mean in His going about doing good That by giving Glory to God in the Highest and by endeavouring as much as in us lies to procure and promote Peace on Earth and Good Will amongst Men we may at last be made meet to be made partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Through the Mercies and Merits of our B. Saviour and Redeemer Amen Almighty God who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our Nature upon Him and as at this Time to be born of a pure Virgin Grant that we being regenerate and made thy Children by Adoption and Grace may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit through the same our Lord Jesus Christ who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the same Spirit ever one God world without end Amen SERMON V. Concerning the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ c. HEB. IX 26. But now once hath he appeared in the end of the world to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself AMONG many other great ends and reasons for which God was pleased to send his Son into the World to dwell amongst us this was one of the chief that by a long course of the greatest innocency and the greatest sufferings in our Nature he might be capable to make a perfect Expiation of Sin But now once in the end of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the conclusion of the Ages that is in the last Age of the World which is the Gospel Age hath he appeared to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself The general design of God in sending his Son into the World was to save mankind from eternal death and misery and to purchase for us eternal life and happiness So the Author of our Salvation himself tells us That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now in order to the procuring of this Salvation for us the impediments and hindrances of it were to be removed these were the guilt and the dominion of Sin By the guilt of Sin we were become obnoxious to the wrath of God and to eternal condemnation and by the defilement and dominion of it we were incapable of the happiness of Heaven and the reward of eternal Life To remove these two great hindrances two things were necessary the Forgiveness of sins past in order to our deliverance from the wrath of God and the eternal torments of the next Life and the Reformation of our hearts and lives to make us capable of eternal Life and happiness in another World And both these if God had so pleased might for any thing we certainly know to the contrary have been effected by the abundant mercy and powerful grace of God without this wonderful method and dispensation of sending his Son in our Nature to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself But it seems the wisdom of God thought fit to pitch upon this way and method of our Salvation and no doubt for very good Reasons amongst which these three seem to be very obvious and very considerable First To vindicate the honour of his Laws which if Sin had gone altogether unpunish'd would have been in great danger of falling into contempt For if God had proclaimed a general Pardon of Sin to all mankind without any testimony of his wrath and displeasure against it who would have had any great veneration for his Laws or have believed in good earnest that the violation of them had been either so extremely offensive to Him or so very dangerous to the Sinner Therefore to maintain the honour of his Laws rather than Sin should pass unpunisn'd God would lay the punishment of it upon his only begotten Son the dearest Person to him in the World Which is a greater testimony of his high displeasure against Sin and of his tender regard and concernment for the honour of his Laws than if the Sinner had suffered the punishment due to it in his own person Secondly Another Reason of this Dispensation and that likewise very considerable was that God might forgive Sin in such a way as yet effectually to discountenance and discourage it and to create in us the greatest horror and hatred of it Which could not have been by an absolute Pardon without any punishment inflicted or satisfaction made to the honour of his Justice For had Sin been so easily forgiven who would have been sensible of the great evil of it or afraid to offend for the future But when God makes his own Son a Sacrifice and lays upon him the punishment due for the iniquities of us all this is a demonstration that God hates Sin as much if it be possible as he loved his own Son For this plainly shews what Sin deserves and what the Sinner may justly expect if after this severity of God against it he will venture to commit it And if this Sacrifice for Sin and the Pardon purchased by it be not effectual to reclaim us from Sin and to beget in us an eternal dread and detestation of it If we sin wilfully after so clear a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume the adversaries For what could God do more to testify his displeasure against sin and to discountenance the practice of it than to make his only Son an offering for Sin and to give him up to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities In what clearer Glass can we at once behold the great evil and demerit of Sin and the infinite goodness and mercy of God to Sinners than in the sorrows and sufferings of the Son of God for our Sins and for our sakes Thirdly Another Reason of this Dispensation seems to have been a gracious condescension and compliance of Almighty God with a certain apprehension and persuasion which had very early and universally obtained among Mankind concerning the expiation of Sin and appeasing the offended Deity by Sacrifices by the Sacrifices of living Creatures of Birds and Beasts and afterwards by Human Sacrifices and the blood of their sons and daughters by offering to God as the expression is in the Prophet their first-born for their transgression and the fruit of their body for the sin of their souls And this Notion of the expiation of Sin by Sacrifice whether it had its first Rise from Divine Revelation and was afterwards propagated from Age to Age by Tradition I say from whence soever this Notion came it hath of all other Notions concerning Religion excepting those of the Being of God and his Providence and of the Recompences of another Life found the most universal reception and the thing hath been the most generally practised in all Ages and Nations not only in the old but in the new discovered parts of the World And indeed
men the Man Christ Jesus by whom we are to offer up our Prayers to God And that we need not look out for any other since the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us that he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him seeing he lives for ever to make intercession for us And for this reason the Church of Rome is altogether inexcusable in this Point for introducing more Mediators and Intercessors more Patrons and Advocates in Heaven for us And this not only without any necessity for who can add any vertue and efficacy to the powerful and prevalent intercession of the Son of God but likewise in direct contradiction to the express Constitution and appointment of God himself who says there is but one Mediator between God and men and they say there ought to be many more not only the B. Virgin but all the Saints and Angels in Heaven Besides that by this very thing they revive one notorious Piece of the old Pagan Idolatry which God so plainly design'd to extinguish by appointing One only Mediator between God and Men. By this Condescension likewise God hath given us the comfortable assurance of a most powerful and a perpetual Intercessor at the right hand of God in our behalf For if we consider Christ as Man and of the same Nature with us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh so very nearly allied and related to us we may easily believe that he hath a most tender care and concernment for us That he sincerely wisheth our happiness and will by all means seek to procure it if we our selves by our own willful obstinacy do not hinder it and resist the kindness and the counsel of God against our selves For if we be resolv'd to continue impenitent there is no help for us we must die in our Sins and Salvation it self cannot save us But to proceed it cannot surely but be matter of greatest consolation to us that the Man Christ Jesus who is now so highly exalted at the right hand of God and who hath all power in Heaven and Earth committed to him is our Patron and Advocate in Heaven to plead our Cause with God Since we cannot but think that He who was pleased to become Brother to us all does bear a true affection and good will to us And that He who assumed our Nature will heartily espouse our Cause and plead it powerfully for us and will with all possible advantage recommend our Petitions and Requests to God But then if we consider further that He did not only take our Nature but likewise took our infirmities and bore them many years in which he had long and continual experience of the saddest sufferings to which human Nature is subject in this World and was tempted in all things like as we are This gives us still greater assurance that he who suffer'd and was tempted himself cannot but be touched with a lively sense of our infirmities and must have learn'd by his own Sufferings to compassionate ours and to be ready to succour us when we are tempted and to afford us grace and help suitable to all our wants and infirmities For nothing gives us so just a sense of the Sufferings of others as the remembrance of our own and the bitter experience of the like Sufferings and Temptations in our selves And this the Apostle to the Hebrews doth very particularly insist upon as matter of greatest comfort and encouragement to us that the Son of God did not only assume our Nature but was made in all things like unto us and during his abode here upon Earth did suffer and was tempted like as we are For verily says the Apostle he took not on him the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God For in that he himself suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted And again exhorting the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity to continue stedfact in their Profession notwithstanding all the sufferings to which upon that account they were exposed he comforts them with this consideration that we have at the right hand of God so powerful an Advocate and Intercessor for us as the Son of God who is sensible of our Case having suffered the same things Himself and therefore we cannot doubt of his compassion to us and readiness to support us in the like Sufferings Seeing then says he that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without Sin From whence he concludes that having such an Intercessor we may with great confidence and assurance address our Supplications to God for his mercy and help in all our wants and weakness to supply the one and to assist the other Let us therefore says he come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace for seasonable relief So that our B. Saviour and Redeemer now that he is advanced to Heaven and exalted to the right hand of God is not unmindful of us in this height of his Glory and Greatness but with the tenderest affection and compassion to Mankind doth still prosecute the Design of our Salvation and in vertue of his meritorious Obedience and Sufferings which he presents to God continually he offers up our Prayers to Him and pleads our Cause with Him and represents to Him all our wants and necessities and procures for us a favourable answer of our Prayers and supplies of grace and strength proportionable to our temptations and infirmities And thus by vertue of this prevalent intercession of his with God for us our Sins are forgiven and our Wants supplied and our Requests granted and the gracious assistance and supports of God's H. Spirit are seasonably afforded to us and we are kept by the mighty power of God through Faith unto Salvation In a word all those Blessings and Benefits are procured for us by his Intercession in Heaven which he purchased for us by his Blood upon Earth So that in this Method of our Salvation besides many other gracious Condescensions which God hath made to the weakness and prejudices of Mankind our B. Saviour hath perfectly supplied the two great Wants concerning which Mankind was at so great a loss before namely the Want of an effectual Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin upon Earth and of a prevalent Mediator and Intercessor with God in Heaven And he hath in great Goodness and Condescension to our inveterate Prejudices concerning these things taken effectual care fully to supply both these Wants having appeared in the
any other Living Creatures that were wont to be offered up in Sacrifice yet that both Jews and Heathen did expect and hope for it is so very evident that it cannot without extreme Ignorance or Obstinacy be deny'd But this expectation how unreasonable soever plainly shews it to have been the common Apprehension of Mankind in all Ages that God would not be appeased nor should Sin be pardoned without Suffering But yet so that men generally conceived good hopes that upon the Repentance of Sinners God would accept of a vicarious punishment that is of the Suffering of some other in their stead And very probably as I said before in compliance with this Apprehension of Mankind and in condescension to it as well as for other weighty Reasons best known to the Divine Wisdom God was pleased to find out such a Sacrifice as should really and effectually procure for them that great Blessing of the Forgiveness of Sins which they had so long hoped for from the multitude of their own Sacrifices And the Apostle to the Hebrews doth in a large Discourse shew the great vertue and efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ to the purpose of Remission of Sins above that of the Sacrifices under the Law And that the Death of Christ is really and effectually to our advantage all that which the Sacrifices under the Law were supposed to be to the Sinner But now once saith the Apostle here in the Text in the end of the World hath he appeared to take away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself This is the great vertue and efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ that what ever was expected from any other Sacrifices either by Jews or Heathens was really effected by this This was plainly signified by the Jewish Passover wherein the Lamb was slain and the Sinner did escape and was pass'dby In allusion whereto St. Paul makes no scruple to call Christ our Passover or Paschal Lamb who was slain that we might escape Christ our Passover says he is slain or offer'd for us that is He by the gracious appointment of God was substituted to suffer all that in our stead which the Paschal Lamb was supposed to suffer for the Sinner And this was likewise signified by the Sinners laying his hand upon the Sacrifice that was to be slain thereby as it were transferring the punishment which was due to himself upon the Sacrifice that was to be slain and offered up For so God tells Moses that the Sinner who came to offer an Expiatory Sacrifice should do He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering and it shall be accepted for him to make an Atonement for him And the Apostle tells us that it was an established Principle in the Jewish Religion that without shedding of blood there was no Remission of Sins Which plainly shews that they expected this Benefit of the Remission of Sins from the Blood of their Sacrifices And then he tells us that we are really made partakers of this Benefit by the Blood of Christ and by the vertue of his Sacrifice And again Christ says he was once offered to bear the Sins of many plainly alluding to the Sacrifices under the Law which did as it were bear the faults of the Sinner And that this expression of Christ's being offered to bear our Sins cannot be meant of his taking away our Sins by his holy Doctrine which was confirmed by his Death but of his bearing our Sins by way of imputation and by his suffering for them in our stead as the Sacrifice was supposed to do for the Sinner This I say is evident beyond all denial from the opposition which follows after the Text between his first Appearance and his second Christ says our Apostle was once offered to bear our Sins but unto them that look for him he shall appear a second time without Sin unto Salvation Why Did he not appear the first time without Sin Yes certainly as to any inherent guilt for the Scripture tells us he had no Sin What then is the meaning of the opposition That at his first Coming he bore our Sins but at his second Coming he shall appear without Sin unto Salvation These words can have no other imaginable sense but this that at his first Coming he sustain'd the Person of a Sinner and suffered instead of us but his second Coming shall be upon another account and he shall appear without Sin unto Salvation that is not as a Sacrifice but as a Judge to confer the Reward of Eternal Life upon those who are partakers of the benefit of that Sacrifice which he offered to God for us in the days of his Flesh I proceed to the III d. Thing I proposed and which yet remains to be spoken to namely to vindicate this Method and Dispensation of the Divine Wisdom from the Objections which are brought against it and to shew that there is nothing in it that is unreasonable or any wise unworthy of God I shall mention four Objections which are commonly urged in this matter and I think they are all that are considerable First That this Method of the Expiation of Sin by the Sufferings of Christ seems to argue some defect and want of Goodnes in God as if he needed some external Motive and were not of himself disposed to forgive Sinners To which I think the Answer is not difficult namely that God did not want Goodness to have forgiven Sin freely and without any Satisfaction but his Wisdom did not think it meet to give encouragement to Sin by too easy a forgiveness and without some remarkable testimony of his severe displeasure against it And therefore his greater Goodness and Compassion to Mankind devised this way to save the Sinner without giving the least countenance and encouragement to Sin For God to think of saving us any way was excessive Goodness and Mercy but to think of doing it in this way by substituting his dearly beloved Son to suffer in our stead is a Condescension so very amazing that if God had not been pleased of his own Goodness to stoop to it it had almost been Blasphemy in Man to have thought of it or desired it Secondly How can our Sins be said to have been forgiven freely if the Pardon of them was purchased at so dear a rate and so mighty a Price was paid for it In Answer to this I desire these two things may be considered 1st That it is a wonderful grace and favour of God to admit of this translation of the Punishment which was due to us and to accept of the Sufferings of another in our stead and for our benefit when he might justly have exacted it of us in our own Persons So that even in this respect we are as St. Paul says justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ And freely too in respect of any necessity that lay upon God to forgive us in this or any other way It
consider the Light and advantages which the Jewish Nation had above the Gentile World That so by this Means and Method he might wean them by degrees from their gross conceptions of things and rectify more easily their wrong apprehensions by gratifying them in some measure and in a gracious compliance with our weakness by bending and accommodating the way and Method of our Salvation to our weak Capacity and imperfect Conceptions of things Fourthly And that God hath done this in the Dispensation of the Gospel will I think very plainly appear in the following Instances in most of which I shall be very brief and only insist somewhat more largely upon the last of them 1st The World was much given to admire Mysteries in Religion The Jews had theirs several of which by God's own appointment were reserv'd and kept secret in a great measure from the People others were added by the Superstition of after Ages and held in equal or rather greater Veneration than the former And the Heathen likewise had theirs the Devil always affecting to imitate God so far as served his wicked and malicious design of seducing Mankind into Idolatry and the Worship of himself And therefore the Scripture always speaks of the Heathen Idolatry as the Worship of Devils and not of God So that almost every Nation had their peculiar and celebrated Mysteries most of which were either very odd and phantastical or very lewd and impure or very inhuman and cruel and every way unworthy of the Deity But the great Mystery of the Christian Religion the Incarnation of the Son of God or as the Apostle calls it God manifested in the flesh was such a Mystery as for the greatness and wonderfulness for the infinite mercy and condescension of it did obscure and swallow up all other Mysteries For which reason the Apostle in allusion to the Heathen Mysteries and in contempt of them speaking of the great Mystery of the Christian Religion says without controversy great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh c. Since the World had such an admiration for Mysteries he instanceth in that which was a Mystery indeed a Mystery beyond all dispute and beyond all comparison 2dly There was likewise a great inclination in Mankind to the Worship of a visible and sensible Deity And this was a main Root and Source of the various Idolatries in the Heathen World Now to take Men off from this God was pleased to appear in our Nature that they who were so fond of a visible Deity might have one to whom they might pay Divine Worship without danger of Idolatry and without injury to the Divine Nature even a true and natural Image of God the Father the Fountain of the Deity or as the Apostle to the Hebrews describes the Son of God the resplendency or brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Character or Image of his Person 3dly Another Notion which had generally obtained among Mankind was concerning the Expiation of the Sins of men and appeasing the offended Deity by Sacrifice upon which they supposed the punishment due to the Sinner was transferred to exempt him from it Especially by the Sacrifices of Men which had almost universally prevailed in the Gentile World And this Notion of the Expiation of Sin by Sacrifices of one kind or other seems to have obtained very early in the World and among all other ways of Divine Worship to have found the most universal reception in all Times and Places And indeed a great part of the Jewish Religion and Worship was a plain Condescension to the general apprehensions of men concerning this way of appeasing the Deity by Sacrifice And the greatest part of the Pagan Religion and Worship was likewise founded upon the same Notion and Opinion which because it was so universal seems to have had its Original from the first Parents of Mankind either immediately after the Creation or after the Flood and from thence I mean as to the substance of this Notion to have been derived and propagated to all their Posterity And with this general Notion of Mankind whatever the ground and foundation of it might be God was pleased so far to comply as once for all to have a general Atonement made for the Sins of all Mankind by the Sacrifice of his only Son whom his wise Providence did permit by wicked hands to be crucified and slain But I shall not at present insist any further upon this which requires a particular Discourse by it self and may by God's assistance in due time have it 4thly Another very common Notion and very rife in the the Heathen World and a great Source of their Idolatry was their Apotheoses or Canonizing of famous and eminent Persons who in their Life time had done great things and some way or other been great Benefactors to Mankind by advancing them after their Death to the Dignity of an inferiour kind of Gods fit to be worship'd by men here on Earth and to have their Prayers and Supplications address'd to them as proper and powerful Mediators and Intercessors for them with the Superiour Gods To these they gave the Titles of Hero's and Semidei that is half Gods though the Notion of a Being that is just half-infinite seems to me very hard to be conceiv'd and defin'd Now to take men off from this kind of Idolatry and to put an end to it behold One in our Nature exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high to be worshipped by Men and Angels One that was the truly Great Benefactor of mankind One that was dead and is alive again and lives for evermore to make intercession for us 5thly To give but one Instance more which I have already intimated The World was mightily bent upon addressing their requests and supplications not to the Deity immediately because their Superstition thought that too great a presumption but by some Mediators between the Gods and them who might with advantage in this humble manner present their Requests so as to find acceptance To this end they made use of the Daemons or Angels and of their Hero's or Deifyed Men whom I mentioned before by whom they put up their Prayers to the Supreme Gods hoping by their Intercession and Patronage of their Cause to obtain a gracious answer of them In a gracious compliance with this common apprehension and thereby more easily and effectually to extirpate this sort of Idolatry which had been so long and so generally practised in the World God was pleased to constitute and appoint One in our Nature to be a perpetual Advocate and Intercessor in Heaven for us to offer up our Prayers to God his Father and to obtain mercy for us and grace to help in time of need And for ever to take us off from all other Mediators we are expressly told in Scripture that as there is but one God to whom we are to pray so there is but one Mediator between God and
Day wherein be will Judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom be bath ordained c. I shall now only make a practical Inference or two from what hath been delivered upon this Argument and so conclude this whole Discourse First The serious consideration of what hath been said concerning the Incarnation of our B. Saviour should effectually prevail with us to comply with the great End and Design of the Son of God's becoming Man and dwelling amongst us and of his doing and suffering all those things which are recorded of him in the History of his Life and Death written by the H. Evangelists I say the consideration hereof should persuade us all to comply with the great Design of all this which is the Reformation of Mankind and the Recovery of us out of that sinful and miserable estate into which we were fallen Because the Salvation which the Son of God hath purchased for us and which he offers to us by the Gospel is not to be accomplished and brought about any other way than by our forsaking our Sins and reforming our Lives The Grace of God which hath appeared to all men and brings Salvation will not make us partakers of it in any other way nor by any other means than by teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World God sent his Son Jesus to bless us by turning us away every one from his iniquities and unless this change be effectually wrought in us we are utterly incapable of all the Blessings of the Gospel of Christ All that He hath done for us without us will avail us nothing unless we be inwardly transformed and renewed in the spirit of our minds unless we become new Creatures unless we make it the continual and sincere endeavour of our lives to keep the commandments of God For the Scripture is most express and positive in this matter That without Holiness no man shall see the Lord That every man that hath this hope in Him that is in Christ to be saved by Him must purifie himself even as be is pure We do not rightly and truly believe that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners if we be not also thoroughly convinced that it is as necessary for us to leave our Sins as to believe this most faithful and credible Saying The Obedience and Sufferings of our B. Saviour are indeed accounted to us for Righteousness and will most certainly redound to our unspeakable benefit and advantage upon our performance of the Condition which the Gospel doth require on our Part namely that every man that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity And the Grace of God's H. Spirit is ready to enable us to perform this Condition if we earnestly ask it and do sincerely co-operate with it Provided we do what we can on our part God will not be wanting to us on His. But if we receive the Grace of God in vain and take no care to perform the Condition and do neglect to implore the Grace and assistance of God's H. Spirit to that purpose we have none to blame but our selves because it is then wholly our own fault if we fall short of that Happiness which Christ hath purchased and promised to us upon such easie and reasonable Conditians as the Gospel proposeth But I no where find that God hath promised to force Happiness upon the negligent and a reward upon the wicked and slothful Servant A gift may be given for nothing but surely a Reward does in the very nature of it always suppose some Service None but a righteous man is capable of a righteous mans Reward And St. John hath sufficiently cautioned us not to think our selves Righteous unless we be doers of righteousness Little children says he let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous This is so very plain a Text that if men were not either very easie to be deceived by others or very willing to deceive themselves they could not possibly mistake the meaning of it And therefore I will repeat it once more Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous Secondly The other Inference which I would make from the precedent Discourse is this That with all possible thankfulness we should acknowledge and adore the wonderful Goodness and Condescension of Almighty God in sending his only begotten Son into the World in our Nature to be made flesh and to dwell amongst us in order to our Recovery and Salvation A Method and Dispensation not only full of mercy and goodness but of great Condescension to our meanness and of mighty vertue and efficacy for our Redemption and Deliverance from the Guilt and Dominion of Sin and upon all accounts every way so much for our benefit and advantage So that well may we say with St. Paul This is a faithful Saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a credible Word and worthy of all acceptation that is fit to be embraced and entertained with all possible Joy and thankfulness That Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners What an everlasting Fountain of the most invaluable Blessings and Benefits to Mankind is the Incarnation of the Son of God His vouchsafing to assume our Nature and to reside and converse so long with us And what are we that the eternal and only begotten Son of God should condescend to do all this for us That the High and Glorious Majesty of Heaven should stoop down to the Earth and be contented to be clothed with Misery and Mortality That He should submit to so poor and low a Condition to such dreadful and disgraceful Sufferings for our sakes For what are We vile and despicable Creatures guilty and unworthy Offenders and Apostates Enemies and Rebels Blessed God! how great is thy Goodness how infinite are thy tender Mercies and Compassions to Mankind That thou should'st regard us whilst we neglected thee and remember us in our low condition when we had forgotten thee days without number and shouldst take such pity on us when we shewed none to our selves and whilst we were thy declared and implacable Enemies should'st express more kindness and good will to us than the best of Men ever did to their best Friends When we reflect seriously upon those great things which God hath done in our behalf and consider that mighty Salvation which God hath wrought for us what thanks can we possibly render what acknowledgments shall we ever be able to make I do not say equal but in any wise meet and becoming to this great Benefactor of Mankind Who when we had so highly offended and provok'd Him and so foolishly and so fatally undone our selves when we were become so guilty and so miserable and so much fitter to have eternally been the objects of his wrath and indignation than of his pity and compassion was pleas'd
to send his own his only Son into the World to seek and save us and by Him to repair all our ruines to forgive all our iniquities to heal all our spiritual diseases and to crown us with loving kindness and tender mercies And what Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving should we also offer up to this gracious and most merciful Redeemer of ours the everlasting Son of the Father who debased himself so infinitely for our sakes and when he took upon Him to deliver Man did not abhor the Virgins womb Who was contented to be born so obscurely and to live all his life in a poor and persecuted condition and was pleased both to undergo and to overcome the sharpness of Death that he might open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Every time we have occasion to meditate upon this especially when we are communicating at his H. Table and receiving the blessed Symbols and Pledges of his precions Death and Passion How should our Hearts burn within us and leap for Joy How should the remembrance of it revive and raise our Spirits and put us into an Extasie of Love and Gratitude to this great Friend and Lover of Souls And with the B. Mother of our Lord how should our Souls upon that blessed occasion magnify the Lord and our Spirits rejoyce in God our Saviour The Holy men of old were transported with Joy at the obscure and confused apprehension and remote foresight of so great a Blessing at so great a distance It is said of Abraham the Father of the faithful that he saw His Day afar off and was glad How should we then be affected with Joy and Thankfulness to whom the Son of God and B. Saviour of Men is actually come He is come many ages ago and hath enlightened a great part of the World with his Glory Yea He is come to us who were in a manner separated from the rest of the World To Us is this great Light come who had so long sate in Darkness and the shadow of Death And this mighty Salvation which He hath wrought for us is near to every one of us that is willing to lay hold of it and to accept it upon those gracious terms and conditions upon which it is offer'd to us in his H. Gospel And by His Coming he hath delivered Mankind from that gross Ignorance and thick Darkness which covered the Nations And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true And we are in Him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life And then it immediately follows Little Children keep your selves from Idols What can be the meaning of this Caution and what is the Connection of it with the foregoing Discourse It is plainly this That the Son of God by His Coming had rescued Mankind from the sottish Worship of Idols and therefore he Cautions Christians to take great heed of relapsing into Idolatry by worshipping a Creature or the Image and likeness of any Creature instead of God And because he foresaw that it might be objected to Christians as in fact it was afterwards by the Heathen that the Worship of Christ who was a man was as much Idolatry as that which the Christians charged the Heathen withal Therefore St. John effectually to prevent the force of this plausible Objection though he perpetually throughout his Gospel declares Christ to be really a Man yet he expresly also affirms Him to be God and the true God and consequently Christians might safely pay Divine Worship to Him without fear or danger of Idolatry We are in Him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life Little Children keep your selves from Idols But this I am sensible is a Digression yet such a one as may not be alltogether useless To proceed then in the recital of those great Blessings which the Coming of the Son of God hath brought to Mankind He hath rescued us from the bondage of Sin and from the slavery of Satan He hath openly proclaimed Pardon and Reconciliation to the World He hath clearly revealed eternal Life to us which was but obscurely made known before both to Jews and Gentiles but is now made manifest by the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished Death and brought Life and immortality to light by the Gospel He hath purchased this great Blessing for us and is ready to confer it upon us if we will be contented to leave our Sins and to be saved by Him A Condition without which as Salvation is not to be had so if it were it would not be desirable it could not make us happy because our Sins would still separate between God and us and the guilt and horrour of our own minds would make us eternally miserable And now surely we cannot but thus judge that all the Praises and acknowledgments all the Service and Obedience which we can possibly render to Him are infinitely beneath those infinite Obligations which the Son of God hath laid upon the Sons of men by his Coming into the World to save Sinners What then remains but that at all times and more especially at this Season we gratefully acknowledge and joyfully commemorate this great and amazing Goodness of God to us in the Incarnation of his Son for the Redemption and Salvation of the sinful and miserable Race of Mankind A Method and Dispensation of the Divine Grace and Wisdom not only full of mercy and condescension but of great power and vertue to purifie our hearts and to reform our Lives to beget in us a fervent love of God our Saviour and a perfect hatred and detestation of our Sins and a stedfast purpose and resolution to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking in his ways all the days of our life In a word a Method that is every way calculated for our unspeakable Benefit and Comfort Since then the Son of God hath so graciously condescended to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted let us aspire to be as like to Him as is possible in the exemplary Holiness and Vertues of his Life We cannot be like Him in his Miracles but we may in his Mercy and Compassion We cannot imitate his Divine Power but we may resemble Him in his Innocency and Humility in his Meekness and Patience And as He assumed Human Nature so let us re-assume Humanity which we have in great measure depraved and put off and let us put on bowels of mercy towards those that are in misery and be ready to relieve the poor for His sake who being rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich To conclude Let us imitate Him in that which was his great Work and business here upon Earth and which of all other did best become the Son of God I