executions of that Mercy and while God was plotting an Incarnation for the everlasting Safety of Mankind prevails with him to decree Ruins by the means of that Salvation to Decree even in the midst of all those strivings of his Mercies that that Issue of his kindnesse should be for the fall of such as they Oh! let such consider whether they are likely to escape that which is set and ordein'd for them by God Whether they can hope for a Redemption when the onely great Redeemer is appointed for the Instrument of their Destruction and God is so bent on their ruiâ—e that to purchase it he gives this Child his Son Yea when he did look down upon this Son in Agonies and on the Crosse in the midst of that sad prospect yet the Ruin of such sinners which he there beheld in his Sons Blood was a delight to him that also was a Sacrifice and a sacrifice of a sweet smell to him For S. Paul sayes We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that perish because we are the savour of Death unto death to them As if their Brimstone did ascend like Incense shed a persume up to God and their everlasting burnings were his Altar-fires kindled his holocausts and he may well be pleased with it for he ordein'd it 'T is true indeed This Child riding as in Triumph in the midst of his Hosannas when he saw one City whose fall he was set for on this very accompt He was so far from being pleas'd with it that he wept over it in pity But alas that onely more declares the most deplored and desperate condition of such sinners Blessed Saviour hadst thou no Blood to shed for them nothing but Tears or didst thou weep to think thy very Bloodshed does but make their guilt more crimson who refuse the mercy of that Bloodshed all the time that is offered Sad is their state that can find no pity in the Tears of God and remedilesse their Condition for whom all that the Son of God could do was to weep over them all that he did do for them was to be for their fall too sad a part indeed for Festival Solemnity very improper for a Benedictus and Magnificat To celebrate the greatest act of kindness the Almighty could design onely by the miseries it did occasion to magnifie the vast descent of God from Heaven down to Earth onely by reason of the fall of Man into the lowest Hell of which that was the cause My Text hath better things in view The greatnesse of that fall does but add height to that Resurrection which He also is the cause of For Behold this Child is set for the rising again of many My remaining part Rising again does not particularly and only refer to the fore-going fall here in the Text which this Child did occasion as I shewed you but to the state wherein all Mankind both in its nature and its Customes lay ingulfâ—d the state of Ignorance and sin A state from which recovery is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resurrection and a reviving in this Life and so call'd in Scripture often as Ephes. 5. 14. Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and arise from the dead And Rom. 6. 13. Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead Now to raise us from the death of sin into the life of Righteousnesse by the amendment of our own lives to recover us into a state of Vertue is the thing this Child is said here to be set for This was that which God thought worth an Incarnation Neither was there any greater thing in the prospect of his everlasting Counsel when he did decree his Son into the World than that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is set for this The Word was made Flesh to teach practise and perswade to Vertue To make men Reform their lives was valued at the price of a Person of the Trinity Piety and his Exiâ—anition yea his Blood and Life were set at the same rates All of him given for our recovery The time would fail me if I should attempt onely to name the various methods he makes use of to effect this How this Child that was the brightnesse of his Fathers Glory came to lighten us shining in his Doctrine and Example How he sent more light The fiery Tongues Illuminations of the Holy Ghost to guid us in the ways of Piety How he suffered Agonies and Death for sin to appale and fright us from it How he Rose again to confirm Judgment to us to demonstrate the rewards of Immortality to them that will repent and leave their sins and everlasting Torments to those that refuse this Grace Grace purchased with the Blood of God to enable them to repent and leave Besides all these the Arts and Mesnage of his Providence in preventing and following us by Mercies and by Judgments importuning us and timeing all his blessed Methods of Salvation to our most advantage Arts God knows too many if they serve us onely to resist and turn to wantonnesse and aggravation if we make no other use of Grace but this to sin against and overcome all Grace and make it bolster Vice by teaching it to be an incouragement to go on in it from some hopes we entertain by reason of this Child instead of doing that which he was set Decreed to make us do And really I would be glad to see this everlasting Counsel of the Lord had had some good effects some though never so little happy execution of this great Decree and that that which God ordein'd from all Eternity upon such glorious and magnificent terms were come to passe in any kind Now certainly there are no evident signs of any great recovery this Child hath wrought among us in the World that 's now call'd Christian. After those Omnipotent inforcives to a vertuous life which he did work out if we take a prospect of both Worlds it would be hard to know which were the Heathen and there would appear scarce any other notice of a Christ among us but that we blaspheme Him or deride Him Sure I am there are no Footsteps of him in the lives of the community of Men And I am certain that you cannot shew me any Heathen Age outgoing ours either in loosnesse and foul Esseminacies or in sordidnesse and base injustice or in frauds and falsenesse or Malignity hypocrisie or treachery or to name no more even in the lowest most ignoble disingenious sorts of Vice In fine men are now as Earthy Sensual yea and Devilish as when Sins and Devils were their Gods Yea I must needs say that those times of dark and Heathen Ignorance were in many men times of shining Vertue and the little spark of Light within them brake out through all obstructions into a glory of Goodnesse to the wonder and Confusion of most Christians
separation to these Offices and Orders in and for vvhich the Holy Ghost hath so appear'd what they be I dispute not now they fight against the Holy Ghost and thrust him out of that in vvhich he hath almost signally interessed himself And they that do intitle the Spirit to this opposition do not onely make Gods Kingdome divided against it self or raise a faction in the Trinity and stir up division betwixt those Three One Persons but they set the same Person against himself and make the Holy Spirit resist the Holy Ghost You know the inference prest upon them that did this but interpretatively in the Devils Kingdome and did make Satan cast out Satan and is 't not here of force And they who make the Spirit cast out the Holy Ghost contrive as much as in them lyes Gods Kingdome shall not stand I will not parallel the guilts Those Pharisees bâ—asphemed the Holy Spirit in his Miracles ascribing that to Beelzebub vvhich vvas the immediate vvork of the Holy Ghost and such indeed do sin unpardonably because they sin irrecoverably for Miracles being the utmost and most manifest express wherein the Holy Ghost exerts himself they who can harden their understandings against them have left themselves no means of conviction and cannot be forgiven because they cannot be rectified or reclaimed These others do blaspheme the Spirit in his immediate inspirations and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascribing to the spirit of Antichrist all those Offices and Orders which these gifts of the Holy Ghost were powr'd from Heaven immediately to qualifie for and seperate to things in which he hath as signally appeared as in his Miracles and as he made these meanes to convince the world so he made those the Officers of doing it and set them to out-last the other Now in the same nearness that these two guilts come up one towards the other just to the same degree these sin the sin against the Holy Ghost For the Holy Ghost said Separate So I pass to the second to those whom this injunction is directed to And thence I do observe in general that Notwithstanding all the interest and office that the Holy Ghost assumes in these same separations yet there is something left besides for Man to do Although he superintend they have a vvork in it He is the Vnction but it must be apply'd by laying on of hands I have call'd them saith he in the Text and yet to them that ministred the Holy Ghost said Do ye separate I do not now examine vvhat degree and order of men they vvere vvhom the Holy Ghost here commissions for this Office The Judgement of the Antient Church in this affair is enough known by the condemnation of Aerius and by the Fate of Ischyras and Colluthus and for the present instance in vvhich they are call'd Doctors that are bid to do it there hath enough been said to prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Title of a Bishop to vvhich I shall only adde that it was a variation of Name that stuck by them untill Bede's age in vvhich vvhat Bishop signified does come under no question for he does say that Austin call'd together to the Conference Episcopas sive Doctores the Bishops or the Doctors of the Province Besides that there vvas then in Antioch a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the time of Claudius Emperour of Rome and of Euodius whom the Apostle Peter had ordained at Antioch those that before were call'd Nazarenes and Galileans were call'd Christians a thing vvhich happen'd a little before this separation in the Text as you finde Chap. 11. 26. But vvho they vvere that us'd to separate for every Execution of these holy Offices vvill appear from the Instances that I shall make to prove the present Observation that besides that of the Holy Ghost there vvas an outward call And whomsoever the Spirit sent he commanded that they should have Commission from Men. And all my former Testimonies for the Holy Ghost bear vvitness for this too The Text is positive here vvas a Congè d'eslire for Barnabas and Saul Timothy had his office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by designation of the Spirit 1 Tim. 4. 14. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with laying on of hands ibid. yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the laying on of my hands 2 â—im 1. 6. And Timothy vvas plac'd at Ephesus as Titus also left at Creet to ordain others in the same manner St. Paul providing for the succession of the Rite and Ceremony as vvell as of the Office And in St. Clement's Testimony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit try'd but the Apostles constituted And down as low as Trajan's time when St. Iohn's date was almost out his life and his Commission expiring and the Churches of Asia to be provided with succession the Men were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signified by the Holy Ghost But the Chron. Alex. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he went clean throughout Asia and the adjacent Regions constituting not only Bishops but others of inferiour Clergic and even in the lowest thus it was when the first Deacons were to be made Men full of the Holy Ghost and VVisdome vvere to be look'd out Act. 6. 3. But yet that did not autorize them the Holy Ghost and wisdome did not make a Deacon for besides that the Apostles will appoint them over their business ibid. and they are brought to them and they do lay their hands upon them verse 6. Thus it vvas in those times of full effusion of the Holy Ghost Men alwaies had to do in giving that Commission so that vvhoever pleads an Order of the Spirit for his Office although such a Commission of the Spirit if he had it vvould evidence it self and if it vvere it vvould appear for 't was the manifestation of the Spirit that was given to every man to profit withall yet if vve yield him his pretensions and let his own incitations pass for inspirements and his strong fancie for the Holy Ghost if the Holy Ghost did call him vvho did separate him vvhom the Holy Ghost calls he sends to his officers to empower they both vvork He says do ye separate And here a Consideration offers it self unto those holy Fathers vvhom the Spirit makes his Associates in separating men to sacred offices that vvhen they set apart even to the lowest stalls of the Church they labour to perform it so that the Holy Ghost may be engag'd and act along vvith them in the performance Separate such as they may presume the Spirit hath call'd and vvill own He does not call the ignorant or appoint blind eyes for the Body of Christ or make men Seers to lead into the pit The Holy Spirit calls not the unclean or the intemperate vve knovv it vvas another sort of spirit that vvent into the sâ—ine nor does he ever say Separate me those who separate themselves the Schismaticks the Spirit cals not such as break
of roaring fury assaults a rock for many ages and yet makes not the least impression on it but is beat back and made retire in empty some in insignificant passion vvhen a few single drops that distil gently down upon a rock though of Marble or a small trickle of vvater that only vvets and glides over the stone insinuate themselves into it and soften it so as to steal themselves a passage through it And yet Government hath a rod too vvhich like Moses's can break the rock and fetch a stream out of the heart of quarre and vvhich must be used also the Holy Spirit himself breathed tempest vyhen he came blew in a mighty boisterous VVinde nor does he alwayes vvhisper soft things he came down first in a sound from heaven and spoke thunder nor did it vvant lightning the tongue was double flame Of some we know we must have a Compassion but others must be saved vvith terror Iude 22 23. vvhich drives me on to the last piece of their vvork The Censures of the Church the burthen of the Keys vvhich passing by the private use of them in voluntary penitences and discipline upon the sick as they signifie publick exclusion out of the Church for scandalous Enormities and re-admission into it upon repentance have been sufficiently evinc'd to belong to the Governours of the Church The Exercise of these is so much their work that Saint Paul calls them the VVeapons of their spiritual VVarfare by which they do cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10 4 5. a blessed victory even for the Conquered and these the only VVeapons to atchieve it with If those vvho sin scandalously and will not heat the admonitions of the Church were cast out of the Church if not Religion Reputation would restrain them somewhat not to be thought fit company for Christians would surely make them proud against their Vices Shame the design'd Effect of these Censures hath great pungencies the fear of it does goad men into actions of the greatest hazard and the most unacceptable such as have nothing lovely in them but are vvholly distastful There is a Sin whose face is bloody dismal and yet because t is countenanc'd by the Roysting Ruffian part of the world men will defie Reason and Conscience Man's and God's Law venture the ruine of all that is belov'd and dear to them in this vvorld and assault death and charge and take Hell by violence rather then be asham'd before those valiant sinners Satans Hectors and they must never come into such Company if they do not go boldly on upon the sin is of more force vvith them than all the indearments of this World than all their fear of God and Death and that vvhich follows Now if Religion could but get such Countenance by the Censures of the Church and every open sinner had this certain fear I should be turn'd out of all Christian company shall be avoided as unfit for Conversation vvould it not have in some degree the like effect and if the motive be as much exactly vvould not men be chast or sober or obedient for that very reason for vvhich they will now be kil'd and be damn'd Without all question Saint Peter's Censure on the intemperate 1 Cor. 5. must needs be reformation to him 'T is such a sentence to the drunkard Not to company vvith him vvhose Vice is nothing but the sauce of Company and vvho does sin against his Body and against his faculties and against his Conscience is sick and is a Sott and goes to Hell meerly for Societies sake Now the infliction of these censures is so much the vvork to vvhich Church governours are call'd by the Holy Ghost that they are equally call'd by him to it and to Himself both are alike bestow'd upon them Receive the Holy Ghost vvhose sins ye retain they are retained John 20. 22. And in the first derivations of this office it vvas performed vvith severities such as this age I doubt vvill not believe and vvhen they had no temporal sword to be auxiliary to these Spiritual vveapons And now to make reflections on this is not for me to undertake in such a state of the Church as ours is vvherein the very faults of some do give them an Indemnity vvho having drawn themselves out of the Church from under its authority are also got out of the power of its Censures So children that do run away from their Fathers house they do escape the Rod but they do not consider that vvithall they run away from the inheritance and many times in those that do not do so but stay vvithin the family long intermission of the Rod and indulg'd licence makes them too big and heady to be brought under discipline And is 't not so vvith us Among many of those that stay vvithin the Church I know not vvhether I do vvell to say so vvhen of these I mean there is little other Evidence of their doing so but this that they vvill sâ—ear and drink of the Churches side Blessed Sons of a demoliâ—â—ed Church vvho think to raise their Mother a temple by throwing stones at her by reason of the late overthrow of government and discipline and the consequent licenses Vice hath been so nurst up not only by an universal barefac'd uncorrected practice but by principles of liberty that can dispute down all Ecclesiastical restraints and have set up the Religion of License that now sin is grown so outragious as to be too strong for discipline nay rather than it should be set up 't is to be feared they vvould endeavour to renverse all in the Church and enterprise as much in their vices quarrel as others have done for mistaken Religion And indeed to vvhat purpose vvere the Censures vvâ—ose first and medicinal effect is shame amongst men vvhere 't is in very many instances the only shameful thing not to be vitious vvhere men stand candidates for the reputation of glorious sinners take to themselves sins they have not committed that are not theirs and usurp Vice sins and damnations hypocrites What vvork is here for discipline But this state wants not precedents the censures of the Church vvere not only lay'd aside in the Vastations of tâ—e Arrian heresy and persecution vvhen the weapons of the Churches warfare vvere too weak to make defence against all their cruelties and impieties and before that in Diocletian's daies against the Lapsi But vve find also that Saint Paul is forc'd to break out only in a passionate with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would they vvere even cut off that trouble you cut off by excommunication he means Gal. 5. 12. When he saw the ill humours vvere too spreading and too tough also Sedition and Schisme wide and obstinate so that neither his authority could reach nor his methods cure but were more likely to exasperate them then he
Custome that will ruine it eternally and when he shall bring against us an instance out of Hell here and the kindnesses of one among the Devils shall come in Judgement against us where we see the Rich man thought not of his own condemnation so much he thought of the averting that of his Brethren We might suppose a man in his condition could not consider any thing but his own Tortures O yes to preserve others from them yet when the man in Hell does so the men on Earth do think of nothing more than to entice others into them And is it not a strange Age then when to tempt is the only mode of kindnesse and men do scarcely know how to expresse themselves civil to their Friends but by pressing them to sin and so be sick with them as if this were the gentile use of Societies to season Youth into good Company and bring the Fashionable Vices into their acquaintance And 't is well if they stay there it happens so that Parts and Wit Faculties and Acquisitions do ingratiate men into these treacherous kindnesses and qualifie them for the desires and friendships of such persons as entertain them by softning them into loosnesse and then into prophannesse debauch their manners and then their Principles teach them to sport themselves with Vice and then with Holy things and after with Religion it self which is a greater Luxury than that their Ryots treat their Appetites withall the Luxury of wit And thus they educate them into Atheisme and these familiar Devils are call'd Acquaintances and Friends And indeed the Companions in sin a man would think should be dear friends such as pour an heart into one another in their common Cups shed Souls in their Lusts are friends to one another even into ruine and love to their own Condemnation are kind beyond the Altar-flames even to those everlasting fires such communications certainly cement affections so that nothing can divide them And let them do so but Lord send me the kindnesse of Hell rather one that will be a friend like this man in his Torments that with unsatisfied cares minded the reformation of his Friends Nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent which brings me to the Choice the second part If a Ghost should indeed appear to any of us in the midst of our Commissions it would certainly hurry us from our enjoyments and there are no such tyes and unions by which the advantages of sin do hold us fixt and joynted to them but the shake and tremble we should then be in would loosen and dissolve them all and make us uncling from them if we may believe discourses that tell us such a sight is able to startle a man however he be fixt by his most close Devotions for what the Jews were wont to say we shall dye because we have seen an Angel of the Lord from Heaven most men do fear if they should see the Spirit of a dead man from the Earth Indeed the affrights which men do usually conceive at the meer apprehension of such an apparition do probably arise from a surprise in being minded hastily of such a state for which they are not then prepared so as they would wish or hope to be to which they think that is a call for we shall dye said the Jews But not to ask the reason of this now but find the reason why our Rich man thinks when Moses and the Prophets cannot make a man repent such a Ghost should We have it v. 28. they do but discourse to us but one from the dead could testifie he could bear witnesse that it is so as they say speak his own sight and knowledge and therefore though they hear not Moses and the Prophets yet if one went unto them from the dead they will repent For First one from the Dead could testifie that when we dye we do not cease to be and he would make appear that our departing hence is not annihilation and so would dash the hopes of Epicures such as I was and I may fear they are who as they live like Beasts do think to dye so too and who are rational in this alone that they desire to be but Animal And all the rest of men whether worldly or sensual that enclose their desires and enjoyments within this life and above all the Atheist that dares not look beyond it all these would be convinc'd by such an evidence Indeed this would take away the main encouragement of all ungodlinesse which upon little reasonings how thin soever that there 's no life after this does quicken and secure it self Wisd. 2. and therefore every Sect of men that did prescribe Morality did teach an after life nothing was more believ'd among the Heathen Their Tribunal below where three most severe Judges were appointed meant the same thing with our last Assize and their Elizian fields were but Poetical Paradise their Phlegethon River of Fire was set to expresse our stream of Brimstone flame Thus Resurrection in fable made them vertuous the ghesse at it made Socrates dye chearful and though his hopes had faint weak Principles they had Heroick almost Martyr resolutions And on the other side of those that among them deny'd an after life though we are told that Epicurus was a vertuous man yet his Sect did give name to Vice and is still the expression for it and all that did espouse the Tenents of it did the vices too the Sadduces among the Jews are call'd Epicures not onely for opinions sake because they did make God a body and totally denyed his Providence as Zakuth sayes but Epicures also for their practise sake For they used to scoff at the Pharisees for afflicting themselves by Fasting and Austerities in this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when there is nothing at all of recompence for them in any life to come Yea and Josephus sayes of them they were the worst of all Sects living like savage Beasts towards one another and uncourteous to their own Sect us to strangers and this sayes he was but a natural effect of their Opinion which wholly denyed the Immortality of the Soul and all Rewards and Punishments after this Life which Principle one coming from the dead would rectifie and so contribute to Repentance Especially if Secondly that one were Lazarus if he that at the Supper of the Lamb sits next the Father of the faithful and the Friend of God in one of the higher Seats of Paradise in Abraham's Bosom if he would go and speak his knowledge of the Pleasures of that Bosom which he tasts and of the glories of that place and but compare them with the little gayeties of my Fathers House shew them the difference betwixt their Structures and that Foundation whose builder and maker God is betwixt the entertainments of their riotous Palates and the Festivals of the Blessed Trinity then sure they would disrellish those and catch at these
notation and effence imploy the being free yet are not so to hatred which hath by Christs Law just pretences to them I will not be too positive in my affirmings yet from the words will offer this that if a kindness lye before me and I have no reason to deny it a man but this because he hates me I must not deny it him and if Christs reasonings do inforce the other it will conclude this too For if we must relieve the wants of them that hate us that we may be children of our Father who does so upon the same account we must be good and kind too to them for he is and he will scarce prove a true lawful issue of this Father who is in this unlike to him that tries and owns his progeny by these resemblances So that what ever strength of argument there is in one the other hath it And truly we have reason to believe that there is more then motive in it when first Christ hath set this principle both to himself and us with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again Matt. 7. 2. As if the Lord had brought himself into that law of Justice with us men whatsoever ye would that others should do to you do you also to them and it be also whatsoever ye would that God should do unto you do ye also to others and Secondly when he practiseth just at the rates we do for with the froward God learns frowardness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is kind to the kind so Ps. 18. 25. recals a grace from him that would not do one Matt. 18. from 23 nay thirdly when he gives us leave to beg his kindnesses but just in the proportion we do ours forgive as we forgive we ask no more and praying so we undertake to have endeavoured thus assure God that we practice so and upon that score beg Now he that will forgive to the bounds of necessity but never into favour there he will stay his hand will so much serve his turn from God And can he be content with such a portion Take heed O severe man what thou dost ask when thou dost put up this petition As thou shouldest say I knew that notwithstanding we offend God constantly yet besides all the mercies of his Covenant and that 's a Covenant of Grace his kindness too is over all his works he does not onely furnish our necessities but serves our pleasures and our fancies prevents us with the blessings of his goodness and watches over us and waits to be kind to us in the rescues of his providence and beyond these gives us means of Salvation more than barely sufficient the plenties of his grace the five and ten Talents the expresses of his temporal spiritual and eternal favours towards them that provoke him are as immense and as innumerable as their guilts but all these I shall rather part with then be good and do favours to him that is mine Enemy I will never have any kindness for that man that hates me nor do I beg any of Thee O Lord. And wouldest thou say all this to God if it were put in words at length in thy petition Or dost thou think thou dost not say as much in praying so And thou that makest so ill requests for thy on self how wilt thou pray for them that despitefully use thee persecure thee which is the last particular command Pray for them that dispitefully use you and persecute you As in this character of enemies Christ hath not left out any thing that does express hâ—stility hating in heart cursing in word and persecution in deed and which to some is more provoking than a persecution despiteful usage for persecution may make them serious and look at their demerits the other onely stirs their splâ—en and gall all which all that an enemy canspeak or wish or do must be no â—ar to our affection so to express the unfeignedness of that he hath not left out any exercise of love we must speak well of them but that a crafty passion may do and blessing may be but more plausible and cunning hatred we must therefore also do good to them but this a generous pride may do as knowing it more glorious to raise up a distressed adversary thâ—n to trample on him when he is down and to make him my creature rather then my footstool All this I may do therefore yet love nothing but my vanity or my designs but when I take my enemy into my Closer and into my heart give him a share in the petitions of my soul devide the aâ—ms and interests of my devotion to hâ—m and make my prayers concern'd in the forgivness of his sins as of my own there 's nothing but obedience to my Saviour and the love of my enemy can make a man do this and truly t is a piece of kindness that is as necessary for our selves as those that injure us For them it is very necessary for persecution or despightful usage offending God as by a disobedience to his precept so also by the suffering it does inflict on man to forgive or require which that man hath right God does not use to put the injur'd person by this right or by his paramont Authority assume to pardon the mans part of the wrong but does retain the sin till that either in deed ordesire be satisfied for or remitted there being till then an obstruction to Gods forgivness for till then the man hath not repented but when the sufferer does pray for him in doing so he pleads that that obstruction is remov'd that his part is remitted and so leaves no bar in the way to that pardon which he begs for him of God and which that bar being gone the Lord is us'd to grant with all advantage the prayers of our Martyr in the seventh of the Acts are a demonstration to which the Fathers say the Church did owe not onely her deliverance from all the violent intentions of Soul but all that Christianity which St. Paul planted the dying voice of that petition Lord lay not this sin to their charge was answered by that voyce from Heaven which converted Saul in his career of fury one prayer for a persecuter puts an end to persecution si stephanus non orass et Ecclesia non habuisset Paulum Jobs miserable comforters whose visits prov'd afflictions to him could not at one themselves to God by their burnt offerings but Job must pray for them 42. Chr. 8. seven Bullocks and seven Rams cannot expiate but one petition from the sufferer will do it for him I will accept saith God and he accepted him not for them onely but for himself for the Lord turned the Captivity of Job when he prayed for them vers 10. These intercessions speed sooner then direct supplications and such a petition is heard to ourselves when t is made for others And reason good for such requests lay the condition of our
it had arriv'd at the same heights from whence our Christian Revelation did pretend to come And there is nothing so peculiar to Christs Doctrine in the poynts of Morality but you may find it recommended by the Heathen as a thing which no external obligation did impose but the Law of their making did prescribe which they read in themselves and Christian Morality is but a fairer and more perfect Copy of the impressions of Reason on our Soul clear'd from the blurs and defects which they had been tainted with but Naturales Tabulae Natures Decalogue wrote by the Finger of the Lord So that to quarrell with Christ for requiring it is the same thing as to be angry with our Saviour because the nature of the Fire is such as does require that it should burn Nay many of them were so sensible of the unhappy state of their Corruption sound so great pressures in themselves from the weights of their vicious inclinations discerned so perfect an antipathy betwixt their being and their actions that when with all the arts of Reason and the practise of their Philosophy they could not ease themselves they went to Sorcery and Magick for a Cure receiv'd Catharticks and a discipline of purity from Hell the Region of uncleanness the Devil making them believe he would assist in casting out himself Such were the stresse the restlessness the groans the cry of Nature to be rid of its impurity These poor Souls were mistaken in their Method but if the Devil by those worships of his which they were us'd to had not stopt the avenues sure one would judge they had prepar'd the way for Christianity there being no obstruction to it nothing that can hinder its acceptance but the low esteem and aversation of Virtue For if men believe the Moral truths they have no reason in the world to doubt the Supernatural these being intended for the most part as encouragements to those other as God's last attempts to kindle in us love of Virtue by such strong incentives that that wherein Philosophy was ignorant and the Law weak as having neither Promises nor Terrors equal to the force of our Corruptions that the Gospel might effect as having both to the utmost possibility of Divine Contrivance Now this requires us to believe those Supernaturals mostly for this reason by believing them to make us perform what it enjoyns And it is apparent that because men would not do this therefore they will not believe those Shew me but any one that is sincere and strict in Christian dutyes that does doubt the Principles if there be such an one he cannot doubt them long not onely for Christ's Promise sake If any man will do my Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God he will soon know that Doctrine is from God that does prescribe such Godlike lives nor onely for the Churches judgment which did make Synesius a Christian Bishop before he did believe the Resurrection upon that confidence they had of him by reason of his Piety But in reason why should he that does embrace the Piety disbelieve that which was propos'd to his belief onely to urge him to embrace onely to crown that Piety Indeed he that accounts his Vices but sleight tricks of wit or folly onely pleasant satisfactions to the desires of his Nature for he understands no nature but his carnal one he hath no reason to believe there was a Passion of the Son of God by making him a Sacrifice for sin so to to condemn sin in the flesh is not prepar'd to think that there is an Eternal weight of Indignation due and ready for it He that hath but mean thoughts of Virtue counts it onely pedantry or as it were the Flatus of the Mind making the Soul Hypocondriack it is impossible that he should think God was Incarnated and dyed to teach it by his Doctrine and Example and to purchase graces to enable us to live it or that there is a Resurrection to reward it a Trinity engag'd in working out Salvation for it I must confesse I would believe that men perswade themselves that the reason of their disbelief is onely this that these things are not testified sufficiently because I find the Man in Hell would have one sent to his Brethren from the Dead to testifie unto them of that place of Torments Luc. 16. 28. as if those Truths did want witnessing But this is not because enough hath not been done for their conviction in the truth of Christ's Religion for there is hardly any thing besides in the whole world that men believe but they believe upon lesse grounds The whole World was convinc't in such a manner as that millions chose to dye rather than not confess it that many Ages prov'd but Centuries of Martyrdom unto that Truth all Torments were more eligible than the disbelief of this Religion which was confirmed so that against all arts and power of Opposition against the Wit and Fury of the World though all the Subtlety and and all the Strength of Earth resisted it yet it overspread the Universe Besides it is most prudent to believe it too for if there be another World what then There was enough done therefore but Corruptions suffer them not to attend to that which hath been done And 't is no wonder they should do so at this distance for they contrasted with Christs Miracles when present and they were so uneasie under the conviction of them that rather than be prest so by the mighty power of his Works they did design to rid themselves of him that wrought them Joh. 11. 47. you may find them strugling with his demonstrations to keep off the Evidence What do we for this man doeth many Miracles Yea they do conspire against the Miracles themselves and would put Lazarus also to death because he was raised from the dead they could not let the Evidence and the Conviction live but they must murder that too Nay more as if the pertinacy of their prejudices could do mightier Works than Christ and could controul and were above the power of his Miracles it is said to have bound his hands and he could do no mighty Works at Nazareth because of it Mar. 6. 6. At least as saith Theophylact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he could not do them where men were not capable they should be done So that Christ did pronounce from Reason and Experience If they believe not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Such an amazing argument might probably astonish but would not convince unlesse it met with honest inclinations for after the surprize of it were over and had vanisht then the corruption that Bosom Sophister would stir and goad and urge incessantly so that to ease himself the Man must find out some crosse Scruple to weaken the force of that Evidence and the Conviction would vanish like the Ghost And if we should examine the
Experience of our selves and others we should find that just according to the rate of virtuous inclinations and dispositions of heart to part with sin so are men prepar'd for the belief of Christ so are their oares and regards of his Religion He that is honestly inclin'd opens his Soul to Christianity for it speakes to his heart 't is right to the grain of his Soul he looks upon the Promises as made to him and layes them up as Gods encouragements of his inclinations every thing in the Gospel fits the temper of his mind And he that is but pretty well disposed that loves Virtue for the most part but does allow himself some one corruption he alwayes hearkens to Religion where it sets it self against those Vices which he hates but as to his own particular evil inclination there he is a little Infidel cannot perswade himself that God will be so stern against a single pleasure that one petty indulgence should be so considerable that it should provoke to those extremities the Bible threatens and can by no means believe S. James that he that offends in one poynt thus is guilty of all And they upon whose constitutions there are weights and Plummets that incline them to some vicious courses and by loose Education have those pronenesses of temper pamper'd and by having their inclinations follow'd and indulg'd taught them to crave then to get head and to command and then by conversation with others that mind nothing but satisfaction of those bents of the Bruit part that allow themselves all the desires of constitution are come to swill the pleasures profits and the Honours that do wait on those practises Or whosoever by whatever steps arrive at an habit of doing thus and a great liking of them and so to improbity of Heart to utter aversations of the strictnesses of Piety all which they have lived so out of 'T is known that not enduring to be bound up in those narrow paths of Piety and Virtue they burst all the obligations to them seek little things to cavil at or to deride hopeing with those their poyson'd Arrows through the skirts and the Extreamer parts to send a Wound into the very Vitals of Religion for they aim at the Heart when they pretend to strike onely the out Lap of its Garments and to say all at once grow down right Atheists And though as once at Corinth now again the World by Wisdom knows no God there being Skill and Manage in this Mystery of Infidelity and it requires Study Wit and Parts yet they proceed just by the Method of King David's Fool first he sayes in his heart there is no God before he say it in his thoughts and opinions He wishes it and so comes to believe it the Atheisme is rooted in the Seat of the Affections and it branches thence into the Mind at least into the Mouth and finding Hell the greatest check to their Delights which they cannot determine with themselves to leave and to repent of therefore because they will not quench it with their tears they study how to put it out with Arguments And meerly for this reason that they will not live like Men they resolve therefore to believe that they shall dye like Beasts But alas they must live for ever with the Devil and his Angels if that Christ whom they reject does not lay hold on them and rescue them from thence as he is in his passage to his Crosse the next Way we must prepare for him and my next part The Solemn dayes approaching will discover to you this Way namely the Passage from the Garden in Gethsemane to Golgotha There you will see he does begin his Journey with the Amazements of an Agony and ended it in something like the horrors and the outcryes of Despair he travailed under such a load as made his life gush out through all the parts of his whole Body the weight of it did make his Soul faint by the way and when he was upon the Tree crusht it out made it expire sooner than the stress of Nature would have done and forc't it to burst out away in Prayers and strong Cryes that so he might sooner escape from under that sad pressure And then do but consider and look on him under that representation which S. Paul does shew of him how all that time that he was creeping under that dire burden in that dolorous way he was meerly pressing on with all the hast he could to overtake us in our course and rescue us from Ruine For that Journey was a Race and we the prize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have been laid hold on saith he Phil. 3. 12. laid hold on in the Agonistick sense as in a Race he so expresses it And that he was laid hold on by these sufferings the Epistle to the Hebrews does evince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome in that Way he pursued me till he catcht me his Agony was but his strife to overtake me his Sweat the issue of his Race When he came down from Godhead in his Incarnation he pursued us then into our nature he laid hold of our Flesh and followed us from Heaven to the lowest parts of the Earth But when he went thus to his Crosse here he pursued us then into our guilts he laid hold of our sins and took them up and bore them on the Tree then he descended into Hell to follow us This as it was formally done once for all so in its virtue influence and blest effects 't is still in doing as to thee and me and all of us and the approaching Season is to represent it so Now sure we need no motives to prepare the way for him who runs that he may obtain our Salvation who though he laboured under such a dismal burden yet still presses on to catch us so to rescue us from sin and Hell If he think fit and can endure to strive thus I will make all ready and stand fair to have my guilt seized from me and to be laid hold on for my Blessednesse to be the Prize the Crown of all Christ's Agonies that which he thinks worthy with so much strugling to contend for Now the same Preparation is required here that made way for his other coming that is Repentance in one word a disposition and sincere desire of heart to part with every evil and corrupt affection to quit every sin Sin lying in the way made it so dreadfull God laid upon him the iniquity of us all and that weight threw him prostrate on the Earth and sunk him into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet if any were more galling 't was the weight of those that were clog'd with Impenitence this was more heavy more afflictive to him than his Crosse. To bewail this and the issues of it he left off to consider his own Sufferings and required others also to do so Weep not for me weep for your selves And sure it was for want