Law the declared Will of his Maker accordingly a Law the Rule of his Obedience was written in his Heart Now Sin the Transgression of this Law contains many great Evils 1. Sin is a Rebellion against the Soveraign Majesty of God that gives the Life of Authority to the Law Therefore Divine Precepts are enforced with the most proper and binding Motive to Obedience I am the Lord. He that with purpose and pleasure commits Sin implicitely renounces his Dependance upon God as his Maker and Governour over-rules the Law and arrogates an irresponsible Licence to do his own Will This is exprest by those Atheistical Designers who said With our Tongue we will prevail our Lips are our own who is Lord over us The Language of Actions that is more natural and convincing than of Words declares that sinful Men despise the Commands of God as if they were not his Creatures and Subjects What a Dishonour what a Displeasure is it to the God of Glory that proud Dust should fly in his Face and controul his Authority He has ten thousand times ten thousand Angels that are high in Dignity and excel in Strength waiting in a Posture of Reverence and Observance about his Throne ready to do his Will How provoking is it for a despicable Worm to contravene his Law and lift his Hand against him It will be no Excuse to plead the Commands of Men for Sin for as much as God is more glorious than Men so much more are his Commands to be respected and obeyed than Mens When there is an evident Opposition between the Laws of Men and of God we must disobey our Superiours tho we displease them and obey our Supream Ruler He that does what is forbidden or neglects to do what is commanded by the Divine Law to please Men tho invested with the highest Sovereignty on Earth is guilty of double Wickedness of Impiety in deposing God and Idolatry in deifying Men. It is an extream Aggravation of this Evil in that Sin as it is a disclaiming our Homage to God so 't is in true account a yielding Subjection to the Devil For Sin is in the strictest Propriety his Work The Original Rebellion in Paradise was by his Temptation and all the actual and habitual Sins of Men since the Fall are by his efficacious Influence He darkens the Carnal Mind and sways the polluted Will he excites and inflames the vicious Affections and imperiously rules in the Children of Disobedience He is therefore stiled the Prince and God of this World And what more contumelious Indignity can there be than the preferring to the glorious Creator of Heaven and Earth a damned Spirit the most cursed part of the Creation It is most reasonable that the Baseness of the Competitor should be a Foil to reinforce the Lustre of God's Authority yet Men reject God and comply with the Tempter O prodigious Perversness 2. Sin vilifies the ruling Wisdom of God that prescrib'd the Law to Men. Altho the Dominion of God over us be Supreme and Absolute yet 't is exercis'd according to the Counsel of his VVill by the best Means for the best Ends he is accordingly stiled by the Apostle The eternal King and only wise God 'T is the glorious Prerogative of his Soveraignty and Deity that he can do no Wrong for he necessarily acts according to the Excellencies of his Nature Particularly his Wisdom is so relucent in his Laws that the serious Contemplation of it will ravish the sincere Minds of Men into a Compliance with them They are framed with exact Congruity to the Nature of God and his Relation to us and to the Faculties of Man before he was corrupted From hence the Divine Law being the Transcript not only of God's Will but his Wisdom binds the Understanding and Will our leading Faculties to esteem and approve to consent and choose all his Precepts as best Now Sin vilifies the Infinite Understanding of God with respect both to the Precepts of the Law the Rule of our Duty and the Sanction annex'd to confirm its Obligation It does constructively tax the Precepts as unequal too rigid and severe a Confinement to our Wills and Actions Thus the impious Rebels complain The Ways of the Lord are not equal as injurious to their Liberty and not worthy of Observance What St. James saith to correct the uncharitable censorious Humour of some in his time He that speaks Evil of his Brother and judges his Brother speaks Evil of the Law and judges the Law as an imperfect and rash Rule is applicable to Sinners in any other kind As an unskilful Hand by straining too high breaks the Strings of an Instrument and spoils the Musick so the Strictness and the Severity of the Precepts breaks the harmonious Agreement between the Wills of Men and the Law and casts an Imputation of Imprudence upon the Law-giver This is the implicit Blasphemy in Sin Besides the Law has Rewards and Punishments to secure our Respects and Obedience to it The wise God knows the Frame of the reasonable Creature what are the inward Springs of our Actions and has accordingly propounded such Motives to our Hope and Fear the most active Passions as may engage us to perform our Duty He promises his Favour that is better than Life to the Obedient and threatens his Wrath that is worse than Death to the Rebellious Now Sin makes it evident that these Motives are not effectual in the Minds of Men And this reflects upon the Wisdom of the Law-giver as if defective in not binding his Subjects firmly to their Duty for if the Advantage or Pleasure that may be gain'd by Sin be greater than the Reward that is promised to Obedience and the Punishment that is threatned against the Transgression the Law is unable to restrain from Sin and the Ends of Government are not obtained Thus Sinners in venturing upon forbidden things reproach the Understanding of the Divine Law-giver 3. Sin is a Contrariety to the unspotted Holiness of God Of all the glorious and benign Constellations of the Divine Attributes that shine in the Law of God his Holiness has the brightest Lustre God is holy in all his Works but the most venerable and precious Monument of his Holiness is the Law For the Holiness of God consists in the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his moral Perfections Wisdom Goodness and Justice and the Law is the perfect Copy of his Nature and Will The Psalmist who had a purged Eye saw and admir'd its Purity and Perfection The Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes The Word is very near therefore thy Servant loves it 'T is the perspicuous Rule of our Duty without Blemish or Imperfection The Commandment is holy just and good It injoins nothing but what is absolutely Good without the least Tincture of Evil. The Sum of it is set down by the Apostle to live soberly that is to abstain from any thing that
may stain the Execellence of an understanding Creature To live righteously which respects the State and Situation wherein God has disposed Men for his Glory It comprehends all the respective Duties to others to whom we are united by the Bands of Nature or of Civil Society or of Spiritual Communion And to live godly which includes all the internal and outward Duties we owe to God who is the Soveraign of our Spirits whose Will must be the Rule and his Glory the End of our Actions In short The Law is so form'd that prescinding from the Authority of the Law-giver its Holiness and Goodness lays an eternal Obligation on us to obey it Now Sin is not only by Interpretation a Reproach to the Wisdom and other Perfections of God but directly and foimally a Contrariety to his Infinite Sanctity and Purity for it consists in a not doing what the Law commands or doing what it forbids 'T is therefore said That the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God An active immediate and irreconcilable Contrariety to his holy Nature and Will From hence there is a reciprocal Hatred between God and Sinners God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity without an infinite Displicence the Effects of which will fall upon Sinners and tho 't is an Impiety hardly conceivable yet the Scripture tells us that they are Haters of God 'T is true God by the transcendent Excellence of his Nature is uncapable of suffering any Evil and there are few in the present State arrived to such Malice as to declare open Enmity and War against God In the Damned this Hatred is explicit and direct the Fever is heightned to a Frenzy the blessed God is the Object of their Curses and Eternal Aversation If their Rage could extend to him and their Power were equal to their Desires they would dethrone the most High And the Seeds of this are in the Breasts of Sinners here As the fearful Expectation of irresistible and fiery Vengeance increases their Aversation increases They endeavour to raze out the Inscription of God in their Souls and to extinguish the Thoughts and Sense of their Inspector and Judg. They wish he were not All-seeing and Almighty but Blind and Impotent uncapable to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God The Heart is the Fountain of Desires and Actions interpret the Thoughts and Affections from whence the Inference is direct and conclusive that habitual Sinners who live without God in the World have secret Desires there was no Soveraign Being to observe and require an Account of all their Actions The radical Cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that Attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are Enemies to God in their Minds through wicked Works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1st His creating Goodness 'T is clear without the least shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first Being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy Works and that my Soul knows right-well Thine Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my Members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy Hands have made me and fashioned me round about The Soul or principal Part is of a Celestial Original inspired from the Father of Spirits The Faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorify and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of Time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no Necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superiour Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the Consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was God's end in making us Certainly it was becoming his Infinite Unerstanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fulness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgment of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all Things and for thy Pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments as not to acknowledg 't is our indispensable Dutry Our reasonable Service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his Glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Nature I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of Light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed
an inconceiveable Evil there is in Sin and how hateful it is to the most High when God who is Love who is stiled the Father of Mercies has prepared and does inflict such Plagues for ever for the Transgression of his holy Laws and such is the Equity of his Judgment that he never punishes Offenders above their Desert I shall now apply this Doctrine by reflecting the Light of it upon our Minds and Hearts 1. This discovers how perverse and depraved the Minds and Wills of Men are to chuse Sin rather than Affliction and break the Divine Law for the obtaining Temporal Things If one with an attentive Eye regards the generality of Mankind what Dominion present and sensible Things have over them how securely and habitually they sin in prosecution of their Carnal Aims as if the Soul should not survive the Body as if there were no Tribunal above to examine no Judg to sentence and punish Sinners if he has not Marble Bowels it will excite his Compassion or Indignation What Comparison is there between the good Things of this World and of the next in Degrees or Duration Aiery Honour Sensual Pleasures and Worldly Riches are but the thin Appearances of Happiness Shadows in Masquerade that cannot afford solid Content to an immortal Spirit the Blessedness of Heaven replenishes with everlasting Satisfaction What Proportion is there between the light and momentary Afflictions here and a vast Eternity fill'd with Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish and desperate Sorrow What stupid Beast what Monster of a Man would prefer a superficial transient Delight the Pleasure of a short Dream before ever-satisfying Joys Or to avoid a slight Evil venture upon Destruction Yet this is the true Case of Sinners if they can obtain the World with the loss of Heaven they count it a valuable Purchase if they can compound so as to escape Temporal Troubles tho involved under Guilt that brings extream and eternal Misery they think it a saving Bargain Amazing Folly Either they believe or do not the Recompences in the future State if they do not how unaccountable is their Impiety If they do 't is more prodigious they do not feel the Powers of the World to come so as to regulate their Lives and controul the strongest Temptations to sin against God A wicked Believer is moâ—e guilty than a wicked Infidel How could we conceive it possible were it not visible in their Actions that Men who have judicative Faculties to compare and distinguish things and accordingly be moved with Desires or Fears should with ardent Affections pursue despicable Vanities and neglect substantial Happiness and be fearful of the Shadows of Dangers and intrepid in the midst of the truest Dangers He is a desperate Gamester that will venture a Crown at a Throw against some petty Advantage yet this is really done by Sinners who hazard the loss of Heaven for this World they hang by slender Strings a little Breath that expires every moment over bottomless Perdition and are insensible without any palpitation of Heart any sign of Fear How strong is the Delusion and Concupiscence of the carnally-minded The Lusts of the Flesh bribe and corrupt their Understandings or divert them from serious Consideration of their Ways and the Issues of them From hence it is they are presently entangled and vanquish'd by sensual Temptations they are cozen'd by the Colours of Good and Evil and Satan easily accomplishes his most pernicious and envious Design to make Men miserable as himself How just is the Reproach of Wisdom How long ye simple ones will ye love Simplicity and Fools hate Knowledg The Light of Reason and Revelation shines upon them they have not the excuse of Ignorance but the righteous and heavy Condemnation of those who love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil 'T is no mean degree of Guilt to extenuate Sin and make an Apology for Sinners The wisest of Men tells us Fools make a mock of Sin they count it a fond Niceness a silly Preciseness to be fearful of offending God They boast of their deceitful Arts and Insinuations whereby they represent Sin as a light matter to corrupt others But 't is infinitely better to be defective in the Subtilty of the Serpent than in the Innocence of the Dove A meer Natural who is only capable of sensitive Actions and is distinguish'd from a Brute by his shape is not such a forlorn Sot as the sinful Fool. What the Prophet Jeremy speaks of one who gets Riches unjustly that he shall leave them and in the end die a Fool will be verified of the wilful obstinate Sinner in the end he shall by the terrible Conviction of his own Mind be found guilty of the most woful Folly and how many have acknowledged in their last hours when usually Men speak with the most feeling and least Affectation how have they in words of the Psalmist arraigned themselves So foolish have we been and like Beasts before thee 2. From hence we may be instructed of the wonderful Patience of God who bears with a World of Sinners that are obnoxious to his Justice and under his Power every day If we consider the number and aggravations of Mens Sins how many have out-told the Hairs of their Heads in actual Transgressions how mighty and manifest their Sins are that the Deity and Providence are questioned for the suspending of Vengeance And yet that God notwithstanding all their enormous Injuries and violent Provocations is patient towards Sinners it cannot but fill us with Admiration His Mercy like the cheerful Light of the Sun visits us every Morning with its benign Influences his Justice like Thunder rarely strikes the Wicked He affords not only the Supports of Life but many Comforts and Refreshments to the unthankful and rebellious 'T is not from any Defect in his Power that they are not consum'd but from the Abundance of his Mercy He made the World without any strain of his Power and can as easily destroy it he has an innumerable Company of Angels attending his Commands and every Angel is an Army in strength one of them destroyed an hundred and fourscore and five thousand in a Night He can use the most despicable and weakest Creatures Frogs and Lice and Flies as Instruments of Vengeance to subdue the proudest Pharaoh the most obstinate Rebels He sees Sin where-ever it is and hates it where-ever he sees it yet his Patience endures their crying Sins and his long-Suffeing expects their Repentance The Lord is not slack as some Men count slackness but he is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance He spares Sinners with such Indulgence in order to their Salvation 'T is deservedly one of his Royal Titles The God of Patience Our fierce Spirits are apt to take Fire and Revenge for every Injury real or suppos'd but the great God who is infinitely sensible of all the Indignities offer'd to his Majesty
Tempter with Defiance and Indignation This holy Fear is not a meer judicial Impression that restrains from Sin for the dreadful Punishment that follows for that servile Affection tho it may stop a Temptation and hinder the Eruption of a Lust into the gross Act yet it does not renew the Nature and make us Holy and Heavenly There may be a respective Dislike of Sin with a direct Affection to it Besides a meer servile Fear is repugnant to Nature and will be expell'd if possible Therefore that we may be in the Fear of the Lord all the day long we must regard him in his endearing Attributes his Love his Goodness and Compassion his rewarding Mercy and this will produce a filial Fear of Reverence and Caution lest we should offend so gracious a God As the natural Life is preserved by grateful Food not by Aloes and Wormwood which are useful Medicines so the Spiritual Life is maintained by the comfortable Apprehensions of God as the Rewarder of our Fidelity in all our Trials 2. Strip Sin of its Disguises wash off its flattering Colours that you may see its native Ugliness Joseph's reply to the Tempter How shall I do this great Wickedness Illusion and Concupiscence are the Inducements to Sin When a Lust represents the Temptation as very alluring and hinders the Reflection of the Mind upon the intrinsick and consequential Evil of Sin 't is like the putting Poison into the Glass but when it has so far corrupted the Mind that Sin is esteemed a small Evil Poison is thrown into the Fountain If we consider the Majesty of the Lawgiver there is no Law small nor Sin small that is the Transgression of it Yet the most are secure in an evil course by Conceits that their Sins are small 'T is true there is a vast difference between Sins in their Nature and Circumstances there are insensible Omissions and accusing Acts but the least is damnable Besides the allowance and number of Sins reputed small will involve under intolerable Guilt What is lighter than a Grain of Sand you may blow away a hundred with a Breath And what is heavier than a heap of Sand condens'd together 'T is our Wisdom and Duty to consider the Evil of Sin in its essential Malignity which implies no less than that God was neither wise nor good in making his Law and that he is not just and powerful to vindicate it And when tempted to any pleasant Sin to consider the due Aggravations of it as Joseph did which will controul the Efficacy of the Temptation I shall only add that when a Man has mortified the Lusts of the Flesh he has overcome the main part of the infernal Army that wars against the Soul Sensual Objects do powerfully and pleasantly insinuate into carnal Men and the Affections are very unwillingly restrain'd from them To undertake the Cure of those whose Disease is their Pleasure is almost a vain Attempt for they do not judg it an Evil to be regarded and will not accept distasteful Remedies 3. Fly all tempting occasions of Sin Joseph would not be alone with his Mistress There is no Vertue so confirmed and in that degree of Eminence but if one be frequently ingaged in vicious Society 't is in danger of being eclips'd and controul'd by the opposite Vice If the Ermins will associate with the Swine they must lie in the Mire if the Sheep with Wolves they must learn to bite and devour if Doves with Vultures they must learn to live on the Prey Our surest Guard is to keep at a distance from all engaging Snares He that from Carelesness or Confidence ventures into Temptations makes himself an easy Prey to the Tempter And let us daily pray for the Divine Assistance to keep us from the Evil of the World without which all our Resolutions will be as ineffectual as Ropes of Sand to bind us to our Duty 5. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin is a powerful Motive to our solemn and speedy Repentance The remembrance of our Original and Actual Sins will convince us that we are born for Repentance There are innumerable silent Sins that are unobserved and do not alarm the Conscience and altho a true Saint will neither hide any Sin nor suffer Sin to hide it self in his Breast yet the most holy Men in the World have great reason with the Psalmist to say with melting Affections Who can understand his Errors O cleanse me from my secret Sins discover them to me by the Light of the Word and cover them in the Blood of the Redeemer There are Sins of Infirmity and daily Incursion from which none can be perfectly freed in this mortal State these should excite our Watchfulness and be lamented with true Tears There are crying Sins of a Crimson Guilt which are to be confest with heart-breaking Sorrow confounding Shame and implacable Antipathy against them and to be forsaken for ever Of these some are of a deep die in their Nature and some from the Circumstances in committing them some are of a heinous Nature and more directly and expresly renounce our Duty and more immediately obstruct our Communion with God As a Mud-Wall intercepts the Light of the Sun from shining upon us 2. Some derive a greater Guilt from the Circumstances in the commission Such are 1. Sins against Knowledg for according to the Ingrediency of the Will in Sin the Guilt arises Now when Conscience interposes between the Carnal Heart and the Temptation and represents the Evil of Sin and deters from Compliance and yet Men will venture to break the Divine Law this exceedingly aggravates the Offence for such Sins are committed with a fuller Consent and are justly called Rebellion against the Light And the clearer the Light is the more it will increase the disconsolate fearful Darkness in Hell 2. Sins committed against the Love as well as the Law of God are exceedingly aggravated To pervert the Benefits we receive from God to his Dishonour to turn them into occasions of Sin which were designed to endear Obedience to us to sin licentiously and securely in hopes of an easy Pardon at last is intensive of our Guilt in a high degree This is to poison the Antidote and make it deadly There is a Sacrifice to reconcile offended Justice but if Men obstinately continue in Sin and abuse the Grace of the Gospel there is no Sacrifice to appease exasperated Mercy 3. Sins committed against solemn Promises and Engagements to forsake them have a deeper Die for Perfidiousness is join'd with this Disobedience The Divine Law strictly binds us to our Duty antecedently to our Consent but when we promise to obey it we increase our Obligations and by sinning break double Chains In short any habitual allowed Sin induces a heavy Guilt for it argues a deeper root and foundation of Sin in the Heart a stronger Inclination to it from whence the repeated Acts proceed which are new Provocations to the pure Eyes of God Accordingly in repenting
SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard M. DC XC III. GULIELMUS BATESIUS S. S. Theol Prof Aetat â—2 Nov 1687. Sold by N. Ranen I. Robinson 1688. Sin the most formidable Evil. SERMON I. Genesis xxxix 9. How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God THE Text is the Record of Joseph's Innocence and Victory consecrated in Scripture for the Honour and Imitation of that excellent Saint in succeeding Ages He had been try'd by sharp Afflictions the conspiring Envy of his Brethren and the cruel Effects of it Banishment and Servitude and possest his Soul in Patience here he was encounter'd by a more dangerous Temptation in another kind and preserv'd his Integrity Adversity excites the Spirit to serious Recollection arms it with Resolution to endure the Assaults and stop the entrance of what is afflicting to Nature Pleasure by gentle Insinuations relaxes the Mind to a loose Security softens and melts the Heart and makes it easily receptive of corrupt Impressions Now to represent the Grace of God that preserved Joseph in its Radiance and Efficacy we must consider the several Circumstances that increased the Difficulty of the double Victory over the Tempter and himself 1. The Tempter his Mistress who had devested the native Modesty of the blushing Sex and by her Caresses and Blandishments sought to draw him to compliance with her Desires Her superiour Quality might seem to make her Request have the force of a Command over him 2. The Sollicitation Lie with me There are no Sins to which there is a stronger Inclination in our corrupted Nature than to Acts of Sensuality The Temptation was heighten'd by the lure of Profit and Advancement that he might obtain by her Favour and Interest in her Husband who was an eminent Officer in the Egyptian Court and the Denial would be extreamly provoking both in respect it seem'd to be a Contempt injurious to her Dignity and was a Disappointment of her ardent Expectation Hatred and Revenge upon Refusal are equal to the Lust of an Imperious Whorish Woman We read the Effects of it in this Chapter for upon his rejecting her Desires inflam'd with Rage and to purge her self she turn'd his Accuser wounded his Reputation depriv'd him of his Liberty and expos'd his Life to extream Peril Joseph chose rather to lie in the Dust than to rise by Sin 3. The Opportunity was ready and the Object present 't is said there was none of the Men of the House within She had the advantage of Secrecy to fasten the Temptation upon him When a Sin may be easily committed and easily conceal'd the Restraints of Fear and Shame are taken off and every Breath of a Temptation is strong enough to overthrow the carnally-minded The purest and noblest Chastity is from a Principle of Duty within not constrain'd by the apprehension of Discovery and Severity 4. The Continuance of the Temptation She spake to him day by day Her Complexion was Lust and Impudence and his repeated Denials were ineffectual to quench her incensed Desires the black Fire that darkned her Mind She caught him by the Garment saying Lie with me she was ready to prostitute her self and ravish him 5. The Person tempted Joseph in the flower of his Age the season of Sensuality when innumerable by the Force and Swinge of their vicious Appetites are impell'd to break the holy Law of God 6. His Repulse of the Temptation was strong and peremptory How can I do this great Wickedness He felt no Sympathy no sensual Tenderness but exprest an Impossibility of consenting to her guilty Desire We have in Joseph exemplified that Property of the Regenerate He that is born of God cannot sin by a sacred potent Instinct in his Breast he is preserved not only from the consummate Acts but recoils from the first Offers to it 7. The Reasons are specified of his rejecting her polluting Motion Behold my Master knows not what is with me in the House and he hath committed all that he hath to my Hands there is none greater in his House than I neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee because thou art his Wife How then can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God 'T was a complicated Crime of Injustice and Uncleanness a most injurious Violation of the strongest Ties of Duty and Gratitude to his Master and of the sacred Marriage-Covenant to her Husband and the foulest Blot to their Persons Therefore how can I commit a Sin so contrary to natural Conscience and supernatural Grace and provoke God Thus I have briefly considered the Narrative of Joseph's Temptation and that Divine Grace preserved him untouched from that contagious Fire may be resembled to the miraculous preserving the three Hebrew Martyrs unsinged in the midst of the flaming Furnace The Patience of Job and the Chastity of Joseph are transmitted by the Secretaries of the Holy Ghost in Scripture to be in perpetual Remembrance and Admiration From this singular Instance of Joseph who was neither seduced by the Allurements of his Mistress nor terrified by the Rage of her despis'd Affection to sin against God I shall observe two general Points I. That Temptations to Sin how alluring soever or terrifying ought to be rejected with Abhorrence II. That the Fear of God is a sure Defence and Guard against the strongest Temptation I will explain and prove the first and only speak a little of the second in a Branch of the Application I. That Temptations to Sin how alluring soever or terifying are to be rejected with Abhorrence There will be convincing Proof of this by considering two Things 1. That Sin in its Nature prescinding from the Train of woful Effects is the greatest Evil. 2. That relatively to us it is the most pernicious destructive Evil. 1. That Sin considered in it self is the greatest Evil. This will be evident by considering the general Nature of it as directly opposite to God the supream Good The Definition of Sin expresses its essential Evil 't is the Transgression of the Divine Law and consequently opposes the Rights of God's Throne and obscures the Glory of his Attributes that are exercis'd in the Moral Government of the World God as Creator is our King our Lawgiver and Judg. From his Propriety in us arises his just Title to Soveraign Power over us Know ye that the Lord he is God 't is he that made us not we our selves we are his People and the Sheep of his Pasture The Creatures of a lower Order are uncapable of distinguishing between Moral Good and Evil and are determin'd by the weight of Nature to what is meerly sensible and therefore are uncapable of a Law to regulate their Choice But Man who is endowed with the Powers of Understanding and Election to conceive and choose what is Good and reject what is Evil is govern'd by a
them nay sinks them below the insensible part of the Creation that invariably observes the Law and Order prescribed by the Creator Astonishing Degeneracy Hear O Heavens give Ear O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me was the Complaint of God himself The considerate Review of this will melt us into Tears of Confusion 2dly 'T was the unvaluable Goodness of God to give his Law to Man for his Rule both in respect of the matter of the Law and his end in giving it 1. The matter of the Law this as is forecited from the Apostle is holy just and good It contains all things that are honest and just and pure and lovely and of good Report whatsoever are vertuous and Praise-worthy In Obedience to it the Innocence and Perfection of the reasonable Creature consists This I do but glance upon having been consider'd before 2. The end of giving the Law God was pleas'd upon Man's Creation by an illustrious Revelation to shew him his Duty to write his Law in his Heart that he might not take one step out of the Circle of its Precepts and immediately sin and perish His gracious Design was to keep Man in his Love that from the Obedience of the reasonable Creature the Divine Goodness might take its rise to reward him This unfeigned and excellent Goodness the Sinner outragiously despises for what greater Contempt can be exprest against a written Law than the tearing it in pieces and trampling it under foot And this constructively the Sinner does to the Law of God which Contempt extends to the gracious Giver of it Thus the Commandment that was ordain'd unto Life by Sin was found unto Death 3. Sin is an extream vilifying of God's Goodness in preferring Carnal Pleasures to his Favour and Communion with him wherein the Life the Felicity the Heaven of the reasonable Creature consists God is Infinite in all possible Perfections All sufficient to make us compleatly and eternally happy he disdains to have any Competitor and requires to be supream in our Esteem and Affections the reason of this is so evident by Divine and Natural Light that 't is needless to spend many words about it 'T is an Observation of St. Austin That it was a Rule amongst the Heathens that a wise Man should worship all their Deities The Romans were so insatiable in Idolatry that they sent to Foreign Countries to bring the Gods of several Nations an unpolish'd Stone a tame Serpent that were reputed Deities they received with great Solemnity and Reverence But the true God had no Temple no Worship in Rome where there was a Pantheon dedicated to the Honour of all the false Gods The Reason he gives of it is that the true God who alone has Divine Excellencies and Divine Empire will be worship'd alone and strictly forbids the Assumption of any into his Throne To adore any besides him is infinitely debasing and provoking to his dread Majesty Now Sin in its Nature is a Conversion from God to the Creature and whatever the Temptation be in yielding to it there is signified that we choose something before his Favour Sin is founded in bono jucundo something that is delectable to the Carnal Nature 't is the universal Character of Carnal Men They are Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God To some Riches are the most alluring Object The young Man in the Gospel when our Saviour commanded him to give his Estate to the Poor and he should have Treasure in Heaven went away sorrowful as if he had been offer'd to his loss To others the Pleasures that in strict Propriety are sensual are most charming Love is the Weight of the Soul that turns it not like a dead Weight of the Scales but with Election freely to its Object in the carnal Ballance the present Things of the World are of conspicuous Moment and out-weigh Spiritual and Eternal Blessings Altho the Favour of God be eminently all that can be desir'd under the Notion of Riches or Honour or Pleasure and every Atom of our Affection is due to him yet Carnal Men think it a cheap Purchase to obtain the good Things of this World by sinful means with the loss of his Favour This their Actions declare Prodigious Folly as if a few Sparks struck out of a Flint that can neither afford Light or Warmth were more desirable than the Sun in its Brightness And how contumelious and provoking it is to God he declares in the most moving Expressions Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. For my People have committed two Evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters and hewed them out broken Cisterns that can hold no Water This immediately was charg'd upon the Jews who set up Idols of Jealousy and ador'd them rather than the glorious Jehovah and in proportion 't is true of all Sinners for every vicious Affection prefers some vain Object before his Love and the Enjoyment of his glorious Presence that is the Reward of Obedience 5. The Sinner disparages the impartial Justice of God In the Divine Law there is a Connexion between Sin and Punishment the Evil of doing and the Evil of suffering This is not a meer Arbitrary Constitution but founded on the inseparable Desert of Sin and the Rectitude of God's Nature which unchangeably loves Holiness and hates Sin Altho the threatning does not lay a strict necessity upon the Lawgiver always to inflict the Punishment yet God having declar'd his equal Laws as the Rule of our Duty and of his Judgment if they should be usually without Effect upon Offenders the Bands of Government would be dissolv'd and consequently the Honour of his Justice stain'd both with respect to his Nature and Office for as an essential Attribute 't is the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his Moral Perfections and as Soveraign Ruler he is to preserve Equity and Order in his Kingdom Now those who voluntarily break his Law presume upon Impunity The first rebellious Sin was committed upon this Presumption God threatn'd If you eat the forbidden Fruit you shall die the Serpent says Eat and you shall not die and assenting to the Temptation Adam fell to Disobedience And ever since Men are fearless to sin upon the same Motive God chargeth the wicked Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self not concern'd to punish the Violation of his sacred Laws The Sinner commits the Divine Attributes to fight against one another presuming that Mercy will disarm Justice and stop its terrible Effects upon impenitent obstinate Sinners From hence they become bold and harden'd in the continuance of their Sins There is a Root that beareth Gall and Wormwood and when the Curse of the Law is declar'd and denounc'd against Sin the Wicked blesseth himself in his Heart saying I shall have Peace tho I walk in the Imagination of my Heart
defers his Anger and loads them with his Benefits every day What is more astonishing than the Riches of his Goodness unless it be the perverse Abuse of it by Sinners to harden themselves in their Impieties But altho his Clemency delays the Punishment the Sacredness and Constancy of his Justice will not forget it when Patience has had its perfect work Justice shall have a solemn Triumph in the final Destruction of impenitent unreformed Sinners 3. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin so great in it self and pernicious to us heightens our Obligations to the Divine Mercy in saving us from our Sins and an everlasting Hell the just Punishment of them Our Loss was unvaluable our Misery extream and without infinite Mercy we had been under an unremediable necessity of sinning and suffering for ever God saw us in this wretched and desperate State and his Eye affected his Heart in his Pity he redeemed and restored us This is the clearest Testimony of pure Goodness for God did not want external Glory who is infinitely happy in his own Perfections he could when Man revolted from his Duty have created a new World of innocent Creatures for infinite Power is not spent nor lessened by finite Productions but his undeserved and undesired Mercy appeared in our Salvation The way of accomplishing it renders Mercy more illustrious for to glorify his Justice and preserve the Honour of his Holiness unblemish'd he laid upon his Son the Iniquity of us all This was Love that passeth all Understanding Our Saviour speaks of it with Admiration God so loved the World and hated Sin that he gave his only begotten Son to die for it that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And how dear are our Engagements to Jesus Christ The Judg would not release the Guilty without a Ransom nor the Surety without Satisfaction and the Son of God most compassionately and willingly gave his precious Blood to obtain our Deliverance If his Perfections were not most amiable and ravishing yet that he died for us should infinitely endear him to us To those who believe he is precious to those who have felt their undone Condition and that by his Merits and Mediation are restored to the Favour of God he is eminently precious Who can break the Constraints of such Love If there be a spark of Reason or a grain of unfeigned Faith in us We must judg that if one died for all then all were dead and those that live should live to his Glory who died for their Salvation Add to this that in the Sufferings of Christ there is the clearest Demonstration of the Evil of Sin and how hateful it is to God if we consider the Dignity of his Person the Greatness of his Sufferings and the innocent Recoilings of his Human Nature from such fearful Sufferings He was the Eternal Son of God the Heir of his Father's Love and Glory the Lord of Angels he suffered in his Body the most ignominious and painful Death being nail'd to the Cross in the sight of the World The Sufferings of his Soul were incomparably more afflicting For tho heavenly meek he endured the Derision and cruel Violence of his Enemies with a silent Patience yet in the dark Eclipse of his Father's Countenance in the desolate state of his Soul the Lamb of God opened his Mouth in that mournful Complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His innocent Nature did so recoil from those fearful Sufferings that with repeated Ardency of Affection he deprecated that bitter Cup Abba Father all things are possible to Thee let this Cup pass me He address'd to the Divine Power and Love the Attributes that relieve the Miserable yet he drank off the Dregs of the Cup of God's Wrath. Now we may from hence conclude how great an Evil Sin is that could not be expiated by a meaner Sacrifice than the offering up the Soul of Christ to atone incensed Justice and no lower a Price than the Blood of the Son of God the most unvaluable Treasure could ransom Men who were devoted to Destruction 4. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin in it self and to us should excite us with a holy Circumspection to keep our selves from being defiled with it 'T is our indispensable Duty our transcendent Interest to obey the Divine Law entirely and constantly The Tempter cannot present any Motives that to a rectified Mind are sufficient to induce a Consent to Sin and offend God Let the Scales be even and put into one all the Delights of the Senses all the Pleasures and Honours of the World which are the Elements of Carnal Felicity how light are they against the Enjoyment of the blessed God in Glory Will the Gain of this perishing World compensate the loss of the Soul and Salvation for ever If there were any possible Comparison between empty deluding Vanities and Celestial Happiness the Choice would be more difficult and the Mistake less culpable but they vanish into nothing in the Comparison so that to commit the least Sin that makes us liable to the forfeiture of Heaven for the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season is Madness in that degree that no words can express Suppose the Tempter inspires his Rage into his Slaves and tries to constrain us to Sin by Persecution how unreasonable is it to be dismayed at the Threatnings of Men who must die and who can only touch the Body and to despise the Terrors of the Lord who lives for ever and can punish for ever Methinks we should look upon the perverted raging World as a Swarm of angry Flies that may disquiet but cannot hurt us Socrates when unrighteously prosecuted to Death said of his Enemies with a Courage becoming the Breast of a Christian They may kill me but cannot hurt me How should these Considerations raise in us an invincible Resolution and Reluctancy against the Tempter in all his Approaches and Addresses to us And that we may so resist him as to cause his flight from us let us imitate the excellent Saint whose Example is set before us 1. By possessing the Soul with a lively and solemn Sense of God's Presence who is the Inspector and Judg of all our Actions Joseph repell'd the Temptation with this powerful Thought How shall I sin against God The Fear of the Lord is clean 't is a watchful Sentinel that resists Temptations without and suppresses Corruptions within 'T is like the Cherubim plac'd with a flaming Sword in Paradise to prevent the Re-entry of Adam when guilty and polluted For this end we must by frequent and serious Considerations represent the Divine Being and Glory in our Minds that there may be a gracious Constitution of Soul this will be our Preservative from Sin for altho the habitual Thoughts of God are not always in act yet upon a Temptation they are presently excited and appear in the view of Conscience and are effectual to make us reject the
Pattern And what are all the Titles on Earth compared with so Divine a Dignity 2. The Love of Desire of their present and future Happiness The Perfection of Love consists more in the Desire than in the Effects and the continued fervent Prayers that the Saints present to God for one another are the Expressions of their Love 3. The Love of Delight in spiritual Communion with them All the Attractives of human Conversation Wit Mirth Sweetness of Behaviour and wise Discourse cannot make any Society so dear and pleasant to one that is a Lover of Holiness as the Communion of Saints David whose Breast was very sensible of the tender Affections of Love and Joy tells us That the Saints in the Earth the Excellent were the chief Object of his Delight And consequent to this there is a cordial Sympathy with them in their Joys and Sorrows being Members of the same Body and having an Interest in all their Good or Evil. 'T is observable when the Holy Spirit describes the sweetest human Comforts that are the present Reward of the godly Man the Enjoyment of his Estate in the dear Society of his Wife and Children there is a Promise annex'd that sweetens all the rest That he shall see the Good of Jerusalem and Peace upon Israel Without this all Temporal Comforts are mix'd with bitter Displeasure to him There is an eminent Instance of this in Nehemiah whom all the Pleasures of the Persian Court could not satisfy whilst Jerusalem was desolately miserable 4. The Love of Service and Beneficence that declares it self in all outward Offices and Acts for the Good of the Saints And these are various some are of a sublimer Nature and concern their Souls as spiritual Counsel and Instruction compassionate Admonition and Consolation the confirming them in Good and the fortifying them against Evil the doing whatever may preserve and advance the Life and Vigor of the inward Man others respect their Bodies and Temporal Condition directing them in their Affairs protecting them from Injuries supplying their Wants universally assisting them for their tolerable Passage through the World And all these Acts are to be chearfully perfomed there is more Joy in conferring than receiving a Benefit because Love is more exercised in the one than the other In short the highest Effect of Love that comprizes all the rest is to die for the Brethren and this we ought to do when the Honour of God and Welfare of the Church require it Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us and we ought to lay down our Lives for the Brethren If Christians thus loved one another the Church on Earth would be a lively Image of the blessed Society above III. The Love of God and Obedience to his Commands the Product of it are to be considered First The Love of God has its Rise from the Consideration of his amiable Excellencies that render him infinitely worthy of the highest Affection and from the blessed Benefits of Creation Preservation Redemption and Glorification that we may expect from his pure Goodness and Mercy This is the most clear and essential Character of a Child of God and most peculiarly distinguishes him from unrenewed Men however accomplished by Civil Vertues Now the internal Exercise of Love to God in the Valuation of his Favour as that which is better than Life in earnest Desires of Communion with him in ravishing Joy in the Testimonies and Assurance of his Love in mourning for what is displeasing to him is in the secret of the Soul but with this there is inseparably join'd a true and visible Declaration of our Love in Obedience to him This is the Love of God the most real and undeceitful Expression of it that we keep his Commandments The Obedience that springs from Love is 1. Uniform and universal for the two principal and necessary Effects of Love are an ardent Desire to please God and an equal Care not to displease him in any thing Now the Law of God is the Signification of his Soveraign and Holy Will and the doing of it is very pleasing to him both upon the account of the Subjection of the Creature to his Authority and Conformity to his Purity He declares that Obedience is better than the most costly Sacrifice There is an absolute peremptory Repugnance between Love to him and despising his Commands And from thence it follows that Love inclines the Soul to obey all God's Precepts not only those of easy Observation but the most difficult and distasteful to the Carnal Appetites for the Authority of God runs through all and his Holiness shines in all Servile Fear is a partial Principle and causes an unequal Respect to the Divine Law it restrains from Sins of greater Guilt from such disorderly and dissolute Actions at which Conscience takes Fire but others are indulged it excites to good Works of some kind but neglects others that are equally necessary But Love regards the whole Law in all its Injunctions and Prohibitions not meerly to please our selves that we may not feel the stings of an accusing Conscience but to please the Lawgiver 2. The Obedience of Love is accurate and this is a natural Consequence of the former The Divine Law is a Rule not only for our outward Conversation but of our Thoughts and Affections of all the interior workings of the Soul that are open before God Thus it requires Religious Service not only in the external Performance but those reverent holy Affections those pure Aims wherein the Life and Beauty the Spirit and true Value of Divine Worship consists Thus it commands the Duties of Equity Charity and Sobriety all Civil and Natural Duties for Divine Ends to please and glorify God It forbids all kinds and degrees of Sin not only gross Acts but the inward Lustings that have a tendency to them Now the Love of God is the Principle of spiritual Perfection 'T is called the fulfilling of the Law not only as it is a comprehensive Grace but in that it draws forth all the active Powers of the Soul to obey it in an exact manner This causes a tender sense of our Failings and a severe Circumspection over our Ways that nothing be allowed that is displeasing to the Divine Eyes Since the most excellent Saints are God's chiefest Favourites Love makes the holy Soul to strive to be like him in all possible degrees of Purity Thus St. Paul in whom the Love of Christ was the imperial commanding Affection declares his zealous endeavour to be conformable to the Death of Christ in dying to Sin as Christ died for Sin and that he might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead that Perfection of Holiness that is in the immortal State 3. The Obedience of Love is chosen and pleasant This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous Those that are Strangers to this Heavenly Affection imagine that
Wit to dispute and deride the most sublime and sacred Truths out of the World Their Faces are full of Death the Tokens of Reprobation are visible upon them The Issue will discover them to be the wretched Examples of that fearful Rule Those who are destin'd to final Ruin are infatuated Others are Believers in Profession and their own Conceit but Infidels in Practice Their Faith is but a vain Opinion a loose Assent to the Christian Doctrine because 't is the Religion of the Country but with our Radication and Establishment This is evident considering that the Doctrines of the Gospel are not meerly intellectual the Objects of Theory and Speculation but moral and practical the Objects of our choice and seeking This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners Accordingly the unfeigned belief of them is seated not only in the Mind but in the Heart and is correspondent to the infallible Truth and transcendent Goodness of the thing revealed they make such an Impression on the Soul that the value of them is above Life and whatever comes in Competition is with despising Disdain rejected But when Men seldom remember and little regard eternal Things how specious soever the Profession is can there be a reasonable Belief of their Words against their Works Therefore in the Language of the Scripture all that do not first seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof are Unbelievers it being morally impossible that Men should sincerely believe and have a due Apprehension of it but it must be the great Design of their Souls and the main Business of their Lives to obtain it 2. Security is the constant Effect of Infidelity and hardens Men in their Sins and the neglect of Salvation so dearly purchas'd and graciously offered to them in the Gospel Direct Infidels set their Mouth against Heaven and defy the Furnace of Hell They are blindly bold and fearless of that Judgment that makes the Devils tremble Others tho not open and palpable Infidels are in a dead Calm not sensible of their Sins and have slight Apprehensions of their great Danger Infidelity lies at the bottom of their Security As the Egyptians in the thick Darkness that covered the Land moved not from their Places so many in ignorant Darkness sit down and are at rest careless of the Saviour that can deliver from the Wrath to come Only those who have strong Apprehensions of Evils imminent and destructive will fly to Christ as a Sanctuary and Shelter and submit to his Terms of saving them Secondly The Corrupt Nature will not submit to the Sanctity and Purity of the Gospel The forecited Scripture tells us the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God and that Enmity is arm'd with many strong Lusts-opposing his Law The principal Cause of rejecting the Gospel is common to all We will not have this Man to reign over us 'T is observable that as Holiness is that Attribute wherein God doth most excel and Men are most defective so the corrupt Will is most opposite to it The Justice and Power of God in some cases Men do approve and apply themselves to if injuriously accused or opprest they desire his Justice to vindicate their Innocence and revenge their Wrongs if in Distress and Exigencies they pray that his powerful Providence may regard and relieve them but they are extreamly averse from his Holiness shining in his Laws which excites his Justice and Power to punish those who rebel against it They are ready to say to Christ what the rebellious Israelites said to Rehoboham Thy Father made our Yoke grievous now therefore make thou the grievous Service of thy Father and his heavy Yoke which he put upon us lighter and we will serve thee They will measure out the scantling of their Obedience how far he shall rule and farther they will not yield But our Saviour declares I am not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it 'T is true the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace a soveraign Composition of precious Promises of recovering Grace and pardoning Mercy but 't is also a Law and enjoins Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As without Compensation to the Justice so without Conformity to the Holiness of God we can never be restored to his Favour and enjoy him as our Felicity Our Saviour prescribes this indispensable Rule to his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me This is a comprehensive Fundamental Duty and the natural Man has a strong Reluctancy to every part of it 1. Self-dependance upon our own Vertues and Duties for the obtaining the Favour of God and the Eternal Reward is very natural to Men it was the Condition of the first Covenant to which they cleave Men of a fair Conversation and unblemish'd in the Eyes of the World have some Sparks of the Pharisee in them who justified himself that he was no Extortioner nor Unjust nor an Adulterer nor as the profane Publican and that he fasted and paid Tithes Upon such Reasons many presume of the Goodness and Safety of their Spiritual State they take Pride and Content in themselves in their Moral Goodness and do not feel the want of a Saviour nor apply themselves with humble mournful Affections to him for Reconciliation to God Others think by the Worthiness of their Works to compensate for the Unworthiness of their Sins to commute one Duty for another and ballance their Accounts with Heaven not considering that if their Works were perfectly good they are but the Performance of their Duty if they had never sinn'd It was one great Obstruction that hinder'd the Jews from receiving the Gospel They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness did not submit themselves to the Righteousness of God One of a high Spirit will rather wear a mean Garment of his own than a rich Livery the Mark of Servile Dependance Pride resists Grace and Grace resists Pride The Law of Faith requires us to renounce not only our Unrighteousness but our Righteousness even the most excellent Graces and the Fruits of them in comparison of Christ and as a Foundation of obtaining the Pardon of Sin and Salvation for ever Our Righteousness is defective and defiled and cannot endure the trial of God's inlightning Tribunal All our Doings and Sufferings cannot expiate the least Sin we must only rely upon the Lord our Righteousness to reconcile us to God and that we may stand in Judgment He was made Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him not in our selves How hard it is to awaken Men out of the Pharisaical Dream of their own Righteousness is evident both in the Doctrine and Practice of those of the Roman Communion They assert the formal Cause of our Justification in
voluntary Slaves but he has a strange Power in the Minds and Hearts of Men by his managing tempting Objects The World makes an Impression upon our lower Faculties and he improves the Impression and excites corrupt Desires As the Operations of the holy Spirit in Believers are secret but stronger than the Influence of the Stars so the Workings of Satan are in the Wicked secret but powerful I will first consider the Motives that urge him to be so active and ardent in hindering the Success of the Gospel for the Salvation of our Souls 2. His Methods and Wiles for that end The Motives are 1. His eternal Enmity to God for being under a Doom never to be reverst his Malice is always raging and working to dishonour and displease the Righteous Judg. He sinn'd from the beginning 't is his unwearied and uninterrupted Work Men in complying with his Temptations are sway'd and carried by the Biass of their Lusts some are brib'd by Profit others allured by Pleasure but his great End is that the Law of God may be violated his Majesty despised and his Glory obscur'd As in a rebellious Insurrection the Multitude are engaged some for Spoil others for private Respects but the Design of the Leader is to dethrone the King and usurp his Scepter Satan's Opposition against God is more fierce and stedfast than of the most resolved Rebels that trample upon the Divine Law every day they do more accomplish his Will than their own which will be the occasion and matter of his insulting Scorn and furiously upbraiding them hereafter Briefly he loves Sin for Sin 's sake as 't is an Affront and Provocation of the Divine Majesty and is more pleased in the Sins of Men than in their everlasting Damnation because the holy and righteous Lawgiver is dishonoured by their Sins and glorified in their Punishment 2. His old Enmity and Hatred against the Souls of Men. 'T is another Hell to him to see them restor'd to the Favour of God and his glorious Image re-ingraven on them He is a jealous Jailor and if possible will not lose any of his Captives Being condemn'd to everlasting Burnings he will make them feel his Fire The Scripture represents him as a strong and subtile Adversary a roaring Lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour and the old Serpent His Enmity is universal his Diligence is equal to his Malice and his Malice whets his Invention to lay such Trains as may be destructive to them His Strength does chiefly lie in his Subtilty If Men could see him in his Native Shape of Darkness an infernal Fiend the most cursed Creature or what he is relatively to them a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning how would they flee with Horror from his Temptations But he does not awake Sinners and then wound them he is not seen till felt nor discover'd till he has fasten'd his Stings in their Souls He spreads his Snares in the Dark and when their Spiritual Senses are lock'd in a Midnight Sleep he destroys them Secondly His Methods and Wiles for this end are various 1. He blinds the Minds of Men and hardens them in Unbelief This was his first and successful Temptation and is the Pattern that he still follows He told the Woman she should not die and the Restraint of Fear being taken away the Pleasure of Taste and Curiosity soon prevail'd with her to eat the forbidden Fruit. The Apostle gives this account of Mens rejecting the Truths of the Gospel If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them who believe not lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them His principal Design is to encrease the natural Infidelity in the Minds of Men who are so govern'd by Sense that in Matters of Faith they require the Evidence of Sense for he knows the powerful Efficacy of the Divine Doctrine where 't is believed Faith enters into the Conscience opens the Heart commands and captivates the Will and Affections and brings the most stubborn Sinners from the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of Christ. He is in them possesses all their Faculties and by that advantage works effectually He has the Monarchy of their Minds and diverts their Thoughts from pondering the Arguments that would turn their Judgments and induce the Belief of the Gospel he excites those carnal Affections that blind the Mind he inchants Men with enticing sensual Objects that they neither can nor will believe what is contrary to their Lusts. Reason Conscience Faith whereby Men are primarily and chiefly distinguish'd from the Brutes are sacrificed to the Prince of Darkness Then they are securely his own for the most precious Promises have no attractive Influence upon those in whom there is reigning Infidelity the sharpest Threatnings cannot pierce through the Armour of Obstinacy 2. The most that refuse the Offer of Grace in the Gospel are not absolute Infidels therefore the Tempter tries other ways to ruine them He observes the Dispositions and Circumstances of Men and presents such Temptations whereby they are most likely to be taken and held in his Snares Altho Human Nature be wholly depraved yet all Men are not cast into the same Mould they are distinguish'd by their various Aspects Constitutions Desires and Conditions of Life and are not wrought on by the same Motives The Tempter by his natural Sagacity and Experience he is stiled the old Serpent has exact Knowledg in the Art of discerning Men. Sometimes sudden Passions are painted in the Countenance and he takes particular Advantage to strike in with them But his universal Method is to present the fittest Baits to the natural Inclinations and habitual Dispositions of Men he knows the Faction within will readily open to his Call The Sanguine are soft and dissolute and are easily drawn to exorbitant Pleasures The Melancholy are inclin'd to Discontent Sorrow Impatience Despair Those who have active restless Spirits are taken with the Advantages of the World The muddy Mind is easily stirr'd by the Offer of Gain the voluptuous Mind is strongly allur'd by sensual Delights the aspiring Mind is incens'd by the prospect of Honour Now tho the Tempter be a Spirit and not capable of those Sins which are acted by the sensible Faculties yet not only spiritual Sins Pride Envy Malignity and the like but Fleshly Lusts even the foullest Actions are from his Incitations He was not only a proud Spirit but an unclean Spirit in David He was a covetous Spirit in Judas an hypocritical Spirit in Ananias Satan put it into his Heart to detain part of the Price and lie to the Holy Ghost He presents the Temptation and suggests Motives to embrace it He brings the Fewel enticing Objects and inspires the Flame ardent Desires to them If burning Lusts begin to cool and raging Corruptions are controul'd by the threatning of the Word
and the Terrors of Conscience he will blow them up again Now any reigning Lust is a Viceroy of Satan's and keeps Possession for him and consequently excludes the Son of God from Admission into the Heart 3. He perswades Men that Religion in its Power and Strictness is not necessary the abstaining from enormous Crimes and the performance of some outward Service will be available for Salvation Hell is the Portion of the Devil and his Children and none are of his Race but incarnate Devils unclean Spirits in brutish Bodies He makes use of carnal Men under the pretence of Friendship to perswade those who make a Shew of Conscience to be less tender and vigilant by telling them this Strictness is superfluous 't will spoil you make you unsociable and odious the Wise and Learned that think to go to Heaven with the first take a greater liberty they will say Moderation is a Vertue and by the pretence of Temper cherish the loathsom Distemper of Lukewarmness that is as fatal as a deadly Coldness The Tempter will permit Men to make use of Religion as a Medicine a little in fainting Fits to relieve and recover them but not as our daily Food not to be their diligent and constant Practice The crafty Serpent will abuse the Words of the holy Spirit Be not righteous overmuch As Judas said of the precious Ointment poured upon our Saviour Why was this waste so carnal Men are apt to say Why these severe Restraints from satisfying the natural Appetites Why such Circumspection in our walking Why keep the Lord's-day so religiously Is it not enough to hear the Sermons May we not afterwards unbend and enjoy free Society and recreate our selves with carnal Contentments They do not believe that God is so strict in his Commands nor will be so exact in requiring an account for them fond Creatures to entertain such carnal Conceits of God to think him like themselves They are apt to say the Ministers will fetter them all by imaginative Rules of Holiness unprescribed in the Scriptures For Men would fain have the Light and the Law that regulates them to be sutable to their Appetites and Actions But are we not commanded to imitate and honour our Pattern to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy in all manner of Conversation Are we not enjoined to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling to cleanse our selves from all Pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God to follow Holiness with the most zealous and unsatisfied Desires that if it were possible we might anticipate Heaven on Earth Can there be any Excuse for neglecting these holy Duties There are none more dangerously deceived than those that think they are holy enough and make no question of the Favour of God and their final Happiness They condemn profane outragious Sinners those who visibly come short of them they think will fall short of Salvation but to excel them they think is a needless Preciseness a Pride of Singularity a Mask of Hypocrisy 'T is one of Satan's Arts to conceal the Good that is in the Saints that they may condemn themselves and to conceal the Evil that is in the Unregenerate that they may flatter themselves How many fall as deep as Hell from such high Hopes for he that does not seriously desire and endeavour to be renewed into the unspotted Image of God was never truly renewed SERMON VIII LUKE xiv 23. The Lord said to the Servant Compel them to come in that my House may be full 3dly IF Conscience be not seared and senseless but awakens Sinners to reflect upon their Condition and to seek for the pardoning Mercy of God he deceives them with false Notions of Faith and Repentance and hinders their entire Compliance with the Terms of Mercy offered in the Gospel Final Unbelief and Impenitence utterly exclude Men from Salvation for the Death of Christ was not appointed to be a Sacrifice for those Sins There is no Salvation to be obtain'd without the Remission of Sin no Remission without the Blood of Christ no Application of that precious Blood without Faith This is the vital Qualification required in all justified Persons for it has a peculiar Efficiency in receiving Christ and Pardon and ascribes the Glory of it intirely to the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ. 'T is said To as many as received him he gave Power to become the Sons of God to those who believed on his Name Receiving is relative to God's Offer of Christ to the Condemned and Miserable and implies the taking him in all the Essentials of his Office as a Prophet to instruct us in our Duty and Happiness by his Word and Spirit as a Priest to atone the Divine Displeasure by his Propitiation and Intercession as a King to govern us by his Law and to bestow spiritual and eternal Blessings on us Faith receives whole Christ as a Kingly Priest and a saving Prince he is stiled a Priest upon a Throne a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins He purchas'd the Forgiveness of Sins as a Priest by his Sufferings on the Cross and pardons as a King upon the Throne from hence it necessarily follows that Faith receives Pardon from him in that Relation wherein he procur'd it and confers it The Apostle declares He died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and thereby redeem'd us and acquir'd a Dominion over us then 't is clear and consequent that saving Faith receives him for all those Uses for which God did appoint him and accordingly purifies the Heart overcomes the World works by Love and Love is the Spring and Substance of every Duty the fulfilling of the Law Now Carnal Men are deceived in this Imagination that the single Act of resting upon Christ is sufficient to entitle them to the Promise of Salvation to all that believe in him they desire an Interest in Christ to quiet their Consciences and the World to satisfy their Affections They will rest on him as a Redeemer but reject him as a Lord they would enjoy his Salvation but will not endure his Dominion they will come to partake of the Festival-Entertainment the Pardon of their Sins but not for the Honour of the Bridegroom As if the Gospel were a free Charter to Sin and gave an impure Indulgence to the vicious Affections which is as inconsistent with it as the Darkness of the Night with Noon-day in the same Hemisphere for then it would foil it self and frustrate its own End Our Saviour first redeems from Sin from the vain Conversation then from Hell There can be no regular saving Trust on his Death without an unfeigned Resolution to live within the Compass of his Laws He is the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him 'T is a blasphemous Conceit that he will save Men with their Sins If they will die in such a pleasing Dream who can prevent it
2. Men are miserably deceived about Repentance This is indispensably required not only by the Command but as a Disposition that qualifies the Sinner for pardoning Mercy For altho the Majesty and Supremacy of God be illustriously visible in pardoning Sinners and 't is most evident that his Authority is above the Rigor of the Law and his Mercy is infinitely free yet they are always exercis'd correspondently to his essential and unchangeable Perfections his ruling Wisdom his unspotted Holiness and governing Justice From hence it follows that a Sinner remaining in the Love and under the Power of his Sins is not a capable Object of pardoning Mercy Who can conceive that a wise Prince should send forth a Proclamation of Pardon to Rebels without their Consent to return to their Allegiance John the Baptist the Forerunner of the Rising Sun of Righteousness the Morning-Star of the Gospel preach'd the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins Even our Saviour begins his preaching the Gospel with this Repent ye and believe the Gospel St. Peter directed those who were anxious and inquiring about their Salvation Repent and be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins He repeats this Doctrine in Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the Times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. And he gives Testimony of the Resurrection of Christ Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sins According to this unalterable Tenor of the Gospel Repentance is the Condition that qualifies the Subject without which no Man is pardoned Some are strangely scrupulous of using this word Condition tho 't is authorized by the full Current of the Reformed Divines and I know none more convenient to express the necessity of it in a pardon'd Person Our Saviour tells his Disciples Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Are not those words a Conditional Assertion upon what Terms they possess that inestimable Privilege of being his Friends Thus when God invites Men to come out from the Pollutions of the World and to touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be your Father and you shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty Are not these Conditional Promises And upon the Performance of the Terms the Blessing will be bestowed and not otherwise 'T is objected that the asserting Repentance to be the Condition of Pardon lessens the Grace of the Gospel but this is a great Mistake for Repentance is an Evangelical Duty and Grace The Law requires Innocence and perfect Obedience or condemns without Mercy the Gospel commands and accepts Repentance This Grace was purchas'd by our Saviour and is wrought in us by the holy Spirit and join'd with Faith are the first Fruits of the returning Sinner to God When 't is exercis'd in the most eminent degrees it has not the least Merit nor Causality in the obtaining Pardon If a repenting Sinner could fill the Air with his Sighs and Heaven with his Tears if all his vital Springs were open'd and Streams of Blood flow'd out they cannot be satisfactory to God's injured Justice The unreconcilable Hatred of Sin the ardent Love of Holiness and stedfast Resolution to follow it which are Ingredients in sincere Repentance tho they are pleasing to God yet are the Duty of the reasonable Creature before the commission of Sin and therefore can deserve nothing of God But the ordaining an inseparable Connexion between Repentance and Pardon is honourable to God and very beneficial to Men for there is no State of Misery more miserable than for the Sinner to be hardned in his Sins But to return from this Digression The Scripture describes Repentance by a sincere Change and Renovation of the Mind the leading Faculty by the entire turning of the Heart from the love of Sin to the love of Holiness by the active lively Passions Sorrow Fear Shame Indignation Zeal that are principal Ingredients in it and by the Fruits worthy of Repentance and Works meet for Repentance 'T is called Repentance from dead Works and Repentance unto Life Now Men are willingly deceived with an insincere and ineffective Repentance either with a meer mental Change or with broken Resolutions instead of the intire Heart or with the leaving some Sins and retaining others that are sutable to their Humours and Lusts. They confess their Sins and condemn themselves for them sometimes they have flashing Thoughts melting Affections good Purposes to forsake Sin this they think to be sincere Repentance but when a Temptation appears they are easily overcome and live in the habitual Practice of their provoking Sins This Conceit of their being true Penitents is as unreasonable as if one that has a returning Ague should think himself freed from his Disease in the intervals of his Fits Now to quiet Conscience they readily apply to themselves the words of the Apostle What I do I allow not And since the best Saints while they are in sympathy with frail Flesh cannot be perfect but many Sins they unwarily and unwillingly commit which are Infirmities lamented by them and graciously forgiven by their Heavenly Father therefore indulgent Sinners take shelter under this Pretence that their Relapses are meer unavoidable Infirmities But what Weakness can be pretended for wilful habitual Sins Such Excuses do not cover their Guilt but discover their strong Affections to their Lusts They have not the Excuse of Ignorance to pretend the Flesh and the World are omnipotent Enemies that cannot be resisted is to blaspheme the Grace of the holy Spirit In short a new Life is inseparable from Repentance in its Reality Sad and serious Thoughts Sighs and Tears the sorrowful Confession of Sins and good Purposes against them are the Blossoms of Repentance ineffective without the substantial Fruits of it in a reformed Conversation 'T is one of the Arts of Satan to join things together that are inconsistent In Paradise he assured the Woman that she might take of the forbidden Tree and of the Tree of Life and he now deceives many with the hope that their indulged repeated Sins are consistent with Repentance But if Men do not forsake the foul Sins they lament their Sorrow will go with them to Hell and settle in the Worm that shall never die Fifthly The Tempter hinders Men from Compliance with the present Invitations of Grace by suggesting there will be time enough for accepting them hereafter and a future Repentance will be sufficient to redress all their Miscarriages By this Deceit he trains them on to Ruin By this he eludes the Force of present Convictions that without Repentance they must perish for ever and puts Men out of the Compass of Conversion 'T is clear by its own Light and needs no other Proof that present Obedience is due to the Commands of God To day if you will hear
to know God and Jesus Christ this is our Life to trust in him this is our Strength to love him and delight in him And are not Love and Joy the most pleasant Affections and is not God the most amiable and pleasing Object We are commanded to fear him and is it not most reasonable to fear the loss of his Favour which is Heaven and the incurring his Wrath that is the deepest Hell We are commanded to obey his Laws and our Saviour assures us his Yoke is easy and his Burden is light 't is an easy and easing Yoke that frees us from the most cruel Bondage of Sin and Satan And will not Men believe the Testimony of Eternal Truth rather than their fond Fancies and corrupt Appetites We are commanded to hear his Word and is it not a Happiness to be directed in the way to everlasting Life We are commanded to pray continually Is it not a blessed Privilege that poor Dust may address their Requests to the Lord Almighty the Possessor of Heaven and Earth with an Assurance that those Petitions are most pleasing to him that are for his most excellent Blessings Besides this nothing is forbid but sinful Pleasures that will end in eternal Torments sinful Profits the gaining of the World with the loss of the Soul the Gain is nothing and the Loss is infinite Now where are the Chains and Fetters that are so hard and heavy as Carnal Men complain of All his Commands are Precepts of Happiness 2. This Testimony of Scripture Carnal Men esteem a notorious Paradox they can taste no Pleasures but what are steep'd in Sense Take away the Enticings and Blandishments of the Carnal Appetites they understand no other Pleasure which is such a Deceit as if a sick Person who feels no Pleasure but in the soft and easy Intermissions of his Disease should conclude if he were entirely freed from it he should be deprived of all Pleasure Whereas the Pleasure of Health is far more desirable and constant The Angels are absolutely exempt from the Desires of our carnal Faculties and without carnal Fruitions but are ever blessed and joyful in the direct Possession of what is good not in the relief from Evils either natural or accidental as Hunger and Thirst or Sickness and Pain Pleasure results from the sutableness between the perceptive Faculties and the Objects that affect them if there be no harmonious Proportion there will be no Musick no Delight Now 't is true while Flesh is the prevailing Ingredient in a Man he only relishes the Satisfactions of the Senses he cannot enjoy God he cannot delight in doing his Will no more than a Swine can in clean Pasture whose natural Property strongly inclines it to wallow in the Mire But when the Soul is clarified and purged by the great Refiner how sublime and satisfying a Pleasure does it feel in the Love of God and in his Service As in natural feeding when the Palat is in its due Temper the Taste commends our proper Food to the Appetite and the Appetite to the Stomach but a foul Stomach disaffects the Appetite vitiates the Pallate and the most savoury and wholsom Meat is loathsom when the Disease is the Taster Thus if the Soul be in its due Temper the doing the Will of God would be our Meat and Drink mixt with a sweeter Pleasure than those natural Operations are but the Soul is so corrupt and carnaliz'd that it has no Taste of the pure Delights of blessed Spirits in Communion with God like the Israelites who despis'd the Bread of Angels and impatiently longed for the Onions and Garlick and Flesh-pots of Egypt Till Men die to Sin the Supper of the Lamb will be insipid and nauseous The Carnal Mind as grosly mistakes about Liberty 'T is horrible Folly to think true Freedom consists in doing whatever the vicious Affections require in conversing with such Persons as foment and gratify them Is that Person free that is fetter'd with as many Chains of Hell as he has predominant Lusts Was the possest Person free who lived among the Tombs among contagious Carcases Then a Sinner that without the fear of Hell obeys his depraved Appetites and associates with those who are corrupt and Corrupters by their wicked Example is free But 't is evident that the Mind the superiour leading Faculty is in Bondage while the Passions reign and the sensual Worldly Wretch with his imaginary Liberty is the most accursed Slave Till the Son makes us free from the tyrannous Power of Sin we are not free indeed Till Reason enlighten'd by the Word resumes its Right and Jurisdiction and leads the Will to choose what is best for a spiritual immortal Creature and the other Faculties to obey we are the Slaves of Satan When we are made free from Sin and become the Servants of Righteousness and yield an ingenuous delightful Subjection to God's Laws we enjoy a State of Liberty Nay the Service of God is our Glory He that loved us and wash'd us from our Sins in his Blood has made us Kings and Priests to God The most eminent Acts of Royal Authority are to govern the Subjects by equal Laws and to subdue the Enemies of the Peace and Prosperity of the Kingdom and when Divine Grace reigns in the Heart it regulates all the Thoughts and Affections the inward and outward Faculties according to the holy just and good Law of God and subdues these rebellious Lusts that disturb the Order and Tranquillity of the Soul 3. Experience proves that a State of Religion is most delightful Whenever the captive Soul is rescued from the Bondage of his Lusts and prefer'd to the Service of God how sweet is the Change and how bitterly will he complain other Lords have had Dominion over me but thy Service is the truest Freedom Did ever any of the Saints complain that God is an austere Master that his Service is a melancholy joyless Condition No in their Esteem and Affections his Law is the most pure precious sweet and profitable Good His Commands are not grievous they obey them from Choice and Complacence They love the Law-giver and like the Laws Communion with God in his holy Ordinances is a Heaven upon Earth to them One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand in the Vanities and Business of the World In the Presence of God is Fulness of Joy and the more we are admitted into his Presence here the more we are admitted into his Joy all the blessed Means of our drawing near to God and his drawing near to us are the Gate of Heaven and Entrance into Glory David who was so acquainted with God declares There be many that say Who will shew us any Good Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon me Thou hast put more Joy into my Heart than when their Corn and Wine increased A Joy more solid and satisfying than carnal Men receive in the Spring-tide of their Fruitions
our Assent tho we cannot resolve all the Difficulties that are raised against them 'T is unreasonable to deny what is evident because we cannot unfold what is obscure There is no Doctrine more frequently and emphatically asserted in the Divine Writings than that the Repentance of a Sinner and his acceptance of Pardon and Life is very pleasing to God He assures us in the most sacred and solemn manner of this As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live He is willing they should be saved and they are wilful to be damned With what render and melting Compassions does he argue with them Why will ye die O House of Israel as if they were upon the brink of Hell and ready to drop into irrecoverable Misery 2. We must distinguish between his directing Will and his approving Will whatever God decrees to effect shall be infallibly accomplish'd but many things that he approves are left undone His Commands are his Will the Rule of our Duty but not of his Purpose what he will do The Scripture mentions the Word of God's Power and the Word of his Holiness The Word of his Power effects all things according to his Will but the Word of his Holiness his Laws declar'd to regulate our Lives are often oppos'd and without Efficacy 3. The Wisdom of God directs all the Operations of his Attributes that orders the Dispensations of Mercy and the Inflictions of Justice When the Apostle had considered the astonishing Oeconomy of Providence with respect to the Jews and Gentiles he breaks forth O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out That so great a part of the World live in Darkness and die in Darkness and go to their Fathers where they shall never see Light and the Day-spring from on high visits other Nations is according to the Counsel of his Will 4. God does afford assisting Grace to Sinners which if they improved he would not desert them The Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit to illuminate excite and perswade Sinners not to forsake their own Mercy He strives with them he woes and waits to be gracious till by their obstinate Resistance they quench his holy Motions 'T is true he dispenses Grace in different degrees for he is the Master of his own Favours but tho effectual converting Grace is not bestowed upon all yet there is common Grace that has a tendency to Conversion which if humbly and thankfully improved such is the most free and excellent Goodness of God Men would receive further Supplies But they are careless and opposite to his gracious Operations therefore the Spirit is most righteously withdrawn from them He that in Luxury has wasted his Estate 't is just he dies in Poverty Besides this 't is very considerable that Men shall be condemned at the last Day not for mere Impotence but obstinate Opposition they loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil not for the want of that Grace they did not receive but for the neglect to improve that Grace they had received and rejecting what was offered The slothful Servant was condemn'd for hiding his single Talent in a Napkin not because he had not five Talents Secondly 'T is the great Design of God to glorify his Son When he brought his First-begotten into the World the Command was Let all the Angels of God worship him God has given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of things in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father Those who cross his Supreme Wisdom and Soveraign Will shall by a constrain'd Submission acknowledg the high Dignity of his Son The great Command of the Gospel is that Men should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance and Remission of Sins The Death of Christ may be considered as an Act of Obedience to God and of Love to Men. His Intention was to glorify God by bringing lost Souls to him Now 't is promised as a Reward of his Sufferings he shall see of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied He is infinitely pleased with the Salvation of Souls as the Fruit of all his Anguish and bloody Agony The Election of a number of the lost World that shall believe in him and be adopted and saved by him has a special respect to his Honour that his Death might not be in vain that the Son of God may be magnified in his unspeakable Love to them and their sincere Obedience to him his relative Glory as Head of the Body will shine in them for ever 'T is also observable the Decree of Election is of infallible Accomplishment both as to the Conversion and Perseverance of the Elect not only because the Divine Will is unchangeable and insuperable with respect to the Events determined by it but with a peculiar regard to the Glory of Christ. No Principle of Opposition in the corrupt Heart of Man can frustrate the Operation of God's Spirit either in the powerful entrance or sure continuance of his Grace Our Saviour tells us All that the Father gives me shall come to me And speaking of his Sheep he saith My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pull them out of my Father's Hand The Purpose of God and Purchase of Christ secure their Salvation for these our Saviour intercedes Holy Father keep through thine own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are His Mediation is never interrupted when Christ's Prayer and God's Power are ineffectual then may they fall away totally and for ever whom God keeps and Christ commends to his keeping From hence it appears that the Ministers of the Gospel are indispensably obliged zealously to endeavour the Salvation of Souls which the Father has design'd for the Honour of his Mercy and which the Son of God esteems his dearest Glory The APPLICATION 1. From hence there is just cause to admire the glorious Grace of God in converting Sinners and making them willing to comply with the Terms of the Gospel Indeed 't is strange to Amazement that Men involv'd under the Guilt of Sins so numerous and so heinous and liable every hour to the Sentence of the Law so sure and severe Eternal Death for their Sins should neglect a Pardon so dearly purchas'd and so graciously offer'd and not with the deepest Humility with ravishing Joy and the highest Thankfulness receive it Is there no Spirit no Understanding left in them Nay is sensible Nature and its inviolable Inclinations so extinguish'd that they are Enemies to themselves But
if we consider the Depravation of Mankind so inveterate and invincible we shall turn the Current of our Wonder another way that the obstinate Perverseness of any is subdued and that with consenting Wills they receive Christ as their Prince and Saviour Election is the Fountain of distinguishing Grace Many are called but few are chosen Conversion Adoption Justification Sanctification Glorification are all the Fruits of electing Mercy By the most gracious and free Act of his own Will he chose some out of the corrupt Generality and they are but a little diminutive Flock to make them Vessels of Honour that his Goodness might be the more admirable Those who are made a willing People were by the natural and contracted Hardness of their Hearts as averse and repugnant to the Heavenly Call as others if after a thousand Repulses the Spirit had been withdrawn they had died in their Sins but as 't is said of Lot's miraculous Rescue from the Flames of Sodom While he lingred the Angels laid hold upon his Hand the Lord being merciful to him and brought him forth and set him without the City so the free and omnipotent Grace over-rul'd their reluctant Hearts and strongly and sweetly inclin'd them to God their supream and satisfying Good and to come to Christ as the only means to restore them to the Favour and Enjoyment of God The natural Man is no more able to believe with a saving Faith in Christ than to obey the whole Law 't is the Gift of God He provides the Means of Salvation and applies them he by victorious Grace leads Captivity captive and bestows that most precious Gift upon his People How many that enjoy'd the same Gospel and did not reject so many Invitations nor so often grieve and vex the holy Spirit nor so long abuse the Patience of God were justly left in their Sins this will set a Lustre upon special and saving Mercy O what a conspicuous Discovery what a lively and thankful Sense will there be of this Grace in the next World Our Saviour tells the unbelieving Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and you your selves turn'd out The Comparison of the opposite States will then be more joyful and transporting to the Saints and more manifest and tormenting to the Reprobates They shall feel a burning Thirst after the Happiness they have lost and be tortur'd between Desire and Despair for ever 2. Let those who make light of the Invitations of Grace consider what will be the Issue of their Obstinacy Within a little while Conscience will awaken the Remembrance of their careless Contempt of the Divine Mercy and that will awaken Despair To instruct such Persons and make them afraid that they may fly to the Sanctuary from the Destroyer let them consider 1. This will render them inexcusable Their Obduration and final Ruin will be of themselves God is pleased to appeal to the Human Understanding What could I do more for my Vineyard that I have not done His Works and his Words are declaratory of his Will how pleasing the Repentance and Life of Sinners is to him He has prepar'd a Saviour and Salvation and offers them to lost Souls In the Year of Jubilee Liberty was proclaim'd for all the Israelites who had been Servants but if any one would not leave his Master his Ear was bored and he was a Servant for ever Thus the acceptable Year of the Lord is proclaim'd in the Gospel a happy Freedom to Sinners by Jesus Christ but those who are in love with their reigning Lusts refuse this Freedom and are condemn'd to the worst Bondage for ever God by his Authority commands them to repent and believe the Gospel He invites them by the most gracious Promises to accept and receive them he expresses the most tender Compassions towards perishing Sinners Why will ye die He reproaches their unaccountable Folly How long ye simple ones will ye love Simplicity He urges them by terrible Threatnings not to neglect his offer'd Grace But they are deaf to his loudest Calls if a Lust whispers from their Earthly Affections they are presently moved No Mercy will soften them no Reproofs will reform them the richest Means of Grace are lost and they prodigally perish Now how justly do they fall under the condemning Sentence of the Law who slight the Mercy of the Gospel God takes no Pleasure in the Death of a Sinner but they take Pleasure in their Sins they die in their Sins because they will die they are deprived of Life because they will not come to Christ that they may have Life At the Day of Judgment lost Sinners will intirely clear God and deeply charge themselves with their deserved Ruin 2. Such are irrecoverable The Gospel is the only Dispensation of Grace if Men obstinately reject it their Condition is as desperate as if they were bound in Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the great Day Mercy alone can heal us and if that be wounded our Sickness is incurable He that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abides on him His Doom is sealed and irreversible God now speaks in a still Voice but hereafter he will speak in a Whirlwind to the Despisers of his Grace 'T is true we cannot say a Soul is quite lost while there is a delay of Judgment but the Scripture declares that Sinners by their stubborn Refusals of Mercy make God inexorable to their Prayers There is a day of Grace and the Lapse of it is fatal to the Neglecters Of this there have been very fearful Examples how many Despisers of the Grace of the Redeemer in the course of their Lives yet in the Agony of their last Departure when their Sins with a ghastly Aspect appear and with frightful Horror they look into the bottomless Pit Conscience anticipates the Divine Judgment Let the most compassionate Ministers offer them the Cordials of the Gospel and tell them they despair too soon the self-condemning Conscience replies they repent too late O that Men were early wise to secure their eternal Interest 3. The neglect of Salvation will aggravate Sin and the Judgment of Men. This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light The higher the Disobedience the lower the Damnation will be of Sinners The Heathens in their Race of ignorant Rebellion are not so guilty nor liable to so heavy a Sentence as those who disobey the Gospel The Israelites had so abus'd the Mercies of God to his Dishonour there were no such Rebels on Earth the Prophet was fain to descend to Hell for a Comparison to equal their Wickedness Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom Give Ear unto the Law of our God ye People of Gomorrah But those who turn the Grace of God into an occasion of