and awe upon him whereas the mutual love and kindness that Christ hath commanded amongst men and also recommended to us by the highest and most effectual motives would not only restrain the outward actions of fraud and injury and oppression but kill the very lust within wither the very root of biterness and render every man easie and helpful to his neighbour instead of being injurious to him and this is suggested by St Paul Rom. 13.8 9.10 He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self love worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Love throughly accomplishes all those ends which were indeed designed by the Law whence it is said That the Law is not made for a righteous man a man animated and inspired by a living Law of love within but for the lawless and disobedient 1 Tim. 1.9 And thus hath our Lord fulfilled the judicial Law of Moses as well as the moral and ceremonial by the most efficacious ways and methods of setling such a Law within us as would most effectually work and propagate the great design of the Law of Moses which was added as the Apostle speaks because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made Having thus cleared both the parts of the words before us it now remains that we reflect upon what hath been said and draw some Observations from it First And first of all since our Lord came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets hence we learn That Christianity that the righteousness and holiness of the Gospel was the thing that God had in his eye the thing that he purposed and intended and that lay at the bottom of his counsels in the whole Mosaical Dispensation as well in all the external Rites as the other parts of Moses's Law God never had any delight or pleasure in the flesh or blood of Bulls and Goats or any Sacrifices of the Law he was never pleased with ritual washings or expiations as things excellent in themselves nor did he institute these Rites for any complacence he took in them but partly as the Ancients observe to typifie things that were to come namely the mysteries of the Gospel and partly to retain the Jews accustomed to such like Rites in Egypt in the worship and service of himself the only true and living God lest being denied their former Rites in the worship of the true God they should have used them unto Idols and to have continued in that apostasie whereinto themselves and the world were fallen at the delivery of the Law Had there been no such Reasons as these for the Rites enjoined in Moses's Law they had never been instituted or commanded nor had God any respect for them any regard to the most zealous performance of them when divided from the essential parts the great Fundamentals of Religion judgment and mercy and the love of God Hence those words of the Prophet Jeremy chap. 6.20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me And those of Isaiah chap. 1.11 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats Adde hereunto those excellent words of the Prophet Micah chap. 6. verf. 6 7 8. Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul No He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God These were the things which he accepted nay these were the things which he designed in the very Ceremonies of the Law and in all its symbolical Types and Figures And these are the things which Christ our Lord came to propagate and promote in all he did and suffered for us So constant hath God been to himself and to the advancement of real goodness amongst men in all the Ages of the World before and under and after the Law He still designed the same thing he had still the same end in his eye namely that we should love him with all our hearts and love our Neighbour as our selves on these as our Saviour himself tells us hanged all the Law and the Prophets And the end for which our Lord himself came into the World was more effectually to promote what the Law of Moses had designed and so the Apostle himself assures us Rom. 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Secondly What then remains in the last place but that since our Lord came into the World not to destroy but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets since he â—ath fulfilled them by introducing that Religion which God always had in his eye in all the Shadows of the Law a Religion suitable unto reason a Religion that perfects humane nature a Religion free and disentangled from the load of Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies a Religion aiming at nothing more than hearty love to God and our Neighbour and peace and happiness both in this and the other world what now remains but that we freely embrace and practise a Religion thus recommended to us neither reproaching it by our lusts by foul and sensual inclinations nor yet abusing and obscuring it by vain and useless superstitions It is a reasonable and manly service that God is pleased to require from us it is the cure of all our maladies it is medicine unto all our distempers it is health and soundness to all our powers It is not sacrifice and oblations it is not circumcision nor uncircumcision it is not what is hard and burthensom but what is useful and good for us 't is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost So that had we no other demonstration of the infinite love of God to us this were sufficient proof of it that he hath made our Religion our happiness Foâ— in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor
and glorious Solomon gives of the glory of this World which he pronounces to be no better than vanity and vexation of spirit and that upon long and great experience And let the consideration of this teach us the emptiness and insufficiency of all this world can afford to us And this we could not fail to learn did we often reflect upon our selves and seriously meditate upon our ways and consider how little of satisfaction arises even from lawful pleasures and how much less from those of sin which though they should not be imbittered yet cannot but be much abated by the very sin from whence they flow These thoughts would teach us to understand That God hath formed and designed our souls for pleasures quite of another nature for spiritual and immortal joys For certainly he that hath been so liberal as to provide a proportionable food for all the Creatures below them for the Fowls of the Air for the Beasts of the Field for all things creeping upon the Earth and all things swimming in the Sea hath not been so narrow to the souls of men as not to provide such joys for them as may give them plentiful satisfaction Which leads me to the fourth Particular which the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us in order to our reformation of them which is Fourthly The happiness of that state we enter upon when we cast off and forsake our sins and turn out feet to Gods testimonies Then are our sins remitted to us wilful sins as well as frailties and sinful actions against Gods Laws as well as omissions and neglects and blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin Psal 32.1 2. Then we become the Children of God then we become the special concernment of his Providence then are we adopted into his Family and to a title to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us For if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Then are we renewed in the Spirit of our minds then born of God and made Partakers of the Divine Nature then do we pass from darkness to light from bondage to liberty from death to life Then are we made meet to be Partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Then delivered by God from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son These and such like are the expressions whereby the Scriptures describe the repentance of a Sinner and the happy change which it makes in him a change so happy in it self and of such concernment to him likewise that it creates a joy in Heaven and makes the Angels themselves rejoyce For saith our Lord there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.10 and before that at the 7th v. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance no habitual change of life Suppose we then that recollection of our selves and the consideration of our ways bring all the things I have now mentioned into our thoughts and they are really apt to do it suppose them fixed upon our minds by the cooperation of Gods Spirit which he will not deny to them that ask it might it not reasonably be expected that these thoughts thus fixed upon us should touch our Consciences move our affections and kindle good resolutions in us and provoke us to greater care and diligence in the future Government of our lives If we did fully convince our selves of the infinite hazards and inconveniences that attend a vitious course of life of the vanity and emptiness of all those things for the sake whereof we expose our selves to all those hazards of the peace and happiness of that State whereunto we enter by true repentance I perswade my self we could no more content our selves still to continue in our sins than willingly chuse our own misery which God hath made an impossible thing and that out of very faithfulness to us Nor could we answer it to our selves to deny our selves the great advantages that attend the conversion of a sinner did we represent them to our selves in serious thoughts and meditations These thoughts assisted by that grace which suggests them to us would move us to chuse immortal happiness and the joys that attend the firm and stable hopes of it rather than the very highest pleasures which the wildest and most extravagant minds can possibly fansie to be in evil 2. Having thus given a short account of several things which the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us in order to the reformation of them which was the former of the two generals before propounded I shall now proceed unto the second where I am to shew what the like thoughts may offer to us to perswade us to do it without delay as it appears they did in David who having seriously thought on his ways delayed not to keep Gods Commandments Where in my way to more particular considerations I cannot but note this in general that evil is a most indefensible thing no sooner considered and understood but presently rejected and forsaken I thought on my ways says the Psalmist here and what then and turned my feet unto thy testimonies I made hast and delayed not to keep thy commandments No sooner did he consider his ways and make a discovery of his sins but he quickly retired and fled from them as from the brow of a dangerous precipice where he durst not stand a moment longer Sin will not abide a serious thought it will not endure an impartial trial It is an imposture it is a cheat it is a lie and so is every temptation to it confuted as soon as understood But the more particular meditations which recommend a speedy repentance are the consideration of Gods design in all his patience towards sinners serious reflection upon the uncertainty of our lives in this so corruptible and frail a State and likewise due consideration of the several difficulties and inconveniences that attend the delay of reformation 1. Therefore let it be well considered what is the end of Gods patience and whence it is that he doth not pursue and follow our sins with speedy and destructive punishments but give us time and opportunity to recollect and reform our lives The reason of this is not that the high and lofty one takes no notice of things below that he is indifferent to good and evil and unconcern'd in the sons of men and in what they do and suffer in the World It is not as those scoffers imagined who walking after their own lusts cavilled the delays of Gods judgments and mock'd that patience whereby they lived saying as St Peter hath observed 2 Ep. cap. 3. v. 4. Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue
have nothing but good Principles to prevent and hinder such complyance From whence it most inevitably follows that where such principles are not found where men are under the power and guidance of evil Principles they are most dangerously exposed to evil This is the least of the ill effects that we can possibly expect from them 2. But then secondly we must consider That as all ill principles in Religion leave us at least exposed to evil so are there many do very highly encourage to it There are such principles to be found as turn the greatest crimes to merit and make men hope for a reward hope to gain eternal glory by the foulest practices in the world by those that tend to eternal misery Our blessed Lord foretold his followers that the time would come wherein they would put them out of the Synagogues and not so only but also that whosoever killed them should think he did God service by it John 16.2 So did the Jews use his Disciples They first accused them of Schism and Heresie and then persecuted them unto death And just so doth the Roman Church to all Christians dissenting from them They pronounce them guilty of Schism and Heresie they excommunicate them out of the Church they flatly deny that they can be saved they doom them all unto damnation they pronounce it lawful to destroy them to destroy the very greatest Princes when they have once judged them Hereticks They make it a meritorious act in those that adventure so to do and lest men should not venture upon it some of them teach that they are obliged and bound to do it extremo animarum suarum perieule si vires habeant ad hoc idoneas Philopator under the pain of the loss of their Souls if they have sufficient strength to do it Could a man have thought that such practices as these are should ever have been undertaking by any making profession of Christianity could he have thought that although these should be undertaken they should be justified and defended nay urged and pressed with great severity under no less a tie and penalty than that of the loss of a mans Soul But this it is to have the mind and conscience defiled as the Apostle himself expresses it Tit. 1.15 This it is as he speaks elswhere 1. Tim. 4.2 to have the Conscience seared with a hot iron If a mans Principles be corrupt his conscience perverted and depraved what will not such a conscience admit and such Principles urge upon him If the very light that is in him be darkness how great then is that darkness And now to apply what I have said upon this point 1. Seeing the danger of false Principles in Religion is so prodigiously and strangely great let this be a mighty caution to us to avoid communion with such persons as govern themselves by such Principles and more especially the Church of Rome It is not imaginable how this Church hath perverted the Doctrine of Christianity and quite overthrown the practice of it in many considerable parts of it There is scarce any one command of God which they have not clouded and perverted by some perverse interpretations And besides all this they have formed and stated general Principles which effectually lead to the overthrowing of all the precepts of Christianity And some of these I shall instance in 1. The first of these is the Doctrine received in the Roman Church of acting according to probable opinions received not only among the Jesuits but by many others as well as them 1. They teach that although an opinion seems to be false to any man considering the reasons that make against it yet that it is a probable opinion if it be maintained by two or three nay by one Doctor of note amongst them 2. And then secondly that any person may lawfully act and govern himself by such an opinion in point of practice by an opinion maintained by others although it seem to be false to himself just contrary to the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 14.23 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin The very words they use are these Ex anthoritate unius tantùm posse quem illam in praxi amplecti licèt à principiis intrinsecis falsam improbahilem existimet that is That a man may lawfully follow an opinion in practice upon the authority of one Doctor though he himself considering the reasons of that opinion judge it to be false and improbable Guimen pag. 55 My Author adds an example to this and that is although a Confessor shall himself believe it to be unlawful to absolve a man in a certain case yet that notwithstanding he may absolve him if others judge it to be lawful Now here I observe in the first place that this is directly against the Scripture which pronounces that to be unlawful which a man acts against his own mind and conscience although agreeably to other mens And then secondly that this opinion gives all men liberty to do whatsoever a few Doctors nay any one of the Roman Church have judged lawful And what is it that some of them have not judged lawful especially against all those persons upon whom they fix the name of Hereticks And if you inquire what is the design of those persons that do maintain this opinion it is most evident that it is this That the spiritual Guides of the Roman Church may have a pretence to lead the people boldly to act what they require although against the minds and judgments of them they lead That is in case a private person judge it unlawful to break his faith to falsifie promise to a Heretick or to deprive him of life or fortunes or reputation yet that he may still lawfully do it if two or three of their Guides and Teachers nay if any one of them judge it lawful 3. But then thirdly they further teach That where there are any two opinions one less probable than another that a man may lawfully guide his practice by that which appears to be less probable So Martial de Prado concludes and abundance of others as well as he as Guimen p. 64. Saepe in praxi licitum est sequi opinionem minùs probabilem relictâ probabiliori It is often lawful in matter of practice to follow a less probable opinion forsaking that which is more probable Which is as much as if they said that a man is not bound to govern his life according to the best of his judgment but may very lawfully do what is worse where he knows and believes he might do better And is this for a man to guide his life according to the rules of Charity or that integrity that sincerity which true Christianity requires from us 4. And yet I must add what is still worse for it is added upon this point in the Church of Rome That it is lawful for any person to follow a less probable opinion rather than one that is more probable and that although the more probable
addresses unto God either to refuse to joyn with us or despise the worship of God in General See then how highly we are concerned to awake into a sense of God to stir up our selves to a greater exercise of Faith and Zeal and holy affections in all our addresses unto God Think who it is in whom you live in whom you move and have your beings think who it is who is the donor of all good things relating to this or a better life think of your own dayly wants and of the numerous harms and dangers the many temptations and seductions you are every day exposed unto and think how justly God may expose and give you up either to those dangers or temptations unless you constantly apply unto him by fervent Prayers and Supplications for his protection and assistance for his good Spirit to guide and help you to enlighten your minds to cleanse your hearts to purge your affections to order your ways and so to conduct you to Life Eternal The Seventh Sermon 1 Joh. 3.3 And every man that hath his hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure THE Apostles speaking to such persons as laboured under many trials and great indignities in the world are always wont to put them in mind of two things first of love of God to them under their sufferings and persecutions and then that these very persecutions are a signification of this love So this Apostle begins this Chapter Behold saith he what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not And lest he should seem to impose upon them by meer words to court them with an empty title while he saith they were called the sons of God he further adds that they were really and truly so for so he proceeds in the second verse Beloved now are we the sons of God And that they might further understand the great advantage of this relation he adds to this as it there follows and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear or as some others read the words when it shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is we shall enjoy him in that Glory wherein he appears in Heaven it self to those that are admitted thither We shall see him not through a glass darkly but we shall see him face to face From whence it follows that we shall be like him both in purity and immortality seeing that none that are not so can possibly so enjoy or see him And then that the promise of this Glory might prove effectual for its end by moving every man to imitate him in this world whom he hopes to enjoy in that to come to purifie himself as God is pure he lets them know the mighty power of the very hope of enjoying God in immortal Glory in order to a holy life And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure Where I shall not need to put you in mind that these words purifieth himself as he is pure design and express an imitation not an equality of Gods holiness and perfection the latter of these is wholly impossible to every creature the former necessary for every person that seriously aims at immortality Nor shall I stand to divide the Words into any small minute parts lest by insisting upon them I should as it happens in such cases lose or obscure the sense of the whole and trifle away the design of them And therefore omitting useless care and curiosity I shall consider 1. The nature of this Hope which is said to purifie them that have it 2. And then secondly the several ways whereby it hath this effect upon them 3. To which I shall add some considerations as consequences of the words before us and the discourse I shall make upon them 1. And first of all it will be requisite to observe the nature of this Hope which purifies men as God is pure seeing there are some kinds of hope and those of future bliss and happiness that have no such influence upon men as to purge and cleanse them from their lusts but rather to move them to indulge them We plainly find there are great numbers who profess the hope of future Glory we have no reason to imagine but that they really hope for it according to their own profession and yet experience clearly shews that it hath not this effect upon them which the Apostle here describes they still continue in their sins From whence it appears this hope of theirs is not that which is here designed it wants the efficacy and success and therefore also the nature of it What then is the hope which our Apostle here designs A firm expectation of gaining that happiness which God hath promised consisting in Purity and Immortality upon the terms whereupon 't is promised and by the assistance of his Grace which he will not deny them that ask it This is stiled a hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the words in him respect not the person possessed with but God upon whom it is fixed and setled a hope deficient in any of these will not purifie them that have it A hope that is not so deficient must of necessity be thus qualified 1. It must be an expectation of that happiness which God hath promised 2. It must be an expectation of it upon the terms whereupon 't is promised 3. It must be a firm and not a wavering expectation 4. It must be a firm expectation of it that is to say of attaining to it by the assistance of Gods Grace and not by the power or strength of Nature This is the nature these the conditions of that hope that purges the hearts and reforms the lives and consequently saves the souls of men no other kind of hope will do it 1. It must be an expectation of that very happiness God hath promised consisting in the enjoyment of God in perfect purity and immortality The hope of a carnal sensual Paradise would never purge and cleanse the spirit but on the contrary defile and stain it For although it be very true indeed that a man may possibly deny himself one sensual pleasure in the expectation of another greater than that he foregoes at present yet is it a thing wholly impossible that the hope of any sensual happiness should any way mortifie sensuality He that makes any sensual pleasure the very end and design of life and hopes for this as for his happiness can never by virtue of this hope study to mortifie and subdue sensual appetites and inclinations from whence it appears that that hope which shall deliver and purge the soul from sensual and corrupt desires must be a hope of such a happiness as God hath promised namely the fruition of God himself in purity as well as immortality 2. Nor is it sufficient for
ends wherein the best and wisest men shall be esteemed the very worst superstitious cold and formal men by those that are zealous in some Faction and know no Religion but that zeal because such times as these may be it is safest to content our selves in gaining those rewards and blessings that are peculiar to Religion the testimony of a good Conscience and life eternal in the World to come 3. And then lastly Because hypocrisie is so deceitful and sly a sin as always serving worldly interest which is apt insensibly to blind the eyes and infatuate the minds of the wisest men and yet hide it self from them themselves it will concern us to be very frequent and impartial in the examination of our selves to weigh our counsels to try our ends to prove our designs in every action relating any way to Religion It will be needful to consider whether we indeed design it really intend to promote and practise it whereever we make a profession of it And then because that God alone knows the heart and because his Grace is most needful to discover our selves unto our selves in the midst of the many sins and passions that may infatuate and beguile us let us earnestly pray for his Holy Spirit to deliver us from all the infatuations and all the seductions of our lusts Let us make the Address which David did Psal 139.22 24. with whose words I shall conclude Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting The Eleventh Sermon John 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me The whole verse is thus Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me THESE words are a preface to a very large and kind discourse made by our Lord unto his followers wherein he delivers the main foundations of Christianity as well in matter of Faith as Practice which is the reason why he begins it with such words as might effectually stir them up to give both attention and belief to all that he should deliver in it Ye believe in God believe also in me In which words we have two parts 1. A concession or supposition Ye believe in God that is ye believe that there is a God and what is consequent hereupon that he is to be trusted and obeyed although some others read the words not as a Declaration Ye believe in God but as a Command Believe in God but there is no reason to depart from our own Translation in this matter 2. Here is a Precept also Believe in me that is to say believe that I am the Son of God sent by him into the world to reveal the Gospel of life eternal and therefore judge your selves obliged to believe whatsoever I reveal and obey whatsoever I command you Now being that belief in Christ in the sence I have now explained unto you is here required as an addition or further accession to the mere belief in God only as he may be known by the light of nature The Subject which the Words before us offer to our consideration is That the belief of Christian Doctrine as it is revealed to us in the Gospel over and above that knowledge of God which the light of Nature affords unto us is necessary to our eternal happiness In the prosecution of which Point 1. I must first consider That the firm belief of the Gospel of Christ is most expresly required by God and the denial of such belief forbidden under no less a penalty than the utter loss of life eternal Salvation is always promised to them who believe in him who hath revealed it and become his Followers and Disciples to other persons it is not promised As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.14 15. Nor is it only promised to those and those only that so believe but denied to them that believe not to them that refuse to yield their belief to him whom God hath sent and sanctified to be the Saviour of the World He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And so again omitting several other places of the same sense and signification in the first Epistle of St John chap. 5. ver 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son Thrice did God bear this Record and owne our Lord to be sent by him by an express voice from Heaven once at his Baptism in these words Matt. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased A second time at his transfiguration upon the mount with some addition to those words Matt. 15.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And yet again a third time a little before our Saviours passion when praying to God in these words Father glorifie thy name he was answered by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12.28 To all which clear and express testimonies given by the Father to his Son I might first add the glorious miracles wrought by Christ during his life then his resurrection from the dead and the effusion of his Spirit upon the Apostles sent by him and all the miracles wrought by them and all his other followers also which being evident demonstrations that he was the very son of God and sent by him to save the World highly aggravate the great sin of infidelity and unbelief and teach us to forbear to wonder that it should be punished with death eternal and that Christ himself should thus pronounce Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 2. But then secondly lest you should think that God will have us believe the Gospel meerly because he will have it so and that he had no further end in the truth therein revealed unto us than that we should believe them only I further add that the belief of those truths is greatly necessary to several ends of infinite moment and importance 1. For the full and perfect knowledge of the duties which he requires from us 2. For the like knowledge of the great motions to those duties 3. For our better support under all our tryals fears and dangers 1. The belief of the great truths revealed unto us in the Gospel is necessary for the perfect knowledge of the duties which God requires from us and that upon several considerations namely 1. because that though the light of nature well improved may in some measure direct us to very many of them yet
give a right understanding in all things The Eighteenth Sermon 1 John 3.7 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous FROM these words I have observed these two things 1. That men may imagine themselves to be righteous in the eyes of God to be in Grace and favour with him although they do not do righteousness but live in habitual disobedience to the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel 2. That this imagination is a very great and dangerous errour The former I have already finished and shall now speak unto the latter that is to say to the greatness and danger of the errour Where I consider That for God to judge unrighteous persons otherwise than in truth they are to accept their persons and pardon their sins while they abide and persist in them is contrary 1. To his own nature and 2. To the Gospel likewise 1. This is contrary to Gods nature that is to say both First To his wisdom and Secondly To his holiness First It is contrary to his wisdom So it is to judge of men otherwise than they are in themselves to esteem them righteous just and holy while they are unrighteous and impure It is the nature of true wisdom to judge all things according to truth this is its nature as it is found even in men much more as it is found in God He cannot erre or be deceived even in the deepest obscurest things nothing is hidden from his eye the night and the day light and darkness are alike unto it he tries the reins and searches the very hearts of men discerns whatsoever is in them and judges according to truth Now he that judges according to truth must judge of things just as they are and therefore seeing the judgment of God is always true hence it appears They who are unjust and wicked impure and unholy in themselves are so in the judgment of God likewise so in his esteem and account Secondly If it be said That although it be very true indeed that God cannot judge otherwise of men than according to what they are in themselves not judge the Sinner to be righteous the wicked to be pure and holy yet that he may love and accept the wicked as much as if he were just and holy the Answer is That this is contrary to God's holiness This doth as much thwart the purity contradict the holiness of his nature as the other contradicts his wisdom as is often declared in the holy Scriptures God is of purer eyes saith Habbakkuk than to behold that is to say to approve evil He cannot look upon iniquity Hab. 1.13 So far is he from approving evil or those that indulge themselves in it that their way is an abomination to him Prov. 15.9 From whence it follows That they who judge themselves or others to be in grace and favour with God to be holy just and righteous persons who are not fully and really so ascribe and impute that to God which is quite contrary to his nature If it be said That God is said to justifie the ungodly Rom. 4.5 The meaning is That he justifies those that have been so not those that continue so to be that he justifies and accepts the ungodly when they forsake and leave their sins not while they still continue in them And so we learn from the same Apostle who having given a large Catalogue of sins and Sinners concludes his Discourse with these words 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God First washed and sanctified by Gods Spirit and then justified and accepted 2. But then secondly as it is contrary to Gods nature to justifie and accept the wicked while they continue in their sins so is it likewise greatly contrary to the Gospel First Expresly to the plainest and and clearest parts of it And Secondly To the whole by evident consequence First It is most expresly contrary to the plainest and clearest parts of it to its most positive Declarations such as those words of St John are which I do now insist upon Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous He that is really and truly so he is so and he only in God's account Like unto these are those of St Paul Ephes 5.6 where having mentioned uncleanness covetousness and prophaneness he presently addes this admonition Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Whereunto we may add his expostulations 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Can there be plainer words than these or can there be any thing more contradictory to the Gospel than what contradicts the plainest words and expressions of it or a greater or more dangerous errour than what so contradicts the Gospel The Gospel declares that the unclean shall not inherit the Kingdom of God the Gospel pronounces the Drunkard likewise declares the covetous and extortioner while they continue in these sins to be uncapable of that Kingdom this it declares in as plain words as can be written or expressed and will these persons still presume of an interest in the favour of God and of a title to his Kingdom If they will it is their folly so to do it is a folly of that nature as doth not only expose them to the greatest danger but shut the door to all possibility of escape while they persist and continue in it Such is the presumption of God's favour of being reconciled unto him while a man continues in his sins Secondly And secondly as this is expresly contrary to the clearest passages in the Gospel so to the whole by evident consequence To its commands and exhortations to all the promises and threatnings of it and what is more to the very design of Christ's death the very thing which men abuse into an indulgence to their sins To promise our selves the favour of God and acceptance with him while we continue in our sins it is a presumption expresly contrary First To the Precepts of the Gospel These require and strictly charge us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 These require that we put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts that we be renewed in the spirit of our minds that we put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.22 and following Verses In a word the Laws of Christ require us to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as our selves Now
in any condition or rank of men more than in any other Now being God so plainly threatens death eternal unto the impeitent and disobedient can there be any so great an errour as for these men to presume of pardon and to expect eternal life while they continue so to be The Gospel denounces death upon them they promise life unto themselves and is not then this promise of theirs expresly contrary to the Gospel The Gospel tells them that they must die they say no but we shall live and do they not contradict the Gospel The Gospel saith that they are under Gods displeasure but they presume they are in his favour and where do you think lies the truth in the Gospel or in their presumptions We must believe what the Gospel saith whatsoever it be that they presume and so the Apostle himself believed when he put this truth upon record 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad for what doth he add to these words Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men we labour to instruct the ignorant we labour to convince the obstinate we labour to awake the drowsy we strive to stir up every person to escape from the wrath which is to come by timely repentance and reformation we know the terrour of the Lord we do not guess but we are assured that it will overtake the impenitent when he shall return to judge the World and therefore use our utmost power to perswade repentance and reformation 5. And now because that impenitent persons even those that abide in wilful sin are wont to ground their hopes of pardon and life eternal on the death of Christ and the satisfaction made by him it will he sit in the last place to shew that his death and satisfaction is so far from giving any countenance to this errour that it doth utterly overthrow it nor need we any further argument to convince and perswade us that this is so than that the death of our blessed Lord is always used in the holy Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience For certainly that very same thing can be no motive unto obedience that gives any just and true encouragement for a man to continue in his sins yet so it is the death of Christ is always represented in Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience unto all obedience to the Gospel and so designed by Christ himself He gave himself for us says the Apostle that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He bare our sins in his own body upon the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 He gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world that is from the lusts and corruptions of it Gal. 1.4 He gave himself for his Church or Body that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 c. And that you may see that he was really understood to design this in his dying for us and that his death tends effectually to this purpose with them that understand it aright hear what the Apostle himself speaks upon this point 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again From whence observe that the death of Christ was so apprehended and understood by the primitive followers of our Lord that they took their very greatest motives their strongest arguments to obedience from it so far was it from giving them any grounds or reasons to cherish and indulge their sins If any man ask what then hath the death of Christ done for the remission of our sins My answer is that the satisfaction thereby made hath gained the pardon of all those sins we repent of not of those whereof we do not repent It operates to the remission of sin of all degrees and kinds of sin when we abandon and forsake them not while we cherish and indulge them and thus it becomes not an encouragement to live in them but to abandon and cast them off 3. Having thus shewed that for God to accept men in their sins to pardon them while they live in them is flatly contrary to his nature contrary to his own decree declared and published in the Gospel I may now very justly conclude the thing which I propounded at the first that a presumption of his pardon while a man continues in his sins is a very great and dangerous errour for so of necessity must that be which is so manifest a mistake both of the nature and will of God and that in a matter of no less moment than that of eternal life and happiness Add hereunto that this is an errour which makes men stupid and secure in the midst of the very greatest dangers lulls them asleep under Gods displeasures charms them with the hope of peace while it is far removed from them They speak peace unto themselves the Gospel speaks quite contrary they judge themselves in Gods favour the Gospel pronounces that they are not so they promise themselves remission of sins eternal happiness and Salvation the Gospel threatens death and judgment In the mean time having reconciled the hopes of Heaven to the fruition of their lusts they enjoy themselves they enjoy their sins without any fear of danger from them for such is the nature of this errour that it infatuates the mind it self removes the force and power of Conscience le ts the corruptions of nature loose leaves no restraint leaves no check at all upon them and so exposes them to destruction till it be discovered and removed 3. I have said enough of the propositions which are implyed in the words before us namely 1. that men may presume of Gods favour while they continue in their sins 2 That this presumption of theirs is a very great and dangerous errour and shall now conclude with what is expressed He that doth righteousness is righteous that is to say he that is hearty and sincere in the practice of all the several duties prescribed unto us in the Gospel he is acceptable unto God he is in grace and favour with him nor will God charge him with the guilt of such lapses and inadvertencies as flow from the frailty of humane nature And what is the use we should make of this It is to awake and excite our selves to all diligence to all sincerity in our duties And