if multitudes of those which lay a great claim to it should be as Excellent a Religion as it is little the better nay and in some respects even the worse for it And on the Contrary it is not to be in the least doubted That nothing can be so available to the introducing of a better state of things the abating and perfectly quenching our intemperate Heats the regulating and bringing into due order our wild exorbitances the governing and restraining our extravagant and Heady Zeal the induing us with becoming tempers sober thoughts and good spirits as would the thorow-belief the due minding and digesting of this one Principle And for this Reason I am not able to imagine how time may be spent to better purpose than in endeavouring to possess mens minds with it And to Contribute thereunto what it can is the Business of this Treatise Whereof these following are the General Heads which shall be insisted on with all possible perspicuity and convenient brevity viz. 1. First A plain Demonstration that True Holiness is the Special Design of Christianity 2. Secondly An Account how it comes to pass that our Saviour hath laid such Stress upon this as to prefer it before all other 3. Thirdly An Improvement of the whole Discourse in diverse and most of them Practical Inserences SECT I. That True Holiness is the Design of Christianity plainly Demonstrated CHAP. I. The Nature of True Holiness Described IN order to this Demonstration it is necessary to be premised That the Holiness which is the Design of the Religion of Christ Jesus and is by various Forms of Speech express'd in the Gospel as by Godliness Righteousness Conversion and Turning from Sin Partaking of a Divine Nature with many other is such as is so in the most proper and highest sense Not such as is Subjected in any thing without us or is made ours by a meer External application or is onely Partial But is Originally seated in the Soul and Spirit is a Complication and Combination of all Vertues and hath an influence upon the whole man as shall hereafter be made to appear and may be described after this manner It is so sound and healthful a Complexion of Soul as maintains in life and vigour whatsoever is Essential to it and suffers not any thing unnatural to mix with that which is so by the force and power whereof a man is enabled to behave himself as becometh a Creature indued with a principle of Reason keeps his Supreme Faculty in its Throne brings into due Subjection all his Inferiour ones his sensual Imagination his Brutish Passions and Affections It is the Purity of the Humane Nature engaging those in whom it resides to demean themselves sutably to that state in which God hath placed them and not to act disbecomingly in any Condition Circumstance or Relation It is a Divine or God-like Nature causing an hearty approbation of and an affectionate compliance with the Eternal Laws of Righteousness and a behaviour agreeable to the Essential and Immutable differences of Good and Evil. But to be somewhat more express and distinct though very brief This Holiness is so excellent a Principle or Habit of Soul as causeth those that are possessed of it I mean so far forth as it is vigorous and predominant in them First To perform all Good and Virtuous Actions whensoever there is occasion and Opportunity and ever Carefully to abstain from those that are of a Contrary Nature Secondly To do the one and avoid the other from truly generous Motives and Principles Now in order to the right understanding of this it is to be observ'd That Actions may become Duties or Sins these two ways First As they are Complyances with or Transgressions of Divine Positive Precepts These are the Declarations of the Arbitrary Will of God whereby He restrains our liberty for great and wise reasons in things that are of an indifferent nature and absolutely considered are neither Good nor Evil And so makes things not good in themselves and capable of becoming so onely by reason of certain Circumstances Duties and things not evil in themselves Sins Such were all the Injunctions and Prohibitions of the Ceremonial Law and some few such we have under the Gospel Secondly Actions are made Duties or Sins as they are agreeable or opposite to the Divine Moral Laws That is Those which are of an Indispensable and Eternal obligation which were first written in mens hearts and Originally Dictates of Humane Nature or necessary Conclusions and Deductions from them By the way I take it for granted and I cannot imagine how any Considerative supposing he be not a very Debauch'd person can in the least doubt it That there are First Principles in Morals as well as in the Mathematicks Metaphysicks c. I mean such as are self-evident and therefore not capable of being properly demonstrated as being no less knowable and easily assented to than any Proposition that may be brought for the proof of them Now the Holiness we are describing is such as engageth to the performance of the Former sort of Duties and forbearance of the Former sort of Sins for this Reason primarily because it pleaseth Almighty God to command the one and forbid the other Which Reason is founded upon this certain Principle That it is most highly becoming all Reasonable Creatures to obey God in every thing and as much disbecoming them in any thing to disobey him And secondarily upon the account of the Reasons if they are known for which God made those Laws And the Reasons of the Positive Laws contained in the Gospel are declared of which I know not above three that are purely So viz. That of going to God by Christ and the Institutions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper Again This Holiness is such as engageth to the performance of the Duties and forbearance of the Sins of the second kind not meerly because it is the Divine pleasure to publish Commands of those and Prohibitions of these but also and especially for the Reasons which moved God to make those Publications namely because those are Good in themselves and infinitely becoming Creatures indued with Understanding and Liberty of Will and these are no less evil in their own Nature and unworthy of them That man that would forbear gratefully to acknowledge his Obligations to God or to do to his Neighbor as he would that he should do to him c. on the one hand and would not stick at dishonouring his Maker or abusing his Fellow Creatures in any kind c. on the other if there were no written Law of God for the former and against the latter doth not those Duties nor forbears these Sins by virtue of an Holy nature that informs and acts him but is induced thereunto by a meer Animal principle and because it is his interest so to do And the Reason is clear because no one that doth thus onely in regard of the Written Precepts and Prohibitions of the Divine
extensive holiness 2. The most intensive An Objection answered pag. 18. Chap. 4. That holiness is the onely design of the promises of the Gospel shewed in two particulars And of the threatnings therein contained pag. 28. Chap. 5 That the promoting of holiness was the design of our Saviour's whole life and conversation among men both of his discourses and actions And that he was an eminent example of all the parts of vertue viz. Of the greatest freedom affability and courtesie The greatest candor and Ingenuity The most marvellous gentleness and meekness The deepest humility The greatest contempt of the world The most perfect contentation The most wonderful charity and tenderest compassion stupendious patience and submission to the Divine Will The most passionate love of God and devoutest temper of mind towards him Mighty confidence and trust in God An objection answered The most admirable Prudence pag. 36. Chap. 6. That to make men truly virtuous and holy was the design of Christ's unimitable actions or mighty works and miracles And that these did not onely tend to promote it as they were convincing arguments that he came forth from God but were also very proper to effect it in a more immediate manner pag. 8. Chap. 7. That to make men holy was the design of Christ's Death proved by several texts of Scripture And how it is effectual thereunto discovered in six particulars pag. 78. Chap. 8. That it is only the promoting of the design of making men â—…oly that is aimed at by the Apostles insisting on the doctrines of Christ's Resurrâ—…ction Ascension and coming again to Iugdement pag. 93. SECT II. Upon what accounts the business of making men Holy came to be preferred by our Saviour before any other thing and to be principally designed by him Chap. 9. Two accounts of this The first That this is â—…o do the greatest good to men And that the blessing of making men holy is of all other the greatest proved by several Arguments viz. Firâ—… that it containeth in it a deliverance from the worst of evils and sin shewed so to be pag. 99. Chap. 10. The second Argument viz. That the Blessing of making men holy is accompained with all other that are most desireable and which do best deserve to be so called particularly with the pardon of sin and God's special love And that those things which sensual persons are most desirous of are eminently to be found in that blessing pag. 108. Chap. 11. The third Argument viz. That whatsoever other blessings a man may be supposed to have that is utterly destitute of holiness they cannot stand him in so much stead as onely to make him not miserable And all evil and corrupt affections shewed to be greatly tormenting in their own nature and innumerable sad mischiefs to be the necessary consequents of yielding obedience to them pag. 115. Chap. 12. The fourth Argument viz. That holiness being perfected is blessedness it self and the glory of heaven consists chiefly in it This no new notion some observations by the way from it pag. 123. Ch. 13. The second account of our Saviour's preferring the business of making men holy before any other viz. That this is to do the best service to God An objection answered against the Author's Discourse of the Design of Christianity pag. 127. SECT III. An Improvement of the whole Discourse in diverse Inferences Chap. 14. The first Inference That it appears from the past Discourse that our Saviour hath taken the most effectual course for the purpose of subduing sin in us and making us partakers of his holiness Where it is particularty shewed that the Gospel gives advantages infinitely above any those the Heathens had who were privileged with extraordinary helps for the Improvement of themselves And 1. That the good Principles that were by natural Light dictated to them and which reason rightly improved perswaded them to entertain as undoubtedly true or might have done are farther confirmed by Divine Revelation in the Gospel 2. That those principles which the Heathens by the highest improvement of their Reason could at best conclude but very probable the Gospel gives us an undoubted assurance of This shewed in four instances 3. Four Doctrines shewed to be delivered in the Gospel which no man without the assistance of Divine Revelation could ever once have thought of that contain wonderful inducements and helps to holiness The first of which hath five more implyed in it pag. 133. Chap. 15. That the Gospel containeth incomparably greater helps for the effecting of the design of making men inwardly righteous and truly holy than God's most peculiar people the Israelites were favoured with Where it is shewed 1. That the Gospel is infinitely more effectual for this purpose than the Mostical Law was 2. And that upon no other accounts the Iews were in circumstances for the obtaining of a thorow reformation of life and purification of nature comparable to those our Saviour hath blessed his Disciples with pag. 157 Chap. 16. An Objection against the Wonderful â—…fficacy of the Christian Religion for the purpose of making men holy taken from the very little success it hath herein together with the prodâ—…gious wickedness of Christendom An Answer given to it in three particulars viz 1. That how ill soever its success is it is evident from the foregoing Discourse that it is not to be imputed to any weakness or â—…nefficacy in that Religion The true causes thereof assigned 2. That it is to be expected that those should be the worse for the Gospel that will not be bettered by it 3. That there was a time when the Gospel's success was greatly answerable to what hath been said of its Efficacy And that the Primitive Christians were people of most unblameable and holy Lives The Gâ—…ostiques improperly called Christianâ—… in any sence The Primitive Christians proved to be men of excellent lives by the Testimonies of Fathers contained in their Apologies for them to their Enemies and by the acknowledgements of their Enemies themselves An account given in particular of their meek and submissive temper out of Tâ—…rtulitan The Admirable Story of the 〈◊〉 Legion pag. 167. Chap. 17. The second Inference That we understand from what hath been said of the Design of Christianity how fearfully it is abused by those that call themselves the Roman Catholiques That the Church of Rome hath by several of her Doctrines enervated all the Precepts and the Motives to holiness contained in the Gospel That she hath rendered the means therein prescribed for the attainment therof extremely ineffectual That she hath also as greatly corrupted them Diverse Instances of the Papists Idolatry Their Image worship one Instance Their praying to Saints departed another Other Impieties accompanying it mentioned Some account of their Blasphemies particularly in their Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Their worshipping the Hoast the third and grossest instance of their Idolatry Some other of their wicked and most Anti-christian Doctrines pag. 193. Chap. 18. The third Inference
not our Relations or our Friends onely but also all Mankind and to do good to all without exception though especially to the Houshold of Faith to good men Nay our Saviour hath laid a strict charge upon us not to exclude our malicious enemies from our love that is of benevolence but to pray for them that despitefully use us and to Bless those that Curse us Which Law as harshly as it sounds to Carnal Persons they themselves cannot but acknowledge that what it enjoyneth is heroically and highly vertuous Secondly The Christian Precepts require the most Intensive Holiness Not onely Negative but Positive as was now intimated that is Not onely the forbearance of what is evil but the performance also of what is good Not onely Holiness of Actions and Words but likewise of Affections and Thoughts The worship of God with the Spirit as well as with the outward man a Holy frame and habit of mind as well as a holy life They forbid cherishing sin in the heart as well as practising it in the Conversation They make Iusting after a Woman Adultery as well as the Gross Act of Uncleanness They make Malice Murther as well as Killing They forbid Coveting no less than defrauding and being in love with this worlds goods as much as getting them by unlawful means And I shall digress so far as to say That there is infinite Reason that Thoughts and the inward workings of mens souls should be restrained by Laws upon these two accounts First Because Irregular Thoughts and Affections are the immediate Depravers of Mens Natures and therefore it is as necessary in order to the design of making men Holy that these should be forbidden as that evil Actions and Words should But suppose this were otherwise Yet Secondly Laws made against evil words and Actions would signifie very little if men were left at liberty as to their Thoughts and Affections It would be to very little purpose to forbid men to do evil if they might think and love it For where the sparks of Sin are kept glowing in the Soul how can they be kept from breaking out into a Flame in the Life From the abundance of the Heart the Mouth will speak and the Hands act But to proceed The Precepts of the Gospel command us not onely to perform good Actions but also to do them after a right manner with right ends c. or in one word from good Principles Whatsoever we do to do it heartily as to the Lord and not as to men To be fervent in Spirit in our service of God To do all to the glory of God To be holy as he that hath called us is Holy in all manner of Conversation To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Which Precepts shew that we ought to imitate him not onely in the matter of our actions but likewise in the qualifications of them Among which that which I said is Essential to true Holiness is a principal one namely To do good actions for those Reasons which moved God to enjoyn them and I adde which make it pleasing to him to perform them himself viz. because they are either in themselves and upon their own account excellent worthy and most fit to be done or are made so to be by some Circumstance Our whole Duty to God and our Neighbour as our Saviour hath told us is comprehended in the love of them But the love of God required by him is a most Intense love we are commanded to love him with all the Heart and Soul mind and strength And that of our Neighbour which he hath made our duty is such as for the kind of it is like the love which we bear to our selves such as will not permit us to wrong him in his good name any more than in his estate or person such as will not allow us rashly to speak or so much as think ill of him such as will cause us to put the best constructions on those actions of his that are capable of various interpretations c. And for the degree such as will make us willing to lay down our very lives for him that is for the promoting of his eternal happiness To summe up all together We are commanded to adde to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity To behave our selves in all respects towards our Creatour as becometh his Creatures and those which are under unspeakable obligations to him Towards one another as becometh those that are indued with the same Common nature and according to the diverse relations engagements and other Circumstances we stand in each to other and Towards our selves according as the Dignity of our Natures require we should In short whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report whatsoever things have vertue and praise in them are the objects of the Christian Precepts and by them recommended to us Let any one read but our Saviours incomparable Sermon upon the Mount the 12 th to the Romans and the third Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians and well consider them and it will be strange should he find it difficult to assent to the truth of that Proposition Even Trypho himself in the Dialogue betwixt Iustin Martyr and him confessed that the Precepts contained in the Book called the Gospel are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great and Admirable He saith indeed that they are so admirable as that he suspected them not to be by Humane Nature Observable but in that he spake not unlike to himself that is a prejudiced and Carnal Iew. If it be now objected that notwithstanding what hath been said concerning the Christian Precepts recommending the most elevated Vertue to be practised by us it is acknowledged by all Sober Christians that they are not to be understood in so high a sense as to require of us indefective and unspotted Holiness or at least that our Saviour will accept of and reward that Holiness which is far short of Perfect and therefore he can be no such Great Friend to it as hath been affirmed The answer is very easie and obvious viz. That our Saviour's not rigidly exacting such a degree of Holiness as amounts to Perfection proceeds from hence that the attainment of it is in this state impossible to us and therefore it is not to be attributed to his liking or allowance of the least Sin but to his Special grace and good will to fallen Mankind Nay moreover it proceeds from his passionate desire that we may be as pure and holy as our unhappy Circumstances will admit he well knowing that should he declare that nothing short of Perfection shall be accepted at our hands he would make us desperate and take the most effectual Course to cause us to
all but in that he liveth he liveth unto God that is in heaven with God Likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord that is after the Example of his Death and Resurrection account ye your selves obliged to die to Sin and to live to the Praise and Glory of God And the same use that the Apostle here makes of the Resurrection of our Saviour he doth also elsewhere of his Ascension and session at the Right hand of God Coloss. 3. 1. 2. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of God set your Affections on things above not on things on the earth for you are dead that is in profession having engaged your selves to renounce your past wicked life and your life is hid with Christ in God c. that is and the life you have by embracing the Christian Religion obliged your selves to lead is in Heaven where Christ is So that this sheweth the Informations the Gospel gives us of these things to be intended for Practical purposes and Incitements to Holiness And Christ's Resurrection with his following Advancement we are frequently minded of to teach us this most excellent Lesson that Obedience Patience and Humility are the way to Glory and therefore to encourage us to be followers of Him to tread in his holy steps and make him our Pattern This we have in the fore cited place Phil. 2. 5 6 7 c. And Hebr. 12. 1 2. We are exhorted to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Iesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Gross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God And vers 3. To consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself that is especially how he is now rewarded for it lâ—…st we be weary and faint in our Minds And that the meaning of our being so often minded of our Saviour's coming again to Iudgement is to stir us up to all holiness of conversation who can be so ignorant as not to know For we are sufficiently told that we must be judged according to our Works especially such works as the Hypocrites of this age do most despise leave to be chiefly performed by their contemned Moralists as appears from Mâ—… 25. 34. to the end of the Chapter And Lastly that is very certain which is intimated in the 123 Page of the Free Discourse Namely That all the Doctrines of the Gospel as merely speculative as some at the first sight may seem to be have a tendency to the promoting of Real righteousness holiness and are revealed for that purpose But as I did not there so neither will I here proceed to shew it in all the several instances or in any more than I have now done and that for the reason that is there given But besides I conceive that what hath been discoursed already in this Section is abundantly sufficient to demonstrate what we have undertaken viz. That to make men truly vertuous and holy is the design the main and onely design of Christianity SECT II. Upon what accounts the Business of making men Holy came to be preferred by our Saviour before any other thing and to be principally designed by him CHAP. IX Two Accounts of this The first That this is to do the greatest good to men And that the Blessing of making men Holy is of all other the Greatest proved by several Arguments viz. First That it containeth in it a Deliverance from the worst of Evils and Sin shewed so to be I Proceed in the next place to shew how it comes to pass that of all other good things the making Man-kind truly vertuous and Holy is the grand and special Design of Christianity There are these two Accounts to be given of it First This is to do the Greatest Good to Men. Secondly This is to do the Best Service to God First The Making of us really Righteous and Holy is the Greatest Good that can possibly be done to us There is no blessing comparable to that of Purifying our Natures from Corrupt affections and induing them with Vertuous and Divine qualities The wiser sort of the Heathens themselves were abundantly satisfied of the truth of this And therefore the only design they professed to drive at in their Philosophy was the Purgation and Perfection of the Humane life Hierocles makes this to be the very Definition of it And by the purgation of mens lives he tells us is to be understood the Cleansing of them from the dregs and silth of unreasonable appetites and by their perfection the Recovery of that Excellency which reduceth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Divine likeness Now the Blessing of making men Holy is of all the greatest First Because it contains in it a Deliverance from the worst of Evils Those are utterly ignorant of the nature of Sin that imagine any evil greater than it or so great It was the Doctrine of the Stoicks that there is nothing evil but what is turpe vitiosum vile and vicious And Tully himself who professed not to be bound up to the Placita of any one Sect of Philosophers but to be free-minded and to give his Reason it s full scope and liberty takes upon him sometimes most stiffly and seemingly in very good earnest to maintain it dispute for it But as difficult as I find it to brook that Doctrine as they seem to understand it that more modest saying of his in the first book of his Tusculan Questions hath without doubt not a little of truth in it viz. That there is no evil comparable to that of Sin Hierocles a sober Philosopher and very free from the high-flown humour and Ranting genius of the Stoicks though he would allow that other things besides Sin may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very grievous and difficult to be born yet he would admit nothing besides this to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly evil and he gives this reason for it viz. Because that certain Circumstances may make other things good that have the repute of evils but none can make this so He saith that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well can never be joyned with any vice but so may it with every thing besides As it is proper to say concerning such or such a person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is well diseased he is well poor that is he is both these to good purpose behaving himself in his sickness and poverty as he ought to do but proceeds he it can never be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he doth injury well or he is rightly and as becomes him intemperate Now that wickedness is the greatest of evils is
the first sight assured of the truth of the contents of it For no man in his wits can in the least question the Veracity of him whom even natural light assures us can be no other than Truth it self Secondly Those good Principles that the Heathens by the greatest improvement of their Reason could at best conclude but very probable are made undoubtedly Certain to us Christians by Revelation As First That of the Immortality of our Souls The vulgar sort of Heathens who were apt to believe any thing that was by Tradition handed down to them 't is confessed did not seem to doubt of the truth of this Doctrine but to take it for granted which no question is also to be imputed to the special Providence of God and not merely to their Credulity But the more learned and sagacious that would not easily be imposed on nor believe any farther than they saw cause though by Arguments drawn from the notions they had truly conceived of the Nature of Humane Souls they have diverse of them undertaken to prove them Immortal yet could their Arguments raise the best of them no higher than a great opinion of their Immortality Cato read Plato of the Immortality of the Soul as he lay bleeding to death with great delight but that argues not that he had any more than great hopes of the truth of it Socrates did so believe it that he parted with this life in expectation of another but yet he plainly and ingenuously confessed to his friends that it was not certain Cicero that sometimes expresseth great confidence concerning the truth of it doth for the most part speak so of it that any one may see that he thought the Doctrine no better than probable He discourseth of it in his book de Senectute as that which he rather could not endure to think might be false than as that which he had no doubt of the truth of And after he had there instanced in several Arguments which he thought had weight in them for the proof thereof and expressed a longing to see his Ancestors and the brave men he had once known and which he had heard of read and written of he thus concludes that whole Discourse If I erre in believing the Souls immortality I erre willingly neither so long as I live will I suffer this errour which so much delights me to be wrested from me But if when I am dead I shall be void of all sense as certain little Philosophers think I do not fear to have this errour of mine laught at by dead Philosophers But now the Gospel hath given us the highest assurance possible of the truth of this Doctrine Life and immortality are said to be brought to light by it He who declared himself to be the Son of God with power gave men a sensible demonstration of it in his own person by his Resurrection from the Dead and Ascention into Heaven And both by himself and his Apostles who were also indued with a power of working the greatest of Miracles for the confirmation of the truth of what they said did very frequently and most plainly preach it Secondly The Doctrine of Rewards and Punishments in the life to come which is for substance the same with the former according to our behaviour in this life the learned Heathens did generally declare their belief of which they grounded upon the Justice Holiness and Goodness of the Divine Nature They considered that Good men were often exercised with great calamities and that bad men very frequently were greatly prosperous and abounded with all earthly felicities And therefore thought it very reasonable to believe that God would in another life shew his hatred of Sin and love of Goodness by making a plain discrimination between the conditions of vertuous and wicked persons by punishing these and rewarding those without exception But this though it was in their opinion a very probable argument yet they looked not on it as that which amounted to a Demonstration For they could not but be aware That that Doctrine which was so generally received by them viz. That Vertue is in all conditions a Reward and Vice a Punishment to it self did very much blunt the edge of it And that other very harsh one That all things besides Vertue and Vice are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither good nor evil did render it as the perfect Stoicks did seem too well to understand too too insignificant But I must confess that Hierocles who as hath been said did not admit that notion but in a very qualified sence saith of those that think their Souls mortal and consequently that vertue will hereafter have no reward that when they dispute in the behalf of vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rather talk wittily than truly and in good earnest The excellent Socrutes himself when he was going to drink off the fatal drug thus said to those that were then present with him I am now going to end my days whereas your lives will be prolonged but whether you or I upon this account are the more happy is known to none but God only intimating that he did not look upon it as absolutely certain that he should have any Reward in another world for doing so heroically vertuous an act as chusing Martyrdom for the Doctrine of the Unity of the Godhead But now what is more frequently or clearly declared in the Gospel than that there will be Rewards and Punishments in the world to come sutable to mens actions in this world than that Christ will come a second time to judge the world in righteousness and that all must appear before his Iudgment-seat to receive according to what they have done whether it be good or whether it be evil 2 Cor. 5. 10. Thirdly That mens sins shall be forgiven upon true Repentance from the consideration of the Goodness and Mercy of God the Heathens were likewise perswaded or rather hoped But we Christians have the strongest assurance imaginable given us of it by the most solemn and often reiterated promises of God himself and not onely that some or most but also that all without exception and the most heinous impieties upon condition of their being sincerely forsaken shall in and through Christ be freely forgiven to those that have been guilty of them Fourthly The Doctrine of God's readiness to assist men by his special grace in their endeavours after Vertue could be no more at the best than probable in the judgement of the Heathens but we have in the Gospel the most express promises thereof made to us for our infinitely great encouragement Tully in his Book de Naturâ Deorum saith that their City Rome and Greece had brought forth many singular men of which it is to be believed none arrived to such a height nisi Deo juvante but by the help of God And after he tells us that Nemo vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu Divino unquam fuit No excellent man was ever made so
antient traditions of the Hebrews But as for their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the splendid body and spiritual vehicle they talk of they mean not that Glorious Coelestial body which the Apostle tells us this Terrestial one shall be changed into but a thin subtile body which they say the soul even while it is in this gross one is immediately inclosed in And which being in this life well purified from the pollution it hath contracted from its Case of flesh the soul taking its flight from thence with it enjoyeth its happiness in it But I say the change of this vile into a Glorious body they were perfectly strangers to Now what an unspeakable encouragement to Holiness is the happiness which the Gospel proposeth to us and gives us assurance of also that the now mentioned or any of the Philosophers could never by the best improvement of their Intellectuals have conceived to be so much as likely to be attainable by mankind And who would still serve their filthy lusts and in so doing be the vilest of slaves here that looks to reign with the King of the world for ever hereafter He that hath this hope in him saith S. Iohn purisieth himself even as he is pure 1 Iohn 3. 3. And what hath been spoken of the greatness of the Reward which is promised in the Gospel to obedient persons may be said also of the punishment it threateneth to the disobedient It would make one would think even an heart of Oak and the most hardened sinner to tremble and shake at the reading of those expressions it is set forth by Some of the Philosophers do speak very dreadful things concerning the condition of wicked men in the other world but they fall extremely short of what the Gospel hath declared But I confess a discourse on this head will not very properly come in here For mere reason might make it exceedingly probable that so highly aggravated sins as those which are committed against the Gospel are shall be punish'd as severely if impenitently persisted in as is declared by our Saviour and his Apostles they shall be But however it is no small awakening to us Christians that we have such an undoubted assurance from God himself what we must expect if we will not be prevailed upon by all the means afforded us for our reformation but shall notwithstanding them persevere in the neglect of known duties and in the allowance of known wickedness CHAP. XV. That the Gospel containeth incomparably greater helps for the effecting of the design of making men inwardly righteous and truly holy than God's most peculiar people the Israelites were favoured with Where it is shewed 1. That the Gospel is infinitely more effectual for this purpose than the Mosaical Law was 2. And that upon no other accounts the Jewes were in circumstances for the obtaining of a thorow reformation of life and purification of nature comparable to those our Saviour hath blessed his Disciples with IN the second place it is the clearest case That the Gospel of our Saviour containeth incomparably greater helps and advantages for the effecting of the great work of making men really righteous and truly holy than God's most peculiar people the Israelites whom he knew and favoured above all the nations of the earth were partakers of First Nothing is plainer than that the Gospel is infinitely more effectual for this purpose than the Mosaical Law was For indeed that was directly designed only to restrain those that were under the obligation of it from the more notorious sins It was added saith the Apostle because of Transgression till the Seed should come c. Gal. 3. 19. Iustin Martyr saith particularly of the Sacrifices that the end of them was to keep the Jews from worshipping Idols which Trypho also though a Jew that greatly gloried in the Law acknowledged They were an extremely carnal and vain people exceedingly prone to be bewitched with the Superstitions of the Gentiles God gave them therefore a pompous way of worship that might gratifie their childish humour and so keep them from being drawn away with the vanities of the Heathens among whom they dwelt and he gave them withall such Precepts inforced with threatnings of most severe and present punishments as might by main force hold them in from those vile disorders immoralities and exorbitances that had then overspread the face of the woefully depraved corrupted world It is certain that the Law of Moses strictly so called did properly tend to make them no more than externally righteous and whosoever was so and did those works it enjoined which they might do by their own natural strength was esteemed according to that Law and dealt with as just and blameless and had a right to the immunities and privileges therein promised But much less was it accompanied with grace to indue the observers of it with an inward principle of Holiness And the Apostle S. Paul expresseth this as the great difference between that Law and the Gospel in calling this the Spirit and that the Letter as he several times doth Not that God who was ever of an infinitely benign nature and love it self as S. Iohn describes him was wanting with his Grace to well-minded men under the Old-Testament or that the Jews were all destitute of an inward principle of Holiness nothing less But the Law which Moses was peculiarly the promulger of did not contain any promises of Grace nor did the obligation thereof extend any farther than to the outward man But there ran as I may so express my self a vein of Gospel all along with this Law which was contained in the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed by virtue of which the good men among the Jews expected Justification and eternal Salvation and performed the substance of those Duties which the New Testament requireth and which were both by Moses and the Prophets at certain times and upon several occasions urged upon them But as for this Law of Moses considered according to its natural meaning it is called a Law of a carnal Commandment Heb. 7. 16. And the services it imposed weak and beggerly Elements Gal. 4. 9. And a Law which made no man perfect Heb. 7. 19. Its promises therefore were only temporal upon which account the Author to the Hebrews saith that the Gospel is established on better promises Nor was Justification before God obtainable by it as S. Paul frequently sheweth and therefore did account the righteousness of it very mean and vile in comparison of that which the Gospel indued men with No man could be acquitted by the severest observance of this Law from any other than Civil punishments nor were its Sacrifices able to make the offerers perfect as pertaining to the conscience Heb. 9. 9. And though it be true as Mr. Chillingworth observeth in his Sermon on Gal. 5. 5. That the legal Sacrifices were very apt and commodious to shadow forth the oblation and satisfaction of
of Persons are most extremely sottish 1. Such as expect to have their share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness 2. Such much more as encourage themselves by the Grace of the Gospel in Unholiness THirdly There is nothing we are more assured of by what hath been discoursed of the Design of Christianity than that these two sorts of persons are guilty of extreme sottishness Namely Those that expect to have a share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness And much more Those that encourage themselves by the grace of the Gospel in their Unholiness First Those that expect to have their share in the Salvation of the Gospel without true Holiness I fear me that such people are not consined within the limits of the Romish Church but that a vast number of Protestants also may be deservedly accused upon this account But by so much more sottish are these than the Papists by how much better things their Religion teacheth them than the Papists doth Though I must likewise with sadness acknowledge that too many opinions have been unhappily foisted into it that give too great encouragement to a careless life But that those which promise to themselves an interest in the Salvation purchased by Jesus Christ either from their Baptism and partaking of certain Christian priveleges or from their being of such or such a Sect and Mode of Professors or from their supposed Orthodoxy and good belief and zeal against erroneous Doctrines or from their imagining Christ's Righteousness theirs and applying the Promises to themselves or from their abstaining from the grosser and more scandalous sins or from their doing some externally good actions and have in the mean time no care to be universally obedient to mortifie every lust and to obtain an inward principle of Holiness that those I say which thus do are guilty of most egregious and stupid folly is most manifest from what hath been discoursed of the Design of Christianity For we have shewn not only that Reformation of Life from the practice and purification of heart from the liking of sin are as plainly as can be asserted in the Gospel to be absolutely necessary to give men a right to the promises of it but also that its Great Salvation doth even consist in it that Salvation from sin is the grand Design of the Christian Religion and that from wrath is the Result of this I will instance in two more Scriptures for the farther proof of this The Apostle S. Paul saith Ephes. 2. 5 c. Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Iesus That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Iesus For by Grace ye are saved through faith or by the means of believing the Gospel and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Where by the Salvation which the Ephesian Christians are said to have obtained and in the bestowing of which upon them the exceeding Riches of God's Grace appeared is plainly to be understood their deliverance from their former Heathenish Impieties and sinful Practices And so is it interpreted by our best Expositors Again it is said Titus 3. 5. Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us how saved us it follows by the washing of Regeneration Renewing of the holy Ghost Our Saviour giveth â—…ase to our Sin-sick Souls by recovering them to health And his Salvation first consisteth in curing our wounds and secondarily in freeing us from the smart occasioned by them S. Peter tells the Christians that by his stripes they were healed 1 Pet. 2. 24. It being a quotation out of Isaiah 53. 5. Clemens Alexandrinus in the second book of his Stromat hath this saying to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pardon doth not so much consist in Remission as in Healing That is the pardon of the Gospel doth chiefly discover it self in curing men of their sins in delivering sinners from the power of them rather than from the mere punishment due to them By which words that learned Father declared that he looked upon the subduing of sin as a more eminent act of grace than the bare forgiveness of it Now would that man be accounted any better than a perfect Ideot who being sorely hurt should expect from his Chirurgion perfect â—…ase when he will not permit him to apply any plaister for the healing of his wound Or that being deadly sick should look that his Physician should deliver him from his pain when he will not take any course he prescribes for the removal of the distemper that is the cause of it But of far greater folly are all those guilty who will not be perswaded to part with their Sins and yet hope for the Salvation of their Souls He that looketh for this expects that which implyeth a most palpable contradiction and is impossible in its own nature to be effected It hath been fully enough shewn that mere deliverance from misery cannot possibly be without deliverance from sin and much less Eternal Blessedness in the Enjoyment of God Secondly But how excessively mad then are those which turn the grace of God declared in the Gospel into wantonness and take encouragement from the abundant kindness and good will therein expressed to wretched sinners with the more security and boldness to commit sin We read of such in the Epistle of S. Iude And God knows there are too many such in these our days But seeing it is so grosly foolish a thing for men to hope to be saved notwithstanding their living in the allowance of known sins what desperate Madness then is it to be imboldened in ungodly practices by the offers Christ makes of pardon and salvation to them These declare that they look upon the Design of Christianity not onely as different from what it hath been demonstrated it is but also as directly opposite and perfectly contrary thereunto These do not only judge their Saviour to be no friend to holiness but to be the greatest enemy likewise to it and a Minister of sin and wickedness They make him to be the very servant of the Devil in stead of coming to destroy his works They make the Christian Religion more vile by â—…ar than that of Mahomet and such a Religion as those which have but the least spark of goodness must needs abominate Shall we Sin saith the Apostle that Grace may abound God forbid Those that think they can magnifie the free-grace of God in Christ by thus doing or that they may take encouragement from it to continue in sin do make this grace unworthy of mens acceptance and no grace at all Nay they make Almighty God the greatest enemy to Mankind in sending his Son Jesus and
his Gospel among us For sin being so apparently the greatest of evils it can be no other than the highest and most significant expression of hatred to us to encourage us to the commission of it It is so far from being part of our Christian Liberty to be delivered from our obligation to all or any of the Laws of Righteousness that such a deliverance would be the most Diabolical yoke of Bondage If any man can be so silly as to object that of the Apostle Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Let him give himself an answer by reading the whole verse and then make ill use of that passage if he can tell how The words foregoing it in the same verse are these Sin shall not have dominion over you and these words are a proof of that assertion For ye are not under the Law but under Grace That is as if he should say It is the most inexcuseable thing for you to continue under the dominion and power of sin because ye are not under the weak and inefficacious Paedagogy of the Law of Moses but a Dispensation of Grace wherein there is not only Forgiveness assured to truly Repenting sinners but strength afforded to enable to the subduing and mortification of all sin Our Saviour hath told us expresly that he came not to destroy the Law that is the Moral Law but to fulfil it And that Heaven and Earth shall soouer pass away than that one jot or little thereof shall sail And it is absolutely impossible that our obligation thereunto should cease while we continue Men. All the duties therein contained being most necessary and natural results from the Relation we stand in to God and to one another and from the Original make and constitution of humane souls But it is too great an honour to the Doctrine of Libertinism to bestow two words upon its confutation it being so prodigiously monstrous that it would be almost a breach of Charity to judge that Professour of Christianity not to have suffered the loss of his wits that hath entertained it or hath the least favour for it supposing he hath but the least smattering in the Christian Religion It is a most amazing thing that such a thought should have any admission into the mind of such a one while he is compos mentis and not utterly deprived of his Intellectuals Our Saviour's Gospel being wholly levelled at the mark of killing all sorts of sin in us and rendering us exactly obedient to the Divine Moral and also all innocent humane Laws Let me speak to such as so shamefully abuse our incomparable Religion as to take liberty from thence to be in any kind immoral in the words of S. Paul Rom. 2. 4 5. Despisest thou the Riches of God's goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that his goodness leadeth thee or designeth the leading of thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Iudgment of God c. CHAP. XIX The Fourth Inference That a right understanding of the Design of Christianity will give satisfaction concerning the true Notion 1. Of Iustifying Faith 2. Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness FOurthly From what hath been said of the Design of Christianity may be clearly inferred the True notion of Iustifying Faith and of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness First Of Iustifying Faith We thence learn That it is such a belief of the Truth of the Gospel as includes a sincere resolution of Obedience unto all its Precepts or which is the same thing includes true Holiness in the nature of it And moreover that it justifieth as it doth so For surely the Faith which intitles a sinner to so high a privelege as that of justification must needs be such as complieth with all the purposes of Christ's coming into the world and especially with his grand purpose and it is no less necessary that it should justifie as it doth this That is as it receives Christ for a Lord as well as for a Saviour But I need not now distinguish between these two there being but a notional difference between them in this matter For Christ as was shewn as he is a Saviour designeth our Holiness his Salvation being chiefly that from the worst of evils sin and principally consisting in deliverance from the power of it I scarcely more admired at any thing in my whole life than that any worthy men especially should be so difficultly perswaded to embrace this account of Iustifying Faith and should perplex and make intricate so very plain a Doctrine If this be not to seek knots in a Bulrush I know not what is I wish there were nothing throughout the Bible less easily intelligible than this is and I should then dare to pronounce it one of the plainest of all books that ever pen wrote For seeing the great end of the Gospel is to make men good what pretence can there be for thinking that Faith is the Condition or I 'le use the word Instrument as improper and obscure as it is of Iustification as it complieth with only the precept of relying on Christ's Merits for the obtaining of it especially when it is no less manifest than the Sun at Noon-day that obedience to the other precepts must go before obedience to this and that a man may not rely on the merits of Christ for the forgiveness of his sins and he is most presumptuous in so doing and puts an affront upon his Saviour too till he be sincerely willing to be reformed from them And besides such a Relyance is ordinarily to be found among unregenerate and even the very worst of men And therefore how can it be otherwise than that that act of faith must needs have a hand in justifying and the special hand too which distinguisheth it from that which is to be found in such persons And I adde what good ground can men have for this fancy when as our Saviour hath merited the pardon of sin for this end that it might be an effectual motive to return from it And can any thing in the world be more indisputably clear than if the only direct scope that Christianity drives at be the subduing of sin in us and our freedom from its guilt or obligation to punishment be the consequent of this as I think hath been demonstrated with abundant evidence that faith invests us with a title to this deliverance no otherwise than as dying to sin and so consequently living to God are the products and fruit of it And seeing that one End and the Ultimate End too of Christ's coming was to turn us from our iniquities if the nature of Faith considered as Iustifying must needs be made wholly to consist in Recumbence and Reliance on him he shall be my Apollo that can give me a sufficient reason why it ought only to consist in Reliance on the Merits of
the Truth that they might be saved God shall send them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength of delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thess. 2 10. The forementioned particulars do of themselves lead to the most dangerous errours how much more then must they needs so do when they are backed on with the Divine Vengeance But if honesty and an Obedient temper of Soul will secure from the other causes of errour and seduction it will in so doing secure from this last So that it is manifest that a sincere desire of Righteousness and true Holiness will not fail to help men to a thorow-belief and sufficient understanding of that Book which is onely designed to indue them with it And that nothing can occasion the contrary but a wilful adhering to some one or other immorality and that this hath a very great aptness so to do So that it is not the least matter of wonder to see men of excellent wits and brave accomplishments either fall into gross errours or even into a flat disbelief of the Christian Religion As strange as this may seem to some it appears from our past Discourse that there is not any real cause of admiration in it For other endowments of as excellent use as they may be when accompanied with that of an obedient temper must needs do more hurt than good to the Souls that are adorned and graced with them when separated from it and occasion those vices that may well make way for Heresies And it is certain that an acute wit when it hath not a purified sense going along with it is so far from being a sufficient praerequisite to the right understanding of Evangelical truths that it is as notable an Engine as the Grand Deceiver can desire to make use of in order to the bringing about his mischievous designs upon the person that is Master of it So that indeed it is on the contrary rather matter of wonder that any man that hath a naughty Will should have a good Iudgement in Gospel-truths though both his natural and acquired parts should be ne'r so great And again we may without the least breach of Charity presume that whosoever to whom Christianity is sufficiently made known doth either disbelieve it or any of the Fundamentals of it his Heart is much more in fault than is his Head and that he hath darkened his Discerning faculty and greatly dimmed the Eye of his Soul by entertaining some filthy lust that sends up a thick sog and mist of vapours to it If any man teach otherwise saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 3. and consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the Doctrine that is according to Godliness he is proud c. not he is weak and cannot but he is wicked and will not understand the Truth And by the way this Discourse may conduce to the no small encouragement of the weaker sort Let such be but heartily solicitous about doing God's Will and having the Design of the Gospel effected in them and they need fear that their weakness will betray them into the wrong way to Blessedness CHAP. XXVII The Last Inference That we are taught by the Design of Christianity wherein the Essence Power and Life of it consisteth Instances of what kind of things it doth not consist in For what Ends the several Exercises of Piety and Devotion are injoyned How God is Glorified by men and by what means Whom it is our duty to esteem and carry our selves towards as true Christians That by following the Example of Christ and making his Life our Pattern we shall assure our selves that the Design of Christianity is effected in us and that we are indued with the Power of it LAstly We learn from the Doctrine of the Design of Christianity wherein the Essence Power and Life of it consisteth viz. In a good state and habit of mind in a holy frame and temper of Soul whereby it esteemeth God as the Chiefest good preferreth him and his Son Jesus before all the world and prizeth above all things an interest in the Divine Perfections such as Iustice and Righteousness universal Charity Goodness Mercy and Patience and all kinds of Purity From whence doth naturally proceed a hearty complyance with all the Holy Precepts of the Gospel and sincere endeavours to perform all those actions which are agreeable to them are necessary expressions of those and the like vertues and means for the obtaining and encrease of them and to avoid the Contrary The Kingdom of God or Christianity is not meat and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost as Saint Paul tells us Rom. 14. 17. That is it doth not consist in any merely external matters or bodily exercises which elsewhere he saith do profit but little And as not in such as he there meaneth viz. things of a perfectly indifferent nature and neither good nor evil so neither in such as are very good and laudable for the matter of them It is onely their flowing from an inward Principle of Holiness that denominateth any whatsoever Christian actions But such as are onely occasioned by certain external inducements and motives and proceed not from any good temper and disposition of Soul be they never so commendable in themselves bespeak not him that performeth them to be a true and sincere Christian. He is not a Iew saith the same Apostle that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision that is outward in the flesh But he is a Iew that is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2. 28 29. That is he onely is a true child of Abraham who in the purity of the heart obeyeth those substantial Laws that are imposed by God upon him And if no one that doth not thus might properly be called a Iew or child of Abraham much less can the name of a Christian and a Disciple of the Holy Iesus be due to him He it is evident is onely so in whom the Design of Christianity is in some measure accomplish'd And it appears from what hath been said that its Design is Primarily and immediately upon the Nature which being rectified and renewed will certainly discover it self so to be throughout the whole life For a good tree will not bring forth corrupt fruit nor a corrupt tree good fruit as our Saviour hath said Were it possible as it is not that we should forbear all outward acts of sin and yet our Souls cleave to it we could not but be destitute of the Life and Power of Christianity And should we abound never so much in the exercise of good duties if our design in so doing be to gratifie any lust and serve some carnal interest they will be so far from Christian actions that they may
be most truly and properly called sins There is no one duty more affectionately recommended in the Gospel to us than is Alms-giving but to give alms to be seen and praised by men is no better than base Hypocrisie as Christ hath told us so far is it from an expression of Christian Charity And whatsoever materially vertuous actions proceed not from the principle of love to vertue though I cannot say that all such are hateful to God yet they want that degree of perfection that is requisite to make them truly Christian. And it is a plain case that he is not the Christian that is much employed in the Duties of Prayer Hearing God's Word Reading the Bible and other good Books c. but he that discovereth a good mind in them in whom the end of them is effected and who is the better for them This is the business for the sake of which Prayer is enjoyned We are therein to acknowledge God's Infinite Perfections and our obligations to him that we may express our hearty sense of them and in order to our being the more affected with those and our having the more grateful resentments of these We are in that duty to address our selves to the Divine Majesty in the name of Christ for what we want that we may by this means both express and encrease our dependance on him and trust in him for the obtaining thereof And to confess and bewail our sins to exercise Godly sorrow and contrition of Soul and that by so doing we may be so much the more deeply humbled for them and have the greater averseness in our wills against them The communion which we are to enjoy with God in Prayer is such as consisteth in being enamoured with the Excellencies that are in him and in receiving communications of his Nature and Spirit from him Therefore also are we commanded to Hear and Read God's Word that we may come thereby to understand and be put in mind of the several Duties he requires of us and be powerfully moved to the doing of them And the like may be said concerning all the other Exercises of Piety and Devotion the end of them is more and more to dispose our Hearts to the Love and our wills to the obedience of our Blessed Creatour and Redeemer And busying our selves in any of them without this Design may well be counted in the number of the fruitless and unaccountable actions of our lives Thus to do is prodigally to wast and mispend our time as the Jews were upbraided by one of their adversaries with doing upon the account of their Sabbath saying That they lost one day in seven And those that are most constant in their Addresses to the Majesty of Heaven both in the Publique and Private worship of him if they go into his presence with the entertainment and allowance of any sinful Affection they have never the more of the Divine Approbation upon that account If I regard saith David iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me God esteemeth no better of such as do so than as Hypocritical Fawners upon him and false-hearted Complementers of him and hath declared that their Sacrifices are an Abomination to him The Generality of the Jews were such a people God by his Prophet Isaiah speaks thus concerning them They seek me dayly and delight to know my ways as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God They ask of me the Ordinances of Iustice they take delight in approaching to God They were a people that loved to fast and pray and afflict their Souls and to make their voice to be heard on high But giving liberty to themselves in plain immoralities God declared that all this was even hateful to him As may be seen in the Fifty eighth of Isaiah And he there likewise telleth them that the Fast which he took pleasure in consisteth in loosing the bands of wickedness in undoing the heavy burthens and letting the oppressed go free in breaking every yoke in dealing their bread to the Hungry and bringing the poor that are cast out to their houses in covering the Naked and the exercise of strict justice mercy and kindness And in the first Chapter he asks them To what purpose the multitude of their Sacrifices were though they were no other than he himself by the Law of Moses required and charged them to bring no more vain oblations to him told them that their Incense was an Abomination to him their New-moons and Sabbaths and calling of Assemblyes he could not away with that their Solemn Assembly was iniquity that their New-Moons and appointed Feasts his Soul hated and that he was weary to bear them And all this because these were the onely or main things they recommended themselves to him by their Religion chiefly consisted in them and they gave themselves leave to be unrighteous cruel and unmerciful as may there be seen God abhorrs to see men come cringing and crowching before him bestowing a great heap of the best words upon him and the worst upon themselves and with dejected countenances bemoaning themselves and making lamentable complaints of their wickedness to him imploring mercy and favour from him c. when they resolvedly persist in disobedience So far are such things as these from being able to make amends for any of their sins that God accounts them no better than Additions to their most heinous impieties as by the Sixty sixth of Iâ—…aiah it further appeareth It is said there He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dog's neck he that offereth an 〈◊〉 as if he offered Swines blood â—…e that burneth Incense as if he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how came this to pass it follows They have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominationâ—… So that if he had such an opinion of the goodliest and most acceptable Sacrifices when offered by Disobedient and Immorall Persons under the Law it is impossible that he should have one jot a better of the most affectionate Devotions of those that take no care to be really and inwardly righteous and holy under the Gospel And in being so consists as was said the Soul and Life of Christianity Not that a true Christian can have undervaluing and slight thoughts of the External worship and service of God nor that he can contemn or neglect praying to him singing his Praises Hearing or Reading his Word c. Nothing less For by the serious and diligent performance of these and the like Duties he comes to acquire and encrease that good temper of Soul that gives him the denomination of such a one through the assistance of the Divine Grace He is one to speak in the words of Hierocles as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyns Endeavours to 〈◊〉 and Prayers also with the other parts of Divine Worship to his other Endeavours And besides the solemn acknowledgements of God