do not love to handle these Points contentiously but this in my Apprehension does as much derogate from the Amplitude and Riches of God's Grace in the Gospel as any thing that can easily be said And therefore for the right stating and clearing of this Matter I shall endeavour to make out these Three Things 1. That we are not sufficient of our selves and by any power in us to perform the Condition of the Gospel 2. That the Grace of God is ready to enable and assist us to the Performance of these Conditions if we be not wanting to our selves 3. That what the Grace of God is ready to enable us to do if we be not wanting to our selves that may properly be said to be possible to us and in some sense in our Power 1. That we are not sufficient of our selves and by any Power in us to perform the Condition of the Gospel The Grace of God doth clearly appear in the whole business of our Salvation By Grace ye are saved says the Apostle and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Faith is the Gift of God and so is Repentance It is God that works in us both to will and to do of his own goodness that is who both inclines and excites us to that which is good and enables us to do it Without me says Christ ye can do nothing And through Christ strengthning me saith St. Paul I am able to do all things all things which God requires of us and expects to be done by us in order to our Salvation Without the Grace of Christ we are without strength and are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think a good thought that is we are not sufficient of our selves to design or resolve upon any thing that is good but our sufficiency is of God The Depravation of our Nature hath brought a great Impotency and Disability upon us to that which is good and we have made our selves much weaker by evil Practice by the Power of evil Habits we are enslaved to our Lusts and sold under Sin So that if at any time we are convinced of our Duty and from that Conviction have an Inclination to that which is good evil is present to us When the Law of God gives us the knowledge of our Duty and stares our Consciences in the Face there is another Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Minds and bringing us into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in our Members Sin brings us under the Power of Satan and gives him dominion over us For his Servants ye are whom ye obey so that he rules and bears sway in us and we are led Captive by him at his pleasure Evil and vicious Habits are a kind of second Nature superinduced upon us which takes away our Power and Liberty to that which is good and renders it impossible to us to raise and rescue our selves so that we are Prisoners and Captives 'till the Son of God set us free and dead in Trespasses and Sins 'till he give us Life And therefore the Prophet represents the Recovery of our selves from the Bondage of Sin by such things as are naturally impossible to shew how great our Weakness and Impotency is Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian cleanse his Skin or the Leopard his Spots Then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil And by how much stronger the Chains of our Sins are and the more unable we are to break loose from them by so much the greater and more evident is the necessity of the Divine Assistance and of the Power of God's Grace to knock off those Fetters and to rescue us from this Bondage and Slavery 2. The Grace of God is ready to assist and enable us to the Performance of these Conditions that is to Faith and Repentance and all the purposes of Obedience and a Holy Life if we be not wanting to our selves and do not reject or neglect to make use of that Grace which God offers us and is ready to afford to us in a very plentiful Manner And this is that which renders all the Mercies of the Gospel effectual if it be not our own Fault and wilful Neglect to the great End and Design of our Salvation and without this all the gracious offers of the Gospel would signify nothing at all to our Advantage And this likewise is that which renders the Unbelief and Impenitency and Disobedience of Men utterly inexcusable because nothing of all this does proceed from want of Power but of Will to do better And therefore this is so necessary an Encouragement to all the endeavours of Obedience and a good Life that Men should be assured of God's readiness to assist and help them in the doing of their duty that without this the revelation of the Gospel though never so clear would signify nothing to us all the Precepts and Directions for a good Life and the most vehement Persuasions and Exhortations to Obedience would have no Force and Life in them for what signifies it to direct the dead and speak to them that cannot hear and to persuade Men tho it were with all the earnestness in the World to those things which it is impossible for them to do Therefore our blessed Saviour when he had laid down and explained the Precepts of Holiness and Virtue in his Sermon upon the Mount to encourage them to what he had been directing and proposing to them he assures them that God is ready to afford his Grace and Assistance to all those that are sincerely desirous to do his Will and do earnestly implore his Grace and Assistance to that purpose Matth. 7.7 8 9 10 11. Ask saith he and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened So that if any man want the Grace and Assistance of God's holy Spirit it is his own fault it is either for want of seeking or for want of earnestness in asking for our Saviour expresly assures us that he denies it to none for every one that asketh receiveth And to give us a more lively and sensible Assurance of this he represents the care and kindness of God to Men by the Affections of earthly Parents to their Children who tho they be many times evil themselves yet are not wont to deny their Children necessary good things when they decently and dutifully beg them at their hands What Man is there of you whom if his Son ask Bread will he give him a Stone Or if he ask a Fish will he give him a Serpent If ye then being evil know how to give good Gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him Here is a general Promise and Declaration that upon our humble and earnest Prayer to God he
purum desuper se lumen infundit Light is infused from above into the purified Soul And that this Expression is so to be understood here in the Text as also Chap. 10.32 the Syriac and Ethiopic give us good ground to believe for they render the Text thus It is impossible for those who have been once baptized and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift And at the 10 th Chap. v. 32. which we translate But call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions that is call to mind the former days in which after by Baptism ye had publickly embraced the Profession of Christianity ye were upon that account exposed to many grievous Sufferings and Persecutions So that I think there can be no great doubt but by those that were once enlightned the Apostle means those that were baptized To proceed then For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost these two Expressions seem to denote the Spiritual Benefits and Graces of the Holy Ghost conferred upon Christians by Baptism particularly Regeneration which is the proper work of the Holy Ghost and Justification and Remission of Sins So we find Faith whereby we are justified called the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 Faith is the gift of God and our Justification is called a Gift and a free Gift five several times in one Chapter Rom. 5.15 16 17 18. But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many and what this free Gift is he tells us in the next words viz. Justification or Remission of Sins v. 16. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to Condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life So that by the Heavenly Gift I understand remission of Sins and by being made partakers of the Holy Ghost the Sanctifying Power and Efficacy of God's Spirit And have tasted the good Word of God that is entertained the Gospel which is here called the good Word of God by reason of the gracious promises contained in it particularly the Promises of Eternal Life and Happiness And the powers of the World to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Powers of the Gospel Age that is the miraculous Powers of the Holy Ghost which were bestowed upon Men in order to the propagation of the Gospel And that this is the true meaning of this Phrase will I think be very plain to any one who shall but consider that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is generally in Scripture used for miraculous Powers and Operations and particularly to express the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which were bestowed upon the Apostles and first Christians I need not cite the particular Texts for the proof of this they are so many and so well known And then if we consider farther that the times of the Gospel the days of the Messias are frequently called by the Jews Seculum futurum The Age to come And indeed this is the very Phrase used by the LXX concerning our Saviour Isa 9.6 where he is called according to our Translation The Everlasting Father but according to that of the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Farher of the future Age. And this very Phrase is used once more in this Epistle to the Heb. ch 2.5 For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the World to come whereof we now speak He had said before that the Law was given by Angels v. 2. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast but the dispensation of the Gospel which he calls The World to come or the future Age was not committed to them this was administred by the Son of God Vnto the Angels hath he not put into subjection the World to come And 't is observable that this Phrase is only used in this Epistle to the Hebrews because the Jews very well understood the meaning of it being that whereby they commonly exprest the times of the Gospel according to that ancient Tradition of the House of Elias which distributed the duration of the World into three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ages the Age before the Law the Age under the Law and the Age of the Messias which they called the Seculum futurum or the Age to come and which is likewise in Scripture called The last days or times and the conclusion of the Ages Concerning which it was particularly prophesied that the Holy Ghost should be poured forth upon Men in miraculous Gifts and Powers And to this very purpose the Prophet Joel is cited by St. Peter Acts 2.16 17. This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie c. From all which it is very evident that by tasting the powers of the World to come is meant being partakers of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost which were poured forth in the Gospel Age by the Jews commonly called The World to come If they shall fall away that is if after all this they shall apostatize from this Profession out of love to this present World or from the fear of Persecutions and Sufferings It is impossible to renew them again to Repentance that is it is a thing very difficult hardly to be hoped for that such wilful and notorious Apostates should be restored again by Repentance For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Impossible is not always to be taken in the strictest sense for that which absolutely cannot be but many times for that which is so very difficult that it seems next to an impossibility So our Saviour that which in one place he calls exceeding hard viz. for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven he afterwards calls impossible with Men and so here I understand the Apostle that those who apostatize from Christianity after Baptism and the benefits of it 'T is exceeding hard to recover them again to Repentance This Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to renew them again to Repentance some understand of restoring them again to the Peace and Communion of the Church by a course of Penance such as was prescribed in the ancient Church to great Offenders and then they understand
Happiness by the free Grace and Mercy of God to do any thing whereby they may forfeit their Happiness or so much as to entertain a Thought of offending that God to whom they cannot but be sensible how infinitely they are obliged In this Imperfect state few Men have so little Goodness as to sin without a Temptation but in that state where Men are perfectly good and can have no Temptation to be otherwise it is not imaginable that they should fall from that state 2. As to the state of the damned that that likewise is immutable the Scripture does seem plainly enough to assert when it calls it an everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and uses such Expressions to set forth the continuance of their Misery as signifie the longest and most interminable Duration expressions of as great an Extent as those which are used to signifie the Eternal Happiness of the blessed and as large and unlimited as any are to be had in those Languages wherein the Scriptures are written Besides that wicked Men in the other World are in Scripture represented as in the same Condition with the Devils of whom there is no ground to believe that any of them ever did or will repent Not because Repentance is impossible in its own nature to those that are in extream Misery but because there is no place left for it Being under an irreversible Doom there is no encouragement to Repentance no hope of Mercy and Pardon without which Repentance is impossible For if a Man did utterly despair of Pardon and were assured upon good ground that God would never shew Mercy to him in this case a Man would grow desperate and not care what he did He that knows that whatever he does he is miserable and undone will not matter how he demeans himself All motives to Repentance are gone after a Man once knows it will be to no purpose And this the Scripture seems to represent to us as the case of the Devils and damned Spirits Because their state is finally determined and they are concluded under an irreversible Sentence therefore Repentance is impossible to them Sorry no doubt they are and heartily troubled that by their own Sin and Folly they have brought this Misery upon themselves and they cannot but conceive an everlasting Displeasure against themselves for having been the Cause and Authors of their own Ruin and the Reflection of this will be a perpetual Spring of discontent and fill their Minds with eternal rage and vexation and so long as they feel the intolerable Punishments of Sin and groan under the insupportable Torments of it and see no end of this miserable state no hope of getting out of it they can be no otherwise affected than with discontent at themselves and rage and fury against God They are indeed penitent so far as to be troubled at themselves for what they have done but this Trouble works no change and alteration in them they still hate God who inflicts these Punishments upon them and who they believe is determined to continue them in this miserable state The present anguish of their Condition and their despair of bettering it makes them mad and their Minds are so distracted by the wildness of their Passions and their spirits so exasperated and set on fire by their own giddy Motions that there can be no rest and silence in their Souls not so much as the liberty of one calm and sedate Thought Or if at any time they reflect upon the evil of their Sins and should entertain any thoughts of returning to God and their Duty they are presently checkt with this Consideration that their case is determined that God is implacably offended with them and is inexorably and peremptorily resolved to make them miserable for ever and during this Perswasion no Man can return to the love of God and Goodness without which there can be no Repentance This Consideration of the immutable state of Men after this Life should engage us with all seriousness and diligence to endeavour to secure our future happiness God hath set before us good and evil life and death and we may yet chuse which we please but in the other world we must stand to that choice which we have made here and inherit the Consequences of it By Sin Mankind is brought into a miserable state but our Condition is not desperate and past Remedy God hath sent his Son to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins So that tho' our Case be bad it need not continue so if it be not our own fault There is a possibility now of changing our Condition for the better and of laying the foundation of a perpetual Happiness for our selves The Grace of God calls upon us and is ready to assist us so that no Man's Case is so bad but there is a possibility of bettering it if we be not wanting to our selves and will make use of the Grace which God offers who is never wanting to the sincere endeavours of Men. Under the Influence and Assistance of this Grace those who are dead in trespasses and sins may pass from death to life may be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God So long as we are in this world there is a possibility of being translated from one state to another from the dominion of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son But if we neglect the opportunities of this life and stand out against the offers of God's Grace and Mercy there will no Overtures be made to us in the other world After this life is ended God will try us no more our final miscarriage in this world will prove fatal to us in the other and we shall not be permitted to live over again to correct our Errors As the Tree falls so it shall lye such a State as we are settled in when we go out of this world shall be fixt in the other and there will be no possibility of changing it We are yet in the hand of our own Counsel and by God's Grace we may mould and fashion our own Fortune But if we trifle away this Advantage we shall fall into the hands of the living God out of which there is no Redemption God hath yet left Heaven and Hell to our choice and we had need to look about us and chuse well who can chuse but once for all and for ever There is yet a space and opportunity left us of Repentance but so soon as we step out of this Life and are entred upon the other world our Condition will be sealed never to be reverst And because after this Life there will be no further hopes of Mercy there will be no possibility of Repentance This is the accepted time this is the day of Salvation therefore to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts lest God swear in his Wrath that we shall not enter into his rest
thought fit to gratified the perverse Curiosity of Men by affording to every Man a particular and immediate Revelation of his Mind and Will but he hath given us a standing Revelation which at first had the greatest and most miraculous Confirmation and he hath still left us sufficient Means of being assured of the Truth of this Revelation and of the Confirmation that was at first given to it and we tempt God by demanding extraordinary Signs when we may receive so abundant Satisfaction in an ordinary way This being admitted I shall proceed in the Second Place to shew That it is upon the whole Matter and all Circumstances consider'd very improbable that those who reject this publick Revelation from God should be effectually convinced tho' one should speak to them from the dead And this is that which is expresly asserted here in the Text If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead Not but that any Man would be very much startled and amazed if one should come from the dead to warn him of the Danger of his wicked Life but yet for all that it is very unlikely that they who obstinately and perversely refuse to be convinced by Moses and the Prophets would be effectually persuaded that is so as to be brought to Repentance and Reformation of their Lives tho' one should rise from the dead And that for these Reasons 1. Because if such Miracles were frequent and familiar it is very probable they would have but very little effect and unless we suppose them common and ordinary we have no Reason to expect them at all 2. Men have as great or greater Reason to believe the Threatnings of God's Word as the Discourse of one that should speak to them from the dead 3. The very same reason which makes Men to reject the Counsels of God in his Word would in all probability hinder them from being convinced by a particular Miracle 4. Experience does abundantly testifie how ineffectual extraordinary ways are to convince those who are obstinately addicted and wedded to their Lusts 5. An effectual Persuasion that is such a Belief as produceth Repentance and a good Life is the Gift of God and depends upon the Operation and Concurrence of God's Grace which there is no reason to expect either in an extraordinary way or in an extraordinary degree after Men have obstinately rejected the ordinary Means which God hath appointed to that end 1. If such Miracles as a special Messenger from the dead to warn and admonish Men were frequent and familiar it is very probable they would have but very little effect upon Men and unless we suppose them common and ordinary we have no reason to expect them at all For it is unreasonable at first sight that the worst and more obstinate sort of Sinners should expect this as a peculiar Favour and Priviledge to themselves and that God should not do as much for others who have deserved it more and would probably make better use of it and if these things were common it is very probable that Men would not be much moved by them It may be while the Apprehension of such a thing were fresh upon them they would take up some good Resolutions as Sinners usually do while they are under present Convictions of Conscience and the Hand of God by some great Affliction or Sickness lies heavy upon them but still they would be apt to defer their Repentance and put it off 'till the present Amazement were a little over and the terrour of their first Apprehensions were abated and worn off by degrees and after a little while they would return to their former Course And this is too too probable from what we see Men do in other cases not very much remote from this It is a very terrible and amazing thing to see a Man die and solemnly take his last leave of the World The very Circumstances of dying Men are apt to strike us with horror to hear such a Man how sensibly he will speak of the other World as if he were just come from it rather than going to it how severely he will condemn himself for the Folly and Wickedness of his Life with what Passion he will wish that he had lived better and served God more sincerely how seriously he will resolve upon a better Life if God would be pleased to raise him up and try him but once more with what Zeal and Earnestness he will commend to his best Friends and nearest Relations a religious and virtuous Course of Life as the only thing that will minister Comfort to them when they come to be in his Condition Such Discourses as these are very apt to move and affect Men for the time and to stir up in them very good Resolutions whilst the present Fit and Impression lasts but because these sights are very frequent they have seldome any great and permanent effect upon Men. Men consider that it is a very common Case and Sinners take Example and Encouragement from one another every one is affected for the present but few are so effectually convinced as to betake themselves to a better Course And if Apparitions from the dead were as common as it is for Men to die we may reasonably presume that the Discourses of dead and dying of those that are going and those who come from the dead would have much the same effect upon the generality of Men. But if we suppose this a singular Case which there is no reason to do in that case the Effect would probably be this a Man that were strongly addicted to his Lusts and had no Mind to leave them would be apt when the Fright were over to be easily persuaded that all this was merely the work of Fancy and Imagination and the rather because such things did not happen to others as well as to himself 2. We have as great or greater Reason to believe the Warnings or Threatnings of God's Word as the Discourses of one that should come to us from the dead For the Threatnings of God's Word against such Sins as natural Light convinceth Men of have the natural Guilt and Fears of Men on their side the particular Testimony of every Man's Conscience and the concurrent Testimony of Mankind to the Probability of the thing and to give us full Assurance of the Truth and Reality of them we have a credible Relation of great and unquestionable Miracles wrought on purpose to give Testimony to those Persons who denounced those Threatnings that they came from God So that here is a very publick and authentick Testimony given to the Threatnings of God's Word more suitable to the generality of Mankind and of greater Authority than a private Apparition or a single Miracle and if that will not convince Men why should we suppose that this will 3. The very same Reason which makes Men to reject the Counsels of God in his Word would in all probability hinder
not brought to Repentance and effectually perswaded by this clear and publick Revelation which God hath made of his Will to Men in the Holy Scriptures have reason to look upon their Case as desperate Methinks it should not be a desirable thing to any of us to be convinced by an Apparition the thing is so dreadful and full of Terrour besides that it argues Men to be strangely hardned in a bad Course and obstinately bent upon their evil ways when nothing will affright them from their Sins but what will almost put them out of their Wits when nothing will keep them from running into Hell but a fearful and ghastly Messenger from thence What a terrible sight would it be to any of us to meet one of our Companions whom we had lately known in this World fresh come out of those Flames with the smell of Fire and Brimstone upon him What Imagination can paint to it self the dread and horror of such a Spectacle The Rich Man here in the Parable when he was in Hell is represented as sensible of the inconvenience of this and therefore he did not desire to be sent himself to his Brethren but desired that Lazarus might go and testifie unto them he was apprehensive how frightful a sight he himself must needs have been to them and therefore he desires that they might have a gentler warning by one who from out of Abraham's Bosom had seen the Miseries of the damned but enjoyed the State of the blessed But let not us tempt God by any such unreasonable Demand who speaks to us every day by the plain Declarations of his Word and hath of late Years call'd so loudly upon us by the Voice of his Providence to repent and turn to him by so many Miracles of Mercy and Deliverance as God hardly ever wrought for any Prince and People and by such terrible Vollies of Judgments and full Viols of wrath as have seldom been poured out upon any Nation God speaks to you by his Ministers Men like your selves God knows poor frail and sinful Men but we are sure that when we call you to Repentance we deliver to you the Will and Pleasure the Counsels and Commands of the great God which whatever Account may be made of us do certainly challenge your most awful attention and regard And we are sensible that we are call'd to a very difficult and unpleasant work to contend with the Lusts and Vices of Men to strive against the strong and impetuous Streams of a wicked and perverse Generation and nothing in the world could move us to this unwelcome and grievous Importunity but a great and just sense of our own Duty and your Danger And if we will not take these Warnings why should we expect that God should vouchsafe to send an express Messenger to us from the other world to certifie us how all things are there and that not so much to help the weakness of our Faith as to humour the perverseness of our Infidelity And why should we imagine that this Course would prove more effectual Let us not deceive our selves the same Lusts which now detain men so strongly in Impenitency and Unbelief would in all probability hurry them on to Hell tho' an Angel from Heaven should meet them in their way to give a stop to them This indeed might startle us but nothing is like to save us if the word of God and his Grace do not But are we in earnest and would we be perswaded if one should rise from the dead God hath condescended thus far to us there is one risen from the dead to testifie unto us Jesus the Son of God who died for our sins and rose again for our justification and is ascended into Heaven and set down at the right hand of God to assure us of a blessed Resurrection and a glorious Immortality And if this will not satisfie us God will gratifie our Curiosity no farther If we will not believe him whom God hath sent and to convince us that he hath sent him hath raised him up from the dead we shall die in our sins and perish in our Impenitency God hath in great mercy to Mankind done that which is abundantly sufficient to convince those who are of a teachable Temper and Disposition But in great wisdom and justice he hath not thought fit to provide any remedy for the wilful Obstinacy and intractable Perverseness of Men. Now God who hath the Hearts of all Men in his hands perswade us all to break off our sins by repentance and to give glory to God before Death and Darkness come and the day of our final Visitation overtake us when we may perhaps be surprized by a sudden stroke or seized upon by a violent Disease and may have no sense and apprehension of our approaching Danger or if we have may find no place for Repentance tho' we seek it with Tears which God grant may never happen to be the Case of any of us for his Mercy 's sake in Christ Jesus To whom with the Father c. SERMON XIII The Children of this World Wiser than the Children of Light Preached at Whitehall Anno 1683. LUKE XVI 8 For the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light THESE Words are in the Parable of the Rich Man's Steward who being called upon to give up his Accounts in order to his being discharged from his Office cast about with himself what course he had best to take to provide for his subsistence when he should be turned out of his Employment At last he resolves upon this That he will go to his Lord's Debtors and take a favourable account of them and instead of a hundred measures of Oil write down fifty and instead of a hundred measures of wheat write down fourscore Vol. V. that by this means he might oblige them to be kind to him in his Necessity The Lord hearing of this commends the unjust Steward because he had done wisely That is he took notice of his Dishonesty but praised his Shrewdness and Sagacity as having done prudently for himself though he did not deal justly with him and this is usual among Men. When we see a Man ingeniously bad to commend his Wit and to say it is great pity he doth not use it better and apply it to good purposes Upon the whole our Saviour make this Observation that the Children of this world are in their generation wiser than the Children of Light as if he had said thus did this worldly Wise-man thus provident was he for his future security and subsistence He no sooner understands that he is to be turned out of his Office but he considers what Provision to make for himself against that time And is it not pity that good Men do not apply this Wisdom to better and greater purposes For is not every Man such a Steward entrusted by God with the Blessings of this Life Ser. 13. and many opportunities of