to build and now I shall proceed to shew what those sins are which manifestly oppose and contradict these Rules and they may I think be reduced to these two Atheism and Idolatry First Atheism of which there are two sorts properly so called Either I. Not believing that there is a God Or II. Not worshipping him 1. Not believing a God that is an invisible Spiritual Being which is the cause of all things and this is that which is commonly understood by Atheism to deny the very Being of a God which as it is the highest stupidity and the greatest corruption imaginable of a Man's Understanding so it is fundamentally opposite to all pretences of Religion and Worship which supposes the Being of God of God I say that is of a spiritual and invisible Being which knows and understands which can do all things and upon which all other things depend But 2. There is another sort of Atheism truly so called which consists with a Belief of the being of God or at least doth not stand in a direct denial of his Being and that is not worshipping him He that doth not worship God before Men is an Atheist to the World and he that worships him not at all is an Atheist before the World and in the sight of God too and there is no reason to question but he that is the one is the other too Every wicked Man though he professeth Religion and worships God may indeed be called a Practical Atheist because he lives as if there were no God. But he that is grown to that degree of impiety as to make no acknowledgment of him by appearing in his Worship is much more so and doth in effect renounce his Maker before the World and it cannot be more truly said of any one than of such a Man that he lives without God in the World. And therefore although the Epicurean Sect acknowledged the Being of a God yet because they denyed his Providence and took away all the Foundations of worshipping him they were by all men of sense called Atheists This however is also directly opposite to the Rule we are upon Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. But 2. Idolatry is opposed to it likewise and this is that impiety which the Rule was chiefly designed against Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Idolatry is a Term in Religion or Divinity to which we must give that sense in which the Scripture uses it and I think all are agreed this to be the sense of it there That it is the giving of any Divine Worship to a Creature i. e. any part of that Worship which is due to God only and therefore these words are a Rule against all Idolatry whatsoever Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. Now 1. All honour which is done to any invisible Being besides God by formal Invocation of it or calling upon it must therefore necessarily be Idolatry because it ascribes in the very Nature of the Act Omnipresence to it which is a Divine Perfection 2. All the external Honours done to any such Beings which refer to that Service are also Idolatrous because they are significations of Divine Honour also and therefore Dedicating Churches and Altars to them Bowing Kneeling Prostrating burning Incense and the like Religious Rites performed to them are Idolatry 3. Any Service paid to a created Being that is either visible or invisible seen or not seen present or absent which Service doth imply that thing to be God or ascribes any Divine Attribute to it or much more that Service which in all circumstances is the very same with what is given to God himself this also must necessarily be an Idolatrous Service 4. The Worship of an Image or any visible Representation of any thing whatsoever must be Idolatrous for if it be worshipped as the Representation of a Creature it cannot ' scape being so if there were no more in it than that Religious Worship is not to be given to the Original But if it be the pretended Image of the Deity the Worship of it is Idolatrous Worship and the reason is plain because it is set there to receive that external Worship at least which is due to that invisible Being whom it is said to represent But the Worship of God is to be given to him and to none but him I pass by two material things one is That the Image-Worship of the People is known to be attended with expectation of receiving benefit from the Image itself which makes the Idolatry to be very gross in them but inasmuch as Images are made the Object of outward Acts of Divine Honour by all that worship them they give to the Image that Worship which is to be paid to God only Another is this That to pretend to make an Image of God is one of the grossest dishonours that can be possibly done to him because that supposes the Godhead to be like unto wood or to stone and the work of mens hands and tends to corrupt the Notion of God in all that are made to believe that they are his Images or Representations but I do not place Idolatry in that though it be a great aggravation of it but in the actual worshipping of it and that because we are to worship the Lord our God and serve him only but to worship Images is not to worship him for God is one thing and a pretended Image of him is another All this I make bold to lay down peremptorily being well assured that these kinds of Worship are prohibited in this Rule of serving God only and that these prohibited Worships are in the Scripture called Idolatry which I shall now more particularly prove against a certain pretence That the true and only Notion of Idolatry is this and that it is neither more nor less than this viz. The Worship of the heavenly Bodies the Sun the Moon and the Stars or any other visible and corporeal Deity as the Supreme God so as to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead The plain English of which is this That no Man can be an Idolater that is not such a Sot as to take something which he knows can neither understand any thing nor chuse one thing before another to be the Supreme God and as such to worship it as for instance he must take something which hath no more of a spiritual Nature in it than a piece of stone or a log of wood and exclude all reference that it can have to any thing that hath a spiritual nature and he must fall down upon his knees to it and speak to it and desire it to bless him and believe that it will do so and he must withal take it for his Supreme Deity and then he shall be allowed to pass for an Idolater nay more for one that is not fit to live upon the Earth but to be cut off from the People as those Israelites were
once to be served who enticed their Brethren away to serve other Gods. Now for my own part I do not think that even these kinds of Worshippers if there are any such to be found in the World as I believe there are not ought to be thus served for it were barbarous Inhumanity to kill those who ought to be taken care for in an Hospital proper for them For what greater madness can be imagined than for a Man at the same time to worship a senseless thing as the Supreme God and to believe that it is a senseless thing as he must do if he excludes all apprehension of an invisible and spiritual Godhead For by the Supreme God all Men understand something that is able to help or to hinder and that knows when to do the one and when the other and is willing to do accordingly And therefore to worship either Sun Moon or Stars or any visible or corporeal Deity and at the same time to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead is to worship a thing because I am sure it knows something while I am as sure at the same time that it knows nothing at all for that which has nothing of a spiritual and invisible nature has no knowledge of any thing no more than a block has and if to worship such a thing knowing it to be such be all the Idolatry that ever was in the World I do believe you will all grant that there never was an Idolater in the World who might not have been easily perswaded to fall down upon his knees to a Tree to believe it to be his Father and to ask it blessing only there is this difference in the case that such a distempered Man might possibly believe that Tree capable of blessing him but it seems the Idolater must be more mad than so for he must at the same time believe that what he worships knows nothing of him and is not and cannot be concern'd about him because he excludes all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead in his corporeal Deity But if the Maker of this Notion did really think that his Idolater was a Man in his Wits then he has really made the Idolater to be the very same with the Atheist whereas they are two Persons This Rule of the Text hath two parts as I have shewn one that we are to worship God which he that doth not is an Atheist another to worship God only which he that doth not is an Idolater But now he that hath no sense and apprehension of a spiritual Godhead and yet worships for the Supreme God senseless matter does not if he be in his Wits believe that there is any God at all and if he pretends to worship the Sun or the Moon or Leeks and Onyons without any reference to any thing that can see or hear help or hinder understand or chuse any thing it is manifestly in derision of all pretence to Religion and Worship whatsoever So that the true and only Notion of Idolatry is only at last a true Notion of Atheism very odly represented and so as an ingenious Atheist would have done it much better for himself We are therefore to look upon this True and Only Notion of Idolatry to be an overstrained repetition of what has been to much better advantage pretended by those of the Roman Communion viz. That a Man cannot be an Idolater who doth firmly believe there is one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and who doth worship him as the Supreme God and Lord of all This indeed is something that is it is what we understand but then this is very false as I shall demonstrate by plain testimony of Scripture And in the first place the Text seems to give clear evidence against it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only c. For they all say that this speaks of Divine Worship and at other times they grant that to give Divine Worship to any thing that is not God is Idolatry But now the Text supposes not only that a Man ought to give Divine Worship to God but it expresly says that he should give it to him only it is therefore possible to give Divine Worship to God and to give Divine Worship to something else too which is not God and to do that they themselves confess to be Idolatry and therefore it is possible to acknowledge and to worship one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and yet to be guilty of Idolatry which is a point that I think fit to insist upon something more particularly because I perceive there are many that are very loath to have it believed And first I shall insist upon that instance which was the occasion of these words The Devil promised our Saviour That he would give him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if he would fall down and worship him Now I think there is no question but that to worship the Devil is Idolatry but the Question is Whether the Devil was so arrogant as to desire to be worshipped so as to exclude the belief and the worshipping of God who is the Supreme Lord of all But indeed it ought not to be question'd that he did not desire any such thing but that himself acknowledged the Being of God For in his very first Temptation he said If thou be the Son of God c. which was a plain acknowledgment of the Being of God and so in his second Temptation If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written he shall give his Angels charge over thee c. So that he did not only acknowledge the Being of God but he acknowledged also the Truth of the Scripture Nay when he promised to Jesus the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if he would fall down and worship him it appears by St. Luke that he did by no means pretend to be the Supreme Disposer and Governour of the World i. e. to be the Supreme God but acknowledged him that was truly so for thus it is said Luk. 4.6 And the Devil said unto him All this power will I give thee for it is delivered to me and to whomsoever I will I give it Now here the Devil plainly acknowledged that this Power was but delivered to him and not originally in him and this was as plain a signification as could possibly be given that he did not design to draw our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme Deity since he confessed a Superiour Whereas therefore our Saviour answered him Get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. It seems very evident that Divine Worship may be given to that which is not God by one that acknowledges and worships the true God for otherwise I am sure it had not been Idolatry to worship the Devil in these circumstances who did by no means require
our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme God or not to worship him who really is so And here I cannot but observe how instructing our Saviour's Answer was for when the Devil tempted him to worship him Jesus might have refused it justly enough upon another score that no Honour was to be given to that Enemy of God and Man but when omitting that consideration he spoke to the point in this manner It is written Thou shalt worship c. he laid down a Rule to serve his Disciples in all like cases even where they might be called not to worship a Devil but a Saint not a bad Angel but a good one Thou shalt worship c. If it be pretended in the behalf of Saints that they have great power with God in Heaven and of Angels that they are his ministring Spirits and therefore they are to be honoured with Invocations and bodily Worship by us upon Earth we are to remember that when the Devil pretended to have the Power of the Earth delivered into his hands and promised that upon the desire of Jesus and a little prostration to him he would give it to him our Lord did not give him that answer which was peculiar to the particular case as that he was a lying and wicked Spirit and therefore no such acknowledgment was to be paid to him but such an Answer as supposed it Idolatry to pay the same respect to any other created Being Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. But because the Notion of Idolatry was of necessity the same under the Gospel that it was under the Law since without any new Notions of it the Apostles who were Jews Preached against Idolatry we cannot go a better way to work to confute this pretence That they who acknowledge one Supreme God cannot be guilty of Idolatry than by observing what was counted Idolatry under the Law. 1. Now we read 1 King. 11. that Solomon in his old age turned away his heart and worshipped other Gods viz. Ashtoreth and Milcom and Chemosh and Molech These were the Idols of the Nations round about the Israelites and all the World knows that the Service of Idols is Idolatry But now did Solomon renounce the God of Heaven and Earth the Supreme Governour of the World the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob So he must have done according to the modern Notion of Idolatry or else he could not be guilty of it But if we may believe plain Scripture so he did not for mark what is said v. 4. His Wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of David his Father It seems then that his heart was not quite turned away from the Lord his God but it was not perfectly with him and that because he did not worship the Lord his God only but served other Gods besides Again v. 5 6. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians and after Milcom the abomination of the Amonites and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord as did David his Father Now can that be said of one that utterly renounceth the Belief and worship of the Supreme Lord that his heart doth not go fully after the Lord These things are so plain that they need no illustration To be short in the old Testament these Worships were esteemed and condemned as Idolatry 1. To worship other Beings with the True God which was the case of Solomon now mentioned and of the Samaritans 2 Kings 17.41 Who feared the Lord and served their graven Images their own Gods. 2. To worship Idols only which seemed to be the case of Ahab and Manasseh who had given over the Service of the God of Israel but yet were not without all sense and apprehension of him but for all that they addicted themselves wholly to the Service of false Gods. 3. The worshipping of the True God by a material Image or Representation of him such for instance was the Idolatry of the Golden Calf which the Israelites intended for a Representation of that God which had brought them out of the Land of Egypt as it evidently appears from the Proclamation Exod. 32. These are thy Gods or this is thy God O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt and Aaron built an Altar before it and made a Proclamation and said To morrow is a Feast to Jehovah or to the Lord. In vain it is said that the Israelites fell to the Egyptian Idolatry thus much I am willing to grant that the Israelites missing Moses took that very Representation of the Supreme God which they had seen in Egypt for it is a foolish thing to imagine that the Egyptians themselves were without any sense or apprehension of the Supreme God but that the Israelites fell to downright Egyptian Superstition and copied all that they had learnt in Egypt is undeniably false from this one argument that the Israelites offered Burnt-offerings and brought Peace-offerings unto the Image they had set up and as Jeroboam did afterwards they offered Bullocks and Rams to the Idol which Beasts being amongst the Egyptians held Sacred were never sacrificed to their Idols and for that very reason God commanded them to be offered to him so that the Israelites in their Sacrificing followed their Rule which they had received from God only but missing Moses they would have a visible Representation of the True God to go along with them and for worshipping it they were called Idolaters and punished as such The instance of the Calves of Dan and Bethel which Jeroboam did set up the worshipping of which is called Idolatry is to the same purpose for all he pretended was that it was too much for the Israelites to go up to Jerusalem to worship Behold says he thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt 1 Kings 12.28 He did not forsake the God of Israel to follow other Gods but he set up material Images or Representations of the True God and it was his Idolatry to worship them Hence the Prophets whom God raised up in Israel did not charge the Worshippers of this sort for Deserters of the God of Israel though they inveighed against their Altars But when Ahab fell to worship other Gods it was particularly noted of him that he did therein what Jeroboam did not do this latter sort of Idolatry was laid to Ahab's charge 1 Kin. 16.31 to wit That as if it had been a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he went and served Baal and worshipped him From all this it is plain that whereas in the New Testament the Apostles bid us beware of Idolatry my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry Little children keep your selves from Idols and the like They being Jews must necessarily by Idolatry mean the worshipping of the true God by Images or giving any
Divine Worship whatsoever any Honour due to God only giving that I say to any other Being how excellent soever although they that do so do believe and worship the Supreme God the Maker of Heaven and Earth all the while For by Idolatry they could understand nothing but what went for Idolatry under the Law seeing the Notion of it was not in the least altered but it continued just the same that it was before as these very words do witness Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve But as I entered upon this Argument by distinguishing between Atheism and Idolatry so I shall now close it by comparing them together Idolatry is indeed a very heinous sin because it gives away the Glory of God to another but Atheism is a worse because that is a renouncing of the Lord of Heaven and Earth the Creator of the World they who do not serve the Lord only are guilty of great impiety but they who do not serve and worship him at all are guilty of a greater impiety To worship God and to worship Angels to pray to God and to pray to Saints to adore Jesus Christ and to adore the Virgin is in part to forsake God and our Saviour but neither to worship or pray to Saints and Angels no nor to God himself this is utterly to forsake him and to live without God in the World Which I do not say to extenuate the Crime of Idolatry but to give every thing its due and to leave this impression upon our mind that by how much more we inveigh against the Idolatry of others because it is no less than giving some of God's Glory to his Creature by so much the more we oblige our selves to be constant and devout and in very good earnest in the Worship of the only true God least by degrees we fall into a Spirit of Irreligion and Atheism and be wholly estranged from God which is a worse case than Solomon's was who falling into the Idolatry of his Neighbours fell under this Character That his heart was not perfect with the Lord and he went not fully after him To conclude since through the Grace of God it is our Happiness to worship the Lord our God and to serve him only let us have a care that we go on to worship God only and to be sure let us remember that we worship him that we be not slothful in Religion but earnest and fervent least we forsake God by a Spirit of Irreligion which is every whit as damnable as Idolatry Let it appear by our whole Conversation that we do indeed worship the God that made Heaven and Earth who only hath power to bless us to protect and keep us in this Life and to reward us with the enjoyment of himself forever The Sixth Sermon GEN. XXII 12. Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me IN these words we may observe two things I. God's Testimony concerning Abraham Now I know that thou fearest God. II. The Fact upon which this Testimony of God concerning him was grounded which was his offering his Son Isaac to God Because thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me 1. The Testimony of God concerning him I know that thou fearest God this I say was God's Testimony concerning him For whereas it is said That the Angel of the Lord called to him out of Heaven it seems plain that the Angel of the Lord was no other than the Angel of the Covenant the Son of God himself who did sometimes appear to the Patriarchs for the words are Seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me i. e. from God it was God that spake to him and who said Now I know that thou fearest God. The matter God testified of him was That he feared God that is that he believed in God that he was fully perswaded of his Infinite Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness and all his Infinite Perfections and that he was affected sutably thereunto This is the meaning of the Fear of God in the Scripture which is a phrase used to comprehend all pious Affections towards him and is therefore of the same latitude with Faith the Praise whereof is ascribed to Abraham by the Author to the Hehrews The only thing to be added is this That we must remember that to fear God is to fear him as God that is before and above all other things and consequently to love him and to trust in him and to rely upon him incomparably and infinitely more than upon all the World besides inasmuch as the perfections of all others are finite God only is infinite in all perfections Now this was that which God testified of Abraham in saying of him that he feared God and in the understanding of this there is no difficulty at all But it may seem strange that God should give this testimony of him in that manner wherein we find he did Now know I that thou fearest God Now i. e. now thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me For did not God know the integrity of Abraham's heart before Is not God the searcher of hearts and doth he need our outward actions that he may judge of our tempers and intentions by them It is true we have no other way to come to the understanding of one anothers thoughts but by our words and deeds But hath God no other way Yes without all doubt he that knoweth our thoughts afar off even before they are born within us cannot be ignorant of them when they are But why then doth he say Now I know that thou fearest God I answer that this is one of those sayings of God by which he is pleas'd to condescend to the manner of our speaking and conversing with one another For we with great propriety use such expressions as these upon such extraordinary occasions If from my Friend that hath always professed great kindness to me I receive some notable benefit in my distress not without hazard to himself it is very proper for me to say Now I know that he loves me Now I know he is indeed a faithful and sincere Friend though I had great reason to make no doubt of it before yet this is so great a confirmation and strengthening of my belief that in comparison thereto I might be said to know little or nothing of it before In allusion to such expressions it is that God useth these words Now I know that thou fearest God Not in intimation of his having now gained greater assurance of Abraham's integrity than he had before Abraham had been for a long time the Servant of God and had made an open profession of worshipping and obeying him and God saw all along that he was an upright man and this no less before he was bidden to offer his Son Isaac than after he had stretched forth his hand to slay him upon the
Catholick Church both before and after her Reformation And thus I have gone through the task I set my self and I hope need to make no Apology for entertaining you with a Controversie of this nature which indeed ought to be no Controversie amongst us But if it were needful I have this to say Whereas the Church of England does not pretend to be an Infallible Guide or Judge and yet requires the People to believe as she believes to profess what she professeth and to do what she injoyneth it is very fit that her Ministers should sometimes make it plain that she requires this because she has reason so to do and is not in these points deceived though she does not pretend that she cannot err in any I know not whether I have made the things I have discoursed plain enough to every understanding but whether that be so or not yet every one may perceive that we appeal to his Reason for the truth and honesty of our Cause and for my own part if I understood nothing else of the Merits of it I had rather be of a Church which pretends to guide me with Reason than of another that would govern me without it and that because the former is likely to take more care not to mislead me than the latter needs to do which when it has gained me to an implicit Faith and a blind Obedience may lead me whether she pleases As for what I have now said I declare in the presence of God that I have offered nothing to you but what I believe my self and farther that I am not conscious to my self of any reason why I am fixed in the Communion of this Church in opposition to the other but a full conviction of the Errours of that Church which if I should profess or practice I could not entertain the least hopes of Salvation And we who are thus convinced are as I take it bound in conscience to take seasonable opportunities of confirming our Brethren in our Communion and enabling them as well as we can to make it appear that the Arguments and the Answers of the other side are unsatisfactory and vain as I have in some part endeavoured to shew at this time We should indeed not be unwilling to take pains to recover those to the knowledge of the Truth that are educated in damnable Errours but there is much more reason to do all we can to retain those in the profession of the Truth that have been educated in it seeing if they revolt we cannot have that hope of their Salvation which we would fain have of theirs who want sufficient means to discover them It were a blessed state of the Church indeed if all being united in true Faith and Worship we had nothing to do but to perswade and exhort men and to take care of them that they live answerably thereto but since we have two Works upon our hands to guard you against Errour as well as to warn you against a wicked Life I do not see how we can discharge our Duty but by doing one as well as the other And that I may not say nothing to the latter I am to tell you in the Conclusion that we do not make the Communion of the best Church in the World to be all in all a man may go to Hell in the Communion of a pure Church and without true Repentance and Reformation the best and purest Church that ever was since the Gospel began could have done him no service And I take it to be as great a Corruption as can be readily thought of for any Church to pretend to save men by a Trick and send them to Heaven any other way than the plain way of keeping the Commandments of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Keep therefore the pure Profession of the Christian Faith but withal keep a good Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man Hold fast the form of sound words But still remember that if your Works be not answerable your Faith is vain For not the hearers of the law but the doers thereof shall be justified Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of our Father which is in Heaven The Second Sermon MATTH XVIII 7. Wo unto the World because of Offences for it must needs be that Offences come But wo to that man by whom the Offence cometh THE great end of the Gospel is to bring Mankind to Salvation and in order thereunto to convert them from Sin and from all dangerous Error and to lead them to a right Faith and a Holy Life But it is too evident that this end is not attained Universally And if any one should be tempted to suspect that the Christian Religion is not therefore a Divine Revelation because it has in so great part failed of the end which it pretended to pursue he may be easily brought to assurance again by considering the vast good which Christianity hath done in the World but especially by observing that the Gospel hath foretold that all men would not believe and obey Our Blessed Lord himself testified that many were called but few were chosen and that strait was the Gate and narrow the Way that leadeth to Life and few there be that find it Nay inasmuch as he hath forewarned us of a Day of Judgment and hath told us beforehand That the word which he hath spoken the same should judge us at the last day This was a manifest Declaration that he did not pretend to lead men to Faith and Repentance by such means as could not but be effectual but only by such as were sufficient if we would in any measure comply with his gracious Methods and it was also a plain intimation that a great many would be never the better but the worse for these means that God had provided for their Salvation and that some for not receiving them others for not improving them would fall into greater Condemnation But our Saviour did not foretel these things only but the Causes of them too and what it was that would obstruct the Progress and Design of his Religion For this is the importance of those words of his which I have now chosen for my Subject Wo be to the World because of Offences for it must needs be that Offences come By Offences or Scandals we are here and almost every-where in the New Testament to understand those Temptations to Sin and Inducements to Errour which some men lay in the way of others They are sometimes otherwise exprest Snares Stumbling-blocks and Occasions of Fallings for the thing meant by all these expressions is the same Now concerning Offences our Saviour affirms two things in the words I have read First That they would come nay that it must needs be that they would come i. e. that men would arise who should hinder the prevailing of Christianity as much as in them lay or pervert the Design of it
resolve well and to fix their Resolution not upon a sudden heat only not meerly upon the general disposition of an Honest Mind but upon a deliberate Judgment what they must lose and what they should get by doing as became them Finally he would have them to maintain a constant sense of these things upon their minds that they might not be at a loss and be found unprovided on the sudden All this is implied in watching a Work which the Disciples were bidden more strictly to attend because the Lord had told them that the hour was at hand when a terrible Tryal would befall them and therefore upon their neglect to do accordingly he justly upbraided them afterward What could ye not watch with me one hour And all this was to be drawn into consequence for the Instruction of all his Disciples to the end of the World not only upon extraordinary Occasions but in the ordinary course of their Lives that is that we should be possessed with a sense of God and our Duty of the danger we are in by the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil of the fearful consequence of yielding to these Temptations and that we should maintain a lively sense of these things upon our Minds by being conversant in the Word of God and by making the main Principles of Religion present to our Minds by a frequent consideration of them This I say is incumbent upon us all since our Saviour thought it needful for all for says he What I say unto you I say to all Watch Mark 13.37 But to Watchfulness our Lord Commands us to add Prayer Watch and Pray And Prayer implies these two things 1. A just sense of our own insufficiency that if God he absent from us our Purposes are uncertain our Resolutions wavering and inconstant and our wills and Affections alterable by every blast of Temptation though we may be provided with very good Reasons of Constancy in doing well God hath not left us meerly to depend upon the strength of Arguments and Motives though they are necessary but hath promised moreover the supernatural help of his Grace and we are not to depend meerly upon the former but knowing that we need farther assistance we should daily apply our selves to him by Prayer for it 2. It implies not only a consciousness of our inability to do the thing that God requires but moreover a steady belief of and trust in the grace of God which he hath promised that it is sufficient for us and that he will give the holy Spirit to them that ask him that he who is good to all will be ready to help them especially that call upon him in sincerity and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able Such is the meaning of that part of the Exhortation which concerns the means Watch and Pray Now 2. The end of Watchfulness and Prayer is that we may not enter into Temptation The meaning of which Phrase is plainly this that we may not fall by Temptation not as the words at first hearing seem to import that no Temptation may befall us for as to that Temptation which required the Vigilance and Devotion of our Lord's Disciples at this time he plainly told them it would happen and therefore by entring into temptation must be meant falling into that sin to which the Temptation is an inducement and so the Exhortation runs as if our Saviour had said You are very confident that you shall do as you ought as if it were one of the easiest things in the World but I tell you before-hand that this Confidence of yours is a dangerous Presumption and you will find your selves deceived when it comes to the Tryal if you take no more care than you are now disposed to take I Advise you therefore to consider what will happen better than you have done and to call together all those Instructions you have heard from me and make them present to your minds and be so affected with them as to betake your selves to Prayer that being thus armed not with an hasty but a prudent Resolution and with dependence upon God you may overcome the Temptation when it happens This seems to be the Natural meaning of the Exhortation Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation I proceed next to explain the Reason which our Saviour adds to enforce the Exhortation The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak And now I doubt when we hear or read these words we are too apt to interpret them as if Jesus had meant to excuse the sluggishness of his Disciples and had indeed spoken to them in this manner It were well if you would Watch and Pray that you may not fall by Temptation but the truth is though you are willing so to do yet you are not very much to be blamed but in some part to be excused if you do not and that because of the frailty and weakness of Humane Nature But I beseech you not to be fond of this way of expounding these words for it is by no means true nor in the least worthy of our Saviour's Wisdom nor agreeable to the scope of his Doctrine Let us not think so meanly of our Lord as if he gave his Disciples necessary Directions and in the same breath excused them whether they fulfilled his Directions or not These words I say do not contain an excuse of their neglect to watch and pray but a Reason why they should do both and such a Reason too as left them without all Excuse if they failed in either For thus they may be supposed to run Watch and Pray that ye enter not into Temptation for though the Spirit is willing yet the Flesh is weak and so it is absolutely necessary that ye Watch and Pray Which Interpretation as it holds forth a worthy and excellent meaning of it self so it is clearly warranted by the circumstances and scope of the place and by the condition of those Persons at present to whom these words were used and by what befel them afterwards And this will be very evident if we examine the meaning of the words by these Rules For then you will see 1. That by a willing spirit we are not to understand a forwardness to Watch and Pray but a present Resolution to overcome Temptations and that a sincere Resolution too such a Resolution as is accompanied with a strong persuasion that we shall do so and that was the case of the Disciples For if we look back in this Chapter we shall find that upon their Master's fore-warning them what occasion of Offence they would meet with that very Night St. Peter briskly steps forward in the Name of all the rest of the Apostles all agreeing to what he said v. 33. Though all men says he shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended Thus the willingness of the Spirit shewed it self that is a forwardness to do all that
sense the Coming of Christ because he did not come in Person as he will do at the last day but in some sense it might be so called because he Appeared by his Power and Providence to do the same work in part which will with incomparably greater perfection be done at the last i. e. to take Vengeance of the ungodly and to save his own People For the Incorrigibleness of the Jewish Nation and their incurable hatred of the Truth and obstinate Persecution of it was dreadfully punished in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Christians had not only all escaped out of it before the Roman Army came against it but by the destruction of it they gained also a very considerable rest from Persecution for some time after And now the reason why this wonderful Providence was called the coming of Christ seems plainly to be this That after his Ascension into Heaven he set down at the right hand of God and had all Power put into his hands and therefore because it is he that Governs the World as well as the Church such remarkable revolutions as that was for the destruction of his enemies and the saving of his Servants are called the coming of Christ God hath given him to be head over all things to the Church and therefore such passages as that was are called his coming to signify that they are the effects of his Providence and government for the good of his Church no less than if he had come in Person to order them as he will do at the end of the World to order all things then And for this reason though in the proper sense of his coming he will come but once at the end of the World yet in this improper sense of it his appeaance to destroy his enemies and to save his People that trust in him nothing hinders but that he may be said to come often before the end of World i. e. as often as his Providence doth signally and remarkably appear for this purpose And thus we are to understand the coming of the Lord in 2 Thes 2.8 where it is said of the Man of Sin that Wicked one That the Lord shall consume him with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming which being to be done before the Personal coming of Christ to Judgment the meaning must be that his destruction shall be so remarkably the work of a Divine Providence that all shall confess it was not the effect of Worldly Policy but no less the doing of the Lord than if himself had come in Person to destroy him And whenever the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of the Lord when the knowledg of God covers the earth as the waters cover the Sea when those magnificent predictions are fulfilled concerning the universal prevalence of Truth and Goodness amongst men with which the Old and New Testament are plentifully furnished and which are to be fulfilled before the coming of Christ to the last Judgment then also is it true that the Lord comes i. e. by the Power of his Spirit and Providence to renew and reform a degenerate World that was running headlong into perdition And thus much concerning the sense of these words when the Son of man cometh which I have shown do principally signifie that great and amazing revolution when he shall come by coming in his own Person at the last day to judge the World but in a secondary sense do also signifie the remarkable works of his Providence in Punishing some and saving others even in this Life Now 2. How are we to understand that other clause will he find Faith upon the earth The meaning of the question is plainly this That he will not find Faith on the earth or very little in comparison But what is here meant by Faith I answer that is easily discerned by the Parable and the Application of it that went before The design of both which was to infer the conclusion in the foregoing verse And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily That is to say God would hear the Prayers of Righteous men and in a little time take their cause into his own hand and then says our Saviour Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth i. e. notwithstanding the Promises of God to hear the Pravers of good men and to interpose for them that depend upon him there will be but little Faith in these Promises found upon the Earth even when the Son of Man comes to fulfil them The greatest part will not be found to believe any thing at all of them and so will be surprized with that day without any preparation for it or expectation of it Many will yield to the Temptations of this present World and throwing off their dependance upon God will think to secure themselves by Flattery and Hypocrisy from the Violence of Wicked men others will despair of any better state of things And very few will lay to heart the promises which God hath made to hear the Prayers of his Servants and to save them Few will strengthen themselves in God by crying to him day and night and by putting their whole trust and confidence in him and this notwithstanding the clear and strong reasons they have from his word so to do Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth And thus we may from other places of Scripture observe that immediately before the Day of judgment there will be a great falling away from Christian Piety and Charity nay and the World should begin once more to depart from the Purity of Faith many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many and because Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold But says our Saviour he that endures to the end shall be saved thereby intimating that it would be some matter of difficulty to endure to the end Thus also St. Peter tells us that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming which is plainly meant of the Day of Judgment before which according to the Revelation of St. John Satan was to be loosed for a little time and to go out and to deceive the nations and to gather them together against the City of God. And therefore it will be remarkably true at the day of Judgment that when the Son of Man cometh he will find but little Faith in the Earth The World will be in a careless Posture as it was before that the Flood came and took them all away And for the same reason there is but little Faith in the earth when God enters into Judgment with the world for the violence and iniquities of Men and asserts the cause of innocence and righteousness against them for in
bear He that believes in God submits to just Authority for Conscience sake but the case hath often happened when for the same Conscience sake such a one hath done his Duty by refusing to do what the Law of man required which is a plain argument that Humane Authority is not the Rule of Perfection and that we must Live by an higher Principle than that of Obedience to Man if we live in all respects as we ought to do It is something more than to govern our intentions and actions by doing well for our selves in this World For although integrity and well-doing in all kinds of duty is generally the best way to prosperity in this Life yet sometimes the contrary happens and more is to be got by Flattery and Falshood than by Honesty and Sincerity nay it is the inordinate desire of the Prosperity of this world that still makes men do base and wicked things and therefore the regard of our ease and advantage here cannot be the true Principle of Virtue And if we should bring every other reason of doing what we ought to do to the Tryal every other reason besides that of Faith will be found very defective and insufficient and such as will lead a man to evil as well as to good as it happens But a sense of God with the belief of all his Perfections and all his Promises and Threatnings makes a man every way and in every respect what he ought to be because it shews him all his Duty and obliges him to all his Duty and while he is under the Power of his Faith he is steddy in the right way not to be moved out of it by any Temptation but whether it be opportunity invites or danger threatens what Temptation soever sets upon him he will say with Joseph How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Setting aside Faith it may bear dispute whether it be adviseable or no in such or such a case to do what becomes a Righteous and Virtuous man but let a man Live by Faith in God and there can be no dispute about it Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and walk in the sight of thine eyes and the imagination of thy Heart that is were there nothing else to be considered but Pleasure nothing but Wealth and Greatness but the Splendor of this World and the gratifying of a lust this liberty might possibly be made to appear not so very unreasonable But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment That to be sure turns the case and answers every objection against our Duty and every argument for any Sin and therefore he that walks with God doth all his Duty otherwise is good in all kinds and in every place where his business lies or where his Temptations lie For God is in all his thoughts in all his affairs in all his company and in his retirement from Company God's word is with him that word of God which shews him his Duty upon all occasions and which shows him the rewards of doing what is commanded and the Punishments of Disobedience and the sence of his Presence is with him that sense which fills him with Life and Joy in well-doing especially where the Temptation to Sin is very great and which would dismay him and make him a burden to himself if he should act contrary to his clear and setled Judgment of what he ought to do In short to walk with God is to be universally good and righteous which no man can be but he who lives by Faith Hence it is that we find God himself encouraging the Father of the Faithful to go on in his way of Piety and Virtue as hitherto he had done Walk before me and be thou perfect chap. 17. v. 1. that is Be thou still Ruled by my Word still believe my Promises and Trust my Providence and in all that thou doest be mindful of this that I am with thee and then shalt thou be perfect An example to all Generations of Virtue as well as of Piety and of all good works no less than of a firm Faith Hence it is that the wise man tells us that by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Prov. 16.6 and that the Fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of Death Prov. 14.27 And St. John This is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith. 1 John. 5.4 I have thus shewn what is meant by the Character of Enoch when it is said that he walked with God viz. That his regard to God was the over-ruing Principle of all his actions and that because he was Governed by Faith he lived also in the constant Practice of his Duty in all relations whatsoever this being the only Principle that makes a man in every respect what he ought to be I proceed 2. To say something concerning the end he made in this World He was not for God took him which place is thus explained by the Author to the Hebrews chap. 11. v. 5. That Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him i.e. he died not but was Translated alive into Heaven and it was a strange surprize to the Age in which he Lived who by his sudden removal from them and their hearing no more of him were convinced that it was God who had taken him to a better Life Now that which we are in this place to consider is the instruction so Singular an act of Providence afforded to the world and there are these two ends to which it manifestly served viz. That that Age might be awakened into the consideration of another Life by so surprizing a Testimony thereof as this was and withall that they might by so sensible an Argument be led to consider that the true reward of Piety and Integrity was not in this World but in a better 1. There was this instruction in the Transtation of Enoch which the World could not but take notice of That there was undoubtedly another life after this to which he was taken Soul and Body having left no part of himself behind him here as other Mortals did And by this time such an instruction was grown very needful For the World tho it was yet in its Youth and Vigour was grown old enough for men to forget their Creator and to abandon themselves for the most part to a Voluptuous and Dissolute Life And that this is no uncertain Conjecture appears from hence that Enoch was Translated but 69 years before Noah was Born in whose time Mankind was grown to such an intolerable degree of Licentiousness That God sent the Flood to sweep all away but eight Persons Now it is not to be thought that the World was overspread with such Monstrous Vices all of a sudden but that after the manner of all Humane Degeneracy Corruption of manners and of Principles too came on by degrees and consequently