Happiness by the free Grace and Mercy of God to do any thing whereby they may forfeit their Happiness or so much as to entertain a Thought of offending that God to whom they cannot but be sensible how infinitely they are obliged In this Imperfect state few Men have so little Goodness as to sin without a Temptation but in that state where Men are perfectly good and can have no Temptation to be otherwise it is not imaginable that they should fall from that state 2. As to the state of the damned that that likewise is immutable the Scripture does seem plainly enough to assert when it calls it an everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and uses such Expressions to set forth the continuance of their Misery as signifie the longest and most interminable Duration expressions of as great an Extent as those which are used to signifie the Eternal Happiness of the blessed and as large and unlimited as any are to be had in those Languages wherein the Scriptures are written Besides that wicked Men in the other World are in Scripture represented as in the same Condition with the Devils of whom there is no ground to believe that any of them ever did or will repent Not because Repentance is impossible in its own nature to those that are in extream Misery but because there is no place left for it Being under an irreversible Doom there is no encouragement to Repentance no hope of Mercy and Pardon without which Repentance is impossible For if a Man did utterly despair of Pardon and were assured upon good ground that God would never shew Mercy to him in this case a Man would grow desperate and not care what he did He that knows that whatever he does he is miserable and undone will not matter how he demeans himself All motives to Repentance are gone after a Man once knows it will be to no purpose And this the Scripture seems to represent to us as the case of the Devils and damned Spirits Because their state is finally determined and they are concluded under an irreversible Sentence therefore Repentance is impossible to them Sorry no doubt they are and heartily troubled that by their own Sin and Folly they have brought this Misery upon themselves and they cannot but conceive an everlasting Displeasure against themselves for having been the Cause and Authors of their own Ruin and the Reflection of this will be a perpetual Spring of discontent and fill their Minds with eternal rage and vexation and so long as they feel the intolerable Punishments of Sin and groan under the insupportable Torments of it and see no end of this miserable state no hope of getting out of it they can be no otherwise affected than with discontent at themselves and rage and fury against God They are indeed penitent so far as to be troubled at themselves for what they have done but this Trouble works no change and alteration in them they still hate God who inflicts these Punishments upon them and who they believe is determined to continue them in this miserable state The present anguish of their Condition and their despair of bettering it makes them mad and their Minds are so distracted by the wildness of their Passions and their spirits so exasperated and set on fire by their own giddy Motions that there can be no rest and silence in their Souls not so much as the liberty of one calm and sedate Thought Or if at any time they reflect upon the evil of their Sins and should entertain any thoughts of returning to God and their Duty they are presently checkt with this Consideration that their case is determined that God is implacably offended with them and is inexorably and peremptorily resolved to make them miserable for ever and during this Perswasion no Man can return to the love of God and Goodness without which there can be no Repentance This Consideration of the immutable state of Men after this Life should engage us with all seriousness and diligence to endeavour to secure our future happiness God hath set before us good and evil life and death and we may yet chuse which we please but in the other world we must stand to that choice which we have made here and inherit the Consequences of it By Sin Mankind is brought into a miserable state but our Condition is not desperate and past Remedy God hath sent his Son to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins So that tho' our Case be bad it need not continue so if it be not our own fault There is a possibility now of changing our Condition for the better and of laying the foundation of a perpetual Happiness for our selves The Grace of God calls upon us and is ready to assist us so that no Man's Case is so bad but there is a possibility of bettering it if we be not wanting to our selves and will make use of the Grace which God offers who is never wanting to the sincere endeavours of Men. Under the Influence and Assistance of this Grace those who are dead in trespasses and sins may pass from death to life may be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God So long as we are in this world there is a possibility of being translated from one state to another from the dominion of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son But if we neglect the opportunities of this life and stand out against the offers of God's Grace and Mercy there will no Overtures be made to us in the other world After this life is ended God will try us no more our final miscarriage in this world will prove fatal to us in the other and we shall not be permitted to live over again to correct our Errors As the Tree falls so it shall lye such a State as we are settled in when we go out of this world shall be fixt in the other and there will be no possibility of changing it We are yet in the hand of our own Counsel and by God's Grace we may mould and fashion our own Fortune But if we trifle away this Advantage we shall fall into the hands of the living God out of which there is no Redemption God hath yet left Heaven and Hell to our choice and we had need to look about us and chuse well who can chuse but once for all and for ever There is yet a space and opportunity left us of Repentance but so soon as we step out of this Life and are entred upon the other world our Condition will be sealed never to be reverst And because after this Life there will be no further hopes of Mercy there will be no possibility of Repentance This is the accepted time this is the day of Salvation therefore to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts lest God swear in his Wrath that we shall not enter into his rest
of the Apostle immediately after the Text The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned And how gladly would I add the next words But beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak SERMON VI. Christ the Author and Obedience the Condition of Salvation HEB. V. 9 And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him THIS is spoken of Christ our great High Priest under the Gospel upon the Excellency of whose Person and the Efficacy of his Sacrifice for the Eternal Benefit and Salvation of Mankind the Apostle insists so largely in this and the following Chapters but the Summ of all is briefly comprehended in the Text that our High Priest being made perfect became the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him Vol. V. In which words we have these four things considerable 1 st The great Blessing and Benefit here spoken of and that is Eternal Salvation and this implies in it not only our Deliverance from Hell and Redemption from Eternal Misery but the obtaining of Eternal Life and Happiness for us 2 dly The Author of this great Blessing and Benefit to Mankind and that is Jesus Christ the Son of God who is here represented to us under the notion of our High Priest who by making Atonement for us and reconciling us to God is said to be the Author of Eternal Salvation to Mankind 3 dly The Way and Means whereby he became the Author of our Salvation being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having consummated his work and finish'd his Course and receiv'd the Reward of it For this word hath an allusion to those that run in a Race where he that wins receives the Crown And to this the Apostle plainly alludes Phil. 3.12 where he says not as though I had already attained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as if I had already taken hold of the Prize but I am pressing Ser. 6. or reaching forward towards it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or were already perfect that is not as if I had finish'd my Course or had the Prize or Crown in my hand but I am pressing forward towards it In like manner our blessed Saviour when he had finish'd the Course of his Humiliation and Obedience which was accomplish'd in his Sufferings and had receiv'd the Reward of them being risen from the Dead and exalted to the Right Hand of God and crown'd with Glory and Honour he is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made perfect and therefore when he was giving up the Ghost upon the Cross he said John 19.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finish'd or perfected that is he had done all that was necessary to be done by way of suffering for our Redemption And the same word is likewise used Luke 13.32 concernining our Saviour's Sufferings I do cures to day and to morrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the third day I shall be perfected this he spake concerning his own death And therefore Ch. 2.10 God is said to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through Sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus our High Priest being made perfect in this Sense that is having finish'd his Course which was accomplished in his Sufferings and having received the Reward of them in being exalted at the Right Hand of God he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to us 4 thly You have here the qualification of the Persons who are made Partakers of this great Benefit or the Condition upon which it is suspended and that is Obedience he became the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him These are the main things contained in the Text. For the fuller Explication whereof I shall take into consideration these five things 1 st How and by what means Christ is the Author of our Salvation 2 dly What Obedience the Gospel requires as a Condition and is pleased to accept as a Qualification in those who hope for eternal Salvation 3 dly We will consider the possibility of performing this Condition by that Grace and Assistance which is offer'd and ready to be afforded to us by the Gospel 4 thly The necessity of this Obedience in order to Eternal Life and Happiness And 5 thly I shall shew that this is no prejudice to the Law of Faith and the free Grace and Mercy of God declared in the Gospel 1 st We will consider how and by what means Christ is the Author of our Salvation and this is contain'd in these words Being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation that is as I told you before having finish'd his Course which was accomplish'd in his last Sufferings and having received the Reward of them being exalted at the right hand of God he became the Author of eternal Salvation to us so that by all that he did and suffer'd for us in the days of his Flesh and in the state of his Humiliation and by all that he still continues to do for us now that he is in Heaven at the right hand of God he hath effected and brought about the great Work of our Salvation His Doctrine and his Life his Death and Sufferings his Resurrection from the Dead and his powerful Intercession for us at the Right Hand of God have all a great influence upon the reforming and saving of Mankind and by all these Ways and Means he is the Author and Cause of our Salvation as a Rule and as a Pattern as a Price and Propitiation and as a Patron and Advocate that is continually pleading our Cause and interceding with God on our behalf for mercy and grace to help in time of need And indeed our condition requir'd an High Priest who was qualified in all these respects for the recovery of Mankind out of that corrupt and degenerate state into which it was sunk an High Priest whose lips should preserve knowledge and from whose mouth we might learn the Law of God whose Life should be a perfect Pattern of Holiness to us and his Death a propitiation for the sins of the whole World and by whose Grace and Assistance we should be endowed with Power and Strength to mortifie our Lusts and to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and therefore such an High Prist became us who was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners who might have compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way and being himself compast with infirmities might have the feeling of ours being in all points tempted as we are only without sin and in a word might be able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him seeing
Obedience and grievous Sufferings undergone for our sakes and upon our account were of that Value and Esteem with God and his voluntary Sacrifice of himself in our stead so highly acceptable and well pleasing to him that he thereupon was pleased to enter into a Covenant of Grace and Mercy with Mankind wherein he hath promised and engaged himself to forgive the Sins of all those who sincerely repent and believe and to make them partakers of Eternal Life And hence it is that the Blood of Christ which was shed for us upon the Cross is call'd the Blood of the Covenant as being the Sanction of that new Covenant of the Gospel into which God is entred with Mankind and not only the Confirmation but the very Foundation of it for which reason the Cup in the Lord's Supper which represents to us the Blood of Christ is call'd the New Testament in his Blood which was shed for many for the remission of Sins 4 thly and lastly Christ is said to be the Author of our Salvation in respect of his powerful and perpetual Intercession for us at the right Hand of God And this seems to be more especially intimated and intended in that Expression here in the Text that being made perfect he became the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him Which Words of his being perfected do as I have shew'd before more immediately refer to his Sufferings and the Reward that followed them his Exaltation at the right hand of God where he lives for ever to make Intercession for us by which perpetual and most prevalent Intercession of his he procures all those Benefits to be bestowed upon us which he purchased for us by his Death the forgiveness of our Sins and our Acceptance with God and perfect Restitution to his Favour upon our Faith and Repentance and the Grace and Assistance of God's holy Spirit to inable us to a sincere Discharge of our Duty to strengthen us against all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil to keep us from all Evil and to preserve us to his Heavenly Kingdom And this is that which our Apostle calls obtaining of Mercy and finding Grace to help in time of need ch 4. v. 16. of this Epist Our blessed Saviour now that he is advanced into Heaven and exalted on the right hand of the Majesty on high doth out of the tenderest Affection and Compassion to Mankind still prosecute that great and merciful Design of our Salvation which was begun by him here on Earth and in Virtue of his meritorious Obedience and Sufferings does offer up our Prayers to God and as it were plead our Cause with God and represent to him all our Wants and Necessities and obtain a favourable Answer of our Petitions put up to God in his Name and all necessary supplies of Grace and Strength Proportionable to our Temptations and Infirmities And by Virtue of this powerful Intercession of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer our Sins are pardoned upon our sincere Repentance our Prayers are graciously answered our Wants are abundantly supplied and the Grace and Assistance of God's Spirit are plentifully afforded to us to excite us to our Duty to strengthen us in well doing to comfort us in Afflictions to support us under the greatest Tryals and Sufferings and to keep us through Faith unto Salvation And for this reason as the purchasing of our Salvation is in Scripture attributed to the Death and Sufferings of Christ so the perfecting and finishing of it is ascribed to the prevalency of his Intercession at the right Hand of God for us So the Apostle tells us ch 7. v. 25. That he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for us He dyed once to purchase Salvation for us and that we may not fall short of it but receive the full Benefit of this Purchase he lives for ever to make Intercession for us and thus he saves to the uttermost all those that come to God by him that is he takes care of the whole business of our Salvation from first to last And now that he is in Heaven he is as intent to procure our Welfare and Happiness and as tenderly concerned for us as when he lived here among us upon Earth as when he hung upon the Cross and poured out his Soul an Offering for our Sins for he appears at the right Hand of God in our Nature that which he assumed for our sakes which was made subject to and sensible of our Infirmities and which was tempted in all things like as we are only without Sin and therefore he knows how to pity and succour them that are tempted and from the remembrance of his own Sufferings is prompted to a compassionate Sense of ours and never ceaseth in virtue of his Blood which was shed for us to plead our Cause with God and to intercede powerfully on our behalf So that the Virtue and Efficacy of Christ's Intercession on our behalf is founded in the Redemption which he wrought for us by his Blood and Sufferings which being entred into Heaven he represents to God on our Behalf As the high Priest under the Law did enter into the holy place with the Blood of the Sacrifices that had been offered and in virtue of that Blood interceded for the People So Christ by his own Blood entred into the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us as the Apostle speaks ch 9. v. 12. He entred into the Holy Place that is into Heaven it self to make Intercession for us as the Apostle explains himself v. 24. Christ is not entred into the holy places which are made with hands but into Heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us And ch 10. v. 12. speaking of Christ's appearing for us at the right Hand of God this Man says he after he had offer'd one Sacrifice for Sin for ever that is a Sacrifice of perpetual Virtue and Efficacy sat down at the right Hand of God that is to intercede for us in virtue of that Sacrifice From all which it appears that the Virtue of Christ's Mediation and Intercession for us in Heaven is founded in his Sacrifice and the price of our Redemption which he paid on Earth in shedding his Blood for us From whence the Apostle reasons that there is but one Mediator between God and Men by whom we are to address our Prayers to God 1 Tim. 2.5 There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransome for all His Mediation is founded in his Ransome or the Price which he paid for our Redemption The Apostle indeed does not say there is but one Mediator between God and Man in express words but surely he means so if by saying there is one God he means there is but one God for they are joined together and the very same Expression used concerning
Obedience and good Works Chap. 3.8 This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have belieed in God be careful to maintain good Works All that now remains is to make some useful Inferences from what hath been said upon this Argument and so to conclude this Discourse First of all To convince us that an empty Profession of the Christian Religion how specious and glorious soever it be if it be destitute of the fruits of Obedience and a holy Life will by no means avail to bring us to Heaven No profession of Faith in Christ no Subjection to him tho' we be baptized in his Name and list our selves in the number of his Disciples and Followers tho' we have made a constant Profession of all the Articles of the Christian Faith and have performed all the external parts and duties of Religion have gone constantly to Church and frequented the Service of God and have joined in publick Prayers to God with great appearance of Devotion and have heard his Word with great Reverence and Attention and received the blessed Sacrament with all imaginable expressions of Love and Gratitude to our belessed Redeemer nay tho' we had heard our blessed Saviour himself teach in our streets and had eaten and drunken in his presence yet if all this while we have not done the will of God and obeyed his Laws none of all these things will signifie any thing to bring us to Heaven and make us Partakers of that Salvation which he hath purchased for Mankind But we cannot plead so much for our selves as those did of whom our Saviour speaks None of us shall be able to alledge for our selves at the great day that we had prophesied in his Name and in his name had cast out Devils and in his name had done many wonderful Works and yet if we could alledge all this it would do us no good All that such can say for themselves is that they have call'd him Lord Lord that is they have made profession of his Religion and been call'd by his Name that they have paid an outward Honour and respect to him and declared a mighty Love and Affection for him but they have not done his will but have hated to be reformed and have cast his Commandments behind their backs they have only born the Leaves of an outward Profession but have brought forth no fruit unto Holiness and therefore can have no reasonable expectation that their End should be everlasting Life So that when these Men shall appear before the great and terrible Judge of the World they shall have nothing to say but those vain Words Lord Lord to which our Saviour will answer in that Day why call ye me Lord Lord when ye would not do the things which I said Notwithstanding all your profession of Faith in me and subjection to me ye have been workers of Iniquity therefore depart from me I know ye not whence ye are Secondly The consideration of what hath been said should stir as up to a thankful acknowledgement of what the Author of our Salvation hath done for us and there is great reason for thankfulness whether we consider the greatness of the Benefit conferred upon us or the way and manner in which it was purchased or the easie and reasonable terms upon which it may be obtained 1 st If we consider the greatness of the Benefit conferred upon us and that is Salvation eternal Salvation which comprehends in it all the Blessings and Benefits of the Gospel both the Means and the End our Happiness and the Way to it by saving us from our Sins from the guilt of them by our Justification in the Blood of Christ and from the Power and Dominion of them by the sanctifying grace and virtue of the Holy Ghost And it comprehends the End our Deliverance from Hell and the Wrath to come and the bestowing of Happiness upon us a great and lasting Happiness great as our Wishes and Immortal as our Souls all this is comprehended in eternal Salvation 2 dly If we consider the way and manner in which this great Benefit was purchased and procured for us in a way of infinite Kindness and Condescension in the lowest Humiliation and the unparallel'd Sufferings of the Son of God for never was there any sorrow like unto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce Anger in his taking upon him the form of a Servant and the person of a Sinner and his becoming obedient to death even the death of the Cross which was the Punishment of the vilest Slaves and the most hainous Malefactors The Son of God came down from Heaven from the highest pitch of Glory and Happiness into this lower World this Vale of Tears and sink of Sin and Sorrow and was contented himself to suffer to save us from eternal Ruin to be the most despicable and the most miserable Man that ever was that he might raise us to Glory and Honour and advance us to a state of the greatest Happiness that Humane Nature is capable of 3 dly If we consider the easie and reasonable Terms upon which we may be made Partakers of this unspeakable Benefit and that is by a constant and sincere and universal Obedience to the Laws of God which supposeth Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as the Root and Principle of all the Virtues of a good Life that is by doing that which best becomes us and which is most agreeable to the original Frame of our Nature and to the dictates of our Reason and which setting aside the consideration of the Reward is really best for our present Benefit and Advantage our Comfort and Happiness even in this World for God in giving Laws to us hath imposed nothing upon us but what in all reason ought to have been our choice if he had not imposed it nothing but what is for our good and is in its own nature necessary to make us capable of that Happiness which he hath promised to us And what can be more gracious than to make one Benefit the Condition of a greater Than to promise to make us happy for ever if we will but do that which upon all accounts is really best and most for our Advantage in this present Life Thirdly Here is abundant Encouragement given to our Obedience we have the divine Assistance promised to us to enable us to the performance of the most difficult parts of our Duty we have the holy Spirit of God to help our Infirmities to excite us to that which is good and to help and strengthen us in the doing of it For our further Encouragement we are assured of the divine Acceptance in case of our sincere Obedience notwithstanding the manifold Failings and Imperfections of it for the sake of the perfect Righteousness and Obedience and the meritorious Sufferings of our blessed Saviour and tho when we have done all that we can do
we are unprofitable Servants and have done nothing but what was our duty yet God is pleased to accept what we can do because it is sincere and to forgive the defects and imperfections of our Obedience for his sake who fulfilled all righteousness And besides all this we have the encouragement of a great and everlasting Reward infinitely beyond all proportion of any service and Obedience that we can perform And if God be ready to assist and strengthen us in the doing of our duty and be willing so graciously to accept and to reward at such a rate the Sincerity of our endeavours to please him notwithstanding all the failings and imperfections of our best service and Obedience what can we possibly desire more for our encouragement to patient continuance in well-doing and to be stedfast and unmoveable and abundant in the work of the Lord. Fourthly and lastly The consideration of what hath been said upon this Argument may serve severely to rebuke the groundless Presumption of those who rely with so much confidence upon Chrst for eternal Salvation without any conscience or care to keep his Commandments as if Salvation lay upon his Hands and he knew not how to dispose of it and were glad of any one that would come and take it off upon any terms No he came to save us from our Sins to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works So that the Salvation which he hath purchased for us doth necessarily imply our forsaking of our Sins and returning to God and our Duty and his Death and Sufferings are not more an argument of his great Love to Mankind than they are a demonstration of his perfect hatred of Sin So that if we continue in the Love and practice of Sin we defeat the whole design of his coming into the World and of all that he hath done and suffered for us and the redemption which Christ hath wrought for us will not avail us in the least Salvation is far from the wicked says David Psal 119.155 If we have been workers of Iniquity the Saviour of the World when he comes to judge it will bid us to depart from him From all that hath been said it is evident that it is the greatest Presumption in the World for any Man to hope to obtain eternal Salvation by any device whatsoever or in the Communion of any Church whatsoever without Obedience and a holy Life For tho' our Obedience cannot merit yet it is necessary to qualifie and dispose us for it tho' it does not make us strictly worthy yet it makes us meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light SERMON VIII The Authority of Jesus Christ with the Commission and Promise which he gave to his Apostles MAT. XXVIII 18 19 20. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World THESE Words are the last that our Blessed Saviour spake to his Apostles immediately before his Ascension into Heaven and there are these Three things contained in them Vol. V. I. A Declaration of his own Authority All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth II. A Commission to his Disciples grounded upon that Authority Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you III. A Promise to encourage them in this work And lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world I. Here 's our Saviour's Declaration of his own Authority All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Here 's an unlimited Power and Authority given him over all Creatures in Heaven and Earth This the Scripture tells us was conferred upon him as a Reward of his Sufferings Phil. 2.8 9 10. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth that is that all Creatures Angels and Men and Devils should do Homage and acknowledge Subjection to him II. Here is the Commission he gave to his Apostles by virtue of this Authority Go ye therefore and teach all Nations The Commission which he here gives is founded in the Authority he had before received Having all Power committed to him he constitutes and appoints the Apostles and their Successors to manage the Affairs of this his spiritual Kingdom upon Earth and this seems to be the same Commission which St. John mentions in other words John 20.21 As my Father hath sent me even so send I you that is as my Father commission'd me before so now having received full Authority from him I commission you Now in this Commission which our Saviour gave to his Disciples I shall take notice First Of the general Import and Design of it Secondly A more particular Declaration how they were to manage this Design First The general Import and Design of this Commission Go ye and teach all Nations The word which we translate teach is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disciple all Nations endeavour to make all the World Christians One would think here was a Power plainly enough given them to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews Which will more fully appear if we compare this passage in St. Matthew with the other Evangelists St. Mark oh 16.15 hath it Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature From which Text I suppose St. Francis thought himself bound to preach to Beasts and Birds and accordingly did it very often and with wonderful success as they tell us in the Legend of his Life But to extend our Saviour's Commission so far is want of Common sense in which St. Francis tho' they tell us he had other Gifts and Graces to an eminent degree was plainly defective But to proceed St. Luke ch 24.47 tells us our Saviour commanded that Repentance and remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem So that their Commission did plainly extend to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews only they were to begin with the Jews and to preach the Gospel first to them and when they had gone over Judea and Samaria then to pass to other Nations as St. Luke doth most expresly declare Acts 1.8 Ye shall receive power after that the holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me
would draw all men after him What do we say they for this man doth many Miracles if we let him thus alone all men will believe on him This they said upon occasion of the great Miracle of raising Lazarus from the Dead And in Reason Miracles are the highest Attestation that can be given to the Truth and Divinity of any Doctrine and supposing a Doctrine not to be plainly unworthy of God and contrary to those natural Notions which Men have of God and Religion we can have no greater Evidence of the truth of it than Miracles they are such an argument as in its own nature is apt to persuade and induce belief All Truths do not need Miracles some are of easy belief and are so clear by their own light that they need neither Miracle nor Demonstration to prove them Such are those self-evident Principles which Mankind do generally agree in others which are not so evident by their own light we are content to receive upon clear demonstration of them or very probable Arguments for them without a Miracle And there are some Truths which however they may be sufficiently obscure and uncertain to most Men yet are they so inconsiderable and of so small consequence as not to deserve the attestation of Miracles so that there is no reason to expect that God should interpose by a Miracle to convince Men of them Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit But for such Truths as are necessary to be known by us but are not sufficiently evident of themselves nor capable of cogent Evidence especially to prejudiced and interested Persons God is pleased in this Case many times to work Miracles for our Conviction and they are a proper Argument to convince us of a thing that is either in it self obscure and hard to be believed or which we are prejudiced against and hardly brought to believe for they are an Argument à Majori ad Minus they prove a thing which is obscure and hard to be believed by something that is more incredible which yet they cannot deny because they see it done Thus our Saviour proves himself to be an extraordinary Person by doing such things as never man did he convinceth them that they ought to believe what he said because they saw him do those things which were harder to be believed if one had not seen them than what he said Miracles are indeed the greatest external confirmation and evidence that can be given to the truth of any Doctrine and where they are wrought with all the advantages they are capable of they are an unquestionable demonstration of the truth of it and such were our Saviour's Miracles here in the Text to prove that he was the true Messias here are Miracles of all kinds the blind receive their sight and the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up For the nature of them they are such as are most likely to be Divine and to come from God for they were healing and beneficial to Mankind Our Saviour here instanceth in those things which are of greatest benefit and advantage and which free Men from the greatest miseries and inconveniencies the restoring of sight to the Blind and hearing to the Deaf soundness and health to the Lame and the Leprous and life to the Dead And then for the number of them they were many not one instance of a kind but several of every kind and great multitudes of most of them and for the manner of their operation they were publick in the sight and view of great multitudes of People to free them from all suspicion of fraud and imposture they were not wrought privately and in corners and given out and noised abroad but before all the People so that every one might see them and judge of them not only among his own Disciples and Followers as the Church of Rome pretends to work theirs but among his Enemies to convince those that did not believe and this not done once and in one place but at several times and in all places where he came and for a long time for three years and a half and after his death he endowed his Disciples and Followers with the same power which lasted for some Ages And then for the quality of them they were Miracles of the greatest magnitude those of them which in themselves might have been performed by natural means as healing the Lame and the Leprous and the Deaf he did in a miraculous manner by a word or a touch yea and many times at a great distance But others were not only in the manner of their operation but in the nature of the thing unquestionably miraculous as giving of sight to those that had been born blind and raising up the dead to life as Lazarus after he had lain in the grave four days and himself afterwards the third day after he had been buried which if there ever was or can be any unquestionable Miracles in the World ought certainly to be reputed such So that our blessed Saviour had all the Attestation that Miracles can give that he came from God And this is the first Evidence of his being the Messias The Jews acknowledge that the Messias when he comes shall work great Miracles and their own Talmud confesseth that Jesus the Son of Joseph and Mary did work great Miracles and the History of the Gospel does particularly relate more and greater Miracles wrought by him than by Moses and all the Prophets that had been since the World began so that we may still put the same question to the Jews which they did in our Saviour's time to one another when Christ cometh when the Messias whom ye expect comes will he do more Miracles than these which this Man hath done But Secondly this will yet more clearly appear by the correspondency of the things here mentioned with what was foretold by the Prophets concerning the Messias Not to mention innumerable Circumstances of his Birth and Life and Death and Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven together with the success and prevalency of his Doctrine in the World all which are punctually foretold by some or other of the Prophets I shall confine my self to the particulars here in the Text. First It was foretold of the Messias that he should work miraculous Cures Isa 35.4 5 6. speaking of the Messias he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopp'd then shall the lame man leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb sing this you see was fulfilled here in the Text. 'T is true indeed the Text mentions another Miracle which is not in the Prophet that he raised the dead but if God did more than he promised and foretold this is no prejudice to the argument if all that he foretold was accomplish'd in him Besides the Jews have a Proverb that God is not content to perform
Sum and Abridgment of the Christian Religion and there is nothing of all this that can reasonably be excepted against 4. God considering the Prejudice of the Heathen against Christianity by reason of their Education in a contrary Religion was strong and violent was pleased to give such Evidence of the Truth of Christianity as was of proportionable Strength and Force to remove and conquer this Prejudice He was pleased to give Testimony to the first Founder of this Religion by mighty Miracles and particularly by his Resurrection from the Dead But because the Report of these things was only brought to the Heathen World and they had not seen these things themselves therefore he enabled those who were the Witnesses of these Things to the World to work as great Miracles as he had done And when they saw those who gave Testimony to our Saviour's Miracles do as great and strange things themselves as they testified of him there was no Reason any longer to doubt of the Truth of their Testimony So that though the Prejudice of the Heathen against Christianity was very great yet the Evidence which God gave to it was strong enough to remove it The Doctrine of Christianity was such as might have recommended it self to impartial Men by its own Reasonableness But meeting with violent Prejudices in those to whom it was offer'd God was pleased to give such a Confirmation to it as was sufficient to bear down those Prejudices Secondly Another Objection against Christianity was the Plainness and Simplicity of the Doctrine They expected some deep Speculations in Natural or Moral Philosophy they made full Account a Teacher sent from Heaven would have instructed them in the profoundest Points and discoursed to them about the first Principles of things and the Nature of the Soul and the chief end of Man with a Subtilty and Eloquence infinitely beyond that of their greatest Sophisters and able to bear down all Opposition and Contradiction But instead of this they are told a plain Story of the Life and Miracles of Jesus Christ and of his dying upon the Cross and rising from the dead and ascending into Heaven and a few plain Precepts of Life and all this deliver'd without any Ornaments of Art or Insinuation of Eloquence to gain the Favour and Applause of those to whom they related these Things But now this truly considered is so far from being any real Objection against the Christian Doctrine that it is one of the greatest Commendations that can be given of it For matter of Fact ought to be related in the most plain and simple and unaffected manner and the less Art and Eloquence is used in the telling of a Story the more likely it is to gain Belief And as for our Saviour's Precepts how plain soever they might be I am sure they are a Collection of the most excellent and reasonable Rules of a good Life and the freest from all Vanity and Folly that are to be met with in any Book in the World And can any thing be more worthy of God and more likely to proceed from him than so plain and useful a Doctrine as this The Language of Law is not wont to be fine and persuasive but short and plain and full of Authority Thus it is among Men And surely it is much fitter for God to speak thus to Men than for Men to one another Thirdly It is objected that the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles wanted Demonstration they seemed to impose too much upon the Understandings of Men and to deliver things too Magisterially not demonstrating Things from Intrinsical Arguments but requiring Belief and Assent without Proof This the Apostle St. Paul readily acknowledgeth that in preaching the Gospel to the World they did not proceed in the way of the Heathen Orators and Philosophers 1 Cor. 4.4 My Speech and my Preaching was not in the enticing Words of Man's Wisdom but in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power that is they did not go in the way of Human Eloquence and Demonstration but yet their Doctrine did not want its Evidence and Demonstration though of another kind They did not go about to bewitch Men by Eloquence nor to entangle their Minds by subtil Reasonings the Force of which very few are capable of But they offer'd to Men a sensible Proof and Demonstration of the Truth of what they delivered in those strange and miraculous Operations to which they were enabled by the Holy Ghost And this was a sensible Evidence even to the meanest Capacity of a Divine Assistance going along with them and giving Testimony to them I appeal to any Man whether the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead and his Ascending into Heaven be not a clearer Demonstration of another Life after this and more level to the Capacities of all Mankind than the finest and subtilest Arguments that can be drawn from the immaterial Nature of the Soul its power of Reflection upon it self and Independency upon the Body as to some of its Operations which yet are some of the chiefest Arguments that Philosophy affords to prove the Immortality of our Souls Fourthly The Heathens objected that the low and mean Condition of our Saviour was unsuitable to one that pretended to be the Son of God and to be appointed by God to be a Teacher and Reformer of the World This to the Heathen Philosophers did not only appear unreasonable but even ridiculous So St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 1.23 We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks Foolishness To think that a Man who appeared in such mean Circumstances should be fit to reform the World and one who himself was put to Death should be relied upon for Life and Immortality This Objection I have heretofore considered at large and therefore shall now speak but very briefly to it Besides those excellent Reasons and Ends which the Scripture assigns of our Saviour's Humiliation as that he might be a Teacher and Example to us that he might make Expiation for our Sins that by suffering himself he might learn to commiserate us that by Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and might deliver those who through fear of Death were all their lives subject to Bondage I say besides these it was of great use that he should live in so mean and afflicted a Condition to confront the Pride and Vanity and Fantastry of the World and to convince Men of these two great Truths That God may love those whom he afflicts and That Men may be innocent and virtuous and contented in the midst of Poverty and Reproach and Suffering Had our Blessed Saviour been a great Temporal Prince his Influence and Example might possibly have made more Hypocrites and servile Converts but would not have persuaded Men one jot more to be inwardly good and virtuous The great Arguments which must do that must be fetch'd not from the Pomp and Prosperity of
this World but from the Eternal Happiness and Misery of the other Besides had he appeared in any great Power and Splendor the Christian Religion could not have been so clearly acquitted from the Suspicion of a worldly Interest and Design which would have been a far greater Objection against it than this which I am now speaking to Add to all this that the wisest of the Heathen Philosophers did teach that Worldly Greatness and Power are not to be admired but despised by a truly wise Man that Men may be virtuous and good and dearly beloved of God and yet be liable to great Miseries and Sufferings and that whoever suffers unjustly and bears it patiently gives the greatest Testimony to Goodness and does most effectually recommend Virtue to the World that a good Man under the hardest Circumstances of Misery and Reproach and Suffering is the fittest Person of all other to be the Minister and Apostle and Preacher of God to Mankind And surely they who say such things which the Heathen have done had no reason to object to our blessed Saviour his low and suffering Condition As to that part of the Objection that he who promis'd Immortality to others could not save himself from Death and Suffering considering that he who was put to Death rescu'd himself from the Power of the Grave It is so far from being ridiculous that nothing can be more reasonable than to rely upon him for our hopes of Immortality who by rising from the Grave and conquering Death gave a plain demonstration that he was able to make good what he promised I have done with the Exceptions which were made against our Saviour and his Doctrine at their first Appearance in the World I proceed in the II. Place to consider the Prejudices and Objections which Men at this day do more especially insist upon against our Saviour and his Religion And they are many First Some that relate to the Incarnation of our Saviour Secondly To the Time of his Appearance Thirdly That we have not now sufficient Evidence of the Truth of Christianity the main Arguments for it relying upon Matters of Fact of which at this distance we have not nor can be expected to have sufficient Assurance Fourthly That the Terms of it seem very hard and to lay too great Restraints upon Human Nature Fifthly That it is apt to dispirit Men and to break the Vigour and Courage of their Minds Sixthly The Divisions and Factions that are among Christians Seventhly The wicked Lives of the greatest part of the Professors of Christianity In answer to all which I do not propose to say all that may be said but as briefly as I can to offer so much as may if not give full Satisfaction yet be sufficient to break the Force of them and to free the Minds of Men from any great Perplexity about them As to the First which relates to the Incarnation of our Saviour and the Second to the Time of his Appearance I know that these and most of the rest I have mention'd were urged by the Heathen against Christianity But they are now more especially insisted upon both by the secret and open Enemies of our Religion The Objections against his Incarnation I have elsewhere consider'd Joh. 1.14 Serm. III. And therefore shall proceed to the next viz. Secondly As to the Time of our Saviour's appearance it is objected If he be the only Way and Means of Salvation why did he come no sooner into the World but suffer Mankind so long without any Hopes or Means of being saved This was objected by Porphyry of old and still sticks in the Minds of Men. To this I answer 1. It is not fit for Creatures to call their Creator to too strict an Account of his Actions Goodness is free and may act when and how it pleaseth and as God will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy so he may have Mercy at what Time he pleaseth and is not bound to give us an Account of his Matters This is much like the Objection of the Atheist against the being of God That if there were such an Infinite and Eternal Eeing he would surely have made the World sooner and not have been without all Employment for so long a duration Such another Objection is this against our Saviour That if he had been the Son of God he would have begun this great and merciful Work of the Redemption of Mankind sooner and not have delay'd it so long and suffer'd Mankind to perish for four Thousand Years together But it seems in the one as well as the other God took his own time and he best knew what time was fittest The Scripture tells us That in the fulness of Time God sent his Son when things were ripe for it and all things accomplisht that God thought requisite in order to it In judging of the Actions of our Earthly Governours those who are at a distance from their Councils what Conjectures soever they may make of the Reasons of them will nevertheless if they have that Respect for their Wisdom which they ought believe that how strange soever some of their Actions may seem yet they were done upon good Reason and that they themselves if they knew the Secrets of their Counsels should think so Much more do we owe that Reverence to the infinite Wisdom of God to believe that the Counsels of his Will are grounded upon very good Reason tho' we do not see many Times what it is 2. It is not true that the World was wholly destitute of a Way and Means of Salvation before our Saviour's coming Before the Law of Moses was given Men were capable of being received to the Mercy and Favour of God upon their Obedience to the Law of Nature and their sincere Repentance for the Violation of it by virtue of the Lamb that was slain from the Foundation of the World Men were saved by Christ both before and under the Law without any particular and express Knowledge of him There were Good Men in other Nations as well as among the Jews as Job and his Friends also seem to have been In all Ages of the World and in every Nation they that feared God and wrought Righteousness were accepted of him The Sacrifice of Christ which is the Meritorious Cause of the Salvation of Mankind looks back as well as forward and God was reconcileable to Men and their Sins were pardon'd by Virtue of this great Propitiation that was to be made In which Sense perhaps it is that Christ is said to be the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Heb. 9.25 26. the Apostle intimates to us that if this Sacrifice which was offer'd in the last Ages of the World had not been available in former Ages Christ must have often suffer'd since the Foundation of the World but now hath he appeared once in the Conclusion of the Ages to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself 3. He did appear at that Time in
and gave Testimony to themselves by Miracles yet at present I desire no more but that they be looked upon as knowing and honest Relators of what they heard and saw and that the same Credit be given to them which we give to Livy and Arian and Q. Curtius for plain Events and matters of Fact But yet I must add withal that besides the Miracles which they wrought they gave greater Testimony of their Integrity than any Historian in the World ever did For they willingly suffer'd the greatest Persecution and Torment yea and Death it self in Confirmation of the Truth of what they deliver'd And for the propagating of the Christian Religion through so great a part of the World it is evident by the Effect beyond all Denial So that for the matters of Fact upon which the Truth of Christianity does depend here is greater and more advantagious Evidence of History than for any other Matter of equal Antiquity whatsoever 3. As to the substance of these matters of Fact we have the concurring Testimony of the greatest Enemies of the Christian Religion That there were such Persons as our Saviour and his Apostles that they preached such a Doctrine that they wrought such Miracles for this we have the Acknowledgment of the Jews and the Testimony of the Heathen Historians and particularly of Celsus and Porphyry and Julian who were the particular and most learned Adversaries of the Christian Religion So that as to the Matters of Fact there is no Objection against them whatever use we may make of them or whatever Consequences we may draw from them And I presume it agreed by all Objectors that if these matters of Fact be true they are a sufficient Foundation of the Truth of our Religion and we are very unequal to our Religion if we make a doubt of these things which the greatest Enemies of Christianity never had the Face to deny 4. And besides all this to recompence the Disadvantage which we have of those who saw the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles we have the Testimonium rei the Evidence of the Effects of these things to confirm our Belief of them and this is an Advantage which the first Ages of Christianity could not have We see our Saviour's Predictions of the Success of his Religion in the World in the propagating and establishing of it fully accomplisht notwithstanding the fierce Opposition and Resistance that was made against it by the greatest Powers of the World We see the Dispersion of the Jews in all Nations and the Misery and Contempt which they every where suffer and that now for above Sixteen Hundred Years they have continued a distinct People and a Spectacle of the Divine Justice and Severity for rejecting and crucifying the Son of God and for a lasting and standing Testimony of the Truth of our Saviour's Prediction and of the Christian Religion So that though we live at this distance from the first rise and beginning of Christianity yet we have the Relation of those Things which give Confirmation to it conveyed down to us in as credible a manner as any ancient matter of Fact ever was and the Effects of things remaining to this day do give Testimony to the Truth of it Fourthly It is objected that the terms of Christianity seem very hard and to lay too great restraints upon Human Nature It commands us to mortify our Lusts and subdue our Passions and deny Vngodliness and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World to be holy in all manner of Conversation to have respect to whatever things are honest and true and just and virtuous and of good report and to deny our selves and to part with the dearest Enjoyments of this Life yea and with Life it self for the sake of Christ and his Gospel Now these seem to be very hard Terms to forego all the present Pleasures and Injoyments of this Life in hopes of a future Happiness which we are less assur'd of To this I answer 1. That this is a greater Objection against Religion in general than the Christian Religion For Natural Religion requires of us all the main Duties that Christianity does and gives us far less Assurance of the Reward of our Obedience Natural Religion requires Piety and Justice and Charity the due Government of our Appetites and Passions as well as Christianity does but does not discover to us the Rewards of another World by many Degrees so clearly as our Lord and Saviour who hath brought Life and Immortality to Light by the Gospel and by his Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven hath given us full Assurance of another Life after this and of a glorious Immortality So that though we have not nor can have the Evidence of Sense for a Future State yet we have all the Rational Evidence for it that can be wisht or expected and much more than Men have for those Adventures of their Lives and Fortunes which they frequently make in this World and think themselves reasonable in so doing 2. The Restraints which Christianity lays upon Men are in the judgment of Mankind so far from being an Objection against it that they are highly to the Commendation of it Nay it were the greatest Objection that could be against our Religion if it did set us at Liberty from those Restraints What can be more to the credit of any Religion than to command Men to be just and charitable and peaceable And what more to the Advantage of the Professors of it And on the contrary what can reflect more upon any Religion than to indulge and allow Men in any Vice contrary to these It shews Men are glad to make any thing an Objection against Christianity when they lay hold of that which if it had been otherwise they would have made ten times more Clamour against it for the contrary 3. As for most of those Restraints which Christianity lays upon us they are of that Nature so much both for our Private and Publick Advantage that setting aside all Considerations of Religion and of the Rewards and Punishments of another Life they are really good for us and if God had not laid them upon us we ought in Reason in order to our Temporal Benefit and Advantage to have laid them upon our selves If there were no Religion I know Men would not have such strong and forcible Obligations to these Duties but yet I say though there were no Religion it were good for Men in order to Temporal Ends to their Health and Quiet and Reputation and Safety and in a word to the private and publick Prosperity of Mankind that Men should be temperate and chaste and just and peaceable and charitable and kind and obliging to one another rather than the contrary So that Religion does not create those Restraints arbitrarily but requires those things of us which our Reason and a regard to our own Advantage which the Necessity and Conveniency of the Things themselves without
any Consideration of Religion would in most Cases urge us to 4. As to the case of Persecution for Religion besides that it does not now happen so frequently as it did in the beginning of Christianity nay very seldom in comparison if all things be consider'd it cannot be thought unreasonable both because Religion offers to us in Consideration of our present Sufferings a Happiness unspeakably greater than that which we forego for the sake of Religion and because when it happens God does extraordinarily enable Men to go through it with Courage and Comfort as we see in the Examples of the primitive Christians who in great Numbers of all Tempers and Ages did voluntarily chuse to give up themselves to these Sufferings when there was no necessity laid upon them but fair terms of Retreat were offer'd to them by their Enemies It is one thing when a Man suffers by the Law and cannot help it and another thing when Men may avoid suffering In the former Case Men submit to necessity and bear it as well as they can in the latter Case if Men suffer it is a sign they firmly believe the Reward of it and if they suffer chearfully and with Joy as most of the Martyrs did it is a plain Evidence that God affords them extraordinary Support in their Sufferings and then the Case is not very hard when Religion puts them upon nothing but what it gives them cause and enables them to rejoice in the doing of it Fifthly It is objected That the Christian Religion is apt to dispirit Men and to break the Courage and Vigor of their Minds by the Precepts of Patience and Humility and Meekness and of forgiving Injuries and the like This Objection hath made a great Noise in the World and hath been urged by Men of great Reputation and a deep insight into the Tempers of Men and the Affairs of the World It is said to be particularly insisted upon by Machiavel and very likely it may though I think that elsewhere he is pleased to speak with Terms of Respect not only of Religion in general but likewise of the Christian Religion and which seems very much to contradict the other he says in the first Book of his Discourses upon Livy Ch. 11. That the Greatness and Success of Rome is chiefly to be ascribed to their Piety and Religion and that Rome was more indebted to Numa Pompilius for settling Religion among them than to Romulus the Founder of their State and the Reason he gives is much to our present Purpose For says he without Religion there can be no Military Discipline Religion being the Foundation of good Laws and good Discipline And particularly he commends the Samnites who betook themselves to Religion as their last and best Remedy to make Men couragious nothing being more apt to raise Men's Spirits than Religion But howsoever this Objection be I dare appeal both to Reason and Experience for the Confutation of it 1. To Reason and that as to these two things 1. That the Christian Religion is apt to plant in the Minds of Men Principles of the greatest Resolution and truest Courage It teacheth Men upon the best and most rational Grounds to despise Dangers yea and Death it self the greatest and most formidable Evil in this World and this Principle is likely to inspire Men with the greatest Courage for what need he fear any thing in this World who fears not Death after which there is nothing in this World to be feared And this the Christian Religion does by giving Men the assurance of another Life and a Happiness infinitely greater than any is to be enjoyed in this World And in order to the securing of this Happiness it teacheth Men to be holy and just and to exercise a good Conscience both toward God and Man which is the only way to free a Man from all inward and tormenting Fears of what may happen to him after Death This makes the righteous Man to be as Solomon says bold as a Lion Nothing renders a Man more undaunted as to Death and the Consequences of it than the Peace of his own Mind for a Man not to be conscious to himself of having wilfully displeased him who alone can make us happy or miserable in the other World So that a good Man being secure of the Favour of God may upon that Account reasonably hope for a greater Happiness after Death than other Men Whereas a bad Man if he be sober and have his Senses awakened to a serious Consideration of things cannot but be afraid to dye and be extremely anxious and solicitous what will become of him in another World And surely it would make the stoutest Man breathing afraid to venture upon Death when he sees Hell beyond it Possibly there may be some Monsters of Men who may have so far suppress'd the Sense of Religion and stupified their Consciences as in a good Measure to have conquer'd the fears of Death and of the Consequences of it But this happens but to a very few as the Poet tells us in the Person of an Epicurean Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus omnes inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari There are very few that attain to this Temper and but at some times So that if Vice and Wickedness do generally break the Firmness of Men's Spirits it remains that nothing but Religion can generally give Men Courage against Death And this the Christian Religion does eminently to those who live according to it our blessed Saviour having delivered us from the fear of Death by conquering Death for us and giving us Assurance of the glorious Rewards of another Life 2. Meekness and Patience and Humility and Modesty and such Virtues of Christianity do not in Reason tend to dispirit Men and break their true Courage but only to regulate it and take away the Fierceness and Bruitishness of it This we see in Experience that Men of the truest Courage have many times least of Pride and Insolence of Passion and Fierceness Those who are better bred are commonly of more gentle and civil Dispositions But yet they do not therefore want true Courage though they have not the Roughness and Fool-hardiness of Men of ruder Breeding So in a true Christian Courage and Greatness of Mind is very consistent with Meekness and Patience and Humility Not that all good Men are very couragious there is much of this in the Natural Tempers of Men which Religion does not quite alter But that which I am concerned to maintain is that Christianity is no hindrance to Mens Courage and that caeteris paribus supposing Men of equal Tempers no Man hath so much Reason to be valiant as he that hath a good Conscience I do not mean a blustering and boisterous and rash Courage but a sober and calm and fixt Valour 2. I appeal to Experience for the Truth of this Did ever greater Courage and Contempt of Death appear
our Saviour John 10.36 Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God And when he was arraigned before the Chief Priests they accused him of this and he owning this Charge that he call'd himself the Son of God upon this they judge him guilty of Death Matth. 26.65 66. Then the High-Priest rent his Cloaths and said He hath spoken Blasphemy what further need have we of witness Behold now ye have heard his Blasphemy What think ye They answered He is guilty of Death And when Pilate told them that he found no Fault in him they still instance in this as his Crime John 19.7 We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God Now this being the Crime which was charged upon him and for which he was crucified and put to Death God by raising him up from the dead and taking him up into Heaven gave Testimony to him that he was no Impostor and that he did not vainly arrogate to himself to be the Messias and the Son of God God by raising him from the dead by the Power of the Holy Ghost gave a mighty Demonstration to him that he was the Son of God For which Reason he is said by the Apostle 1 Tim. 3.16 to be justified by the Spirit The Spirit gave Testimony to him at his Baptism and by the mighty Works that appeared in him in his Life-time but he was most eminently and remarkably justified by the Holy Ghost by his Resurrection from the Dead God hereby bearing him Witness that he was unjustly condemned and that he assumed nothing to himself but what of right did belong to him when he said he was the Messias and the Son of God For how could a Man that was condemned to dye for calling himself the Son of God be more remarkably vindicated and more clearly proved to be so than by being raised from the dead by the Power of God And 2 dly God did consequently hereby give Testimony to the Truth and Divinity of our Saviour's Doctrine Being proved by his Resurrection to be the Son of God this proved him to be a Teacher sent by him and that what he declared to the World was the Mind and Will of God For this none was more likely to know and to report truly to Mankind than the Son of God who came from the Bosom of his Father And because the Resurrection of Christ is so great a Testimony to the Truth of his Doctrine hence it is that St. Paul tells us that the belief of this one Article of Christ's Resurrection is sufficient to a Man's Salvation Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The Reason is plain because the Resurrection of Christ confirmed the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine so that the belief of our Saviour's Resurrection does by necessary Consequence infer the belief of his whole Doctrine That God raised him from the dead after he was condemned and put to Death for calling himself the Son of God is a demonstration that he really was the Son of God and if he was the Son of God the Doctrine which he taught was true and from God And thus I have shewn you how the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is a powerful Demonstration that he was the Son of God All that remains is briefly to draw some practical Inferences from the Consideration of our Saviour's Resurrection 1 st To confirm and establish our Minds in the belief of the Christian Religion of which the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is so great a Confirmation And therefore I told you that this one Article is mentioned by St. Paul as the Sum and Abridgment of the Christian Faith If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved The belief of our Saviour's Resurrection doth by necessary consequence infer the belief of his whole Doctrine for he who believes that God raised him from the dead after he was put to death for calling himself the Son of God cannot but believe him to be the Son of God and consequently that the Doctrine which he delivered was from God 2 dly The Resurrection of Christ from the dead assures us of a future Judgment and of the Recompences and Rewards of another World That Christ was raised from the dead is a demonstration of another Life after this and no man that believes the immortality of our Souls and another Life after this ever doubted of a future Judgment so that by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead God hath given assurance unto all men of a future Judgment and consequently of the Recompences and Rewards of another World The consideration whereof ought to have a mighty influence upon us more especially to these three purposes 1 st To raise our minds above the present Enjoyments of this Life Were but men convinced of this great and obvious Truth that there is an infinite difference between Time and Eternity between a few days and everlasting Ages would we but sometimes represent to our selves what thoughts and apprehensions dying Men have of this World how vain and empty a thing it appears to them how like a Pageant and Shadow it looks as it passeth away from them methinks none of these things could be a sufficient temptation to any Man to forget God and his Soul but notwithstanding all the present delights and allurements of Sense we should be strongly intent upon the concernments of another World and almost wholly taken up with the thoughts of the vast Eternity which we are ready to enter into For what is there in this World this vast and howling Wilderness this rude and barbarous Country which we are but to pass through which should detain and entangle our Affections and take off our Thoughts from our Everlasting Habitation from that better and that heavenly Country where we hope to live and to be happy for ever 2 dly The Consideration of the Rewards of another World should comfort and support us under the troubles and afflictions of this World The hopes of a blessed Resurrection are a very proper Consideration to bear us up under the evils and pressures of this Life If we hope for so great a Happiness hereafter we may be contented to bear some Afflictions in this World because the Blessedness which we expect will so abundantly recompence and outweigh our present Sufferings So the Apostle assures us Rom. 8.18 We know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us The consideration whereof was that which made the Primitive Christians to triumph in their Sufferings and in the midst of all their Tribulations
by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Natural but a Moral Impossibility that which cannot be done according to the Orders and Constitutions of the Church that is the Church did refuse to admit Apostates and some other great Offenders as Murderers and Adulterers to a course of Penance in order to their Reconciliation with the Church This Tertullian tells us was the strictness of the Church in his time Neque Idololatriae neque Sanguini pax ab Ecclesiâ redditur they admitted neither Idolaters nor Murderers to the reconciliation of the Church Though they were never so penitent and shed never so many tears yet he says they were jejunae pacis lacrimae their tears were in vain to reconcile them to the Peace and Communion of the Church He says indeed they did not absolutely pronounce their case desperate in respect of God's Pardon and Forgiveness sed de veniâ Deo reservamus for that they referr'd them to God but they were never to be admitted again into the Church so strict were many Churches and that upon the Authority of this Text though the Church of Rome was more moderate in this matter and for that Reason call'd the Authority of this Book into question But I see no reason why these Words should primarily be understood of restoring Men to the Communion of the Church by Penance but they seem to be meant of restoring Men to the Favour of God by Repentance of which indeed their being restored to the Communion of the Church was a good sign This the Apostle says was very difficult for those who after Baptism and the several benefits of it did apostatize from Christianity to be recover'd again to Repentance Seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame This is spoken by way of Aggravation of the crime of Apostacy that they who fall off from Christianity in effect and by interpretation do crucifie the Son of God over again and expose him to shame and reproach as the Jews did for by denying and renouncing of him they declare him to be an Impostor and consequently worthy of that death which he suffered and that Ignominy which he was exposed to and therefore in account of God they are said to do that which by their actions they do approve so that it is made a Crime of the highest Nature as if they should crucifie the Son of God and use him in the most ignominious manner even tread under foot the Son of God as the expression is to the same purpose Ch. 10.29 Thus I have endeavour'd as briefly and clearly as I could to explain to you the true meaning and importance of the several Phrases and Expressions in the Text the sense whereof amounts to this That if those who are baptized and by Baptism have received Remission of Sins and do believe the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Promises of it and are endow'd with the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost if such persons as these shall after all this apostatize from Christianity it is very hard and next to an impossibility to imagine how such Persons should recover again by Repentance seeing they are guilty of as great a Crime as if in their own Persons they had put to Death and ignominously used the Son of God because by rejecting of him they declare to the World that he suffered deservedly Having thus explained the words in order to the further vindication of them from the mistakes and misapprehensions which have been about them I shall endeavour to make out these five things 1 st That the Sin here mention'd is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost 2 dly That the Apostle does not declare it to be absolutely impossible but only that those who are guilty of it are recover'd to Repentance with great difficulty 3 dly That it is not a partial Apostacy from the Christian Religion by any particular vicious Practice 4 thly That it is a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion and more especially to the Heathen Idolatry which the Apostle here speaks of 5 thly The Reason of the difficulty of the recovery of those who fall into this Sin 1 st That the Sin here mention'd is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost which I have heretofore discoursed of and shewn wherein the particular Nature of it does consist There are three things which do remarkably distingush the Sin here spoken of in the Text from the Sin against the Holy Ghost described by our Saviour 1 st The Persons that are guilty of this Sin here in the Text are evidently such as had embraced Christianity and had taken upon them the Profession of it whereas those whom our Saviour chargeth with the Sin against the Holy Ghost are such as constantly opposed his Doctrine and resisted the Evidence he offer'd for it 2 dly The particular nature of the Sin against the Holy Ghost consisted in blaspheming the Spirit whereby our Saviour wrought his Miracles and saying he did not do those things by the Spirit of God but by the assistance of the Devil in that malicious and unreasonable imputing of the plain Effects of the Holy Ghost to the Power of the Devil and consequently in an obstinate refusal to be convinced by the Miracles that he wrought but here is nothing of all this so much as intimated by the Apostle in this place 3 dly The Sin against the Holy Ghost is declared to be absolutely unpardonable both in this World and in that which is to come But this is not declared to be absolutely unpardonable which brings me to the 2 d Thing namely That this Sin here spoken of by the Apostle is not said to be absolutely unpardonable It is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost and whatever else it be it is not out of the compass of God's Pardon and Forgiveness So our Saviour hath told us that all manner of Sin whatsoever that men have committed is capable of pardon excepting only the Sin against the Holy Ghost And though the Apostle here uses a very severe Expression that if such persons fall away it is impossible to renew them again to Repentance yet I have shewn that there is no necessity of understanding this Phrase in the strictest sense of the word impossible but as it is elsewhere used for that which is extreamly difficult Nor indeed will our Saviour's Dclaration which I mention'd before that all Sins whatsoever are pardonable except the Sin against the Holy Ghost suffer us to understand these words in the most rigorous Sense 3 dly The Sin here spoken of is not a partial Apostacy from the Christian Religion by any particular vicious Practice Whosoever lives in the habitual practice of any Sin plainly forbidden by the Christian Law may be said so far to have apostatized from Christianity but this is not the falling away which the Apostle here speaks of This may be bad enough and the greater Sins any Man who professeth himself a Christian lives
Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall which Admonition were surely to little purpose if it were impossible for them that stand to fall Lastly Others venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance and their Importunity with God to receive them to Mercy at last This indeed is only to seek and not to strive to enter in and these perhaps are they whom our Saviour represents as standing without and knocking at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us Or as St. Matthew expresseth it Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord which is most probably meant of the day of Judgment when their Case is brought to the last extremity and next to that is the day of Death when Men are entring into a state of endless Happiness or Misery And no wonder if the Sinner would then be glad when he can no longer continue in this World to be admitted into Happiness in the next but the Door is then shut to most Sinners and it is a Miracle of God's Grace and Mercy if any Repentance that Men can then exercise which at the best must needs be very confused and imperfect will then be accepted if any Importunity which Men can then use will be available For with what Face can we expect that after all the evil Actions of a long Life God should be mollified towards us by a few good Words and accept of a forc'd and constrained Repentance for all our wilful and deliberate Crimes and that he should forgive us all our Sins upon a little Importunity when we can sin no longer and would repent no sooner Let us then by all that hath been said be effectually perswaded to mind the business of Religion in good earnest and with all our might especially the Practice of it in the exercise of all the Graces and Virtues of a good Life Let us heartily repent of all the Sins of our past Life and resolve upon a better course for the future and let us not delay and put off this necessary Work to the most unfit and improper time of old Age and Sickness and Death but let us set about it presently and enter upon a good Course and make all the Speed and Progress in it we can And let us remember that whatever we do in Religion will not bring us to Heaven if we do not do the will of our Father which is in Heaven if we do not give up our selves to a constant and universal Obedience of his Laws This is to strive to enter in at the strait Gate And tho' we strive to enter in a Thousand other Ways we shall not be able and after all our Confidence and Conceit of our selves and our own Righteousness and Security of our Salvation from the Privileges of any Church it will be a strange Damp and Disappointment to us to see the sincere Christians who have done the Will of God and lived in Obedience to his Laws to come from all quarters and Churches in the World and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God when we who thought our selves the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out because we have been Workers of Iniquity I will conclude all with those plain Words of the Apostle Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and Immortality eternal Life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil in the day when God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel SERMON X. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Sermon I. LUKE XVI 19 20. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in Purple and fine Linen and fared sumptuously every day And there was a certain Beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his Gate full of Sores I Intend by God's Assistance to go over this Parable than which I think there is none in the whole Gospel which is more apt to affect Men or which is more artificially contrived and in the Circumstances whereof a greater Decorum is observed It is a great Question among Interpreters whether this Narration concerning the Rich Man and Lazarus be a Parable or a History Vol. V. or a mixture of both That it is not a History the resemblance between it and others of our Saviour's Parables will easily convince any Man that is not contentious besides that in some ancient Copies 't is usher'd in with this Preface And he spake a Parable to his Disciples A certain Rich Man c. But yet as some of the Ancients have not improbably conjectur'd it seems to be such a kind of Parable as had something of a real Foundation as namely that there was such a poor Man as Lazarus is here described and of that Name among the Jews For in a meer Parable 't is altogether unusual to name Persons nor is this done in any other of our Saviour's Parables But whether this be so or not is not worth the disputing because it alters not the case as to our Saviour's purpose and the Instructions which we may learn from it In the handling of this Parable I shall explain it as I go along and draw two sorts of Instructions or Observations from it The First sort of Observations shall be from the Circumstances which serve for the Decorum of the Parable And these I will not warrant to be all intended by our Saviour Ser. 10. but only to be true in themselves and useful and to have a probable rise from some Circumstances of the Parable and therefore I shall speak but very briefly to them The Second sort of Observations shall be such as are grounded upon the main Scope and Intent of the Parable and these I shall insist more largely upon I begin First With those Observations and Instructions which I shall gather up from the Circumstances which serve for the Decorum of the Parable and I shall take them in order as they lie in the Parable Ver. 19. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every Day Some think that our Saviour in this description reflected upon Herod because he describes this Rich Man to be cloathed in Purple But this Conjecture is without reason for besides that it was not our Saviour's Custom in his Preaching to give secret Girds to the Magistrate 't is certain that it was long after our Saviour's time that Purple was appropriated to Kings It was then and a great while after the wear of rich and powerful Men and of the Favourites and great Men of the Court who are frequently in ancient Histories call'd the Purpurati those that wore Purple That which I observe from hence is that the rich Man is not here censured for enjoying what he had for wearing rich Apparel and keeping a great Table This of it self
applauding our selves in the Prosperity of this World that we should rather be afraid of receiving our good things here lest God should put us off with these things and this should be all our Portion and lest our Misery in the next World should be the greater for our having been happy The Felicities of this World are Transient and tho' our Happiness were never so compleat yet it is going off and passing away and when it is gone and past if Misery succeed it it had better never have been Remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things these things are only for our life time and how short is that Did Men seriously consider this they would not set such a price upon any of the transient Enjoyments of this Life as for the sake of them to neglect the great Concernments of another World We are apt to be dazled with the present glittering of worldly Glory and Prosperity But if we would look upon these things as they will be shortly gone from us how little would they signifie The Rich Man here in the Parable did no doubt think himself a much happier Man than poor Lazarus that lay at his Door and yet after a little while how glad would he have been to have changed Conditions with this poor Man When he was in Torments then no doubt he wisht that he had suffered all the misery and want in this world which Lazarus did provided he might have been comforted as he was and carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom We should value this world and look upon it as this Rich Man did not when he enjoyed it but when he was taken from it and we should esteem it and use it while we may as he wisht he had done when it was too late 3. We should not be excessively troubled if we meet with hardship and affliction here in this world because those whom God designs for the greatest happiness hereafter may receive evil things here Thus our blessed Saviour the Captain of our Salvation was made perfect through Sufferings this was the method which God used towards his own Son first he suffered and then entred into glory He suffered more than any of us can bear and yet he supported himself under all his Sufferings by the consideration of the Glory that would follow for the Joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame The same Consideration should arm us with Patience and Constancy under the greatest Evils of this life The Evils that we lie under are passing and going off but the Happiness is to come And if the Happiness of the next World were no greater nor of longer continuance than the Miseries of this World or if they did equally answer one another yet a wise Man would chuse to have Misery first and his Happiness last For if his Happiness were first all the Pleasure and Comfort of it would be eaten out by dismal Apprehensions of what was to follow but his Sufferings if they were first would be sweetned by the consideration of his future Happiness and the bitterness of his Sufferings would give a quicker Relish to his Happiness when it should come and make it greater But a good Man under the Sufferings of this life hath not only this Comfort that his Happiness is to come but likewise that it shall be infinitely greater than his Sufferings that these are but short but that shall never have an end And this was that which fortified the first Christians against all that the Malice and Cruelty of the World could do against them They thought themselves well paid if through many Tribulations they might at last enter into the Kingdom of God because they believed that the Joys of the next life would abundantly recompence all their Labours and Sufferings in this World They expected a mighty Reward far beyond all their Sufferings they were firmly perswaded that they should be vast Gainers at the last So the Apostle tells us of himself Rom. 8.18 I reckon that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed And to the same purpose 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Our light Afflictions which are but for a moment work for us an eternal weight of Glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal If we would consider all things together and fix our Eyes as much upon the Happiness and Glory of the next World as upon the Pomp and Splendor of this if we would look as much at the things which are not seen as the things which are seen we should easily perceive that he who suffers in this world does not renounce his Happiness only puts it out to Interest upon terms of the greatest Advantage 4. We should do all things with a Regard to our future and eternal State It matters not much what our Condition is in this world because that 's to continue but for a little while but we ought to have a great and serious Regard to that State that never shall have an end Therefore whenever we are doing any thing we should consider what Influence such an Action will have upon the Happiness or Misery of the next Life We should measure every Action and every Condition of our Lives by the reference of them to Eternity To be rich and great in this world will contribute nothing to our future Happiness all these things which we so much dote upon and pursue with so much eagerness will not commend any Man to God they will signifie nothing when we come to appear before our Judge Death will strip us of these things and in the other world the Soul of the poorest Man that ever lived shall be upon equal Terms with the richest Nothing but Holiness and Virtue will then avail us and it is but a little while and we shall all certainly be of this Mind that the best thing Men can do in this world is to provide for the other I proceed to a Fifth Observation that the State of Men in the next world is fixt and unchangeable which I ground upon v. 26. Between us and you there is a great gulf fixt so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence By which words our Saviour seems not only to intend that they that are in Heaven and Hell can have no Communication and Intercourse with one another but likewise that they are lodg'd in an immutable State Those that are happy are like to continue so and those that are miserable are immutably fixt in that State 1. As to those that are in Happiness there can be no great doubt For what can tempt Men that have so narrowly scap'd the Dangers and Temptations of a wicked world and are possest of so great a
Men from being convinced by an Apparition from the Dead It is not generally for want of Evidence that Men do not yield a full and effectual Assent to the Truth of God's Word I mean that they do not Believe it so as to Obey it but from the Interest of some Lust The true cause is not in Mens Understandings and because there is not Reason enough to satisfy them that the Scriptures are the Word of God but in the obstinacy of their Wills which are enslaved to their Lusts And the Disease being there it is not to be Cured by more Evidence but by more Consideration and by the Grace of God and better Resolutions The Man is addicted to some Vice or other and that makes him unwilling to entertain those Truths which would check and controul him in his Course The light of God's Word is offensive to him and therefore he would shut it out This account our blessed Saviour gives of the Enmity of the Jews against him and his Doctrine John 3.19 Light is come into the World and Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil for every one that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Upon the same account it is that Men resist the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures not because they have sufficient Reason to doubt of their Divine Authority but because they are unwilling to be govern'd by them and to conform their Lives to the Laws and Precepts of that Holy Book For the Wills of Men have a great Influence upon their Understandings to make assent easy or difficult and as Men are apt to assent to what they have a mind to so they are slow to believe any thing which crosseth their Humours and Inclinations so that tho' greater Evidence were offer'd it is likely it would not prevail with them because the matter does not stick there Their Wills are distemper'd Men hate to be reform'd and this makes them cast the Laws of God behind their Backs and if God himself should speak to them from Heaven as he did to the People of Israel yet for all that they might continue a stiff-necked and rebellious People Tho' the Evidence were such as their Understandings could not resist yet their Wills might still hold out and the present condition of their Minds might have no lasting influence upon their Hearts and Lives such a violent Conviction might affect them for the present but the Sense of it might perhaps wear off by degrees and then they would return to their former hardness Men by a long and obstinate continuance in sin may bring themselves to the Temper and Disposition of Devils who though they believe and tremble at the thoughts of God and his Threatnings yet they are wicked still for so long as Men retain a strong affection for their Lusts they will break through all Conviction and what Evidence soever be offer'd to them they will find some way or other to avoid it and to delude themselves The plain truth of the case is this if Men will honestly speak their Consciences they cannot deny it they do not call for more Evidence either because they want it or are willing to be convinced by it but that they may seem to have some Excuse for themselves for not being convinced by that Evidence which is afforded to them 4 thly Experience does abundantly testify how ineffectual extraordinary ways are to convince and reclaim men of depraved Minds and such as are obstinately addicted to their Lusts We find many remarkable Experiments of this in the History of the Bible What Wonders were wrought in the sight of Pharaoh and the Egyptians yet they were harden'd under all these Plagues Balaam who greedily followed the wages of unrighteousness was not to be stopt by the admonition of an Angel The Jews after so many Miracles which their Eyes had seen continued to be a stiffneck'd and gain saying People so that it is hard to say which was more prodigious the Wonders which God wrought for them or their Rebellions against him and when in the fulness of time the Son of God came and did among them the works which never man did such as one would have thought might have brought the worst People in the world to Repentance those of Tyre and Sydon of Sodom and Gomorrah yet they repented not Yea the very things which the Rich Man here in my Text requested of Abraham for his Brethren was done among them Lazarus did rise from the dead and testified unto them and they were not perswaded And which is yet more our Saviour himself according to his own Prediction while he was alive rose again from the dead the third day and was visibly taken up into Heaven and yet how few among them did believe and give glory to God! So that we see the very thing here spoken of in the Text made good in a famous Instance they who believed not Moses and the Prophets which testified of the Messias were not perswaded when he rose from the dead And does not our own Experience tell us how little effect the extraordinary Providences of God have had upon those who were not reclaimed by his Word It is not long since God shewed himself among us by terrible things in Righteousness and visited us with three of his sorest Judgments War and Pestilence and Fire and yet how does all manner of Wickedness and Impiety still reign and rage among us It is a very sad Consideration to see how little those who have outlived these Plagues have been reformed by them we have not return'd to the Lord nor sought him for all this I may appeal to the Experience of particular Persons How frequently do we see Men after great Afflictions and tedious Sufferings and dangerous Sicknesses return to their former Evil Courses and tho' they have been upon the brink of Eternity and the terrors of Death have compass'd them about and the pains of Hell have almost taken hold of them tho' they have had as lively and sensible Convictions of another world as if they had spoken with those that had come from thence or even been there themselves yet they have taken no warning but upon their deliverance and recovery have been as mad as furious Sinners as they were before so that it ought to be no such wonder to us which the Text tells us that if men hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Especially if we consider in the 5 th and last place That an effectual perswasion that is such a Belief as produceth Repentance and a good Life is the gift of God and depends upon the operation and concurrence of his Grace which is not to be expected in an extraordinary way where Men have obstinately rejected the ordinary means appointed by God for that end To be effectually perswaded to change our Lives and become new Men is a
Work not to be done without the assistance of God's Grace and there is little reason to expect that God will afford his Grace to those who reject and despise the Counsels of his word The Doctrine of Salvation contain'd in the Holy Scriptures and the Promises and Threatnings of God's word are the ordinary Means which God hath appointed for the Conversion of Men and to bring them to Repentance and if we sincerely use these means we may confidently expect the concurrence of God's Grace to make them effectual but if we neglect and resist these means in confidence that God should attempt our Recovery by some extraordinary ways though he should gratifie our presumptuous and unreasonable Curiosity so far as to send one from the dead to testifie unto us yet we have no reason to expect the assistance of his Grace to make such a Conviction effectual to our Repentance when we have so long despised his word and resisted his Spirit which are the power of God unto Salvation Without his Grace and Assistance the most probable means will prove ineffectual to alter and change our corrupt Natures by Grace we are saved and that not of our selves it is the Gift of God This Grace is revealed to us in the Gospel and the Assistances of it are conveyed to us by the Gospel and it is great presumption to promise to our selves the assistance of God's Grace in any other way than he hath been pleased to promise it to us And thus I have shewn you as briefly and plainly as I could how unlikely it is that those who obstinately reject a clear and publick Revelation of God should be effectually convinced and brought to Repentance by any Apparitions from the dead I shall only make two or three Inferences from this Discourse which I have made and so conclude 1 st Since the Scriptures are the publick and standing Revelation of God's Will to Men and the ordinary Means of Salvation we may hence conclude That People ought to have them in such a Language as they can understand This our Saviour plainly supposeth in the Discourse which he represents between Abraham and the Rich Man desiring that Lazarus might be sent from the dead to his Brethren to testifie unto them to which Request Abraham would not have given this Answer and Advice they have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them had he supposed that the Scriptures then were or for the future ought to be lockt up from the People in an unknown Tongue for the Rich Man might very well have replied nay Father Abraham but they are not permitted to have Moses and the Prophets in such a Language as they can understand and therefore there is more need why one should be sent from the Dead to testifie unto them Nor would Abraham have said again if they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded For how should Men hear what they cannot understand so as to be persuaded by it It is evident then that our Saviour according to the Reasoning of this Parable takes it for granted that the Holy Scriptures are the standing and ordinary means of bringing Men to Faith and Repentance and that the People are to have the free use of them But since our Saviour's time the Church of Rome hath found a mighty inconvenience in this and therefore hath taken the Scriptures out of the Hands of the People They will not now let them have Moses and the Prophets the Gospel of our blessed Saviour and the Writings of his Apostles because they are really afraid they should hear them and by hearing of them be convinced and perswaded of the Errors and Corruptions of their Church but instead of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament they have put into their Hands a Legend of famous Apparitions of Men from the Dead testifying unto them concerning Purgatory and Transubstantiation and the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and the great benefit and refreshment which Souls in Purgatory have by the Indulgences of the Pope and the Prayers of the living put up to Saints and Angels on their behalf so that in the Church of Rome quite contrary to our Saviour's method Men are persuaded of their Religion of their New Articles of Faith and Ways of Worship not by Moses and the Prophets not by the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures for they every where testifie against them but by absurd Romances and ill-contriv'd Fictions of Apparitions from the Dead I will dismiss this matter with this one Observation that however interested and confident Men may set a bold face upon any thing yet it cannot to considerate Men but seem a very hard case that there should be no salvation to be had out of the Church of Rome and yet the ordinary and in our Saviour's Judgment the most effectual Means of Salvation are not to be had in it But I pass from this to that which does more immediately concern our Practice 2 dly Let us hear and obey that publick Revelation of God's Will which in so much Mercy to Mankind he hath been pleased to afford to us This is an inestimable Priviledge and Advantage which the world in many Ages was destitute of having no other Guide to conduct them to eternal Happiness but the Light of Nature and some particular Revelations which now and then God was pleased to make of his Will to Men But now God hath set up a great and standing Light in the world the Doctrine of the holy Scriptures and by the Gospel of his blessed Son hath given the knowledge of Salvation to all Men for the remission of their Sins through the tender Mercies of God whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace to convince us of the Error of our ways and to direct us in our Duty We upon whom the ends of the world are come do enjoy all the Advantages of divine Revelation which the world ever had and as great as the world ever shall have God in these last days hath spoken unto us by his Son and if we will not hear him God will imploy no other extraordinary Prophet and Messenger to us If the wrath of God so clearly revealed from Heaven by the Gospel of our blessed Saviour against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men if the Terror of the great day and the fear of eternal Torment if the dreadful Sufferings of the Son of God for our Sins and the merciful offers of Pardon and Reconciliation in his Blood and the glorious hopes of eternal Life and Happiness will not prevail with us to leave our Sins and to amend our Lives we have no reason to expect that God should use any farther means to reclaim us that he should ever make any more Attempts for our Recovery And therefore 3 dly and lastly Those who are
seem to be more serious and industrious than in truth they are they are rather hypocrites the other way and would conceal their Covetousness and Ambition and not seem to aspire after Riches and Honours so much as indeed they do But in the pursuit of better things how cold and remiss are we With what a careless indifference do most men mind their Souls How negligent and formal and many times Hypocritical are they in the Service of God and the Exercise of Religion With what a pitiful Courage and with what faint Spirits do they resist Sin and encounter the Temptations of it and how often and how easily are they foil'd and baffl'd by them 4 thly The Men of the world are more invincibly constant and pertinacious in the pursuit of Earthly things they are not to be bribed or taken off by favour or fair Words not to be daunted by Difficulties or dasht out of Countenance by the Frowns and Reproaches of men Offer an Ambitious Man any thing short of his End and Aim to take him off from the prosecution of it he scorns the motion and thinks you go about to fool him out of his Interest Bait a Covetous man with Temptations of Pleasure to get his Money from him how generously will this mean-spirited man trample upon Pleasure when it would tempt him from his Design of being rich Difficulties do not daunt them but whet their Courage and quicken their Endeavours and set a keener edge upon their Spirits Give an Ambitious man almost a demonstration of the impossibility of his attempt contrà audentior ibit he will go on so much the more boldly and resolutely In the ways of Religion men are apt to be discouraged and put out of Countenance by Contempt and Reproach but a Covetous man is not to be jeer'd and flurted out of his Money and Estate he can be content to be Rich and give leave to those that are not so to laugh at him Populus mihi sibilat at mihi plaudo The Rich Worldling can hug himself and his Bags when the world hisseth at him he can bear to be hated and persecuted and have all manner of evil spoke against him for Money sake And in the pursuit of these Designs men will with great Resolution encounter Enmity and Opposition and endure great Sufferings and Persecution How many have been Martyrs to their Lusts and have Sacrificed their Ease and Health and even their Lives in the prosecution of their Ambitious and Covetous and Voluptuous Designs But on the other hand how easily are men check'd and diverted from a good Course by the Temptations and Advantages of this world How many are cold in their Zeal for Religion by the Favour and Friendship of this world And as their Goods and Estate have grown greater their Devotion hath grown less How apt are they to be terrified at the apprehension of Danger and Sufferings and by their fearful Imaginations to make them greater than they are and with the People of Israel to be dishearten'd from all further Attempts of entring into the land of promise because it is full of Giants and the Sons of Anak How easily was Peter frighted into the denial of his Master And when our Saviour was apprehended how did his Disciples forsake him and flye from him And tho they were constant afterwards to the Death yet it was a great while before they were perfectly armed and steel'd against the fear of Suffering 5 thly The men of the world will make all things stoop and submit to that which is their great End and Design their End rules them and governs them and gives Law to all their Actions they will make an Advantage of every thing and if it will not serve their End one way or other they will have nothing to do with it If an ambitious man seek Wealth it is but in order to his Design to purchase Friends and strengthen his Interest and make his rising the easier he will lay his whole Estate at the stake rather than miss of his End The covetous man will quit his Pleasure when it lies cross to his interest if he have any expensive Lust and chargeable Vice he will turn it off or exchange it for some more frugal and profitable Sin But in the affairs of Religion and the concernments of our Souls how frequently do men act without a due Regard and consideration of their great End and instead of making other things submit to it they often bow and bend it to their inferior Interests They make Heaven stoop to Earth and Religion to serve a worldly Design and the glory of God to give way to gain and the great Concernments of their Souls and their eternal Salvation to their Temporal Profit and Advantage The Men of the world are generally true to their great End and pay it that Respect which is due to it and will suffer nothing to take place of it in their Esteem and Affection and if men were as wise for their Souls and for another world they would bring all things to their great End and make all the Concernments of this Temporal Life to yield and give way to the great Concernments of their Eternal Happiness I proceed in the Second Place to give some account of this whence it comes to pass that the Children of this world are wiser in their generation than the Children of Light And this I shall do by considering what Advantages the Children of this world have as to the Affairs of this world above what good men have as to the Concernments of another world I shall instance in four or five of the chief 1 st The Things of this world are present and sensible and because of their nearness to us are apt to strike powerfully upon our Senses and to affect us mightily to excite our Desires after them and to work strongly upon our Hopes and Fears but the things of another world being remote from us are lessen'd by their distance and consequently are not apt to work so powerfully upon our Minds they are invisible to us and only discerned by Faith which is a more obscure and less certain Perception of things than we have of those Objects which are presented to our bodily Eyes The things which God hath prepared for them that love him the Glory and Happiness of the next world are things which Eye hath not seen nor ear heard The Children of light do not see God as the Children of this world see Mammon 2 dly The sensual Delights and Enjoyments of this world are better suited and more agreeable to the corrupt and degenerate Nature of Men than Spiritual and heavenly things are to those that are regenerate In this lapsed and degenerate state of Mankind Appetite and Sense are apt to prevail above Reason and therefore those things which are most delightful to Sense we savour and mind and love to busy our selves about them because they are most suitable to the animal life which