agreement with Hell and a League with Devils Do they think that cursed Fiends will make them welcome in Hell because they have perswaded them to come thither Can they expect entertainment from such as are shut up in a lothsom Dungeon What help will they give others who are themselves in unspeakable Torments and who are so malicious that if they could they would not It is better to repent than to go to such Company 2. The Impenitent will be exceedingly pain'd because they will then see that it was their own folly which brought them into the Misery which they shall then suffer and that their Obstinacy deprived them of the Eternal Happiness of which they might have been possessors Those who in their life time would not be at leisure to be saved shall then be forced to entertain multitudes of thoughts which will blow the Coles of the unquenchable Fire They will be galled perpetually by considering how sottishly they perished sillily preferring a few short Pleasures before everlasting Felicity and that notwithstanding it was offered them and they often perswaded to chuse it They will then see and grieve to see it was folly enough to have chosen the Temporary Pleasures of sin though for that they should only have been deprived of Eternal Joys but that it was the highest Madness when for that they shall also suffer Eternal Pains and find that the greatness of their Worldly Prosperity which they so much desired having heightened their sin shall also add to the sharpness of their punishment They will then see how sottishly they followed the evil Example of their fellow sinners trampling upon God's Commands and be sensible of the meanness of the Excuse which they made for their Unbelief when they said They could not think there was such a place as Hell because they never talked with any that was there or ever heard it proved by Philosophy And they will wish then that they had believed God who told them that there was such a place that they might endeavour to escape it and not have hearkened to their Ranting Companions who not being able to produce any Arguments against it made it their work to huff the belief of it out of the World and that the rather because they well knew that if there be such a place they themselves must be forced to take an undesirable Lodging in it They will then see that it was unreasonable to ask for Demonstrations in matters of Divine Revelation where God demands Faith upon his Word remembring how sillily the old World laughed at Noah for building a Ship to sail as they thought upon dry ground refusing to believe that there would be a Deluge till they were aflote upon the Waves of it They will see then that Disbelief after plain Declarations of God's Will was not Courage but stupid Presumption and that continuance in sin against great Reasons to the contrary was a malicious Obstinacy They will then confess that no Tentation was a just Counterpoise to God's Promises and that their sensual Appetites were no lawful warrant for the contradiction of the Reason of their Minds and that it was extreme folly to slight the Motions of God's Spirit and hearken to the Suggestions of the Devil Will any dare to say to God then I knew thou wast austere and reapest where thou didst not sow No but remembring that they were graciously and often assisted they will then too late curse the baseness of their Negligence and Ingratitude They will then be ashamed to return to God having done nothing of the Errand upon which he sent them into the World but very much to the contrary of it and be afraid because they go away not having left any Testimony of their Vertue behind them but many damning Examples of Vice They will hate their Being perceiving by the sharp Remorse of their once baffled Consciences that they must be their own Tormentors whilst the space which was granted them for Repentance makes their Impenitence more Criminal and the sense of their having highly deserved what they suffer will make them acknowledge that they are but justly deprived of that small Relief which is commonly allowed to the Miserable Pity 3. Thirdly The Impenitent will be gal'd with Envy to see others possess that Happiness which once they might have enjoyed but then slighted and of which they are now for ever deprived This we learn from our Saviour There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God This sight will whet the Teeth of the never dying Worm which will not only bite with the never ceasing remembrance of their un worthiness and vex with the pain of late Repentance and continual Self-accusation but also pine with Envy to see others happy in what they threw away That which our Saviour added in this matter is very considerable There are last which shall be first and there are first which shall be last There are many which proud sinners despise as persons a great way farther from Happiness than themselves whom they laugh at for their Ignorance slight for their mean Condition and jeer for their precise Life which shall enter into the Kingdom of God when they themselves shall be stopt So it was with the Jews to whom our Saviour spoke they looked upon themselves as Sons of the Kingdom Heirs of Happiness great in Knowledge splendid in their Family beloved of God satisfied in present Enjoyments and big with Expectation yet these so seemingly forward should be over-run by such as they thought unworthy to eat with them and these should sit down with their pious Ancestors where they their boastful Progeny should be excluded This matter is well expressed Wisd. 5. from the first Verse to the seventh Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him and made no account of his Labours When they see it they shall be troubled with terrible fear and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation so far beyond all that they looked for And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves This was he whom we had sometime in Derision and a Proverb of Reproach We Fools accounted his life madness and his end to be without honour How is he numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints Therefore have we erred from the way of Truth and the Light of Righteousness hath not shined upon us This excellent Author gives an account of these Hectors Chap. 2. where he tells us of them that they placed all Happiness in this present Life Verse 2. We are born at all adventure and we shall be hereafter as though we had
particular promises ensured by God's Veracity we have firm grounds of Hope plain measures of Expectation and he which doth not give credit unto them makes God a lyar as St. Iohn says puts the same contempt upon God which men do upon the words of vain persons who never mean what they say or are unable to perform what they promise Without this Revelation a Heathen could say Qui desperat Deum exasperat nec bonum credit i. e. He which despairs makes God angry and doth not believe him to be good After all this wilt thou not repent 5. Especially when God hath given a mighty Demonstration of his full purpose to fulfil what he hath promised to penitent sinners not only declaring these Promises by his dear son but by making him 1. A Sacrifice of Expiation for sinners in his Death and 2. Also an Advocate for them since his Resurrection 1. God hath made him a Sacrifice of Expiation in his Death An Expiatory Sacrifice is when one suffers for another and so saves the other from suffering when Body is given for Body Life for Life Such was our Saviour's Passion for sinners And therefore the Apostle said He gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransom for all men Or as our Saviour said himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom for many He gave his Life as such a price by which Captives or Slaves are set at Liberty and therefore he is said to have redeemed us from the Curse being made a Curse for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He bought us off with a great price from the Curse due to our sins being himself content to be used for our sakes as one who is accursed What worse things could happen to any mortal man than those which Christ suffered His Death was esteemed by all men as the most infamous and most painful and was looked upon by the Eternal Father as the common Penance of Mankind for whom he suffered it Thus our Saviour became our ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave his life for ours and we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our sins Yes through his blood For he nail'd our Bond to his Cross and so cancel'd it and freed us from our Debt Thus hath God been willing to let us know how unwilling he is to punish us if we repent Though it be of the nature of punishment that it be inflicted for sin yet it is not necessary that it should be upon the person offending if the offended will accept of another to suffer for him and so free him This is our Case for God was pleased to accept of the Temporal Death of his dear Son to free all penitent sinners from Death Eternal 2. I need not prosecute this comfortable Argument any further God hath by it abundantly signified his mind to relieve trembling sinners having made his Son a Propitiation for them in his Death and declared also that he is an Advocate for them since his Resurrection If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place signifies one who deprecates Anger mitigates Wrath begs pardon for such as have offended The Design of the Gospel is to preserve us from sin but if one chance to fall into sin left he sin also into Despair it gives this encouragement to rise by Repentance because we have an Advocate with the Father the Son of God who intercedes for us pleads our cause in Heaven This Encouragement is great upon many accounts 1. Because long before his Incarnation he was designed to that merciful Office by the Eternal Father So we read in Isaiah which the Evangelist Mark applies to our Saviour He shall make Intercession for Transgressors deprecate the Divine Anger for them appear in the presence of God for them It is a great satisfaction to all thoughtful minds that they are assured of the truth of his Commission We are ignorant upon what grounds some have bestowed this part of his Mediation upon Saints or Angels The Scripture hath told us that Abraham knows us not and that Israel is ignorant of us and that no man taketh to him the honour of mediating for others with God but he that is called of God But we have great hope in this one Mediator because God hath given him the honour to stand at his Right Hand and plead for sinners He is the great Angelus Orationis as I think Tertullian called him who when the prayers of Saints goes up to Heaven puts in his Merits to make them acceptable As for others alas poor Souls they have no merits to make their own Prayers sweet and how then shall they perfume those of others 2. This our Advocate was always and is the most beloved Son of God He dwelt eternally in the Bosom of the Father a phrase which signifies Intimacy and Love He is one to whom the Father never denied any thing so he said himself I know that thou hearest me always 3. It is a great Encouragement that we have such an Advocate who by his Death merited a just Right to intercede with God for sinners He might well pray for pardon who offered himself a Sacrifice of Expiation and demand the Release of Captives for whom he had paid the Ransom We are not to think that in Heaven our Saviour prays for sinners offering up cries with tears for them but intercedes with the Authority of Mediation which he obtained by his Death He appears in the presence of God for us offering great Reasons for our pardon 4. To this add that he hath whilst he doth this strong desires in himself to have us made partakers of it We are told that he is a merciful High Priest in things pertaining to God and that he is willing to make Reconciliation for us not like the Masters of Requests in this World who many times are so hard to come at that it is easier to get a Petition granted by the King than presented by his Servant No he is so merciful that he hath bid us come boldly to the Throne of Grace and to be confident that we shall obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need we may come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freely declare our case to God have free access to him for that purpose and we shall not be turned away with shame as people are when their Petitions are slighted This goodness of our Saviour's Temper is an inward Advocate for us always dwelling in his Breast making him willing to receive the Petitions which we offer to him and also to present them to the Eternal Father and to add to them what may make them acceptable He show'd his benign Disposition before he left this World in that kind Excuse which he made for the neglect of his Friends who failed him in a time when he much needed their Service For though he reproved them for
that the highest firmness of Assent is to be given to such Articles or to those parts of them as their obscurity keeps us from having so much reason to think that we clearly understand them as we have to suppose we understand those that are far more plainly reveal'd And secondly to speak more generally 't is harsh to say that the same degree of Faith is necessary to all Persons since Mens natural capacities and dispositions and their education and the opportunities they have had of being informed do very much yet perhaps not culpably dispose some more than others to be diffident and apt to haesitate and frame doubts And the same Arguments may appear evident enough to one Man to make it his duty to believe firmly what they persuade which in another naturally more sceptical or better acquainted with the difficulties and objections urged by the opposite Party may leave some doubts and scruples excusable enough And when either the Doctrine itself is not clearly deliver'd or the Proofs of it that a Man could yet meet with are not fully cogent for that Man not to give such Truths the same degree of Assent that Demonstration may produce is not as many interpret it an affront to the Veracity of God since he may be heartily disposed and ready to believe all that shall appear to him to be revealed by God and only doubts whether the thing proposed be indeed revealed by him or whether the diffident Party rightly understands the sense of these words wherein the Revelation is contain'd which is not to distrust God but himself And that in some cases a degree of Faith not exempt from doubts may through Gods goodness be accepted we may learn from hence that the Apostles themselves who were so much in Christs favour made it their Prayer to him That he would encrease their Faith And he that beg'd that if he could do any thing for his son and cryed out Lord I believe help thou my unbelief was so far accepted by that merciful High Priest who is apt to be toucht with the sense of our infirmities that his Request was granted though it could not be so but by having a Miracle done in his favor The Disciples distrest by a storm and crying to their Master as thinking themselves upon the very point of perishing were saved by him at the same time when he gave them the Epithet of men of little faith And at another time Peter walking upon the Sea though he had lost a degree of that Faith that made him first engage upon that adventure and was reproved for it by Christ was yet rescued from that sinking condition which both he and his Faith were in And we are told in the Gospel of a Faith which though no bigger than a grain of Mustard-seed may enable a Man to remove Mountains And though this passage speaks not primarily of justifying Faith yet still it may serve to shew that degrees of Assent far short of the greatest may be so far accepted by God as to be owned by miraculous Exertions of his Power For the Faith then that is made a necessary condition under the Gospel as the genuine fruit and scope of it is Obedience so 't is not indispensably such a Faith as excludes doubts but refusals And though the Assent be not so strong as may be produced by a Demonstration yet it may be graciously accepted if it be but strong enough to produce Obedience and accordingly whereas Paul in one place declares that in Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith operative through love we may learn his meaning from a parallel place where varying the words and not the sense of the latter part of the sentence he says that in Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but the keeping of the Commandments of God I readily grant that attainment of a higher degree of Faith is always a blessing and cannot be sufficiently prized without being sincerely aimed at but there are in some Virtues and Graces degrees which though to reach be a great happiness yet 't is but the endeavoring after them that is an indispensible Duty Likewise 't is true that the firmness of assent to Divine Verities does in some regard bring much honour to God as 't is said of the Father of the Faithful who in reference to the promise made him of Isaac did not consider his own age nor Sarahs long barrenness so as to entertain any diffidence of what God had told him that being mighty in faith he gave glory to God But 't is true too that in another respect a practical assent built upon a less undoubted evidence may have its preheminence for when Christ now risen from the dead had said to the distrustful Didimus Thomas Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed he immediately adds But blessed that is peculiarly and preferably blessed are those that have not seen and yet have believed and indeed he does not a little honour God in that sense wherein Mortals may be said to honour him who is so willing to obey and serve him and so ambitious to be in an estate where he may always do so that upon what he yet discerns to be but a probability of the Christian Religions being the most acceptable to God he embraces it with all its difficulties and dangers and upon this score venturously resolves to submit if need be to a present and actual dereliction of all his Sins and Lusts and perhaps his Interest and his Life too upon a comparatively uncertain expectation of living with him hereafter The Conclusion of the First Part. And here I will put a Period ' to my Answer to your Friends Question in one of the two senses of it and so to the first Part of this Discourse Against all which perhaps your Friend will object That at this rate of arguing for the Christian Religion one may Apologize for any Opinion and reconcile the most unreasonable ones to right Reason But 't is not difficult for me to reply That this Objection is grounded either upon a mistake of the design of this Letter or upon the overlooking of what is suppos'd in it For I do not pretend that the Considerations hitherto alledg'd should pass for Demonstrations of the Truth of Christianity which is to be prov'd by the excellency of the Doctrines it reaches and that of the Rewards it promises both which are worthy of God and by divers other Arguments especially the Divine Miracles that attest it But that which I was here to do was not to lay down the grounds why I receiv'd the Christian Religion but to return an Answer backt with Reasons to the Question that was propos'd Whether I did not think that a Christian to continue such must deny or lay aside his Reason The sum of the Answer is this That the Doctrines really propos'd by the Christian Religion seeming to me to be by proper Arguments sufficiently
be hanged but the hope of Pardon which he obtained and by the Nobleness of Caesar the money too Sure the Report which we have heard of God that he is rich in Mercy should encourage us to bring the Penitent Rebel into his presence and throw him prostrate before his Footstool The Throne is a Seat of Grace and the King who sits upon it is the Father of Mercies If we repent we may come boldly and have a good hope to find favour Princes do invite rebellious Subjects many times to lay down their Arms by offering Acts of Oblivion and it usually prevails but however it may be the Wisdom as well as Clemency of Princes to offer pardon because they know no better way to overcome sturdy Rebels But the Argument is more cogent to make sinners repent when God offers pardon because he is Almighty so needs no Arts to reduce the Obstinate he can destroy them when he pleaseth what he offers is mere Grace he would not have them perish through their foolish wilfulness would he not O then Rebel Heart wilt thou not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clem. Alexandr Says wilt thou not run away from thy disobedient Party If thou hadst been shut up in Despair as the Devils are imprison'd and made to know that thou wert reserved in Chains without hope till the Judgment of the great Day thou mightest have some colour for the hardness of thy heart but now when Grace is not denied if thou repentest not thou wilt have nothing to say for thy self 2. Especially since God hath assured thee by an Oath That he delights not in the death of sinners nor is pleased with the ruin of such as have rebelled against him As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live According to that of St. Peter He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance And that of St. Paul He would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth It 's true the Heathens painted the Godhead after a wild sort making their Pagods in dismal shapes of grim Monsters armed with Claws and Teeth Pictures not unfit to represent those Devils whom they worshipped Who having shown their Enmity to God in making his Creatures Idolaters declared also their Malice to Men by making Cruelty a great part of their Worship not only whilst they forced them to tear their Skin with their Nails and cut their Flesh with Knives as the Worshippers of Baal did of whom wa read 1 Kings 18. 28. and as other Idolaters did of whom we read in Heathen Authors but made them sacrifice their Sons and Daughters to Devils or as in the next Verse to the Idols of Canaan in whom they were worshipped and whose bloody Rites they appointed They made their Children pass through the Fire to Moloch whether they made them perish miserably in the hollow breast of a burning Image or drew them so long between two Fires that they died the Cruelty was so great that they were fain to stifle the sound of their dreadful Shrieks with the noise of Drums This was the sense and practise of the Eastern World and the West was not unlike to it for to one Idol of America Vitzliputsli they offered in some solemn Sacrifices many thousands of Men and Women flay'd alive their breasts being cut open and their warm hearts taken out and presented to the bloody Idol How far our God is from that temper he hath sufficiently declared since instead of making us all dreadful Examples of just Vengeance in our own persons he gave his own dear Son to die for us That blessed Son was of the same temper too as you may see in that part of his Story which is recorded Luke 18. 41. in which we are told of his approach to Ierusalem not long before his death where foreseeing that great Change which for their sins their then flourishing Estate should in a short time suffer it is said he wept over it Wept over it They had given him cause to insult over them they were as bad as sinners could be They had rejected him the Messiah the great promise of God to their Nation who came to them according to all the prefigurations and predictions which were given to their Fathers they acknowledged Miracles to be a sufficient Testimony of God's mind and yet disbelieved him who gave them that proof they scorned the Doctrine of perfect Goodness which he taught and yet confessed that never man spake as he spake they despised the unparalleld Example of all Vertues which he gave in his life and put him to death who had done them all the good he could whilst he lived yet knowing that for these things in a while they should be punished with inexpressible Miseries the foresight made his tears fall from his eyes and to these he added his blood for he died for those who killed him and joyned his Prayers to it for the pardon of such as had made him as miserable as they could After this how can any sinner be afraid of God if he repent 3. The third Enconragement is That God hath by all manner of Invitations called sinners to Repentance The Scripture abounds with frequent Exhortations to this Duty and Declarations of God's desire of mens Return sometimes it records his Expostulations with the Obstinate whom he also beseecheth by his Servants and Sometimes bad them in his Name to command sinners to save themselves this way Exhortations we find often in the Sermons of the Prophets whom he sent of old rising early and sitting up late to warn sinners of their danger and charged the blood of such as perished upon them if they did not do it This was the first Sermon of our Saviour's Forerunner and his own Repent and believe the Gospel How desirous God was always of this in his Creatures these among many other Expressions give witness Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me that it might be well with them O that they were wise that they would understand O that my people had hearkened to me O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace He expostulates with them Why will ye die and by his Servants beseecheth them We are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God And he commands all men every where to repent 4. To perfect this Encouragement he hath assured pardon to the Penitent by many plain Promises in which God's goodness is obliged by his Truth which being made the Apostle said well that now God is faithful and just to forgive sinners The Benignity of the Divine Nature is a good encouragement but when that hath declared it self in