Because it keeps Men sensible of their Diseases and Wants and best qualified to receive a Cure for them Whereas Pride on the Contrary not only makes Men Fools but keeps them so It fills them full of themselves alone and never looks but through the Magnifying part of the Perspective It renders them deaf to all manner of Admonition because it never suffers them to suppose they want any And instead of growing wiser and better they are only exasperated and hardened the more in their Folly In short take Faith in its utmost Latitude and you will find in every Instance the same Event with that which our Saviour hath described in the Parable * Luke 18. 9. of the Pharisee and the Publican He that descends into his own Breast and sadly reflects on his Unworthiness and Deficiencies that laments and condemns himself with a God be merciful to me a Sinner or as in the Text cries out with Tears Lord help my Vnbelief is likely enough to go down to his House justified †Psal 25. 9. The Meek will God guide in Judgment and the Humble will he teach his Way But when once a Man is come to a God I thank thee that I am not as Other Men are when he is blind to his Own Failings and rips up those of Others to shelter and excuse his Own This Man's Unbelief is not through Weakness but through Perverseness and Choice He continues ignorant and wicked because he will not learn And there is no Remedy but continue so he must because he thinks himself too wise and too good to be taught and admonished His desperate Condition is well observed by Solomon * Prov. 26. 12. Seest thou a Man wise he might have said holy too in his own conceit there is more hope of a Fool or of a profligate Sinner than of him The One labours under a more raging and a more scandalous Distemper indeed but the Other is poison'd secretly and so fond of his Disease that he hates his Antidote and obstructs all the Methods of Recovery But Thirdly The Weakness of Faith and Defects in Practice are known to be consistent with Safety or otherwise by the Vse or the Neglect of proper Means to strengthen it For it is not enough that we have not wilfully contributed to our past Failings nor yet that we lament or are seriously concerned for our present unless to both these we add Vigilance and care to prevent those that we are subject to for the future He that feels himself perplexed with Doubts and Difficulties in Religion must ask Wisdom of God and labour after it with Meekness and Diligence He that finds his Faith weak in influencing his Practice must take all Opportunities of fastening good Principles on his Mind and continually quicken and rouse himself up by Holy Motions and Remembrances and drive the Impressions deeper that they may be ever present and ever vigorous to draw out into use and ward off every Temptation that besets him The Man that languishes in his Devotion must raise and inflame his Zeal by all necessary Preparations to Prayer by sequestring himself from Business and Care as much as Conveniently he may fixing his Mind with Reverent Apprehensions of the Majesty he kneels before and the infinite Importance of the Blessings he prays for He that repents and thinks his Regret for past Offences less afflicting than it ought must work himself into as deep Remorse as possibly he can And express his Sincerity and the Sense of his Soul by sorrowing in Proportion for his Sin as Nature determines him to do upon Other Occasions of Grief and Sadness And so of the Rest of the Cases mentioned heretofore For tho' God make Allowances for Nature and unavoidable Infirmities yet he expects we should not improve these into Wilful Transgressions and Habits of Vice But on the contrary that we withstand and strive against them and proceed as far as we can toward the correcting and curing of them He does not expect that every Man should be equally Knowing or equally Considerate or equally Devout or Contrite But he requires that Every one should know as much as he can and make his Belief as practical and effectual as he can and Pray as fervently and do Good as delightfully and Mourn for his Wickedness as affectionately as he is able For This is the only Mark of our Integrity and that which will take off all the Mischief of corrupt Nature not to make our Misfortunes a Pretence for real Faults nor from the necessary Imperfections to which we all are liable to take occasion of Transgressing perversely and covering our own Carelesness and wilful Neglects And to all these things we must add a Fourth Sign which is Frequent and earnest Applications for Strength and Grace to Him who is able to support and perfect us To our Lord therefore we should come And if we be Sincere we shall come like Him in the Text with strong Cries and vehement Contention of Heart and Voice We shall beg his Assistance against our Failings and his Comforts against our Sorrows and sad Misgivings of Heart that he would protect us in our Dangers and Temptations and give us a right Judgment of his Dealings with us that he would scatter our Doubts and Distractions and dispell those Clouds which intercept the joyful Light of his Countenance from us And in all these and in all other Instances of a weak Faith Lord we believe thou canst and therefore we pray that thou of thy Goodness wilt help our Vnbelief stablish strengthen settle us in thy Truth Yea We beseech thee good Lord that it may please thee to strengthen such as do stand and to comfort and help the Weak-hearted and to raise up them that fall and finally to beat down Satan under our Feet Amen SERMON XV. CHRIST's RESIGNATION TO HIS Father's Will St. LUKE XXII 42. Father If thou be Willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless not My Will but Thine be done THE several Circumstances of our Blessed Saviour's Passion are related by the Evangelists in so particular so moving a Manner as must needs argue those Men extreamly stupid and insensible upon whom they do not make a very lively and vigorous Impression Now the Purposes this Account is design'd to serve are principally these Two To excite our Thankfulness and Love to Him who submitted to undergo such bitter things for us And to work us up to an irreconcilable Aversion against Sin the wretched Cause of all his Sufferings And What can kindle our Love and enflame our Hearts with Zeal and Gratitude if the Contemplation of his Agonies and Pains the Tortures of his Body and the Amazement and exceeding Sorrows of his Soul will not to which he voluntarily exposed himself by accepting the Punishment of our Offences What can present us with a more frightful Image of the Wrath of God and the Horrors of a self-condemning Conscience than those Sweats of Blood that Heaviness
as ever we had done formerly to that of our Lusts By stemming the Torrent of Profaneness and Impiety and endeavouring with all our might to promote Goodness in the World Particularly by being eminently conspicuous in those Virtues which are most directly contrary to the Vices we formerly indulged and by our active indefatigable Charity to the Souls of our Brethren giving Testimony how just a value we set upon the deliverance of our Own in our mighty care to rescue Theirs Thus far St. Peter's Example leads us But even when we have followed it thus far we may not suppose that our Pardon and good Acceptance are due to any Desert of our own Good Works Or that our deepest Sorrow can properly speaking have in it any thing of Satisfaction For as * Luke XXII 32. St. Peter's Faith did therefore not fail because Christ prayed that it might not so our Restoration and the Essicacy of our Repentance is entirely the Effect of the Merits and Intercession of the same kind Saviour He only could take up this quarrel between offended God and sinful Man and therefore when we find God most easy of Access and are suffered to draw so near as even to be mystically united to him and fed by him let us not forget to beg that the intolerable Burden of our Sins may be removed not in Presumption of our own Righteousness but in confidence of his manifold and great Mercies humbly beseeching him That for his Son our Lord Jesus Christ's Sake he would forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever heareafter serve and please Him In newness of Life To the honour and glory of his holy Name through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen SERMON VII THE CERTAINTY AND Nature of Regeneration St. John III. 8. The Wind bloweth where it lifteth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit WHEN we read of Nicodemus adventuring to Visit Jesus and acknowledging the Conviction his Miracles had wrought upon some of the Beholders that they concluded from hence his Mission and Authority to be Divine it is plain somewhat more than mere Curiosity drew him to this Conference Desires he had though as yet but imperfect of better Instruction but such as they were our Saviour did not disdain to gratify them in entring upon a Discourse concerning the Kingdom of God That Kingdom which it was his design to bring men to the Kingdom of that God from whom he came a Teacher Whether Nicodemus had enquired into the Qualifications requisite to prepare Men for and admit them into this Kingdom we know not or whether Christ of his own accord fell upon This as a Point the most improving the most necessary to be first understood and most pertinent to the purpose of stealing this Visit Nor was it material for St. John to acquaint us That which is of much greater Consequence is that he makes a Man's being born again the indispensable Condition of seeing that Kingdom V. 3. And This deserves the Greater Attention because a Master in Israel mistook it As if God had intended the Impossibility or at least our Saviour were so absurd to propose it of going through the Course of a Natural Birth the second time V. 4. From that wild Misconstruction our Lord delivers himself and explains the Nature of Regeneration That Water and the Spirit the Washing of Baptism outwardly and the inward Sanctifications of the Holy Ghost are the Principles by which it is effected V. 5. That Could it be compassed in that gross way Nicodemus misapprehended yet that would be of no Efficacy no Advantage at all in this Case For since in all Productions the thing born receives the Nature and Resemblance of That whence it s Being was derived Flesh could only produce Flesh But the new Creature which God requires consists in the Mind and therefore to bring forth a new Spirit it is necessary that the Vital Principle should be a Spirit V. 6. And however he might find some difficulty in assenting to this because neither the Cause nor the manner of its Operation fall under the notice of the Bodily Senses yet is not that any just Exception against the Reality of the Fact A very familiar Instance whereof he alledges in the Words of my Text which are thus introduced by the seventh Verse Marvel not that I said unto thee Ye must be born again The Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit The Words plainly consist of two parts A Similitude and The Application and my Discourse upon them shall accordingly distribute it self into these Two Heads First From the Similitude I shall draw some general Conclusions which may direct us in our Contemplation of Divine Truths and especially That of Regeneration which is the Subject Matter of our Lord's Argument with Nicodemus Secondly From the Application I shall consider how far the properties of the Wind mentioned here will give us any just ground to judge of the Holy Spirit 's workings upon the Souls of Men. I. I begin with some General Conclusions drawn from the Similitude it self such as may direct us in our Contemplation of Divine Truths and more especially in That of Regeneration which is the subject Matter of our Lord's Argument with Nicodemus And these Conclusions are as follow 1. First A man may have sufficient Reason to assure himself that a Thing really is without being able to give an account how it came to be For the Cause of a Thing is indeed one and a very satisfactory way of coming to the distinct Knowledge of its Nature But this is but One way of Many and Some things which we cannot come at this way may be so certain to us that it would be the Extremity of an Obstinate Singularity to deny them For as things have Causes so have they likewise Effects and Properties and other Characters by which they may be distinguished And it is enough in all Conscience if any of these give Evidence of their existing For we are every whit as sure that what hath no Being of its own cannot have Properties and Effects as we are that it could never have been without a Cause And therefore when we are able to assign any such Properties or Effects that is a Demonstration of the Reality of the Thing For instance Very Few if Any of the most Learned have been able to give a satisfactory Account of the Original of Winds but the Hypothesis of one Philosopher is disliked and exploded by another Now though these Curious Searchers into Nature cannot agree whence they come and whither they go yet herein they all agree that come and go they do This they know without any search And the unlettered part of the World who have neither Capacity
SERMONS PREACH'D UPON Several Occasions BY GEORGE STANHOPE D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Never before Published LONDON Printed for Dan. Midwinter and Tho. Leigh at the Rose and Crown Ri. Wilkin at the King's Head and Rob. Knaplock at the Angel and Crown all in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCC TO THE MOST REVEREND Father in GOD THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan and One of the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council May it Please Your Grace THAT the few following Discourses may have the Privilege of recommending themselves to the World by the Honour of your Grace's Protection Of which how undeserving soever the Quality of the Performance may be yet the Design I assure my self is every way worthy a Patron of your Grace's Goodness and Character For this is purely to enforce a serious and active Application of Mind to those Practical Duties of Religion wherein the very Life and true Excellence of Christianity consists In order hereunto I have endeavoured to remove some of those false Pretences whereby Men olther suffer themselves to be diverted from the most necessary and useful parts of Religion or are supported in a Wicked Course or are apt to be discouraged in a Good One. And I hope these Matterâ— are I am sure I intended they should be stated in perfect Agreement with the Sense of that Church which Your Grace while in an inferiour Station did adorn with so conspicuous a Piety Vigilance and every Pastoral Vertue and whereof the Good Providence of God hath now so deservedly advanced You to be the Common Spiritual Father But Besides the Right Your Grace hath to the Work it self You have also a very particular one to the Author Whose Labours have been all along favoured with your Countenance and Encouragement and Who ever since your Promotion to the Episcopal Order hath had the Happiness to live under Your Grace's Inspection formerly in Your Diocesan and now in Your Metropolitical Capacity These my Lord are sufficient Inducements for my offering this Tribute of Gratitude and Filial Obedience and will not suffer me to doubt the favorable Acceptance of a Publick Acknowledgment upon so many Accounts your Due In which I shall detain Your Grace no longer than while I beg you to believe that I esteem my self in a peculiar manner obliged not only by my hearty Prayers to Almighty God for his constant Blessing and extraordinary Assistance upon all Your Grace's Designs for the Good of his Church committed to your Charge but by every Instance of Reverence and Duty in my Power to approve my self My LORD Your Grace's most Obedient Son and Servant Geo. Stanhope PREFACE MY Reader had been spared the Trouble of a Preface were it not that I think he may receive some Advantage towards profiting by the following Sermons from having a short Scheme laid before him of my general Design and of that Dependence which these Discourses though composed at several times and upon very different Occasions yet as now connected in one Volume have upon each other The End I proposed to my self was the the perswading Men to the diligent and constant Practice of Religion by endeavouring to draw them off from such Courses and Opinions as seem more especially to obstruct or discourage it Serm. I. And therefore the First Step I make is to shew the Necessity and Vsefulness of attending to the plain Preceptive Parts of the Scripture in Opposition to that wrangling and speculative Humour so predominant in this Age As if the Perfection of a Wise and Good Man were to be placed only in exalted Notions deep Enquiries and skill in dark and controverted Points Which indeed are so far from making the generality of those who attend to them the better that one would almost be tempted to think by the modern way of managing these Matters they scarce leave them the Spirit of Christians Serm. II. Hence I proceed in the Second Sermon to explain the Measures of that Purity which the Gospel requires in the Conversation of every one who would abandon a wicked Course in good earnest Serm. III. For an Encouragement to which difficult Vndertaking my Third treats of the Justice and Mercy of God in distributing the Advantages of the Evangelical Dispensation as our Lord hath represented them in the Parable of those Labourers who were hired into the Vineyard at the Eleventh Hour Serm. IV. But being well aware withal how perverse a Vse might be made of that Parable I esteem'd it my Duty from the Instance of the Thief upon the Cross to lay open those Cheats Men too frequently put upon themselves by a false Application of such Encouragements as the Scripture is supposed to allow a Late or Death-Bed Repentance Hoping that these Considerations might be effectual for bringing my Reader to a Sight and serious Sense of the Necessity of a speedy Reformation Ser. V VI. I thought the Frailty of Humane Nature and an Account of those Ingredients which make up a true Repentance might follow very seasonably which St. Peter's Fall and Recovery may serve for a convenient Illustration of Moreover in regard the Scriptures speak of a very remarkable Change effected by the Spirit of God in our Hearts which by Reason of its Agent and Operation being invisible hath been by Some exploded and denyed as a Fanciful Notion by Others misinterpreted to the great hazard of Souls for an Almighty Necessary and Instantaneous Act Serm. VII VIII The Next Thing that seem'd requisite was to maintain the Certainty to illustrate the Manner and to shew the Priviledges and Conditions of this spiritual Regeneration In all which Argument the Truth ows so much to the accurate Labours of a late learned and excellent Person of our own Church Dr. Clag Operations of the Spirit that it is hard for any Man who treats of this Subject after him not to tread more closely in his Steps than such as read more for Entertainment than Edification are like to be very well contented with Having thus led my Reader gradually to the Change from an Vnregenerate to the truly Christian State I thought it reasonable to consider some of those Difficulties which might check his vigorous Advances in it Ser. IX X. Among these the First are those erroneous Principles which I have endeavoured to refute by shewing the true Importance of the Parable of the Marriage Feast and what Inferences may fairly be drawn from thence for setting the Ordinary Methods of a Christian's Calling and Election in their true Light Serm. XI And then from another Passage of the like Parable in St. Luke I proceed to urge the Necessity of Religion and a strict and constant Regard to it upon the Men who plead Worldly Business and Lawful Cares in excuse for their Neglect of Spiritual Duties But some there are of a Complexion so different from those last mentioned that they think they
never have done never can do enough Serm. XII XIII XIV Instead of following their honest Affairs and indulging their unavoidable Infirmities they sink under the Burden of Both and imagine that they are lost because not sufficiently Spiritualized Their Frailties and Imperfections they look upon as Marks of wanting true Grace and saving Faith And for ministring that Ease and Encouragement due to Persons thus disposed I have considered at large the Case of a Weak and Imperfect Faith and the Scruples which are most usually observed to arise from it Serm. XV. Lastly Since in despight of all the Declarations to be found in Scripture of the Contrary and of all the Reasons resulting from the Natural Tendency of the Thing Affliction is by some weak or carnal Minds reputed a constant Mark of God's Displeasure and a Hindrance rather than any Help to a Christian's Obedience I shut up this Volume with a View of our Blessed Lord's Resignation to his Heavenly Father's Will and such Reflections drawn from thence as may be both our Comfort and Direction under any Calamities which it shall please God to lay upon us This short Account is what I thought a seasonable Introduction that the Reader might come a little prepared and know beforehand what he is to expect In which if after all he find himself at any time disappointed I beg him to remember that he himself also is a Man and that my Desire is rather to profit than to please all into whose Hands these Papers shall come If they who peruse them are made better Christians my Purpose is answered and my Pains rewarded effectually And to this best of all Effects I most humbly beg of God to render my poor Labours in some degree Succesful THE CONTENTS SERMON I. Against unnecessary Curiosity in Religion St. JOHN XXI 22. JEsus saith unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me 1 SERM. II. The Holiness required in a Christian's Conversation EPHES. V. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness 31 SERM. III. The Mercy and Justice of God in distributing Gospel-Advantages St. MATTH XX. 9 10. When they came that were hired about the Eleventh Hour they received every man a Penny But when the First came they supposed that They should have received more and They likewise received every man a Penny 65 SERM. IV. The Penitent Thief no Encouragement for a Death-bed Repentance St. LUKE XXIII 42 43. And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise 98 SERM. V VI. St. PETER's Fall and Repentance St. MARK XIV 72. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him Before the Cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice And when he thought thereon he wept 128 156 SERM. VII The Certainty and Nature of Regeneration St. JOHN III. 8. The Wind bloweth where it lifteth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit 192 SERM. VIII The Conditions and Privileges of the Second Birth St. JOHN I. 12 13. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Which were born not of Blood nor of the will of the Flesh nor of the will of Man but of God 224 SERM. IX X. The Nature of the Christian's Calling and Election Stated from the Parable of the Marriage Feast St. MATTH XXII 14. For Many are called but Few are chosen 252 276 SERM. XI Worldly Hindrances no Excuse for the Neglect of Religious Duties St. LUKE XIV 23 24. And the Lord said unto the Servant Go out into the High-ways and Hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled For I say unto you that none of those Men which were hidden shall taste of my Supper 309 SERM. XII XIII XIV The Case of a Weak and Imperfect Faith and the Scruples about it consider'd St. MARK IX 24. Lattâ—r Part. Lord I believe help thou my Unbelief 344 371 400 SERM. XV. Christ's Resignation to his Father 's Will. St. LUKE XXII 42. Father If thou be Willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless not My Will but Thine be done 432 The Reader is desired to correct these following Errors of the Press PAG. 6. l. 8. read convince p. 8. l. 5. dele put p. 11. l. 5. r. Our Nature p. 13. l. 17. after general put l. 18. aft appearance put p. 18. l. 11. aft alone del p. 22. l. 1. r. mighty l. 7. for every r. very p. 23. l. 6. for we r. ye p. 24. l. 29. r. same Arts. p. 80. l. 29. r. bred p. 99. ult r. then p. 106. l. 5. r. the Case p. 123. l. 7. aft under dele p. 124. l. 17. r. permit p. 126. l. 6. r. of it l. 9. r. Advice p. 129. l. 7. aft God put l. 14. r. for it p. 140. l. 16. r. might have happened d. 145. l. 6. r. and to engage p. 146. l. 8. for and enable r. enables us p. 150. l. 14. for this r. His. p. 180. l. 21. r. the most distant p. 187. l. 16. r. deliver our selves p. 213. l. 14. r. grounded p. 217. l. 17. r. come p. 236. l. 30. for put p. 242. l. 9. r. not to conceive l. 14. r. begets p. 243. l. 16. dele not p. 283. in Margin r. Serm. VII p. 298. l. 26. for even r. ever p. 320. l. 7. dele may p. 321. l. 1. r. makes p. 329. l. 19. r. swallow up p. 333. l. 30. r. were not under p. 349. l. 19. r. as are necessary p. 353. l. 3. dele they l. 26. r. comes p. 360. l. 20. for early r. only p. 367. l. 6. dele too p. 395. l. 28. for it r. us p. 396. l. 1. for given r. even p. 400. l. 1. for XIII r. XIV p. 408. l. 18. r Perseverance p. 413. l. 10. aft besides dele l. 11. r. Ordinance p. 434. l. 2. aft only dele p. 446. l. 2. r. do not SERMON I. AGAINST Unnecessary Curiosity IN Matters of Religion St. John XXI 22. Jesus saith unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me OUR Blessed Saviour at the Eighteenth Verse had signified to St. Peter by what particular sort of Death he should glorify God He upon hearing his own Fate determin'd enquires concerning St. John the Author of this Gospel how Christ intended to dispose of Him But our Lord not thinking fit to gratify his Curiosity in this Point makes the Reply contained in my Text Jesus saith unto him If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me The natural Importance of which Answer is no doubt a Reproof to St. Peter's unnecessary Inquisitiveness into a
So manifest is the Advantage of applying our selves to this part of Religion in which a Christian 's proper Business lies So possible so certain that all who do so shall effectually improve by their Endeavours So unalterable that Promise of him who came to direct us in the right Way to Happiness that * John VII 17. If any man will do his will he shall not fail to know of the Doctrine whether it be of God II. Secondly My next Argument against indulging nice and curious Speculations of this kind is taken from the Vnprofitableness of them Our Lord had he so pleased could have informed St. Peter what should become of this beloved Disciple But he reproves his enquiring into it because no Benefit was to be had by such Information For so we may very reasonably interpret that Passage If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee How wilt thou be the better if I should tell thee what this Man shall do What Furtherance can it prove to thy Preparation for following Me to know whether he shall be required to tread in the same Steps And I cannot but think it would puzzle the wisest Man alive to give a satisfactory account what ends of Consequence to our Everlasting Happiness would be served by being let into a clear and distinct View of all those dark mysterious Truths which are now in so great a degree lockt up from us or how Religion would upon those Terms be in a better State than now it is Let us put the Case in one or two of these Instances already mentioned that the Trinity of Persons in Unity of the Divine Essence and the Incarnation of the Son of God were fully understood by us I desire to know now whether this would at all promote our Zeal in the Love and Service of God or what one Argument we should then have which at present we have not for being better Men or more thankful Christians The true ground of our Reverence and Fear our Love and Trust in God is a due Sense of his Holiness and Wisdom his Power and Justice and Goodness And what dependence I beseech you have our Notions of these Attributes upon our knowing how God is Three in One The proper Motives to a Christian Life are Gratitude and a just Regard to the adorable Mystery of Man's Redemption the Mercy of having our Sins pardoned and satisfied for the Rewards proposed to our sincere Obedience the terrible Punishments of obstinate Offenders and the little Reason we have to flatter our selves with hopes of escaping Heb. II. 3. if we neglect so great Salvation Now these Affections spring from our considering the infinite Kindness and Condescention of the Son of God who humbled himself to do so many wonderful and to suffer so many bitter things for our Sakes But the Mercy of his doing and enduring these things in Nature will not touch our hearts one whit the more tenderly for discerning how this Nature of Ours was united to his Divine Nature It is the thing 's being done and not the particular manner by which it was done that must have this Effect upon us So likewise for the rest The Influences of Divine Grace would not be more prevalent nor is Their Condemnation who stifle and resist them less deserved because we see not all the Springs by which the Holy Spirit moves and bends us It is sufficient that he acts as he does to render both our Obedience possible and our Obstinacy inexcusable The Considerations fitted to contain men in their Duty are the Greatness and the Certainty of the Punishments threatned to wicked Livers As on the other hand the powerful Incentives to doing and suffering with Constancy what God appoints us to are the Excellence and the Assurance of a future Recompence But if the being warn'd in so solemn and express a manner as we are that Torments everlasting and extream remain for the Ungodly will not restrain us from being such our selves neither would we be restrained though God had told us whether that Torment be material Fire or whether it be such as for the exquisite and insupportable Anguish of it was thought convenient to be represented to us by Everlasting Burnings If we will not be perswaded to live and die unto the Lord by these supporting Reflections that Rom. VIII 18. the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us and that it neither hath entred nor can enter 1 Cor. II. 9. into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him What additional Force could these Reflections possibly receive by our being acquainted wherein each Excellence of that Glory and these Joys consists For still the same Temptations to Sin and Infidelity would continue And They who refuse to take God's Word for the Greatness and the Certainty of future Rewards and Punishments which are the only Qualifications necessary to quicken us in our Duty would not have wanted any one Objection which they now pretend to urge against whatever God should have revealed concerning the Nature and Quality of those Rewards and Punishments If men shall be Happy or Miserable for ever and as Happy or Miserable as they are capable of being it matters not much after what manner they shall be so That they shall be so at all depends upon the Will of God that they believe they shall be so is from an Assent to the Word of God declaring that Will. And if the Revelation of God find no Credit as to these things in general there is but little appearance that it would have gained more Credit had he described the whole Process and descended to every Circumstance of these things For the Truth and Declaration of God being the only Motive of Assent common to both these Cases it unavoidably follows that there would be the same reason for witholding it in the One that there can possibly be in the Other Nay shall I carry this Point a little higher I may do it and dare appeal to all that hear me whether in the Judgment of every considerate and unprejudic'd Christian it be not for the Dignity and Advantage of Religion that some Articles of it exceed the largest humane Comprehension Whether we should entertain the same awful Impressions of the Divine Majesty if the Perfections of his Nature and Operations were such only as we could see to the end of and in every respect account to our Reason for Whether it do not raise the value of Man's Redemption to have been brought about by Miracles of Mercy not only without Example but even beyond our present Understanding Had all these things been less we should have known them better but so much as you abate of them to bring them nearer to Mens Capacity so much you weaken the Power of them upon their Affections And the influencing mens Affections is
venture your whole Substance upon so mad a hazard where there have been Millions of Blanks for One Prize and that Prize too got by such a Chance as can never come up again Why will you then with your Eyes open run such a desperate risque of Eternity Eternity to which the longest Life bears not the proportion of a single moment Why will you stake your Souls upon so certain a Loss Your Souls for which the whole World could you gain it is not an equivalent If therefore you have any regard to these As you would escape the agonies of Guilt the horrours of Despair and dreadful looking for of fiery Indignation to consume You as You would secure peace of Conscience the favour of God and those comfortable prospects of bliss which alone can support your drooping Spirits when all worldly comforts forsake You if there be any charms in the Hope of Heaven here and the Enjoyment of hereafter Let my Advice be acceptable to You But why do I call it Mine 'T is the Apostle's Advices and most excellent and pathetical Exhortations those are Hebr. III. 12. 13. IV. 1. To day while it is called To Day harden not your hearts Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief but let us fear lest a promise being made us of entring into his Rest we should at last come short of it 2 Cor. VI. 2. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation Rom. XIII 11. 12. And therefore knowing that it is now high time to awake out of sleep let us cast off the works of Darkness and let us put on the armour of Light now in the time of this mortal Life 2 Pet. III. 12. Looking for and hasting to the Coming of the Day of God when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess I. 7. 8. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all Honour and Obedience now and for ever Amen SERMON V. St PETER's FALL St. Mark XIV 72. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him Before the Cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice And when he thought thereon he wept AMong the many helps and advantages to a Godly Life which the Holy Scriptures furnuh us with None are more useful none better qualified for success than Those which a prudent and considerate Reader may draw from the Examples of eminent Saints recorded there And These may be of Singular Benefit to us Not only by those shining Graces and Virtues that exalted Piety and unshaken Perseverance which ought to provoke our Zeal and encourage our Imitation But no less by those Blemishes and Failings that Proneness to Sin even in the Best men and the Diligence and Painfulness of that Repentance by which they were restored to the Favour of God Which should abate our vain Confidences and awaken our Care Of this latter sort is the Instance now before us concerning St. Peter whose Denial of our Saviour all the four Evangelists have given us a large and particular account of and Three of them declare his bitter remorse of it St. Mark in the Words of my Text hath confined me indeed to this Last only But because we shall be better able to make a right Judgment of his Repentance when we have first considered the nature of the Crime that occasioned it And in regard the One as well as the Other may minister abundant Matter of Profit and Instruction I shall in treating of this Subject take in the whole Compass of it and discourse as well of the Fault implied and reserred to as of the Repentance expresly contained in my Text. And here I cannot think it necessary to employ my own Pains or your Patience in any Critical Niceties which may tend to reconcile those seeming Differences between the several Gospels in some Circumstances relating to this Affair Which yet to persons not very captious and perverse are capable of a fair and easy Accommodation But there is matter of far greater moment which calls for our Attention And the Substance wherein they agree beyond all Controversy is that both St. Peter's Fault and his Repentance were very Great and Exemplary He denied Christ He did it to avoid being thought one of his Disciples by the Servants of the High-Priest He persisted in that Denial He repeated and strengthened it with the Solemnity of Oaths and Curses But when the Crowing of the Cock and the Look of his Master had called up the Powers of Reason and Recollection in his mind Immediately upon reflecting what he had done he went out and wept He wept * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundantly he wept bitterly These are the Passages which we are principally concerned to take notice of And therefore I shall make it my endeavour I. First To represent to you St. Peter 's Fall with the most remarkable Circumstances and Aggravations attending it II. Secondly St. Peter 's Repentance and the undoubted Testimonies given of the Seriousness and Sincerity of it And then under Each of these Heads I shall draw such Observations as may be of use to us to prevent our falling or else to recover our standing if we happen to fall after his Example I. First then Let us consider St. Peter's Fault and those Circumstances attending it which may give us a true State of his Case 1. And here First of all it was undoubtedly one great Aggravation of this Fault to have been committed by St. Peter A Person who had enjoyed the Benefit of a long and familiar Conversation with his Master Who had not only heard the many excellent Instructions delivered to the Multitudes which upon all occasions flocked together in great Numbers to be taught by him but who in private Conferences had been let in to a more full and distinct Understanding of those Mysteries which for wise Reasons had been exprest to the promiscuous Crowd of Hearers in Terms sometimes ambiguous and dark A Person who besides the infinite Miracles wrought publickly in Confirmation of the Truth had been admitted to be an Eye-Witness of such as more clearly and immediately gave Testimony to his Lord 's Divine Nature and Authority Such in particular as the Appearance of Moses * Matth. XVII and Elias at our Lord's Transfiguration that Honour †2 Pet. I. 17 18. and Glory which Jesus received from God the Father when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which voice from heaven himself declares he heard when he was with him in the holy mount A Person whom out Lord had chosen the Companion ‖ Vers 33. of his