and therefore to be sure when it brings little or none at all And upon this account it had doubtless been a true saying if it had been said Notevery one that in other things doth the Will of my Father shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that also saith unto me Lord Lord i. e. who doth moreover make an outward profession of being my Disciple This I say had been true but then it had not been so instructing and useful an Admonition as it is in the Text because it is incomparably more certain that he who doth the Will of God in all other things will out wardly profess the truth of the Gospel than that every one who doth profess it will live according to it And therefore our Saviour laid his Caution where the danger was and so I come to the 2d Point That an outward profession of Christianity is not of it self sufficient in order to our Salvation inasmuch as it is moreover necessary that we should do the Will of God i. e. that we should do his Will in all other things and in general that our Affections and Practices should be answerable to the truth we profess which is a thing so plain if we once come seriously to consider it that there is as little need of proof to make it out as one would think there was of this Caution of our Saviour not to trust in outward profession when our hearts and lives are contrary to what we profess What is a professed Christian but one that declares himself to believe That the unrighteous the unmerciful the unclean the ungodly shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven one that declares to the World that his chief business is to be saved and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord And therefore whilst himself lives in ungodliness and is led away by worldly Lusts he is the most absurd person in the World and so much more ridiculous than a man that has skill in any thing but the proper business of his Calling by which he must live as the Concerns of another World are above all our Interests in this For such a man to maintain the hope of Everlasting Life is a contradiction to his own Faith and Profession such a contradiction to his Profession that he exposes himself to have the lie given him by the World such a contradiction to his Faith that his own Conscience one would think should give him the lie too But yet as plain a case as it is that meer profession without doing the Will of God is not enough to save us our Saviour nevertheless thought fit here and elsewhere plainly to admonish us of it that we might not deceive our selves And the Apostle foretold there would be men having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof and therefore it should seem that how plain soever the mistake is of trusting to profession without a practice answerable to it yet men would be very apt to fall into that mistake There are these two things which I shall hereupon take occasion to speak to 1. That Experience has proved the proneness of Mankind to this folly of presuming upon mere profession that God is pleased with them 2. What are the causes and occasions of so wretched a conceit so void of all shadow or pretence to reason 1. As to the proof of it that it has been so I shall need to insist but little upon it because alas the thing is too apparent in our own days and every man that is guilty has a testimony of it from his own Conscience if he will hearken to it too plain to be denied Our Blessed Saviour himself found a great deal of this folly and madness among the Jews especially amongst the Scribes and Pharisees when he came into the World Their Fathers had for 400 years been cured of Idolatry and the fondness of the gods of their Neighbours round about them they had smarted too severely for that ever to return to it again But they soon fell to make the Profession and Worship of God according to the Law a dispensation for Luxury and Injustice and Unmercifulness and wicked living instead of a restraint from it plainly shewing thereby that their Fathers did not like the True Religion because it was too good for them since their Posterity not daring to revolt from the outward profession of it yet soon learned to reconcile it with a licentious practice Nay if we will take St. Paul's word who did not use to reprove without cause they thought that the same sins which they were guilty of with the Gentiles would not have so bad a construction made of them nor be so displeasing to God as they were in the Gentiles For as it appears from Rom. 2. they judged the Gentiles for doing evil things and did them themselves thinking all the while to escape the righteous judgment of God And what was the reason of all this They had the Temple of God amongst them the Promises made to Abraham and to his Posterity God's Service according to the Law of Moses Sacrifices according to the Law and Washings and divers Ordinances in the observation of which they put their trust and believed that no Israelite should go without his portion of happiness in the life to come In this state our Saviour found them they trusted in Moses and said we have Abraham to our Father they built and garnished the Tombs of the Prophets those very Prophets that had been so ill entertained by their Forefathers for declaring against their sins and because they did this external honour to the Monuments of those good men they excused themselves from following their Instructions being full of hypocrisy and iniquity and all uncleanness Now this being so notorious in our Saviour's time and having been so for some Ages before it seemed needful that his Disciples should be warned against the like fatal mistakes into which there was no little reason to be jealous they would fall For by how much a greater Person Jesus was than Moses and his Sacrifice more excellent than the Sacrifices of the Law and his Religion a more rational and perfect Religion than any that had been before so much greater danger there might be least men should trust to their relation to Christ and to the Sacrifice of Christ and to the profession of the Faith of Christ without an holy heart and life If the Jews could say We have Abraham to our Father and this were enough to quiet their guilty fears it was to be feared Christians would say We have Christ Jesus our Lord and Master our Deliverer and Saviour and make the same use of it If they trusted in Moses there was some reason to suspect that others would hereafter lay hold upon Christ and think themselves safe enough by making their boast of him no less than the Jews had done before of Moses and consequently great reason for this earnest admonition Not every one
he lays down in the remaining part of the Text. 1. That this Righteousness proceeds from Faith The righteousness of God from faith to faith 2. That this principle of Righteousness was mentioned in the Old Testament As it is written the just shall live by faith And therefore we are first to enquire 1. What is the meaning of that Passage from faith to faith In what sense is the Righteousness which God requires said to be from faith to faith I answer that the meaning is this The Righteousness which pleaseth God is that which must begin from Faith which must still proceed from Faith and which at last must end in Faith For this is a saying like to that in Rom. 6.19 As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness For by serving iniquity unto iniquity is meant adding one sin to another and daily growing worse And by serving righteousness unto holiness is meant adding one degree of goodness to another and growing better And thus here the Righteousness which is from faith to faith is a Righteousness which first proceeds from Faith and is always built upon it afterwards and is at last perfected by it For that which the Apostle intimates by these words is That the Righteousness of a good Christian having Faith for the ground and reason of it does encrease as his Faith encreases and that the more he is rooted and strengthned in Faith the better he grows and he pleases God the more This seems to be the most natural interpretation of these words viz. That Faith is all along the Principle and Ground of that Righteousness which God expects and is pleased with But then 2. What relation hath that Passage out of the Old Testament to this matter As it is written the just shall live by faith I answer That the Apostle does hereby design to shew that though the Promises of the Gospel are incomparably more excellent than those that were made under the Law yet it was the belief of God's Promises then that held good men to the performance of their duty and intituled them to the favour of God The words are taken out of Habakk 2.4 God had promised the Jews that they should return from their Captivity in his appointed time v. 3. therefore says he though the vision tarry wait for it because it will surely come but the just shall live by his faith that is to say The sure belief of this Promise would support good men in the service of God under the Captivity in an Idolatrous Land and their Faith should be rewarded with a return into their own Country in God's appointed time In like manner Christians who have better promises viz. of an Heavenly Countrey do in this Faith work that Righteousness which the Gospel requires and for thus living by Faith in this World they shall live for ever in their Heavenly Countrey Faith was the foundation of the Jews observing their Law of outward Works and it was rewarded with such Blessings as that Law promised But the Gospel of Christ as we read in the foregoing Verse is the power of God unto salvation and therefore it is still true but in a much higher sense that the just shall live by faith because the Gospel requires an inward and spiritual Righteousness to which we are brought by the belief of promises of spiritual and eternal good things and because such Faith shall bring us to everlasting life Thus much for the Explication of the Text. And now my work shall be to enquire upon what ground it is that the Scriptures do attribute so much to Faith as they do and to shew that this is done without any disparagement at all to Godliness and Virtue And I have chosen this Argument to discourse upon that it may appear how unreasonably we of the Reformation are charged by our Adversaries as we often have been with Solifidianism as they call it that is with attributing all to Faith and leaving no necessity for Righteousness and good Works We do indeed with the Scriptures say That we are justified by faith and that the just do live by Faith but we do with the Scriptures also affirm Faith to be the principle of obedience and there is a righteousness from faith to faith without which we cannot please God nor be justified before him We do also renounce the merit of good Works and resolve the acceptance of them into the Grace and Mercy of God in not imputing our sins to us and when we have done all they are the gracious Promises of God and it is not the dignity of our own Righteousness that we rely upon but then we say it is the faith of these Promises that maketh us live to God by Repentance and good Works which are so necessary that we are dead without them Now from hence indeed it follows That where there is that faith which God requires holiness will follow For if we are justified by faith if he that believes shall be saved and yet without holiness no man shall see the Lord then they that believe are holy which if it be found true then we not to say the Scriptures are justified in attributing so much to Faith as we do that it is by Faith we please God that we live by Faith and that we are saved by Faith On the other hand it seems hard to understand how those great things should be spoken of Faith when there are many that do not hold faith and a good conscience but hold the truth in unrighteousness And since it follows more certainly That a man believes because he is holy than that he is holy because he believes it should rather have been said that a Believer shall live by his Righteousness than that the just shall live by faith and yet following the Scriptures we say that we live by faith and are justified by faith To clear this difficulty it will be requisite to consider well these two things 1. What the Nature of Faith is And 2. What power it has or what efficacy must necessarily be granted to it and when it hath that power and efficacy I shall not only aim at making the notions of these things clear but also profitable unto Godliness 1st then As to the Nature of Faith I do not see that the Scripture means any thing by Faith but a persuasion of the truth of something that is affirmed upon the Testimony of one that affirms it or upon some other reason besides sensible evidence or immediate knowledge And thus Divine Faith is a persuasion of the truth of those things which we have God's testimony for And that we are thus to understand these words Faith or believing in the Scriptures is very plain because otherwise the Scriptures must have altered the common sense and signification of words But can we think that when our Blessed Saviour required believing under the penalty of
of disobedience 1. The perfection of the Rule which requires a more exceeding Righteousness than either the Law of Moses or the Law of Nature And this is one reason why the Christian Baptism is the Sacrament of Regeneration whether to Jews or Gentiles Because they must become new men and as it were born again by living up to those Divine Principles and holy Rules which are peculiar to the Christian Doctrine by practising that piety and purity and charity in all their conversation which seems to be more than enough for the happiness of single persons or of Societies in this World but which is necessary for an everlasting happiness in the life to come And here are these causes of complaint 1. That there is a severe restraint laid upon our Natural Appetites and Inclinations which often carry us as violently to those Satisfactions which the Law of Christ forbids as to those which it allows There is in every man by nature the love either of pleasure or greatness or revenge c. and this Inclination for the most part stifned by custom so that he cannot be a Christian without self-denial and putting himself to pain And the duty of this kind may be so grievous that as Jesus himself hath described it it may be like cutting off a right hand and pulling out a right eye 2. His Law hath made no allowance for the prevailing Opinions and Customs of the World In common account to forgive one injury is to be exposed to another to refuse a Challenge is to be mark'd for a Coward to use plain dealing is the way to die a Beggar and to neglect several opportunities of gain or pleasure though for Conscience sake is to go for a Fool. But though it is a grievous thing to lie under contempt yet the Doctrine of Christ without consideration of this hard case has tied us up to contrary Rules and expresly required us not to be conformed to this world 3. We must guard our selves against innumerable temptations to the sins of Lust Covetousness Envy Ambition and the like inordinate Affections to which a Christian must by no means consent The very opportunities of doing ill are in some cases hard to be refused and moreover every sin hath its proper incentives which beset us in all places And these are so busy and importunate that some think it impossible to be religious without retiring from the conversation of the World But what rest can there be in perpetual circumspection and standing upon our guard And yet Jesus himself thought this necessary for us Watch and pray saith he that ye enter not into temptation 4. The Law of Christ prescribes to the Thoughts and Affections as well as to the overt Action He that does not defile his Neighbour's Bed may be an adulterer in his heart And he that hates his brother is a murtherer If it be hard to forbear the action what pains must be taken to conquer the Desire to make it an obedient Slave and not suffer it so much as to dispute And yet this is the case neither body nor mind neither deed nor thought is exempted from the obligation of this terrible Law but we must cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit 5. It is not easy to suffer yet if need were we must take up the Cross and be always in mind prepared to endure reproach the loss of Goods yea and of life it self for righteousness sake And the Scripture speaking of this does acknowledge that no chastisement for the present is joyous but grievous So that in giving up our names to Christ we seem to commit our selves to a Sea of troubles instead of making to a Haven of rest He that will be my disciple saith Jesus let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me This is enough to shew the strictness of the Rule and the perfection of Virtue and Piety which the Gospel requires but that which makes all more grievous is the second cause of Complaint 2. The penalty of Disobedience For this is no less than exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven and a more intolerable Sentence at the day of Judgment than those shall receive that never heard the Doctrine of Christ And 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 damnation And our Saviour hath plainly told us by what Rule the Good and the Evil shall be judged The words that I have spoken the same shall judge you at the last day And now that we have heard these things we may be exceedingly amazed as our Lord's first Disciples were when they heard the like and say Who then can be saved or at least where is the truth of his Promise For the condition of his Promise is so hard and the consequence so terrible if we fail of the condition that the extream danger and the great uncertainty seems to create a new trouble not well consistent with the promised rest He is indeed true and faithful that hath promised But whilst my Soul is troubled how can I believe that 't is at rest How therefore shall we bring these things together The truth is nothing has more exercised the wits of men than to find out expedients for this purpose And for my own part I have that experience of Human Frailty on the one side and that desire to be saved on the other that I never lend my ear more willingly than to him that shews me an easy way to Salvation And I am sure he attaques my Affections to so much advantage that I can have no prejudice against his way and nothing but evident want of truth could make me afraid to trust it Some have said That Christ himself hath fulfilled all righteousness in our stead and that upon our faith his righteousness is imputed to us for justification This I confess would cut the knot which we would fain unty for if this be true the Gospel does not only release me from punishment but from duty too But where has our Lord or his Apostles said any thing to this purpose Indeed he has promised to save me from God's angry Justice and that because he was a Sacrifice for Sin offered in my stead But I find that he has imposed upon me the keeping of his Commandments as a condition of that Salvation and therefore I conclude that he did not perform them in my stead too Nor can I conceive how the holiness of Christ should be made an argument in the Scripture to follow his Example if it may be improved into a good reason why we need not follow it So that the Merit of Christ will not save me the labour of becoming a new man and if that will not I am sure no other Merit can And these men not willing to trust their own Invention
that disables us from casting our care upon him In God there is strong confidence but if our confidence in him be not strong it is not because his Providence and Wisdom and Power and Truth will not bear it but because our Guilt will not bear it our evil Conscience our love of this present World or something or other that estrangeth us from God And 't is the Character of wicked men that they live without God in the world not only because they live without respect to his Laws but also because they live without any relief or benefit by his promises and because they live in this World without loving and fearing God they sustain the present punishment of living in this World without putting their trust in him i. e. without the greatest comfort of life to which the whole World cannot afford the like Wherefore Beloved let us remember upon whom this blessedness cometh and be careful not to lose our part in it To which end we must look back upon our past sins to repent of them and look forward upon the remaining part of our life with an unalterable Resolution not to forfeit our Interest in the special Grace and Providence of God for the obtaining of any worldly Good or the avoiding of any worldly Evil which to do were the greater folly and madness because we know that if we love God and are called according to purpose i. e. as I explain'd it are true to our Profession of Christianity then all things shall work together for our good Let us Brethren lay these things to heart for the more we think of them the more we shall be confirm'd in a hearty belief of them They will be a direction and a comfort to us as long as we live nay and they will support us in the hour of death and then they have done all our work for us for the last enemy that is to be destroyed is death and death it self shall work the greatest good of all for us in delivering of us from this evil body which our Saviour will change into the likeness of his glorious body according to his wonderful working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Wherefore my beloved be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. The Seventh Sermon A SERMON Preached at COURT ECCLES III. 15. That which hath been is now and that which is to be already hath been and God requireth that which is past THE former part of the Text That which hath been now is and that which is to be hath already been is in sense the same with v. 9. ch 1. There is no new thing under the Sun that is as the Ages of the World go on the same Events come about again The latter part of it God repuireth that which is past seems to have this meaning that God still requireth the same behaviour from us that he hath ever required of those that have been before us Which two Considerations being intended to promote the general end of the whole Book i. e. to make men fear God and keep his Commandments I intend to illustrate both and to shew how useful they are for that purpose Now these sayings are to be understood as many other Moral and Proverbial sayings are where what is universally affirmed is to be understood as to the greater part The meaning cannot be this that there is no Diversity of Events to be seen in the several passages of mens lives or in the several Ages of the World for as the wise man observes in the beginning of this Chapter To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven A time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted c. Nor can the meaning be that nothing happens in one Age of the World but it hath happened in every Age. For sometimes God createth a new thing The Son of God was to come in our Nature but once before the end of the World There have been Ages of Miracles but we have seen none for many Ages together Such rare and extraordinary cases as these are not intended and as to all the rest the meaning is this That if we consider the diversity of Events which befal Mankind and the Vicissitudes of good and evil which they undergo these varieties are still so repeated in the several Ages of the World that the difference is not so considerable as the agreement in the main they are the fame though the circumstances be diverse Just as the seasons of the Year are the same in which nevertheless there may be great diversity of Weather not always the like Sun-shine or Rain fair or foul Weather barren or fruitful Seasons yet still the same Spring Summer Winter and Autum do return in their course And as the case of all Ages is much alike as to the Events that befal men so 't is not much different as to the Duties required of them For in all times from the beginning to the end of the World the Moral part of Religion is the same viz. to fear God to be Just and Charitable to men and to govern our Passions by Reason by the reverence of our Maker and the expectation of a final account And God has once for all required some Duties by a particular Revelation by which we are obliged to the end of the World Nay and the Circumstances which make the doing of these things more or less difficult are not new since the same or the like have frequently returned heretofore and when we are gone will be repeated again So that still God requireth that which is past Now because as I told you these Considerations are of great use that they may have the stronger impression I shall try to shew that it must needs be so that it cannot be otherwise if we take one thing with another but that that which hath been should be now and that which is to be already should have been 1. From the beginning of the World to the end of it they are the same things of which the good or evil of Mankind is compounded The welfare of the world always did and ever will consist in such things as these In a just and wise Government in constant obedience to it in peace and security in prosperous undertakings in having good Parents and good Children and good Relations in a good name in competent maintenance in liberty and health and in agreeable conversation There are no new sorts of happiness peculiar to one Age which are not as desirable by another nor any kind of misery that one has suffer'd but another must feel the same uneasiness and pain under it when it happens And therefore because it is the good and the evil that happens to men which makes up a great part of the History
more For hereby the quarrel is continued which else in all probability would have been at an end but if we fall to revenge we put our Adversary upon new attempts against us whose anger or pride had been in likelihood satisfied if we had not again provoked him Besides if he be one that seeks our mischief he will not fail to multiply abuses and wrongs upon us because he sees his Designs take place i. e. that we are inwardly moved and disquieted at his ill using us Whereas by patience and forgiveness we shew him that it is to no purpose for him to go about to molest us and that he is ever like to be disappointed when he would create us any harm or trouble By deep resentment of a little Injury we make it a great one and if we are resolved to be even with every foolish and inconsiderate person we shall be sure to vex our selves and to be revenged on our Adversary at our own cost He that lightly passes by an Offence has done with it but he is still in pain that cannot rest till he is reveng'd and therefore if we would consult our own ease and disappoint our Enemy we must get the better of an angry and turbulent spirit and let Vengeance alone which such Creatures as we are cannot pursue but to our own harm and vexation And indeed this is the proper way to gain our Enemy and to make him be at peace with us when we forbear to prosecute him and make him smart for his fault especially if it be in our power to be reveng'd that is a likely way of melting him into sorrow and repentance that he hath wrong'd us at all for though there are some so cross and inflexible that they grow worse by forbearance and gentleness yet sure the generality of men are not so savage and untractable There are few men but if you give them time to consider it will repent of having done you the least harm after they see you have forgiven them and that no rancour is left in your mind against them The true reason why one man that hath abused another is apt to meditate more mischief against him afterwards is because he imagines that now a breach is made it will never be repaired and that the unkindness will never be forgotten and therefore his last way is to secure himself by adding more injuries to the former But therefore if he were indeed convinced that thou bearest no ill-will against him and art fully reconciled to him it is probable that he would be very glad to give over doing thee any wrongs and take the opportunity of becoming thy Friend and then thou hast gained thy Brother to thy self and which is more thou mayest have gained him to God too But if this Course should fail there is another which seems to be so effectual that it cannot but take place and that is to do him a good turn that hath wronged thee which is the Apostles Advice Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good which implies that this may be done and indeed 't is morally impossible that this way should not take place For although ordinary kindness and good turns may be despised yet one of so exceeding a nature as doing good against evil seems to have an irresistible force to prevail with an ill man Every good turn that thou dost to an Enemy is doubled by this consideration that he hath not deserv'd it but the contrary and surely he will be ashamed till he hath requited thee in some measure not only by acknowledgment of his fault but by returning the benefit Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink so shalt thou heap coals of fire upon his head i. e. Thou shalt melt him into sorrow that he hath wronged thee in the least and make him thy Friend for the future So little reason is there to suspect that unless we be revenged of every Injury and Affront that is offer'd to us we expose our selves to more Injuries and Wrongs than we have suffer'd already And therefore that Objection which our Saviour saw would be made to his Doctrine concerning forgiveness of Injuries does in conclusion appear to be no real Objection against it And now let no man suppose that this Rule of putting up Affronts and Contempts Wrongs and Injuries daily with patience and forgiveness is rendred fittest to be preached to men of mean Spirits and Callings who are in good manners to be content with Affronts and to put up all Injuries that are offered them by their Betters but that it is not proper for men of Quality and Honour to whom it would be a disparagement to sit down under Wrongs and Abuses as tamely as a Peasant ought to do for this is a most unreasonable pretence On the other hand There is nothing that becomes men of birth and breeding of great place and renown in the World more than forgiveness of Injuries This is an argument of so much greatness of mind and command over our own Passions that nothing can be greater and to leave it to men of lower degree is to disparage themselves and to lose one of the greatest advantages of their high Estate in the World 'T is the glory of a man to pass by an Offence saith Solomon and we all know that the Royal Prerogative is in no one thing more eminently seen than in pardoning Offences and extending mercy to those that are under the Sentence of the Law And why should it be thought difhonourable to do that which God does who is good to the unmerciful and the unjust to do not only that which he requires but that I say which he does and if any man can be so foolish as to think meanly of us for so doing we cannot help it and should not be troubled at it upon our own but only upon his account For he is the wise and exact Person whose praise is not of men but of God Thus have I endeavoured to recommend to your meditation and practice a Rule which if it be one of the hardest is also one of the most excellent Rules of Religion It is for the glory of the Gospel that we can shew it in our Bibles It will be for our glory if we can shew it in our practice But let us not forget the absolute necessity of submitting to it if ever we hope to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and there is no Argument so powerful as that which is drawn from necessity So necessary it is that our Saviour thought fit to make us acknowledge it every day in our Prayers and has put it in as a Condition that we must our selves undertake for when we ask forgiveness of God Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us Such great care has he taken to inculcate the great necessity of this practice that though he repeated no other part of his Prayer and although this
demonstrate the Being of their Maker If it be possible which for ought I know it is to deface the Testimonies of a Deity which are written within us it is not yet possible to blot out those Testimonies of his Being which are left without us Most plain it is that we find our selves in a World contrived into admirable beauty and order and furnished with that marvellous variety of things excellent and ufeful that the whole scheme and fabrick of Nature to the dullest Observer appears to be an effect of great Wisdom and Councel i. e. of an understanding Being Nothing is more plain than that this World could not make it self Nothing is more plain than that a Cause it must have if of any great Effect it be reasonable to require the Cause or at least to affirm that it hath one Whatever the Cause of this World is it could not make it self for that is a perfect Contradiction By inevitable consequence therefore it follows That something there is which is so perfect it needed no cause to produce it i. e. that there is an Infinite Everlasting Being which is God the Maker of all things But to pursue this Argument in a more obvious but equally convincing manner We ordinarily distinguish between the Works of Art and the Works of Nature By the Works of Art we mean those Effects that are produced by the skill of Man by the Works of Nature those Effects which are constantly preserved and performed to our hands Now that those which we call the Works of Nature are the Effects of a Divine Skill as we confess the Works of Art are of Human Skill is demonstrable beyond all reasonable Contradiction If I see a Statue curiously carved a Picture elegantly described or a Monument with an Ingenious Inscription engraven upon it I must so necessarily conclude that the Statuary the Painter and the Graver hath been there that if I should either affirm that these things came by chance or were eternally what they are I should be in danger of being sent to Bedlam But this I will offer at any time to demonstrate That the meanest the most minute the most contemptible Works of Nature have really more beauty and uniformity more variety and to say nothing else more wonder in them than the most exquisite and rich Inventions the most magnificent and ingenious Contrivances of Human Art Bring me the vilest and poorest Insect that flies above the ground or crawls upon it bring me the simplest Flower the most common Plant that is scattered abroad in the Fields I will shew beyond contradiction that the beauty the proportion the parts the growth and the motions of these the most contemptible Works of Nature do infinitely transcend all the Performances of the richest Humane Fancy That the nearer we look into the Works of Art the more unpolished and rude they appear to be as he that would please himself with gazing on a Picture must view it at a distance but if he come too near the ruggedness of the Paint makes it look like an ugly thing and so it is more or less in all the Contrivances of Human Art But as all Philosophers know the more minutely we search into the Works of Nature even those that are most contemptible to see to and which vulgar eyes pass by without observing if they be the Snow that falls on the ground the Wings of the smallest Fly or the meanest Animal that creeps upon the Earth the more advantageously and minutely they are seen the more uniformity smoothness beauty of colour and figure and variety of parts discover themselves in them which plainly shews how much the Works of Nature transcend those of Art Now shall I who confess here is more of Councel Wisdom and Power seen in these most ordinary Works of Nature than in the best effects of Human Skill shall I be ashamed not to confess the Art of Man in these and yet doubt whether those be the Products of a greater Artist What shall I then say of the Earth that bears me and nourishes me of the Air that is extended for me to breath in of the Clouds that drop their fatness upon me of the Heavens that cherish me of the Sun that divideth the Day and Night and gives light and heat to the World and of all the Ornaments of Heaven and Earth and what of my self who am endued with a Body of wonderful contrivance and with those greater privileges of Reason Will and Understanding Are all these things too without an Artist that made them thus No madness is comparable to the but doubting that they are He that does so must either want his Senses or his Soul He must either deny that these things are what he sees them Effects of great Wisdom and Understanding or he must affirm That such Effects there may be without a Cause proportionable to them he must either say that something made it self or that there was no need that these things should be made i.e. he must affirm that which is impossible may be otherwise and hold Contradictions to be true Well then might the Apostle say The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being known by the things which he hath made even his eternal power and Godhead So that when I consider the mighty evidence of those Arguments for the Existence of a Deity which are drawn from the Works of Nature I cannot see wherein they differ from Demonstrations though some there be who are not pleased to call them so and I do not question but he that can be an obstinate Atheist against them would also if it were for for his interest deny that three and three is six or contradict the plainest Proposition in Mathematicks Upon the whole matter when I consider the Works of God I would rather chuse if there were any choice in these matters to believe all the Tales of the Roman Legends as my Lord Bacon observes and I add tho Transubstantiation were cast into the Scale than believe that this great Body is without a Mind that inform'd it And thus at last I have said something more than I intended upon the first Doctrine of Natural Religion That there is a God proving it to be true by natural Reason as indeed 't is only to be proved For we cannot prove it by Revelation to a Gainsayer since to attempt that way is to beg what we should prove viz. That there is a God whose Revelation this is This therefore is the first Principle of Religion without the belief whereof there can be no obligation conceived to Faith and Worship and the practice of Vertue I proceed to show what the next are in which I shall be very brief because the truth of those is very evidently consequent from the demonstration of this 2. It is fundamentally necessary to Religion and Virtue That we believe there is a Providence i. e. that God is the Governor of that World which
he made and still preserves and more particularly that he governs Mankind in a way suitable to his Nature by prescribing Moral Laws to him and expecting obedience from him that he sees and takes notice of all our Actions that he observes all that we do and all that we suffer and superintends all the Affairs of Humane Life And if there be a God it is clear by natural Reason that there is such a Providence and that upon several grounds I shall instance but in one It is not consistent with the Divine Wisdom to make such a frame of things as were not fit to be regarded and governed by him afterwards i. e to be a Creator and not to be the Lord and Governor of his Creation More particularly It is repugnant to the Truth and Wisdom of God to create such a being as man whose Faculties teach him that he is capable of honouring his Creator and receiving good from him and then not to regard whether he be honoured by his Creature or no and to leave him to the Conduct of Chance for the procuring of that which is good for himself But 't is also plain and evident from the Continuation of the Works of Nature in their serviceableness and usefulness to men that God does still govern the material World and that in order to the good of men which is a clear instance of his Providence over them and that he minds and regards them Now without the belief hereof it is evident that no man can think himself obliged to the practice of Religion and Virtue for though there be a God yet if he minds not our Actions there is no reason why we should fear to offend him or take any care to please him or how can a man be persuaded to worship God if he believes not that God regards his Worship What reason can be pretended why he should pray unto him unless he be convinc'd that God hears his Prayers What consolation can he have under any distress what trust can he place upon the Divine Power and Goodness if he thinks that God is not concern'd in Human Affairs and hath no respect to the Calamities of men and governs nothing by his Providence In brief 't is most plain that whatsoever obligation to Worship and Virtue ariseth from the belief that there a God supposeth also the belief of Divine Providence that God is the Governour of Mankind and taketh notice of their Actions 3. It is fundamentally necessary to Religion and Virtue that men believe that with some things God is pleased and that with others he is offended i. e. that there is a difference between good and evil which can by no means be altered and taken away That some things are so good that they can never become evil and some things so evil that they can never become good And if we believe there is a God such must be our persuasions concerning good and evil for if Justice be an indispensible Perfection of the Divine Nature then is there an eternal relation between a promise and the performance thereof and 't is impossible that Fidelity and Truth should ever cease to be fitting lovely and beautiful things If the Goodness of God be necessary to his Nature then the relation between Compassion and an indigent Creature is Eternal and Charity and Mercy are things immutably good And thus in all other instances of Virtue it might be made to appear from the Perfections of the Divine Nature whereof they are the imitations that they can no more cease to be good than God can cease to be what he is and consequently that the Dispositions and Practices contrary to them are immutably evil It can never be good to condemn the Innocent to oppress the Weak to be cruel and implacable to be sunk into sensuality or worldliness No Power in Heaven or in Earth no Will no Authority can make it ever cease from being a most comely fitting due thing for a Creature that is endued with Reason to praise his God to honour him in all his Perfections to love his Infinite Goodness to trust in his Infinite Power and Wisdom to reverence his great and holy Majesty and to obey his Will in all things the rectitude and duty hereof cannot be altered any more than the truth of a Mathematical Proposition upon this belief depends the persuasion that Worship and all Virtue and Goodness is pleasing to God and the contrary displeasing to him and this is as certain as 't is certain that God is immutably good and loves that which is most excellent and perfect This sense of good and evil is that also which is wrought into our very Natures the Heathens themselves who wanted a Revelation were yet subject to this Law of their Minds being terrified and punished by the Conscience of evil when they transgressed that Law cherished and rewarded by the Conscience of good when they observed it It was this sense that gave them courage and assurance when they did well and that touched their guilty minds with remorse and made them tremble when they did ill I will not trouble my self to enquire how far 't is in the power of custom in Sin to blot out these Apprehensions in the minds of men but let a man's Conscience be seared never so incurably though he hath no inward sense to inform him perpetually of the difference between good and evil yet that difference is demonstrable to him from the Being of a God as I have shewn and that is the most irrefragable way of proving it against the most hardned Sinner But plain it is that the belief hereof is absolutely necessary to the pleasing of God For what though a man believe there is a God and that there is a Providence which governs the World if yet he be not persuaded that some things there are by the doing of which God is pleased he will never take care to please him by the doing of those things If he is not persuaded some things there are by the doing whereof God is displeased he can never be afraid of offending him by the doing of those things If he thinks there is no difference between good and evil in the nature of things he cannot think himself obliged to make or observe any such difference in his Actions unless he believes that to worship God and practice Virtue is good in it self acceptable to God and rewardable by him nothing can effectually oblige him thereunto unless he believe the contrary to be evil displeasing and punishable no religious belief whatsoever can deter him from it So that to believe this difference between good and evil between things that God is pleased withal and wherewith he is displeased is of absolute necessity to Religion and Virtue or the doing of those things whereby God is pleased And all these things are so fundamentally necessary in order to that end that it is naturally impossible and it implies a contradiction that a man should be