Day wherein be will Judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom be bath ordained c. I shall now only make a practical Inference or two from what hath been delivered upon this Argument and so conclude this whole Discourse First The serious consideration of what hath been said concerning the Incarnation of our B. Saviour should effectually prevail with us to comply with the great End and Design of the Son of God's becoming Man and dwelling amongst us and of his doing and suffering all those things which are recorded of him in the History of his Life and Death written by the H. Evangelists I say the consideration hereof should persuade us all to comply with the great Design of all this which is the Reformation of Mankind and the Recovery of us out of that sinful and miserable estate into which we were fallen Because the Salvation which the Son of God hath purchased for us and which he offers to us by the Gospel is not to be accomplished and brought about any other way than by our forsaking our Sins and reforming our Lives The Grace of God which hath appeared to all men and brings Salvation will not make us partakers of it in any other way nor by any other means than by teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World God sent his Son Jesus to bless us by turning us away every one from his iniquities and unless this change be effectually wrought in us we are utterly incapable of all the Blessings of the Gospel of Christ All that He hath done for us without us will avail us nothing unless we be inwardly transformed and renewed in the spirit of our minds unless we become new Creatures unless we make it the continual and sincere endeavour of our lives to keep the commandments of God For the Scripture is most express and positive in this matter That without Holiness no man shall see the Lord That every man that hath this hope in Him that is in Christ to be saved by Him must purifie himself even as be is pure We do not rightly and truly believe that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners if we be not also thoroughly convinced that it is as necessary for us to leave our Sins as to believe this most faithful and credible Saying The Obedience and Sufferings of our B. Saviour are indeed accounted to us for Righteousness and will most certainly redound to our unspeakable benefit and advantage upon our performance of the Condition which the Gospel doth require on our Part namely that every man that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity And the Grace of God's H. Spirit is ready to enable us to perform this Condition if we earnestly ask it and do sincerely co-operate with it Provided we do what we can on our part God will not be wanting to us on His. But if we receive the Grace of God in vain and take no care to perform the Condition and do neglect to implore the Grace and assistance of God's H. Spirit to that purpose we have none to blame but our selves because it is then wholly our own fault if we fall short of that Happiness which Christ hath purchased and promised to us upon such easie and reasonable Conditians as the Gospel proposeth But I no where find that God hath promised to force Happiness upon the negligent and a reward upon the wicked and slothful Servant A gift may be given for nothing but surely a Reward does in the very nature of it always suppose some Service None but a righteous man is capable of a righteous mans Reward And St. John hath sufficiently cautioned us not to think our selves Righteous unless we be doers of righteousness Little children says he let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous This is so very plain a Text that if men were not either very easie to be deceived by others or very willing to deceive themselves they could not possibly mistake the meaning of it And therefore I will repeat it once more Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous Secondly The other Inference which I would make from the precedent Discourse is this That with all possible thankfulness we should acknowledge and adore the wonderful Goodness and Condescension of Almighty God in sending his only begotten Son into the World in our Nature to be made flesh and to dwell amongst us in order to our Recovery and Salvation A Method and Dispensation not only full of mercy and goodness but of great Condescension to our meanness and of mighty vertue and efficacy for our Redemption and Deliverance from the Guilt and Dominion of Sin and upon all accounts every way so much for our benefit and advantage So that well may we say with St. Paul This is a faithful Saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a credible Word and worthy of all acceptation that is fit to be embraced and entertained with all possible Joy and thankfulness That Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners What an everlasting Fountain of the most invaluable Blessings and Benefits to Mankind is the Incarnation of the Son of God His vouchsafing to assume our Nature and to reside and converse so long with us And what are we that the eternal and only begotten Son of God should condescend to do all this for us That the High and Glorious Majesty of Heaven should stoop down to the Earth and be contented to be clothed with Misery and Mortality That He should submit to so poor and low a Condition to such dreadful and disgraceful Sufferings for our sakes For what are We vile and despicable Creatures guilty and unworthy Offenders and Apostates Enemies and Rebels Blessed God! how great is thy Goodness how infinite are thy tender Mercies and Compassions to Mankind That thou should'st regard us whilst we neglected thee and remember us in our low condition when we had forgotten thee days without number and shouldst take such pity on us when we shewed none to our selves and whilst we were thy declared and implacable Enemies should'st express more kindness and good will to us than the best of Men ever did to their best Friends When we reflect seriously upon those great things which God hath done in our behalf and consider that mighty Salvation which God hath wrought for us what thanks can we possibly render what acknowledgments shall we ever be able to make I do not say equal but in any wise meet and becoming to this great Benefactor of Mankind Who when we had so highly offended and provok'd Him and so foolishly and so fatally undone our selves when we were become so guilty and so miserable and so much fitter to have eternally been the objects of his wrath and indignation than of his pity and compassion was pleas'd
men the Man Christ Jesus by whom we are to offer up our Prayers to God And that we need not look out for any other since the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us that he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him seeing he lives for ever to make intercession for us And for this reason the Church of Rome is altogether inexcusable in this Point for introducing more Mediators and Intercessors more Patrons and Advocates in Heaven for us And this not only without any necessity for who can add any vertue and efficacy to the powerful and prevalent intercession of the Son of God but likewise in direct contradiction to the express Constitution and appointment of God himself who says there is but one Mediator between God and men and they say there ought to be many more not only the B. Virgin but all the Saints and Angels in Heaven Besides that by this very thing they revive one notorious Piece of the old Pagan Idolatry which God so plainly design'd to extinguish by appointing One only Mediator between God and Men. By this Condescension likewise God hath given us the comfortable assurance of a most powerful and a perpetual Intercessor at the right hand of God in our behalf For if we consider Christ as Man and of the same Nature with us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh so very nearly allied and related to us we may easily believe that he hath a most tender care and concernment for us That he sincerely wisheth our happiness and will by all means seek to procure it if we our selves by our own willful obstinacy do not hinder it and resist the kindness and the counsel of God against our selves For if we be resolv'd to continue impenitent there is no help for us we must die in our Sins and Salvation it self cannot save us But to proceed it cannot surely but be matter of greatest consolation to us that the Man Christ Jesus who is now so highly exalted at the right hand of God and who hath all power in Heaven and Earth committed to him is our Patron and Advocate in Heaven to plead our Cause with God Since we cannot but think that He who was pleased to become Brother to us all does bear a true affection and good will to us And that He who assumed our Nature will heartily espouse our Cause and plead it powerfully for us and will with all possible advantage recommend our Petitions and Requests to God But then if we consider further that He did not only take our Nature but likewise took our infirmities and bore them many years in which he had long and continual experience of the saddest sufferings to which human Nature is subject in this World and was tempted in all things like as we are This gives us still greater assurance that he who suffer'd and was tempted himself cannot but be touched with a lively sense of our infirmities and must have learn'd by his own Sufferings to compassionate ours and to be ready to succour us when we are tempted and to afford us grace and help suitable to all our wants and infirmities For nothing gives us so just a sense of the Sufferings of others as the remembrance of our own and the bitter experience of the like Sufferings and Temptations in our selves And this the Apostle to the Hebrews doth very particularly insist upon as matter of greatest comfort and encouragement to us that the Son of God did not only assume our Nature but was made in all things like unto us and during his abode here upon Earth did suffer and was tempted like as we are For verily says the Apostle he took not on him the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God For in that he himself suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted And again exhorting the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity to continue stedfact in their Profession notwithstanding all the sufferings to which upon that account they were exposed he comforts them with this consideration that we have at the right hand of God so powerful an Advocate and Intercessor for us as the Son of God who is sensible of our Case having suffered the same things Himself and therefore we cannot doubt of his compassion to us and readiness to support us in the like Sufferings Seeing then says he that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without Sin From whence he concludes that having such an Intercessor we may with great confidence and assurance address our Supplications to God for his mercy and help in all our wants and weakness to supply the one and to assist the other Let us therefore says he come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace for seasonable relief So that our B. Saviour and Redeemer now that he is advanced to Heaven and exalted to the right hand of God is not unmindful of us in this height of his Glory and Greatness but with the tenderest affection and compassion to Mankind doth still prosecute the Design of our Salvation and in vertue of his meritorious Obedience and Sufferings which he presents to God continually he offers up our Prayers to Him and pleads our Cause with Him and represents to Him all our wants and necessities and procures for us a favourable answer of our Prayers and supplies of grace and strength proportionable to our temptations and infirmities And thus by vertue of this prevalent intercession of his with God for us our Sins are forgiven and our Wants supplied and our Requests granted and the gracious assistance and supports of God's H. Spirit are seasonably afforded to us and we are kept by the mighty power of God through Faith unto Salvation In a word all those Blessings and Benefits are procured for us by his Intercession in Heaven which he purchased for us by his Blood upon Earth So that in this Method of our Salvation besides many other gracious Condescensions which God hath made to the weakness and prejudices of Mankind our B. Saviour hath perfectly supplied the two great Wants concerning which Mankind was at so great a loss before namely the Want of an effectual Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin upon Earth and of a prevalent Mediator and Intercessor with God in Heaven And he hath in great Goodness and Condescension to our inveterate Prejudices concerning these things taken effectual care fully to supply both these Wants having appeared in the
to send his own his only Son into the World to seek and save us and by Him to repair all our ruines to forgive all our iniquities to heal all our spiritual diseases and to crown us with loving kindness and tender mercies And what Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving should we also offer up to this gracious and most merciful Redeemer of ours the everlasting Son of the Father who debased himself so infinitely for our sakes and when he took upon Him to deliver Man did not abhor the Virgins womb Who was contented to be born so obscurely and to live all his life in a poor and persecuted condition and was pleased both to undergo and to overcome the sharpness of Death that he might open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Every time we have occasion to meditate upon this especially when we are communicating at his H. Table and receiving the blessed Symbols and Pledges of his precions Death and Passion How should our Hearts burn within us and leap for Joy How should the remembrance of it revive and raise our Spirits and put us into an Extasie of Love and Gratitude to this great Friend and Lover of Souls And with the B. Mother of our Lord how should our Souls upon that blessed occasion magnify the Lord and our Spirits rejoyce in God our Saviour The Holy men of old were transported with Joy at the obscure and confused apprehension and remote foresight of so great a Blessing at so great a distance It is said of Abraham the Father of the faithful that he saw His Day afar off and was glad How should we then be affected with Joy and Thankfulness to whom the Son of God and B. Saviour of Men is actually come He is come many ages ago and hath enlightened a great part of the World with his Glory Yea He is come to us who were in a manner separated from the rest of the World To Us is this great Light come who had so long sate in Darkness and the shadow of Death And this mighty Salvation which He hath wrought for us is near to every one of us that is willing to lay hold of it and to accept it upon those gracious terms and conditions upon which it is offer'd to us in his H. Gospel And by His Coming he hath delivered Mankind from that gross Ignorance and thick Darkness which covered the Nations And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true And we are in Him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life And then it immediately follows Little Children keep your selves from Idols What can be the meaning of this Caution and what is the Connection of it with the foregoing Discourse It is plainly this That the Son of God by His Coming had rescued Mankind from the sottish Worship of Idols and therefore he Cautions Christians to take great heed of relapsing into Idolatry by worshipping a Creature or the Image and likeness of any Creature instead of God And because he foresaw that it might be objected to Christians as in fact it was afterwards by the Heathen that the Worship of Christ who was a man was as much Idolatry as that which the Christians charged the Heathen withal Therefore St. John effectually to prevent the force of this plausible Objection though he perpetually throughout his Gospel declares Christ to be really a Man yet he expresly also affirms Him to be God and the true God and consequently Christians might safely pay Divine Worship to Him without fear or danger of Idolatry We are in Him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life Little Children keep your selves from Idols But this I am sensible is a Digression yet such a one as may not be alltogether useless To proceed then in the recital of those great Blessings which the Coming of the Son of God hath brought to Mankind He hath rescued us from the bondage of Sin and from the slavery of Satan He hath openly proclaimed Pardon and Reconciliation to the World He hath clearly revealed eternal Life to us which was but obscurely made known before both to Jews and Gentiles but is now made manifest by the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished Death and brought Life and immortality to light by the Gospel He hath purchased this great Blessing for us and is ready to confer it upon us if we will be contented to leave our Sins and to be saved by Him A Condition without which as Salvation is not to be had so if it were it would not be desirable it could not make us happy because our Sins would still separate between God and us and the guilt and horrour of our own minds would make us eternally miserable And now surely we cannot but thus judge that all the Praises and acknowledgments all the Service and Obedience which we can possibly render to Him are infinitely beneath those infinite Obligations which the Son of God hath laid upon the Sons of men by his Coming into the World to save Sinners What then remains but that at all times and more especially at this Season we gratefully acknowledge and joyfully commemorate this great and amazing Goodness of God to us in the Incarnation of his Son for the Redemption and Salvation of the sinful and miserable Race of Mankind A Method and Dispensation of the Divine Grace and Wisdom not only full of mercy and condescension but of great power and vertue to purifie our hearts and to reform our Lives to beget in us a fervent love of God our Saviour and a perfect hatred and detestation of our Sins and a stedfast purpose and resolution to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking in his ways all the days of our life In a word a Method that is every way calculated for our unspeakable Benefit and Comfort Since then the Son of God hath so graciously condescended to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted let us aspire to be as like to Him as is possible in the exemplary Holiness and Vertues of his Life We cannot be like Him in his Miracles but we may in his Mercy and Compassion We cannot imitate his Divine Power but we may resemble Him in his Innocency and Humility in his Meekness and Patience And as He assumed Human Nature so let us re-assume Humanity which we have in great measure depraved and put off and let us put on bowels of mercy towards those that are in misery and be ready to relieve the poor for His sake who being rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich To conclude Let us imitate Him in that which was his great Work and business here upon Earth and which of all other did best become the Son of God I