not happen to him Are not the Merits of those Sufferings to be measured by the Constancy and Chearfulness with which they were undergone And since we have undoubted Testimonies of several Martyrs who even rejoiced in their Tortures does not this shrinking back and these earnest Desires of escaping them argue in Christ a greater Irresolution and Weakness of Mind than even some of his Servants discovered in the Confirmation of that Truth which they gladly Sealed with their Blood He took upon him our Flesh and in marvelous Condescention came into the World on purpose that he might dye for Our Benefit and in Our stead And is his Love now so abated and his Resolution so wavering that when it comes to the Point he should decline Death and by praying to be excused from it defeat the very end of his being made Mortal These are Difficulties which with some colour of Argument may be started from the Behaviour of our Lord in his Agonies and the Request made here to his Father And fit it is that they should be removed and this Action set in its true Light which if I mistake not will effectually be done by attending carefully to these following Particulars 1. First In regard our Blessed Saviour had the Divine and Humane Nature both united in One Person great Caution must be used in observing his Actions that we do not mistake in appropriating any of them to that Principle to which they do not properly belong For as those Works of Wonder which exceeded or controuled all Powers of Created Nature must be attributed to a Principle Omnipotent and Divine So in those Others which relate to Subjection and Suffering he must be understood to proceed upon a Principle purely Humane Now praying to a Superior Being is a Mark of Dependance and Subjection And undergoing Pain and Death implies Suffering Neither of which God as such is capable of And therefore if the Person who was God and Man both did Either of these it is plain he could do them but in One of those Capacities The Faculties of the Divine Nature were totally suspended upon such Occasions and He proceeded in them not in any Degree as God but entirely as a mere and real Man 2. Secondly The Efficacy and Mystery of Man's Redemption consisting in this Union it was necessary that there should be clear and undoubted Demonstration given of the Reality of both these Natures in Christ And this had not been done unless as our Lord's Miracles evidenced him to be Very God so all the essential and inseparable Properties and Affections of our Nature had so manifestly appeared in him as to leave no just Suspicion behind whether he was Very Man And since the distinguishing Marks of this Nature lye principally in the Soul it follows from thence that sufficient Proof of our Saviour's perfect Humanity could not be given either by his Death or by any Bodily Sufferings except his Mind were besides so affected with These as might convince the World that he bore an exact Resemblance to us in all the Natural Passions and Inclinations of our Souls 3. Now Thirdly In this Soul of Ours it is easy to observe a Two-fold Principle which we call Reason and Sense And without entangling our selves in the Subtleties of Philosophers or Schoolmen about this Matter Experience which is of more Weight than Ten thousand nice Distinctions and a little serious Reflection upon our Selves will plainly convince us that we entertain different sorts of Notions take different Measures and aim at different Ends as we are moved by the One or other of these Principles That which we call Sense catches greedily at the Present pursues Ease and Pleasure and Safety and consults the Preservation and Advantage of the Body The Other which we call Reason enlarges our Prospect takes into Consideration distant and future Objects and perswades the foregoing some present Satisfactions running some Hazards enduring some Difficulties and Pains for the Discharge of our Duty and in Expectation of some greater Good in Reversion which will make us ample amends for what we now lose or undergo upon its Account The Former is the Principle of Animals the Latter of Men and Christians Under That are comprehended all our Natural Passions which are the secret Springs that move us in all we do under This are Understanding and Judgment which direct and regulate and bound and over-rule those Passions But still Both these are Constituent Parts of the Humane Soul And to suppose a Man void of Passions or in no degree influenced by them is as absolute a Chimaera and Contradiction in Nature as to suppose him without Reason For These Two Principles are as necessary to make One perfect Soul as the Rational Soul and Humane Body are to make One perfect Man From whence we may argue 4. Fourthly That The Weakness or Corruption of our Nature as it stands now depraved with Sin and Lust does not consist in being very tenderly and sensibly touched with Fear of present Evil or strong Inclinations to present Good but in permitting those Fears and Desires to prevail and take place against the Dictates of Reason and Duty Aversion to Pain and Death and the like are Affections interwoven with our Original Frame and Constitution Adam felt them in the State of Innocency Otherwise it had been vain to threaten his Transgression with Death For every Threatning of Punishment denounce something terrible such as the Person is supposed to be under dreadful Apprehensions of and will think himself concerned to avoid And therefore it is no just Reflection upon the Second Adam that He too felt the same Aversion to Dying and Torment and Shame Infirmities indeed these Aversions may be called in Comparison of those Perfections which belong to God and unbodied Spirits But then they are such Infirmities as All who partake of Bodies must have And if these things had been perfectly indifferent to our Blessed Saviour he could not have been our Saviour that is he could not have been a True Man This is what I think a just and faithful Account of the Matter Much to be preferred before that Resolution which some have given of it as if the Vehemence of our Saviour's Passion had made him forget himself and utter things in the Heat and Transport of his Mind which he presently checkt and corrected upon better Recollection We indeed too often do so but he never ceased to be Master of himself and it seems too great a Dishonour to represent him thus rash and inconsiderate which are the Effects of Corrupt Nature though he thought it none to be like us in all the inseparable Frailties of our Original and real Nature 5. Now Fifthly If Christ as Man could not be altogether indifferent and unconcerned at these severe Tryals which he already felt in part and saw coming upon him with great Violence Then sure it could not misbecome him to use all possible Means for declining them and consequently not to express
So manifest is the Advantage of applying our selves to this part of Religion in which a Christian 's proper Business lies So possible so certain that all who do so shall effectually improve by their Endeavours So unalterable that Promise of him who came to direct us in the right Way to Happiness that * John VII 17. If any man will do his will he shall not fail to know of the Doctrine whether it be of God II. Secondly My next Argument against indulging nice and curious Speculations of this kind is taken from the Vnprofitableness of them Our Lord had he so pleased could have informed St. Peter what should become of this beloved Disciple But he reproves his enquiring into it because no Benefit was to be had by such Information For so we may very reasonably interpret that Passage If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee How wilt thou be the better if I should tell thee what this Man shall do What Furtherance can it prove to thy Preparation for following Me to know whether he shall be required to tread in the same Steps And I cannot but think it would puzzle the wisest Man alive to give a satisfactory account what ends of Consequence to our Everlasting Happiness would be served by being let into a clear and distinct View of all those dark mysterious Truths which are now in so great a degree lockt up from us or how Religion would upon those Terms be in a better State than now it is Let us put the Case in one or two of these Instances already mentioned that the Trinity of Persons in Unity of the Divine Essence and the Incarnation of the Son of God were fully understood by us I desire to know now whether this would at all promote our Zeal in the Love and Service of God or what one Argument we should then have which at present we have not for being better Men or more thankful Christians The true ground of our Reverence and Fear our Love and Trust in God is a due Sense of his Holiness and Wisdom his Power and Justice and Goodness And what dependence I beseech you have our Notions of these Attributes upon our knowing how God is Three in One The proper Motives to a Christian Life are Gratitude and a just Regard to the adorable Mystery of Man's Redemption the Mercy of having our Sins pardoned and satisfied for the Rewards proposed to our sincere Obedience the terrible Punishments of obstinate Offenders and the little Reason we have to flatter our selves with hopes of escaping Heb. II. 3. if we neglect so great Salvation Now these Affections spring from our considering the infinite Kindness and Condescention of the Son of God who humbled himself to do so many wonderful and to suffer so many bitter things for our Sakes But the Mercy of his doing and enduring these things in Nature will not touch our hearts one whit the more tenderly for discerning how this Nature of Ours was united to his Divine Nature It is the thing 's being done and not the particular manner by which it was done that must have this Effect upon us So likewise for the rest The Influences of Divine Grace would not be more prevalent nor is Their Condemnation who stifle and resist them less deserved because we see not all the Springs by which the Holy Spirit moves and bends us It is sufficient that he acts as he does to render both our Obedience possible and our Obstinacy inexcusable The Considerations fitted to contain men in their Duty are the Greatness and the Certainty of the Punishments threatned to wicked Livers As on the other hand the powerful Incentives to doing and suffering with Constancy what God appoints us to are the Excellence and the Assurance of a future Recompence But if the being warn'd in so solemn and express a manner as we are that Torments everlasting and extream remain for the Ungodly will not restrain us from being such our selves neither would we be restrained though God had told us whether that Torment be material Fire or whether it be such as for the exquisite and insupportable Anguish of it was thought convenient to be represented to us by Everlasting Burnings If we will not be perswaded to live and die unto the Lord by these supporting Reflections that Rom. VIII 18. the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us and that it neither hath entred nor can enter 1 Cor. II. 9. into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him What additional Force could these Reflections possibly receive by our being acquainted wherein each Excellence of that Glory and these Joys consists For still the same Temptations to Sin and Infidelity would continue And They who refuse to take God's Word for the Greatness and the Certainty of future Rewards and Punishments which are the only Qualifications necessary to quicken us in our Duty would not have wanted any one Objection which they now pretend to urge against whatever God should have revealed concerning the Nature and Quality of those Rewards and Punishments If men shall be Happy or Miserable for ever and as Happy or Miserable as they are capable of being it matters not much after what manner they shall be so That they shall be so at all depends upon the Will of God that they believe they shall be so is from an Assent to the Word of God declaring that Will. And if the Revelation of God find no Credit as to these things in general there is but little appearance that it would have gained more Credit had he described the whole Process and descended to every Circumstance of these things For the Truth and Declaration of God being the only Motive of Assent common to both these Cases it unavoidably follows that there would be the same reason for witholding it in the One that there can possibly be in the Other Nay shall I carry this Point a little higher I may do it and dare appeal to all that hear me whether in the Judgment of every considerate and unprejudic'd Christian it be not for the Dignity and Advantage of Religion that some Articles of it exceed the largest humane Comprehension Whether we should entertain the same awful Impressions of the Divine Majesty if the Perfections of his Nature and Operations were such only as we could see to the end of and in every respect account to our Reason for Whether it do not raise the value of Man's Redemption to have been brought about by Miracles of Mercy not only without Example but even beyond our present Understanding Had all these things been less we should have known them better but so much as you abate of them to bring them nearer to Mens Capacity so much you weaken the Power of them upon their Affections And the influencing mens Affections is
Matter which it no way concern'd him to know And an Intimation withal that the great and only thing he ought to be solicitous for was to prepare himself for the Discharge of his own Duty And as Providence intended to liken him to his Master in the manner of his Death so his Thoughts should be employed in taking good heed to be like him in a meek and patient and constant suffering of the Tryals appointed for himself Now the Rebuke applyed here to one particular Instance I shall so treat of at this time as to render it an Admonition of general Use and Benefit For such no doubt it may prove to every Christian if we from this Example take the hint of forbearing to indulge all needless Curiosities in Matters of Religion And bending our Studies to those Objects which have a direct Tendency to Practice and a good Life lay aside such aiery Speculations as deservedly fall under this Reprehension of our Saviour If it be thus or thus what is that to thee Now I would fain hope That even in this busy and pretending Age of Ours men might be prevailed upon thus far to consult their own Ease and Benefit would they but seriously consider these Three Arguments 1. First That Many if not Most of the abstruse Points of Religion are beset with such Difficulties as they cannot receive any positive and full Satisfaction in 2. Secondly That could they go to the bottom of all these Difficulties yet such Knowledge would be of little or no real use to them 3. Thirdly That the employing their Thoughts in such intricate Questions is not only fruitless but dangerous and many times of very fatal Consequence to themselves to others and to Religion in general This I shall endeavour to convince you is ordinarily the Case of those nice and curious Persons who spend their time and pains in the speculative Parts of Religion And not only so but I shall urge withal that the Study of the Practical and necessary Duties is the very Reverse of all this That these are very possible to be attain'd exceeding profitable when understood and that all the Hours and Industry laid out upon them turn to the truest the best account both for our Selves and for the Publick I. My first Discouragement against curious Speculations in Matters of Religion consists in this that they are entangled with such Difficulties as men cannot receive any positive and particular Satisfaction in And would not one choose of the two rather to sit still and be idle than to travel through Briars and Thorns and after infinite Toil and Trouble give out at last heartily tired with one's Journey but still as far from the End as when he first set out And yet this is the Consequence of those sublime Notions and subtle Distinctions which have taken up the Thoughts and employed the Pens and swell'd the Volumes of a great many Learned Men in almost all but especially in these later Ages of the Church The Mysterious Union of the Blessed Trinity and that of two Natures in the Person of our Saviour Christ The Secrets of Providence and the Methods of Divine Grace the State of Souls departed and the particular Nature and Quality of those Rewards and Punishments which await men in the next World These and abundance more such Points there are in which the Scriptures have given us some general Insight as much as is necessary for our present purpose But when men not content to be wise according to that which is written plunge themselves into Controversies about the particular Modes and Circumstances of them the farther they wade the more they are carried out of their Depth And how should it be otherwise indeed For when all is said and done these are Subjects not of a size with us our own Understanding is not qualified to fathom them The Light from above is our only safe Guide in these matters So far then as this leads us we may go on boldly and stand upon sure and firm ground but where that Light forsakes us all the Discoveries pretended to beyond must needs be very fanciful and precarious and weak So full of Delusion are those very profound Contemplations which lose the Mind in matters too high for it so liable to that Reproach of St. Paul * Rom. I. 21 22. though in another Signification of the words for These men too becoming vain in their Imaginations their foolish heart is darkned and professing themselves to be wise they become Fools But now the most important part of Religion is of a quite different kind For those things which the Gospel commands to be believed or done in order to Salvation lie level to every ordinary Capacity Thus for Belief It asks no mighty Depth for a Man to convice himself that what the God of Truth hath revealed ought readily to be embraced that He who was pleased to declare his Will to Mankind did certainly do it with a design to be understood that therefore we ought to take his word in its plain and natural Sense except where there appears manifest Reason to the contrary That its containing some things which we cannot perfectly comprehend especially when treating of God's own Nature and Operations is no good Argument of any Necessity to take him otherwise Because our Reason tells us that God is infinite and yet it tells us at the same time too that infinite he could not be if a finite Mind could fully comprehend him In a word it requires Modesty and Integrity rather than Acuteness and Skill to be satisfied that the true and proper Foundation of Faith is not the Quality or Perspicuity of the things revealed but the Authority and Testimony of the Party revealing These are matters that lie sufficiently fair and open to every considerate Person and They who come to the Scriptures with these Impressions will find no difficulty in assenting to what they meet with there nor any occasion for flying to wretched Criticisms as an Expedient for bringing down the loftiest Doctrines to their own narrow Apprehensions So again for the Moral Precepts of Piety and Justice and Charity and Purity and Meekness and Patience and Perseverance and the like These are so suited to our natural Notions of God and Goodness that if a Man hath but once thrown off the dead weight of his own Prejudices and corrupt Inclinations they cannot but cast the Scale against the contrary Vices Nor must I upon this occasion forget to put put you in mind that the Practice of Religion is a mighty Help to our more compleat Knowledge of it It is so as it engages our diligent Attention and fervent Love to that which is good It is so as it secures Probity of Mind a teachable and impartial Disposition It is so as it entitles us to the Blesling of God upon our Studies Whose Goodness will never suffer those who serve and seek him with their whole Heart to continue in dangerous and fatal Mistakes
Sin And how hard a service that must needs be I leave every one to judge when he finds it describ'd * Wisd V. 7. Jerem. IX 5. Habak II. 13. by a dark and slippery path by mens wearying themselves to work iniquity walking through dangerous places and labouring in the very fire If such then be the Pains and Wearisomness If such the Hazards and Difficulties that attend the Work it will become us very seriously to consider what it is we lay our selves out upon and whether the Profits will at last answer the trouble And of This too the Scriptures give us a true but a lamentable account * Habak II. 13. Isaiah LV. 2 by assuring us that such men weary themselves for vanity and a thing of nought that they spend their labour for that which satisfieth not that their years are consumed in trouble and all their works unfruitful And what a miserable thing is this now For a man to look back upon a life so ill so uneasily spent and find it turn to no advantage at all To reflect what crooked and rough paths he has travelled through what a deal of Sweat and Strength it has cost him to obey the Commands of a Master who will never consider him for his pains How often his mind has been tortured and perplexed with unlawful desires and anxious fears How he has been rackt to gratify his Lust or his Pride his Avarice or Revenge How he has sacrificed all his content and calmness of mind all his rest and quiet enjoyment of himself and the world to these Passions and when he comes at last to sit down and Compute his gains to find that all his hopes have been deceitful and all his Labours vain And instead of such a Summ as might recompence his past sufferings to find that Sarcasm of St. Paul's underwritten at the foot of the Account and his conscience after being long deluded with the expectations of I know not what imaginary Happiness turn again upon him with a * Rom. VI. 21. Eccles V. 16. What fruit have you had in all these things or those words of the Preacher What profit hath he that laboureth for the Wind This renders the Case bad enough in reason and puts the Folly of such as employ themselves in Works of Darkness past all Question and beyond all Excuse And therefore to men who have not abandon'd all Consideration it is discouragement enough in conscience to call them Vnfruitful Not that they are strictly without any fruit but because what follows upon them is a great deal worse than if there were none at all and therefore said to be none because it brings no advantage For the Holy Spirit has foretold expresly elsewhere what will be the end of all such labours * Habak II. 16. Prov. XIV 30. That Woe shall be to him who enticeth his Neighbour to Sin That Envy is the Rottenness of the bones Eccles IV V. VI. Chap. Covetousness and Ambition a perpetual vanity and Vexation Prov. XVI 18. That Pride goes before Destruction And in more general terms still Gal. VI. 8. That they who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap Corruption Heb. X. 27. That to wilful Sinners there remains a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and siery Indignation Rom. VI. 21 23. Rom. II. 8 9. That the effect of Sin is shame and the end and wages of it is Death That to them who obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness God shall render Indignation and wrath tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of man that doth Evil. Matth. XXV 46. XXIV 51. XXV 41. That the Sinner's punishment shall be Everlasting and his portion in a place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth even in a Lake of everlasting fire even in a fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels And now after this account of the Sinners Recompence for all his Labour and Trouble there cannot one would think need any long Application to perswade us to act like persons sensible of what has been already delivered under the foregoing heads and of our engagements with regard to them Which was the IVth and last thing I proposed and that I shall dispatch as briefly as may be 1. Now That which I shall draw from the first head and the Contemplation of the Works of Darkness is The Reasonableness of our being extreamly well satisfied with our Duty and heartily thankful for the benefits of the Gospel For the more we consider the Darkness of those Ages in which our Fore-fathers lived the better we shall discern the happiness of our own When men advanced so far in Wisdom and Vertue such as Socrates and Cato and some others whom Antiquity always names with respect and admiration had yet the misfortune of great Errours both in their Judgment and Practice This is a manifest Evidence how necessary some farther Revelation of the Divine Will was to mankind how unable Nature and Reason are even when most refin'd and improv'd to discover all those Rules which are requisite for the due Government of our selves And all this contributes to the illustrating God's mercies to Christians so much the more when the things that were then unsearchable are now so clear and plain that even Babes may apprehend and He that runs may read them All the Disguises of Vice are now pulled off its natural Deformities laid bare its absurdity and Inconsistence with the Christian's Principles demonstrated its wretched Consequences plainly forewarn'd The Beauties of Vertue and all its engaging Advantages are fairly set before us And nothing now is wanting that can in reason be desired either to convince our Judgments or to charm our Affections All which must certainly perswade us that the Condemnation of those men must needs be very Just must needs be very Great who do not rejoice in this Light and use it sincerely Who do not endeavour the performance of what is so agreeable to the dignity of their Nature so secure of leading them in the best way to happiness so easy and so delightful with a Contented shall I say No that 's too little and too low a Character but with a Chearful and a Thankful mind 2. From the Second head which explained what Testimonies are expected of our having no Fellowship with the Works of Darkness I wou'd urge in general a Continual Watch and holy Jealousy over our selves Where every complyance with Sin is not only Disobedience but Treachery and where the Danger and the Displeasure such offences incur are so dreadful no care can be enough And if we wou'd but once be made sensible how Cunning our great Enemy of Souls is to turn every thing into an occasion of Sin We shou'd walk like men in the midst of Traps and Snares or upon Rocks and narrow Precipices There is no trusting of our selves too near the Cockatrices Den no playing upon the hole of the Asp if we expect to be
venture your whole Substance upon so mad a hazard where there have been Millions of Blanks for One Prize and that Prize too got by such a Chance as can never come up again Why will you then with your Eyes open run such a desperate risque of Eternity Eternity to which the longest Life bears not the proportion of a single moment Why will you stake your Souls upon so certain a Loss Your Souls for which the whole World could you gain it is not an equivalent If therefore you have any regard to these As you would escape the agonies of Guilt the horrours of Despair and dreadful looking for of fiery Indignation to consume You as You would secure peace of Conscience the favour of God and those comfortable prospects of bliss which alone can support your drooping Spirits when all worldly comforts forsake You if there be any charms in the Hope of Heaven here and the Enjoyment of hereafter Let my Advice be acceptable to You But why do I call it Mine 'T is the Apostle's Advices and most excellent and pathetical Exhortations those are Hebr. III. 12. 13. IV. 1. To day while it is called To Day harden not your hearts Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief but let us fear lest a promise being made us of entring into his Rest we should at last come short of it 2 Cor. VI. 2. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation Rom. XIII 11. 12. And therefore knowing that it is now high time to awake out of sleep let us cast off the works of Darkness and let us put on the armour of Light now in the time of this mortal Life 2 Pet. III. 12. Looking for and hasting to the Coming of the Day of God when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess I. 7. 8. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all Honour and Obedience now and for ever Amen SERMON V. St PETER's FALL St. Mark XIV 72. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him Before the Cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice And when he thought thereon he wept AMong the many helps and advantages to a Godly Life which the Holy Scriptures furnuh us with None are more useful none better qualified for success than Those which a prudent and considerate Reader may draw from the Examples of eminent Saints recorded there And These may be of Singular Benefit to us Not only by those shining Graces and Virtues that exalted Piety and unshaken Perseverance which ought to provoke our Zeal and encourage our Imitation But no less by those Blemishes and Failings that Proneness to Sin even in the Best men and the Diligence and Painfulness of that Repentance by which they were restored to the Favour of God Which should abate our vain Confidences and awaken our Care Of this latter sort is the Instance now before us concerning St. Peter whose Denial of our Saviour all the four Evangelists have given us a large and particular account of and Three of them declare his bitter remorse of it St. Mark in the Words of my Text hath confined me indeed to this Last only But because we shall be better able to make a right Judgment of his Repentance when we have first considered the nature of the Crime that occasioned it And in regard the One as well as the Other may minister abundant Matter of Profit and Instruction I shall in treating of this Subject take in the whole Compass of it and discourse as well of the Fault implied and reserred to as of the Repentance expresly contained in my Text. And here I cannot think it necessary to employ my own Pains or your Patience in any Critical Niceties which may tend to reconcile those seeming Differences between the several Gospels in some Circumstances relating to this Affair Which yet to persons not very captious and perverse are capable of a fair and easy Accommodation But there is matter of far greater moment which calls for our Attention And the Substance wherein they agree beyond all Controversy is that both St. Peter's Fault and his Repentance were very Great and Exemplary He denied Christ He did it to avoid being thought one of his Disciples by the Servants of the High-Priest He persisted in that Denial He repeated and strengthened it with the Solemnity of Oaths and Curses But when the Crowing of the Cock and the Look of his Master had called up the Powers of Reason and Recollection in his mind Immediately upon reflecting what he had done he went out and wept He wept * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundantly he wept bitterly These are the Passages which we are principally concerned to take notice of And therefore I shall make it my endeavour I. First To represent to you St. Peter 's Fall with the most remarkable Circumstances and Aggravations attending it II. Secondly St. Peter 's Repentance and the undoubted Testimonies given of the Seriousness and Sincerity of it And then under Each of these Heads I shall draw such Observations as may be of use to us to prevent our falling or else to recover our standing if we happen to fall after his Example I. First then Let us consider St. Peter's Fault and those Circumstances attending it which may give us a true State of his Case 1. And here First of all it was undoubtedly one great Aggravation of this Fault to have been committed by St. Peter A Person who had enjoyed the Benefit of a long and familiar Conversation with his Master Who had not only heard the many excellent Instructions delivered to the Multitudes which upon all occasions flocked together in great Numbers to be taught by him but who in private Conferences had been let in to a more full and distinct Understanding of those Mysteries which for wise Reasons had been exprest to the promiscuous Crowd of Hearers in Terms sometimes ambiguous and dark A Person who besides the infinite Miracles wrought publickly in Confirmation of the Truth had been admitted to be an Eye-Witness of such as more clearly and immediately gave Testimony to his Lord 's Divine Nature and Authority Such in particular as the Appearance of Moses * Matth. XVII and Elias at our Lord's Transfiguration that Honour †2 Pet. I. 17 18. and Glory which Jesus received from God the Father when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which voice from heaven himself declares he heard when he was with him in the holy mount A Person whom out Lord had chosen the Companion ‖ Vers 33. of his
with regard to the Sacrifice of Expiation He tells the Hebrews ‖ Heb. II. 9. that Jesus was made a little lower than the Angels that He by the Grace of God should tast death for every man The Design is not less universal because the Effect is not so For St. Peter * 2 Pet. II 1. upbraids the men who brought in damnable Heresies with denying the Lord that bought them and so bringing upon themselves destruction And the Apostle to the Romans enlarges most admirably to shew the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence in converting the Obstinacy of the Jews into an occasion of bringing in the fullness of the Gentiles that so the Conversion of the Gentiles might be also an occasion of softening the Jews by working them up to a holy Emulation of that Happiness and Obedience which those despised Nations had so surprisingly outstripped them in Some Persons indeed there are who deny the force of this Reason and pretend that God never intended that those who stood out should ever have come in that he hardned their hearts and made it impossible for them to hearken to or comply with his Calls But I add notwithstanding Fourthly That God was very serious in these Invitations and that the Parable gives us ground sufficient to believe so It is true Among Men many things are done merely out of Ceremony and Form Many proffers made in hopes of being refused Many Civilities shewn where nothing less is intended And what the World calls Complaisance and good Breeding is frequently not so much the Language as the Disguise of the mind And hard it is to know whether it proceed from real Friendship or be the Effect of Formality or Flattery or Dissimulation or Fear But This cannot possibly be the Case here For to suppose Almighty God guilty of such mean Arts is to think most unworthily and most inconsistently of him With Him is no Deceivableness no Deceit A thing so vile and confessedly base that They who practice it most are always ashamed to own it and therefore use their utmost industry to mask it well Though Few in comparison are sincere yet every Man is ambitious and labours to be thought sincere And what the very Worst of sinful Mortals detests is sure a Character not to be ascribed to the Best and Holiest Being Again As the Nature of God is not capable of any indirect or double Dealing or false and flattering Pretences so is there no imaginable Reason from without that should incline him to make use of them He cannot contract an Obligation from his own Creatures nor can he stand in Awe of their Displeasure What then should move him to profess Kindness where none is due What where he cannot suffer by with-holding it What indeed but his own Infinite and Essential Goodness Can the Great God of Heaven and Earth gain any advantage by insinuating himself into the Affections and courting the good Opinion of poor Worms who can never profit him by the best of their polluted and imperfect Services He stands not in need of any Returns our Gratitude can make Nor is his Happiness defective without them And Common Sense tells us that were Our State independent upon the Favour or Friendship of one another there would not be such a thing as a Flatterer or Dissembler in the World If then this King in the Parable did not design his Invitations should be accepted why did he ever make them at all But at least when men refused them why did he not take them at their word A Complement that is merely such is easily dropp'd And when men are well enough pleased to be deny'd they are usually content to spare the trouble of pressing But is This at all agreeable to the Methods used here for bringing in Guests to the Marriage If the First Bidding would bear so vile an Interpretation yet sure the Importunities of a Second and Third Call will by no means endure it And yet least of all will that Indignation for being so unworthily rejected The New Commissions issued out to his Servants The mighty Care of picking up other Guests And the severe Revenge upon Those who received his gracious Offers with Disdain In all appearance the doing what God all along intended men should do nay what he made it necessary for them to do ought not to have bred so irreconcilable a Quarrel We acknowledge indeed that the Counsels of Almighty God are a vast and dark Depth and think it very unbecoming poor feeble Mortals too busily to intrude into or peremptorily to pronounce concerning them But there are some plain Principles so obvious that all contending Parties cannot but agree in them That the Judge of all the Earth cannot but do right is a Truth universally confess'd And though Justice in God may proceed upon Measures not understood by Us and be perfect above what we are able to comprehend yet since Just and Unjust Good and Evil are not arbitrary and unalterable things we have no reason to suppose that Justice and Goodness in God are contrary to what we esteem Just and Good among Men. And therefore Men may be excused if they think that all the Caution and Jealousy due to the Honour of God's Justice and Goodness have not been observed by Some who out of honest Zeal perhaps have set up a secret Will in the Divine Decrees which seems plainly repugnant to the Known Will of his Precepts and Revelations For if God will that Any should hear and receive and obey his Gospel and enjoyns this upon pain of Damnation and hath in most solemn manner declared this to be his Will and yet at the same time hath another Will to us unknown which controuls and over-rules all this and will not suffer such to receive and obey his Word though they would never so fain and then punishes and damns them eternally for not doing so Let Them who maintain this Doctrine tell us how we shall deliver it from such Reflections upon the Honour the Justice the Goodness the Truth and if I may be allowed so to speak the Sincerity and Common Honesty of the Divine Nature as Reverence to so Great a Majesty will not suffer me to name In Matters of so high a Nature great Allowances may be made for unaffected Mistakes and Difference in Opinion But it can be no just matter of blame to dissent from those Doctrines the Consequences of which even They that advance them profess to abhor and yet have not shewn us how they can be avoided For so far as yet appears if This be the case our Preaching is vain and your Faith is also vain And therefore we have great Reason to conclude that God does not obstruct mens honest Endeavours in the use of Outward Means but leaves them in their full Power and that his Decrees are such as consist very well with the Temper of his Covenants his Exhortations his Promises his Threatnings his vehement and affectionate Expostulations his laying
the Tempter who manages such Mistakes to his own wicked purposes and knows that Delay is the broad way to Destruction God hath indeed provided an Inward Call to second and set home the Outward upon our Consciences But he hath not any where that I know of in the ordinary Dispensations of his Grace and Providence promised any Inward Call apart from the Outward where this may be had He blesses I mean the Administration of his Word and Sacraments and hath fitted these as proper Instruments for bringing us to himself But he expects we should use these that by them we may be brought to him So that as I had occasion to observe formerly Serm. VI◠every Publick Sermon every Psalm and Lesson in the Service every Bidding of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper every pious Exhortation Admonition Reproof is God's Call and God's Message conveyed down to us by his Ministers and such as we must expect one day to account for The King in this Parable interpreted the Refusal and the Ill Treatment of his Servants as so many Indignities done to himself and revenged them with a Severity proportionable to an Insolence so resented And the Jews whom those ungrateful Wretches represent were utterly destroyed for not hearkening to such Calls as these This is the Condemnation constantly laid to their Charge that God sent his Prophets and they would not hear And That which was Their ruine will certainly prove Ours in the End if We by wicked Delays and standing out against the like Means follow the Example of their Obstinacy and Contemptuous Behaviour 6. Sixthly From hence I take it to be evident that this Ordinary and Outward Ministration mentioned in my last Particular is capable of becoming a Sufficient Call to as many as are rightly disposed and willing to make a due Improvement of it Were not the Matter thus how could we account for the Jews being so dreadfully punish'd upon denying their Assent and Obedience How for the Gentles succeeding so well and receiving such commendation upon a ready complyance with such Calls Since neither is it any just provocation to with-hold our Obedience from nor any Virtue or real Matter of Praise to give in rashly to Motives and Means which are insufficient It is true indeed and most readily confess'd that all the Successes of Outward Means upon us are entirely owing to the Blessing and Grace of God inclining our Wills to accept and submit to them But the thing I aim at in this Particular is To urge that when in such representations as This before us and other-like places of Scripture the Outward means alone are taken notice of and no mention made of the Inward Assistances necessary to render them effectual This is a fair Intimation nay I think I may say an undenyable Argument that God's Inward Call will not be wanting to second the Outward where men are sincere and faithful desirous and diligent to examine and consider to hearken to reason all Passions and Prejudice and Interest apart and resolutely set to follow the Dictates of God and their own Consciences * Matth. XXV 29. To Him that hath says our Lord that does his part and makes the best of that he hath shall be given and he shall have abundance And again †John VI. 37. Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out Nor would I here again be understood as if I supposed that even those Actions or good Dispositions to which the increase of Grace is promised are things meerly in our own power No such matter Our very Having our very Coming are of God His are the Talents and His the ability of using them faithfully John XV. 5. V. 44. Without Him we can do nothing and no man cometh to Christ except the Father draw him But still the Question is Whether men's being not drawn be not chargeable upon some fault of their own And if They who are not drawn do not in some measure contribute to that unhappiness and obstruct the kindness which God was otherwise ready to extend to them Now thus much seems to be implyed in the many severe Reproofs and Upbraidings in the many passionate and tender Complaints to be met with upon these occasions John V. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life says our Blessed Master Matth. XXIII 38. and O Jerusalem Jerusalem how oft wonld I have gathered thy Children even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and Ye would not And though our utmost efforts are of no significance without the Divine assistance yet that this assistance is not of such a nature as to supersede our own endeavours but that both these must go hand in hand appears from that remarkable Text to the Philippians where St. Paul presses them to Phil. II. 12 13. work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who worketh in them to will and to do of his good pleasure To this we may add the constant custom of charging mens Faults and Punishments and final Destruction upon themselves observable throughout the whole Book of Scripture And where mention is made of God's hardening men's hearts if we will make that Book consistent with it self This is to be meant of God's doing it by way of Judgment upon wicked Sinners punishing the Abuse of Means by a total Deprivation of them Mens own Folly by Infatuation Thus blinding those Eyes which would not see and preserving the forfeited lives of some notorious Monsters in Impiery from that speedy death they had deserved to make them more awakening examples to Others by the vengeance which pursues their repeated provocations in this World But which comes closest up to the present purpose The Neglects and Contempts and Abuses threaten'd or revenged in our Bibles are all along such as men had been guilty of towards Outward and Ordinary means For not being won by these they are declared inexcusable Which yet they could not be were they not provided with such helps as attended with their own Industry and Honesty might have rendred those means successful For this is but in other words to affirm what the Holy Spirit frequently does that the Sinners undoing is not from God but from himself not from Him who desireth not the Death of the Wicked but from the Wicked who will not turn and live 7. Seventhly and Lastly This Parable intimates to us that though God call men in such a manner as renders them who refuse inexcusable yet be does it not ordinarily if ever at all in such a manner as is irresistible Hence it is that we so often find men reproached with turning their backs stopping their ears hardening their hearts quenching grieving and doing despight to his Spirit Hence that rebuke to the Jews by St. Stephen Acts VII 51. Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so also do ye
I hope too that what I shall say will be able to support the honest and the feeble-minded Christians that though they are sadly sensible of some remains of Vnbelief in their Souls which need to be helped yet the Case is not so bad with them neither but that they may without Vanity that Profession in the beginning of my Text and say very truly Lord I believe This is my intention but the nature of the Subject will not so well bear to have the Argument branched out to these Two different sorts of Persons distinctly For the same Reasons which prove that No man arrives at an absolute Perfection in Faith do likewise prove That No man ought to despair because he discovers some Imperfections of Faith in himself Since at that rate Every ones Circumstances would be desperate and there could be no such thing as a worthy and true Believer in the World I must therefore content my self with handling this matter in the General and that which seems to me at present the best method for doing it effectually is to insist on these Three Heads I. First To assign some reasons for the weakness of mens Faith And these shall be such as every one of us will find himself more or less concerned in II. Secondly To shew that those things which Many People are apt to suspect as signs of Vnbelief or that they have not True Faith are not in reality any such Signs And III. Thirdly To lay down some Rules whereby the weakness of Faith may be distinguish'd from the Want of it And here I will shew how any man by examining his own Conscience carefully may discern whether his Belief be consistent with the Terms of Salvation or not I begin with the 1st And here by Faith I understand not only 1. The Assent of the mind to those Truths which God hath revealed in obedience to his Command and dependence on his Truth and Goodness Nor barely 2. An outward and express'd Profession of all such Articles are necessary to be acknowledged in order to make us Christians but also 3. Such a vigorous and lively Assent as may prevail upon men to enter into Covenant with God and may influence their Hearts and Practice powerfully such as may put us upon the performance of our Duty and the making good those Engagements in the whole Course of our Lives which we bring upon our selves when we thus enter Covenant with God For All This is comprehended under Believing and several accounts may be given of our failing in sundry instances of this Faith Particularly These that follow 1. As First One reason of this may be taken from the very Nature of those things which we are commanded to believe For Some of these being very dark and mysterious Truths it cannot be expected that our Minds should adhere to them with the same sort of Assurance that they are used to do in such Other matters as fall within our Comprehension and of which we have a clearer and more distinct knowledge The Attributes and Excellencies of God the Trinity of Persons in the Divine Nature an Eternal State of Bliss or Woe hereafter and the Restoring to us these fleshly Bodies again at the General Resurrection notwithstanding the infinite and unconceivable Changes which Time and Corruption bring upon them in the mean while These and some Others of the like nature are of the first Principles of Christianity the Prime and most necessary Truths to be entertained and firmly embraced But it is manifest withal that These are matters of which one cannot have any just and adequate Notions Because they are not commensurate to the Capacities of mortal men The largest mind is too narrow to receive them the most penetrating Wit cannot sound all their depths nor the most indefatigable Study conquer all the difficulties that may be charged upon them And therefore since Men's Assent is always governed by their Apprehensions the Mind will never find the same Evidence for those things that are far above out of our sight that it does for Others which we see and feel and daily converse with Such as are of the same level with our selves and we are able to give a tolerable good account of by our own serious Thought and nice Enquiry into the Nature of them I do not mean by this that we have not Sufficient Motives for our Belief even of those Truths which we are least able to comprehend For when we are once perswaded of the Being of a God and convinced that these are His Revelations nothing can be more equitable than to submit our own Reasoning to his Declarations This single Reflection that infinite Wisdom cannot be mistaken that Infinite Goodness cannot lead others into mistakes nor perfect Truth lye is a foundation strong enough to Build the firmest Faith upon But still the urging of this Reflection upon our selves must be the work of much application And though we are exceedingly to blame if any Objections which the Obscurity of those Great Important Doctrins is wont to raise in us be suffered to overthrow our Faith or dangerously to shake it yet such is the nature of our minds that where Sense or Demonstration do not represent things to us plainly and beyond all Contradiction there Scruples and Cavils will now and then arise and the Devil will not fail to make use of these Occasions and try by them to loosen and dissettle us from that firmness of perswasion which is due to such a Revelation Even They who struggle most successfully against such attempts of his may yet sometimes find a tendency to doubt or some little disturbance from them But those men will be sure to find a very great deal who over-looking the Credibility of the Testimony and Revelation it self which is Reason's proper Province in these matters they expect their satisfaction from the sight and knowledge of the things Revealed Which is in effect to put their Enquiry upon a wrong Scent to require an Evidence of which the Condition of this Subject is not capable and to destroy the very Essence of Faith which in strict speaking could not be Faith if it were not the Evidence of things unseen Now if such be the Condition of our Faith with regard to the very first Act That of Assenting to the Truths revealed by God We shall find the Difficulties grow upon us in the following parts of it when it comes to influence our Practice and to govern our Affections And this will appear very evidently if we consider 2. Secondly After what manner it is that the Belief of these Truths come to gain a power over our Wills and to command our Actions One would think that to be once throughly convinced of the Truth of Christianity and the Reasonableness and Excellency of the Duties it enjoins were enough to fix a Man all his Life long And perhaps in matters of mere Speculation it is so After any point hath been duly considered and all the Arguments for