concluded that if he were permitted to go on and work Miracles he 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 perswade and induce belief All Truths do not need Miracles some are of easie 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 afterterwards 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 unstop'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
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 which the World stood most in need of him when the whole World both Jews and Gentiles were sunk into the greatest Degeneracy both in Opinion and Practice and the Condition of Mankind seemed to be even desperate and past Remedy This was the needful time when it was most seasonable for this great Physician to come and show his Pity and Skill in our Recovery God could have sent his Son many Ages before but he thought fit to try other ways first and to reserve this powerful Remedy to the last last of all he sent his Son 4. The Time of our Saviour's Appearing was of all Ages of the World the fittest Season for his Coming Whether we consider 1. That the World was at that Time best prepared and disposed for receiving the Christian Religion Or 2. That this was the fittest Season that ever had been for the easie diffusing and propagating of this Religion I assign these Reasons as tending to give Men some Satisfaction why this great Blessing was delay'd so long it being rather an Argument of Wisdom and Goodness than of the want of either to defer Things to that time in which they are most likely to have their effect Not but that perhaps other and better Reasons may be given To be sure God had very good Reasons for this Dispensation whether we can hit upon them or not In the mean Time these seem not to be altogether inconsiderable 1. That the World was at that time best prepared and disposed for receiving the Christian Religion All the while our Saviour's Coming was delay'd God's Providence was disposing things for it and training up Mankind for the entertaining of this great Blessing The Jewish Religion was always very burdensom but much more so towards the Expiration of the Jewish State partly by the Intolerable Multitude of external Observances which were daily multiplyed upon them under Pretence of Traditions from their Fathers and partly by reason of their Subjection to the Romans which made the Exercise of their Religion in many Respects more difficult And the Heathen World was in a very good Measure prepared for Christianity by being civilized About the time of our Saviour's coming into the World Philosophy and Learning had been so diffused by the Roman Conquests as had brought a great part of the World from Barbarism to Civility Besides that their Philosophy had this Effect upon Men to refine their Reason and in a good Degree to detect the Follies of the Heathen Idolatry and Superstition 'T is true indeed Learning and Philosophy flourisht a great while before in the Time of the Grecian Empire and perhaps before that in some other Nations and the Conquests of the Grecians were very speedy and of vast Extent But yet they were neither so Universal nor so well settled nor did they propagate their Philosophy and Civility together with their Conquests as the Romans did So that there was no Age of the World wherein Mankind were so generally prepared and disposed for the receiving of the Gospel as that wherein our Saviour appeared 2. This was likewise the fittest Season for the easie diffusing and propagating of the Christian Religion The Romans together with their Conquests did very much propagate their Language which made the ways of Communication far more easie And by the long and frequent Correspondence of the several Parts of that Empire one with another the ways of Travel and Passage from one Country to another were more ready and open So that no Age can be instanc'd in all Respects so convenient for the speedy propagating of a new Religion as that wherein our Saviour appear'd viz. when the Roman Empire was at its height And it was very agreeable to the Goodness and Wisdom of the Divine Providence that the bravest and most virtuous People in the World infinitely beyond either the Persians or Grecians should be chosen by God as one of the chiefest Means for the spreading of the best and most perfect Revelation that ever God made to the World Thirdly It is objected 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 suppos'd to have sufficient Assurance To this I answer 1. That Men not only may have but have an undoubted Assurance of matters of Fact ancienter than these we are speaking of and the distance of them from our Times creates no manner of Scruple in the Minds of Men concerning them That there was such a Man as Alexander the Great and that he conquer'd Darius and the Persians That Julius Caesar invaded our Nation and in some measure subdued it and that he overcame Pompey in the Battel of Pharsalia and innumerable other Things which I might instance in that were done before our Saviour's Time are firmly believed without any manner of Doubt and Scruple by Mankind notwithstanding they were done so long ago So that ancient matters of Fact are capable of clear Evidence and we may have sufficient Assurance of them And where there is equal Evidence if we do not give equal Belief the fault is not in the Argument but in the Passion or Prejudice of those to whom it is proposed 2. We have every whit as great Assurance nay greater if it can or needed to be of the matters upon which the proof of Christianity relies as of those which I have mentioned The matters of Fact upon which the Truth of Christianity relies are that there was such a Person as Jesus Christ that he wrought such Miracles that he was put to death at Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate that he rose again from the dead and was visibly taken up into Heaven that he bestowed miraculous Gifts and Powers upon the Apostles to make them competent Witnesses of his Resurrection and of the Truth of that Doctrine which they publisht in his Name that accordingly they preached the Gospel to the World and in a short space without any Human Advantages did propagate it and gain Entertainment for it in most parts of the then known World Now these matters of Fact have the same Testimony of Histories wrote in those Times and conveyed down to us by as general and uncontroled a Tradition as the Conquests of Alexander and Julius Caesar So that if we do not afford equal Belief to them it is a sign that we have some Prejudice or Interest against the one more than against the other though the Evidence for both be equal Nay I go further that the Evidence for these things which are the Foundation of Christianity is so much the greater because that which depended upon it was of far greater Concernment to the World and consequently Mankind were more obliged to search more narrowly into it For our Saviour's Life and Death and Resurrection we have the
Testimony of a great number of Eye-witnesses who have wrote the History of these things And though they were truly extraordinary Persons 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 Denyal 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 mortifie 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 Enjoyments 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 tho' 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 chast 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
the World and conclude from the Inconveniencies of abused Liberty that the best State of things would be that the generality of Mankind should be all Slaves to a few and be perpetually chained to the Oar or condemned to the Mines There are many times as bad Consequences of good things as of bad but yet there is a great difference between good and bad for all that As Knowledge and Liberty so likewise the Christian Religion is a great Happiness to the World in general though some are so unhappy as to be the worse for it not because Religion is bad but because they are so 4. If Religion be a matter of Mens free Choice it is not to be expected that it should necessarily and constantly have its Effect upon Men for it works upon us not by way of Force or natural Necessity but of Moral Perswasion If Religion and the Grace of God which goes along with it did force Men to be good and virtuous and no Man could be so unless he were thus violently forc'd then it would be no Virtue in any Man to be good nor any Crime and Fault to be otherwise For then the Reason why some Men were good would be because they could not help it and others bad because the Grace of God did not make them so whether they would or not But Religion does not thus work upon Men. It directs Men to their Duty by the shortest and plainest Precepts of a good Life it perswades Men to the Obedience of these Precepts by the Promises of Eternal Happiness and the Threatnings of Eternal Misery in case of obstinate Disobedience it offers us the Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit to help our Weakness and enable us to that for which we are not sufficient of our selves But there is nothing of Violence or Necessity in all this After all Men may disobey these Precepts and not be perswaded by these Arguments may not make use of this Grace which God offers may quench and resist the Holy Ghost and reject the Counsel of God against themselves And the Case being thus it is no wonder if the Temptations of this present World prevail upon the vicious Inclinations of Men against their Duty and their true Interest and consequently if the Motiyes and Arguments of the Christiane Religion have not a constant and certain Effect upon a great part of Mankind Not but that Christianity is apt to bring Men to Goodness but some are so obstinately bad as not to be wrought upon by the most powerful Considerations it can offer to them 5. It cannot be denyed but that Christianity is as well framed to make Men good as any Religion can be imagined to be and therefore where-ever the Fault be it cannot be in the Christian Religion that we are not good So that the bad Lives of Christians are no sufficient Objection either against the Truth or Goodness of the Christian Doctrine Besides the Confirmation that was given to it by Miracles the Excellency of the Doctrine and its proper Tendency to make Men holy and virtuous are a plain Evidence of its Divine and Heavenly Original And surely the Goodness of any Religion consists in the sufficiency of its Precepts to direct Men to their Duty in the force of its Arguments to perswade Men to it and the suitableness of its Aids and Helps to enable us to the Discharge and Performance of it And all these Advantages the Christian Religion hath above any Religion or Institution that ever was in the World The reasonable and plain Rules of a good Life are no where so perfectly collected as in the Discourses of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles No Religion ever gave Men so full Assurance of the mighty Rewards and Punishments of another World nor such gracious Promises of Divine Assistance and such Evidence of it especially in the Piety and Virtue and Patience and Self-denyal of the Primitive Christians as the Doctrine of God our Saviour hath done which teacheth Men to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World in contemplation of the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to hiwself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 6. and lastly After all that hath or can be said it must be acknowledged and ought sadly to be lamented by us that the wicked Lives of Christians are a marvellous Scandal and Reproach to our Holy Religion and a great Obstacle to the spreading of it in the World and a real Objection against it to prejudiced Persons with whom it doth justly bring into doubt the Goodness and Efficacy of the Institution it self to see how little Effect it hath upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. It is hard for a Man to maintain the Reputation of an excellent Master in any kind when all the World sees that most of his Scholars prove Dunces Whatever Commendation may be given to any Art or Science Men will question the Truth and Reality of it when they see the greatest part of those who profess it not able to do any thing answerable to it The Christian Religion pretends to be an Art of serving God more decently and devoutly and of living better than other Men but if it be so why do not the Professors of this excellent Religion shew the Force and Virtue of it in their Lives And though I have sufficiently shewn that this is not enough to overthrow the Truth and disparage the Excellency of the Christian Doctrine yet it will certainly go a great way with prejudiced Persons and it cannot be expected otherwise So that we have infinite Reason to be ashamed that there is so plain a contrariety between the Laws of Christianity and the Lives of the greatest part of Christians so notorious and palpable a difference between the Religion that is in the Bible and that which is to be seen and read in the Conversations of Men. Who that looks upon the Manners of the present Age could believe if he did not know it that the holy and pure Doctrine of the Christian Religion had ever been so much as heard much less pretended to be entertained and believed among us Nay among those who seem to make a more serious Profession of Religion when we consider how strangely they allow themselves in Malice and Envy in Passion and Anger and Uncharitable Censures and evil Speaking in fierce Contentions and Animosities who would believe that the great Instrument of these Mens Religion I mean the Holy Bible by which they profess to regulate and govern their Lives were full of plain and strict Precepts of Love and Kindness of Charity and Peace and did a hundred times with all imaginable Severity and under pain of forfeiting the Kingdom of God forbid Malice and Envy and Revenge and evil speaking and rash and uncharitable Censures and
the Peace and Communion of the Church by a course of Penance such as was prescribed in the ancient Church to great Offenders and then they understand 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 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 ignominiously 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 1st That the Sin here mention'd is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost 2dly 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 3dly That it is not a partial Apostacy from the Christian Religion by any particular vicious Practice 4thly That it is a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion and more especially to the Heathen Idolatry which the Apostle here speaks of 5thly The Reason of the difficulty of the recovery of those who fall into this Sin 1st 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 distinguish the Sin here spoken of in the Text from the Sin against the Holy Ghost described by our Saviour 1st 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 2dly 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 3dly 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 2d 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 Declaration 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 3dly 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
good Man is infallible But neither can it be inferr'd from the Reason of this Promise that this Assistance shall always be to the degree of Infallibility It was so indeed to the Apostles the miraculous Gifts of the holy Ghost which were bestowed upon them for the more speedy and effectual planting and propagating of the Gospel in the World were a divine Testimony and Confirmation to the Doctrine which they delivered and having this divine Testimony given to them we are certain that they were secured from Error in the delivery of that Doctrine So that the Apostles had no other Infallibility but what depended upon and was evidenced by the miraculous Gifts wherewith they were endowed and therefore without the like Gifts none can with Reason pretend to the like Infallibity For Infallibility signifies an extraordinary Assistance of God's Spirit whereby those who are thus assisted are secured from Error This every confident Man may if he pleaseth pretend to but no Man is to be believed to have it but he who can give such Evidence of it as is fit to satisfie reasonable Men that he hath it Now the only sufficient Evidence of such an extraordinary Divine Assistance is the Power of Miracles This indeed is the great external Testimony of a Teacher come from God if he do such Works as none can do except God be with him and this Evidence the Prophets of old and our Saviour and his Apostles always gave of their Infallibility And if the Pope and general Councils can give the Testimony of such Miracles for their Infallibility as Moses and our Saviour and his Apostles did work we are ready to acknowledge it Such a Testimony as this would give the World a thousand times more Satisfaction concerning their Infallibility than all the subtil Arguments of Bellarmine and all their Writers But if they cannot they may dispute about it to the end of the World and every Man that hath but the same confidence may pretend to it with as much reason as they do But to proceed in my Argument here is a plain Reason why this extraordinary Assistance should be granted to the Apostles at first and another Reason as plain why it should not be continued afterwards It was reasonable and in some degree necessary that the Apostles should be thus assisted at the first publication of the Gospel namely to give satisfaction to the World that they were faithful and true Witnesses of the Doctrine and Miracles of Christ But since this Doctrine and these Miracles are recorded to Posterity by those very Persons that were thus assisted here is as plain a Reason why after the Gospel was planted and establisht in the World this Infallibility should cease So long as we have an infallible Foundation of Faith namely the Divine Revelation consigned in Writing and transmitted down to us by Testimony of undoubted Credit what need is there now of a fixt and standing Infallibility in the Church But having handled this Argument more at large else-where I shall insist no further upon it here I have now done with the three things I propounded to discourse upon from this Text. You have heard what Authority our Saviour had given him what Commission he gave to his Disciples and what Assistance he hath promised to the Pastors and Governors of his Church to the end of the World namely such an Assistance as is suitable to the exigencies of the Church in the several Ages and States of Christianity which Assistance was at first very extraordinary and miraculous God was pleased to give witness to the first Teachers and Publishers of the Gospel with signs and wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the holy Ghost and this at first was in a very great degree necessary it not being otherwise imaginable how Christianity could have born up against all that Force and violent Opposition which was raised against it But this extraordinary assistance was but a temporary and transient Dispensation God did as it were pass by in the strong and mighty Wind in the Earthquake and in the Fire but he was in the still Voice that is he designed to settle and continue in that Dispensation in that more calm and secret way of Assistance which offers less Violence to the Nature of Man but which was intended for the constant and permanent Dispensation So that we have no reason to think that God hath now forsaken his Church though he be not with it in so sensible and extraordinary a manner But then if any particular Church desire and expect this blessed Presence and Assistance of God's holy Spirit we must remember that there is a Condition to be performed on our parts For how absolute soever this Promise may be in respect of the Church universal it is certainly conditional to any particular Church as sad experience in many Instances hath shewn God hath long since left the Church of Jerusalem where the Gospel was first publisht he hath left the Church of Antioch where the Believers of the Gospel were first call'd Christians he hath left the famous Churches of Asia to that degree of Desolation that the Ruins and Places of some of them are hardly at this Day certainly known And this may also be the fate of any particular Church not excepting Rome her self for all her Pride and Confidence to the contrary Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God towards them that fell Severity but towards us Goodness if we continue in his Goodness otherwise we also shall be cut off This as I observed before is spoken particularly to the Roman Church the Apostle supposeth that the Church of Rome her self may be guilty of Apostacy from the Faith and cut off by Unbelief and indeed seems to foretel it which how it consists with their confident Pretence to Infallibility let them look to it And let all particular Churches look to themselves that they do not forfeit this Promise of Divine Assistance For Christ hath not so tyed himself to any particular Church but that if they forsake him he may leave them and remove his Candlestick from them There have been many sad Instances of this since the first planting of Christianity and we have no small Reason to apprehend that it may come to be our own case for certainly we have many of those marks of Ruin among us which did foretel the Destruction of the Jewish Church and Nation horrible Prophaness and Contempt of Religion Division and Animosities to the highest degree and an universal Dissoluteness and Corruption of Manners And why should we who do the same things think our selves exempted from the same Fate What can we expect but that God should deal with us as he did with them Take away the Kingdom of God from us and give it to a Nation that will bring forth the fruits of it The Condition of this great Promise here in the Text to the Pastors and Governors of the Christian Church is the faithful Execution of
that nothing less than this will bring us thither So our Saviour tells us in the latter part of the Text that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I proceed now to the Second part of the Text the Reason or Argument whereby this Exhortation is enforced Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Every seeking to enter in will not gain our admission into Heaven therefore there must be striving For Men may do many things in Religion and make several faint Attempts to get to Heaven and yet at last fall short of it for want of that earnest Contention and Endeavour which is necessary to the attaining of it We must make Religion our business and set about it with all our might and persevere and hold out in it if ever we hope to be admitted to Heaven for many shall seek to enter that shall be shut out Now what this seeking is which is here opposed to striving to enter in at the strait gate our Saviour declares after the Text v. 25. When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence ye are Then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not whence ye are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity St. Matth. mentions some other Pretences which they should make upon which they should lay claim to Heaven Mat. 7. 21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that Day Lord Lord have we not Prophesyed in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity After all their seeking to enter in and notwithstanding all these Pretences they shall be shut out and be for ever banisht from the Presence of God This shall be their doom which will be much the heavier because of the disappointment of their confident expectation and hope So St. Luke tells us v. 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God To which St. Matthew adds Chap. 8. v. 12. But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then our Saviour concludes Luke 13. 30. Behold there are last that shall be first and first which shall be last From all which it appears with what Confidence many Men upon these false Pretences which our Saviour calls seeking to enter in shall lay claim to Heaven and how strangely they shall be disappointed of their expectation and hope when they shall find themselves cast out of Heaven who they thought had out-done all others in Religion and were the only Members of the true Church and the Children and Heirs of the Kingdom and shall see others whom they thought to be out of the Pale of the true Church and excluded from all terms of Salvation come from all Quarters and find free Admission into Heaven and shall find themselves so grosly and widely mistaken that those very Persons whom they thought to be last and of all others farthest from Salvation shall be first and they themselves whom they took for the Children of the Kingdom and such as should be admitted into Heaven in the first place shall be rejected and cast out So that by seeking to enter we may understand all those things which Men may do in Religion upon which they shall pretend to lay claim to Heaven nay and confidently hope to obtain it and yet shall be shamefully disappointed and fall short of it Whatever Men think and believe and do in Religion what Priviledges soever Men pretend what Ways and Means soever Men endeavour to appease the Deity and to recommend themselves to the Divine Favour and Acceptance all this is but seeking to enter in and is not that striving which our Saviour requires If Men do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity it will all signifie nothing to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness Our Saviour here instanceth in Mens Profession of his Religion calling him Lord Lord in their personal Familiarity and Conversation with him by eating and drinking in his Presence and Company in their having heard him preach the Doctrine of Life and Salvation thou hast taught in our streets in their having prophesied and wrought great Miracles in his Name and by his Power Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works These were great and glorious Things which they boasted of and yet nothing of all this will do if Men do not the Will of God notwithstanding all this he will say unto them I know ye not whence ye are depart from me ye workers of Iniquity And by a plain Parity of Reason whatever else Men do in Religion what Attempts soever Men may make to get to Heaven upon what Priviledges or Pretences soever they may lay claim to eternal Life they will certainly fall short of it if they do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity My business therefore at this time shall be to discover the several false Claims and Pretences which Men may make to Heaven and yet shall never enter into it And to this purpose I shall instance in several Particulars by one or more of which Men commonly delude themselves and are apt to entertain vain and ill-grounded hopes of eternal Salvation 1st Some trust to the external Profession of the true Religion 2dly Others have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they rely much upon that 3dly There are others that find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Doctrines contained in it 4thly Others are very strict and devout in the external Worship of God 5thly Others confide much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Priviledges and Advantages which therein they have above others of getting to Heaven 6thly Others think their great Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them 7thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion 8thly Others rely much upon
he had left behind him upon Earth lest they also by their own Carelessness and Folly should plunge themselves into the same Misery that he was in and therefore he begs of Abraham that he would send Lazarus to his Father's House where he had five Brethren that he might testifie unto them lest they also should come into that place of Torment To which Request Abraham answers that there was no necessity of such an extraordinary course to be used toward those who had sufficient means of Conviction so near at hand if they would but hearken to them and make use of them Abraham saith unto him they have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But the Rich Man presseth his Request further upon this Reason that they might not perhaps be moved by Moses and the Prophets nay it was likely they would not be moved by them for they had always had them and yet they remained impenitent But if a special Messenger should be sent to them from the dead this certainly could not fail to awaken them and bring them to Repentance v. 30. And he said nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent To which Abraham makes this peremptory Reply If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead In which Words Abraham absolutely denies that there is any such Probability much less Certainty that those who reject a publick credible Revelation of God such as that of the Holy Scriptures is should be effectually convinced by a Messenger from the dead And our Saviour brings in Ahraham delivering himself very positively in this matter and therefore we may presume it to be our Saviour's own Sense and may rely upon it for a Truth which however at first sight it may not be so evident yet I hope in the progress of this Discourse to make it sufficiently clear But before I undertake that I shall premise a Caution or two to prevent all Mistake in this matter First That we are not to understand these Words too strictly and rigorously as if the thing were simply and in it self impossible that a Man who is not convinced by hearing or reading Moses and the Prophets should be brought to Repentance any other way For it is very possible in the Nature of the thing yea and likely enough that a Man who is not convinced by calm Evidence and Perswasion may yet be very much wrought upon by a strange and amazing Accident and if one whom he had known when he was alive should appear to him from the dead and declare the certainty of a future State and the condition of things in another World there is little doubt to be made but that this would more rouze and awaken him to consider his Danger than all the Threatnings of God's Word and 't is very possible that by the Concurrence of God's Grace this might prove an effectual Means to convince such a Man and to bring him to Repentance And yet for all this it is not probable upon the whole matter and if all Circumstances be duly consider'd that this should generally have a permanent effect upon Men so as throughly to reclaim such Persons as do obstinately resist the Light and Counsels of God's Word Secondly Another Caution I would give is this That we are not to understand these Words so as to weaken the force of that Argument from Miracles for the Proof and Confirmation of a Divine Doctrine as if our Saviour intended to insinuate that Miracles are not a proper and sufficient Argument to convince Men. For our Saviour does not here oppose Moses and the Prophets to a miraculous Testimony but he advanceth the publick Evidence and Testimony which Moses and the Prophets had above the Evidence of a single and private Miracle for Moses and the Prophets had their Confirmation from Miracles and Miracles are the great Evidence and Attestation which God hath always given to the Divinity of any Person or Doctrine and therefore Abraham cannot be thought to speak any thing to the Prejudice of Miracles when he says If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho one rose from the dead Nay so far is he from that that this reasoning of his is rather for the Advantage of Miracles For Moses and the Prophets had the Confirmation of many and great of publick and unquestionable Miracles a credible Relation whereof was conveyed down to after Ages So that if rational Means of Conviction were the thing desired it was not likely that those who were not perswaded by Moses and the Prophets which were acknowledged by themselves to have had the Confirmation of so many undoubted Miracles should in reason be convinced by a private and single Miracle These Considerations being premised by way of Caution I come now to make out the Truth of what is here asserted in the Text. And for the full clearing of this matter I shall speak to these two Propositions First That it is unreasonable to expect that God should do more for the Conviction of Men than to afford them a standing Revelation of his Mind and Will such as that of the holy Scriptures is And if so then Secondly That upon the whole matter it is very improbable that those who reject this publick Revelation of God should be effectually convinced tho' one should speak to them from the dead First That it is unreasonable to expect that God should do more for the Conviction of Men than to afford them a standing Revelation of his Mind and Will such as that of the Holy Scriptures is This is strongly imply'd in Abraham's first Answer They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them as if he had said having such Means of Conviction so near at hand why should they desire and expect any other It is in this case of the Scriptures as in that of God's Providence God does not commonly prove his Providence to Men by extraordinary instances of his Power and by changing the Course of Nature to convince every Man in the World that he governs it but by standing Testimonies of his Wisdom and Power and Goodness by these God does sufficiently satisfie considerate Men of his Government and Care of the World and tho' he do seldom manifest himself in supernatural and extraordinary ways yet he hath not left himself without a Witness by the constant course of Nature in the returns of Day and Night in the Revolutions of the Seasons of the Year in that he gives us rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons filling our Hearts with food and gladness And these standing Arguments of his Providence tho' they be not so much taken notice of because they are so common yet are they daily Miracles and we can hardly imagine greater and we should be strangely amazed at them but that they are so very frequent and familiar The case is the same as to Divine Revelation