reject the Devil and despise the World to avoid every occasion of sin Jam. 4.7 1 Joh. 2.15 1. Thess 5.22 and appearance of evil and whatever things are true whatever things are honest whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise seriously to think of these things and faithfully to do them Phil. 4.8 9. More particularly Heb. 11.3 1 Tim. 6.15 16 it requires men to acknowledge one God the Creator and Governours of the World to conceive him as an infinite and incomprehensible Being to testifie the inward reverence and devotion of their hearts Rom. 12.1 2. by the most ready and universal obedience to his Will to love him for his Goodness to stand in awe of his Justice and his Power 1 Joh. 4.8 Mat. 10.28 Mat. 6.25 1 Thess 5.18 Joh. 4.24 to depend upon his Providence for their protection and to express their thankfulness for the receipt of his Mercies to be serious in all parts of his Worship to live always as in his presence and to manifest their respect to God by their reverend behaviour to every thing that is appropriate to his service or participates of his nature Faithfully to believe all divine Revelations humbly to submit to all the dispensations of his Providence and sincerely to observe all the manifestations of his Will and Pleasure To believe on the Son of God as the Saviour of the World the great Doctor and Governour of the Church Mat. 1.21 Jam. 4.12 1 Tim. 2.5 and the alone Mediator between God Man It prescribes the particular Offices engaging men to a due regulation of all their thoughts words and deeds that do immediately respect their own persons Luke 21.34 It directs them to Temperance and Moderation in eating and drinking in sleeping and recreation to Chastity and Purity both in the married and unmarried estate to Humility and Modesty in the disposition and carriage of men Acts 24.16 To restrain every unruly Passion within the bounds of Reason and to regulate every the most lawful Affection according to the rules of Religion To guide and manage their Behaviour with sobriety and understanding and to order their Discourse with gravity and discretion It lays down also the most excellent Rules of Charity and Justice toward their Neighbours obliging every man to the greatest Sincerity Uprightness and Integrity to each other Mat. 5.23 24 25. Rom. 13.7 to an universal Innocence and Harmlesness in all actions to make Compensation where Offences have been committed to carry a due Respect and Reverence proper to the several Orders and Degrees of men to observe all the positive Acts of Justice distributive and commutative according to the Offices of that Calling wherein divine Providence hath disposed man's Station and to observe all the duties of Love and Charity which the necessities of others require Gal. 6.10 and the abilities of men do qualifie them for In a word the Christian Profession is so pure so undefiled a Religion that it prohibits the least impurity and gives no license to the smallest sin for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Secondly It propounds the most convincing Arguments to encourage men against the Wiles and Temptations of the Devil and to perswade them to the sincere and constant practice of Vertue and Goodness It threatens the Wicked with the Wrath and Indignation of God at present and promiseth to the Vertuous and Good the Providence of God as his infinite Wisdom shall judge most expedient for them But because it is manifest God doth not call Mankind to an account in this World nor deal with them in strict Justice according to their deserts for his external Dispensations are very promiscuous both to the Good and Bad therefore the Gospel doth seriously present to the consideration of men an infallible certainty of a Judgment to come when God shall render to every man according to his works Acts 17.31 2 Pet. 3.10 2 Thess 1.7 Mat. 25.30 ad fin 2 Cor 5.10 It informs us of the nature of the Judge the dreadful preparation for his coming to Judgment the terrible appearance of his Majesty the great proceedings of that day and the irreversible Sentence past upon all concerned in it that we may be confidently assured there are Rewards in store for every man that the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him and the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him It represents the greatest fulness and exuberancy of divine Love Rom. 2.7 8 9 10. Life and Immortality to the Vertuous and Good but the utmost severity of divine Justice Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to the Vicious and Bad. It assures to all that live according to the Rules of that holy Institution eternal and solid Bliss both in Body and Soul that the one which was corruptible shall put on incorruption which was sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory which was sown in weakness shall be raised in power 2 Cor. 15.42 43. And the faculties of the other so eminently transformed that the Understanding which now seeth the most perspicuous things but darkly and through a Glass shall be endued with the greatest measure of knowledge and entertained with the clearest sight of the divine nature to behold with infinite satisfaction the glorious attributes of God and the wonderful Counsels and effects of them all in his works of Providence toward his several Creatures The Will and Affections shall be perfectly transformed into the divine likeness that Anger Envy Hatred and such troublesome Passions shall be utterly abolished Desire shall be sped into Fruition and Hope shall be swallowed up in Victory and those delightful and ravishing affections of Love and Joy shall survive and remain to the eternal consolation of Soul and Body But it threatens the Wicked that they shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God Mark 9.24 26. where are Flames so quick and scorching that they shall seize upon Soul and Body Torments that shall always be beginning never ending which the damned themselves by their Malice shall increase and by the gnashing of their Teeth shall help to be their own Executioners So that those who comply with the Wiles and Temptations of the Devil must expect a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour them Heb. 10.27 but those who resist that evil Spirit and seriously renounce his works may expect that glorious
or Death are ascertained to us that he should delineate to our very eyes in plain and legible Characters the excellency of his Doctrine by the Piety and Innocency of his Life and so recommend his Precepts to our practice by his own Example set before us that he should convince and assure us of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine by many and undeniable Miracles that he should seal the truth of what he delivered by his own bloud offer up his Life a Sacrifice to death to procure life to the sinful World that by his divine power he should rise out of the Grave gloriously ascend to Heaven intercede with his Father on our behalf and from thence send us another Comforter even the spirit of Truth which should inform our minds with the knowledge of all necessary truths and bring us to the love and practice of all Christian Vertues and Graces Certainly this method is abundantly able to destroy the works of the Devil and the prevail with sinners to lead godly and pious lives Which will most evidently appear if we proceed to consider the second Argument to illustrate the truth of the Apostles Assertion II. The Son of God hath in many remarkable instances already supplanted the Power of the Devil in delivering many Souls from the tyranny and dominion of that insulting Enemy notwithstanding the great disadvantages and discouragements that the Christian Religion hath met with in the World both from Jews and Gentiles from the first plantation of the Gospel until now For though the Jews were circumcised the eighth day and in their Childhood kept in cruel bondage under their Parents and Masters who constrained them to learn the Law of Moses and when they came to riper years were taught by the Scribes and Pharisees who sate in Moses Chair that their Religion was eternal and the Oeconomy thereof never to be altered and therefore were bound to reject any person that should broach any other Doctrine to discard him from their Synagogues to stop his mouth that he might not speak and their ears that they might not hear And 't is notorious that the Gentiles were no less fortified in their Heathen Rites and superstitious Customs every Nation having their respective Deities whom they constantly adored and offered Sacrifice to and some of them so careful to secure the honour of their Gods and all under their Authority in their Idolatrous observances that as Melanchton notes in his Epistle to his Comment upon the Romans every Athenian made a Vow at his admission to the Liberties and Franchises of the City se pugnare pro diis solum cum aliis not onely to fight valiantly in the front of an Army to defend and vindicate their Gods but like the Roman Scaeva to withstand whole Legions Adde to all this the Opposition that was to be expected without the Scoffs and Jears that Christians must expect from their Neighbours the Censures of their Laws and the displeasure of their Governours the meanness of Christ and the unworthiness of his Apostles the poverty and weakness of them both that they were utterly unable to supply the wants of their Disciples or defend them from the malice and cruelty of their Enemies But above all consider the corruption of their hearts and the contrariety of the Gospel to their former course of life forbidding the least Impurity and threatening vengeance against the smallest sin which they poor wretches were wholy immersed in and in honour of their Gods were not onely taught to practise but commanded to observe And yet notwithstanding such great contradictions the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God to salvation constrained both Jews and Gentiles with a holy violence to break asunder their unlawful Oaths to disclaim their former Religions to flie from the snares and delusions of the Devil and to become Proselytes to the Religion of Jesus For when that glorious Light the Sun of Righteousness appeared in the World the beams of his Majesty were immediately dispersed over the face of the Earth and his Glory in a short time dispelled that hideous darkness which had overspread the World and brought Life and Immortality to light For so the Evangelist tells us that by the miraculous instinct and conduct of a Star the news of his birth was revealed to the furthermost parts of the Earth as soon as ever he was born and the Princes thereof came to pay their Adoration to him and when they saw him fell down and worshipped him Mat. 2. And when he entered upon his Prophetick Office though he did not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets yet the Children of men slockt in abundance to hear him deservedly counting it their greatest honour to become the Disciples of so glorious a Master So great Worth they saw in his Person and such Excellency in his Doctrine such glorious Rewards he propounded to them such intolerable miseries he warn'd them to flie from that they made hast to deliver themselves from the bonds of sin by which they were detained Captives to the will of the Devil and without delay became the Followers of Christ glorying in nothing more than in being Christians And as our Lord himself did so miraculously rescue the Souls of men from their subjection to Sin and Satan so that life and vigour which continually attends the dispensation of the Gospel hath been illustriously manifest in opposition to all the Powers of Darkness and the Malice of Hell it self For as his Apostles went up and down preaching the Gospel the Lord added to the Church dayly such as should be saved Three thousand Souls became Converts to the Christian Faith at one Sermon of St. Peter's Acts 2.41 In the Roman Empire and the Province of Judea multitudes multitudes thronged into the Kingdom of Christ and not onely the weak and impotent people but the great ones and wise men of the Earth cheerfully embraced this divine Religion accounting their Strength weakness and their Wisdom folly until then Cornelius a Centurion became a Proselyte to it Nero's Family had some Saints Sergius Paulus a Proconsul and Dionysius the famous Areopagite at Athens became Converts to the Christian Faith And the Histories of the Church present us with many and many excellent Persons of great esteem for their admirable Learning and vast Endowments who in a short space of time voluntarily forsook the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and sincerely devoting themselves to the service of Christ were deservedly famous in their Generations for Piety and Devotions Which very Argument Arnobius insists upon when he reasoned with the Heathen to perswade them to receive the Faith of Christ that men of the greatest Wits and Parts Tam magnis Ingeniis paediti Oratores Grammatici Rhetores Consulti Juris ac Medici Philosophie etiam secreta rimantes Magisteria hec expetunt spretis quibus paulò antè fidebant c. Arnob. cont Gent. l. 2. p. 44.
Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physitians and Philosophers forsook their former Sentiments and adhered to the Doctrine of Christ Nay so mightily prevailed the Word of God in despight of the Devil and all the Powers of Darkness that within an Age or two after the Incarnation of the Son of God his dominion was as large as the World and extended over the Territories of the whole Earth Hesterni sumus Apol. C. 36. c. 1. vestra omnia implevimus c. saith Tertullian For the Temple of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and the daily Sacrifice perfectly ceased and such the Reformation in the Gentile World that the Devils forsook their ancient Habitations and trembled Eus Ecc. Hist l. 2. c. 3. l. 3. c. 8. where-ever the noise of the Gospel sounded their clamorous Oracles soon became dumb and their principal Deities mute as a Child their great Gods forsook their beloved Temples and though some were chained yet they were constrained to run away Nay so bold and confident were the Primitive Christians in their Apologies before their Persecutors that they challenged the Governours and Rulers Tert. Apol. c. 23 22. before whom they appeared to bring any persons possessed with evil Spirits or grieved with any other Infirmities and if they did not in the Name of Christ restore the one sound to his health the other to an entire mind they would be content to die the most ignominious accursed death Nay Lact. de fals Sap. l. 2. c. 25 26 to discover the excellency and vertue of the Christian Religion they were bold to say that by the Administration of the Gospel they would undertake to convince the most obstinate to convert the most obdurate sinner and to transform the most diabolical and hellish nature into a divine and heavenly temper verifying hereby those lofty Expressions of the Apostle that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Heb. 4.12 Mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And to this very day the Son of God hath rode in triumph over the Devil not onely by teaching men to deny all ungoaliness and worldly lusts to live soverly righteously and godly in this present world but by redeeming them actually from all iniquity and purifying to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Thus it was prophesied of the Messiah Isai 61.1 and fulfilled by him when he appeared in the World as he himself testifies The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath appointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bound and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4.18 19. In a word the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs and all the Saints of God that have departed this life in his Faith and Fear and now make up that part of the Church Triumphant in the Kingdom of Heaven waiting for the accomplishment of our Victory and the perfecting of the Body of Christ have been redeemed by the Bloud of the Son of God delivered by him from the snares of Death and the power of the Devil and are now sate down with the Lamb of God in the highest Heavens III. The Son of God will most certainly obtain a perfect Victory over the Devil before he resigne up his Commission to his Father as from all eternity he was fore-ordained and in the fulness of time solemnly inaugurated into this Office As to this very day he hath been faithful in the administration of it to the destruction of Satan's Kingdom so he will undoubtedly continue till he hath accomplished the number of his Elect 1 Cor. 15.28 compleated the body of the Church Triumphant and subdued the Power and Authority of his Enemies So that though the Devil disturb the Peace of the Church and make his rendezvouz in the World seeking whom he might devour and destroy yet the Son of God who in his Resurrection led captivity captive and to this day hath gone on conquering and to conquer will still proceed in this victorious manner till he hath perfectly routed the Devil and his Angels and his place be found no more on the Earth as it is prophesied by St. John Rev. 12. For at the last and dreadful day there shall be a general conflagration in the World to consume the Wickedness thereof when the Devil and his Angels shall be constrained to appear before this glorious Prince and receive their final doom which was denounced upon them when they were cast out of Heaven to be thrust into the bottomless Pit with all their accursed Crew to be tormented day and night and to dwell in everlasting burnings when the great Redeemer of the World the Captain of mans Salvation shall gloriously ascend to the Kingdom of his Father and in triumphant Chariots carry up with him an innumerable company of blessed Saints who shall sit down with him in his Fathers Kingdom and reign as Kings and Queens for evermore We have hitherto considered the truth of the Proposition delivered in the Text That it was the grand designe and purpose of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil that he was manifest in the World to deliver Man from his Power and Dominion to teach and enable them to walk in the ways of Vertue and Goodness From which Argument 't is just and obvious to infer three things 1. From hence men may learn whether they be indeed the Servants of God and Disciples of Christ or the Slaves and Vassals of the Devil 'T is the continual Employment of that accursed Spirit to lay Snares in our way to Heaven to tempt and entice Souls to the practice of sin and thereby to ascertain their eternal Ruine On the other side 't is the constant endeavour of our blessed Saviour to deliver men from their evil ways to encline their hearts to the Love and their lives to the Practice of all manner of Goodness thereby to reconcile them unto God and to save them in the day of the Lord. Flatter not your selves then in a business of so great concernment Our Apostle lays down a plain Rule from this Doctrine He that doth righteousness is righteous even as Christ is righteous v. 7. He that committeth sin is of the Devil v. 8. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin v. 9. And in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God v. 10. Let men pretend what they will a sinful and wicked life is a plain Mark and Character of one that belongs to the Devil as on the contrary a vertuous and godly Conversation