the following Verse Ver. 6 For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found No sooner doth Ephraim begin to relent but God is brought in Speaking after the manner of a most Tender and Compassionate Father whose Soul is melted
worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God c. 'T is further evident from the Nature of the Sin here mentioned that the Apostle is speaking of the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost The formal nature of that dreadful Sin I take to be this A malicious reproaching our Blessed Saviour as an Impostor and Deceiver imputing the Miracles which he wrought by the Spirit of God for the Confirmation of his Holy Doctrine and Mission to the Power of the Devil A man would wonder if there were not a thousand Instances of the like kind how so many Learned Men could make a shift so much to mistake this clear and plain notion of this Sin and give us so many Extravagant Opinions concerning it as widely distant from each other as all of them are from the Truth who doth but consider how St. Mark closes the Speech of our Saviour concerning it For he winds up all with these remarkable words Mark 3.30 Because they said he hath an Unclean Spirit which give us a clear Light whereby to discern the nature of this Sin But some rather chuse as an Evidence of their great Strength to endeavour to break through the Walls than turn the Key that is very plainly in the Door and would easily open it and let them into the House Now that 't is this Sin viz. the Reproaching Christ as a Deceiver the Apostle is here speaking of will appear from the Expressions which he useth concerning it He calls it a Crucifying the Son of God afresh Ch. 6.6 Ch. 10.29 and putting him to an open Shame A treading him under foot and counting his Blood an unholy thing and doing Despite to the Spirit of Grace All which do amount to this That they esteemed Christ to be a Vile Malefactor a wretched Impostor that his Miracles which for the Matter of Fact they could not deny were wrought by the help of the Infernal Powers and therefore he was deservedly put to death and had it been to do again they would as readily have done it as ever the Malicious Jews did Moreover the Sin here spoken of in one of the Places Ch. 6.6 is called a falling away and that from the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ which in the Verses immediately foregoing he had newly mentioned Ver. 1 2. i. e. a total Renouncing of the Christian Faith and Returning either to Judaism or Paganism which these Hebrews were in great danger of and which 't is the apparent Design of this Epistle to fortify them against And tho' in the other place it be called only in the General a Sinning Wilfully or Willingly Ch. 10.26 yet thereby the same thing is meant For just before the Apostle had been exhorting them to hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering Ver. 23 and cautioning them against forsaking the Assembling of themselves together as the manner of some was Ver. 25 which was the natural Means and the Ouvert-Act and Sign of their Apostacy And then these Words are brought in For if we sin wilfully c. i. e. If we cast away the Profession of our Faith forsake the Christian Assemblies and renounce the Doctrine of Christ Now it is worthy of our careful Observation that the Heathens but especially the Jews were so implacably bent against our Blessed Lord that tho' a Christian did desert the Assemblies of the Faithful and offer to join with them in their Judaical or Pagan Religion and Worship yet this alone would not suffice But besides this they required an express Abjuring and Reviling and Blaspheming Christ as an Impostor And without this their Rage was never satisfied and to speak in the modern Language they never thought they had fully performed all the necessary Duties of New Converts Acts 26.11 St. Paul tells us that when he persecuted the Christians 1 Tim. 1.13 being exceeding mad with Rage he compelled them to Blaspheme as he Himself also did And giving the Corinthians a Character whereby to distinguish between Divine and Diabolical Spirits 1 Cor. 13.3 I give you to understand Saith he that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus Accursed which doth plainly imply that it was very usual for men to do so in that Age for otherwise this Note of his would have been of no manner of Service to them Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan informs him what was the Ordeal Fire by which he tried those who were suspected and accused whether they would disown Christianity not only by proposing to them to worship the Heathen Gods and the Image of the Emperor but also by demanding of them whether praeterea Christo maledicerent they would also revile Christ And he further adds concerning those that fell in that hour of Temptation that they not only worshipp'd the Pagan Idols and Trajan's Image but also that Ii Christo maledixerunt they reviled Christ And Justin Martyr * Apol. 2d p. 72. Edit Paris tells us That Barchochebas the Ringleader of the Jewish Rebellion did order the Christians to be severely punisht unless they would not only deny Christ but blaspheme him too And Polycarp being required in order to save his Life to reproach †Euseb Hist l. 4. c. 15. Christ replied How can I Blaspheme my King and Saviour And our Learned †Harm of N. Test p. 289 290. Vol. 1. Lightfoot saith That as early as about the 10th or 11th Year after our Saviour's Ascension Rabban Gamaliel and the Sanhedrin appointed a new Prayer in which was a Petition to God to destroy the Hereticks i. e. the Christians and this he set among the Common Prayers and appointed it to be in every man's Mouth And that the Jews had their Emissaries every where abroad that to their utmost cried down the Gospel and blasphemed it and Christ that gave it Of this saith he there is Testimony abundant in the New Testament and in their own Writings So much shall suffice to prove that 't is the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost but a more Aggravated one than that of the Pharisees that is meant in both these Places And if any of our Modern Deists have been maliciously guilty of this Sin unto death I leave them to God But provided a man hath not gone so great a Length as this is how many soever his Sins and Back-slidings from God have been yet on a renewed deep and Sincere Repentance and a lively Faith in the Blood of Christ they shall be remitted Tho' I must add in the words of Moses Exod. 8.29 Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully with God any more For if this Grace be turned into Wantonness tho' God forgive Men Ps 99.8 yet he may and will take vengeance upon their Inventions And this naturally leads me to the Last thing which remains to be spoken unto VI. § VI Mere Natural Light and Reason cannot assure us to what Degree God will pardon those whom he does forgive It
is evident that he continues many Old Punishments and sends New and sometimes very severe ones on those that are truly Penitent This was undeniably the Case of David 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast despised me c. Thus saith the Lord Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house c. And Death at last seizes them as well as the rest of Mankind which is generally looked upon as the standing Mark of God's Displeasure against Sin And how can mere Reason assure me that that shall put a final Period to all my Miseries that there are not some very severe Penalties yet behind for me to endure in the other World The Generality of men have trembled at the thoughts and fears of future Vengeance Lucretius * At mens sibi conscia facti Praemetuens adhibet stimulos terretque flagellis Nec videt interea qui terminus esse malorum Possit nec qui sit poenarum denique finis Atque eadem metuit magis haec ne in morte gravescant Lucret. himself represents a guilty Mind as very jealous that Death was not the End of Misery but the Beginning of greater Evils And therefore among other Replies which the great Patron of meer Natural Religion makes to those who might object that Repentance was no Satisfaction to Divine Justice this is one If any †Si ulterior aliqua irrogari debeat poena Deum Summum post hanc vitam ad tempus aliquod breve vel etiam diuturnum Supplicium de peccatoribus Sumere posse Herbert de Relig. Gentil p. 199. further Punishment ought to be inflicted God may inflict it on Sinners for a shorter or a longer time after this Life Such a Notion as this is did obtain among the Heathen as is acknowledged by their Advocate * Id. p. 196. it 208. and is too plain to be denied Were it not for Scripture Purgatory would not seem to be an absurd Doctrine The Imperfection of Good mens Repentance would incline one to suspect that after this Life they might be cast into the Fire again for the further burning up that Dross that still adheres to them But of this more in the next Chapter And I do not yet see but that if the Scriptures be laid aside I may as well argue from the Instances of God's Severity in this Life and from the undergoing a very painful Death and sometimes a bloody cruel and untimely one which is the lot of many true Penitents as well as others That God does not and will not pardon men tho' they do Repent As another may argue from the Instances of his Common Bounty and Kindness to Wicked men That he will pardon them if they do Moreover by the Light of Nature we can't attain to a well-grounded Confidence that if God should turn away his Wrath from us he will besides this receive us into the Arms and Embraces of his Love become a Friend as well as cease to be an Enemy not only refrain from Chastizing but also feast a Returning Prodigal besides the laying of the Storm cause the Sun to shine and lift up the light of his holy Countenance on our Souls and bless us with a sense of his Loving-kindness which is better than Life Tho' David was so far reconciled to Absalom as not to Execute him yea to permit him to return to Jerusalem yet for a long time he would not Suffer him to see his Face But here Revelation doth thoroughly deliver us from all our Melancholy Fears For it assures us that tho' God continue Old Afflictions or lay New ones on those whom he forgives yet 't is only for their Spiritual and Eternal Advantage to purge out their Corruptions to exercise and improve their Graces That all the Strokes he gives them are like those of a Statuary on his ill-shaped Marble to bring them into a beautiful Image and Form and so make them more meet to grace and adorn the Heavenly Building which they are designed for That they shall never be in Heaviness unless there be a Necessity for it That God will remember their Frame and his own Promise and therefore never suffer them to be tempted above what they are able to bear as a Gardener by his Glasses defends his young and tender Plants from those rough and cold Winds which they can't well endure And if our Danger be Extraordinary so shall his Assistance also be Act. 7.56 When the Jews gnasht on St. Stephen with their Teeth and were ready to devour him the Heavens were open'd and he saw Christ Standing at the right hand of God In all other places of the New Testament he is represented as Sitting there How comes he at this time to be seen in a different Posture St. Stephen was now in very great Danger And so great was our Saviour's Concern for him on this account that as if the Throne of Glory had now been uneasy to him he rises up and is seen standing at the right hand of his Father that he might be in a greater readiness to afford that Help to his distressed Servant which his present Circumstances did so loudly call for The Scripture tells us Psal 89.32 That tho' he visit their Iniquities with a Rod and their Transgressions with a Stripe yet his Loving-kindness he will never take away from them That if it be not apparently their own Fault he will manifest himself to them Joh. 14.21 and fill them with that Peace which passeth all Understanding Phil. 4.7 And there have been many in all Ages who have practised upon and lived up to the Principles of Christianity and in so doing have found this to be true by a long and comfortable Experience Yea not a few have fed on this Heavenly Manna that once were some of the Chiefest of Sinners who when they were first awaken'd have lain under dreadful Agonies of Conscience and one would have thought even after their sincere Conversion should have gone drooping and mourning all their days to their very Graves Indeed a constant lively Sense of their pasts Sins hath continued engraven on their Spirits but yet they have been freed from that Distress and Terror of Soul which once they laboured under As the Print of the Nails and Spear remained in our Saviour's Hands and Side for unbelieving Thomas put his Finger into 'em but not with that Anguish and Torment which they caused in him when he hung upon the Cross Yea Gal. 6.16 walking according to Rule Peace according to the Promise hath been upon them and they have been fill'd with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory And if it hath not been thus with others 't is not the fault of Christianity but of the Professors of it CHAP. II. Of a Future State of Bliss THis is what no
For the proposing vast Recompences for very slight and trivial Matters betrays great Want of Judgment in not setting a true value upon things either upon Rewards or Services or both Now by the Law of our Creation we owe God all possible Duty and Obedience a great deal more than the best of us do yield to him And should God have exacted it on the Account of his Sovereign Authority over us without promising us any thing at all much less any great Matters we had been indispensably obliged to it And our best Actions stand in need of Pardon so far are they from deserving to be Crowned Nothing in us or done by us can bear the least Proportion to the Heavenly Glory And therefore that besides a Pardon God should promise us Eternal Life as the Reward of what we do for him is what can hardly enter into our Thoughts But now Revelation does relieve us in this Matter The Scriptures tell us That Christ by his perfect Obedience and Death in our room and stead hath highly Glorified God and his Government and not only redeemed us from Hell and Destruction to which we were liable but also merited Everlasting Glory for us And that the Design of this whole Affair is to magnify the Riches of God's Grace and show the vast Regard he has to the Death and Intercession of his own Son that on his Account he offers such an unspeakable Reward to us Rom. 5.12 That as Sin has reigned unto Death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not for any Works of Righteousness that we have done or can do it is not because of their Intrinsick Worth that such great Things are given to us Heaven is the Purchase of Christ's Blood it is for His Sake we are accepted and rewarded And so upon our Faith and Obedience we freely receive the Blessings which he hath merited And the more we abound therein the greater is our Reward not because of our Merits but because of God's gracious Promise and Respect to the Blood of his Son for which he assigns us different Degrees of Glory in Proportion to our different Measures of Holiness and Obedience VII § VII I shall add one Consideration more which will equally reach both this and the foregoing Head viz. Natural Light and Reason cannot assure us where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which the Pardon of Sin and the Enjoyment of the Heavenly Glory is suspended Whosoever consults himself the Vanity of his own Mind the Corruption of his own Heart the Turbulency of his Passions the unruliness of his Appetite the Strength of Temptations the Weakness of his Resolutions and the Force of Evil Examples will quickly see an absolute Necessity of a Divine Power to turn him into and keep him in the Paths of Holiness Some Ingenious Men tell us very strange and surprizing Stories of the mighty Strength of Wheels and Pullies and Screws that 't is possible by the Multiplication of them to pull up an Oak by the Roots with a single * Bishop Wilkin's Archimedes p. 96. Hair of a Man's Head lift it up with a Straw or blow it up with ones Breath So that by these Contrivances one of Sampson's Locks when shaven off would have had far greater Strength and done greater Wonders than he himself when all of them were on As Extravagant as this may seem to be yet 't is much more easy and likely than for any Man by his own feeble Arm to pluck up those inveterate Evil Habits which Time and Custom have settled in him and made natural to him Now what well-grounded Confidence can we have from the meer Light of Nature of Divine Help for the accomplishing this great and necessary Work Whether any shall ever enjoy it seeing the same Sins that make us need it render us most unworthy of it Or in what Proportions it shall be given forth and how long it shall be continued Whether the Spirit of God shall be like those Periodical Winds which in some Parts of the World do annually blow to help the Mariner forward in the pursuit of his gainful Voyage or whether it shall only be like that bright Minute which Astrologers tell us of that comes but once in the whole Compass of a Man's Life and which if he lazily let slip he shall never have such another but is doom'd to Misery by a Fatal Necessity all the remainder of his Days But the Christian Institution is peculiarly called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 c. as contra-distinguish'd from the Judaical one tho' that also had God for its Author so small a Portion of it was given forth under the one like little Drops of the Dew from Heaven which just wets the Ground in Comparison of what is bestowed under the other like a plentiful Shower of Rain from above that abundanly Waters it It was in the New Creation as in the Old The cold and dark Evening went before the warm and bright Morning and God appointed the lesser Light to Rule the Night and the greater one to govern the Day The Jewish Dispensation like the Moon had its Glory and its Influence on these lower Bodies But the Gospel is like the Sun who may with more reason than any thing which some Ancient Philosophers dreamt of be called the Soul of the World whose bright and warm Beams give a new Life and Being to all things here below awaken the sleepy and drowsy Spirit in every Creature and cause the Fruits of the Ground to Spring up and flourish and Crown the Year with an abundant Increase Therefore our Blessed Saviour stiles himself the Light of the World Joh. 8.12 a Title which he doth deserve because of the Objects that he hath informed us of having set those Old Truths which before were but darkly apprehended in a full and clear Light and acquainted us with those New ones which had it not been for him we had for ever remained Igrant of And he doth deserve it no less because of that Vital Influence with which his Heavenly Doctrine is accompanied without which all Knowledge in our Minds would be but like decayed Drugs which tho' taken into our Bodies having lost all their Virtue never operate upon them nay Men could not act worse if they verily believed or knew those Doctrines to be false than they do now they believe and know them to be true Joh. 1.4 Ephes 5.14 His Light is the Life of Men Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light And by the Scriptures we are certified that God hath appointed his own Son to be his High Almoner to distribute this Royal Gift of his among us his needy Creatures That being God and Man he hath the Infinite Goodness of the one and the tender Bowels of the other united in him And
Cannot Conclude without making a little Reflection upon what has been said And 1. How should we love and value and adhere to the Gospel of Christ and the Blessed Author of such a Revelation How are Writers esteemed who treat of Matters which are of very great Use and Service to Mankind in the things of this Life And what a Price do Men set upon those Books wherein Difficulties are cleared up and those profitable Inventions are contained Now what is there of so great Importance as Pardon of Sin and Immortal Life the Doctrine whereof is encumber'd with so many Difficulties which are too hard for Natural Light and Reason but are so clearly plainly and fully Solved by the Holy Scriptures How are Men pleased with an exact Description of a Foreign Country tho' they do not so much as dream of dwelling in it nor have any thoughts or hopes of having so much as one Foot of Land there How then should we value the Gospel that gives us so full and plain an Account of the Heavenly Country and how we may be possessed of all the Glory of it What an Esteem have ingenious Men for a Book of Astronomy that gives an Account of the orderly Motions of the Sun Moon and Stars What an happy Invention is that of those Glasses whereby they discover some lesser Bodies which the naked and unassisted Eye is not able to perceive tho' thereby they have no more Benefit from their Light and Influence than those who are the most ignorant of these Affairs How should we value the Sacred Oracles which do discover the Heavenly State to us which is not to be known by mere Reason and how we may so order our own Motions as to get above and out-shine any of those glorious Luminaries Let us adhere to the Bible for if once we give up that we are off from our Center we shall find nothing whereon our Soul can rest but shall be at our Wits-end Methinks that Courtier spoke like a Man of Sense to the Pagan King Edwin whilst he was considering whether he had best to turn Christian or no when he said thus to him * Bede's Eccles Hist Gentis Angl. l. 2. cap. 13. The present Life of Man upon Earth Sir if compared with that Time which is to us unknown seems to me to resemble a little Sparrow which while your Majesty was feasting within with your Royal Retinue in your warm Parlour during the roaring of the blustering Winds and the falling of great Quantities of Rain and Snow without flew in at one Door and presently flew out at another All the time it was in the House it was well shelter'd from Wind and Weather but as soon as it got out into the cold Air we were altogether as ignorant whither it went as we were whence it came Thus we can give some Account of our Soul during its Abode in the Body while it was housed and harboured therein but where it was Before and how it fares with it Afterwards is to us altogether unknown If therefore Paulinus he was the Christian Bishop who laboured to Convert those Heathens by his Preaching can certainly inform us herein he deserves in my Opinion to be followed And the King after he had heard Paulinus's Sermon spoke like an Understanding Man when he said I have long ago been convinced that the Idols we have Worshipped were meer Nothings because the more diligently I have sought for the Truth in this way of Religion so much the farther was I from finding it But now I openly profess that by this Preaching the way of obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness is clearly laid before us Whereupon he immediately gave Orders for the Demolishing the Heathen Temples and Altars 2. Let us take heed that we do not fall short of Pardon and Heaven Sad was the Case of that wicked and prophane Lord at Samaria who barely saw the great Plenty with his Eyes but never tasted of it he stood at the Gate to let in others but was trampled to Death by the Multitude pressing in upon him Much worse will be our Case if we only hear of the great Provision which God has made for us in the other State and never feed upon it but be trodden down to Hell in the Crowd of our own unpardoned Sins It is a double Misery to be drowned within sight of Shore to miss of that Pardon and of that Heaven that are so plainly revealed and of which we have heard so much and so often 3. Let us clear up our Right and Title to both of them How long have we remained in Doubts and Fears and shall we always continue in that uneasy Posture like a Door on its Hinges moving this way and that but still hanging in the same Place where it was many Years ago To clear up our Right 't is necessary that the following Rules be observ'd 1. Don't give Way to immoderate Worldly Sorrow If we be like a Carkass that lies under the Weight of that Earth which presses upon it and never stirs Hand or Foot to help it self If we lie down under our Burdens only mourning and complaining and indulging our selves in black and gloomy Thoughts we can never expect that God should help us especially if we do worse than this if we sinfully afflict our selves we can't reasonably hope that God should comfort us and raise up them who madly cast or bow themselves down If with our own Hands we plunge the Dagger into our Breast it would be a Miracle if we did not lose our Blood and Spirits faint and feel a great deal of Pain They that will chew upon nothing but Wormwood and Gall and delight in rolling it up and down in their Mouths are likely to walk in the Bitterness of their Souls all their Days 2. Watch against the Encroachments of Bodily Melancholy This naturally disposes a Man to Fears and Jealousies is the black Root of many idle but vexatious Scruples and perverse Cavillings and will make him refuse to be comforted tho' there be ever so great Reason for it If a Stander-by convince him of some saving Work of God on his Soul and of his Right to Pardon and Eternal Life yet as soon as he is gone all is undone again the Melancholy Christian being like a faulty Watch which may be wound up and go a little while ones Hand is upon it but no sooner is that removed off but it runs down in an Instant and stands still again When such meet with Worldly Crosses from which none are exempted it casts them into deep Fits of Sorrow which in a Serious Person presently runs into dreadful and amazing Fears about his Soul and the supposed miserable and forlorn State thereof As Peter when he was over-shadowed with a Bright Cloud so any other of the Disciples of Christ when cover'd with a Black one Luke 9.33 are apt to speak they know not what especially against themselves All proper Natural Means therefore
Gospel and the Foundation-Stone of all our Hopes of Pardon and Salvation This may be strongly inferr'd from Abel's Sacrifice and God's Acceptance of it The cutting in pieces of God's good Creatures in whose Make and Frame there are so many Prints of a Divine Power and Wisdom the pouring out of their Blood the burning of their Fat c. This cannot be accounted for as a Reasonable Service but only as it served to keep up in Mens minds a Sense of the heinous Nature and Desert of Sin of the Justice of God who would not Pardon without a Sacrifice and yet of his Mercy at the same time which was a Foundation of Hope to the Sinner in as much as he would accept the Life of a Beast in lieu of the Offender but principally as Sacrifices were Types and Figures of the Death of the Promised Seed who in due time was to put away Sin by the offering of himself This Custom was spread over all the World and it cannot be imagined how All Men in all Ages and in all Places should have agreed upon this as a principal Part of Divine Worship but only that it descended to them by Tradition from the first Father of Mankind But how inexcusable was it in them to receive the Shell and drop the Kernel to retain the outward Rite and Sign but lose the great Thing signified thereby without which the outward Act looks like a Barbarous one unworthy of God to accept and of Man to offer so that he that made the Oblation seemed to be as brutish as the very Beast that he slew And no doubt but Adam and other Holy Men did communicate what Knowledge they had of the Messiah to their Children as they in all Reason should have done to those that were descended from them Noah is expresly called a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 And did he warn the World of the Flood and can any one think he would speak nothing of the Promised Seed Enoch spake of Christ Jude 5.14 and of his appearing to the Destruction of the Wicked and no doubt but he spake also of his first and second Appearing for the Salvation of the Righteous Zacharias tells us That God spake of the Redeemer by the Mouth of his Holy Prophets which have been since the World began Luke 1.70 And if they were Good Men they must needs speak especially to their own Families concerning him And so much of the Doctrine concerning Christ as was absolutely necessary in those Days lay within a very narrow Room viz. That Man was in a fallen State and this they could not but know and feel And that God had promised to rescue them from it by some Extraordinary Person who should be sent to this purpose in due time and all that trusted in him and through him returned to God and their Duty should be pardoned and saved by him And was this such a Load to their Memories Is a Jewel a Burden to a Man that carries it about him Does the pained Man feel the Smart of his Wound and forget the Healing-plaister especially when the Blood is trickling down every Day and there is not a long Parenthesis between the Returns of his sharp Fits at the distance of many Years but he has a continual Monitor of it as they had of their Misery and need of a Remedy Was it an unreasonable hard Task for the Father to teach or the Son to learn so Short a Lesson as this is especially considering that then the Life of Man was not shut up in such narrow Limits as now it is The Cloth is now shrunk up to Threescore Years and Ten but then it was stretched out to several Hundreds A very fair time sure for both Master and Scholar A Learned Dr. William's 2d Serm. of Revel p. 8 9. Man has well observed That the Longevity of those Patriarchs with whom this Lesson was deposited and who were to take care that it might be preserved inviolable was a very great Advantage For three of them alone filled up the first Period of 1656 Years from the Creation to the Flood viz. Adam Methuselah and Noah And Four of the Fathers after the Flood tho' the extent of their Lives was then shortened fell in with the 856 Years from the Flood to the giving of the Law by Moses and in him we have fresh Information about the Promised Messiah But if their Days had been much Shorter and the Lesson much Harder and Longer yet it should have been studied with the greatest Application of Mind as is usual in all Arts and Sciences which are of an infinitely Inferior Nature They tend to a Mans comfortable living in this World But the Doctrine of the Promised Messiah was what their Eternal Welfare was wrapt up in And so was that of their Children too And therefore considering that Love to Themselves and to their Posterity which is so very deeply engraven on the Souls of Men such a Doctrine should have been diligently and affectionately taught readily learned fixedly retained and carefully transmitted down from Age to Age they should sooner have forgotten their own Names than have forgotten that Cardan Baxter 's Saints Rest Part 3. Ch. 13. speaking of one who had a Receipt that would suddenly and certainly dissolve the Stone in the Bladder concludes of him That without doubt that Man is in Hell because he never Revealed it to any before he died The Sentence I confess is somewhat severe but as a Lover of Mankind a Man can hardly forbear to think the same even tho' neither He nor His were ever troubled with that most afflictive of all bodily Distempers But if this Man had by his own Wickedness contracted and then transmitted that Disease to his Children and knew it would run down from him in a Blood to his Childrens Children to the End of the World if yet he had not revealed so rare a Secret to his own Off-spring that they might be freed from that racking Torment in this World which he had brought upon them such wretched ill Nature did deserve to be punished with Everlasting Torments in the other State All this being considered one would think it were Impossible but that the Substance of Revealed Religion should have been transmitted and a sufficient Knowledge of it diffused every-where and been propagated together with the Humane Nature And so it would had it not been for most inexcusable Negligence and Perversness most amazing Folly and Madness God has not been wanting to Men but Men have been most unaccountably wanting to Themselves and their Children Now by what Law is God obliged in a miraculous Manner to restore a fair Estate to a Family when one was setled upon it and has been very wickedly and foolishly embezzled Or to make Corn spring out of the Earth when Men refuse to Plow their Ground and throw away their Seed But least of all could this have been reasonably expected either by the Men of the Old or those of