that no leisure can be found for the Concerns of Eternity Shall sinful Delights nay shall important Affairs draw you off What is this but to indulge your Bodies or to feed your Families while something nearer to you than both these is suffered to lye and perish for Hunger without any seeming Concern But farther yet Remember who it is that invites you Your Father your Friend your King your God And is there no respect due to these Characters It is your Christ that calls he who hungered and thirsted and wept and bled and dy'd for you He calls you to that health and happiness which you could never have had unless he had in mercy condescended to do and suffer all this for you He earnestly intreats you in this Sacrament to accept the pledges of his future and the tokens of his past Love to strengthen your Faith in the One by these lively remembrances of the Other And not refuse to be found by one who hath taken so much pains to seek and to save you when you were lost How can you then so rudely so unworthily absent your selves How unpardonable is this Coldness this Refusal this Contempt of so great a Mystery and your own Mercy Is this a suitable return for so much Kindness And would you forgive your selves for using any Patron upon Earth so ungratefully But you want no inclination if Business and troublesome Engagements would permit you to come Alas vain Man Your Fields and Yoke of Oxen the following your Employment and providing for your Children will not discharge you from attending here If these things ought to be done yet the other ought least of all to be left undone Nor hath God so ordered the matter but that Both may very well be done and each in their due place will be highly acceptable to him But if our necessities were truly considered this is the much more necessary For hither we come to find Cure for our Sins Food for our inward Strength Comfort for our Sorrows a Sanctified use of our Enjoyments a Blessing upon our honest Labours and which is more worth than all the rest a Fore-tast of Heavenly Bliss in peace of Conscience pure Devotion and an intimate Union with our dear Redeemer These are the Benefits of worthy Communicating and They who will consent to be thus happy here shall by these means be happy for ever hereafter Do not then turn the deaf Ear to so kind so advantagious offers nor let Gods empty Tables any more reproach you Defraud not thus your Souls whose dangerous Sickness is want of Appetite to this Spiritual Food And that Inappetence is caused by too long abstinence Frequent and devour approaches will quicken your desires will heal your distempers will refresh all your Languishings And believe me it highly concerns you to make up for past neglects while you have time For fear these precious opportunities rise up in Judgment and draw on that Sentence of my Text That They who will not taste this Supper here shall not be suffered to partake in Heaven of That which this represents even the Glorious Presence of the King of Saints the Company of Angels and Blessed Spirits the everlasting Festival of the Faithful and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God Which Condemnation God give us all Grace to escape for the sake of that Lamb the blessed Holy Jesus who takes away the sin of the World and to whom with God the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen SERMON XII THE CASE OF A Weak and Imperfect FAITH St. Mark IX 24. Latter part Lord I believe help thou my Vnbelief WHILE our Saviour was discovering his Glory to some of the Disciples in his Transfiguration on the Mount a Person in grief for his Son who was grievously vexed with a Devil brings him to the remainder of those Disciples left behind to have the evil Spirit dispossest Providence in great Wisdom had so ordered the matter that They were not able to effect this Cure which gave occasion to the Scribes to attack them And in the Heat of that Dispute our Saviour returns * Vers 1. to 14. to inquire into the Cause of their Controversy †Ver. 16. and is answered by the Party concerned that he had made Tryal of the Disciples in Vain which gave him some distrust of their Master too For so it is manifest it had by that doubtful form in which he begs his assistance V. 22. But if thou canst do any thing have compassion on us and help us Our Saviour hereupon gives him to understand that even the Power of working Miracles was under some confinements and not to be exerted except in favour of such Persons as met it with a ready Faith But where it found Men duly qualify'd nothing was or should be wanting on God's part Jesus said unto him If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth V. 23. The Father of the Child full of concern for his Son sadly sensible of his own Defects and desirous of greater perfection replies with a very moving earnestness and an over-flowing of Tears Lord I believe help thou my unbelief This manner of Address plainly speaks the State of the Man's Mind and shews he wanted a full and absolute perswasion and such an entire confidence in the Power and Goodness of Christ as he wished and ought to have had Nay such as we find several instances of in the History of our Saviour's Life and Actions But though he had not all Faith yet it seems he had Enough for his purpose He did not come up to the highest and foremost Rank but he was accepted and thought worthy of Compassion though not of Commendation Accordingly the following Verses declare the success of this imperfect condition of Soul for our Lord commanded the dumb and deaf Spirit and wrought the Cure though with some pain and difficulty to the Patient A difficulty which seems to have born proportion to the Father's Faith * Ver. 26. For the Spirit cried and rent him sore and he was as one dead But however the Command was too mighty to be disobey'd for the Spirit came out of him and as St. Matthew adds in his relation of this Passage the Child was cured from that very Hour My design from hence is to apply this instance at large by enquiring into the nature of a Weak and Imperfect Faith and that chiefly for these two Reasons First For the Humiliation of those who imagine themselves more perfect than really they are And Secondly for the Comfort of Them who are in reality Better men than they imagine themselves to be And I do not doubt before I have done but to convince the most exalted Christian that though he may truly say with this person in my Text Lord I believe yet there is need enough still of joyning in the latter part of the Verse and of praying as he did Lord help my Vnbelief And
conspicuous never triumphs so gloriously over the Powers of Satan as when it revives wretched Offenders from the Death of Sin unto the Life of Righteousness And the grievous Miscarriages of Good Men are often so ordered as to turn to their mighty Advantage For These have a natural Tendency to awaken their care they make them more sensible of their own Weakness and Danger and more vigilant to prevent it for the time to come than otherwise they would have been if their own Experience had not taught them upon what slippery Ground they stand They dispose them to be more tender and compassionate to their Brethren more gentle and sparing in their Censures more ready to forgive what is done amiss more diligent to contribute their endeavours for the rescuing and restoring such in the Spirit of Meekness when they reflect how easy it is to be overtaken and how prone All even the Best Men are to offend And they kindle in such Penitents a vigorous and active Zeal to make amends for the scandal of a bad Example by a stricter Holiness and brighter Virtues for the time to come So little reason is there that we should be delivered from all Temptation or be secured from sinning when we are tempted when the Consequences both of the One and the Other may be and often are so managed by the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence as not only not to destroy or impair the Piety of private Men but with the Increase of That to become Instruments of Greater Good More effectual to our own Salvation More serviceable to the Glory of God and his Grace and More beneficial to Religion in general than if Good Men had never been tempted or never fallen at all 2. Secondly As St. Peter's Fall confutes the Errour of Those who hold that men who once have true Grace cannot lose it so St. Peter's Rising again proves that such as have had the Unhappiness to lose Grace may be restored and recover it again And this overthrows the Novatian Heresy which consisted in affirming that there is no remission to be had for Sins committed after Baptism and against which the Sixteenth Article of our Religion is directly levelled An Errour in all Appearance chiefly owing to the mistaken Interpretation of two Texts to the Hebrews which have created great perplexity to ignorant and unwary Souls The first is that in Heb. VI. 4 5 6. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost And have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance The other Heb. X. 26 27. If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sins But a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Now for a right Understanding of these Passages we are to observe these Three things 1. First That the Scripture often expresses that by Impossible which is extreamly difficult Or which is impossible for humane Strength only but not so to Nature assisted by Divine Grace And thus our Blessed Saviour explains himself concerning Rich * Matth. XIX 26. Mens entring into the Kingdom of God by saying that though this be impossible with regard to the Corruptions and Temptations of such Persons and any Power of their own to resist and vanquish them yet * Luke XVIII 27. the things that are impossible with Men are possible with God He may by the prevailing influencces of his Grace wean their hearts from the World and effectually dispose them to accept such Terms of Salvation as of themselves they would never incline or submit to And thus though men who reject and quench the Holy Spirit by wilful Sin cannot renew themselves yet God can give them the Heart and Power of Repentance and Renovation 2. Secondly The Apostle addressing himself to Jews speaks with allusion to the Law of Moses which though it allowed of Sacrifices for the Expiation of Involuntary Sins such as proceeded from Ignorance or Infirmity yet did not make the like Provision for wilful and deliberate and presumptuous Offences But that This is not to be so strictly taken as if the Christian Dispensation had made no Provision for even such neither is evident from that Argument * Act. XIII 38 39. whereby the same Apostle proves the Excellence of Ours above the Levitical Institution Be it known unto you that through this man Jesus Christ is preached unto you Forgiveness of Sins And by Him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Laws of Moses If therefore men might even by the Law of Moses be justified from those Sins which were not wilful and if by Faith in Christ men may be justified from all things which by the Law of Moses they could not be justified from It follows that by the Evangelical Covenant even Wilful Sins are capable of a pardon in them that believe I say in them that believe for to remove this Difficulty effectually we must observe 3. Thirdly That those Texts to the Hebrews are meant not of every sort of wilful Offenders but of such as revolt and fly off entirely from the Faith and Profession of the Gospel For which reason they are branded with the Titles * Heb. X. 27 29. of Adversaries and such as crucify the Son of God afresh trample him under foot count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and do despight to the Spirit of Grace And these men to be sure it is impossible to renew while they continue in their Apostacy Because they have cast off their only Remedy For Faith is the indispensable Condition of Pardon All that believe are justified says St. Paul But this Faith They have renounced and disclaimed and consequently are not within the Covenant nor under the Influence of Grace or the Possibility of Benefit from the Sacrifice of that Blood which they esteem Common and no Sacrifice at all But the Case is far otherwise with Them who are engaged in a sinful Course and yet have not thrown off the Foundation of Christianity They may see their Folly and acknowledge the merit of their Saviour's Atonement They may comply with the good motions of that Spirit which they too long have quenched and resisted though they have not formally disavowed and done publick despight to him There is a mighty difference between walking unworthy of the Christian Faith and being formal and open Adversaries to it Between a Conversation unbecoming the Gospel and Principles that professedly overthrow the Gospel And consequently Those Passages of Scripture which strike at the One of these and declare it incapable of Forgiveness need not must not be so applyed to the Other as to exclude from all Hope and Comfort a Case so very distant from the former Thus much however must be
Sense so they import that no Faculties of our own no Desires of Sense no Principles of Reason and Morality can rise so high there must be Divine Grace or there can be no Child of God The thing is true in both Interpretations and all the Enlargement I shall make upon it is only to set before you the Reasonableness of this being represented to us under the notion of Regeneration or a Second Birth and then to describe the Manner of it's being brought about as the Scripture hath instructed us in it By Natural Birth and Generation it is plain we come to have a Life which we had not before We have a Principle of Motion imparted to us and from dead senseless Matter are enabled to perform all the Functions that are proper to Humane Nature Another Creature is produced of the same kind with those from whence it sprung and grows up by degrees to the same use of Sense the same Reason the same Understanding the same Desires of what is not convenient and the same Aversions and Fears of what is hurtful and destructive to it And in all these Circumstances men are very properly said to be born again upon their Conversion to and believing in Christ The Condition they were in before is a State of utter Inactivity and for this reason we find them styled * Ephes II. 1. dead in trespasses and sins and said to be quickned by the Grace and Spirit of God They were imprisoned and confined and the utmost Efforts they were capable of making are but like the faint Struggles of an Embryo in the Womb. But this coming to the Birth gives them liberty to exert themselves and lets them into a new and different Scene of Action It produces a New Creature as the Scripture terms it that is Such a Newness as a Soul is capable of New Notions and Dispositions and consequent to these a New Conversation proceeding from them So that every such Person is quite another Man from what he was before And this Alteration conforms us to the Image of him that begot us Every thing is pure and Godlike and expresses a Resemblance to his Essential Holiness It gives a fresh turn to our Thoughts and Affections so that we are not acted as before by the same carnal Apprehensions nor the same sensual Inclinations It imprints a new Character upon our Understandings and gives us a true Sense of Good and Evil and it puts a quite different Bent upon our Will such as disposes us to love what is truly Good and Spiritual and Heavenly and to despise and detest what is Worldly and Wicked This is that Likeness of Species which justifies the Metaphor The greatest that can possibly happen to a Soul the greatest that a Moral Principle is capable of and so great as to render it very significant and proper to say of every such Person that he is born again But we know that by being born men become part of a Family and have a Right to a Child's Share in the Division of the Estate And This is another good Reason for mens being said to be born of God because by that means they are let into New Relations and acquire New Titles Thus St. Paul tells Christians that * Gal. IV. they receive the Spirit of Adoption and by it have a right to call God Father that they are Sons and not only Sons but heirs heirs of God and coheirs with Christ That they are from thenceforth allied to the whole Family that is named of God both in Heaven and Earth And from Aliens and Strangers and Enemies come not only to be admitted into a strict Alliance with but to obtain the most honourable and most advantagious Post in the Houshold And since these Prerogatives among Men are the Effect of Birth and Blood the same conferred with regard to our Spiritual Kindred and Divine Inheritance is very fitly represented by being born of God For as Foreigners though the dearest Friends are not legally qualified for them in Settlements of this World except in default of Issue and where the Race is extinct So here none who is not of the Family can inherit and they who are most worthy of it are first made capable of it by becoming Children And for this reason it is that this Title is so often made use of and so highly extolled in Scripture because whatever Privileges the Rest may imply yet None can minister that Comfort and Confidence None can assure our Inheritance or give us A Pretence to the Glory and Kingdom of Heaven but this of Sons only Now for the Manner of working this Change in us which was the Other Consideration propounded under this Head That also carries so great a Similitude to a natural Birth that no Figure in the World could give us a clearer Idea of the thing The Act of Generation and Birth gives Being once for all and at the instant of coming into the World the Child the Heir is born to all the Rights of his Quality and Family So likewise in the Sacrament of Baptism we have the Spirit of God conferred upon us which as it is a Spirit of Grace is a Principle of new Life to us and as it is a Spirit of Adoption it instates us in all the Privileges that can belong to Children of such a Father And for this reason our Church immediately after the Covenant is struck gives thanks to Almighty God and acknowledges him a most merciful Father for that it hath pleased him to regenerate the Persons then newly baptized with his holy Spirit to receive them for his own Children by Adoption and to incorporate them into his holy Church As also she most wisely and truly declares at the beginning of her excellent Catechism that in Baptism we are made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven But a Member must be cut off if it be mortified Children may provoke their Parents to put them by their Birth-right and an Heir under Age is such in Reversion and Hope only The Natural Parent gives a Principle of Life but it is such a one as will soon perish and go out again if due care be not taken to preserve it And so it is here The Spirit of God quickens us upon his first Infusions but we are to cherish the kindly warmth God is our Father in the sustaining and nourishing as well as in the Enlivening part He knows the Life that is in us is subject to perpetual decays and therefore the same natural Affection that occasioned our being born His does likewise engage and assure us of all necessary Supplies to continue His provided we use what he gives and employ that Principle of Spiritual Self-preservation Grace therefore though it be given at first yet is not given all at first There is that proportion given which makes us Children but we are commanded * 1 Pet. II. 2. to feed upon the sincere milk of the