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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66430	The unreasonableness of infidelity a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, April 6, 1696, being the fourth of the lecture for this present year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2737; ESTC R38945	13,908	35

we may meet it withour surprize or terror and may live as we would wish we had done when that fatal hour doth approach And yet if we take a view of Mankind we find them generally as secure as if they alone were immortal or as improvident as if they had death under such an obligation that it must give them time and leisure sufficient to put all things in order before it shall proceed to executeits Sentence Now if in a matter so apparent sensible and certain there is so little where there ought to be the greatest concernment and Mankind is so difficultly moved that they either don't consider or the consideration of it makes them no wiser or better what reason is there to imagine that the testimony of another though it be one from the dead should make any lasting impression upon them and persuade them to repent 4. What a person feels himself should in reason more affect him than what he hears or sees of others And if what he himself feels makes little or no impression upon him 't is not to be conceived that what he only sees or hears should move him In confirmation of which we may reflect upon the common state and behaviour of Mankind in the Judgments and Afflictions that befal them the Dangers they are in the Terrors they are under In which and the like cases we shall find them too often insensible and incorrigible or inconstant and unresolved Sometimes they are insensible under the severest Judgments As it was with Ahaz who for his Idolatry was delivered up to his Enemies On the East the King of Assyria on the North the King of Israel on the South the Edomite on the West the Philistines invade and spoil his Territories as we have it 2 Chron. 28. 5 6 17 18. And yet when brought thus low for his Transgressions it 's said of him In the time of his distress he trespassed yet more against the Lord ver 22. At other times if sensible yet they are inconstant and in the event prove incorrigible As it was with the Israelites Psal. 78. 34 c. When he slew them then they sought him and enquired early after God c. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth c. For their heart was not right with God neither were they stedfast in his covenant Now can it be supposed that an Apparition of one from the dead should do more than these and that He should by that be disposed to repent whom the severest Judgments left impenitent Or suppose the Sinner terrified hereby and melted into an affectionate temper yet have we not examples of that kind every day of persons that after all the terrors they are under are set no nearer to a true repentance and though they seem for a while by some good resolutions to make towards the Kingdom of Heaven are never able to enter as our Saviour expresses it Luk. 13. 24. View we then a Sinner under the power of his convictions in the time of danger and distress when he has no way to escape How terrified has he been in his own mind at the approaches of death How Grave Solemn and Serious has it made him How importunate has he been for Mercy and for some longer time to finish his Repentance What Promises Resolutions and Vows has he made What Imprecations has he wished upon himself if ever he should prove false to them and desired no mercy if ever he should break them Lord will he say Spare me but this once try me but once more and then if I return to my former Sins or neglect to put my self into a capacity for thy favour and mercy let me never find it As it was with Pharaoh who said to Moses Forgive my Sin only this once and intreat the Lord that he may take away from me this death only Exod. 10. 16. Now could the Apparition of one from the dead do more than this Can we suppose the Sinner more terrified more seriously concerned and resolved than when he had his own Conscience thus impartially representing the case to him and Almighty God awakening his Conscience by an extraordinary Providence And now let us consider the event of this and whether after this tender disposition of mind and seeming resolution he is a true Penitent or that in the Phrase of the Text he will repent and that this will necessarily be the issue of it Suppose we then this Languishing person rescued out of the jaws of Death by a merciful Providence and put into the Condition of making a second tryal and of giving a proof of his thankfulness to God and of his fidelity to his Sick-bed Vows and Resolutions Let us suppose him again breathing in a free Air and having all the inticing Objects afresh presented to him that he was before conversant with Let us trace him along and we shall find him as the terror and sense of his danger wears off first covertly looking then remotely following at last overtaking and closing with the same temptations and perhaps plunging himself further into the same Licentious state than before Grant we now that there is a just reason for the Sinner's terror if the Ghost of his Deceased Friend and the once inseparable Partner in his Vices should appear and plainly represent to him the desert of Sin in the Miseries of another Life and the certainty of his having a Portion in them without repentance Grant we and he must be a stone rather than a man whom it has no influence upon that he is brought by it into the state of Belshazzar Dan. 5. that his Countenance is changed and his Thoughts so trouble him that the joints of his Loins are unloosed and his Knees smite one against another Yet still this may be and he be no true Penitent nor this prove a means effectual enough to reform him For a man repents no further than his Will and Temper is changed and if these remain the same he no more repents to whom the dead has appeared whatever terrors he may be under than he that was upon the borders of Death And he may and will as soon as he upon occasion repent of his repentance So certainly true is that which was before observed That the causes which hinder men from being persuaded to repentance by the Arguments of Scripture will also keep them from being persuaded by means extraordinary such as the coming of one from the dead And that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things will as well render the extraordinary means ineffectual as choke the Word of God and make it unfruitful Let God send all the Plagues of Egypt and yet Pharaoh will harden his heart Let the Sea be divided and Manna rained from Heaven and Water break out of the Rock and the Water of the Rock follow them for 40 years together Let them have a Cloud by Day and a Pillar of Fire by

The Vnreasonableness of Infidelity A SERMON Preached at St. Martins in the Fields April 6. 1696. BEING THE Fourth of the LECTURE For this Present YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey MDCXCVI LUKE XVI 31. And he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead FROM the 19th Verse of this Chapter to the end under the Parable of if I may so call it the Rich man and Lazarus there is a way proposed by which we may best judge of the wisdom and folly the happiness and misery of Mankind And it is as if our Saviour had said Suppose we a man as happy as the world can make him abounding in Prosperity Wealth Ease and Luxury that wanted nothing for his Vanity for he was in a condition honourable and splendid was cloathed in Purple and fiue Linen and Silk nothing for his Appetite for he fared sumptuously every day And when he died was buried with Ceremony and Pomp agreable to his Quality Suppose we on the other hand a person as miserable as this world can make him poor so as to beg full of Sores and Ulcers so as not able to help himself destitute of Friends so as to be cast at the Rich man's gate hunger-starved so as to need the very crumbs which fell from the other's table contemned so as not to be regarded though lying at the gate in the passage and view of all or if taken notice of yet so as not to be relieved naked so as not to have wherewith to cover his Body or to defend his sores from the cold and that found more pity among the dogs than men while alive for they came and licked his sores and when dead through want pain and anguish found as little charity to bury him Thus far we find them as unlike as can be in their present condition But now let us follow them beyond the Grave and see what becomes of them in the other world There we find the poor Lazarus that once pitiful contemptible necessitous wretched Creature that wanted what the dogs had here the crumbs of the Table taken care of at his death by the Holy Angels and carried by them into a place of safety and rest comfort and happiness where Abraham was and there preferr'd to a place of honour and kindness for he lay in Abraham's Bosom having no poverty nor sores nor contempt nor any of the evil things he received in his Life-time here This he had because of his afflictions that he endured and bore with admirable patience because of his steady dependance upon God and an humble submission to him in the most deplorable condition On the other hand the Rich man when he died went to Hell where he had none of the Ease and Luxury the Respect and Honour none of the good things he received in his life-time but was tormented in a flame wanting water there as much to cool his tongue and quench his insatiable thirst as Lazarus did before the crumbs which fell from his Table to satisfy his hunger There he was and there he was to abide for there was a great Gulph fixed that rendred him as uncapable of receiving relief in the other world as he was neglectful and unwilling to give it to such as needed in this This he had for his Pride and Unmercifulness for his Contempt of God and of others better than himself This he was too late sensible of as to himself he lift up his eyes but he was in torments he cried to his Father Abraham but he proves inexorable he calls for mercy but is minded of his former ingratitude to God and his uncharitableness to others and is put to silence with a Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things ver 25. When he could not prevail for himself he then turns his thoughts towards his Five brethren whom he left behind that were as careless and so likely at last to be as miserable as himself and intreats Abraham that Lazarus might be sent to testify unto them how it was with him and how it would also be with them unless they repented ver 27. To which Abraham replies ver 29. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But that doth not satisfy him and he urges further Nay Father Abraham but if one went from the dead they will repent ver 30. This he speaks from his own Experience who had Moses and the Prophets as well as they and yet he was as secure and careless as if he had never heard or knew what they Taught and therefore unless some other Expedient be thought of or some other means used they are like in the conclusion to be as miserable as himself and surely that if any would prevent it if one went from the dead But to this Abraham replies in the Text If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead that is if they give no Credit nor regard to what is contained in their Writings concerning a Future State of rewards and punishments they are incurable neither will they be persuaded to repent as it is ver 30. though one rise from the dead That there is a Future State of Happiness or Misery in which the Souls of men do live after a separation from their Bodies has been in all Ages universally received But yet was not so convincingly to be proved from the sole light of Reason but that a fuller evidence of it was very desirable For which there are but two ways Either that of Divine Revelation by persons Divinely Inspired Or by the return of one from the Dead who was before known to the Living And these are the ways taken here into consideration by our Saviour in the case before us Where there may be three sorts of persons concerned 1. Those that had not Moses and the Prophets and were wholly without a Revelation as was the case of the Heathens And how shall they believe who have not heard Rom. 10. 14. 2. Those that had Moses and the Prophets and yet were incredulous and did not believe what Moses and the Prophets relate concerning a Future State Such were the Sadducees who held there was no resurrection angel nor spirit existing out of a Body 3. Those that had Moses and the Prophets and did believe what was therein revealed concerning the Soul's Immortality and a Future Life but were not thereby persuaded to repent Such were the Pharisees who professed to believe what the Sadducees denied And of this sort were the Rich man here spoken of and his Five Brethren supposed to be Now toward the conviction of each of these it might

other case But that he that will not be persuaded by Moses and the Prophets will not be persuaded though one come from the dead And this I shall make good 1. By parallel and sutable cases and instances 2 By a particular inquiry into the causes of impenitence which will hold in one case as well as the other 1. By parallel cases As 1. If means as extraordinary and more extraordinary than the coming of one from the dead have failed in this point and not persuaded men to repentance we have as little reason to expect nor can it reasonably be presumed that the coming of one from the dead should persuade and become effectual As for instance Let us consider the case of Pharaoh before whom such stupendious Miracles were wrought and upon whom such astonishing Judgments were inflicted as could not in reason be supposed resistible When the Waters Earth and Air Beasts Fishes and Fruits of the Earth Men and Children either felt or were made the instruments of Divine Vengeance Could it be thought that when the Waters were turned into Blood and Frogs covered the face of the Earth and the Dust of it was converted into Lice and the plague of Flies followed that of Lice and Murrain Flies and Boils the Murrain and Hail Boils and Locusts Hail and Darkness Locusts and the killing of the First-born the Darkness that he should yet be so obstinate as not to let the people of Israel go and when he did should follow them into the midst of the Sea Could disappointment vexation and revenge so far infatuate him that Miracle after Miracle Scourge upon Scourge could not persuade him nor the sense of so imminent a danger stop him in his carier but that he persisted in his first resolution and blinded thus with rage pursued it to his destruction Can it be supposed now that one from the dead could more have prevailed upon him than this Scene of Judgments Could it have come with so much terror Or if it should may not the Sinner be alike obstinate and infatuated May not the like passions and sensual affections or a habit of Sin keep a person from hearkening to or following the advice of one come from the dead Let us consider again how it was with the Israelites who had not only been Spectators of those Miracles and Judgments in Egypt but stood safe in the midst of them that were preserved directed and fed by a continued Series of Miracles and yet were not only upon every occasion tempting and provoking God by their distrust impatience and murmuring but were for returning into Egypt again Thus it was also with their Posterity in our Saviour's time who notwithstanding the plain fulfilling of their ancient Prophesies in him notwithstanding the Innocency of his Life the Purity Sanctity and Evidence of his Doctrine the Power of his Miracles changing the course of Nature as he pleased healing the Sick opening the Eyes of such as were born blind casting out Devils and raising the Dead Nay notwithstanding his Resurrection and the unquestionable confirmation of it yet continued obstinate and incredulous and what they could not deny would impute to Beelzebub Now what comparison is there between the coming of one from the dead and this case Or what reason is there to conceive that a wicked Jew should have been more effectually reclaimed from a Vicious course of Life and be made a penitent by the coming of one from the dead than the Jewish Infidel should be made a Convert by all those numerous Miracles and become a Christian And why may not the one be as well impenitent as the other an Infidel 2. It may be supposed in reason that what a person hears from another should in a matter of importance alike affect him in one case as in another And if he is not persuaded by the one there is no reason to expect he should be prevailed upon by the other Such indeed is the Testimony of one rising from the dead who must be acknowledged to be a very fit Evidence concerning the reality of a Future State and the condition of Separate Souls in it as he has been personally acquainted with it and had a part in it But such also is the Testimony of a trembling Sinner that after a vicious course of Life entring upon the confines of death and expecting every moment to be snatched away by that inexorable Enemy feels now the anguish no less than he formerly relished the pleasures of his Sin that cries out in the bitterness of his Soul That he is sensible but he fears too late of his former folly That he is now prey'd upon by a Thousand Vipers and feels a Hell in himself before he descends into it And in this Agony calls upon all about him and the once Sworn Companions in his Vices to take warning by him and no longer to entertain themselves with the charms of those noxious pleasures he is now burdened with the guilt of and would not for a world repeat if he was to live his Life over again Is not here a living and present Testimony And if one should come from the dead can he say more or can his Testimony be of greater force concerning the State he comes from than this of the awakened penitent if not despairing Sinner is concerning the Evil the Guilt and Terror of Sin And yet if this be not attended to or the force of it be soon carried off by a Glass of Wine and the charms of Company and Temptation or tract of Time Can it be supposed that the same Event may not happen to the other And will not the hardned and impenitent Sinner as much despise or as soon forget the admonitions of this ghostly Monitor as those of a dying desponding Friend 3. It may be expected that what a person sees himself should more affect him than what he hears only by the report of others And if what he sees though in a matter of necessity and importance makes little or no impression upon him how can it be supposed that what he hears only from another should affect him And this is the case For if one came from the dead to bear witness to the truth of a Future State of recompence and of the misery of impenitent Souls in it it 's only testimony and report and what can neither be of that certainty nor force as if the person to whom he comes upon this errand had himself been in that State But now there are those things which a person sees and which should in reason according to the nature of the things as much move him as the Testimony of one coming from the dead And of this kind is Death which we every day have in view and are no more secured against the very next moment than those that are already departed The plain consequence of which is this That 't is then our greatest wisdom so to order our selves and all our affairs that