execution of the greatest and most Kingly Power and every Doctrine had the force of Proclamation every denunciation were Sentence as it will be certainly to them that do not give obedience to it Which obedience is Secondly and that most properly entitled the Kingdom of God Rom. 14. 17. for by that he Reigns without this our great universal Lord were a Prince of no Subjects had a Kingdom but of Rebells onely So that to receive the Kingdom of God is by the obedience of Faith to submit to the Gospel to receive the Doctrines of is by believing and the Precepts by obeying them The duty which our Saviour here directs and which with such severity he threatens non-performance of even with exclusion from that blessed Immortality of Joyes which the Kingdom of God imports which is that sense it bears in the last words of my Text. In which we must consider First the object both of the Duty and the Threat a Kingdom and that the Kingdom of God Secondly our concern and duty in relation to that Kingdom we have onely to receive it Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God Whatever bustle men are well content to make to get possession of any Earthly Dignity or Power sometimes to wage war with their Conscience and all obligations violate all Rights both Humane and Divine and assault greatest difficulties and yet greater guilts to invade mens Crowns and other rights there 's no such need in this we have no more to do but let this Kingdom come and not resist the having it For therefore also Thirdly the manner we are by our Saviour here prescribed to receive this Kingdom in is as a little Child Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child as one that cannot stand against the power of a Kingdom when it comes that hath nor strength nor malice neither force nor will to oppose which they that do must needs keep themselves out of it Which is Fourthly the thing threatned they shall not enter therein there being neither reason nor indeed a possibility men should possesse that which they will not receive Lastly Christ's asseveration is added to all this Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child he shall not enter therein But because the main thing Christ intended in the Text which he so oft repeated upon several occasions was by the significative embleme of a little Child visibly to informe us of some dispositions that are absolutely necessary to the entertaining Christianity either in our minds by Faith or in our lives by practise I shall therefore wholly attend that design of his in the words and handle them particularly as they seem here to be spoken in relation to the Doctrine of it This being most of use now in an age when men not only tear Religion with disputes but aime to baffle it with reproaches quite out of the world Now against such the text is positive Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God the Doctrine of Christianity as a little Child he cannot enter therein neither into the possession of the Promises of Christianity nor indeed into the profession of it And here I need not labour much to finde that in a child which Christ requires of those that come to be disciples in Religion for it is plain that children being impotent unable to sustaine or to direct themselves they give themselves up to the aids and the directions of others those especially whom they are committed to and with whose cares of them they are acquainted to whose guidance they resign themselves entirely laying hold on them in any dangerous appearance and not trusting to themselves at all And when their age first makes them capable of having any thing infus'd into them being empty and unseason'd vessels they will easily receive all and sincerely without taint And being neither fill'd before hand with prejudicate opinions nor with windy vaine conceits of their own skill or knowledge they must needs take in without any let or hindrance what ever is infus'd and submit themselves to be directed wholly by their teachers without contradiction or dispute for they Judge not nor examine but receive Now such a resignation seems the proper disposition which our Saviour expects in a disciple It is plain that his pretended Vicar and that Church expect it that men shall submit their Faith entirely to the Church believe whatever shee proposeth as reveal'd by God meerly on that account as she proposeth it for otherwise it is not a right faith Yea she requires that men give their assent to the determinations of her head the Pope in matters of fact also where they are as competent to Judge as he And though with all their industry and using the same means they cannot finde the fact to be as he determines yet they are oblig'd in conscience to that superior to depart from their own Judgement and to yield and sign their assent to his determinations Witnesse the matter of Jansenius Yea their great Cardinal is positive that If the Pope could erre so far as to call evil good good evil to prohibit vertues or command vices the Church were bound in conscience to believe those vices good and honest and those vertues evil So far he Indeed if that Church be the Mother and Nurse of all Christians 't is from her breasts only they must seek the sinceremilk of the word Now that she is so they must take her word as Children do their Parents words that they are so And indeed this is properly to receive the Doctrine as a little Child not judge nor reason nor examine but believe it And such legendary doctrines as well as Histories which they deliver are most fit to be receiv'd by such as Children Yet as if this had been the proper method among Christians alwaies in S. Austin's time we finde the Manichees derided Christianity that discipline of Faith because by that men were commanded to believe and were not taught how to distinguish truth from falshood by clear reason and again that it requires us to assent before we have a reason for it And long before that Celsus did advise the Christians to receive no doctrines but on the account of reason credulity being the inlet to deceit saying they that without grounds believe are like those that admire and are satisfied with juglers and take appearances and sleight of hand for truth adding many of the Christians neither would receive nor give a reason of their faith but us'd to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not you examine but believe 't is your faith shall save you and as if from the beginning it were so we cannot but have heard the story of that man that reading Genesis where Moses says In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth And he said let there be light and there was light c. Swore at him saying this Barbarian
Paradise and in soft airs of Musick breath into Hallelujah's But alas the smooth easie way leads down the Hill and the must strive and pant that will get up into the Mansions and the Bosome of his Saviour and whosoever will be his Friend must do what he commands But is there nothing lesse indeed will qualify The Scripture saith that Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and he was called the Friend of God James 2. 23. and then is Christ more inaccessible and harder to be made a Friend Why truely God and Christ both are so much Friends to all true Believers that the Life of Christ was given for them for God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. Nor are there any qualities more signally peculiar to friendship more engaging than confidence and trust dependance and relying embosoming my self in him Now these are but the excercise of Faith and 't is most certain if we heartily endeavour to do what he commands there is employment then for all this work of Faith place for its applications and assurances My Text does make this good But when his friendship is made over on Conditions as 't is not onely in these words but every where in Scripture there being not one promise absolute that does concern Gods favour justification and eternal Life he does not once offer Remission of sins but to those that amend their lives nay does express as if he could not give it otherwise peradventure they will repent that I may forgive them Jer. 36. 3. The promises therefore being conditionali Faith must be answerable to the Promises that it does rest on and apply and at the most can be but an assurance that you shall be partaker of what 's promised that is to say partaker of the favour and the life of Christ if ye do his commands But then if I perform not this condition to trust upon his friendship which I am not qualified for to think by Faith to receive a Pardon which in that case I am was never offered me to apply to my self promises which were never made me for none were ever made to them that do not do and to assure my self Christ will transgress his everlasting Covenant for my Vices sake meerly to give me leave to enjoy my sins will do that which God may not do forgive one that will not repent If I believe thus against promise and against Decree am confident whether Christ will or no and will rely upon him in despite of him if such a faith will make us friends affronts do reconcile This is indeed to lay violent hands on his favour and to invade his friendship and without metaphor take Heaven by force But sure I am that this is not the Faith made Abraham be called the friend of God in that place of S. James but a Faith that was perfected by doing v. 22. of that Chapter a Faith that made him offer up his onely Son upon the Altar v. 21. 'T is true he did in hope believe against all hope Rom. 4. 18. So that his faith was stronger than a contradiction but yet his resolutions of obedience seem stronger than his faith for he did that even to the cutting off the grounds of all his faith and hope He trusted God would make his promise good to him make all the Nations of the Earth be blessed in the seed of Isaac though Isaac had no seed nor could have if he should be slain And he resolved at Gods command himself to slay that Isaac so to make him have no seed His Faith indeed did not dispute the great impossibility but his obedience caused it He did not question how can God perform with me when I have offered up my Son I cannot look that a large Progeny should rise out of the Ashes on the Altar nor will those Flames that devour all my Seed at once make my seed numerous lasting and glorious as the Stars in Heaven which he promised me But much less did he question why should I obey in this He that does his commands can but expect what he hath promised but if I should do this Command and slay my Son I make his Promise void and destroy my own expectations And if I disobey I can but suffer what he bids me do my own obedience will execute all that his Indignation would threaten to my disobedience Though Abraham had three dayes time and journey to the Altar that Nature might have leisure the mean while to reason with the Precept thus and his Affection might struggle with his Duty yet he goes on resolves to tear out his own Bowels and cut off his hopes will Sacrifice his onely Son and Sacrifice Gods Promises to his Commands And then he that will trust to Abraham's example of believing yet will not follow him at all in doing will obey no Commands that is so far from offering up an onely Son he will not slay an onely evil Custome nor part with one out of the herd of all his vicious habits will not give up the satisfaction to any of his carnal worldly or ambitious appetites not Sacrifice a passion or a lust to all the Obligations that God and Christ can urge him with he hath nor faith nor friendship no nor forehead 'T is true indeed he that hath Abraham's faith may well assure himself he is Christs Friend but 't is onely on this account because he that believes as Abraham believed he will not stick to do whatever Christ commands which is that universality of obedience that is the next condition that entitles to Christs friendship and my last part Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I Command you There is no quality so necessary to a Friend or so appropriate to friendship as sincerity They that have but one Soul they can have no reserves from one another But disobedience to one Precept is inconsistent with sincerity that hath respect unto all the Commandements and he that will not do whatever Christ prescribes hath reserves of affection for some darling sin and is false to his Saviour He is an Enemy indeed so that there is no friendship on either side S. Paul sayes so of any of one kind the minding of the flesh saith he whether it be providing for the Belly or any other of the organs of Carnality is desperate incurable Rebellion Now such a Rebel is we know the worst of Enemies S. James does say as much of any of those vicious affections that are set on the world Whosoever will be a Friend of the World is an Enemy of God James 4. 4. And he calls them Adulteresses and Adulterers who think to joyn great strict Religion to some little by love of an Honour or a profit of this world Such men are like a Wife that not contented with the partner of her Bed takes in
thrust themselves into the mind and the advantages that do attend them and by constant importunacy stirr and work desires and serve them too then we are in that state in which the World hath those advantages I told you of whereby it does not onely war against the Principles of Reason and Religion in us but it also leads the Will into Captivity and enslaves her to it self For it is plain the world hath got possession of the heart and hath a strong party of heady passions which whensoever a temptation does alarm them presently are up raise a mutiny and with the heat of Fancy and commotion of affections they disorder the Understanding so that it cannot rally up considerations against the assault but either it concludes or disputes very faintly If it do make an effort and struggle it is but with a slender company of thin weak notions of things afar off which the man hath had no proof of nor hath any great confidence in which while it is in recollecting and enforcing the world hath its powers ready seizes on the Will by the means of a corrupted fancy that does give it earnest foretast even the possession of the well-known pleasures that it does invite to and so melts him down into the sin Now while the present Profits Pleasures Honours that I have from the World fill me while they feed and cloath me and provide me all that my necessity or wantonnesse can wish and furnish me in hand with whatsoever any of my natural or my forc't Appetites does gape for and lull me with that constant variety of those delights which it procures the use of which hath so drunk up my Spirits and my Soul hath so imbib'd the joyes that I know not how to retrench from them nor from that which is to furnish them Must I leave all these for things that I have had no tast nor rellish of leave all in present for some future hopes which I have no great confidence of compassing if I should try and which I also see that very few venture for Whereas Mankind is swallowed up in the pursuit of these and to be stor'd with them does not onely serve my needs and Luxuries but it is the onely state of Reputation and Honour 'T is not from a rich stock of vertuous qualifications nor from great and glorious Actions that Esteem and Dignities do generally grow but from worldly advantages these constitute conditions and these are their onely Characters And being it is so they that are in a Sphere above the ordinary ranks of people must contrive those things that are become essential to their condition and they must have worldly Pomps although with the expence of Piety or Charity and Justice yea of every Christian Duty of Morality indeed and Heathen vertue of Humanity it self They will extort be ravenous and cruel will be false and treacherous cheat and betray to get and purchase at the price of the most difingenious sneaking and unmanly sins To undermine another they will dig to Hell as if they meant to give fire to their Mine with the flames of that place whence they have the malice and the arts to do it And as if they did not care to sink him thither who stands in their way to stop their rise they are content to dye their purple with their own most guilty blushes and the blood of any one that is their Rival or Competitor Add to this that when these pretences of condition have got footing in the heart besides those passionate desires which they stirr for themselves they work out most unquiet Emulations Envyes Discontents at others In whatsoever any other does exceed me his Abundance is my want straight I am in necessity not from my own needs but from his possessions and I suffer his enjoyments I labour fret and sink under the burden of his Honours and his greatnesse is inflicted on me Nor can I ever be at rest till I am got from under the sad pressure of that deep necessity of having what I see another have And thus it will be till Ambition have no further object till there be no greater heights to mount And now this Lust is in its pride and the victorious World in its Triumphal Chariot Not that I dare pretend that I have shewed you all the Chains by which it drags captive Souls after it or all the Arts of Tyranny that it does execute I could name many more but he alone is able to discover all that in the twinkling of an Eye did once shew all the Kingdoms of the World and all the beauty of them and who promised to bestow them all for but one single act of Worship and whose gift the Glorys of it are for the most part and purchased by those very means My business is to pull it down from this great height and shew you how to triumph o're these Conquests which my Text sayes is done by Faith for this is the Victory that over cometh the World even our Faith Which how it does is my second next Enquiry It seems a prejudice to this Assertion of my Text that the great pretenders to Faith the men that lay the whole stresse of their Everlasting Being on believing onely have been branded to be very Worldly and the Factions of Godlinesse were the mysteries and arts of Thriveing as if their Faith laid hold indeed upon the Promises of that Life and if it over came the World it was for them to seize and be possessours of But this is not the Victory my Text seeures a Conquest for the Faith onely of Maâ—oâ—et to make And while Christian Votaries do onely mind such Conquests and are candidates of Turcisme do they not call it in and make way for their Sword and their Religion But the Faith that layes hold on Christ's Promises cannot confist with any such affections For since Christ's Promises are made onely to those that overcome all such desires and that do it to the end and none other can be safe It is impossible for him that does not overcome to trust upon those Promises and to apply them to himself by Faith For at once to believe I shall be saved and yet believe those sayings which affirm none such can be saved these are most inconsistent It being then as easie to make contradictions be at peace as Faith and Worldlinesse they cannot suffer one the other it follows He that hath this Faith in sincerity must needs overcome the World And to shew you in a word how it is done you need not but to consider that Faith is as S. Paul saith the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Which as the Syriach translates does say that Faith is such a certainty of those things that we hope for as if we actually had them and it is the revelation of those things are not seen it hath so strong a confidence in God that the Believer assures himself
of all Gods Promises and Threats as much as if they were in fight and though we see them through a glasse but darkly yet we see them by it 1 Cor. 13. 12. it being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It represents the things of which we have no demonstration from sense or humane reasoning as convincingly to the mind as if they were before our eyes And it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the substance the subsistence and the very being of things that are not yet in being but in hope So that the Eye of Faith like that of God does see those things that are invisible and futurity is present to it Now by this alone it is of force to break the powers of the World which as we saw while the things of the other World were lookt upon as at a great distance afar off taking advantage of their absence storm'd the mind with present forces and had supplies at hand for fresh assaults so overcame it Whereas had the powers of the World to come been present now by Faith they are made so we see the other which are so inferiour that there is no more comparison than of immensity to a point a moment to Eternity could not stand before them 'T is too notorious that this is the case For should a man cry fire in the House how it had seiz'd the strengths of it were blotting out the glories of it in thick Smoak devouring all their shine in flame we would leave our Devotions our most eager pleasures to prevent this and no speed were swift enough to serve our cares and fears But though a Prophet of the Lord cry Tophet is prepared the pile thereof is Fire and much Wood and the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone kindling it and do this till his Lungs crack not one heart is mov'd nor brings a drop of tear to quench the flame because these fires are not present as the other neither have men any sense of them were they alike convincing alike present to the apprehension 't were impossible according to what we have demonstrated that the Will in her choyces and her aversations where the objects are of alike kind and have one common measure of their good and evil is determin'd to avoyd or take that which appears the greatest alwayes 't were I say impossible not to fly these which the Devils do believe and tremble at with greater dread wherever they appear Now a strong lively Faith must paint them out and shew them in each fin the World ensnares into Neither would any of those rotten planks which while the Will does fluctuate betwixt her worldly inclinations and these fears and is tost about offer themselves as I declared to you for her to escape upon though she does dash her self upon God's Threats choosing the present sin such as the application of Decrees or Promises made absolutely to himself without any condition confidence in Gods Mercies hopes of Pardon none of these would be security to one that were convinc't in earnest He that did believe and as it were discern that height which his ambition goads him to aspire to were upon the brink of the bottomless Pit whither when he arriv'd that very sin that tempts him with the glories of the prospect would then tumble him down headlong into that Abysse he would no more dare to ascend it by such false and guilty steps upon such hopes of mercy trusts on Promises or Decrees than he would dare to throw himself off from a Pinacle in confidence God was Almighty and Almerciful able enough and kind enough to stretch out his right hand and catch him in the fall or trusting to that Promise He will give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up least at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone Or leaning upon any such Decree as makes the term of life immovable and fatal neither to be hastned or retarded none of these will make him mad enough to break his neck neither would the same presumptions encourage him to cast away his Soul had he but equal apprehensions of the danger And it is plain all the temptations of the World and all these false encouragements cannot work upon a man when Death once looks him in the Face and the great Champions of Prophanenesse are tame then not that God's Threatnings are more true or made more evident to sense or reason than they were before but their Faith is active and they apprehend more strongly then To see my self trampled upon by pride and malice or worse yet begging of him whom my blood it may be helpt to streams of plenty begging like Lazarus the portion of his Dogs Dogs that are taught to snarle and bite and make more sores not lick them this is a state more killing than my want able almost to tempt a man to any courses But then if with the Eye of Faith I do but look beyond the gulph and there behold the Rich man in his flames begging for water and although it be the Region of eternall weeping yet not able to procure one drop of his own tears to cool his Tongue O then I see 't is better to be Lazarus although there were no Abraham's bosome But if my Faith look through that bosom also into that of God and there behold the Son of God leaving all the essential felicities of that Bosom to come live a life of Vertue here on Earth and to teach us to do so choosing to do this also in a state of the extreamest poverty consecrating want and nakednesse contempt and scorn making them thus the ensigns of a divine Royalty And to encourage us not to sink under any of the Worlds assaults he hath proposed Rewards of Vertue such as God is blessed in did my Faith give me but a constant view of all this sure the paint and varnish of these little things below the twinkling exhalations of the glories of this World could not dazle my mind and captivate my Soul I should burst these entanglements to catch at those 'T is evident and 't is acknowledg'd that when our belief shall be all vision and our expectation possession when our understanding shall become all sense in Heaven and we see and tast and have those glories then we cannot sin cannot be tempted from them And therefore by the measures of the nearness of these objects of our sight and of our interest so are our strengths to stand and overcome temptations Now Faith is sight gives presence we have seen and it gives interest too He that believes is born of God saith the Apostle and therefore hath a right Now to be born of one is to receive from him a principle of life He then that hath receiv'd from God a Principle of life such as he can derive life like his own such as is led in Heaven when he does consider his original and looks upon himself as born of
Crucified as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on the Tree So also he does look upon his Standard as the instrument of Execution to the VVorld on which it must be Crucified unto him and so it is He is so taken off from finding any stirring delights in the glories of it that he accounts it a dead thing that hath no more attraits than a Carcasse yea he does look upon this World as on a detestable and accursed thing as it was indeed whose Thorns and Briars do not onely scratch and tear and do it most when we embrace it most but also are a Refuge for the cursed Serpent to lurk in and add his Stings to their sharps that Devil Serpent that was doom'd into it and is alwayes in it and then most when it is most Paradise Now he that hath thus us'd the World he that hath nail'd it to the Crosse of Christ hath overcome the World Should we now cast an eye at once upon our selves and that which hath been thus deduc't tracing all back again then First it would appear so evident that I were vain if I should stay to prove that those which have such desires to any of the profits heights or pomps or any dear thing else whatever of this World as that they are impatient if they miscarry in them and full of strange complacencies if they do answer their desires these have not overcome the World to any such degree For had I overcome and Crucified it sure I should not be so affectionate as to desire court and pursue what I had Executed I should as soon adore the Paintings of my Enemies Tomb embrace and make love to his Carcasse And were I Crucified to it had I but one Thorn of my Saviour's Crown struck through my head but one Nail in my Foot of those that nayled him to his Tree were my Soul fastned to a Crosse how were it possible I should run gadding after the gay follies of the World hasty in my desires of it Nor could I be impatient if the World do not answer my desires and expectations disquieted and discompos'd if I be disappointed when any thing in it is not subservient to my heights and I misse of those respects I lookt for were the World vanquisht Crucified to me should I look for services from my dead Enemy whom I had slain or be troubled if the person on the Crosse did not do fitting reverences to me or be impatient if I had not respects and the Attendances of Pomp from one upon the Gibbet or if I were Crucified to it certainly these heats would not warm the dead these are none of the troubles of an Executed person when he is rackt upon that instrument of Death he is not grieved because the Nayles were not of Silver the Spears head not bright or the Crosse was not hung with Arras And suppose it were sure I were very weak if I should please my self with that and let Such poor contents thrust out all the just sadness of my Sentence and demerit And yet it is as strange to find delights in having any of the Worlds advantages and pride my self in the possession if I be Crucified to it But much lesse is it Crucified to them that will do actions of injustice for the sake of any of the pomps or profits of the VVorld there are that grind and screw and rack all that they have to deal with others that deceive and rob in Vizours plunder in the disguises of fair words and of false arts Some that dresse their Pomps in none of their own trappings such as they never mean to have a right to because they never mean to satisfie for them if they can avoid it they furnish the grandeur of their own condition with the goods of others which they never care to make their own by any recompence at least not in such wayes and seasons as the needs of those that own'd them and the rules of Justice do require they cramme and sauce their Dishes with the vital Blood indeed of those who starve for want of and who own all that which does provide them their excesses Now would a man do this to entertain and feed and dresse the Carcasse of his vanquisht his dead Enemy would he be so vain so guilty to provide to deck the Crosse on which he Crucified his Foe least of all would he retrench from the proportions of Charity or Piety deny the calls of Mercy and compassion or Religion for his profits sake or to furnish out the trains of Pomp take the Lords portion to serve the dead World with If it were overcome and Crucified they would not feed it with hallowed things and the Poor's portion is such nor rob the Altar to give it excesses take Consecrated things to make a cursed Carcasse gay and proud strip Christ's Body starve their Saviour so He does interpret to deny a portion to the naked and hungry to make pomps and Ryots for an Executed World In any of these cases he is far from being overcome And if so the Second Proposition will apply it self to such and must conclude they have no Faith for if they had that were a victory and however goodly they pretend they are but Infidels But it may be they will boldly own the Consequence for now adayes it is not gentile to believe any thing of Christ's Religion And sure 't is for the Reputation of the gallantry and courage of our love unto this World that when the covetousnesse of the Gadarenes would not suffer Christ in their Coasts and for their Swines sake drove him out when that of Judas would not let him be upon the Earth but for thirty Silver pieces did betray him up to Death that of this Age proceeds and will not let him be in Heaven neither but it scoffs him thence and his Faith from the Earth And because they like this VVorld so well they will not suffer there should be any other It is not my part to Combat these I undertook onely to shew a way to overcome the World if they will not use it let them enjoy their Bondage And yet without all doubt these candidates of Infidelity and Atheisme have faith enough to do the work in good degree for certainly ther 's none of them but does believe but he shall dye and it is easie for his Faith to look through that thin vapour which our life is stiled by to the end of that small span and there see a Bed though gay now and soft as the sleep and sins it entertains then with the Curtains close the gayety all clowded in a darknesse such as does begin the desolatenesse of the Grave if you draw the Curtain to his Faith it sees a languishing sad Corps which nothing in the world can help or ease foreshrowded in his own dead hue himself preluding to his winding-sheet in which within a little while he shall be cast from the society and sight
raised to life again by it we shall rise to Immortality of Life and blessednesse receive all that we do believe more than we can comprehend receive the end of our Faith the salvation of our Souls Which God of his Mercy state us all in for the sake of Jesus Christ the Authour and the Finisher of our Faith and the Captain of our Salvation To whom with the Father c. SERMON IX VVHITE-HALL Sixth Wednesday in LENT 1664 5. GAL. 11. 20. I am Crucified with Christ. THE Ancient Observation of this Time would justifie my choyce make the Text Seasonable in the most severe sense it can put on when in their Exomologeses they ate onely the Bread of Sorrow and tears were their Drink day and night so as that in the Agonies of their Repentance they did Crucifie without a Metaphor and mâ—rtifie the Body of Flesh as well as Sin But it seems to have happened in our Sins as in our great Diseases men are grown more skilfull and have found out much more grateful wayes of Cure there is no need of going through a discipline of Torments a whole course of Medicinal Cruelty but they can heal at least palliate with more ease and speed Besides that Christianity is now of a more delicate and tender make and cannot bear austerities neither come I here to call for them or to provoke their Constitutions if they have found a softer and more pleasant way to Heaven on Gods Name let them walk in it onely in our walk we are now coming within ken of the Crosse of Christ and we can bear commemorations of his Passion they make the closing Ceremony of this Season which was set aside on purpose by the preparations of Humiliation to fit us for the performances and expiations of that Day by Repentance to to put off our Old Man the whole Bâ—dy of Sin that we may hang it on his Crosse as we go by That is the onely use of this time and the onely application of that Day Which I crave leave to shew you how to make at once And without this that Ceremony howsoever solemn will be meâ—rly pageantry not Worship the observation but dramatick and we shall have no part in the Atonement onely in the Scene of that dayes Tragedy rather than Sacrifice He onely Celebrates that Passion onely he partakes that Offering who can say with S. Paul I am Crucified with Christ. In which words we shall first endeavour to discover what this person is I. Secondly what the Nature is of that Condition and estate which S. Paul does affirm here of that person and that First in it self Crucified I am Crucified Secondly in its adjunct with Christ Which because it cannot signifie conjunction in time he is not now upon the Crosse that I might say now I am Crucified with him nor when He was was I that I might say then I am Crucifiâ—d with Christ but we shall find it hath other importances First it implies a likeness to Christ's Passion I am Crucified as he was so it means through the whole Rom. 6. and the being crucified with Christ is what S. Paul elsewhere expresses by the being made conformable to his death Secondly it imports more even Communication and partaking with him in his Passion being planted together in the likenesse of his death Rom. 6. 5. and I am Crucified with Christ does mean I have a fellowship of his Sufferings as he words it Phil. 3. 10. Thirdly it means also a conjunction of causal relation that there is a Vertue and Efficacy in the Crosse of Christ to work the Sinner into Crucifying of his sin so the particle must needs import Ephes. 2. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath set us together with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Where we are neither in conformity nor fellowship but onely in our head and in our cause so I am Crucified with Christ does mean his Passion hath an influence to Crucifie and cause in me the death of Sin Of these in order and First what this person is I say not who we know it was S. Paul but what And the reason of the Enquiry is because we find indeed elsewhere crucifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts required and we are also bid to mortifie our members that are on the Earth such as Fornication and Uncleannesse Covetousnesse and the like But these are not I how am I mortified in these Is it because it may be they are grown so dear to me that I am Crucified in their destruction and long practice and acquaintance hath riveted them into my very heart Now the Wen we know though an excrescent tumour but an accessory bag of noxious humours yet if it lay hold on any noble part take in some Nerve or Artery then he must cut the thread of Life that cuts it off So he must rent my heart indeed that tears my pleasures from me Life it self does seem to have so little satisfaction without them that it is a death to me to part with them Or else hath the Old Man no Soul is he all Flesh and hath Iniquity debas'd the whole of him so that his very Spirit is become Body of Sin so as that Wickednesse should be our very Being be all one with us and I and my corruptions prove denominations of one importance signifie the very same so it is indeed Besides the carnal part that is sold under sin and consequently does deserve the Cross that punishment of Slaves the part also that is in the quite opposite extream that lusts against the flesh that must be made away Be ye transform'd by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12. 2. And if there be any sublimer and more defaecated part in that it must submit to the same Fate Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind Ephes. 4. 23. Corruption hath invaded that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the diviner ruling part is grown a slave to the Beast part of him it hath debaucht its notions whereby it should discriminate good from evil so that now it can discern no natural difference between them but does measure both meerly by his present inclinations and concerns and the eternal Lawes of Honesty are blotted out and principles of interest and irreligion rais'd there in the place and buttress'd by false reasonings and discourses Now all these Fortresses of Vice that maintain and secure a man in sin must be demolisht all such imaginations cast down and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and every thought brought into Captivity to the obedience of Christ That Spirit of the mind must be destroyed and we transformed into persons of new notions and reasonings But above all the remaining part of man his own Will must be mortified which besides its natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by perverse inclinings to sollicitations of flesh is most corrupted and most dangerous in that which way soever it
Opiniastres and so violent in their way as to deny humanity to those that would not joyn with them they would not grant the Civilities of Passage to one that intended for Jerusalem to Worship They refuse it to our Saviour here because his Face was thitherward v. 53. A Schismatick will reject a Christ if his Face be fromward their new Establishment if he but look towards the Antient Worship At this the Sons of Zebedee are offended zealous for their Master as being most particularly concern'd in him two of his neerest intimates and their zeal would needs break out into flame And why not a rudenesse to Eli jah was reveng'd by him with Fire from Heaven which consumed twice fifty Souldiers and their Captain though they came to do the King's Command And shall these hated Schismaticks be rude to Thee and reject the Messiah and yet go unpunished Lord shall we command fire to come down from Heaven to consume them even as Elias did Which our Saviour answers with this sharp rebuke Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of Not to divide but to explain my Text and so instead of parts present you with some Subjects of Discourse By Spirit here is meant that disposition and complexure of Christian Piety and Vertues that course and Method of Religion which the Spirit does prescribe to Christ's Disciples and does guide them in or in a word the temper of the Gospel is so called And this in opposition to the Law the difference of these being exprest by a diverse manner of Spirit the one is called Spirit of Bondage the other Spirit of Adoption so here Ye know not of what Spirit ye are ye do not judge aright if you believe the temper of the Gospel is like that of the Law The course that I prescribe to my Disciples differs much from that of Prophets under the old Testament you must be guided by another Spirit than Elija's was in calling for Fire if my Spirit dwell in you For I came not to destroy â—â—ens lives on any such account In this sense it affords these propositions First To destroy Mens lives or other temporal rights on this account meerly because they are Apostates Schismaticks or otherwise reject the true Religion or Christ himself is inconsistent with the temper of the Gospel This is that which Christ reproves here telling them that would do so Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of Secondly Because the Spirit of Elias which the Gospel Christian Spirit here is set in opposition to oppos'd the Magistrate destroy'd those that came commission'd from the Prince and Christ designedly does say ye must not do now what Elias did therefore to attempt upon or against the Magistrate on the account of Christ or of Religion is inconsistent with the Spirit of the Gospel First of the first that to destroy mens lives c. But here I must observe that since these fiery Disciples that did give occasion for our Saviours rebuke here were no Magistrates nor did Christ himself that gave the rebuke assume but renounce openly all such Authority therefore no observation grounded on these words can controul the Magistrates just power in punishing offences done against his Laws although pretences of Religion and Conscience give colour to those offences the Gospel does diminish no rights of the secular Powers Now Supreme Magistrates though as such they have no right to judge in Articles of Faith to define what is true Religion what not for then the Pagan Princes who had never heard of Christ and yet are as much Magistrates as any would have right to judge what Doctrines Christ delivered down to be believed But certainly when Christ Commission'd his Faith to run through all the World not onely independently from all the powers of it but in perfect opposition to them they can have no right to judge in that which whatsoever they shall Judge we are a like bound to receive the Faith of Christ without any the least difference to their judgment But though they have no right to judge of this they have Authority to determine what Faith shall have the priviledges of their State and what shall not which shall be publiquely profest and which they will inhibit with Penalties For sure the Priviledges of the State and power of Penalties are the proper rights of the Supreme Power and therefore none but that can judge and determin of them In a word since it is most evident that the tranquility of a State does depend upon nothing more than the profession and priviledging of Religion it follows that those Powers to whose Judgment and Decrees the care and Tranquility of the State is committed must have the power to judge and to determine what Faith shall be publiquely profest and priviledg'd by the State In which Judgment and administration if they erre and priviledge a false Faith and inhibit the true they use their Powerill and are responsible to God for doing so but they do not invade or usurp a Power that is not their own Rather 't is most certain if the Principles of any Sect or else if not they yet the pursuance of any Principles do tend directly towards or are found to work Commotions and Treasonable enterprises the Supreme Power hath as much right to restrain yea and Punish them although with Death according to their several merits as he hath to punish those effects in any other instances wherein they do expresse themselves Nor must Religion secure those practises which it cannot sanctifie but does envenome For by putting an everlasting concern into mens opinions and actions their undertakings are made by it more desperate and unreclaimable What wounds and what Massacres must the State expect from them that stab and murder it with the same Zeal that the Priest kills a Sacrifice that go to act their Villanies with Devotion and go to their own Execution as to Martyrdom 'T were easie for me to deduce the practise of this Power from the best Magistrates in the best times if that were my businesse who had onely this temptation to say thus much that I might not seem to clash with the Magistrates Power of coercion in Religious causes when I did affirm that to destroy mens Lives or other temporal Rights on this account meerly because they are Apostates Schismaticks or otherwise reject the true Religion or Christ himself is inconsistent with the temper of the Gospel If you would discover what the temper of the Gospel is you may see it in its Prophecy and Picture in the Prophet Isay The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid the sucking Child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned Child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice den and the Serpent shall eat the dust Whatever mischief these have in themselves there 's nothing of devouring or of hurt to one another in this state 't is like Paradise
which do exceed them by a whole Infinity and will out-live them an Eternity And here should I attempt what he would have had Lazarus perform to dash out the blessednesse of that place making the first draught of them with notions of delight not such as the understanding cannot apprehend but such as seize the heart with pleasure in this Life and that give it the strongest agitations here and sweetning that by those transendencies which I could fill it up with and should I raise it then with shadow evince that reason though it cannot fathom can yet by sure Discourse conclude the greatnesse of those glories which I would leave for your expectations to loose themselves into should I attempt all this I were an insolent undertaker Yet were it very easie to describe them so as that viewing them with the things below these would vanish in the comparison And to do so much was the utmost that our Rich man could design by sending Lazarus who if he could have been believ'd might probably have done the work for if Faith did but do what Lazarus did look into Abraham's Bosom were it but turn'd into a little vision and but as cleer an evidence of things not seen as eye-sight hath of its temptations had the spiritual object but that advantage the carnal hath of being present now it is the work of Faith to give it that advantage sure it would be impossible for the sensitive objects the pleasures are the Profits of this world which are so far inferiour to the other in desirablenesse and onely make advantage of their being present when the other is so far of 't would be impossible for them to gain our wills consent at any time and therefore when those glories shall be present to the Soul 't will be impossible for any other object to steal or ravish any way to engage one thought away from them In Heaven they cannot wish to sin Nay the flash alone of that glory fascinates the heart Peter and James and John saw but a glimpse of it and that transfigur'd too onely the other way that Moses and Elias were for the glory suffered an exinanition and they but wak'd into the sight of it so that 't was but an apparition of Heaven and yet they never would have left the place which it once lightned Master it is good for us to be here let us go down no more never converse with any thing beneath Mount Tabor but let us build three Booths such Tents would be like that which He hath spread and such Booths be some of the many Mansions of his House who spreadeth out the Heavens for a Tent for himself to dwell in But the truth is while men do onely hear of Joyes above and have but thin neglected notions of them and on the other side a sense of present profits pleasures honours which the world affords they will not be affected with the future dry hopes of those as with all these in present will not have as effectual a tast of the Supper of the Lamb as of their own delicious daily fare nor be as much wrought upon by the Promises of being Cloath'd upon with the white Robe of Immortality and by the mentions of a Crown although of Glory as they are pleas'd with their own Royal Purples they have much surer Conviction of the delights of present things than of those far removed futurities but now if Lazarus would go from Abraham's Bosom he might Convince them from his own Experience and then they would Repent Especially Thirdly because Lazarus hath seen me in my Torments and can give account of them wherefore I pray thee Father Abraham send him for if such an one went unto them from the Dead one that could testifie of this place he would tell them such sad stories of my condition here how in lieu of all my sumptuous fare I have nothing now but gnashing of teeth streams indeed of Brimstone and a lake of fire but everlasting feaver of thirst for my delicious intemperate Palate my short-liv'd sins turn'd to eternal Agonies sure this would prevail with them to cut off their sins by Repentance before Death cut off their sin and them together and so they might prevent the coming hither And very probably it might have taken for upon such Conviction 't is hard not to resolve to change for who is he that can resolve thus with himself well I will now content my self with everlasting Condemnation and this sin for I see they are consequent now this I cannot leave therefore let the other come they that were once affected with the apprehensions of the greatnesse and the certainty of that Damnation cannot resolve thus and therefore we see fewer men adventure to transgress Man's Law whose Punishment is neer and most assur'd than God's Commandments And when their fears of the Lords Judgments stare them in the face they quickly tremble into the terrours and the agonies of Penitence For who dares sin and who does not repent upon his Death-bed he sinks at the remembrance of his former draughts when he does apprehend his next is like to be in the Infernal Lake he hath the frost of the Grave on him when he but thinks of his lascivious heats and does think too that his hot lustful Bed will turn him off strait into Tophet And then if Lazarus could raise these apprehensions in them sure they would repent 'T is plain these were the grounds our Rich man built this his request upon I do not lay them as infallible I make no question but that men are able to defie their knowledge and charge through their own belief to sin and to destruction but commonly men do not lay things deep enough to their heart to be throughly convinc't in earnest and thus he believed for had Abraham granted his desire and sent Lazarus to testifie the Glories he had tasted in himself and the Torments he had seen their Brother in all he could hope from this was but to make them more believe the one and other therefore he thought for want of this they would miscarry and this alone would do it so that we may conclude that in the judgment of one that dy'd without Repentance having resisted all God's Methods and knew upon what score he did it and suffered the deserved pains of so doing the reason why men do not repent is because they are not sufficiently convinc't of the next Life and of its two Eternities of Joy and Torment they do not credit them but notwithstanding all that God hath done his truths want witnessing for if one went unto them from the Dead one that could testifie they would Repent I should now make reflections on this and our selves together and truly all this would bespatter fouly such as go on in a vice for it does conclude concerning them that they do not believe Gods Truths but in the midst of their professions of Religion are Infidels 't is plain they are so
dayes there shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts Now the men of our dayes have the luck to obey Scripture thus far as to make that Prophecy to come to passe for those scoffers are come in power and great glory The Psalmist tells us of a Chair of Scorners as if these were the onely men that speak ex cathedra And sure scoffs and taunts at Religion are the onely things that may be talk'd with confidence aloud They imprint an Authority on what is said and conversations that are most insipied on all other scores get accompt as they come up towards this practise Hence they gain degrees commence ingenious as they border on these Atheistical and irreligious Blasphemies and when it is pure scorn then it is in the Chair But it stayes not there For Secondly Upon the same account of strictnesse of Religion men will fall off from and openly renounce both Christ and his Religion This is that our Saviour himself found Light saith he is come into the World and men loved Darknesse rather than the Light because their deeds were evil And he said of the Pharisees They repented not that they might believe as knowing it impossible that they could venture to believe that Doctrine which condemn'd those courses that they would not repent of And if I should affirm that it is nothing else but mens unwillingnesse to be obliged to those things which if there be a God and a Religion which this Child was set to institute they must account themselves obliged to nothing else I say but this which makes them so unwilling to believe a God or Christ yea openly renounce them both and their Religion I should have for proof of this not only the late instance of a Nation in the Indies which by institution of the Portugals was easily perswaded to embrace the Christian Creed and was Baptized into our Faith but when they were required to lead their lives according to Christs Precepts and renounce their Heathen Licences they chose rather to renounce their Creed and Saviour and returned instantly to their indulgent Heathenisme But to this experience give me leave to add this Reason that it is not the Difficulty of the Misteries of Faith and their being above our Comprehension which makes them not to be receiv'd because there are as great difficulties in things that we are certain of For in the very Sphere of Reason within the lines and measures of her own Infallibility in things of which she does assure her self by diagrams and sense yet she is as much amaz'd as at those objects in the highest and remotest Regions of Faith and Mathematicks hath her Paradoxes that stand in as great danger of a contradiction as any of Religions Mysteries while Reason cannot cape what she demonstrates but is to seek how those things can be possible which she proves most certain and they are incomprehensible to her even when they are most evident And then sure if we can think there is a God we must needs think He can do things which we cannot comprehend when it is plain our Reason cannot comprehend what she her self does find out and creat It is not therefore contradiction to Reason but to Appetite that makes things of Religion so incredible which I thus demonstrate to the Atheist Those very difficulties to avoid which he denies a God to wit Those of an Eternal Being that is of himself those very things he must and does acknowledge in the being of the World if that either be it self Eternal as the Atheist of the Peripatetick Tribe will have it or else if its atomes out of which it was concreted were As those of Epicurus herd assert In a word if they say the World or its materials were made they grant a God that made it If they say they were not made they assert then an Eternal Being of its self that is they allow those difficulties for which they pretend to deny a God There being therefore the same difficulties Greater I could prove them from the diverse natures of corporeal and spiritual beings for we are sure in bodies that are still in motion and so subject to succession those things are impossible but if there be a Being that is not in motion and by consequence not subject to the laws of our time all these knots unty themselves those difficulties vanish and have no place But to say no more than I have shewed there being the same Difficulties in the Atheist's hypothesis as in the other 't is apparent not the difficulties of belief but practise make him fix upon his own against the common notions of the World So that 't is not his understanding but his Appetite frames his hypothesis and without figure 't is his Will that he believes with And it is most evident that because men do not love the Precepts of Religion would not have them be their duty therefore they would have the Doctrines of it not be truths and in this they are the Disciples onely of their Lusts and because they cannot resolve to be otherwise therefore they resolve not to be Christ's Disciples but reject him for his holy Doctrines sake And so this Child is for the fall of many But it were strange if upon this account Christ should be for the fall of any of us who have learnt a trick to reconcile his severe Doctrines and our Sins together Where Vice most abounds though it be wilful and men persevere in it they are so far from finding any reason to fall off from him or from his Gospel for this that they therefore take the faster hold of it rely upon Him with the bolder stronger confidence As if good old Simeon were mistaken when he thought because men would not leave those sins which Christ so threatned therefore they would leave him Because they could not bear those his hard sayings to pull out the lust and the Eye too cast away the treasures of unrighteousnesse and the right hand that receives them also therefore they would cast off him For for this reason they betake themselves to him more eagerly devolve and cast themselves upon him with assurance T is possible indeed that the new Christian'd Indians might believe themselves oblig'd to lead their lives according to the Vow that they had made in Baptisme knew not how to live a contradiction to be Christian Pagans therefore they thought it absolutely necessary to renounce the one and to reject Christ and his strict Religion was easier they thought Our Saviour also might suppose that when he brought Light into the World men would not receive that Light because their deeds were evil But our modern wickednesses that are of the true Eagle kind are educated bred up to endure and to defie the Light Our deeds of Night have learnt to face both Sun and Men yea and face the Sun of Righteousnesse and the light of those flames that are to receive them Our Saviour told
that do resist the happy issue which the Text here promiseth First of the first Though no man can be tempted so as to be soil'd by the temptation but he that is drawn away by his own Lust and enticed James 1. 14. and all the blandishments of this World all the wiles and artifices of the Prince and God of it the Devil are not able to betray one into sin till his own Lust conceive that sin and bring it forth Man must be taken first in his own Nets and fall into that pit himself hath digged before he can become the Devil's prey Yet Satan hath so great an hand in this affair that the Tempter is his Name and Office Mat. 4. 3. And the War which is now before us is so purely his that we are said to fight not against flesh and blood those nests and fortresses of our own Lusts but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the darknesse of this World against spiritual wickednesses in high places â— that is against the Enemy here in the Text the Devil Now to bring about his ends upon us he hath several means The first that I shall name is Infidelity With this he began in Paradise and succeeded by it for he had no sooner told the Woman that she should not surely die and so made her doubt of not believe and consequently not fear that which God had threatned but she took of the forbidden fruit and she did eat and gave it to her Husband too and he did eat Now if a Serpent siding with her inclination could so quickly stagger and quite overthrow her Faith if she because she sees and likes a pleasing Object can in meer defiance of her own assured Conviction when the Revelation look'd her in the face and God himself was scarce gone out of sight straight give credit to a Snake that comes and confidently gives the lye to God her Maker offers â—er no proof at all of what he sayes but onely flatters her desires with promises and expectations of she knows not what Te shall not dye but ye shall be as Gods if in spite of Knowledge she turn Infidel so soon and easily 'T is no great wonder if that Serpent do at this distance from Revelation prevail on men whose conversation being most with Sense their satisfactions also consequently gratifying of their Sense they do not willingly assent to any thing but that which brings immediate evidence and attestation of the Senses which the objects of our Faith do not especially if it give check to and restrain those satisfactions as those do on such men I say that do not care nor use in things that are against their mind to apply the Understanding close and strongly to reflect on those considerations which should move assent and work belief Considerations which I dare affirm if with sincerity adverted to if there be no improbity within to trash their efficacy no sensual inclination cherish'd that must hinder their admittance as not being able to endure to lodge in the same breast with those persuasions would make disbelief appear not onely most imprudent but a thing next to impossible But in those that give themselves no leisure have no will thus to advert 't is not strange if through Satans arts in things of this remote kind they have onely languid opinions which sink quickly into doubts and by degrees into flat Infidelity S. Paul does setch the rise of unbelief of Christianity from hence 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded their minds That is if the Christian Doctrine do not appear to be the truth of God to any 't is to obstinate persons onely whom the Devil hath besotted so with the advantages and pleasures of this World that their affections to these will not let the other be admitted For That Carnal prejudice can cast a mist before the mind or that a bright and glittering Temptation of this World may dazle it so as that it cannot see that which is most illustriously visible we have this demonstration Those Works which Christ and his Apostles wrought which made the whole World that was Heathen then so many Millions of such distant Nations as could never meet together to conspire an universal change in their Religions made them yet agree to lay aside their dear gods and their dearer Vices and do that to embrace a Crucified Deity a God put to a vile ignominious death as one worse than the worst of men and a Religion that was as much hated counted as accursed as that God of it He and his Doctrine crucified alike and a Religion too that had as great severities in its Commands as in its Persecutions that did it self enjoyn as hard and cruel things to flesh and blood as they that hated it inflicted the duties and the punishments equally seem executed on its followers and a Religion whose performances had no retributions here but fatal ones no otherwise rewarded but with fire and faggot and whose after-promises were most incredible Those Works that could produce all this had certainly Omnipotent conviction in them sure we are there must be prodigie of Miracle either in the causes or in the effect And yet the Scribes and Pharisees are not wrought on by them Their carnal Prejudices would not be removed not by the Finger of God The mean and despicable and as to all their worldly expectations and affections the unsatisfying condition of our Saviour had so clouded all his Works and their own pride so blinded them that they could see no argument in Miracle Now 't is the Devil that God of the World that hath the power of its Glories and the managery of its temptations who by raising these affections dazles so and blinds the minds of men that they should not believe S. Paul affirms it And 't is plain that unbelief is no one's Interest but Satan's For it is not Man's Not the vertuous man's certainly He 's concern'd as much as Happinesse amounts to to believe there is a God whose Cares and Providence watch over him whose Ears and Armes are open to him whose Bowels yearn for him whose Blood did purchase him whose everlasting Blessednesses do await him 'T is his Interest to trust that Vertue which the World so scorns or pitties was yet worthy God should be Incarnated to teach it die to purifie us into it and will raise us up again to crown it Neither is this Unbelief Man's real Interest abstracting from these prejudices of Religion For if it were Man's real Interest then it were every man's wisest course to pursue that Interest But if every man did so and should persuade himself into Infidelity and that Religion and a Deity were but dreams or artifices and so arrive so far as to have no fear of God nor sense of Honesty or Vertue the whole world must needs return into the