Majesty doth so out of respect to them as such but as they have promises but especially threatnings annexed to them For to be sure he that performs the one and forbears the other from any Lovely notion he hath of Obedience and any hateful one he hath conceived of disobedience will also make Conscience of those and the like Duties in regard of the goodness becomingness and Excellency he discerns in them and will abstain from these and the like Sins because of the intrinsick Evil Turpitude and Deformity he apprehends in them For those are no whit less manifestly lovely and Worthy of Mankind than is Obedience to the Divine Will considered in an abstracted notion nor these less apparently vile and abominable than is Disobedience For that very Reason that makes it an intolerable thing to disobey a Law of God viz. because it is highly Unjust so to do makes it so also to Commit the forementioned and such like Sins and so on the Contrary Now this Proposition That it is a base thing to do unjustly is one of those which I call first principles than which there is nothing Man-kind doth more naturally assent to And those Sins with many other are alike plain instances and expressions of that shameful vice Injustice though not of an equal degree of it The summe of what we have said in this account of the Nature of True Holiness is this viz. That it is such a Disposition and Temper of the inward man as powerfully enclines it carefully to regard and attend to affectionately to embrace and adhere to to be actuated by and under the Government of all those Good Practical Principles that are made known either by Revelation Nature or the use of Reason Now though Nothing is more natural to the Souls of Men considered in their pure Essentials and as they came out of their Creatour's hands than this most Excellent Temper yet by their Apostacy from God and sinking into Brutish sensuality did they sadly disposses themselves of it and so became like the Beasts which perish But it pleased the Infinite Goodness of the Divine Majesty not to give us over so For when we had destroyed our selves in him was our Help found He greatly concerned himself for the Recovery of Fallen Mankind by various means and Methods and when the world was at the very worst did he make use of the most Sovereign and effectual Remedy He who at Sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets did in these last days send his dearly Beloved and onely Begotten Son to us And to prove that the Great Errand he came upon was the effecting of our Deliverance out of that sinful State we had brought our selves into and the putting us again into possession of that Holiness which we had Lost is now our Next Business CHAP. II. A General Demonstration that the Holiness Described is the Design of Christianity by a Climax of Seven particulars IN the first place in order to the proof of this it is worthy our observation that S. Iohn the Baptist being sent to prepare the way before our Saviour did so by teaching the Doctrine of Repentance and Baptizing men thereunto And that we no sooner read of his appearing in Publique and entring upon his Office of Harbinger or Fore-runner but we find him Preaching this Doctrine and making use of the News of the Messiah's Approach as a Motive to perswade them to that Duty Matth. 3. 1 2. In those days came Iohn the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness of Iudea and saying Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And this was that which the Angel foretold Zacharias he should do when he gave him the first notice that he should be the Father of such a Son Luk. 1. 16 17. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before him in the power and Spirit of Elias to turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the disobedient to the Wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord That is He shall make way for the Messiah with the same zeal against all wickedness as was expressed by Elias and likewise with an immediate Commission from Heaven as he had in order to the working of a General Reformation among the Jews This sheweth that Christ's Great errand into the world was mens thorow-conversion from Sin and the making them truly Holy seeing that the only preparation necessary for the entertainment of him consisted in having this work begun in them Secondly Upon the first news of Christ's near Approach brought by Malachi the last of the Prophets this is expressed by him as that which should be his Grand Business when he was come Mal. 3. 1 2 3. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in or have a longing expectation of Behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts But who may abide the day of his coming Or who shall stand when he appeareth For he is like a Refiner's fire and like Fuller's Soap And he shall sit as a Refiner and purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi and purge them as Gold is purged c. Thirdly Immediately after his conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin this was foretold to Ioseph Concerning him by an Angel Matth. 1. 21. She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his Name Jesus for He shall save his people from their sins This Blessing of making men Holy was so much the design of Christ's coming that He had his very Name from it Observe the words are He shall save his people from their sins not from the punishment of them And as will fully appear hereafter that is the primary sence of them which is most plainly expressed in them That he shall save his people from the punishment of sin is a true sence too but it is secondary and implied only as this latter is the never failing and necessary consequent of the former Salvation This again was foretold by Zacharias betwixt his Conception and Birth He saith Luke 1. 72 c. That God performed his covenant in sending Christ which covenant consists in this That He would grant us that We being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our Life Fourthly We likewise find this expressed by Simeon immediately upon his Birth Luke 2. 32. Where having called him God's Salvation which He had prepared before the face of all people he adds that He is a Light to lighten the Gentiles whereby is meant that he should bring them into the way of Righteousness and true Holiness Holiness is in not a few places expressed by the Metaphor of Light and Wickedness by that of Darkness Turning from Darkness to Light is
us in the performance of Holy Actions It is the making the Gospel and all means effectual to the Renovation and Reformation of our Hearts and Lives If it be objected that we read of two Miracles namely his cursing the Fig-tree and sending the Devils into the Herd of Swine which are so far from containing any Lessons of Morality or tending to the least good that they seem to be on the contrary onely of an Evil and Mischievous Consequence I answer That as for our Saviour's Cursing the Fig-tree that bare leaves and had no fruit on it it was a most significant document unto Men that their Profession which is answerable to bearing Leaves must be joyned with a sutable Practice and have fruit accompanying or 't will be nothing worth And Fruitless Persons were taught by that Emblem what they must look for if they continued so But the most pregnant meaning of it is as the Learned Doctor Hammond hath shewn that the Jews which were just like that Leafie-tree without fruit at that time on it a meer Professing People were to expect speedy destruction from him on supposition that they persisted in their unfruitfulness It is not once to be imagined that this which our Saviour did to the Fig-tree was any other than Emblematical for no one that deserveth but the Name of a Man would be guilty of such a piece of Impotent Revenge as to wreak his anger on a Senseless tree that was not upon the account of its barrenness or any thing else in a capacity of being faulty or blame worthy And besides it is mentioned in the story as related by S. Mark Chap. 11. 13. that the time of figs was not yet Or it was not then a season for Figs that is it was not a good Fig-year which is given as the cause of the Tree's being at that time without fruit And it seems to me very probable that that clause was purposely added that it might be the more easily observed that our Saviour's Curse was not designed to be terminated in the Tree but that it was pronounced against it onely as it was an apt Resemblance of a Professor that is barren of good works So that our Blessed Lord who was so meek and forbearing towards wicked and the worst of men and likewise so very gracious and kind to them could not be supposed to have been at all much less so very angry with an innocent Vegetable as to destroy it for no other reason than that he once found no fruit upon it but it is evident that he onely took hold of this opportunity to do as I now said So that this Miracle was designed no less than the forementioned to be Instructive to the spectators of it and to all that should afterwards hear or read the story concerning it which none could be so dull as not to understand that had but the least knowledge of him And as for that other viz. his sending the Devils which he had ejected out of a Poor Man into a Herd of Swine and by that means causing them to run violently down a steep hill into the Sea and to perish there We read First that our Saviour did not command them but onely suffered them as 't is expressed both by S. Mark and S. Luke at their own request to take possession of those Beasts Nor doth the saying unto them Go which is in S. Matthew's Relation of the Story speak any more than a bare Permission seeing their beseeching him to suffer them to go is there expressed as the occasion of his so speaking So that the Mischief that was done the Devils onely were the Authors or the proper Cause of Nor secondly could our Saviour permit this either to make sport or to please himself with the Destruction of the poor Creatures for both these were infinitely below him and perfectly Contrary to the Seriousness of his Spirit and Goodness of his Nature but there were very weighty and great reasons why he should thus do As first To expose the Hateful Nature of the Devils and to give men to understand and take notice how extremely they delight in doing Mischief which it doth greatly concern the wellfare of our Souls both not to be ignorant of and well to Consider By this experiment it appeared that those unclean Spirits are so maliciously disposed and so bent upon mischievousness as that rather than want objects to vent their Spite on they will be glad to do it upon Bruit Beasts But especially the Devils most inveterate and deadly hatred to man-kind was hereby shewed in that when they were no longer permitted to do them a greater they were glad of an opportunity to make them the objects of a less mischief And to procure to them what hurt they were able in their Goods when they ceased to be in a Capacity of tormenting them in their Minds and Bodies 2ly By this means there was a discovery made what a multitude there were of them that possessed that one or at most according to S. Matthew two persons insomuch as that those which were cast out of them were enough to actuate the Bodies of a great herd of Swine and consisting of no fewer than about two thousand as S. Mark saith and none could tell but he that cast them out of the men and suffered them to enter the swine how very many each of these might be possessed with This was of great importance to be known in order to the understanding of the Greatness of the Miracle that was wrought in behalf of the Miserable wretches and to their being made sensible of the exceeding vastness of the deliverance that by their Saviour was brought unto them For though the Devils declared that their name was Legion to signifie that they were a very mighty multitude Yet what they said was too incredible to be received upon the bare word of those which from the very beginning were always Liars but this permission of our Saviour gave a plain demonstration that in this saying of theirs they spake the truth Thirdly These Persons were by this means most effectually taught how infinitely they were obliged to the Divine Providence in not suffering this huge number of Fiends all the time they had possession of them to destroy them when as they no sooner entred into the herd of Swine but immediately they dispatch'd them all Fourthly This permission was also a just punishment to the Gaderens to whom those Beasts belonged who as afterward it appeared were a generation of Covetous Muck-worms and preferred their Swine before their Souls and so likewise it was as effectual and proper a course as could well be taken for their Reformation Several other Reasons of this action might be instanced in but these nay any one of them may well suffice So that it is apparent that this Miracle was so far from being a Mischievous one or of no use that there was scarcely any one wrought by our Saviour that is so pregnant
breast Do I heartily endeavour to have a right understanding of the holy Scriptures and chiefly of the Gospel and to know what Doctrines are delivered there in order to the bettering of my soul by them and the direction of my life and actions according to them If we can answer these Questions in the affirmative whatsoever mistakes we may labour under they can be none of them such as will undo our souls because we shall have cause to conclude from thence that the Design of Christianity is in some good measure effected in us And whatsoever Tenets may be accompanied and consist with the true Love of God and a solicitous care to keep a conscience void of offence towards him and men we may be certain from the past Discourse of the Design of the Gospel that they belong not to the Catalogue of Fundamental Errours This obedient temper is the most infallible mark of any I know of an Orthodox man He that is indued with it though he may erre cannot be an Heretique But there will be an occasion of speaking more anon to this purpose CHAP. XXII The Sixth Inference That the Design of Christianity teacheth us what Doctrines and Practices we ought as Christians to be most Zealous for or against SIxthly We consequently learn what Doctrines and Practices we ought as Christians to be most zealous for or against Those surely that are most available to the begetting and encrease of true holiness it is our duty to concern our selves most for the defence of And those which have the greatest tendency towards the endangering of it to set our selves with the greatest industry and vigour against The reason is plain because the former do most promote the Design of the Gospel and the latter do it most disservice S. Iude exhorts in the third verse of his Epistle to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints that holy Doctrine which was first delivered by our Saviour and unanimously by his Apostles after him which is perfectly contrary to the wicked and abominable Doctrines taught by the profane crew he speaks of in the next verse and were more than probably the Gnosticks which were crept in unawares who were before ordained to this condemnation or whose Impostures first and then the vengeance which should be taken of them were formerly written of or foretold both by Christ and his Apostles ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ. And we ought to contend against whatsoever is designed to overthrow and make ineffectual that most blessed Doctrine more or less according as it more or less tends so to do Our zeal should be altogether employed for the promoting of personal and real Holiness and mostly for the Essential parts of it and the Necessary means and helps to it But doubtless it cannot be worth our while to lay out any considerable matter of our heat either for or against Doubtful Opinions Alterable Modes Rites and Circumstances of Religion They are not things on which much weight may be warrantably laid for they are too weak to bear it in regard of their being so little serviceable or disserviceable to the Design of Christianity as 't is plain they are I say eager defending or opposing of such kind of things is to use the similitude of an excellent person like the Apes blowing at a Glow-worm which affords neither light nor warmth Nay it is no less injurious to the Design of Christianity than unserviceable and useless as we have been effectually taught by very woful experience And nothing doth more harden Atheistically-disposed persons than their observing the contention of Christians about matters of that nature for thereby do they take a measure of our whole Religion And besides an eager concernedness about them is too ordinarily accompanied with a lukewarm or rather frozen indifference concerning the most important Points and the Indispensables of Christianity It is too visibly apparent to be denied That those which have such a sealding hot zeal either for or against things of no certainty and no necessity are many of them as their predecessors the Pharisees were in the very other extreme as to not a few of the weightyest matters of Religion CHAP. XXIII The Seventh Inference That the Design of Christianity well considered will give us great light into the just Bounds and Extent of Christian Liberty Of complying with the Customes of our Country and the will of our Governours The Great difference between the Mosaical Law and the Gospel as to its Preceptive part SEventhly we may be greatly satisfied by considering the Design of Christianity concerning the Iust bounds and extent of our Christian Liberty For that being to make men holy it may safely be presumed that such things as have neither directly nor consequentially any tendency to the depraving of our Souls are left free to us by our Saviour either to do them or not to do them as we shall see cause Whatsoever doth neither promote noâ—… hinder this Design we have reason to believe is neither injoyn'd upon us Christians nor forbidden to us Whatever things are any way necessary to the furtherance of it must needs be matter of strict duty and what are so profitable thereunto that the Omission of them doth make the effecting of this Design more difficult cannot but be ordinarily so also Whatsoever is in its own nature or by reason of some Circumstance inseparably adhering to it a necessary occasion of gratifying some one or other corrupt affection and that by the doing of w ch we shall certainly desile our own Souls or the Souls of others either by drawing them thereby to or hardening and encourageing them in any wickedness which is that our Saviour means by offending or scandalizing little ones and is so severely forbidden by him and also by the Apostle in the eighth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians can be no other than absolutely unlawful And whatsoever is foreseen to be a probable occasion of any one of these mischiefs must also be carefully avoided by us But those things which are none of all these cannot be otherwise than perfectly indifferent under the Gospel And therefore whatsoever of such are commended by the Custome of the places we live in or Commanded by Superiors or made by any Circumstance convenient to be done our Christian liberty consists in this that we have leave to do them And indeed it is so far from being a sin to comply with our Country-men and Neighbours in their plainly innocent usages and harmless Customes or with the will of our Governours when they command us such things that it would be so to refuse so to do For our refusing to comply with either of these can hardly proceed from any thing better than a proud affectation of singularity or at best from superstitious sâ—…rupulosity which in calling it Superstitious I intimate to be very evil as much