call the Bible to be genuine Well but though this may be true yet they object further that there is no Truth in the Matters of fact which these Men set down and particularly that the whole Story of our Saviour's Life and Death and Resurrection is a Falshood and that their Relations are contradictious But to this we may return That though this has been by some Men said yet it has never been prov'd nay on the contrary several Heathen Writers as Pliny Tacitus Lucian Suetonius and others of great Antiquity quoted by * De veritat Christ Rel. Lib. 2. Grotius and †Demomsta◠Evangel Propos 3. prope Initium Haetius have given in their Evidence as to the Matters of fact on the Christian Side and though they have made it their Business to vilifie the whole Story of our Lord's Life and Death yet they could say much less prove that there were no such Occurrences are as recorded by the Evangelists And truly the Evangelists are so punctual in all Circumstances of Time and Place so particular in naming of Persons concern'd and that were Eye-Witnesses of those Transactions and those too Enemies as well as Friends Jews and Heathens as well as Christians and those Transactions were so publick and in the Face of the World and the Account of them was written so soon after they were done that it would then have been a very easie Matter to have detected the Falshood of the Whole or of any Part of the Story if there had been any and both Jews and Heathens were very much concern'd to do it if they could and no doubt they endeavour'd it to the utmost of their Power But yet after all we find that neither then nor since any thing of this Nature has been fastned upon these Writings but rather the Truth of them has been approv'd by the Confession of the Enemies of Christianity than which no better Argument can be produc'd for the Truth of any Ancient History in the World And as for the Contradictions and Inconsistencies which they say are in the New Testament though to Men unlearn'd or else deeply prejudic'd some things may at first sight seem to clash a little yet upon a closer View of any competent and unprejudic'd Person they will be found to be far from being irreclaimable And these seeming Differences are likewise in things not material in the main there is an unquestionable Harmony Which considering that four several Men were the Writers and that they writ in different and distant Places is no mean Argument that what they so punctually and agreeably relate is true And indeed those little Differences that are taken Notice of are rather an Argument for the Truth of their Relation than any thing to the contrary for had it been a pack'd Business they would have been careful not to have differ'd in a Title As for their last Reserve that supposing the Matter of fact to be true which they relate yet those strange things that are recorded of Jesus might be performed by Art Magick and the Power of the Devil And that what he or his Apostles have deliver'd by Way of Precept and Doctrine was meerly the Product of their own Brains and no Inspiration of God To this we may return in this Manner 'T is certain that the coming of Jesus Christ into the World was to destroy the Works and Kingdom of the Devil as is evident from his casting so many evil Spirits out of possess'd Persons and from their trembling at his Presence and crying out for Dread and from his teaching so Holy and Heavenly a Religion than which nothing can more weaken his Infernal Kingdom And to attest the Truth of this his Doctrine and that he was sent by God to teach it to the World he wrought diverse and very amazing Miracles and those highly beneficial ones too such as giving Sight to Men that were born blind and curing long and desperate Diseases and raising to Life those that had been dead and one of them four Days buried and this only with a Word or with his Touch John 11◠15. which is Part of those Matters of fact set down by the Evangelists which we before prov'd to be true Now can any Man in his Senses think that the Devil were he able would so far assist one that come on purpose into the World to destroy his Kingdom 'T is our Lord's own Answer to the foolishly masicious Pharisees who when they saw him work a stupendious Miracle upon one possessed with a Devil both Blind and Dumb insomuch that the Blind and Dumb both spake and saw objected presently This Fellow casteth out Devils by Beelzebub the prince of the Devils And Jesus knew their Thoughts and said unto them every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to Desolation and if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself How then shall his Kingdom stand A Demonstration this that 't was not by the Power of the Devil that he wrought his Miracles but by the Power of God For though deluded Men may be so foolish as to frame such an Objection the Devil is too wise to put the thing in Practice As for the other Part of what is objected That what our Lord and the Writers of the New Testament the Evangelists and Apostles have deliver'd by Way of Precept and Doctrine was meerly the Product of their own Brains and not the Inspiration of God I might only appeal to the Precepts and Doctrines themselves which are of so Exalted and Heavenly a Nature and far above any thing that either before or since was ever written by Man that they themselves will prove their Original to be Divine But there is a farther Proof of this the many and great Miracles that were wrought both by Christ and his Apostles in Confirmation of the Doctrine they taught and of their being commission'd by God in an extraordinary Manner to declare it as the Rule of their Obedience to him and of their Conversation in the World For no reasonable Man can think that God would have so wondrously assisted those above all other Men had they not been his peculiar Messengers to make known his Will to Mankind And this in short may be sufficient to prove to any reasonable and unprejudic'd Man the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and consequently we have sufficient Assurance that there shall be another Life when this is ended wherein Men shall be for ever recompenc'd according to their Works For this is very plainly and expresly asserted in those Writings as every Man knows that has read them And therefore 't is as plain that 't is an unreasonable Obstinacy and too great Love of the sinful Enjoyments of this World that makes Men deny their Assent to so great a Truth and hinders them from being inclin'd by it to lead a more Innocent and Holy Life And the same Obstinacy and Infidel Hardness of Heart and Vileness of Manners would make them
is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are the Angels As therefore the Tares are gather'd and burnt in the Fire so shall it be in the End of the World The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father From this Interpretation of this Parable it appears that the Design of it is to shew for the Encouragement of the sincerely good and Terrour of the Hypocritical that though there may be many wicked Professors of Christianity that are Christians only in Name and Out-side and who in this World may be confusedly intermix'd among the good and go undiscover'd of Men and unpunish'd of God nay thrive and prosper here more than the good and to all outward Appearance be the Favorites of Heaven whilst the sincerely good undergo many Afflictions and appear to Men to be under God's Displeasure Yet in the great Harvest that shall be at the End of the World there shall be a Distinction made between the one and the other the hypocritical shall be separated from the sincere and the former consign'd to ever lasting Burnings and the latter received into the Heavenly Regions the Place prepared for them from the Beginning of the World This is the Design of the Parable We shall now briefly consider how aptly expressive it is of this Sense and then discourse upon the several Parts of it The planting of the Gospel in the World in order to the converting Men to Christianity is compared to the sowing of Seed because as was said upon the former Parable the Gospel like Seed is that Principle of a future great Increase of Piety and Holiness in this World and of Glory and Happiness in the next 'T is that which if sincerely embrac'd and its Growth and Progress not hindred will spring up to Glory Honour and Immortality And 't is said to be like Seed sown or committed to the Furrows and then left to its own seminal Powers and the favourable Influences of Heaven because the Gospel being actually planted in the World is as to particular Persons left to make its Way by its own Power and Efficacy the Excellency of its Precepts and its transcendent Rewards and Punishments together with the constant Dews of the Divine Grace that attend it without any more extraordinary Means unless upon some extraordinary Occasion to make it take Root and fructify 'T is generally propos'd to all in its whole Latitude which is the sowing of it and then Men are left to their own free Choice whether they will embrace it with its Promises or turn their Backs upon it and run the Hazard of its Threats without any irresistible Force to the one or the other only the small still Voice of God's Spirit in Men's Hearts and Grace descending like the gentle Dew to soften and incline them to cherish this good Seed which is the leaving the Gospel to its own seminal Powers with only the benign Waterings of the Divine Grace and Blessing Our Lord is call'd the Sower of the good Seed because he is the Author and first Teacher of this holy Religion and its Validity to the great Purposes to which it is design'd depends upon the Merit of his bitter Death and Passion and the invigorating Vertue of his precious Blood For 't was upon his satisfying the Divine Justice by his Death that he receiv'd Authority to mark out to us this Way to Life and Reconciliation as the only Principle and Seed of Immortality The World is call'd the Field where this Seed is sown because this blessed Religion is catholick and universal not confined to any particular Place or People as the Jewish Religion was but whosoever of what Nation or People soever shall believe in Jesus and repent shall be saved And agreeably in another Parable which for its great Analogy to this I shall not particularly discourse of the Gospel or Kingdom of Christ is represented by a Net cast into the Sea Mat. 13.47 not any particular Lake or River And this World is stiled the Field because this is the only Place of receiving this Seed and bringing forth the genuine and expected Fruits of it and he that shall refuse to receive this divine Seed now while he continues here or not suffer it to grow and increase and bring forth Fruit shall never have the like Opportunity again but suffer for ever the Punishment threatned to obstinate Infidelity or barren Unfruitfulness This World is the only Field this Life the only Seed-time and at the End of it comes that one great Harvest which shall consign Men to an eternal Condition either happy or miserable according to their Barrenness or Fruitfulness during this Time and in this Place of Growth and Increase The Children of the Kingdom or those that are sincere Christians intirely devoted to the Service of their great Master and have receiv'd the good Seed of the Gospel into honest and good Hearts as 't is express'd in the preceeding Parable These are themselves likewise compared to good Seed because they have a substantial Piety the Power as well as the Form and Appearance of Godliness and bring forth the genuine Fruits of their holy Religion That divine Seed that was sown in their Hearts has produced not only the Blade in the Ear but the full Grain in the Ear the same Kind of Seed that was sown appears in their Lives and Conversations the Seed of the Spirit brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit and the Seed of Holiness produces real and substantial Holiness so that the Gospel is called good Seed as 't is the first Principle of Holiness and truly pious Men are likewise call'd good Seed as the genuine Product and Increase of that first Principle The Gospel is the good Seed sown and the sincerely religious are the good Seed as springing from it and being produc'd by it The Children of the wicked one or the hypocritical Professors of Christianity are compared to Tares or Gockle because they have only a Shew and Appearance of Religion as Tares and Cockle have of Corn but like them no Substance of good Corn none of the real Excellencies of Religion nothing but hurtful and vicious Qualities as Tares are said to have hurtful to themselves in the final Consequence as bringing them to so miserable an End and hurtful to others by their ill Neighbourhood and Converse as Tares to Wheat and likewise injurious to the holy Religion they profess as reflecting Dishonour upon it by their scandalous Conversation Upon all Accounts 't is infoelix Lolium as the Poet calls it unhappy Tares they are that bring Dishonour upon God and Destruction upon themselves and others The Devil is very fitly stiled the Enemy that
say to his angelical Reapers gather ye first together the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And accordingly they shall gather out of his Kingdom all that have been a Scandal to it and under the Disguise of Christianity have done Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth And then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father That is when the Close of the World shall come and the whole intelligent Creation be met together at the Summons of the Trump of God Men to receive their several Sentences whether of Absolution or Condemnation according to their several Deserts and Angels to execute these Sentences Then shall the sincerely good Christians indeed and in Truth be plac'd by the blessed Angels of God on the right Hand of the glorious and just Judg and after a Display of their excellent Piety and Charity to all the World hear this joyful Sound Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Foundation of the World and then be immediately caught up into the Clouds to meet their dear Lord in the Air and from thenceforth be for ever with him and shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father having Crowns of eternal Glory plac'd upon their Heads and loud and rapturous Halleluja's in their Mouths Whilst those miserable Wretches that knew no more of Christianity than the Name in whom Religion was only Shew and Formality having no real Influence upon thir Lives and bringing forth no Fruits of Piety whilst these shall find to their Confusion that God is not to be mock'd and be plac'd on the left Hand as Vessels of Wrath and be doom'd to depart for ever from the Fountain of Happiness into eternal Burnings prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Then will the good find by a happy Experience that there is indeed a Reward for the Righteous and that however they were laugh'd at and discourag'd here their Labour is not in vain in the Lord. And then will the Mock Hypocritical Christians be sadly assur'd notwithstanding all their Plea of having eaten and drank in the Presence of the Judge and at his Table and of his having taught in their Streets that without real and substantial Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And instead of being receiv'd into their Master's Joy for cringing and fawning upon him and giving him magnificent Titles Lord Lord Jesus Saviour but heeding little his Commandments they shall be rejected with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And then will God be justifyed in the Face of the whole World and found to be not an unconcern'd Spectator of the Affairs of Man-kind but a wise all-knowing and just Governour of the Universe And though Clouds and Darkness seem here to be round about him yet Righteousness and Judgment are the Establishment of his Throne Then will there be eternal Joy and Exultation of the blissful beatify'd Souls of the righteous and weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in the wretched Companies of the Damn'd for ever Mal. 4.1 Behold the Day cometh saith the Prophet Malachi that shall burn like an Oven and all the proud and all they that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the Day that cometh saith the Lord of Hosts shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch Rev. 9.6 And in that Day shall Men seek Death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and Death shall flee from them And now for a Conclusion of the whole Matter Since from this Parable of our Lord's it appears that though an empty Shew of Religion may pass well enough in this World and meet with no open Discrimination or Punishment from God here yet there shall most certainly be an after Reckoning when all the Thoughts and Intentions of Men's Hearts shall be reveal'd and their vile Hypocrisy and secret Impiety laid open before Men and Angels and an irreversible Doom of greatest Severity pay'd upon them according to their Deservings Since this is true it nearly concerns us all to be Christians in Reality as well as in Name and Appearance to obey the Commands of Christ as well as call him Lord and to approve our selves true Disciples of this holy Institution by leading our Lives in all holy Conversation and Godliness diligently endeavouring to be found of this great Judg in Peace without Spot and blameless Remembring that God shall bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil and that the wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment but the righteous into Life eternal The PRAYER I. O Holy Saviour Jesus from whom are deriv'd all our Possibilities of Salvation the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory but who expectest our Concurrence with thy gracious Endeavours for our Hapiness and for the Tryal of our Sincerity permittest thine and our great Enemy to scatter his hellish Injections where thou sowest thy heavenly Doctrin I earnestly intreat thee so to assist me with thy Life-giving Spirit that my Faith and Obedience which thou hast made the Condition of my Happiness may be so vigorous and active as to manifest that I am thine not only in Word and in Shew but in Deed and in Truth Grant that I may ever esteem those inward Motions which I feel to a progressive Holiness to be what indeed they are thy gracious Endeavours to promote my eternal Welfare and may I always thankfully and chearfully embrace and follow them And whatever Thoughts and Inclinations tend to discourage sincere Religion and perswade to rest in the Formality of it for thy Mercies Sake help me to reject them with the greatest Abhorrence and Indignation as the Endeavours of Satan to involve me in his own Ruin And since 't is while we sleep that our great Adversary sowes these his Tares Give me Grace O blessed Jesus to awake to Righteousness and rouze from my thoughtless Inadvertency and shake off my Dreams of Vanity lest this spiritual Slumber at length prove fatal and betray me into eternal Death II. Thou hast assur'd us O Lord to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment that this Life is the only Time of our Probation O therefore grant that now in this our Day all we that name the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and embrace the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes That by serious Consideration we may make Religion our Choice and adhere to it firmly with all our Powers and Faculties and be in Reality thy peculiar People zealous of good Works remembring thy blessed Words why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I command And that though here the wicked go unpunish'd it will not be always so and at last Hypocrisy shall meet with its Deserts And