The most Reverend D r. IOHN TILLOTSON late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Several Discourses Viz. Of the great Duties of Natural Religion Instituted Religion not intended to undermine Natural Christianity not destructive but perfective of the Law of Moses The Nature and Necessity of Regeneration The Danger of all known Sin Knowledge and Practice necessary in Religion The Sins of Men not Chargeable on God By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The FOURTH VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1697. THE CONTENTS SERM. I. Of the great Duties of Natural Religion with the Ways and Means of knowing them MICAH VI. 6 7 8. WHerewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Page 1. SERM. II. Instituted Religion not intended to undermine Natural MATTH IX 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice p. 43. SERM. III IV. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTH V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill p. 85 113. SERM. V VI VII VIII IX Of the Nature of Regeneration and its Necessity in order to Justification and Salvation GALAT. VI. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature p. 139 165 191 217 241. SERM. X XI The Danger of all known Sin both from the Light of Nature and Revelation ROM I. 18 19. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men who hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them p. 267 305. SERM. XII Knowledge and Practice Necessary in Religion JOHN XIII 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them p. 343. SERM. XIII Practice in Religion necessary in proportion to our Knowledge LUKE XII 47 48. And that Servant which knew his Lord's will and preparâ—d not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more p. 373. SERM. XIV XV. The Sins of Men not chargeablâ— upon God but upon themselves JAMES I. 13 14. Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed p. 403 447. SERMON I. Of the great Duties of Natural Religion with the Ways and Means of knowing them MICAH 6. 6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl shall I give my first born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God IN the beginning of this Chapter the Prophet tells the People of Israel that the Lord had a Controversie with them and that he might direct them how to take up this quarrel he brings in one making this enquiry in the name of the People Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God That is by what kind of Worship or Devotion may I address my self to him in the most acceptable manner by what means may I hope to appease his displeasure To satisfie this enquiry he first instanceth in the chief kinds of Sacrifices and Expiations that were in use among the Jews and Heathens Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings the constant Sacrifice that was offâ—red to God by way of acknowledgment of his Dominion over the Creatures with Calves of a year old which was the Sin-offering which the High-Priest offered for himself Or will he rather accept of those great and costly Sacrifices which were offered upon Solemn and Publick Occasions such as that was which Solomon offered at the Dedication of the Temple Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl Or if none of these will do shall I try to attone him after the manner of the Heathen by the dearest thing in the World the first-born of my Children Shall I give my first-born for my tranâ—gression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul If God was to be appeased at all surely they thought it must be by some of these ways for beyond these they could imagine nothing of greater value and efficacy But the Prophet tells them that they were quite out of the way in thinking to pacifie God upon these terms that there are other things which are much better and more pleasing to him than any of these Sacrifices For some of them were expresly forbidden by God as the offering up of our Children and for the rest they were not good in themselves but meerly by vertue of their Institution and because they were commanded But the things which he would recommend to them are such as are good in their own nature and required of us by God upon that account He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love merâ—y and to walk humbly with thy God So that in these words you have First An Enquiry which is the best way to appease God when he is offended Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God Secondly The way that Men are apt to take in this Case and that is by some external piece of Religion and Devotion such as Sacrifice was both among Jews and Heathen Shall I come before him with Burnt-offerings c. By which questions the Prophet intimates that Men are very apt to pitch upon this course Thirdly The course which God himself directs to and which will effectually pacifie him He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth
the Natural Knowledge which Men have of God is when all is done the surest and fastest hold that Religion hath on Humane Nature Besides how should God judge that part of the World who are wholly destitute of Divine Revelation if they had no Natural Knowledge of him and consequently could not be under the direction and government of any Law For where there is no Law there is no Transgression and where Men are guilty oâ— the breach of no Law they cannot be Judged and Condemned for it for the Judgment of God is according to truth And now this being establisht that Men have a Natural Knowledge of God if they contradict it by their Life and Practice they are guilty of detaining the truth of God in unrighteousness For by this Argument the Apostle proves the Heathen to be guilty of holding the truth in unrighteousness because notwithstanding the Natural Knowledge which they had of God by the things which were made they lived in the practice of gross Idolatry and the most abominable Sins and Vices And this concerns us much more who have the glorious Light of the Gospel added to the Light of Nature For if they who offended against the Light of Nature were liable to the judgment of God of how much sorer Punishment shall we be thought worthy if we neglect those infinite advantages which the Revelation of the Gospel hath superadded to Natural Light He hath now set our Duty in the clearest and strongest Light that ever was afforded to Mankind so that if we will not now Believe and Repent there is no Remedy for us but we must die in our sins if we sin wilfully after so much knowledge of the truth there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation to consume us The Summ of what hath been said on this Argument is briefly this that Men have a Natural Knowledge of God and of those great Duties which result from the Knowledge of him so that whatever Men say and pretend as to the main things of Religion the Worship of God and Justice and Righteousness toward Men setting aside Divine Revelation we are all Naturally convinc'd of our Duty and of what we ought to do and those who live in a bad Course need only be put in mind of what they naturally know better than any body else can tell them that they are in a bad Course so that I may appeal to all wicked Men from themselves rash and heated and intoxicated with Pleasure and Vanity transported and hurried away by Lust and Passion to themselves serious and composed and in a cool and considerate temper And can any sober Man forbear to follow the Convictions of his own Mind and to resolve to do what he inwardly consents to as best Let us but be true to our selves and obey the Dictates of our own Minds and give leave to our own Consciences to Counsel us and tell us what we ought to do and we shall be a Law to our selves I proceed to the Sixth and last Observation namely that the clear Revelation of the wrath of God in the Gospel against the impiety and unrighteousness of Men is one principal thing which renders it so very powerful and likely a means for the Salvation of Mankind For the Apostle instanceth in two things which give the Gospel so great an advantage to this purpose the Mercy of God to Penitent Sinners and his Severity toward the Impenitent both which are so fully and clearly revealed in the Gospel The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth becaâ—se therein the Righteousness of God is revealed that is his great Grace and Mercy in the Justification and Pardon of Sinners by Jesus Christ which I have already shewn to be meant by the Righteousness of God by comparing this with the Explication which is given of the Righteousness of God Chap. 3. ver 22. The other Reason which he gives of the Gospel's being the power of God to Salvation is the plain declaration of the Severity of God toward Impenitent Sinners Because therein also the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The force of which Argument will appear if we consider these following Particulars First That the Declarations of the Gospel in this Matter are so plain and express Secondly That they are very dreadful and terrible Thirdly That there is no safety or hope of impunity for Men that go on and continue in their Sins Fourthly That this Argument will take hold of the most desperate and proâ—ligate Sinners and still retain its force upon the Minds of Men when all other Considerations fail and are of little or no efficacy And Fifthly That no Religion in the World can urge this Argument with that force and advantage that Christianity does First That the declarations of the Gospel in this Matter are most plain and express and that not only against Sin and Wickedness in general but against particular Sins and Vices so that no Man that lives in any Evil and Vicious Course can be ignorant of his danger Our Lord hath told us in general what shall be the Doom of the Workers of Iniquity yea tho' they may have owned him and made profession of his Name Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord c. then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity Math. 13. 49 50. So shall it be at the end of the World the Angels shall come forth and sever the Wicked from among the Just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth Math. 25. 46. The Wicked shall go away into Everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal Joh. 5. 28 29. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnatiom Rom. 2. 6. St. Paul tells us that there is a Day of wrath and of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God who will render to every Man according to his deeds to them who obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of Man that doth evil 2 Thes 1. 7 8 9. That the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punisht with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power Nothing can be more plain and express than these general
Duties namely those which are comprehended under those two great Commandments of the love of God and our Neighbour In the Christian Religion there is very little that is meerly Positive and Instituted besides the two Sacraments and praying to God in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ 2. The most prefect Revelation that ever God made to Mankind I mean that of the Christian Religion doth furnish us with the best helps and advantages for the performance of Moral Duties it discovers our Duty more clearly to us it offers us the greatest assistance to enable us to the performance of it it presents us with the most powerful Motives and Arguments to engage us thereto so that this Revelation of the Gospel is so far from weakning the obligation of natural Duties that it confirms and strengthens it and urgeth us more forcibly to the practice of them 3. The positive Rites and Institutions of Revealed Religion are so far from entrenching upon the Laws of Nature that they were always designed to be subordinate and subservient to them and when ever they come in competition it is the declared will of God that positive Institutions should give way to natural Duties and this I have shewn to be plainly the meaning of this Saying in the Text I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice If Circumstances be such that one part of Religion must give place God will have the Ritual and Instituted part to give way to that which is Natural and Moral It is very frequent in Scripture when the Duties of Natural Religion and Rites of Divine Institution come in competition to slight and disparage these in comparison of Moral Duties and to speak of them as things which God hath no pleasure in and which in comparison of the other he will hardly own that he hath commanded When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands Isa 1. 12. Thou desirest not Sacrifice thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal 51. 16. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl He hath shewn thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy But God no where makes any comparison to the disadvantage of Natural Duties he never derogated from them in any Case he never said he would have such a thing and not mercy or that he had rather such a Rite of Religion should be performed than that men should do the greatest good and shew the greatest Charity to one another It is no where made a question will the Lord be pleased that we deal justly every Man with his Neighbour and speak the truth one to another that we be kind and tender-hearted and ready to forgive that we be willing to distribute and give Alms to those that are in need there is no such question as this put in Scripture nay it is positive in these Matters that with such Sacrifices God is well pleased I instance in this Vertue more especially of Kindness and Compassion because it is one of the prime instances of Moral Duties as Sacrifice is put for all the Ritual and Instituted part of Religion and this disposition of Mind our Saviour makes the root of all Moral Duties Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the Apostle speaks of it as the great End and Scope of the Gospel The end of the Commandment is Charity And this temper and disposition of Mind he advanceth above Knowledge and Faith and Hope The greatest of these is Charity and without this he will not allow a Man to be any thing in Christianity this he makes our highest perfection and attainment and that which abides and remains in the future state Charity never fails This our Saviour most effectually recommends to us both in his Doctrine and by his Example this he presseth as the peculiar Law of his Religion and the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple This he requires us to exercise towards those who practice the contrary towards us to love our Enemies and to do good to them that hate us And of this he hath given us the greatest Example that ever was when we were Enemies to him he loved us so as hardly ever any Man did his Friend so as to lay down his Life for us and he Instituted the Sacrament for a Memorial of his love to Mankind and to put us in mind how we ought to love one another And now the Application of what hath been said upon this Argument to the occasion of this Day is very obvious and there are two very natural Inferences from it First From what hath been said upon this Argument it plainly appears what place Natural and Moral Duties ought to have in the Christian Religion and of all Natural Duties Mercy and Goodness This is so primary a Duty of Humane Nature so great and considerable a part of Religion that all positive Institutions must give way to it and nothing of that kind can cancel the obligation of it nor justifie the violation of this great and Natural Law Our Blessed Saviour in his Religion hath declared nothing to the prejudice of it but on the contrary hath heightned our obligation to it as much as is possible by telling us that the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them So that they know not what manner of Spirit they are of who will kill Men to do God service and to advance his Cause and Religion in the World will break through all obligations of Nature and Civil Society and disturb the Peace and Happiness of Mankind Nor did our Saviour by any thing in his Religion design to release Men from the obligation of Natural and Civil Duties He had as one would imagine as much Power as the Pope but yet he deposed none of the Princes of this World nor did Absolve their Subjects from their Fidelity and Obedience to them for their opposition to his Religion he assumed no such Power to himself no not in Ordine ad Spiritualia nor that ever we read of did he give it to any other Whence then comes his pretended Vicar to have this Authority And yet the horrid attempt of this Day was first designed and afterwards carried on in prosecution of the Popes Bull of Excommunication and was not so much the effect of the despair and discontent of that Party here in England as the Natural Consequence of their Doctrines of Extirpating Hereticks and Deposing Kings and Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance to them No Zeal for any positive Institution in Religion can justifie the Violation of the natural Law the Precepts whereof are of primary and indispensable Obligation The Pope's Supremacy is not so clear as the Duty of Obedience to civil Government nor is Transubstantiation so plainly revealed in Scripture as it is both in Nature and Scripture that we should do no murder And yet how many thousands have been
the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins I should now have proceeded to the Third Particular namely that the Christian Religion hath supplied all the defects and weakness and imperfection of the Jewish dispensation but that I shall not now enter upon but make one plain inference from the substance of what I have already discoursed upon this Argument If our Saviour came not to dissolve and loosen the obligation of Moral Duties but to confirm and establish it and to enforce and bind the practice of these Duties more strongly upon us then they do widely and wilfully mistake the design of Christianity who teach that it dischargeth Men from the obligation of the Moral Law which is the Fundamental and avowed Principle of the Antinomian Doctrine but directly contrary to this Declaration of our Saviour in the Text that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to perfect and fulfill them for to take away the obligation of a Law is plainly to destroy and make it void and contrary to the Apostle's solemn resolution of this matter Rom. 3. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith That is does the Gospel destroy and take away the obligation of the Law God forbid yea we establish the Law the Christian Religion is so far from designing or doing any such thing that it gives new strength and force to it But surely they that teach this Doctrine did never duly consider that terrible threatning of our Saviour after the Text which seems to be so directly level'd at them whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven for how can Men more effectually teach the violation not only of the least but of the greatest of Gods Commandments than by declaring that the Gospel hath set Men free from the obligation of the Moral Law which is in effect to say that Christians may act contrary to all the Duties of Morality that is do the most impious things in the World without any offence against God and notwithstanding this continue to be his Children and highly in the favour of God And all the security they have against this impious Consequence is that weak and slender pretence that gratitude and love to God will preserve them from making this ill use of the grace of the Gospel and oblige them to abstain from Sin and to endeavour to please God as much as any Law could do But then they do not consider the nonsense of this for there can be no such thing as Sin if the obligation of the Law be taken away for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression as the Apostle and common Reason likewise tells us so that the Law being removed and taken away all Actions become indifferent and one thing is not more a sin or offence against God than another And what then is it they mean that gratitude will oblige Men to or preserve them from When there can be no such thing as sin or duty as pleasing or offending God if there be no Law to oblige us to the one or restrain us from the other And what is if this be not to turn the grace of God into wantonness and to make Christian Liberty a Cloke for all sorts of Sins A Man cannot do a greater despite to the Christian Religion nor take a more effectual course to bring it into contempt and to make it to be hiss'd out of the World than to represent it as a lewd and licentious Doctrine which gives Men a perfect discharge from all the Duties of Morality and obligeth them only to believe confidently that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will and that upon these terms and no other they are secure of the favour of God in this World and Eternal Salvation in the other This is the sum and the plain result of the Antinomian Doctrine the most pernicious Heresie and most directly destructive of the great End and Design of Christianity that ever yet was broached in the World But ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning your former conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful Lusts and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness SERMON IV. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTHEW V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil I Have consider'd this Saying of our Saviour's with respect to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual force and that our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or loosen the obligation of them for the illustration of which I propounded to clear these three Points First That the main and ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial goodness Secondly That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make Men truly good and ineffectual to promote inward and real Righteousness These two points I have spoken to I shall now proceed to the Third Namely that the Christian Religion doth supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of the Jewish dispensation The Jewish Religion had very considerable advantages above the meer light of Nature which was all that the Heathen World had to conduct them towards Eternal Happiness the Jews had the knowledge of the one true God and very signal and particular Testimonies of the Divine Providence which did naturally tend to beget in them good hopes of a future Life and the rewards of another World they had the Natural Law revealed and the main Precepts of it written with God's own hand and by Moses delivered to them by which means they had a more certain and distinct knowledge of their duty they had Prophets frequently sent to them to admonish them of their Duty and to exhort them to Repentance and to warn them of approaching judgments They had good encouragement given to hope for the pardon of Sin by God's appointment of several ways of expiation which how unlikely soever they were to be available to the effectual expiation of Sin yet they did signifie that the Divine Nature was placable and did seem to figure some more effectual way designed by God for that purpose that should be exhibited in due time And finally they had most express promises and threatnings of Temporal Blessings and judgements to encourage them in their obedience and to deter them from the transgression of God's Laws These Advantages the Jews plainly had above the rest of the World God did not deal
this was affirmed of some part of Brasil by some of the first Discoverers who yet at the same time owned that these very People did most expresly believe the immortality of the Soul and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life Opinions which no Man can well reconcile with the denial and disbelief of a Deity But to put an end to this Argument later and more perfect discoveries have found this not to be true and do assure us upon better acquaintance with those barbarous People that they are deeply possest with the belief of One supream God who made and governs the World Having thus given a particular Answer to Socinus his Arguments against the Natural knowledge of a God I will now briefly offer some Arguments for it And to prove that the knowledge and belief of a God is natural to Mankind my First Argument shall be from the Universal Consent in this matter of all Nations in all Ages And this is an Argument of great force there being no better way to prove any thing to be natural to any kind of Being than if it be generally found in the whole Kind Omnium consensus naturae vox est the Consent of all is the voice of Nature saith Tully And indeed by what other Argument can we prove that Reason and Speech and an Inclination to Society are Natural to Men but that these belong to the whole Kind Secondly Unless the Knowledge of God and his Essential Perfections be Natural I do not see what sufficient and certain foundation there can be of Revealed Religion For unless we naturally know God to be a Being of all perfection and consequently that whatever he says is true I cannot see what Divine Revelation can signifie For God's revealing or declaring such a thing to us is no necessary Argument that it is so unless antecedently to this Revelation we be possest firmly with this Principle that whatever God says is true And whatever is known antecedently to Revelation must be known by Natural Light and by Reasonings and Deductions from Natural Principles I might further add to this Argument that the only standard and measure to judge of Divine Revelations and to distinguish between what are true and what are counterfeit are the Natural Notions which Men have of God and of his Essential Perfections Thirdly If the Notion of a God be not Natural I do not see how Men can have any Natural Notion of the difference of Moral Good and Evil Just and Unjust For if I do not naturally know there is a God how can I naturally know that there is any Law obliging to the one and forbidding the other all Law and Obligation to Obedience necessarily supposing the Authority of a Superiour Being But the Apostle expresly asserts that the Gentiles who were destitute of a Revealed Law were a Law unto themselves but there cannot be a Natural Law obliging Mankind unless God be Naturally known to them And this Socinus himself in his Discourse upon this very Argument is forced to acknowledge In all Men says he there is Naturally a difference of Just and Unjust or at least there is planted in all Men an acknowledgment that Just ought to be preferr'd beâ—ore Unjust and that which is honest before the contrary and this is nothing else but the Word of God witâ—in a Man which whosoever obeys in so doing obeys God tho' otherwise he neither know nor think there is a God and there is no doubt but he that thus obeys God is accepted of him So that here is an acknowledgement of a Natural Obligation to a Law without any Natural Knowledge of a Superior Authority which I think cannot be and which is worse that a Man may obey God acceptably without knowing and believing there is a God which direcâ—ly thwarts the ground of his first Argument from those words of the Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God that is he that will be Religious and please God must believe that he is so hard is it for any Man to contradict Nature without contradicting himself Fourthly My last Argument I ground upon the words of the Apostle in my Text That which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Is manifest in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among them God hath sufficiently manifested it to Mankind And which way hath God done this by Revelation or by the Natural Light of Reason He tells us at the 20 th ver For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen that is God who in himself is invisible ever since he hath Created the World hath given a visible Demonstration of himself that is of his Eternal Power and Godhead being understood by the things which are made The plain sense of the whole is that this wise and wonderful frame of the World which cannot Reasonably be ascribed to any other Cause but God is a sensible Demonstration to all Mankind of an Eternal and Powerful Being that was the Author and Framer of it The only Question now is Whether this Text speak of the Knowledge of God by particular Revelation or by Natural Light and Reason from the contemplation of the Works of God Socinus having no other way to avoid the force of this Text will needs understand it of the Knowledge of God by the Revelation of the Gospel His words are these The Apostle therefore says in this place that the Eternal Godhead of God that is that which God would always have us to do for the Godhead is sometimes taken in this sense and his Eternal Power that is his Promise which never fails in which sense he said a little before that the Gospel is the Power of God these I say which were never seen by Men that is were never known to them since the Creation of the World are known by his Works that is by the wonderful Operation of God and Divine Men especially of Christ and his Apostles These are his very words and now I refer it to any indifferent Judgment whether this be not a very forced and constrained Interpretation of this Text and whether that which I have before given be not infinitely more free and natural and every way more agreeable to the obvious sense of the words and the scope of the Apostle's Argument For he plainly speaks of the Heathen and proves them to be inexcusable because they held the truth in unrighteousness and having a Natural Knowledge of God from the contemplation of his Works and the things which are made they did not glorifie him as God And therefore I shall not trouble my self to give any other Answer to it for by the absurd violence of it in every part it confutes it self more effectually than any Discourse about it can do I have been the larger upon this because it is a Matter of so great Consequence and lies at the bottom of all Religion For
that he would not do what he knew he ought to do or would do what he knew he ought not to do Now if a Man be simply and invincibly ignorant of his Duty his neglect of it is altogether involuntary for the Will hath nothing to do where the Understanding doth not first direct And this is the Case of Children who are not yet come to the use of Reason for tho' they may do that which is materially a fault yet it is none in them because by reason of their incapacity they are at present invincibly ignorant of what they ought to do And this is the Case likewise of Ideots who are under a natural incapacity of Knowledge and so far as they are so nothing that they do is imputed to them as a fault The same may be said of distracted Persons who are deprived either wholly or at some times of the use of their Understandings so far and so long as they are thus deprived they are free from all guilt and to Persons who have the free and perfect use of their Reason no neglect of any Duty is imputed of which they are absolutely and invincibly ignorant For instance it is a Duty incumbent upon all Mankind to believe in the Son of God where he is sufficiently manifested and revealed to them but those who never heard of him nor had any opportunity of coming to the Knowledge of him shall not be Condemned for this infidelity because it is impossible they should believe on him of whom they never heard they may indeed be Condemned upon other accounts for â—inning against the light of Nature and for not obeying the Law which was written in their hearts for what the Apostle says of the Revelation of the Law is as true of any other Revelation of God As many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law and as many as have sinned under the Law shall be judged by the Law Rom. 2. 12. In like manner those who have â—inned without the Gospel that is who never had the knowledge of it shall not be Condemned for any offence against that Revelation which was never made to them but for their violation of the Law of Nature only they that have sinned under the Gospel shall be judged by it Secondly there is likewise another sort of ignorance which either does not at all or very little extenuate the faults of Men when Men are not only ignorant but chuse to be so that is when they wilfully neglect those Means and Opportunities of knowledge which are afforded to them such as Job speaks of Job 21. 14. Who say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways And this sort of ignorance many among the Jews were guilty of when our Saviour came and preached to them but they would not be instructed by him The light came among them but they loved darkness rather than light as he himself says of them and as he says elsewhere of the Pharisees They rejected the Counsel of God against themselves they wilfully shut their eyes against that light which offered it self to them They would not see with their eyes nor hear with their ears nor understand with their hearts that they might be converted and healed Now an ignorance in this degree wilful can hardly be imagined to carry any excuse at all in it He that knew not his Lord's Will because he would not know it because he wilfully rejected the Means of coming to the knowledge of it deserves to be beaten with as many stripes as if he had known it because he might have known it and would not He that will not take notice of the King's Proclamation or will stop his ears when it is read and afterwards offends against it does equally deserve punishment with those who have read it and heard it and disobey'd it because he was as grosly faulty in not knowing it and there is no reason that any Man 's gross fault should be his excuse So that it is neither of these sorts of ignorance that our Saviour means neither absolute and invincible ignorance nor that which is grosly wilful and affected for the first Men deserve not to be beaten at all because they cannot help it for the latter they deserve not to be excused because they might have helped their ignorance and would not But our Saviour here speaks of such an ignorance as does in a good degree extenuate the fault and yet not wholly excuse it for he says of them that they knew not their Lord's will and yet that this ignorance did not wholly excuse them from blame nor exempt them from punishment but they should be beaten with few stripes In the Third place then there is an ignorance which is in some degree faulty and yet does in a great measure excuse the faults which proceed from it and this is when Men are not absolutely ignorant of their Duty but only in comparison of others who have a far more clear and distinct Knowledge of it and tho' they do not grosly and wilfully neglect the Means of further Knowledge yet perhaps they do not make the best use they might of the opportunities they have of knowing their Duty better and therefore in comparison of others who have far better Means and Advantages of knowing their Lord's Will they may be said not to know it tho' they are not simply ignorant of it but only have a more obscure and uncertain knowledge of it Now this ignorance does in a great measure excuse such Persons and extenuate their Crimes in comparison of those who had a clearer and more perfect knowledge of their Master's Will and yet it does not free them from all guilt because they did not live up to that degree of knowledge which they had and perhaps if they had used more care and industry they might have known their Lord's Will better And this was the Case of the Heathen who in comparison of those who enjoyed the light of the Gospel might be said not to have known their Lord's Will tho' as to many parts of their Duty they had some directions from Natural Light and their Consciences did urge them to many things by the obscure apprehensions and hopes of a Future Reward and the fear of a Future Punishment But this was but a very obscure and uncertain knowledge in comparison of the clear Light of the Gospel which hath discovered to us our Duty so plainly by the Laws and Precepts of it and hath presented us with such powerful Motives and Arguments to Obedience in the Promises and Threatnings of it And this likewise is the Case of many Christians who either through the natural slowness of their Understandings or by the neglect of their Parents and Teachers or other Circumstances of their Education have had far less Means and Advantages of Knowledge than others God does not expect so much from those as from others to whom he hath given greater Capacity and Advantages
so with other Nations neither had the Heathen such a knowledge of God's Laws But notwithstanding this the Jewish Religion was very short and defective very weak and infectual to the great end of Righteousness and true Holiness and to raise Men to that perfection of goodness of which Humane Nature through the grace of God is capable and therefore there wanted a more perfect Institution to supply the defects and weakness and imperfection even of that Divine Revelation which God had made to the Jews and really to effect and accomplish that which the Jewish Religion attempted and aimed at and was but as I may say rudely begun under that imperfect Institution And this the Gospel or the Christian Religion revealed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath fully effected as will evidently appear by a particular Survey and Consideration of the main defects of the Jewish Religion which I shall shew to be all perfectly made up by the revelation of the Gospel and the Doctrine of Christianity in these following Particulars First it was a great defect of the Jewish Religion that a considerable part of it was meerly external concerning the purification of the Body and the Flesh and only figurative of that inward Purity and real Righteousness which renders Men truly good and like to God for which reason the Jewish Institution is by the Apostle to the Hebrews call'd the Law of a Carnal Commandment Heb. 7. 16 and Ch. 9. 10 is said to consist only that is chiefly in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation that is 'till the Messias should come and give such Laws as should really tend to reform the Hearts and Lives of Men and therefore these Laws and Ordinances are call'd poor pitiful Elements and the Rudiments of the World fitted rather for Children in understanding and goodness than to bring Men to any maturity and perfection in goodness All their Rites of purification did only sanctifie to the purifying of the Flesh but did not purge the Conscience from dead works as the Apostle to the Hebrews speaks Ch. 9. 13 14. they could not make those that performed and observed them perfect as pertaining to the Conscience v. 9. that is these Laws had no effect upon the minds of Men to make them really better to cure them of their Moral Defects and Impurities their Sins and Vices But the Christian Institution doth perfectly supply this defect by taking us off from those Carnal and External Observances and principally requiring that we worship God in spirit and in truth by giving us such Laws as wholly tend to advance real and substantial goodness purity and holiness of heart and life such as mainly tend to reform the Minds and Manners of Men and to make us like to that Holy and perfect Being whom we worship and besides an external humble and reverent demeanour of our selves in the worship of God to which Natural Religion doth likewise direct Christianity hath only Instituted two solemn External Rites viz. Baptism and the Lords Supper whereby we solemnly oblige our selves to the practice of all virtue and goodness I say only these two that by the multitude of external Observances Christians might not be taken off from the minding of the real and substantial Duties of Religion And therefore the Church of Rome have extreamly abated and weakned the force of Christianity upon the Hearts and Lives of Men by amusing them with External Rites which they have multiplied to that excessive degree as to make the Yoke of Christ really heavier than that of Moses and the Christian Religion a more external and carnal Commandment than that of the Law and by this means have diverted and taken off the Minds of Men from the main design of Christianity insomuch that they are so employed and taken up with Matters of external Ceremony that they have no leisure to think of being good Men and to mind the great and substantial Duties and Virtues of the Christian Life so that they have spoil'd the Christian Religion of one of its chief Excellencies and Perfections I mean the simplicity of its Worship which they have now encumbred with so many foolish and frivolous Rites and Observances as do not only render it more burthensom but less apt to make men inwardly and substantially good than even Judaism itself This is so true and so visible that the wiser and better sort of them have complain'd of it for several Ages and still do as much as they dare for fear of the Inquisition or some other censure Secondly Another defect of the Law of Moses was that it did not give encouragement enough to Repentance by declaring and assuring to us any certain way and method for the expiation and forgiveness of Sin This the Rites of all Religion aimed at and pretended to but were very ineffectual to that end The Heathen Sacrifices and all the cruel and barbarous Rites belonging to them did all pretend to be so many ways of appeasing the offended Deity and of making atonement and expiation for Sin and the Sacrifices of the Jews were Instituted by God himself to make an external and legal expiation and to be Types and Shadows of a better and more perfect Sacrifice which should really expiate Sin but even this was very darkly and imperfectly discovered to them besides that the expiations of the Law did only extend to the least sorts of Sins those of ignorance and inadvertency but not at all to presumptuous Sins and such as were committed with a high hand not to wilfull and deliberate Sins except in some very few and rare Cases particularly mentioned in the Law so that tho' a great part of the Religious Rites both of the Pagan and Jewish Religion aimed at the expiation of Sin yet were they really ineffectual to that end and upon the whole matter Mankind tho' they conceived good hope of God's mercy and forgiveness in case of Repentance Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his anger yet they were unacquainted with any certain and effectual means to that purpose It remains then that this great blessing of the Forgiveness of Sins was never sufficiently declared and assured to Mankind but through Jesus Christ in the Gospel So St. Paul expresly asserts Acts 13. 38 39. Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of Sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses The Gospel hath provided an expiation for all Sins in general and that by a Sacrifice of inestimable value the blood of the Son of God And this is a mighty encouragement to Repentance and one most effectual means to reclaim Men from their Sins to be assured that they are indemnified for what is past And this the Apostle means when he says Gal. 3. 13. that