for the Welfare of Society are those which are enjoyn'd by God. Such likewise are those that respect ourselves Why the Law is called The Ministration of Death by St. Paul. What he meaneth when he saith He was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died And how the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear P. 1. The Contents of the Second Discourse THE Inducements that Christians have to Love the Divine Law. Love was the moving cause of our Lord 's becoming our Law-giver The Greatness of our Lawgivers Person All the troublesome Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away by the Laws of our Lord and this not by his Will alone but by the admirable manifestation of his Goodness and Wisdom How the Jews urging the Everlastingness of their Law is from hence answered and how their way of Speaking is corrected when they say our Lawgiver hath vilified and destroy'd their Laws Only such Laws are enjoyn'd by our Lord as have in them an Intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely Good and such as are discernable by every one Though the Jews had some Inferiour Laws suted to their Temper and Climate which did the better fit them for the observance of those Laws which were Moral yet we have not the less reason to Love the Laws of our Lord because they are all Good without any mixture of such Inferiour Laws which may be agreeable to different Climates where Christians Live and which may promote the Precepts of our Lord are not by those Precepts excluded Christian Laws are such also as will in our Obedience much comply with our particular Way and Temper The Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given The Laws that respect ourselves are properly belonging io the New Testament At least are there only directly and openly injoyn'd The Objection answer'd that so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith which no one living can conceive how they should be The Reasonableness of making our Vnderstandings to yield to our Faith. P. 35. The Contents of the Third Discourse THE Severities of the Christian Laws are not unreasonable neither do they reduce us to such straights as cannot be gone through without a great deal of uneasiness if at all The Design of our Lord is not to beat down our Natural Inclinations and Appetites but to rectifie them Our Dispositions if well managed not averse from a right Improvement The Laws of Christ do not dash the pleasure of Conversation by threatning idle Words with the Day of Judgment The Loving of Enemies while they persist to be injurious is in itself not unmeet but highly equitable in case the History of our Redemption be true Fasting and Abstinence not unreasonable nor the parting with Estates and Lives for the asserting of the Gospel From the Laws of Christ we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins What the Law of Faith requires of us How much it is different from the Old Law. What the Law of Repentance is Too many make Faith and Repentance to stand in opposition to the other Laws of our Lord. How the Laws being done away which was Engraven on Stones is to be understood Repentance for Sin cannot without the greatest Absurdity be wrested to the further and more safe committing of Sin. The Examples of the Thief on the Cross and of the Labourers in the Vineyard at the Eleventh Hour consider'd none of the Divine Laws unsuitable to one another These Laws of themselves are grievous unto none As they have relation only to Civil Society and the welfare of Men in this World they do far surpass those of the most noted Lawgivers they by no means do favour the Opinion that Right of Possession is Founded in Grace And that it is Lawful to resist Sovereign Princes in the Maintenance of True Religion They make the Man truly beautiful within P. 66. The Contents of the Fourth Discourse GEneral Motives relating to these Laws altogether To the Conscionable Observance of them Eternal Rewards are promised yet Earthly ones are not excluded For the securing of our Obedience Eternal Punishments are threatned after Death to the neglect of these Laws The Constituting such Punishments is no more than what is meet to be done Stronger Assistances are afforded for the Performance of these Laws than under Moses there were Most Loving Invitations and Affectionate Expressions are joyned with them We have no reason to complain that there are not now under the Gospel-Law those Visible Expressions of Gods Power and Presence as under the Old Law there were Particular Motives relating to these Laws singly and apart Such as are wholly peculiar to the Gospel or else are there more clearly and convincingly urged than ever they were before It is impossible there should be any True Happiness without these Laws From the inward Excellence of them and those admirable Motives annexed to them there is a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth No Man hath ever deserved to be so much honoured among Men as our Lord hath done Those who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedence of all others How it comes to pass that since the Law is so good Assistances so great and Motives so taking there should be so many Disobedient Ones P. 114. The Contents of the Fifth Discourse THough the Generality of Men be Wicked and by occasion of these Laws being given shall suffer the greater Torments hereafter yet it would not thereupon have been better that these Laws should not have been given The impious folly of those Men who are willing to flatter themselves with God's being so much a God of Mercy as that he will not destroy them though they walk contrary to his Laws An Explication of I am the Light of the World. Why Miracles were confined to the first Ages of the Church That Prophecy made good viz. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb c. The great Goodness of God in making these Laws to reach so wide as the whole World. His great Wisdom and Mercy in putting these his Laws into Writing and enjoyning the frequent Reading and Preaching of them The Reasonableness that these Laws should endure without Abrogation or Change so long as the World shall stand The great expectation which was of this our Lawgiver for so many Ages and in every respect his answering of it may prevail much for Mens Obedience to his Laws The Righteousness and Goodness of these Laws will manifest themselves to those who are sincerely Obedient P. 150. The Contents of the Sixth Discourse NOt a few think themselves secure in their actings if they can shew that some good Men in Holy Writ or some well accounted of since have done the like Examples of Good Men to be imitated no further than
himself afterwards with respect to his Adultery and Murther to say Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it Psal 51. There not being any Sacrifices provided for such Sins And hereupon the Law is called The Ministration of Death when yet to those that were Obedient the Priviledges it gave were many and so for those as for the Excellency which in itself it had might be loved That other Scripture to wit I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died We if we take it as spoken in the Person of the Apostle and not rather by a Figure for others are not so to understand it as if he were the worse for the Law and might date his Death from it But thus While he look'd upon himself and his own Actions without a due Examination of them according to the exactness of the Law he might think himself to be in very good plight and free from danger But when he compared his Actions and Performances with the exceeding Accurateness of the Law the Actions which before look'd well appear'd sinful and he saw his Danger and Demerits to be very great Whereas the Law in itself was holy and the Commandment holy and just and good and so for its own worth might be loved Your last Scripture is this viz. That the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which neither We nor our Fathers were able to bear To this it may be replyed That we are not to take these words in a strict sense as if the Apostles and Jews could not bear that Yoke but thus They could not bear it without difficulty For we know that they had born it for many Generations from the time of Moses to that day Besides Neither was it a Yoke absolutely consider'd For God in the giving of these Laws did as a great Man interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13.18 bear with some of their Manners which the use of those Times had taught them and made his Sanctions suitable in many things to their being under-age as it were and too weak as yet for more perfect Institutions But it is therefore term'd A Yoke with reference to that Freedom and those very great Priviledges which are brought unto us by Christ In Comparison of These it is little better than a Bondage When yet before it was a great Honour to the Jews and such as They only had a share in The Heathens as they were Heathens having nothing to do in it You have Theophilus what at present I think may be replyed to the Scriptures you brought Yourself could possibly to your own Satisfaction better have answered them But if you are any way pleased with what I have said and can reap though but the least of that Spiritual Advantage you in the beginning of our Discourse spake of I shall be the less solicitous for the excusing of my Failures DISCOURSE the Second The Contents THE Inducements that Christians have to Love the Divine Law. Love was the moving cause of our Lords becoming our Law-giver The Greatness of our Lawgivers Person All the troublesome Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away by the Laws of our Lord and this not by his Will alone but by the admirable manifestation of his Goodness and Wisdom How the Jews urging the Everlastingness of their Law is from hence answered and how their way of Speaking is Corrected when they say our Lawgiver hath vilified and destroy'd their Laws Only such Laws are enjoyn'd by our Lord as have in them an Intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely Good and such as are discernable by every one Though the Jews had some Inferiour Laws suted to their Temper and Climate which did the better fit them for the observance of those Laws which were Moral yet we have not the less reason to Love the Laws of our Lord because they are all Good without any mixture of such Inferiour Laws Laws which may be agreeable to different Climates where Christians Live and which may promote the Precepts of our Lord are not by those Precepts excluded Christian Laws are such also as will in our Obedience much comply with our particular Way and Temper The Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given The Laws that respect ourselves are properly belonging to the New Testament At least are there only directly and openly injoyn'd The Objection answer'd that so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith which no one living can conceive how they should be The Reasonableness of making our Vnderstandings to yield to our Faith. THEOPHILVS I Am very glad Eubulus I have once more your good Company and from the privacy of the place the calmness of the Weather and the leisure you at present have you will I hope go on where Yesterday you left off For I have a great desire to hear the Inducements which Christians have to Love the Divine Law. EVBVLVS YOur desire shall be complied with not because I think I can so much inform you but because those things which we already know are made more Active upon us when we hear they are the Sentiments of others as well as our own Theoph. You will make whatever Truths after this manner shall be quickned in me to belong to yourself as being Watered at least if not Planted by you Besides since the things that lie only in our thoughts do not usually so much affect us as they do when we bring them out into Words it is to be imagined that yourself will not be wholly destitute of benefit while you are kind unto me Eubul Well then with Prayers that it may be for the Ghostly Health of us both we will proceed The Inducements that Christians have for the Loving the Divine Law which are far greater than what the Jews had may I presume be collected from the consideration of these things viz. The Lawgiver The Laws themselves and those Motives which are annexed unto them for the securing of our Obedience As to what concerns the Lawgiver it may very much contribute to the Love of the Christian Law That Love was the moving Cause of his becoming our Lawgiver The Punishment which Mankind for the breach of the Command in Paradise was from Gods Justice to suffer the Son of God was willing in our Nature to undergo himself And though God the Father if he had so pleased might have refus'd that any should bear the Punishment besides those who had deserv'd it for the Law when it is Trangress'd doth require that the Offenders should suffer in their own Persons The Soul that Sinneth it shall dye yet he was pleased to accept of his Son in our stead Accounting the Reverence of his Laws which by the Sins of Mankind had been Violated to be sufficiently maintain'd by his Death But on this condition only would God accept of his
he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom he made the Heavens Heb. 1.1 2. As much as to say He hath spoken to us in a more Eminent manner than ever yet he hath done unto any And Chap. 2. he gives Precedency to his Laws before the Law given on Mount Sinai upon the Account that THAT was spoken by Angels THESE by the Lord. And by how much the greater the Person is that speaks supposing the things he speaks are in themselves Good as we shall shew that His absolutely are by so much the more should the things spoken have our Observance and Esteem This is my beloved Son hear ye Him said the Voice out of the Cloud at the Transfiguration when our Lawgiver did far exceed Moses in the Brightness of his Face and had Moses himself with Elias Attendants upon him He it is that hath the note of Excellence by S. John Chap. 1.18 viz. Who is in the Bosom of his Father i. e. Who as nearest unto him knows his mind most of any Above All he is to be heard He alone is the Man in whom saith God I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom I fully rest having made known my Will unto him so as that a further notice of it is not to be expected for to my full satisfaction it is by him declared unto Mankind Such considerations of our Lawgiver may well excite our esteem of his Laws and we have great reason to Love them for the Givers Sake Since never any Laws were so much Honour'd from Love and Greatness as these were Theoph. The things which you have said are of no mean Concern and I wish that they were entertain'd abroad with such a Sense as they ought to be Good Eubulus proceed to the consideration of the Laws themselves Eubul I will and surely they well deserve our Love in these four respects 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner 2. In that only such Laws are enjoyned as have in them an intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely good and such as are discernable by every one 3. In that those Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given 4. In that from these Laws we have a fair way for a pardon of all Sins 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner The Eighth Day doth not now shew us the Blood of our Children nor give us an occasion to pity them from the pains they endured by a Knife or sharp Stone And how great these Pains were and what the Soreness may be collected from the Story of the Shechemites whom Simeon and Levi were able to slay Two Men a whole City Those Numerous Washings which upon the Touching of Unclean Things and those Unclean Things so many were to be performed are now at an end There is now no being polluted for many Days or until the Evening separated from the Company of others neither need we for every Sin of Ignorance go with a Goat unto the Temple for Sacrifice Which how many must they have been since too apt we are unawares to fall into Sin Yea a Period is put to all those Sacrifices which were continually offered up These things had indeed good Reasons as hath been said for their being enjoyn'd to the Jews But it must be confessed that as to their Number and Nature they were tedious and burdensom There was somthing in the whole Oeconomy itself that in the Apostles word Heb. 8.7 was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from blame And though it serv'd well for a time yet Men in after-Ages when their Understandings were adult and their Reason improved were capable of better things than such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul termeth them weak and beggerly Elements Now had God done them or the more uneasie part of them away by his Will only without any visible Effects of his Wisdom in their being abolished it would have been a great Favour unto us But that they All should cease by being improved into greater Excellencies That Circumcision as it mark'd the Jews for Gods People should be at an end by all the Kingdoms of the World becoming the Kingdoms of the Lord That as it imported Purity and Chastness it should be raised into the Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart and the daily cutting off as it were all impure and corrupt Affections That as it was a sign of the Promised Seed it should end in His Wonderfully being Born who is the Everlasting Perfection of it That so many Allusions and Sprinklings should terminate in the inward Cleanness of the Soul and Conscience so as that there should be no further need of such things to denote it That extraordinary Sacrifices should be finished by the Lamb of God's offering up himself once for all appeasing by his pretious Blood his Fathers Wrath satisfying his Justice and purging away our Sins That ordinary Sacrifices should be no more through our Bodies and Souls being presented daily unto God a Living Sacrifice an holy acceptable and rational Service That all those Ceremonies Theophilus should in so admirable a manner be cancell'd is an high Demonstration of Gods Wisdom and the greatest Expression of his Love to us And therefore his Laws so excellently freed from such Troublesom Rites may very much engage our Love. Theoph. What you say as it may much engage our Love to the Christian Law so methinks it affords a good Answer to the Jews who urge that their Laws are in Holy Writ styled Everlasting and Ordinances for ever and so cannot be thought to cease so long as the World stands And it also may correct their way of speaking when they say our Lord hath vilified and destroyed those their Laws Eubul Pray go on and shew how in both Theoph. Some Things being said to be Everlasting and for ever denoteth only their Duration so long till their Nature cannot extend them to a further length Thus Isai 34.10 The Fire is said to burn for ever which shall not be quenched before it hath consumed all the Matter in which it burneth So likewise Deut. 15.17 A Servant is said to be a Servant for ever i. e. So long as till the Year of Jubile should free him Before that time he must not think to leave his Master And not impertinent to what we are now speaking was their way of dividing the World into Two Ages The one before the Messias the other after The former they called one for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Seculum The later added to it was for ever and ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Secula Seculorum Now the Law as given by Moses was Everlasting as the word Everlasting may import a Duration so long as the Nature thereof would well allow of so long as till the great Jubile should be
Mercy unto those who are so unworthy of it Neither do they rightly infer That God's Mercy which is infinitely more than theirs will be shewn unto them because they themselves would be so merciful to the looser sort of Men as to save them while such from the Punishments which are threatned A great Indignity they offer unto the most Holy God in thus making Him to be such as Themselves are His Mercy is indeed infinitely more than theirs but yet of a Nature altogether different Theirs proceeds from weakness and an evil favouring of Sin And because their love to Righteousness and Holiness is little or none they would therefore effect more for wicked Men than God who hath all Power will do or if we consider his Justice and Wisdom more than with Reverence be it spoken he can do God is not less merciful than they but more just not less pitiful but more holy not beneath them in Compassion but infinitely above them in Wisdom And therefore let them not deceive themselves with vain Words and Thoughts God will in Righteousness inflict those Punishments upon them which they through a Vicious Mercy would have remitted unto others Theoph. I would to God such things as these were truly weighed by Men and urged home upon their own Consciences that they might at last discern the Fallacies they have been willing to put upon themselves even to their everlasting Destruction Eubul We now have Theophilus spoken to all those things which from the first we design'd and have found the Divine Laws to be every way excellent whether we consider The Lawgiver Love having been the primary moving Cause of his giving Laws unto us and this his Love being highly commended from the Greatness of his Person Or the Laws themselves all the troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law being done away and that in so excellent a manner only such Laws being enjoyn'd as have in them an intrinsick goodness or else are for ends absolutely good and such as are discernable by every one Those Moral Laws which were given to the Jews being by our Lord more fully and clearly given And there being from these Laws a fair way for the pardon of all Sins Or lastly The Motives which are annexed to these Laws for the securing of Obedience whether they be more General relating to the Sacred Laws altogether as their having Eternal Rewards promised to the Observance of them and Eternal Punishments threatned to Disobedience Their having stronger Assistances afforded for the Performance of them than under the Old Law there were And last of all their having such loving Invitations and affectionate Expressions of Kindness joyned with them or whether more Particular belonging to them singly and apart as they respect God or Men in the several Relations they may stand in one to another or as they respect ourselves But though to our Power we have done this yet much short have we come of the Dignity of our subject And while the Apostle asks the Question Who is sufficient for these things We must acknowledge that we are altogether insufficient But since a good part of our Walk is yet to come it will not be amiss from the whole of what hath been said to make some Inferences not unagreeable to our Subject And this Task I am willing should be yours Theophilus who I knew are good at deducing one Truth from another and who will do kindly by me if you will let me be your Auditor now as you have mostly hitherto been mine Theoph. He is most fit to make the Inferences who made the Discourse But if it will not be unacceptable I will endeavour alternately to follow you if you will lead the way Eubul If it must be so only and you will not wholly excuse me I will begin And First Theophilus From the Divine Laws thus consider'd we have if I mistake not a true and just Explication of that place of Scripture Joh. 8.12 I am the Light of the World he that believeth in me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life They are the Words of our Blessed Lord and are to be understood of Him as a Lawgiver so cleerly hath he in his own Person made good those Types that were of him and dispell'd those shadows of things to come so excellently explain'd the Moral Law and given a new lustre to it so throughly Reveal'd Heavenly Rewards and brought Life and Immortality to Light. Hence in the Prophet Malachi He is call'd the Sun of Righteousness and in St. Luke he is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred in our Translation Day-Spring But whether so or the East or Sun-rising it certainly is a Title of our Lord as having done that in Relation to Spirituals and Good Practice which the Sun doth in its Rising and with its Presence viz. put to slight the Darkness wherewith we were encompassed And thus the People that Lived in Evil Practices and in Ignorance of the Divine Laws are said to sit in Darkness and in the shadow of Death Mat. 4.16 and from our Lords coming are said to see great Light and to have Light sprung up unto them Which must necessarily be understood of his instructing them giving them Laws and revealing unto them Eternal Rewards for the quickning their Obedience thereunto And this possibly may give us some insight into that place of Scripture also Which hath been so difficult unto and in a sort the Torture of Interpreters 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ being put to Death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and Preached to the Souls in PRISON i. e. to those whose Souls within them were through Ignorance and Evil Practice as in the Darkness of a Prison The Light of Nature being almost quite extinct To These He through the Spirit Preached by the Mouth of Noah By his Laws it is therefore and by other things upon their account Revealed that Christ is the Light of the World. And after the same manner is God the Father said to be Light as having by these Laws through Jesus Christ shewn what He Himself is what he chiefly and most earnestly doth Will Desire and Love insomuch that we cannot likely be mistaken in his Nature unless we will be so either through Perverseness or Negligence Should any of those Heathens who in Relation to Human Welfare had undervaluing Opinions of the Deity have read these Laws with the Inestimable Encouragements annexed unto them they when they had seen the greatest Prosperity to have its allays of Trouble and all Men sooner or later to Die could not any longer have thought that God out of Envy and ill Nature would not permit an unmixt Happiness in this World or that he would keep Immortality to himself as by no means enduring that any should be partakers of it with him It is but the due considering these Sacred Precepts as they proceed from our Lords being given into the World and God cannot but be
Rewards and his immediate Protection If thou shalt hearken unto the Voice of the Lord to observe and do all his Commandments the Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy Store Houses and in all that thou settest thy Hand unto And he shall bless thee in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee He shall give thee Rain in due season to multiply thy Corn and thy Wine so much that the Threshing shall reach unto the Vintage and the Vintage reach unto the Ploughing and thou shalt dwell safely in thy Land And so signal was this safety which they enjoyed that when for the Worshipping of God all the Males were frequently to repair to Jerusalem though their Borders were left Naked and defenceless yet never did their Enemies take that opportunity either to invade or any way molest them According to that Word of Exod. 34.24 Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year And lest their Love to these Laws should from Earthly Prosperity sink into Carelesness as worldly Blessings make oftentimes even that Obedience to be forgotten for which they were sent as a Reward it was kept awake and taught to be Reverential by some miraculous things which attended these Laws Such were the Vrim and the Thummim on the Breast-plate of the High-Priest which when consulted by meet Persons on weighty concerns did by a wonderful power afford answers The Ark of the Testimony from which Oracles were given by an audible Voice The Sacred Fire of the Altar which falling as it were like a Lion on the Sacrifices presently consumed them The appearance of a Cloud somtimes on the Tabernacle and afterward on the Temple to which we may add the open and remarkable effects of Gods Power manifest in Battles and in particular Revenges from Heaven upon presumptuous Sinners God would not have done so wondrously in relation to his Laws had they not been of very high account with him and this might well keep up Life and Vigour in Considering and Devout Mens Love towards them I have Theophilus in my speaking to these Laws asked of you what in Right Reason and according to a perfect Harmony of Things you would have the Duties towards a Prince and Lawgiver to be And I have ventured to say that a Rational Man for the Welfare of Society would wish for such and such Laws And this I think I might well do without offering any injury to these Laws by making Human Reason to be the Judge of them For they are rightly agreeable to our Nature and the true Sentiments thereof But though they are so and by all must be acknowledg'd so to be yet no Nation on Earth was so happy as to have them so established as the Jews had Hereupon it is said Deut. 4.6 Keep ye these Statutes and do these Judgments for this is your Wisdom and Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these Statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a Wise and Vnderstanding People for what Nation is there so great which hath Statutes and Judgments so Righteous as all this Law which I set before you this Day And very observable it is as to what I have been speaking viz. That in times of Captivity when the Laws of the Conquer'd are usually changed if not wholly destroyed by the Conquerours these Laws found such favour abroad that they were never as to any part of them alter'd And that the Jewish Nation lived to see the Periods of three noted Monarchies succeeding one another and in an uninterrupted Line did itself continue still the same flourishing and happy unless when careless and disobedient cannot be ascribed to any thing but the Excellency of these Laws and Gods more than ordinary Blessing attending them All which things Theophilus being rightly weighed may shew forth the Madness of Marcion and some others of the Gnostick Crew who impiously pronounced the God of the Old Testamrnt to be an Evil One Morose and Cruel and of a different Nature quite from him to whom the New Testament belongeth Although greater Love is display'd by Christ than under Moses could be discern'd yet that the Old Law proceeded from a Good God who was Merciful and Gracious and who made those his Laws suitable to the Jewish Nation and pertinently significant of better things to come all certainly who will be righteous and considerate in their Thoughts must needs confess with a Detestation and Abhorrence of such Marcionitish Blasphemy Theoph. But since all these Laws whether relating to God or Men are so Excellent and so Worthy to be Loved Why doth St. Paul call them the Ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3.7 And why doth he say he was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin Revived and he Dyed Rom. 7.9 as if he were the worse for the Law and might date his Death from it Why lastly doth S. Peter call the Mosaick Institution a Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear Act. 15.10 Eubul In answer to your first Scripture wherein the Law is called the Ministration of Death some understand it thus not as if the Law brought no Priviledges with it or rather Death but so as that all the promises which were made to the Obedience of the Law were such as had relation to this Life only and were all terminated in Death And therefore it is observed that the Word Life in all the Books of Moses is never taken otherwise then for this Temporal Life And all the rewards are mention'd only under the Name of Temporal Blessings as may be seen in Deut. 28. and other places Not saith a Worthy Man of our own but that Eternal Rewards were in good measure Revealed to some Excellent Persons of Old and the frequenter afterwards as the coming of Christ drew nearer but these Revelations though vouchsafed by God under the Law did not properly belong to the Law and in strictness of Speaking were not of it It might therefore be well called the Ministration of Death in case the Rewards belonging unto it had thus an end and did cease in Death However the Law might justly have this Appellation because as I before mentioned in the primary Sanction of it Death was the Punishment of Disobedience Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them And though God was pleased to mitigate this Severity in allowing Sacrifices to be an Expiation for some Sins yet the great Transgressions of the Law how repentant soever the Committers might be found no such favour Only lesser Offences and such as proceeded from Imprudence rather than Design were those for which Sacrifices were indulg'd Whilst the Souls that did ought presumptuously whether Strangers or born in the Land were to be cut off from among the People Numb 15.30 31. Which as it may seem made David
had had none in whose Steps we might tread By comparing Examples with our Rule we shall quickly find whether they will hold Good for our Practice or no. THEOPHILVS YOU have finished Eubulus what you intended concerning the Divine Laws But I hope you have not therein put an end to Discourses of a like Nature Religious and Sacred So much have you won upon me by your Five last that should you be willing to rest I would crave leave for this once at least to excite you forwards Or should you enter upon new matter that standeth at any distance from Religion how Ingenious soever it might be I would presume to stop your Course EVBVLVS ALthough the things that are Holy may be administred unto by things which in their Nature are not so and even by Lower Objects may afford Recruits to a Mind long engaged in Diviner Speculations yet since you are so much taken with These as to account them your Refreshments as well as Business your so good Inclinations I will no way stint Theoph. And why Eubulus should not Christians especially those that have Time and Leisure often make Religion and the great Concerns thereof to be the matter of their Discourse as well as Plato and Cicero and some others made the Immortality of the Soul the Contempt of Death the bearing of Troubles bravely and other things not unlike these to be the Subject of theirs These things were I may say their Divinity and though their Reasonings were in the dark and themselves uncertain amidst their Disquisitions yet they esteemed them to be the chief things that made the Life of Man happy I see not why it should be otherwise with us who have greater Assurances of the Truth of our Divinity and as to our Welfare and Happiness are therein not less but more concern'd than they were Eubul I would think that many there are who are more frequent and fervent in the thoughts of these things than you seem to think they are But Christianity being that which chiefly instructs the Heart and which for the better excluding of Hypocrisie and Vain-glory doth contain Precepts that in some Acts enjoyn secresie therefore I suppose a great many willing rather in reality to be than to appear Religious are not so forward to talk of the things which yet they truly love Theoph. I will not be against any Interpretation that carries Charity towards other Men. I yet may be allow'd to fear that to some their Religion is the less confirm'd in their thoughts from their constant avoiding in their words any thing that tendeth thereunto Not to say that some by shunning one Rock have split upon another putting on too much the Guise of Profaneness while they have abandon'd the Garb of Hypocrisie But you and I shall not between ourselves be suspected of any such Vanity and being thus in private are free from the Censures of others also if we bend our Talk towards sacred Things I therefore request of you that in persuance of your former Discourses you would consider the Examples of Pious Men Registred in Holy Scriptures which are esteem'd by many of little less force than the Divine Laws and ranked with them are made in part the Rule of our Actions Eubul I shall the more willingly yield unto this your Request because too much is attributed to the Examples of others And not a few are they who think themselves secure in their Actings if they can shew that some good Men in Holy Writ or some well accounted of since have done the like Theoph. Truly Eubulus I have myself taken notice that some things which look'd upon in themselves would be acknowledged not to be right yet considered as done by such and such Persons as if their doing them had put a new Nature into them will be well thought of and often without any scruple at all will be imitated Eubul And hence it is that a great many are uncertainly good and more are too surely evil in their practice Theoph. How far then Eubulus may the Examples of good Men be imitated by us Eubul E'en no further Theophilus than they have the Laws of Jesus Christ for their Rule and Warrant Which will be manifest to any one who will impartially consider these two things 1. That Examples as of themselves can lay no Obligation upon us 2. That the Perfection of the Laws of Christ is so great that they reach to all Moral Actions and even to the Thoughts of our Hearts Theoph. I will be very attentive to you and I hope you expect not my further Intreaties for your progress Eubul First then That Examples as of themselves can lay no Obligation upon us And this in a twofold respect From want of Authority in the Persons partly and partly from the uncertainty and insufficiency of their Example From a want of Authority in the Persons first The Holy Men we read of in Scripture were not sent into the World to be a Law to all others in the things they acted If we look upon the Patriarchs together with the Prophets what was there in them that might shew that every thing they did was to be a Rule to the whole Nation of the Jews then and to all Mankind afterwards They had indeed Authority enough for the engaging Obedience to what they said Moses received from God the Laws which he gave And his delivering them with these words God spake or Thus saith the Lord or some such like form and confirming the truth of them also by Miracles was Argument sufficient for their being observed And the Holy Prophets carrying Testimony of their being divinely inspired might claim Attention and Observance to their Prophecies in whatever related to practice But what Authority did all their Actions bear for Imitation All of them were Men of like Passions with us and their Persons were much of a different sort from the greatness of the things they wrote Moses had somthing in him that was worse than his slowness of speech for he spake unadvisedly with his Lips. What failures David and Solomon had what passions Jonah towards his God we know Ezekiel who had the most Visions of any is more often than any call'd the Son of Man lest he as is thought should have forgotten his own Meanness And St. Paul that he might not be exalted above measure and that others also might not think too highly of him had a Messenger of Satan sent to buffet him And if we should run through all the Personal Failings of Holy Men the Authority from their Example would be found to be little or none As St. Paul saith of himself and the other Apostles We have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us so may it also be said of Moses and the Prophets They were but as a mean Cask to the Will of God which was inclosed in them and by them delivered unto others and their own Persons and
him not as in a pompous and splendid but in an humble and afflicted Condition Though mean as a Bit of Bread and Sip of Wine may seem yet very apposite it is that our Spiritual Food by which we are nourished up unto Eternal Life should be conveighed to us in That which gives Nourishment unto and supports our Temporal Life in this World. So that all those Precepts which in their observance have an immediate Relation unto Gods Service are such as are Intrinsically Good or else such as may be ranked with those that are for the admirable Ends which 't is plainly shew'd they are ordain'd unto And further yet Theophilus Those Precepts which throughout our whole Conversation look towards God are such as are worthy to be practised by understanding Creatures towards the most perfect of Beings And it would not be just to conceive a God in the World who hath deserved infinitely well of Man and not conceive such obedience to be due unto him Such is the Believing and Trusting in him the submitting our Wills unto his and the Doing all things to his Glory and such like For by these He is own'd to be a God of Truth and Wisdom a God of Power and Goodness and to be All in all the Great and Holy One. And surely Those Laws cannot but be in themselves truly Good which so fashion the Hearts of Men that they appositely shall answer to those perfections which are in God and thereby as far as Man's Nature is capable become partakers of them And how genuine a pleasure is it for a Soul thus to believe in Him who cannot be Deceived himself and who will not Deceive us Who hath Revealed Truths which have been hid from Ages Truths that include the greatest Wonder and also the greatest Love And were it not a Command that so we should do what would we be more Solicitous for or what more seek after than the Priviledge of Reposing Trust in one who never faileth those that with a Christian confidence rely upon him When we are as of ourselves unable to see those things which shall be for our good and very forward to look to those things that will be for our hurt it sure is a Righteous Command that requires our Wills to be Subordinate unto His whose perfection it is to will only those things which are best And since the designs of Men so often create them trouble and nothing that here they enjoy can give them true satisfaction what can be a more noble End to all the Actions of Men than that which is the End the Almighty proposeth unto himself and which gives him Eternal delight in the obtaining it viz. His Glory If as all our powers and faculties proceed from him we shall in all things improve them unto him there will be no cause for us to complain that they are lost to Ourselves by being found in Him. But we shall be filled with that Glory which we do so Administer unto And lest the Goodness which these Laws have in them should be injured by an undue Practice they are to be obey'd in Righteousness and no otherwise Gods Glory is to be our continual Aim but we must not go about to promote it by a Lye or any thing that is Evil. The keeping of our Souls is to be committed unto God but it must be in Well-doing And the like is there for all others Laws which both sheweth and establisheth their Goodness Neither are those Laws which more nearly respect Men of a different Make from the other we by these are enjoyn'd the Exercise of Righteousness Mercy and Kindness And what would a Man wish should by others be Practised to himself and his Friend dear as himself sooner than these These do not from any thing we possess wring out the Tears of the Orphans and Widow No Stone is there to cry out of the Wall nor Beam to answer it out of the Timber We by them are taught to rejoyce at the Welfare of others as if it were the Fruit of our Prayers To esteem the Blessings which we ourselves do enjoy to be the greater because thereby we are enabled to do the more good By them also a True Relish is preserved in our Meats and Drinks and they are made to hold out Health and Long Life unto us by freeing us from those Surfeits and Excesses which would turn the most pleasant and wholsom things nto Bitterness and Poison In a Word these Laws how many or of what sort soever they be are such as perfect our Natures and capacitate us for a better World when this is done For a Man without the Practice of these would be altogether as far from reaching to the Glory of a Saint as a Beast is from being improved into the Excellencies of a Man. And Theophilus thay which is not to be forgotten have nothing of dark Ceremony annexed to be observed with the same Care as we do the substance of the Duties themselves Wherefore upon these accounts also we have very great Inducements to Love the Divine Laws Theoph I can easily grant that from the Intrinsick Goodness of these Laws there is a very strong inducement to Love them But is it Eubulus so great an one that these Laws which have an Intrinsick Goodness should Alone be enjoyn'd I therefore ask this because I remember you said that the sitting some inferiour Laws to the Temper of the Jewish Nation did the better fit that People for the observance of those Laws which were in their own Nature Moral Eubul It is a very great Inducement to our Love that those Laws alone should be enjoyned which have an Intrinsick Goodness in them For now as our whole Duty is reasonable so we have it in a little room and may the better understand and do it which would not so well be done by reason of the vast Number of Laws if all People wheresoever scatter'd should have had some suted to their Dispositions which are so Various The giving of the Christian Laws and of the Mosaick was very different Those by Moses were only or chiefly to the Jews God having then his Tabernacle in Salem and his dwelling place in Sion and among Them alone of all the Inhabitants of the Earth He chose to place his Name And over and above as he was their God so as was before said at the giving of these Laws he was their Temporal Prince And therefore the Nation being one People he might the better sute some Laws to their Temper Which in much Wisdom he did in the Judicial Law apparently and not less in the Ceremonial making That which did so much Typifie the future Kingdom of the Messias to hit also the Constitution of their Climate which enclined them much to a Variety of Rites and a Ceremonious way of Worship Yet not so did God sute his Laws to their Tempers as in every thing to Close with them But he in a manner did cultivate that People keeping
probable that except the Apostles had in this thing sufficiently understood the Will of their Lord they would not have been the Authors of the Change of that Day which for Reason of Equity as well as Ceremony was so strictly observed for so many Ages in the Jewish Church we may upon these accounts and others such as These and not from the Churches Example only acknowledge the setting apart of the first Day of the Week to be of great Moment And the more in that the Two great Adverse Parties to Christianity the Jews and Heathens were so rightly opposed hereby In the Observing one Day in Seven the first Christians ran counter to the Heathens by the acknowledging Him to he their God who in Six Days made the World and Rested the Seventh In the keeping Holy the First Day of the Week they profess'd openly against the Jews that they worshipp'd God not as a Redeemer out of Egypt but as the Father of Jesus Christ who on that Day Rose from the Dead and was our Redemption in so wonderful a Manner as that the Redemption from Egypt was only a Shadow of it In both your Instances Theophilus there is indeed the Practice of the Church but then there is a great deal more beside so much as sheweth that in great probability and in the best Judgment she can make they are things of more than Ordinary Consequence and to be Solemnly Observed by all who would sincerely approve themselves unto God. And not unlike possibly may be said in some other things which we have the Church's Example for but no positive Command from God For her Example is founded upon such Rational and Religious Considerations and so Consonant unto the Divine Laws as do affix very much Honour to her Practice and do Recommend it as necessary if not in the Highest Degree yet so as not to be disobey'd by Vs nor thrown off by Her. So that we may conclude that in the imitating of any Example we are to have respect to the Law and to the Testimony to Examine it whether it be Repugnant to the Rule or not If it be Repugnant thereunto how Specious soever it may seem and how much soever Cried up it be we must by no means imitate it The Perfection of the Gospel Laws forbids it Theoph. It seemeth very agreeable to Reason and Truth what you have said And would you therefrom as you well may give some particular Judgment of the Examples in Holy Writ I should account it among your kindnesses to me Eubul That Admirable Person Dr. Sanderson in his Lecture De Piorum Exemplis hath done what you desire But that our Walk may not want Discourse and that I may not seem unwilling to gratifie you so far as I am able what I can remember from Him and think of elsewhere that will be pertinent you shall have There is no need of saying any thing of those Actions which in Holy Scripture are Sentenced as Evil ones How good soever the Actors otherwise have been such their Doings have evidently been Breaches of Gods Law and so are by no means to be imitated But then for other Examples we may say 1. That Those which have no Mark of Condemnation put upon them are not thereby presently to be drawn into Imitation For Holy Penmen shewing themselves Faithful Historians in delivering Matters truly but not taking upon them the Persons of Judges in Condemning every thing that is amiss some of these Actions possibly may be against the Laws of our Lord. The Drunkenness of Noah Lot's offering his Daughters to the abuses of the Sodomites Joseph's Swearing by the Life of Pharaoh and such like are not Condemned but who will say they are to be Imitated Nor Secondly are these Examples which have Praise given to them without further search to have our Imitation Some of them were Extraordinary Actions as was Phineas's Smiting the Man of Israel and the Midianitish Woman in the Act of Whoredom through the Belly with a Javelin and so are not to be extended beyond the Time and Circumstances in which they were done Some of them were Mixed Actions only in one part of them Praiseworthy in the Other against the Laws of our Lord. Such was the Midwives Example in speaking of the Hebrew Womens Child-births Exod. 1.19 As also was that of the Vnjust Steward Luke 16.8 A Lye there was in the One as well as Piety and Injustice in the Other as well as Prudence And we are taught that even the Glory of God is not to be promoted by our Lye and that no Evil is to be done that good may come thereof Thirdly Nor yet are those Actions which have been in order to Signal Ends and by the especial Providence of God have attain'd those Ends an absolute Warrant for our imitating them I instance in the Fact of Jacob and his Mother Rebecca in the getting the Blessing from Esau the Elder Son. A Promise God had made to Rebecca that the Elder should serve the Younger And on Jacob's having the Blessing of his Father the Welfare of the whole Race which proceeded out of his Loins and was the chosen People of God might seem in a manner to depend The Blessing is sought for through deceitful Means and is obtain'd The Father when he knoweth of all doth not reverse the Blessing as seeing the Hand of God in the thing and God confirmeth the Blessing to Jacob and his Posterity The Manifest and Strong Providence of God in this Example will not Authorize our doing like unto it though in concerns if such there could be altogether as high and great as These were The Reason is The Expressions of Gods Will through Christ in the New Testament are to be preferr'd before the Instances of his Providence in the Old. His Providence can order the irregular Actions of Men unto Ends that are good and by them can bring about those things which he hath design'd But His Will cannot by reason of its Perfection command any unrighteous Deed to be done as if his End could not be obtain'd without it And His Will in the Gospel being fully and clearly reveal'd by Him who was in the Bosom of his Father and so knew his whole Mind That Will of his is now to be our Rule and esteemed by us in our Practice before any Actings of his Providence either that have been heretofore or that shall be hereafter This we may do improve so far as in us lies the evil Actions of others into the good of ourselves and them and to the Glory of God For in so doing we shall imitate the Wisdom and Providence of God which is holy But we may never do evil Actions ourselves nor encourage others to do them upon the account that God hath made them somtimes instrumental to good Ends. For they are not in themselves a jot the better for the having been thus used to those Ends. God hath indeed in his Wisdom well improved them but in his
Box of Ointment on the Head of our Lord That wheresoever the Gospel should be preached in the whole World there also should this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her Mat. 26.13 In the same manner are the good Actions of Holy Men preserved in the Scripture that they may be told as a Memorial of them wheresoever these Sacred Writings shall come and so long as they shall last which shall be to the End of the World. Moses shall for ever be celebrated who refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh 's Daughter choosing rather to suffer Afflictions with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season Abraham's Faith shall never cease to be praised till Faith itself shall cease and be turned into Vision Gideon Barak Sampson Jephtha David also and Samuel and all the Prophets and Apostles shall for their faithful Deeds be had in Everlasting Remembrance Such Honour have all God's Saints And though they be happy in the enjoyment of the Recompence of Reward and may seem not to need any of that praise which Earth can give yet surely it cannot but be esteemed an high Favor from God unto them while they are Blessed in Heaven to be Honourable on Earth and Celebrated themselves here while they are praising God there Had we ourselves Theophilus no use and benefit from these examples yet their being Registred as an Honour to the Persons that lived so well is sufficient reason for their being written Though truly in this their Honour we may reap a great deal of satisfaction For those Righteous Actions which God hath so much honoured Them for we may justly conclude He will be well pleased with in Vs Since He is no Respecter of Persons in every Nation he that feareth Him and worketh Righteousness being accepted with him 'T is true indeed we cannot expect that God will give Divine Authority to any more Books than the Bible and write our Names in them But He hath other ways of Rewarding Holy Livers on Earth besides enrolling them in a Sacred Volume that shall last as long as the World. He can give us Honour and Prosperity while we Live and can Embalm us also in a lasting Name when we are dead And though he should not do this yet we read of another Book of God in which the Names and all the good Actions of Faithful Men are recorded and which at the last day will be opened when every man shall receive according to his works The Righteous Deeds of Holy Men being preserved in the Books of Scripture may put us in mind of this other Book And the Honour which they have of being never forgotten in this world encourageth us to the like Holy and Just Actions that we may be remembred in the world to come Theoph. God grant we may at last be remembred there and then I shall little care though the same Earth that covers my Body bury my Memory also Though yet the Honour of Living in Sacred Writings after Death and of being made instrumental to other Mens virtuous Deeds and to the more comely performing of them I acknowledge to be very great And since God is pleased to make a Good Name and the Being for Ages Exemplary to be a Reward of a well-led Life I will not blame Those why by rightly ordering their Lives have an Eye to such a Reward Eubul I am sure we have a great deal of Reason to account it a Blessing that we have had so many patterns of Virtue set us by which we are the better capacitated for being Happy ourselves and being also Examples unto others The Faith indeed of Abraham is thought by some to have been the more excellent and even to have given him the Name of the Father of the Faithful upon the account that he had no precedent Example of any ones Believing in God He dwelling in Vr of the Chaldees where they were all Idolaters But supposing this were so and that therefore our Faith cannot have the accomplishment of Father Abrahams because we have Him and many Others our Examples Yet our Condition in our Faith is much the more sure unto us than it would have been if we had had none in whose steps we might tread For who of us would have done as Abraham did We may therefore praise God in that he hath caused us to be Born into the World after so many excellent Persons whose Examples may direct us further than of our Selves we could have gone And albeit we shall not have the Honour to receive others into our Bosome when in Heaven as Abraham doth yet if we can the more easily have a place in his and be our Selves in some measure Leaders of other Men thither we shall have no reason to complain of any want of Happiness but a great deal of cause to rejoyce that the way to Heaven was made so plain and that we had so many encouragements in it not to faint And with reference unto this The Church hath piously ordered that we should bless Gods H. Name for all his Servants departed this Life in his Faith and Fear Beseeching him to give us Grace so to follow their Examples that with Them we may be partakers of his Heavenly Kingdom Theoph. A great Esteem and Love Eubulus we may have for the Examples of Holy Men but it must at last End in the Esteem and Love of the Laws of Christ which include in them all the Good that the best Examples of Men ever have shewn or can shew Eubulus It must so Theophilus For all those actions of Men and Women famous in their Generations The Practice of Righteousness and Mercy of Munificence and Liberality of Temperance and Sobriety of unfeigned Devotion and Piety towards God all of which every Man hath a Tongue to praise are but imperfect draughts of these Holy Laws I say imperfect Draughts Because no Man our Blessed Lord alone excepted hath ever yet risen to that height of Excellence which they require Very pleasing they are as they are represented in the Lives of Good Men though they there are not unlike a Beautiful Face drawn to great disadvantage and with many unbecoming Shades But could we see them without failure exprest in the demeanor of any Man and had Eyes clear enough to behold them we should confess that they were a Sight too good for Earth However in the commendable actions of Men with the imperfections of Mortality if we would but reflect thus to wit The Constancy of that Man is a pleasant thing to behold The Righteousness of this Man is truely Comely Mercy and Goodness here is a real Ornament to the Actor Friendship and Kindness there How amiable are they The Flourishing of Society in Peace and Industry and all publick Virtues The Affections and Tenderness of Parents The Submission and Dutifulness of Children The Dwelling of Brethren together in Unity And the Affability and Usefulness of Neighbors to each
Law properly so called but in the Psalms And I doubt not but as the Psalms are called in a larger Sense Gods Law so our Psalmists in these words O how I love thy Law meaneth all that God by Divine Inspiration hath caused to be written as well as the Law taken in the strictest signification Theoph. Give me leave to tell you that I look not upon you to have done your task throughly unless you deal with the other Parts of Holy Scripture as you have done with that which is properly Preceptive Eubul There is the less need of this because if That be excellent and amiable in relation to us the rest of the Bible as being in order unto and promotive of the Precepts there for so in reality it is must be Excellent and Amiable likewise whether it be Historical or Prophetick Adhortative or Devotional and to one or other of these all except what we have already discours'd of or at least the most of what the Sacred Writings include is reducible Theoph. If you would be a little particular herein you would seem to me not to exceed the Bounds of your Discourse Good Eubulus begin with the Historical part of the Bible which for the great things it containeth and the Faithful account which it giveth doth when ever I read it afford me very great satisfaction Eubul That the accounts of things are Faithful and Written with a design of Truth the Holy Writers not sparing themselves but putting down their own faults as several of them in several places do is a very great Evidence Such an Integrity cannot but be Loved where from Historians having less respect to their own Reputation than to the verity of things a Man may be as well satisfied in his knowledge of the most Ancient Times as he is in those which he Lives in and sees with his Eyes Yea such History may much the more engage his Love when it gives him not merely the knowledge of the first Times but such a knowledge as to a good Man puts a Relish into All Times and will make the years pass more gratefully to the End of the World. Look we Theophilus upon the account of the Creation of the World which we may be certain was Written by Gods Immediate Appointment and Inspiration for the exciting a due Fear and Love of Him i. e. an Obedience to his Laws and what Delight may we not conceive therefrom While the Wise Men of the World have in vain sought how this goodly Fabrick of the Heaven and Earth came to be such as it is some of them affirming it to be from all Eternity the same which we now see it others determining it to be from a lucky hit of Matter casually coming together into this Beauteous Form We amidst their Errors can pity them and the more enjoy the Truth from the Ignorance and Darkness which these Searchers have been in But as the knowledge of a Truth which they could not reach unto may upon that score be prized by us so we may intermingle the greatest Love with our Esteem of it because it gives us such a firm support throughout our Lives God who Created the World did it not more to manifest his Power than to express his Goodness unto Men whom he made to enjoy it and to be served by all things in it And how Cold and Vnaffecting are the Other Opinions in respect of this Truth Were the World such as it now is from all Eternity altogether without a Deity or with no Relation unto one which is the opinion of some Atheistical Men it could not give us the pleasure of thinking that it was the effect of Divine Power and Love to us Nay were it Eternal by a necessary Efflux from the Goodness of a Deity which could not refrain from the thus exerting itself as the Platonists hold where would be the Favour For that which cannot possibly be otherwise layeth no Obligation upon us And should the World have risen merely by Chance as the Epicureans would have it there would this way also have been the Total absence of Kindness For what hath Chance to do with Kindness whose perfection it is to have the Understanding and Will along with it But now in the History of the Worlds Beginning we can behold the Love and Beneficence of the Great Creator and with Pleasure can Contemplate Him who makes his Goodness to be seen in every thing though Himself be Invisible So great a Priviledge is it to have the World founded in the Divine Power Wisdom and Love that one who knows those things and is a Virtuous Person would not for a World that the World should be without them The Light would be a less pleasant thing to behold should it not have been from Him who is the Fountain of Light. And what pleasure would the Heavenly Bodies whether those which we term fixed or those which as Cicero speaks are Vocabulo nonâ—e errantia Planets not in reality but word only afford by their Motion and Influence were it not from the Creators Order that they thus Move from his Care of us that they thus shed their Influence Could we not say also concerning these Earthly Things That Manifold are thy Works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches And even concerning ourselves likewise that Man was first formed by God who breathed into him the Breath of Life that ever since we have been fearfully and wonderfully made and that in his Book are all our Members Written both We and They should lose all our Excellence For an Excellence wholly destitute of Wisdom wholly destitute of Love would be an empty thing yea a meer Contradiction Theoph. It must needs be yielded that such History is Worthy to be Loved on the Considerations you now mention'd and one Consideration more may be added viz. That though there be in some antient Authors some things not altogether unlike to this History they in probability having either seen Moses's Writings and so out of design mingled Fictions with them for the making an Opinion of their own or else heard an imperfect Relation of them and so given us only some faint resemblances of Truth though the best they could yet none of them all do give that satisfaction to a Religious Reader which Moses doth He having been throughly instructed by the Creator himself for what he hath Written and having given Confirmation also of its Truth by the Wonders which he wrought Eubul It is not difficult to conceive why though even by Natural Reason it may be inferred that the World owed its Form and Fashion to a Divine Power there yet is such a defective account of the Origen of the Universe from the Philosophers of Old. For they however otherwise of good Knowledge and great Industry relying altogether on the Experience of the Works of Nature in which they saw that somthing was requisite for the production of another thing could not
Understanding when we read them fulfilled in our Lords being conceived of the Holy and born of a Virgin Mother And truly the Prediction Micah 5.2 Of his being born at Bethleem may move us with a more than ordinary delight when we consider how strangely God's Providence was engaged for the fulfilling it All that Taxing which was laid upon the Jewish Nation by Augustus and which required every one to repair to his own City to be Taxed may appear in a special manner to be order'd by God for the bringing Mary unto Bethleem to be delivered of her Son. It was a great way that Joseph and Mary were to go From N zareth in Galile to the City of David in Judea And it might seem ill to have hapned unto Mary at a time when her Condition rather required Rest than was fit for so great a Journey and this too as is not improbable in the depth of Winter But God somtimes is accomplishing his own Will and great things for us when Affairs appear to be cross and unhappy Yea and can order the Councils of Princes at a great distance from them to carry on these Designs which He in his Providence hath laid but which never entred their Hearts to imagine And so it is here We see no means how Mary should have been at Bethleem delivered of her Son there had not the Taxation at that very Time been enjoyn'd Which may shew that She and Joseph had no Thoughts of fulfilling a Prophecy by their journey thither But hence it was that the Son of David was born in the City of David and Divine Wisdom had ordered that of this Man it should be said He was Born there If we look to those Prophecies which were of our Lord's Suffering and Death they are such as may give us a great deal of satisfaction in a Crucified Saviour That of Esai is very express in Chap. 53. He is despised and rejected of Men a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief He hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our Transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities How exactly is his Picture as it were drawn by this Prophet and how pleased may we be with the Likeness though it represents him in Grief and Sorrows So likewise in Daniel Chap. 9.26 After sixty two Weeks shall the Messias be cut off but not for himself Which things are also a good and just Interpretation of our Lord's Behaviour under his Sufferings For should he not have suffered in our stead but died only as our Example and as a Testimony of the Truth of his Doctrine as Socinus and his Followers would have it some things I speak it reverently would not have born a good Colour nor at all have been reconcileable to that Perfection which we must own to be in our Lord. I will instance in one and that is his Sweat in the Garden Consider this without the thoughts of his dying for our Sins and say whether it betrays not too great a fear of Death whether there may not seem to have been greater Instances of undaunted Courage from some Heathen Heroes and from some who have born the Name of Christians than from Christ himself That He should be so much concern'd at a single Death when he knew he died for an Example to others of not fearing Death upon a good occasion what from these Mens Opinions can we think of it But then when we consider that He was wounded for our Transgressions that he struggled with the Wrath of God which was due to all Men and was never to have end that he trod the Wine-press alone and none was with him The uncommonness of his Sweat which was as great drops of Blood may shew forth the greatness of the Burthen that was laid upon him and may make us to wonder at the Power that could at all bear up under such Pressures but by no means to accuse him of Timorousness because his Garments are thus died with Blood. So great and reverend is that Action or Passion rather of our Lord with respect to his Suffering in our stead which otherwise will require a good Invention to make it appear not mean. Add to this that Expression of his My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Had he died only for an Example unto us and a Confirmation of the Truth of what he declared why should he thus have cried out Should we ourselves be called to die for our Holy Religion I cannot say that we might lawfully thus cry unto God We ought rather to submit unto his Will with hopes that he had not forsaken us Somthing else then must be the cause of these his words viz. The pouring out of the full Vials of Gods Wrath upon Him as upon one that bare the Iniquities of us all And this will render his words highly apposite unto and expressive of his Passion which otherwise might seem beyond it So that though we are to conceive of our Lord's Death as an Example unto us for he is said to suffer for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps yet as in his Life there are some things above an Example so in his Death likewise there are which are placed beyond our Imitation We may imitate his Meekness and Patience and Love to Mankind but the height of his Sufferings for the Sins of the World we cannot And some Expressions betokening the Greatness of his Passion whether from his Words or Bloody Sweat must stand alone as highly agreeable to the State of his Agony but not so fit for any besides Himself Thus amiable are these Prophecies to the Considerate Reader not only in so exactly foretelling his Sufferings and Death and thereby vindicating the Honour of our Religion against the Jews who upbraid us with those his Sufferings and Death but also in shewing forth a true Beauty in the now-mention'd Deportment of our Saviour which an horrid Opinion of some who call themselves Christians doth tend to make very unbecoming Nor may the Prophecies of the manner of his Death be less satisfactory unto us to wit They pierced my Hands and my Feet Psal 22.17 And Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced For how rightly are these fulfilled in his suffering the Roman Crucifixion the Jews having no sort of Punishment in which the Undergoers were thus pierced And this Death being inflicted by the Roman Power directs us to the Satisfaction of another Prophecy viz. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come But the Power of Life and Death which is the most proper Signification of Scepter being wholly taken from the Jews and exercised in Judea by the Romans may shew that the Messias was come before according to that Prophecy And very remarkable it is that though Jerusalem before our Lord's Birth was Conquered by Pompey the Great yet throughout the Life of Hircanus the High Priest the Reign of Herod the Great and Archelaus
chiefly acceptable from Men unto God For He hath Loved them and his Love should be answer'd with Love again But true Love proceeds by the Persuasive Way and never shews itself aright but when it is Willing and Free and is wrought upon by kind Inducements and endearing Motives which are things that are at the greatest distance from Force Now this persuasive Method God generally takes with Men as being most sutable to their Natures and the proper way to prevail with them for that Obedience which as it ariseth from their Willingness and Love will be pleasing in his Sight He multiplieth his Favours upon them sendeth his Holy Spirit to quicken and excite him by Sacred Allurements and taking Suggestions but never with a mighty force to compel them or at most very rarely and that upon very signal Occasions Yea somtimes he useth the Severer Way partly out of Judgment but yet out of Love too Commissioning-Afflictions to fall upon them if by this means he may prevail with them yet always so as that he leaves room for their Will without which their Obedience would be of no worth with Him and not their Virtue in the least nor any way fit for Rewards This may be one Reason Another why God will not Force them into Obedience we may conceive to be this viz. That if they shall not by these gentle Methods be wrought upon but shall still persist in their Sins He may show his Power and Wisdom in improving into his Service and to his Glory those their Sins by which They in appearance made him to serve Thus did he in the King of Assyria Isai 10. Highly proud this King was and very great and his Greatness which consisted in large Possessions and Multitudes of Men the Works and Gifts of God both must be employ'd to no other Ends but the bringing under others though by the most unjustifiable Methods of Unrighteousness and Cruelty Well God sees the Designs of this Haughty Man and he will not presently check him The Jews were a Nation that had behaved themselves so ill that God styles them the People of his Wrath. Against these now will God improve the Pride and Cruelty of this Assyrian making Him his Rod to scourge Them O Assyrian the Rod of mine Anger I will send him against an Hypocritical Nation and against the People of my Wrath will I give him a Charge to take the Spoil and to take the Prey and to tread them down like the Mire in the Streets Vers 6. But that you may see this King had no good Design but the quite contrary it is said in the next Verse Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his Heart think so but it is in his Heart to cut off Nations not a few And therefore when God hath performed his whole Work upon Mount Sion and Samaria in punishing them thus by the Pride of the King of Assyria then will he also punish the stout Heart of that King and the Glory of his Looks Vers 12. Thus those Actions that are least intended by Men to God's Service will He by his Wisdom engage for his own Service yet so as that they shall remain Sins still in the Actors and shall at the last have the Recompence that is due unto them After the same manner also is it in other Sins In the Covetous God's Gifts must serve their greedy Desires and must be heap'd up for this End chiefly that the Owners may have as little a Dependence upon Providence as may be And could they think their Treasures should ever administer to Free-handedness and Liberality it would be their Trouble Yet these Men's sordid Desires and Actions God in his secret Wisdom somtimes will order to serve after some years in the good Offices of Charity and Pity in that He who by Vsury and unjust Gain encreaseth his Substance shall when he little intendeth so gather it for him that will pity the Poor Innumerable Instances might be given of God's improving the contrary Designs of Men into his Glory I will only say this That the Wisdom of the Almighty is on Earth in nothing more seen than in this I now mention His Service is hardly more frequently carried on by the pious and righteous Actions of good Men than it is by the indirect and crooked Practices of the Disobedient God as it were secretly arresting their ungodly Contrivances and bringing them about without any virtue of theirs or thanks to them somtimes that the Crafty may be taken in their own Craftiness somtimes that the Welfare of Good Men may be the more promoted and in all that it may be known That however Evil Men may endeavour to make Him in his Holy Name and Works serve their wicked Ends He yet Himself is the Great God that Ruleth over all And though many Devices may be in Mens Hearts yet the Counsel of the Lord That shall stand And whosoever considereth This together with the other Reasons before instanced in why God doth neither Cut these Wicked Men generally off nor force them into Obedience will have no cause to say that God acted below the Wisdom of Prudent Governors on Earth That Criminals are encouraged to continue in their Sins and Others to come in and be partakers with them by their Example Theoph. I confess what you have said I cannot but assent unto And do heartily acknowledge that God is Merciful and Wise in his Dealings with the Children of Men. Eubul But though God doth somtimes abstain from punishing their Disobedience and somtimes doth improve it for the effecting of what He himself would have done yet it is not thereupon the less Loathsome in its own Nature and Deform'd It tendeth as far as possible for ever to Dissolve the Community betwixt God as a Lawgiver and Men his Subjects And perchance we hence may not unmeetly discern how agreeably Rebellious Men are requited in being Eternally punished in Hell. Their will would have had their wickedness uncontroul'd and the pleasures thereof extended to an infinite Duration and God must thus for ever have Ministred unto them to the Eternal Overthrow of all that is Sacred They suffer therefore no longer than they would have Sinned And it is not Incongruous that they should for ever bear his Wrath who might they have had their Desire would for ever have made Him to Serve under Them for the maintaining of their Iniquities But Theophilus it is time to conclude Theoph. The coming on of Night tells us it is Yet I cannot Eubulus but make one Wish first viz. That Men would be willing not to be imposed upon by the false appearances of Disobedience for very deceitful Colours it often weareth but would consider the true Nature thereof in its Genuine Vncomeliness and Deformity Eubul It would be well if they would so do For I dare appeal even to wicked Men themselves whether it would not seem grosly ill in their Eyes if those Servants who by duty and many particular
Favours are obliged to Honour Reverence and Love their Good Master should instead of doing That cause Him to gird himself and to Serve Them till they have Eaten and Drunk and afterwards bid Him to Eat and Drink Whether yet it would not seem much worse to them if these Servants should constrain their Lord to those shameful Actions which the vilest of Slaves would be thought too good for I doubt not but such Servants they would abhor and think no punishments great enough for Them. The Case stands worse in their own making God Serve by their Disobedience For no Earthly Master can deserve so much Honour and Love of a Servant as God doth of Them. Neither can any Servitude even in the most noisome Circumstances be so loathsome to a Master here as the Service of their Sins is unto God. And is it a becoming thing that He who is God over all should be thus Vilified by his own Creatures That He before whom the Angels Cover their Faces and whose Courts We even in our best Services are to approach with Fear and Reverence should be so far profaned as without any regard to his Greatness and Holiness to be brought lower than the meanest of all his Works into a Bondage of itself useful to no good End Sure the Horrid Villany of the thing may make them abominate it Especially since They who of all this lower World are the meetest to Serve God are the alone Creatures that Disobey him All things here even to the meanest Worm that creeps do his Will in their several places and shall Men be the failing yea the Rebellious part of the Creation And instead of serving God with the rest of his Works shall they force those his Works from his Service and themselves make Him by their Sins to Serve Theoph. In good Truth while they thus do they bring the greatest Slavery upon Themselves in that they Serve many Masters and those such as are contrary the one to the Other This Vice bids go That at the same time wills them to stay Covetousness prompts them to hold fast Ambition urges them not to Spare Pride makes them to despise Others and yet to their great uneasiness to fawn that they may rise higher A most uncertain Slavery it is and no less difficult What underhand Contrivances What Glozings with those they cannot abide What Infidelity to them whom thy pretend Friendship unto What Fears of being found out What Evil Industry to keep all private No Servitude can surely be worse Eubul But Theophilus wee 'l now leave these Men Putting up Prayers to God for them that they may remember such things as these bring them seriously to their Minds weigh them in their most deliberate Thoughts and by so doing instead of being Transgressors shew Themselves to be Men. DISCOURSE the Ninth The Contents THe Plea of those is vain who say they never sinned maliciously against the Almighty nor wish'd his Greatness and Power to be less The Difference betwixt Rebellion against God and that against a Temporal Prince Disobedience a defilement in whomsoever it is Not the same Pollution in all Sins What the Sins of Good Men are and how known to be theirs The Sins of wicked Men of a deep Dye wherein they differ from those of pious Men. The Difference between wicked Men How of the worst sort some are more open some more secret in their Sins How the Sins of the less evil sort are to be measur'd The same fairness of Converse not equally innocent unto many A Sin may be a pardonable one to some when the very same to the Eye and Opinion of Men will not be so to others What we are to think of the Heinous Sins of Good Men Registred in Holy Scripture No reason from them for wicked Men to think better of their own Sins God will not esteem the Sins of his Children which are in themselves as great as and the same with the Sins of other Men to be therefore the less because they are committed by those who are his Children How to make a Judgment of our own Sins THEOPHILVS THE great Deformity and Disorder which Disobedience carrieth along with it are not things made probable by Discourse only and then growing less or none when second Thoughts and retired Contemplations are engaged in them The serious Reflection upon what you here last said gave Strength and Confirmation thereunto And from thence my Resolutions against Disobedience as a thing in its own Nature foul and deformed grew the more strong also But Eubulus I have heard some of none of the best Morals endeavouring to extenuate the illness of Disobedience by saying That they never maliciously sinned against the Almighty Never wished his Greatness and Power to be less and by indulging themselves in some things prohibited by the Sacred Laws they gratified indeed their own Inclinations but did no great Injury unto Men much less design'd Ill unto God. Will the Plea of these Men stand them in any stead for the making their Disobedience to be no such thing as yesterday you discours'd of EVBVLVS NO indeed Theophilus will it not For what Quietness soever there may seem to be in their Sins they will be found of dangerous Consequence if nearlier look'd into It is not in Mens Rebellions against God as in those against an Earthly Governour There Tumults are raised Arms are taken up and the Diminution or it may be the Destruction of the Prince wish'd and threatned because he is not out of a possibility of being weakned and destroy'd and such Methods are oftentimes likely enough to effect it But God because he both is and is acknowledg'd to be Immortal and out of the reach of all Force hath no Swords drawn against Him no Designs laid for his Overthrow nay is not by many so much as wished not to be because they know such Wishes are to no purpose Their way therefore of Rebelling is to break his Laws To think him such an one as themselves are One who either cannot or who will not take any notice of them Or it may be to Own Him as to his Attributes to be such as he is yet hoping thereby that their good Opinions of Him will make amends for bad Practices But how little do such Thoughts mitigate their Sins If they shall imagine God to be such who cannot see them is the Robbing him of his Omniscience so small an Offence Because it maketh no Noise and with Calmness layeth Dishonour upon Him whose Eternal Glory it is to know all things is it therefore an excusable good-natur'd fault We may as well call Joab's Carriage to Amasa excusable and good-natur'd when he said Art thou in Health my Brother and then smote him under the fifth Rib. For God's Omniscience cannot more surely be overthrown towards a Man than by such Imaginations which though in appearance mild are deadly in the issue If they shall think that God will not take notice of them is it
Men and also the ill Inferences which these Men are apt to make from them we say Theophilus 1. That those Sins though great they were were yet rather single Acts than Habits of Sin. They were not approved of nor contrived for every day of their Lives nor did they last for Years Now single Acts are rightly esteemed not to carry so much Pollution as Habits do Because an Habit is acquired by Actions often repeated and so includeth the Defilements of many single Acts put together If it shall be said that the single Acts of some heinous Sins may possibly carry a stain with them as great as some Habits of lesser Sins and that the Sins of David and Peter were gravioris Notae of a deeper Dye it cannot yet but be granted that a single Act of a grievous Sin is less polluting than the Habit of the same Sin. But then Secondly Those Sins though very great they were had Repentance following them 〈◊〉 was truly great Look we upon David and we shall find him grieving in earnest and heartily affected with his Misdeeds Psal 38.2 Thine Arrows stick fast in me and thine Hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my Flesh by reason of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my Sin. For mine Iniquities are gone over mine Head as an heavy Burden they are too heavy for me I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the Disquietness of mine Heart And in Psal 51. which Psalm he made as the Title hath it when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba he mourns thus Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin For I acknowledge mine Iniquity and my Sin is ever before me Deliver me from Blood-guiltiness O Lord Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise I have the more largely spoken David's words that you may thereby see how great his Grief was how earnest his Prayers for pardon and how deep an Anxiety had seized him lest God's Favour should for ever have been with-held from him Nor was St. Peter's Sin without a remarkable Repentance It is said Matth. 26.75 Peter remembred the words of Jesus who said unto him Before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice And he went out and WEPT BITTERLY It was not a light grief and a Tear or two that were quickly dryed up but a Bitter Weeping which words certainly do denote a very great and deep Sorrow Now those that think so well of their own Sins from the thoughts of David's and Peter's Sins being so much greater than theirs are they as ready to consider these good Mens Repentance Do they grieve for their own as these did for theirs Is the Burden of them heavy Are they earnest in the begging pardon for them If not the greatness of some good Mens Sins in Holy Scripture will be a mean Argument for the concluding their own not to be the Deformities of wicked Men. I may truly say that the great Sins of David and Peter if considered with their Repentance are much less than those Sins which in themselves are not so great without Repentance And so there is small reason for any Person from the Failures of these Holy Men to infer his own Spots to be none other than those of Gods Children Thirdly There are more Ends than one for which God hath caused those Sins of his Children to be registred in Sacred Story I cannot say but one End might be that those who in the like manner have grievously fallen may through the Exercise of a like Repentance have hope that they also shall not be refused Thus Rom. 15.4 What things were written afore-time were written for our Learning that we through Comfort of the Scripture might have hope But then a no less End is this viz. That those who now live and those who shall live in the Generations to come may from the Falls of others take the more heed that they fall not also And if they shall fall they may well think that their case is not so good because they have had such warning before and yet have not been prevail'd upon by it for the being more careful And then yet further Another End altogether as great as the other Two why the Sins of good Men have been recorded in Scripture is this to wit The shewing how God hates Sin even in those whom he loves and how he will punish it not only in their Persons while they live but in their Names and Memories when they are dead even to the End of the World. Some other things besides those that have been well pleasing unto God as Mary's Ointment was unto Christ shall wheresoever the Gospel is Preach'd throughout the World be spoken of also for a Memorial To make it known that Sins of a deep Die are in his Children altogether as Odious to his Purity and Holiness as their Pious Actions are acceptable to his Love and Goodness And now who is it that can have favourable Thoughts of Sin when God hath put so many Examples in Holy Writ as Warnings against Sin on purpose that we should have the more care to avoid it Who is it that may flatter himself in his Iniquities who shall rightly consider how God punisheth the Memory of his own Children and setteth a Mark of Disgrace upon them which shall last till Heaven and Earth do pass away He surely very slightly or very partially looks into the Bible who from the Sins of Good Men there can encourage himself in his own Sin and think that its Pollution is small to Him when it hath laid such a Blot upon their Names as must not as cannot be rased out by any Rather let him Hear and Fear and do himself neither in the same nor any other kind so wickedly As knowing that though none need now to Fear that their Misdeeds shall be Registred in Books which shall be of equal Authority with and shall last as long as the Bible for God therein hath wholly declared his will and so Divine Writings are not further to be expected yet the All-powerful and infinitely just Lord hath other ways of punishing them and of manifesting the Pollution of their Sin both to themselves and others to be very great how small soever they at present think it But Fourthly Theophilus we may truly affirm that God will not esteem the Sins of his Children which are in themselves as great as and the same with the Sins of Others to be therefore the less because they are committed by those who are his Children That is if any who are his shall be unjust in their Actions False in these Words Intemperate Unchast or any other ways vitious their Injustice Falseness Intemperance Unchastity and whatever other Crimes they shall commit shall be esteemed as carrying the same