affords us besides our Being is to be reckon'd supra Computum Life at least is our stipend and Aeternity but our Donative Nay if we seriously consider that we are properly the Authors of all that is evil in our selves and nothing more than the Instruments of what is good that when we pray very devoutly 't is God that sets our lips a going and whensoever we give Alms 't is God that mollifies our hearts and that stretcheth out our hands too He abundantly requites us for our obedience by his enabling us to obey For that the Goodness of a mans life is neither infus'd by Nature nor acquir'd by Industry but a special Benefaction of God's free Grace Plato himself though an Heathen had yet Discretion enough to say Why then do the Hebrew or Roman Pharisees take a pride in the doing of this or that Duty or boast the giving of this or that Alms as if they had any thing to give which they themselves had not receiv'd Why do they glory in their Widowhood or Single life when 't is only from God that they have their Continence or why do they think to merit Heaven by being Rich in Good works when even the Goodness of their works does but increase their obligation Can they expect to be rewarded for their Acceptance or think that ought is due to them for their having been already so much oblig'd If from the liberty of their Wills they argue the merit of their Obedience they must know they do impose a double fallacy on themselves For neither can the Wills of men incline to good without Grace nor is the Liberty of their Wills any whit less of God's giving than all the rest 'T is God that makes us not only able but willing too to be obedient So that the privilege of our choice does not only not lessen but greatly heighten our Obligation And since to perform our whole Duty is but to pay our whole Debt our Lord might legally have awarded us not a Recompence but a Discharge Nay let me say a little farther That had our Master proposed to us neither an Heaven to incourage nor an Hell to fright us to our Obedience it had been yet Reward sufficient to have but our Labour for our Pains And Christ were still a Good Master in crowning our Foreheads with their own Sweat in making it the Reward of our Christian Race to injoy the Satisfaction of having run it For the Commandments of God are so extremely for our Interest and so conformable to our Reason that even in keeping them saith the Psalmist there is great Reward Psal. 19. 9 10 11. This I endeavour'd to make appear in the last days Subject of my Discourse shewing the Goodness of our Master from the Work about which he employs his Servants As I shall also make it appear upon some other opportunity And indeed 't is so impossible that any Arrears of Bliss and Glory should be due to us in Heaven for our having been obedient that is happy here on Earth that in the Nineteenth Chapter of St. Matthew at the Nine and twentieth Verse Whosoever hath forsaken either Father or Mother or Brethren or Sisters or Wife or Children or Houses or Lands for the Name of Christ and his Gospel although he shall receive an hundred fold and that perhaps in this present World yet 't is only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall not purchase but inherit Eternal Life 'T is true indeed that our Obedience is the Causa-sine-quâ-non that is the Necessary Condition which is required by God to our being there But it follows not thence that 't is the Causa Energetica the effectual Cause of our coming thither For we cannot duly say A man does walk with his Hands or eat with his Ears because he neither eats nor walks without them And 't is as illogical to affirm that we can climb Heaven by our Good works because without them we fall to Hell They keep us company indeed but they do not carry us Thus if a Patron gives me a Mannor and only covenants for the payment of some small Quit-Rent or else bestows upon me an ample Field upon condition that once a year I shall present him with a Turf I cannot say that that Turf is a Recompence for the Field but an acknowledgment of the Favour Not the paying him for a Bargain but the thanking him for a Benevolence And such is the infinite Disproportion betwixt the best of our Obedience and our least Degree of Bliss that 't is but a Token of our Homage not an earning of our Reward And therefore 't is aptly observ'd by Grotius that the word in the Hebrew Text which answers to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Sixth Chapter of St. Matthew v. 1. doth promiscuously signifie both a Gift and a Reward Thus Life Eternal is a Reward because 't is given upon Condition but withal it is a Gift because 't is given us Say we therefore with holy Iob If we are wicked wo unto us And if we are righteous we will not lift up our Heads Job 10. 15. Or let us say rather with St. Paul 2 Cor. 3. 5. Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but that our sufficiency is of God That though indeed we can work out our own Salvation yet it is upon this accompt that God Himself worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure That though perhaps we can do all things yet it is only through Christ that strengthens us That neither our Duty nor our Happiness are any way Necessary to God who as he needeth not the sinful so neither hath he need of the righteous man And therefore to pass out of this Point at the same Door where I came in let us confess that at our best we are but Unprofitable Servants that our Obedience is not the Cause but meerly the Condition of our Reward And that if ever we arrive at Eternal Life it will not be by way of Purchase as we are Servants but by way of Inheritance as we are Sons Which God of his Mercy prepare us for not for our Faith or for our Works but for the worthiness of his Son To him be Glory for ever and ever Amen A SCRIPTURAL PROGNOSTICK OF JESUS CHRIST's Second Advent TO Iudge the World A PROGNOSTICK OF THE Coming of Christ TO JUDGMENT LUKE XVIII 8. But when The Son of Man cometh shall he find Faith upon the Earth That is to say He shall not According to the Rule of all Grammarians and Rhetoricians that an Affirmative Interrogation is the most forcible way of expressing a flat and positive Denial § 1. THE Cohaerence 'twixt These and the words foregoing is so hard to be discerned at first appearance that some have thought there is none at all For if God will come speedily to the Avenging of his Elect as our Saviour saith he will in the two
growing Unrighteous after Regeneration 2 Pet. 2. ult For having been wash'd from the Mire of Sin Original by the Laver of Baptism and from the Mire of Sins Actual by the blood of Iesus Christ in the other Sacrament of Eucharist they have committed the very Sins of which they had solemnly repented and so their latter end hath been worse than their beginning Now putting the Case unto our selves we know not what may arrive betwixt the Cup and the Lip much less betwixt This and the Day of Iudgment especially if we meet with a Time of Trial. We cannot be confident of our strength upon any better Ground than St. Peter stood on And having not Grace at our own Disposal we must not boast as he did what we will do above others when Christ is under a Condemnation If we have follow'd him to Golgotha we must religiously fear to forsake him there For let our Enduring be what it will it will be found to no purpose unless we endure unto the end And thence it follows that 'till we have Happiness in Possession we are to live by such a Faith as doth admit an holy mixture of fear and trembling This Mode or Manner of our obedience being as rigidly requir'd by God Almighty as the Matter and Measure and Method of it Not only Faith and Repentance and Amendment of Life but also Perseverance in each of These is the Condition of the Promises which God in Christ hath made to us Whose House we are saith the Epistle to the Hebrews if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end Heb. 3. 6. Take heed therefore Brethren as it follows a little after lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God v. 12. But exhort one another daily whilst it is call'd To Day lest any of you be harden'd through the deceitfulness of Sin v. 13. For we are made partakers of Christ not absolutely but with an If If we hold the beginning of our Confidence steadfast unto the end v. 14. Now what needed the holy Penman to have crowded and throng'd so many Caveats so thick together in that one Chapter and in other Chapters of that Epistle if the People of God are so sure of Heaven that there is not place left for a fear of Hell If some at least who were enlightned and by true Grace sanctified do turn Mammelucks and Apostates as Lycerus hath observ'd and as the Apostle doth take for granted Heb. 6. 6. we ought to fear and take heed that We be none of their Number For God's promises to us of a Spiritual Canaan are no more absolute than those of a Temporal Canaan which he made heretofore to his People Israel And since he swore to the Provokers which came with Moses out of Aegypt that notwithstanding his promise which appears by that to have been conditional they should not enter into his Rest Heb. 3. 18. the Apostle tells us we ought to fear lest if we do as they did we come short as they did of the conditional promise proposed to us Heb 4. 1. And conformably to this St. Iohn doth earnestly exhort us to look to our selves that we lose not the things which we have wrought but that we may receive a full Reward 2 Joh. 8. And he that saith here for our Consolation It is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure doth also say for our greater Caution that we our selves are to work out our own Salvation Plainly intimating unto us for he is not guilty of Contradictions That God's working in us to will and to do is not after an irresistible but congruous manner not as with natural but as with voluntary Agents not by physically inforcing but by morally persuading our peevish Wills He doth so work with us as to require that we also do work with Him It is evinced even from hence that as God hath his part so we have ours in the great Business of our Salvation Because we are many times threatned with falling short of the promise in Case we depart from the living God For God cannot threaten to be reveng'd upon his Creatures for what Himself doth either do or not do but for what is either performed or not performed by his Creatures It being not possibly imputable to the Creature that God hath made it Thus or Thus any more than God himself can be accomptable to his Creature why he made it Thus or Thus. God indeed doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most divinely work in us both to will and to do the work required to our Salvation But 't is that we may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 work out that work which he is pleas'd to work in us And by consequence we must do it with fear and trembling lest when God hath done his part we finally miss of Salvation for having been wanting in doing ours And this doth lead us to consider the third Importance of the expression the very great Awefulness or Dread with which we are to work out our own Salvation The two first were rational this third is Literal And indeed the third may be deduced out of the second For if we may fall as well as others we may be lyable to vengeance as well as others That which calls for our solicitude deserves our Fear And that which was St. Paul's reason may well be ours even because our God is a Consuming Fire I may say in some sense that God made Hell for the use of all as well of the best as the worst of men For a Torment only to These who have hated knowledge and will not choose the fear of the Lord But for a Terror also to Them whom he would therefore have to fear that they may not feel it That working out their Salvation with fear and trembling they never may come to the place of Torment The same Spirit that saith Fear not them that can kill the Body only which is a fear proceeding from the spirit of Bondage doth also say at the same Time But rather fear Him who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell Implying This to be such a Fear as doth very well consist with the spirit of Adoption It 's true indeed we may be brutishly valiant and over-daringly encounter the wrath of Heaven without the least fear of the pains of Hell But this I say is a beastly courage an arrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say A fool-hardiness rather than valour True Valour being That that is built on Reason Nor can we Reasonably be free from the fear of Hell until we come to be sure of Heaven And sure of Heaven we cannot be until we have fought the good fight to a final victory and perfectly finish'd our Christian Course We must not suffer the novel Fancy of unconditional Election to flatter us out of all fear of the wrath of God and
do they are afraid it would be answer'd That they must cease to do evil and learn to do good That they must seek Iudgment relieve the Oppressed help the Fatherless and plead for the Widow That they must mortifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. That they must crucifie the world unto themselves and themselves unto the world That if an Eye or a Hand or a Foot offend them they must pluck out the one and cut off the other That they must not take any thought for the morrow but sell all they have and give it to the Poor deny themselves take up Christ's Cross and follow him They will be sav'd with all their hearts provided it may be gratis either upon none or on easy Terms But dare not ask what they must do with a serious purpose to be doing whatsoever shall be answer'd to be a Requisite to Salvation for fear the answer should be harder than they are able to indure As That they must hate their own Lives and Love their Enemies That they must fast as well as pray but feed their Enemies when they hunger That they must turn the right Cheek to him that strikes them on the left That when they are persecuted and rail'd at they must not only rejoyce but leap for Ioy. That they must pray without ceasing rejoyce evermore and in every thing give Thanks Make a Covenant with their Eyes not to look upon a Maid and abstain from all appearance of Evil. But now the Iailour in my Text although he had hardly yet the knowledge had the true Courage of a Christian. Upon Condition he might be sav'd he did not care on what Terms 'T is true Salvation was the End but the Means of its Attainment did make the Object of his Inquiry For he did not simply beg that he might be sav'd as if he thought he might be sav'd without the least cooperation or any endeavour of his own But as if he had concluded within himself as St. Augustin did some Ages after That God who made us without our selves will never save us without our selves He ask't how much he was to contribute towards the Means of his Salvation And This he ask'd in such a manner as to imply his being ready to contribute whatsoever could be exacted For he did not thus ask What must I say or what must I believe what Opinions must I hold or what Sect must I be of what must I give or whither must I go but in a manner which implyed all This and more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what must I Do that I may be sav'd But though this is praise-worthy 't is very far from being enough For 't is one thing to ask what things are to be done that we may be sav'd and effectually to do them is quite another The wealthy Quaerist in the Gospel could easily ask what he should do that he might inherit eternal Life and as easily learn the Things ask't after But when he was answer'd that he must sell all he had and give it to the poor he could not so easily fall to practise what he had learnt by putting the Precept in execution So the Multitude of Jews could easily ask our Blessed Saviour what they must do that they might work the work of God Joh. 6. 28. But being told they must believe that He was the Bread that came down from Heaven Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they murmur'd v. 41. nay they despised him for his Parentage v. 42. It was an hard saying v. 60. Nay so far they were from doing the work of God who had so lately and so readily ask't him what they must do that they might work it that from thence they drew back and would no longer walk with him v. 66. Such a peevishness there is in the minds of men that though they love to be asking the Will of God they cannot indure to be told it much less to be employ'd in the Doing of it no not though they are also told that This alone is the Price at which Salvation is to be had Men may come to be baptiz'd as the Multitude did to Iohn the Baptist And yet may be at That Instant a generation of Vipers Luke 3. 7. A Generation of Vipers and yet have Abraham for their Father v. 8. that is their Father after the Flesh In which respect God is able out of arrant Stocks and Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham But when 't is ask't what we must do to be his Children after the Spirit The Answer is we must inherit at once the Faith and the Works of Abraham And accordingly the Baptist did proportion his Directions to such as ask't them He did not tell them what they must Teach whereby to be Orthodox Professors or what they must hold whereby to be Orthodox Believers But as they ask'd what they must do so he told them those Things that were of necessity to be done Begin not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father for so have They who are Sons of Belial But bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance v. 8. If ye are Publicans exact no more than is appointed you v. 13. If ye are Soldiers do violence to no man neither accuse any one falsly and be content with your wages v. 14. If ye are Christians of any Calling Let him that hath two Coats impart to Him that hath none And He that hath Meat let Him do likewise v. 11. Still 't is our Doing the things ask'd after not our Asking what we must do which is effectually the way to our being sav'd And accordingly when 't is said by the Apostle St. Iames That Faith without Works is dead and nothing worth It is intimated to us by that expression That a Rectitude of Iudgment is nothing worth but as it stands in conjunction with a like Rectitude of Life As if our Faith and our Knowledge and good Professions could amount unto no more than the meer Body of Religion whilst the Soul that enlivens it is still the sanctity of our Actions Thence a Good man is called not an Hearer or a Believer But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Doer of the Word Jam. 1. 22 23. And when it pleas'd our blessed Saviour to give a general Description in the fifth Chapter of St. Iohn as well of the Few that belong to Heaven as of the Many that go to Hell He did not give them their Characters from their being of this or that Country of this or that Calling of this or that Church or Congregation of this or that Faith not to say Faction in Religion But only from their being qualified with such and such Practice with such and such Works with such and such Habits of Conversation Our Saviours words are very plain but in my apprehension of great Remarque And such as being well consider'd would teach us how to pass a Iudgment without any prejudice