of Christianity and the unspeakable Trouble and dishonour of the Church To give you one Remarkable Instance of this In the beginning of the Reformation in Germany Sleid. com lib. 10. They who first scrupled only the Doctrine of Infant Baptism by degrees so Intangled themselves in New and greater Errours that in a few Years they grew the highest Enthusiasts vented the Rankest Blasphemies and the most Fulsome Opinions And after the fairest shew of sanctity and self-denial threw off all Humanity Indulging themselves in the most Beastial and Impudent vices in fine They Renounc't all Allegiance to their Lawful Superiours set up a Pupper King of their own Dignified him with the Title of Universal Monarch and to Compleat the Tragedy Baptiz'd one another with their own Blood 3. That the greatest Zeal is no Evidence of the goodness of any Cause or Principles While some contend as earnestly against as others do for the Truth their Zeal can Determine nothing on either side 'T is the goodness of Principles and the Merit of a Cause that can only Justify our Zeal for them If they be wanting Zeal is no better than Rage and Frenzy Therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 4.18 It is Good to be Zealously affected always in a good thing which Implies that when our Zeal is not thus Qualified it is good for nothing Or if it rises above the Goodness of its Object it so far over-shoots it self and Degenerates into Vice and Folly And this is the Fault of those that lay the Weight of Religion upon slender things that can find nothing to spend their Zeal upon but an Innocent Phrase or Ceremony that Dispise Communion with a Church that does not hit their Phancy in every Punctilio and seem almost contented the Protestant Religion should fink rather than the best support of it should stand I mean the Union of Protestants in our Establish't National Religion These are Humours that Charity it self can hardly Excuse in them or look upon as any other than the excesses of a mistaken and Intemperate Zeal In short Zeal is either the best Friend or the keenest Enemy to Religion for which reason we ought to look narrowly to the Grounds and Tendencies of it 4. We see what reason we have to be aware of those Persons who Teach and Promote such Principles as are contrary to the True Spirit and Interest of Christianity I know not what can be said worse of any Religion than that it inspires Men with Rage and Cruelty Quenches the Spirit of Love and Meekmess and Represents God as the Author of Confusion a Humourous and Discontented Being that is never Pleased long with his own Prescriptions and therefore must be sooth'd and flatter'd with something that is New and Fanciful that looks like an Excess or Transport of Devotion that is Owing to the Good-Will or III-Nature of Men such Religion as this can never reconcile it self to the Doctrine of Christianity but will be supplanting it where-ever it comes And the Zeal it infuses into Men will if not effectually restrained Act over all those Dismal Tragedies again of which the Christian Church has been almost the Constant Scene ever since the Foundation of it We should therefore be jealous of it in all shapes Whether it Pleads for Unity as the Church of Rome do's who takes her self to be the Only Church and therefore Reprobates all that will not be United to her Or whether it declares for Free-Grace i.e. a Gospel without a Sanction as the German Antinomians and Ranters did who turn'd the Grace of God into Lasciviousness and liv'd as if it taught them to deny themselves no Ungodliness or Worldly Lusts whether it pretends to Visions and Revelations of the Lord contrary to the Doctrines Received and delivered by his Apostles from him Or whether it sets up for Purity of Worship in mistaken or doubtful Instances against the Peace of the Church and contrary to the Wisdom that is from above which is first Pure then Peaceable Jam. 3.17 Gentle and Easy to be intreated Not Peevish or implacable not apt to Quarrel with Shadows and much less to put three Kingdoms into a Flame for the sake of three harmless Ceremonies 5. Lastly Since Christianity is liable to and has endured so much Opposition from Men we should learn to adore Gods Infinite Widsom and Goodness in Preserving his Truth and Protecting his Church against the Zealous Endeavours of their Enemies to stifle and destroy them And certainly We of this Nation have seen as extraordinary Evidences of this kind as ever any Christian Nation did Our deliverances have had so many visible marks of a Divine and Peculiar Providence upon them that one would think they should at once clear the Nation of all Atheistical Dotage Open the Eyes of its Divided Inhabitants and Discourage its most zealous Adversaries from Daring any longer that All-seeing Eye that hath so often discovered from strugling any more with that Omnipotent hand that hath so seasonably baffled their Closet and most perfidious Designs and Practices And doubtless were we as sensible as we ought to be of God's singular goodness towards us in casting us into the Bosom of a Church where we have all advantages for Eternal Salvation and in lengthening out our Peace and Tranquility in despight of our Enemies we should think it out Interest to leave our selves still in his hands I do not mean by sitting still and neglecting our Guards but by a patient continuance in Well-doing by attempting nothing that is Unworthy of our excellent Religion By a clear and genuine Zeal for the Honour of God our Saviour by our Unfeigned thankfulness to him for his Wonderful Mercies by confiding in his Goodness and Protection by the Fervency of our Prayers and Intercessions with him and by mutual Exchanges of kindness and condescention to one another in any thing that may truly promote our Common Interest In a word by adhering to the Old Principles of Christianity and avoiding the two dangerous Rocks of Superstition and Enthusiasm and what ever else is contrary to the Name of Jesus Grant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so Peaceably Ordered by thy Governance that thy Church may Joyfully serve thee in all Godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sermon III. Of the Different Dispensations of Grace and of Impenitency under the best means of Salvation Matthew 11.21 22. Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida For if the Mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented long ago in Sack-cloth and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you Chorazin and Bethsaida were Cities of Galilee situate on the Sea-Shore not very far from the Coasts of Tyre and Sidon They profest the Jewish Religion and had the Priviledge of hearing our Saviours Doctrine and beholding his Miracles But
him a numerous Off-spring trained up in the Knowledge and Fear of the Only True God instructed in all the minute instances of Obedience to him and preserved by Wonderful Providences against all the Malice and Fury of all the Fierce and Mighty Nations that were round about them The Jews in comparison of other Nations were the very Darlings of Providence they lived in a Land of Light when Darkness covered the Face of the whole Earth A Land whose least happiness was that it flowed with all kinds of Temporal Blessings there being no Nation as Moses told them Deut. 4.7 8. when they were going to inhabit that had God so nigh unto them in all that they called upon him for or that had Statutes and Judgments so Righteous as all the Laws which he set before them for a Lamp to their Feet and a Light unto their Paths and which if they carefully followed them would assuredly bring them to the Coelestial Canaan To them saith St. Paul speaking of God's Distinguishing Grace and Goodness to the Jews were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 Rom. 9.4 to them pertained the Adoption and the Glory or Divine Presence and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises And as the Jews of all Nations in the World stood the fairest for Eternal Life So those of them that lived in our Saviours time had Fairer Opportunities of being Happy than all that lived before them in expectation of his Coming And of all the Jews of that Age the Inhabitants of the Great Cities of Galilee such as Corazin Bethsaida and Capernaum living in the same Country and Neighbourhood that our Saviour did had the greatest advantages for the knowledge of the True God and the way to Eternal Bliss and Happiness They did not only hear the Fame of his Miracles and the Eccho of his Doctrine from distant Places but they Saw and Heard them in the most Affecting and Immediate Manner they beheld the Son of God cloathed with their own Nature they heard him Preaching in their Streets many of them that never saw or heard any thing in their lives before him They heard his Divine Sayings even the Words of Eternal Life from him they Feasted on his Miracles were Fed Healed and Inlightned by them and felt the Power of his Divinity in their Rescue from the Tyranny of Evil Spirits Thus Salvation came home to the Jews threw it self as it were into their Arms and without waiting for their Entreaties urged and obtruded it self upon them Mat. 1â— 16 17. And blessed are the Eyes which see the things which they saw and the Ears which hear the words that they heard It being as easie for such persons to enter into Life as it is to believe their own Eyes and Ears and to follow the Instructions they received from them So that the Jews of our Saviours time and especially those of his own Province and Acquaintance had the Best Means of Salvation of any People upon Earth And this was plainly the meaning of that Saying of his to the Woman of Samaria John 4.22 that Salvation is of the Jews 'T is true after the Ascension of our Lord and the Preaching of the Gospel to the Gentile World all those Nations to which the Gospel came stood upon the same Level with the Jews I mean had as Great Reason to believe the Gospel and embrace the tenders of it as the Jews themselves had those only excepted that saw our Saviour when he was risen from the Dead But some Nations have never yet received the Gospel and Myriads there are of People in the World that never so much as heard of the Name of Jesus or the Holy Bible Others that once embraced the Gospel and made a Considerable Figure in the Christian Church have by departing from the Faith and corrupting themselves with Lewd Errours and Practices lost all the Glorious Priviledges that were conferred upon them Of this number were the seven Famous Churches of Asia mentioned in the Revelations from whom Christ has recalled his Angels and fetchr away his Golden Candlesticks and left them in a Dark Night of Ignorance and Superstition And this shews that the Best Means of Grace and Salvation are not entailed upon particular Nations And that the Synagogue of Satan may stand upon the Ruines of those which were once the most Orthodox and Flourishing Churches In short if we take a view of the state of Religion in the Christian World at this day nothing is more evident than the Vast Difference there is in the Administration of the Word and Sacraments which are the Principal Means of Grace in several Churches of the Greatest Name and the Highest Pretence to Purity of Faith and Worship And that there is One above all the Rest where the Scriptures the Great Instrument of our Salvation are wrested out of the Hands of the People lest they should discern the wrong that is done them in denying them the Key of Knowledge and with their own Eyes see the things which belong to their Eternal Peace Now by all these Instances it is evident that there is a great Inequality in the Disposal of the Means of Grace and that God does not afford them to all Men or in all Ages alike But to some he gives more and to others less according to his Sovereign Will and Pleasure Mat. 25.14 15. c. And this our Saviour hath very plainly represented to us in the Parable of the Talents which the Lord that was Travelling into a far Country distributed to his Servants To one he gave five to another two and to a third but a single Talent with this General Charge that what they had received they should employ to his advantage till his occasions should permit his return to them 2. I shall now endeavour to vindicate the Providence of God in reference to this Particular Dispensation of it by shewing that there is no Injustice in the Unequal Distribution of the Means of Grace and Happiness To clear this we must consider what a Reasonable Creature that is framed to desire its own Happiness may expect from a Just and Faithful Creator And surely he may expect that the Author of his Being and of his Desire of being Happy Hould once at least put it into his Power to be so And that he should not call him to an Account for not Improving any Advantages for it which he never enjoyed These two things I say he may promise himself because a Being Infinitely Good and Just as God is could not make him only to make him Miserable as he must have done should he either deny him all Power to be Happy or punish him Eternally for not improving the Power which he never gave him But then there is no Reason from the Nature of Justice to expect that God should do more for Man than this because this is enough to make him Happy if he be not wanting
to himself and if he be is Just he should be Miserable since he might and would not be Happy For God who had made us Free and Reasonable Creatures is not bound to force us into Happiness against our choice no more than he was bound to Create us at first in a state of Perfect and Unchangeable Happiness Nor does his Justice require of him that he should be Equally Gracious to all Men and put them into the same advantagious Circumstances for the attainment of Eternal Life His giving better Means to one Person than to another is no wrong to him that has enough to bring him to the same Blessed State All that becomes a Faithful Creator is that having given us Being capable of Eternal Happiness and Misery he should not deny us that Measure of Grace without which tho we should do our utmost to please him we must be Miserable And therefore all that is requisite to justifie the Providence of God in this matter is to prove that he gives every man sufficient Power to be Happy and will take an account of him for no more than he really gives him For the first of these 1. That God affords every man sufficient Power to be happy I must desire you to weigh the Argument already suggested for it It is certain that God has planted an Eternal Desire of Happiness in the Heart of Man and that this Desire is the great Principle of Virtue and Obedience to the Will of God and this I think is a good Argument to prove that God does not frustrate this Desire by his meer Will and Pleasure I mean by denying any man that Grace and Assistance which is absolutely necessary to his attainment of it because the consequence of this would be an infinite and undeserved Unhappiness to him which is never to be reconciled to the Rules of Justice and Equity But besides this God allows every man to expect that which is evidently just and fair from him and so far makes him Judge in his own case knowing himself to be infinitely clear in his Dealings with him His appealing to the Common Notionsof men concerning this equity of his Actions towards them and giving them warning to expect an Universal Judgment are very plain Demonstrations of this Truth Come now let us Reason together Isa 1.18 Jer. 2.4 saith the Lord What Iniquity have your Fathers found in me Ezek. 18.25 Is not my way Equal O House of Israel Whence I argue thus We ought not to fasten any thing upon God which evidently contradicts the Natural Notions of Justice and Equity and therefore ought not to charge him with creating men under a necessity of being Eternally Miserable for want of sufficient Power to be Happy because this is a direct contradiction to the Natural and Brightest Notions of Justice and Righteousness What is this but to thrust men into the World only to gain an opportunity to inflict Eternal Torments upon them in the next And if this be fair and just Dealing I desire to know what is that we may have heave to call Gruel and Unjust The greatest Evil we can possibly have any Idea of is that of Eternal Damnation And the Highest Injustice is to inflict the Greatest Evil upon meer Pleasure or which resolves into it for not doing something that was ever Impossible to be done And then to charge God with Damning Men at Pleasure or for what they never had Power to help is to charge the Father of Mercies with Transcendent Cruelty and the Judge of the whole World with the Highest Injustice And I cannot imagine why men that are lovers of Truth and have a tender sence of Gods Honour should not be willing to let fall such a Charge as this rather than own God to be so Good and Just as to allow every man sufficient Grace to do Well and be Happy which is a Thought that sits easie upon the Mind being every way square and sutable to its Natural Notions of the Divine Perfections Whereas the contrary after all endeavours to reconcile it to the Honour of God is a Bold and Staring Contradiction to it After this what need I say That t is natural to suppose that God hath a Paternal Affection to all his Off-spring That he has given every man a Law in his own Breast to guide him to Virtue and Happiness That he shews to every man what is Good and does not expect Impossibilities from any That he gives Common Grace to All and t is certain he gives nothing in vain Whereas all his Grace and Favour to Heathens and Wicked Christians would be utterly in vain if it were not an earnest of Special and Saving Grace supposing them to make the best Improvements of it which are possible for them 2. God will take an account of men only for such Means of Grace as he really gives them In the ay of Judgment no man shall answer for two Talents that received but one The Heathens that have but the single Light of Nature to guide them towards God and Heaven shall not perish for not believing in Christ when they never heard of him So the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.11 12. There is no Respect of Persons with God For as many as have sinned without the Law shall perish without the Law and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law i.e. God will judge the World by a Just and Equitable Rule according to the Means that men have enjoyed and the Opportunities they have had of knowing and obeying his Will and not by any Personal Respects which too often warp and pervert the Judgments of Men. And then the poor Heathen that never had any written Divine Law to direct his Actions Rom. 2.14 15 16. but was led by Nature to do the things contained in the Law shall be tried by the Laws which Nature taught him The Jew by the Law of Moses and the Instructions of the Prophets And the Christian that has far better Means of Salvation than both these shall be judged by the Gospel or Law of Christ And from hence it follows that God will reckon with man at the last day only for their own measure of Grace be it more or less every man shall be accountable to him for so much as he receives from him and no more will he require at his Hands and so doing it is evident that he cannot be injurious to any For God is not obliged to give equal measures of Grace to all men and to exceed what is necessary to bring them to Happiness He did not owe the World a Redeemer or so much as a single Prophet or Messenger from Heaven The whole Covenant of our Redemption was an Act of Pure Sovereign Grace and not the acknowledgment of a Debt the non-payment of which had been the breach of any Rule of Justice and Righteousness In giving men the necessary Means of obtaining his Favour in this and the
Holiness through the use of those means which he hath appointed for the increase of Holiness in us That there are degrees of Grace in good men no man ever denied And that the higher and more Perfect degrees are attained by a more frequent sincere and diligent use of the means of Grace all Divines are agreed The part therefore which every good Man hath in his Spiritual growth is to improve all Advantages for his growing better i.e. more perfect in every Grace and more Holy in all manner of Conversation And because some Graces have a more Powerful and Diffusive influence upon the Sanctification of our Hearts and Lives and the due Performance of all Christian duties than others our improvement in Grace and Holiness chiefly consists in these two things 1. In a more constant and vigorous exercise of those Radical Graces by which the Life of Holiness is conveighed into all the Branches and Instances of it Of these our Faith in God is the main and Principal Root all other Graces being Fed and Cherisht by it and Inabled to bring forth their Proper Fruits The Reason why we Love God which is both the Noblest and the strongest Motive to Obedience is because we believe that he has all Excellent and Amiable Properties in him And so the Reason why we Fear him is because we believe he is Powerful and Just and will by no means clear the Guilty And we therefore Hope in his Mercy because we believe He is Faithful that hath Promised And as Faith is the Root and Principle of these Graces so have they a Radical virtue of their own a Power I mean of Diffusing Holiness into all parts and duties of the Christirn Life Hence we are exhorted to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and to be Rooted and Grounded in Love that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God And every man saith S. John that hath the Hope in him of seeing God as he is Purifieth himself even as he is Pure To grow therefore in these Graces is in effect to grow in all other kinds of Vertue and Goodness of God And then secondly our spiritual growth Consists 2. In being more frequently and carnestly employ'd in the several duties of Christian practice In worshiping God with more Life Zeal and Constancy In doing good with more vigour and chearfulness In bearing Afflictions with more evenness and patience In greater Industry Justice and Faithfulness in our Temporal callings In getting a more absolute sway over our Passions and reducing our affections to Farthly things to a more equal and moderate Temper In denying our selves the Liberties which have any apparent Temptation in them in Arming our selves against the insults of Inordinate anger and the sudden starts of any sinful inclinations In pruning off the undecencies of our External behaviour in abating the freedom of our Tongues and using better care to avoid all appearance of Evil. Herein lies our Proficiency in Grace and Virtue to which our endeavours in all these instances are strictly necessary if we aim as we ought at a Perfect Imitation of our great example and to grow up to the stature of the Fulness of Christ I am next to shew 2. What are the Proper and Effectual means of our Growth in Grace And here since the nature of Grace and Holiness consists in a Conformity to the Divine nature and will it is Reasonable to suppose that the same hand that drew the first Lineaments of it must give it the more Lively and Finishing strokes before it comes to perfection I mean that the work of grace should be carried on by the Operations of the Spirit through the use especially of the same means by which we were made Partakers of the Divine Nature at first And for this Reason the Ordinances of God are of Perpetual use to all Christians and the same duties required as well of the Regenerate as of those that remain in a Natural State 1. A better understanding of the will of God and Attention to the Truths revealed by his Son Jesus Christ The usefulness of this means S. Peter seems to Recommend in the Context Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Implying that a greater measure of knowledge is a special means of growing in other Graces as is plain by that Parallel exhortation in his former Epistle Desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the pure Doctrine of the Gospel or the word delivered without any Deceit is the most Natural Food for the New Creature for promoting the Growth of it and making it every way strong and vigorous in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 In the Scriptures we have a lively Draught and Representation of the Divine Perfections In them we behold all the Glorious Revelations of God's Sacred Will to Mankind and the thoughts of his Heart from Eternity Here we meet with the kindest Invitations to the Mercy and Favour of God and the Merits of a Saviour With the most admirable Rules for the Government of our Lives the most Excellent Patterns of the Noblest Virtues and the strongest Inducements to a perfect Imitation of them The Mystery of our Redemption is here unvail'd and Heaven as it were thrown open to our view that we as the Apostle speaks with Open Face beholding as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 the Glory of the Lord might be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit of the Lord. By frequent conversing with the Scriptures and observing the Tenour of them we shall not only attain to a competent Knowledge of our Duty but to a firm and Ruling Judgment and be thereby exempted from Error and Doubtfulness which are none of the least impediments to our thriving in Grace and Holiness By this means we shall be continually under the power of conviction The sense of our Duty will be always quick and urgent upon our Minds We shall feel the great Motives and Terrors of the Gospel the Eternal Weights of Glory and Misery pressing upon our Hopes and Fears and provoking us to every Good Work and we shall thence be furnisht with a present Answer to all Temptations to gratifie any sinful Lust or neglect the Opportunities of securing our Future Happiness So that by making the Scripture our daily Study and Meditation we shall neither wander for want of Light nor be at a stand through any mistrust of our way nor can we easily fail of making a good Progress in it being quickned upon all occasions with a present sense of our Duty and encouraged with a Prospect of our Reward 2. Regular and Constant Attendance on the Publick Ordinances of Divine Worship and Service It must be a great advantage to us to be admitted into the Special Presence of God in the Holy Assemblies of his People And having our thoughts sequestred from the World