Christian Religion It is to make the World less tolerable habitable and passable than it is of it self For do we the best we can the World is bad enough And we shall contribute to make Times and Places worse if we do not discharge our selves in mutual good Offices one towards another or at least if we be grievous one to another From this which I have now superadded to all that went before you may understand that it is with very great reason that the Apostle doth call upon us to be kind full of Bowels and Compassion read to gratifie and forgive that so we may be mutually helpful one to another and by the Comfort that we afford to each other make the Times and Places we live in the better Now could I perswade to this It wou'd be as New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven and the very Angels descending among us Even those Blessed Spirits that give God Thanks for his Grace and Goodness towards Men and cry continually Glory to God on high Peace on Earth Good-will to the Sons of Men. O Blessed Spirits that are free from that Canker of Envy and Malice Who tho' they see Man's Nature advanced above theirs in the Person of our Saviour yet they are not agriev'd at it but rejoyce and bless God for his Goodness to Mankind It is Divine Heavenly and Angelical to take delight in the Good of others Certainly we are not well settled in our Judgments as to this Point of Religion which makes us so negligent in our Duty It is too much the Practice of the World every Man to be for himself and to leave God to be for us all We generally practice so weakly and uncertainly in this Matter as if we had not consider'd the Obligation that Christianity lays upon us to this Duty Whereas it is absolutely and indispensibly necessary that whosoever professeth the Faith of the Gospel * should live in universal Love and Good-will And if any Man find himself averse hereto and hard to be satisfied in case of Offence and Provocation I will yet further superadd three great Mischiefs that will follow upon it First We do not at all express our Participation of the Goodness of God in Christ. Secondly If we carry in our Breasts any Ill-will Malice or Displeasure against any one it is an Argument that we our selves are not forgiven of God For did we believe that we our selves were forgiven of God we shou'd afford to do the like and to forgive our Brother Thirdly By this means we do unqualifie and indispose our selves for Forgiveness and to believe the Pardon of our Sins at the Hand of God For that which the Psalmist saith Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self proves often among Men. And that which a Man approves and allows in himself he will attribute and ascribe unto God No ill-natured People think well of God If a Man allow himself to live in Ill-will and to entertain Displeasure and Thoughts and Purposes of Revenge he will think that God having all Power and being more offended by us than we are by one another will certainly be avenged of us And I will never believe that an ill-natur'd Man one that lives in Malice and Displeasure one that hath Thoughts of Revenge and one that aggravates Injuries can think that God will pardon HIM For if we do believe that God hath pardon'd us it will engage us to pardon one another And further Let it be considered that we that are sometimes prejudiced by others may at other times do a Prejudice our selves accidentally if not designedly And as we wou'd desire that a Man shou'd either wholly forgive or set down with moderate Satisfaction in like manner shou'd we deal with our Brother that hath offended us For who is it that hath not at some time or other transgress'd and given an Offence Therefore let us not too long insist upon an Injury nor too long remember it The noble Philosopher saith 'T is a more generous thing to overlook and take no notice of an Injury than to pardon it And if we wou'd secure our selves it is best so to do for if we seem to resent an Injury we make a Person our Enemy whereas if we overlook it or turn it off by a candid Construction we shall win and engage him and he will think that we are better natur'd than himself Nay further yet By Candid Construction or by overlooking an Injury we shall frustrate the Ill Design of him that intended us ill Such a Man must think with himself how base a thing it is to design Harm towards so innocent so harmless and worthy a Person that will by his Ingenuity and Candour interpret an Injury into a Kindness Whereas if we be too quick in our Resentments we may make that an Injury which was none and so disturb our selves when we might have been quiet For certainly if a Man consult his own Ease Quiet and Satisfaction and will keep himself in a God-like Frame and Temper he will not live in Malice and Ill-will nor continue Displeasure And thus I have done with this great Argument Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger c. be put away And be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you SERMON V. 1 PETER III. 4. The Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price I HAVE spent a great deal of time in Erecting a fair and beautiful Fabrick a Superstructure of Love and Good-will of Christian Charity That I may not loose my Labour I now return and look a little after the better Settlement of the Foundation For this purpose I have made choice of these Words All depends upon a good Frame and Temper of Mind a MEEK and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price a Thing highly pleasing and acceptable unto him We find it is in vain for any one to attempt to purge the Stream unless he first cleanse the Fountain You must begin at the Spring-head The Heart is the Principle of Action Life begins there and Motion is from thence It is that which first lives and last dies Our Saviour tells us that what proceeds out of the Mouth comes from THE HEART and so defiles a Man For from thence come evil Thoughts Murders Blasphemies c. And Matthew 5. 28. our Saviour tells us of the Adultery of the Heart And Matthew 12. 34. Out of the abundance of the Heart c. And Verse 35. A good Man out of the good Treasury of his Heart bringeth forth good things c. Men shew their Spirits by their Words and Actions and these are as they are meant and intended The greatest Performance in the Life of Man is the Government of his Spirit So Proverbs 16. 32. He that is slow to Anger is better than the Mighty and he that ruleth his own
of Man when he was Apostatized from the Truth of first Inscription The former of these is of things necessary in themselves in their Nature and Quality so immutable and indispensible The latter is the voluntary Results and Determinations of the Divine Will Things that are of an immutable and indispensible Nature we have Knowledge of them by the Light of first Impression The voluntary Results of the Divine Will we have by Revelation from God Man's Observance of God in all Instances of Morality these are Truths of first Inscription and these have a deeper Foundation greater Ground for them than that God gave the Law on Mount Sinai or that he did after ingrave it on Tables of Stone or that we find the Ten Commandments in the Bible For God made Man to them and did write them upon the Heart of Man before he did declare them upon Mount Sinai before he ingraved them upon the Tables of Stone or before they were writ in our Bibles God made Man to them and wrought his Law upon Mens Hearts and as it were interwove it into the Principles of our Reason and the things thereof are the very Sence of Man's Soul and the Image of his Mind So that a Man doth undo his own Being departs from himself and unmakes himself confounds his own Principles when he is disobedient and unconformable to them and must necessarily be self-condemn'd The Law externally given was to revive awaken Man after his Apostacy and Sin and to call him to Remembrance Advertency and Consideration And indeed had there not been a Law written in the Heart of Man a Law without him could be to no Purpose For had we not Principles that are Concreated did we not know something no Man could prove any thing * For he that knows nothing grants nothing Whosoever finds not within himself Principles sutable to the Moral Law whence with Choice he doth comply with it he hath departed from himself and lost the natural Perfection of his Being And to be conformable to this is the Restitution to his State Things of Natural Knowledge or of first Inscription in the Heart of Man by God these are known to be true as soon as ever they are proposed And he hath abused himself and forc'd himself from his Nature and deformed the Creation of God in him whosoever doth not take Acquaintance with subscribe to make acknowledgement of these great Things The great Principles of Reverence of Deity Of Sobriety in the Government of a Man 's own Person Moderate use of the Pleasures and Contentments of this Life The great Instances of Righteousness and Justice in Mens Transactions one with another For they are Connatural to Man Then for Truth of Gospel-Revelation that speaks for it self recommends it self and shews it self to be of God In this Case we may say as the Samaritans to the Woman They were brought to take Cognizance of our Saviour by the credible Report of the Woman But after they had had converse with him Now say they we believe in him not for thy Words but we credited thee so far forth as to come and see him but because we have seen and heard Such are the Declarations of Faith in God by Jesus Christ of Remission of Sins of God's accepting of Sinners upon Repentance that any Man that is awake to any true Apprehensions of God he will readily believe them and embrace them when they are declared to him by any Instrument The great Things of Reveal'd Truth tho' they be not of Reason's Invention yet they are of the prepar'd Mind readily entertain'd and receiv'd As for Instance Remission of Sins to them that repent and deprecate God's Displeasure it is the most credible Thing in the World For God made us Creatures fallible at the best Now here is finite and fallible failing and miscarrying repenting and reforming upon a Declaration from God So false is it that the Matter of our Faith is unaccountable or that there is any thing unreasonable in Religion that there is no such Matter of Credit in the World as the Matters of Faith nothing more intelligible It was a Mystery before God in Christ reconciling the World Now all the World is taken into a Possibility of receiving Benefits hereby Tho' there be nothing of Merit on the Creature 's side nothing that we can do that can deserve yet it is a Matter of very fair Belief that the Original of all Beings the Father of all our Spirits the Fountain of all Good will one way or other pardon Sin and do what behoves him for the Recovery of his laps'd Creation And any probable Narration made in the Name of God of the Way and Means and the particular Circumstances whereby God will do it will fairly induce Belief with sober serious and considerate Minds And what have we to do with others upon the Account of Religion If they be not serious and considerate they are not in a Disposition towards Religion That Promise of the Seed of the Woman breaking the Serpent's Head God hath been speaking this out further and further by his various Revelations in the several Successions of Time He has represented it in divers Shapes But now we have it expounded For the Seed of the Woman is God manifested in the Flesh And breaking the Serpent's Head is destroying the Work of the Devil The Anti-type doth exactly answer the Variety of the Types All foretold of our Saviour was fulfill'd in him We have many things in prophane Stories in several Ages that give Testimony and Light to Parts of Reveal'd Truth Many of their Stories are in Imitation of Scripture History As Nisus's Hair in Imitation of Sampson's Deucalion's Floud in Imitation of Noah's Hercules in Imitation of Joshua c. Many of the Heathens that were not corrupted by Education or Interest or the Strain of the Time do relate many things that are consistent with those that are in the Bible St. Austin tells us he found the Beginning of the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel among the Platonists Eusebius read in the Commentaries of the Heathens those Circumstances and Matters of Fact that the Evangelists do mention and also the Signs at our Saviour's Crucifying as the Eclipse of the Sun and an Earthquake and other Accidents Tertullian speaks of sundry things which Pilate writ to Tiberius sutable to what the Evangelists relate concerning our Saviour Yea Mahomet himself who is the last great Impostor doth mention the Souldiers apprehending our Saviour with an Intention to put him to Death Acknowledging him to be a great Prophet but he tells us when those Souldiers were stricken down God took him away and they lighted upon another something like him and crucify'd him Plutarch an Eminent Author gives us an Account of Pan the great Daemon of the Heathens who was heard greatly to complain that a Hebrew Child was born and they never heard him after all the Oracles then ceasing Porphiry tho' of no great Credit
says that after one whom they called Jesus came to be worshipp'd they never could receive any more Benefits by any of their Gods One of the Roman Emperors was so possess'd with what was related concerning a Kingly Race among the Jews and was so startled with the Credibleness of the Report that he set himself to destroy all of the Family Publius Lentulus gives the Senate an Account that he saw himself and was an Eye-witness of the Man Jesus among the Jews who cured all Diseases and raised from the Dead Insomuch that Tertullian bids the Heathen Emperor search their Records For your own Kalender * says he recites the Things that are done by our Saviour This in the Days of Julian who was turn'd off by the Feuds and Exasperations by the Factions and Divisions among those that were call'd Christians Insomuch that he hated Christianity but otherwise a Man of eminent Justice and Good to the Common-wealth One who was a Philosopher gives an Account of the Christian Religion The Christian Religion says he consisting in Spiritual Worship and Devotion to God Purity of Mind holy and unblameable Conversation of all things that are call'd Religion it is the most Entire most Pure but only mightily hurt by some who have fill'd it with superstitious Things So that we may resolve that the Difficulty of Faith arises from the wicked State of the Subject rather than from the Incredibility of the Object It is hard to act otherwise than the State from within doth dispose a Man It is not imaginable that any Man can believe contrary to the Life he lives in When he lives in the State of eternal Death to believe eternal Life Or to believe the Pardon of Sin when he lives in it and slights the Sin he lives in For our Saviour says You cannot believe because of your wicked Hearts It cannot stand together To live in Sin and to look for Pardon of Sin For God doth not give to any one that is impenitent the Power of Faith Be not conform'd to this wicked World but be ye transform'd by the renewing of your Mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable Will of God Intimating that if a Man lead a wicked and ungodly Life if a Man in respect of State Complexion and Constitution of Soul be in Contradiction to the Principles of Religion the Principles of God's Creation he cannot prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God They that were in a Religious Disposition did readily believe and entertain our Saviour and acknowledge him to be the Messiah that was promis'd of old But those that were perfectly obstinate in the Pharisaick Disposition they rejected him And this is clearly true that Men cannot believe while they live in Sin and are in Impenitency and are under the Commands of their Lusts. For we find that an ingenuous Mind and one that is a true Penitent he doth with more Difficulty forgive himself than God doth He that is truly affected and cordially turns to God he is truly sensible of the Deformity and Impurity of Sin Though Repentance give Heart's Ease and Satisfaction and tend to the Quiet of his Mind yet he doth more hardly excuse himself than God doth But a Man that is wedded to the World that is under the Power of his Lusts that applauds and magnifies himself in Self-will is given up to the Affectation Arrogancy and Self-assuming how can this Man give himself Satisfaction concerning Pardon of Sin when he is in a contrary Spirit in a contrary Disposition He cannot believe that God will pardon Sin because he himself doth not pardon any other Offender God's Goodness well consider'd speaks him to be propitious and inclinable to Compassion But Impenitency speaks a Man's Incapacity of being pardon'd This is the Sum. All Divine Truth is of one of these two Emanations Either it flows from God in the first Instant and Moment of God's Creation and then it is the Light of that Candle which God set up in Man to light him and that which by this Light he may discover are all the Instances of Morality of good Affection and Submission towards God the Instances of Justice and Righteousness of Men and Temperance to himself Or else it is of an after Revelation and Discovery Man being out of the Way of his Creation by his Defection from God is recover'd by this Revelation Upon this Consideration that Man was never better than finite and fallible and considering that we have given an Offence and * considering the Relation that God stands in to his Creatures and that he is the first and chiefest Goodness it is * what may be fairly supposed that God will recover his Creation one way or other Wherefore that which the New Testament doth discover is that which was in general Expectation Now the Terms of the new Covenant are possible to Sinners They are Just and Fit Reasonable and Equal They are to us who are departed from Truth Restorative They are satisfactory to our Mind and quieting to our Conscience For if I have offended against the Rule of Right I ought to repent of it confess it be sorry for it and do my endeavour to commit it no more And there is Reason to think that God can pardon For every ones Right is in his own Power Every one doth dispose of his Right in that way which he will Since therefore it is God's Right upon the Failure of Obedience to reduce the Creature by Punishment it is in his Power to abate of Punishment if he pleases or to remit it And it is most reasonable to think that God should be allow'd to do this in what way he would Therefore we conclude that all the Instances of Christian Doctrine either they are fairly knowable if we use our Faculties and Understanding * and these are the great Instances of Morality and Principles of Reason or else if we do consider those Things that are considerable in the Case the Things of Reveal'd Truth are of fair and easie Belief The former of these the great Principles of Reason they are * by awakened Minds easily and readily found out The latter are * by prepar'd Minds fairly admitted and entertained This I say against the Atheism of the prophane World and those that do affect to be Infidels because they pretend they have not the Assurance of former Times * nor of powerful Miracles I will now instance in those Assurances that we have to settle us in the Entertainment of Divine Truth And they are these Five I. They are concurrent with the Sence of the Heathens and Strangers who do agree with us in all the Instances of Morality in these we cannot speak beyond them they speak and act so as to shame us For how many of us do act below them in these Particulars and as to many Things of the New Testament concerning Christ we have great Testimony from them as was shew'd II. The Representation
am not ashamed This intimates that there is some where Matter of Shame within the Compass of the Business Now here Man's Apostacy and Sin these are shameful Things Which was the Occasion of the Gospel-Revelation The Grace of the Gospel which comes to repair and to restore puts us in mind of our ruinous and necessitous Condition So that there is cause of Shame in the Case tho' Cause of Glory and Triumph in the Grace of God It is the Power of God unto Salvation POWER not strictly as limiting to one Perfection But eminently to attribute to the Efficacy of Divine Grace * these two Things viz. Regeneration Nativity from above which is the Salvation of this State Glorification and consummating us in Holiness which is the Salvation of the Future To advance this Grace and to raise our Apprehensions of it consider the Author of it it is the Effect of the Divine Wisdom the Fruit of the Divine Love What it is in it self And of what Benefit to us There must be Greatness of Power to erect such a Fabrick and Structure as the World is and Excellency of Wisdom to administer the Affairs of it in all Variety of Cases Now it is pitty any should do the like that cannot also recover and restore if Necessity require For so should finite and fallible as we are if in any Error or Mistake be under an Impossibility of Redemption It is according to Nature's Sence rather never to have been than for ever to be irrecoverably miserable Wherefore if I believe God made me I will also believe God can restore me Nothing is clearer in Reason nothing is fuller in Scripture than that God is the first and chiefest Good In respect of his Relation to his Creatures earthly Parents do but resemble him John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. It must be attributed to his Goodness and Compassion because it was that which we cannot say he was at all bound to do It was that which he could not be constrain'd to do It was that which he was no Gainer by for our Righteousness is not profitable to him The Gospel of Christ is no Invention of Humane Reason Man neither prevented God nor recompenced him after Only the Necessity of Man's State required it and God's Goodness afforded it the Excellencies of Infinite Wisdom Goodness and Power are display'd in it It 's not a Mystery now tho' formerly it was hid from Ages and Generations But now it is the Council of God's Will declared He that darkens words without Knowledge brings us back again to the Infancy of the World It was the Imperfection and Shortness of the Mosaical Dispensation that it was Tipical Mystical Ceremonial Symbolical full of Shadows things that did vail and darkly represent Obscurity is Imperfection as Darkness in comparison with Light Life and Immortality and all * the Principles of it are brought to Light through the Gospel The Gospel is admirable Speculation excellent Matter of Knowledge for here is the Revocation of an insolent bold Act of Usurpation upon God by Christ's full Submission and intire Self-resignation A Prince and a Saviour is raised up by God sent into the World not to make Havock to ruine and destroy not as it is 2 Sam. 12. 31. where the People were put under Saws and Harrows of Iron made to pass thorough Brickilns a thing intolerable to behold dreadful to read of tho' in this impotent incompetent World many great Warriours are made famous for such things even in unjustifiable War but he came to give Repentance and Forgiveness of Sin He came to seek and to save that which was lost The Gospel is a Vital Principle not of Natural Life but Divine as it satisfies the Reason of our Minds by Removal of Fears and Doubts by the Life of Faith Affiance and Trust in God and as it reforms our Spirits and Lives as conveying and communicating Principles of Goodness and Righteousness * by which we are made Partakers of the Divine Nature The Substance of the Gospel is Repentance from Dead Works and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. These do go together and encourage each other in as much as no Man repents who doth not believe nor can any believe who doth not repent To believe there is requisite an internal Disposition and Preparation of the Subject as well as a Divine Promise to build upon John 5. 44. Can you believe who receive Honour one of another and seek not Honour from God The same is in all Cases of Inordinacy and Sin Repentance and Faith in the Gospel are indifferently used He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life John 3. 36. Now he doth not really believe who doth not truly intend to do answerably The Scripture calls believing on Christ receiving of him If we receive him then we receive him such as he is and to such Effects and Purposes as God sent him for Now God sent him to bless us in turning us from our Iniquities The Scripture useth Synecdoches Sometimes Believing is put for the whole of Religion sometimes Repenting sometimes Fearing sometimes Love If we would not be partial nor deceive our selves we must always take in all concomitant Acts. Scripture as the Rule of Faith is not one single Text which may be short and intend another thing but the fulness of Scripture In all other cases he that believes doth according as he thinks Faith includes an Intention of new Obedience I may with great Reason say that the Matter of the Gospel is a Vital Principle as it satisfies the Reason of our Mind * and so sets us as Rest and Quietness within our selves as thereby seeing and knowing that we are out of danger In the intellectual Nature a Principle of Knowledge as to the Understanding is Vital as well as an habitual Disposition as to the Will What more Satisfaction can there be to the Reason of our Minds * what more tending to the Quiet of our Consciences than to be assured in a Matter of such Importance to us that God to whom we are so obnoxious by Transgression and Sin is most placable and reconcileable of himself through the Perfection of his own Nature and that he is absolutely resolv'd and engaged by his voluntary Determination and Promise to pardon Sin in and through Christ to all who repent and believe the Gospel and this and nothing less than this is the Matter of the Gospel This is to be accepted in and through Christ and is the real Explication of Justification by imputed Righteousness For this being suppos'd and proving true We are sure of God We know his Terms The Terms are fair and equal in themselves fit and just for should not an Offender do what is in him to undo what he hath done amiss The Terms are good for us for we cannot be happy by God in a way of opposition to God but by Submission and Reconciliation to him
their Knowledge imprison the Truth of God and hold it in Unrighteousness In the Language of Scripture none are nominated Sinners but such as now we are representing The Scripture doth never fasten the Title or Denomination upon them that mean well but are in something mistaken who now and then are under an Error having Failings Imperfections and Shortnesses that miscarry upon a violent Temptation or sudden Surprizal You never find these Men are call'd Sinners Neither are the Infirmities of the Regenerate call'd Sin Tho' these are Sins that require God's Forgiveness and are a true Cause for us to be Humble and Modest and to depend upon God But they do not break our Peace with God neither do they havock Conscience or denominate a Person a Sinner The Scripture tells us That those that are born of God do not commit Sin that is in this Sence no one that is regenerate doth pass into the contrary Nature It is unnatural They may have Shortnesses Failings Imperfections But voluntarily to consent to known Iniquity or wilfully to controul the settled Laws of Heaven of Piety to God Justice to Men and Sobriety to our selves this is unnatural These Persons have the Guilt of evil Practice lying upon their Minds They have their own internal Sence reproving them challenging them condemning them For the Cause of all Creatures Misery is rational and accountable and Men do dishonour God and misrepresent him when they say that any Creature falls into Misery by the Use of God's Sovereignty It doth really arise from within us And there is no Danger in respect of God notwithstanding his great Priviledge if Men be innocent and not self-condemn'd Misery and Harm do not proceed from abroad but do arise from within If Omnipotence it self should load me with all Burthens If I am innocent within I shall be able to bear it But if I am guilty I have a Wound within and have nothing within me true to my self All Misery arises out of our selves It is a most gross Mistake and Men are of dull and stupid Spirits who think that that State which we call Hell is an incommodious place only and that God by his Sovereignty throws Men therein For Hell arises out of a Man's self And Hell's Fewel is the Guilt of a Man's Conscience And it is impossible that any should be so miserable as Hell makes a Man and as there a Man is miserable but by his own condemning himself And on the other side when they think that Heaven arises from any Place or any nearness to God or Angels This is not principally * so but * it lies in a refin'd Temper in an internal Reconciliation to the Nature of God and to the Rule of Righteousness So that both Hell and Heaven have their Foundation within Men. Evil knowingly admitted is our Burthen For all Evil is forcible violent and unnatural And a Sinner wrongs his own Principles This might be made appear in respect of God in respect of one another in respect of our selves 1 st In respect of God For consider him as the Father of our Beings and that we are derivatively from him or that our State is Dependency or that we are sinful or that we are under his Love or that he is to be our Judge all these will cause Acts of Piety So that all Acts of Impiety are contrary to the Light of our Reason And whosoever is impious in any Degree or Particular whatsoever he doth hold the Truth in Unrighteousness he confounds his Principles acts contrary to his Nature and contradicts the Principle of God within him * For this is Fundamental to all Religion that Man in the Use of his Reason by Force of Mind and Understanding may as well know that there is a God that governs the World as he may know by the Use of his Eyes there is a Sun For are we not made to know there is a God If we were not made to know that he is we could never know For this we can never be taught For upon whose Credit shall we believe it It is not Divine Faith unless it be grounded on Divine Authority All else is either Reason or Human Perswasion Credulity or Experience We are not capable of Faith unless we know there is a God For if there be Faith in God we must suppose that He is For Faith is a receiving something upon Divine Authority * And if there be not a Natural Knowledge that God is there is no Possibility of any Faith Men know by the Use of their Reason that there is a God And then when a Man receives any Proposition from God's Authority that is Faith Natural Knowledge you see is anticedent and Fundamental to Faith It is as natural and proper for Mind and Understanding to tend towards God as for heavy Things to tend towards their Center For God is the Center of immortal Souls All Understandings seek after God and have a Sence and Feeling of God If Reason did not apprehend God Religion could not be learn'd For there would be nothing in Nature to graft it on Besides we know in Reason that first Principles are self-evident must be seen in their own Light and are perceived by an inward Power of Nature For as we say out of nothing comes nothing so grant nothing and nothing can be proved Wherefore it must be within the Reach of Reason to find that there is a God For upon God's Authority supposing his Being and Veracity we admit and receive all the Results of his Will If God had not made Man to know there is a God there is nothing that God could have demanded of him nothing wherein he might have challenged him nor nothing that he could have expected Man should have received from him Therefore the Make of Man the natural Use of Mind and Understanding this is enough to satisfie any one concerning the Being of God and his essential Perfections And if so whosoever is impious to God whosoever is not subject to all his Commands this Man doth certainly sin against his Conscience and doth practise against his Light and is guilty of holding the Truth in Unrighteousness Thus every one that is Impious Ungodly Prophane or a Despiser of Deity is self-condemn'd sins against his Light and goes against his Conscience goes against his very Make and doth that which is violent horrid and unnatural The second Species of Sin is Unrighteousness Now Righteousness refers to the Duties we mutually owe one another To do as we would be done by To do equally and justly not arbitrarily How doth Violence and Fraud perplex and interrupt Humane Affairs How settledly do Men live where Love and Justice do take place in comparison of Places Arbitrary and Lawless There is a secret Harmony in the Soul with the Rule of Righteousness there is no Displacency Offence or Reluctancy And there is an Antipathy arising at the Appearance of Evil as unnatural to it But a Complacency in Good as the
not their Humours Wills Pleasures But where Men judge according to the Rule of Right their Sense is considerable and their Commendation valuable * Now he that is prais'd for something worthy useful or taking with Men hath Acceptance is attended upon with Expectation and may make good Advantage of this Whereas if he be not regarded nor consider'd he will have no Opportunity to do Men good And where Men are forestall'd prepossess'd prejudiced a Man loses his Labour with them Wherefore Men do well to stand upon their Credit and this for their own better Security * in Vertue as well as for their further Advantage to do others Good He that despises Shame despises Sin cares not what he does will do any thing 'T is a sharp Reproof a pungent Argument in few words Are you not ashamed Upon this account it is preservative soveraign and very conducive to the Safety of Persons in * a vertuous way that Men of Place and Worth either declare a good Opinion or at least good Hopes and Expectations of those within their Government It tends to engage and encourage to Proficiency in Vertue If a Man have lost his Credit he will grow desperate 'T is an irreparable Evil to take away another's Fame 'T is to take away his second Security to Goodness * as Conscience is * his first Commendation * therefore is of use both to encourage Good-behaviour and further settle the Well-resolved And he who hath the advantage of Repute and Credit may more easily perswade to ways of Goodness and Sobriety Wherefore if the good Word of others may be gain'd upon Terms of Truth and Righteousness It is a very good purchase as tending to our own better Security and Settlement in Vertue and to the enabling us to deal effectually with others for their Good Think these things REASONABLE So it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apply to them the Reason of your own Minds In the Use of your Reason Mind and Understanding in the exercise of your Natural Faculties charge your self with these things It is not barely have them in your Thoughts but in the use of your Reason recommend all these things to your self Think that you do not acquit your self that you do not that that becomes you that you do not raise a connatural Superstructure to the Foundation of Nature if you do not in the Reason of your Mind think all these things worthy of you This is the Sense of the words Religion exercises teaches satisfies that which is the Height and Excellency of our Nature Our Reason is not confounded by our Religion but awaken'd excited employ'd directed and improved For this is the Faculty whereby we are capable of God apprehensive of him receptive from him whereby we can make Acknowledgments to him make Returns upon him The first Operation of Religion is Mental and Intellectual They begin at the wrong end who set not themselves here first to work so are not likely to bring any thing to Perfection For the Mind's Resolution and Satisfaction is first and principal If we leap over this we shall be ever after lame in our way Credulity is but Impotency The Simple believeth every word but the prudent Man looks well to what he admits Man is not well settled or confirm'd in his Religion until his Religion become the Reason of his Mind 'T is Lowness and Imperfection in Religion to drudge therein to take up Duties as Burdens to do them as Tasks barely to satisfie Conscience that Conscience may not trouble vex condemn They who are come to any growth in Religion are free-spirited in it act with inward Satisfaction Pleasure Content They understand it is for our Good desireable of it self and therefore act with Delight Religion till then is not our own is not settled in the Subject is not secured till then Men will not be friendly to it will not make it their Adoption or Choice but rather look upon it as their Exacter Controuler of Liberty and Will * and look upon God * as an Egyptian Task-Master They will carry it as a Burden which they wou'd throw off if they might have their Minds * But I dare undertake to shew that all true Reason is for Religion and nothing of Truth against it Religion doth us the greatest Service and Courtesie To our Minds it does Good directly and immediately to our Bodies by the good Consequents on the Mind's Government It relieves us in case of the greatest inward Evils Guiltiness Malignity Rancour Malice which if not removed we must be most miserable and it possesses us of truest inward Good In this Sense is that verified which Solomon says of Wisdom Her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace SERMON II. ACTS XIII 38. Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you Forgiveness of Sin THAT we may the better estimate of what Consequence this is to us and how much we are beholden to the Divine Goodness for this great Benefit of Pardon and Forgiveness let us look into the Evil that we are rid and discharg'd of by this Act of God let us look into the Nature and Quality of Sin SIN as it reflects upon God is an Act either of Neglect or Contempt And how shall we answer it if we be guilty upon either account if either we neglect our bounden Duty or cast Contempt and Scorn upon our Sovereign by whose Power we are raised out of nothing into Being at whose Pleasure we are continued in Being and at whose Appointment we shall go out of these Beings that now we have and it will not be in our Power to withhold our Souls from him one moment tho' the State and Welfare of them to all Eternity did depend thereupon Let us also consider what SIN is in it self It is a Violation of the Rule of Righteousness the Law of Heaven from which God himself who is cloathed with Omnipotency in whom is the Fulness of Power and Liberty never did vary from Eternity nor will to Eternity for the Throne of God is established in Righteousness What then do we think it is for us sorry Creatures to take upon us to controul the immutable and unalterable Law of everlasting Righteousness Goodness and Truth upon which the Universe depends Then again SIN in respect of By-standers is a thing of very bad consequence and of ill Influence because of the Prejudice of Example For we are more apt to follow Example than to live by Rule and nothing is more frequent than for Men to pretend Use Custom and Practice even against an establish'd Law and we justifie our selves as we think by doing as others do and that we are not singular and alone in what we say and Practice That which we call Moral Evil is a thing of the greatest Ugliness and Deformity in the World The Filthiness of Sin is express'd in Scripture under the names of those things
that are of the greatest Loathsomeness and Deformity Nothing is so bad as Moral Depravation Corruption Rotteness and Putrefaction â—n Naturals even to Stench and Nauseousness is not so bad as the Exorbitance and Degeneracy of an Intelligent Agent out of the Course of Vertue and Honesty because Intelligent Agents act in a higher order than Naturals for in these it is only a Tendency to Dissolution and Non-entity and so it is a Negative Evil. But all the Departures from Right Reason are privatively Evil. Now of what great Consequence must this be to us to be discharg'd of a thing of so much Malignity in the Agent a thing which carries so much Insolence Arrogance Presumption Self-assuming and Confidence lifting up our selves above what we ought which not only in its own Nature and Quality is a Privation but a Pollution a thing that makes Havock and brings all into Confusion turns all upside down and puts every thing out of order so that no Man can tell what will be next Nor * indeed can * any one think what that Man will dare to do that durst vary from Right For by the same Authority that any Man varies from Right in any one Instance he may in all It is Innocency that is our Protection and he that disrobes himself of that opens the way to all manner of Unrighteousness And lastly SIN in its consequence is Punishment For the Wages of Sin is Death And as Life comprehends Health and Strength with all Happiness so Death is perfectly contrary It is therefore a Matter of great Importance for * one of a considerative Mind and an awaken'd Conscience to be able to satisfie himself in this Matter and to know how he may come off from the Guilt of his Sin and the Punishment due thereunto And I shall do you very good Service if I can propose to you such Grounds and Principles as may satisfie your Minds in the Belief of God's Forgiveness of Sin The great Revelation that we have from Heaven is above all things satisfactory to the Reason of our Minds in this Matter in which it is declared that God looks upon what our Saviour hath done and suffer'd in his Undertaking for us as a very valuable Consideration for the Pardon of Sin to them that do repent Now that we may believe the former and charge our selves with the latter I propose to you these Considerations and Arguments 1. From the Goodness of the Divine Nature 2. From the Tenure of Gospel-Revelation 3. From those Impresses of Goodness and Kindness that God has stamp'd throughout the whole Creation 4. I shall make it appear that it is a thing every way worthy God to pardon Sin to Penitents * And 5. That the Evil of Punishment hath the place of a Mean only not of an End 1 st From the Quality of the Divine Nature GOODNESS It is the very Perfection of the Divine Nature Now Acts that flow from Nature have two Advantages They are very easie and pleasant They are most sure and certain For Nature fails not Nature is uniform regular and constant What Nature doth is without resistance against all Impediments * It goes on readily in its course and doth not waste and spend it self as other Agents do A Person of GOOD-NATURE doth Courtesies and Kindnesses with as much Freedom and Readiness as an Ill-natur'd Person doth Injuries And by this we may be assur'd that Goodness is the Excellency of the Divine Nature because all other Perfections become Divine as they are in conjunction with Goodness Take away Goodness and nothing is a Divine Perfection For Power and Wit are in the Diabolical State as well as other-where and we are apt to fear Wit and Power but where-ever there is Goodness we have Expectation from it It is not safe for Wit and Power to be alone Our Safety and Security is in Goodness and it is much for our advantage that all Divine Perfections are in conjunction with Goodness Never any that had the Notion of a God doubted of his Omnipotency and All-sufficiency but the great Question is concerning his WILL For here our Hearts are apt to misgive us He being perfectly free is subject to no restraint If he hath but a Mind to fail us we give him cause enough to do it and hence arise our Doubts Now to satisfie you in this I say * that where there is all Perfection in a Conjunction there is no place at all for any Uncertainty Inconstancy Variety Resolution and Performance in such Agents always go along with the Reason of Things So that if the Reason of Things be steady these Agents are always steady For Liberty as a Perfection is quite another thing from being licentious or lawless He is least of all FREE nay he is the veryest Slave in the World that hath either Will or POWER to be licentious or exorbitant or to vary from the Law of Right An Intelligent and Voluntary Agent in his right Constitution does things in due and convenient Circumstances as certainly and constantly as any Natural Agent and doth as surely produce noble and generous Effects as any Natural Cause doth produce Effects that are Natural So that notwithstanding the Fulness of Liberty in God and notwithstanding his Omnipotency yet you are surer of him in all Cases of Righteousness and Equity than of the Effect of any Natural Cause because the Way of Liberty in an intelligent Agent is a higher Way of Action and Motion than the Way of Nature * any where besides where there is a Determination to the Effect For you are not to think that because you are Free therefore you may act Irregularly or Arbitrarily You see inferiour Nature is determin'd and never is found out of its course and it is to be expected that intelligent Agents do not vary from the Rule of Right Nay it will be the Condemnation of them if they do For Liberty is not a Deformity but a Perfection And a higher Agent should be as true to its Principle as any natural Agent which the Philosopher tells us is always determin'd for if it were not so the way of voluntary Motion would be inferiour to natural Motion which is more imperfect and the higher Creation indued with Liberty and Intelligence would be Principles of Imperfection and Deformity This is the first Argument And this is a solid Foundation What is Natural is Certain What is done Naturally is done Easily If God do Good Naturally he doth it easily for who can conceive that God should go against his own Nature 2 dly Add to this Divine Revelation and you have double Security And for this you have several Texts of Scripture God so loved the World c. From which place I would have you to take notice of our Saviour's Merit yet that our Saviour did not merit or by his Righteousness procure his own Sending but this was wholly from the Love and Goodness of the Father Our Recovery began at God
an END Now we know that no more of a Mean is design'd than what is necessary for the End This is that which makes a Mean considerable the Relation it has unto the End A Medicine may be bitter and costly No Man takes Physick for Physick's sake but in order to his Health In a Mean we only look how far it is available to the End God therefore inflicts Punishment as a means to obtain an End that is better Therefore sometimes he brings a small Evil to prevent a greater and a present to prevent a future and suffering in time to prevent suffering hereafter and a harder Condition in this World which is but for a while that our Condition may be better secur'd in the othe World The Divine Goodness doth aim at two things in Punishments the Reformation of the Offender and the Information of the By-stander And those that are in Authority among us inflict Punishment not as an End of their own Invention not for Revenge upon the Party * as we observe even * as to those who are guilty of the greatest Crimes as Murderers and Highway-Men who must of necessity be condemn'd for the Publick Safety and Defence of the Law Yet how much Clemency do they shew towards them and what Pains do they take that their Souls may be saved and their Bodily Sufferings prove Sanatory to their Souls So that Punishment is for doing Good to the Offender and to the By-stander that they seeing the Evil that Sin brings upon Men may be better inform'd Therefore I take it for granted that where there is Wisdom and Goodness in the Agent all Punishment is for Instruction Reformation and bettering of the Offender or for Example to By-standers And I cannot tell what is Good in Punishment but these two So that Punishment hath the place of a Mean not of an End A Creature must not contradict the Divine Will and avow it as its Priviledge and stand to it as every one that is impenitent doth Whosoever commits a Sin against his Light Judgment and Conscience if he do not repent of it he contracts a Habit and interpretatively he commits the Sin over and over again and he lives in it For if he did not justifie it why doth he not disclaim it repent of it ask God's Forgiveness and more carefully withold his Consent for time to come It is not a thing credible that God will pardon Sin without Repentance To SIN and NOT TO REPENT is to speak Defiance against God and to usurp upon him to deny his Authority and make our selves Lawless and Arbitrary than which nothing can be a greater Affront to God 'T is of most dangerous and mischievous Consequence He that sins openly and doth not repent he doth invite nay in a sort warrant other Men to do the like and therefore for the Safety of others it is necessary to punish such It is not at all Compassionable There is an Incapacity in the Recipient tho' there be no want of Mercy in God For he is infinitely Merciful and Gracious but the Subject is altogether incapable And indeed no Man doth regard Pardon of that of which he doth not repent He slights any thing of this nature If a Man doth not repent he doth not care for God's Pardon Nay how can that be forgiven which the Committer doth undertake to warrant and to justifie Such an Act of Grace if it were offer'd would be despis'd A Creature therefore must not contradict the Creator's Will or controul the immutable and unalterable Law of everlasting Righteousness Goodness and Truth and avow it and stand to it For God's Righteousness engages him to controul the Lust of Sinning and taking Delight in Evil and it is natural for him so to do As God is the first and chiefest Goodness and as he is the Governour of the World it doth concern him to controul Evil and to maintain Right He is Supream and Soveraign therefore must not be affronted But if the Sinner leave off to sin and condemn himself then the Necessity of Punishment is taken away For that for which Punishment is made use of is obtain'd without Punishment And we never make use of a Mean if the End be obtain'd Punishment in the hand of God is either for the maintaining his Authority or for the Defence of Righteousness or for the Reformation of a Sinner or for an effectual Admonition to the By-stander Now Reformation and Amendment are better secur'd by Mens Repentance than by their Destruction And also the Defence of Righteousness is better secur'd by this way than any other For if Men suffer yea if they perish everlastingly they perish only on this account because they cannot avoid it And there may be in Hell those that blaspheme God as you read in the Revelations A Sinner's voluntary Submission to God and humble Acknowledgment hath more of Vertue in it and is more pleasing to God than either being turn'd out of Being or suffering Hell-Torments to Eternity For the one tends to mending the Mind which is a thing good in it self the other to Exasperation So Rev. 16. 9. Men were scorch'd with great Heat and blasphem'd God and they repented not to give him Glory Now if the Sinner repent you have his Consent and his whole Heart you have then gain'd his Mind and Soul and he doth then all that is in him to do Now it is a greater Excellency to win and reconcile by Gentleness and Fairness than to vanquish and overcome by Power and Force To win and overcome by fair Means by Reason and Argument by Courtesie and Gentleness these shew Wisdom and Goodness but to crush and subdue may be done by Power and Subtlety by Power because the Person cannot make defence by Subtlety because the Person was surpriz'd and taken at unawares The Creature 's suffering Punishment is a very sorry amends for Transgression For what doth God gain by it God is so far from being recompenc'd by the Suffering of contumacious Sinners that I dare say it is more satisfactory to God more according to his Mind that a Sinner should repent and humbly acknowledge his Offence in this State in which he is than * undergo the suffering of the Damn'd to Eternity For God gains nothing by the one but he hath the Heart of the Dequent by the other Now for Application In the first place since it is of such importance to us that we have Remission of Sin let us dwell long upon it by serious Meditation and Consideration till our Minds have Assurance and Satisfaction and till we come to a firm Resolution in it For this is fundamental to Faith and necessary to prevent our Despair when we come to die For then it will either be the poor Security which Sencelesness or stupid Ignorance works in us or else there will be Confusion of Thought and we shall not know what to do if this Knowledge by not confirm'd and settled in the Soul A National Apprehension
of this will not be sufficient to give us solid Content and Satisfaction at that time nor be a Foundation for our Faith to rest upon Those words that we have read that the Wages of Sin is Death will then run in our Minds and we shall be then ready to say Art thou come to call our Sins to remembrance Tho' Men in a hurry of Business do not now consider yet then assurance of Pardon of Sin will of all things be most satisfactory to our Minds and the want of it will be the most afflicting Consideration imaginable 2 dly Being well-resolv'd and assur'd of the Way that God will pardon Sin let us always have it in our eye and put it in practice Let us be sure that we heartily repent of our Sins turn to God make Application to him and come under the Terms of the Covenant of Grace that so our Faith and Hope may finally rest in God as the Apostle speaks All that is reveal'd to us concerning Christ and the Gospel is for this End and Purpose and there is nothing in the World that is so well secur'd as the Pardon of our Sins and Everlasting Safety in the way of the Faith of the Gospel For upon these Terms it hath Settlement from the Perfection of the Divine Nature who is the first and chiefest Goodness and who cannot fail to commiserate every compassionable Case And I declare to you that the Case of a Creature finite and fallible if he do repent and turn to God is sorry for what he hath done amiss and return to his Duty is compassionable And this we are assur'd of not only from the Nature of God but from the Revelation of his Mind and Will For as is his Nature such are the Resolutions of his Mind and Will That SIN is pardonable is the Foundation of all our Religion and Application to God Fundamental to Faith and to all Affiance Trust and Confidence in God For tho' the Act of a Creature may be aggravated in respect of the Person against whom it is committed yet in themselves they are but Acts of Weakness And I shall shew you that they are so in God's account and esteem and therefore God doth not charge us so deeply for them as he might nor so much aggravate the Affronts against his own Majesty but considers and allows for the Weakness of the Creature So Psalm 103. 14. For he knoweth our Frame and remembereth that we are Dust. Therefore God doth not so highten our Failings and Neglect of him as he might do from the Height and Excellency of his own Majesty but he doth look upon them as the Failings and Miscarriages of weak and frail Creatures So Isa. 57. 16. These places of Scripture show that God doth consider what we are and gives allowance for our Shortness Weakness and Infirmity being the Condition in which we were made He considers that we are but finite and fallible and consist of different Materials a Divine and Heavenly Spirit and a Gross Body He knows that we have a great Government the ruling of sundry Appetites and must subordinate all the Motions of Sense to the Dictates of Reason and Understanding which is the greatest Performance in the World Yet this Humane Nature is put upon and herein we have a greater Province to administer than even the Angels themselves they not having so gross a Body as we have nor expos'd to so much Evil as we are But God he knoweth our FRAME and upon that account is not extream to mark what is done amiss A Creature as a Creature is finite and fallible and yet we are not the most perfect of God's Creation Now for Fallible to fail is no more than for Frail to be broken and for Mortal to die Where there is Finite and Limited Perfection there is not only a Possibility but a Contingency to Fail to Err to be Mistaken not to know and to be deceiv'd And where the Agent is such there is place for Repentance Repentance is that which makes a Finite Being failing capable of Compassion If Repentance did not take effect it would be too hazardous for a Creature to come into Being If upon a Laps an Error or Mistake we should be undone to Eternity without all hope of Recovery Who would willingly enter upon this State These are Matters fit for Consideration and very satisfactory to considerate Minds and to awaken'd Consciences Then 3 dly Let us entertain right Notions and Apprehensions of God and conclude that he is of his own Nature placable and reconcileable It is consequent upon Sin to commit a further Evil to delight in it to love it and to live in it and from hence to fear and hate God who is offended by it For this is certain where Men are affraid they do not love and where they hate for their own Preservation if they could they would dissable such as are Formidable and in a Capacity to do them Harm Now if we look upon God as our Enemy as we shall do if we sin against him and do not repent we shall fear and dread him and so Hate him not Love and Delight in him For this is certain we always suspect that the wrong'd Person will revenge himself and take all advantage to do himself Right unless we make our Peace with him And were God like unto us there were just cause for this Suspicion But we may satisfie our selves from what God hath declar'd that there is no cause to fear in the way of Repentance and Faith for as much as God will perform the Terms of his own Gracious Dispensation which is to pardon all such as sincerely repent and believe the Gospel 4 thly It this be true that we cannot be rid of Sin save only by some Act of God then let us not do that which is so much to our own Prejudice upon such easie Terms as commonly * to offend since it is not in our power to undo it For Sin committed cannot be avoided unless by God's Pardon as well as our Repentance And our Repentance is but our Qualification for Pardon Pardon it self is the Act of God and depends upon the use of his Power God hath Power over his own Right and may abate of it what he pleaseth Now if a Man once sin farewel for ever the Righteousness of Innocency this is that which can never be attain'd for it can never be made that what hath been done was not done or that every sinful Act did not deserve Punishment In this State of Sin we are only made whole recover'd and restor'd and this Relief we have by the Divine Grace So that we cannot in any Reason allow our selves to commit Iniquity for the time to come or to return to Folly for this were to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and to abuse the Divine Benignity and Compassion and to make void the Effect thereof and to do what in us lyes that the
Sins that were forgiven before should return upon us again as the Debt that was forgiven did upon the Wicked Servant that we read of Let us * therefore admire the Divine Mercy and Goodness that those things which we know we have committed should be made as if they never had been by God's Pardon and Forgiveness that they should be as tho' they never had been in respect of any Danger or Punishment to us Yea that God to whom Vengeance belongeth should lay aside Thoughts and Purposes of Revenge and so freely pardon what we have done amiss that God who is our Great Creditor should cancel all Obligations and comply with the Necessity of our case without which we could not be happy For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and ceaseth for ever as to any thing that we can do But here that which was not in our power to do is done for us by God to wit Pardon of Sin and he hath provided that which was necessary for his own Satisfaction which was not in our power and hath left nothing upon us to do but that which we may easily perform through the Assistance of his Grace which he is ready and willing to afford that we may be enabled to repent and to leave off to sin And thus God hath made our Condition hopeful which we had made desperate Insomuch that God may with great Reason expostulate with us and say why will ye die and what could I have done more for my Vineyard than I have done What could I have done more * in Consistency with the Design of my Creation having made and invested Man with Intellectual Nature and given him Reason and Understanding and consequently Liberty and Freedom But lastly with which I will conclude Let us learn of God to afford one another the like measure for this is our Saviour's Argument We having been Partakers of the Mercy of God should show Mercy unto others and deal with one another even as God deals with us It is not possible for a Man to be a true Christian and not to forgive one that asks him Forgiveness is sorry for his Sin and is willing to make the best Satisfaction that he is able It is not Christian to live out of Love and Good-will or to harbour Envy Hatred Malice Ill-will or Displeasure or to have Thoughts of Revenge He that doth so doth not believe that God hath pardon'd him his Sins for if he did this would cause him to forgive his Brother If we have in our Souls a true Sense of God's Goodness to us it will form us into the like Disposition of Kindness towards Men. Whosoever they are that partake of the Divine Nature do thus and they that do the contrary live in the Devilish Nature Let therefore all them that complain of the Badness of their Natures and say it is a Burthen to them come under the Power of this Consideration till they are conform'd to a near Agreement with the Divine Perfection Reason and Argument are transforming Principles in Intellectual Natures And it is not possible where Men are inform'd and satisfy'd with Good Reason and Argument but it should work upon them Therefore I advise those who are sensible that they carry Coals and are full of Ill-will and entertain Thoughts of Revenge that they do day by day think upon this Argument till they have wrought out all Malignity out of their Souls For they do not believe God's Pardon who cannot pardon for Men are apt to think that God is like unto themselves Now if we justifie our selves in this and think it our Priviledge and Prerogative to bear Ill-will Malice and Thoughts of Revenge we shall attribute the same unto the All-powerful God and if it be so acceptable unto us to render Evil for Evil and to be revengeful we shall think that it is pleasurable unto God also to destroy his Enemies and that he will do it and prosecute Revenge against his Rebels to the utmost for we are well pleas'd with our own Disposition and Temper and that which we do approve and justifie in our selves we shall attribute unto God for if it were not * in our opinion a Perfection we should condemn it in our selves therefore * as such we shall much more attribute it unto God To conclude Let no Anger Rancour Malice or Displeasure let no Thoughts or Purposes of Revenge harbour in any Man's Breast as he would have God placable and reconcileable unto him and as he desires to believe the Pardon of his own Sins when he goes out of the World SERMON III. ACTS XIII 23. Of this Man's Seed hath God according to his Promise raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus THE Promise of the Messias doth bear the most ancient Date No sooner was there place for it but he was promis'd and declar'd Which was upon the Fall of Adam And it was not reasonable to think that God should declare himself for the Pardon of Sin before Sin was committed For that would have been to indulge invite or encourage Man to Sin But no sooner is Man become guilty but the Promise is made That the Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's Head Which St. John comments upon in these Words For this cause the Son of God was manifested to destroy the Works of the Devil And this Promise is often repeated to the Patriarchs successively one after another to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob As also in the Types and Shadows that were under the Mosaical Dispensation as the Apostle tells us Heb. 1. 1. God who at sundry Times and divers Manners spake unto our Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last Days spoken unto us by his Son c. That which is now plainly declar'd unto us by the Messias was darkly represented by the Prophets But in the Fulness of Time that is the Time that God had appointed and resolv'd upon he sent forth his Son and exhibited his Messias unto the World Now this is a Point of the greatest Import to Mankind that could be after the Fall of Adam For Remission of Sin depended upon it And this is a Matter of so great Concernment that we are undone without it For unless we can get discharg'd of our Sin and Guilt we must sink under it See therefore how punctual and particular the Scripture is in this Matter * As is plainly shown in the Text In which you have Six Things very remarkable 1 st It is declar'd here WHO He was by his Name JESUS by which He was as well known among Men as other Persons are known by their Names 2 dly The Text tells you of his FAMILY He was of the Seed of David as the very Verse before says And this is done upon a double Account For Distinction and for better Satisfaction because the former Predictions and Promises that were concerning Messias declar'd that he should be of the House and Lineage of David that so