should not shelter our selves in a formal outside Sanctity but attain to that New-birth wherein all the Power of Sin is perfectly vanquished and subdued and no Life stiring but that which flows from and partakes of GOD's Spirit And we having such a Potent Assistance it must needs enliven and encourage us to put forth all our Strength in mortifying our Sins and Corruptions being assured that through the mighty energy of this Divine Spirit we shall become Victorious over all our Enemies And that though we have old Rebellious Giants within us powerful Lusts like the Sons of Anak yet this Almighty Spirit if we be not treacherous and false to his Inspirations is able and certainly will bring us into the promised Land And that we have no greater success in the Mortification of our Sins proceeds not from the want of the supply of GOD's Spirit but from our own Carelesness and Falseness When he calls to us to awake and arise from the Dead from that dull and stupid condition we lie in under our Sins we resist his Influence and shut our Eyes against that Light that shines in upon us and fall again to our old slumbering and drowziness But if we would collect the Powers and Faculties of our Souls together and go against our strongest Vices and our habitual and customary Sins with hearty and sincere Resolutions of destroying them this Spirit would never be wanting to us but we should find wonders wrought in our own Souls We should find the dry and parched Soil that barren Wilderness wherein no Plant of sincere Piety and Righteousness has of a long time prospered to become a Plantation of GOD and filled with all Divine Graces and Vertues For certainly GOD has not afforded us this Help to gratifie our Idleness or Vanity but to actuate our Diligence and to enliven our faint and drooping Spirits That we may not conceit our selves to be under an invincible Infirmity and Imbecility and that we shall never be able to free our selves from the Tyranny of the Body of Sin but to go on with Courage and rest assured that when the Enemy comes in like a Flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him This must of necessity bring a wonderful comfort to a Man under his strongest Temptations and in his sorest Conflicts with Sin and Vice to be assured not only that he shall not be left alone and forsaken but that this eternal Spirit shall co-operate with him and strengthen and perfect him in the inner Man till he have brought him unto Glory And because the Promise of the Holy Spirit is one of the great Props and Encouragements of a Christian Travelling through the Wilderness of this World therefore it is in plain Words and without a Parable declared by our blessed Saviour John 14.15 16 17. If ye love me keep my Commandments And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knows him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 2. A second powerful Motive for the begetting a Divine Life and Nature in Men which is the ultimate end of Christian Religion is the consideration of the stupendious love of GOD in sending Jesus Christ for the Redemption of the World This our Lord himself signified to us John 3.16 So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting Life GOD is a Being of infinite Love and Goodness that as he made all things to be happy according to their several Natures so his compassionate Eyes could not behold them for ever lost and involved in an inextricable Ruine though through their own Fault and not provide them some means of recovery The Psalmist says Psal 145.9 that the tender Mercies of God are over all his Works And if Compassion and Mercy be essential Attributes of GOD as doubtless they are then there is a mighty suitableness and agreeableness between a poor and undone Creature and Pity and Compassion Whereby we are assured that it is alone the infinite Love Mercy and Compassion of GOD that moved him to rescue the World from perishing for ever And that this might more deeply affect our Hearts and more powerfully draw us off from our Sins his All-comprehensive Wisdom so contrived it that his only begotten Son should take our Nature upon him and be the Saviour and Redeemer of all his lost Brethren What a strong Argument now is this to reclaim the most stubborn Offender Had we but common Gratitude it would certainly move us to make our returns of Love and Affection in some degree answerable to so infinite a Kindness And when we shall consider further that all this Provision was only upon our Account and that GOD was not in the least bettered or made more happy by our Salvation this will turn it into Admiration that GOD should take such pains and compass such strange Designs and all for his Enemies that wilfully departed and revolted from him There is another cogent Argument to promote the grand design of the Gospel and that is a serious Meditation upon the Crucifixion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ It is a wonderful Privilege granted to Men that they should be received into favour after their heinous Rebellion against GOD. But when we consider that this Privilege was not bought or procured for them by such mean and contemptible things as Silver and Gold for which yet we know that things of greatest Worth pertaining to this Life may be had but by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ that immaculate Lamb as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1.18 19. this makes it still more wonderful For the greatness of the Price by which any Privilege or Liberty is purchased for any Man 't is a higher engagement upon him to improve this Benefit to the utmost as well for his behoof who has made the Purchase for him as for his own And what Treasure is there in Heaven and Earth more valuable than the precious Blood of the Son of GOD And yet he willingly offered this for the World that he might disengage Men from their Sins and perswade them to follow Holiness which should be for their eternal Benefit and Advantage To illustrate this by a familiar Similitude suppose some dear Friend should part with his Life to redeem another from some certain danger which otherwise would ruine him and should only Condition with him to perform some easie Commands which yet should tend to his unspeakable Good and Advantage Could such a Man slight so great a Love or ever think himself too punctual in observing those light Injunctions which his dying Friend had laid upon him Surely if it were but for his own Gain and Profit he would never disregard them The case is the same with us
Natures would lead them to that they cannot be so wicked as they would be For fear and sense of Pain have a greater force upon our Minds in this Earthly State than the strongest and most refined Deductions of Reason We cannot but see how weak and ineffectual those Humane Laws are which have no Punishment annexed for the Transgressors and by how much the greater the Penalty is by so much the more cautious it renders the Actions of Men. Now as no Humane Laws do directly intend Punishment so neither do the Laws of GOD but this severe Penalty is added as a Fence and Security and serves to fright Men out of the Arms of their Sins and is a powerful Bar against the wild Excursions of Flesh and Blood Having now so fully manifested that Christianity hath nothing unreasonable in it whether we look upon the Frame and make of it in General or whether we reflect upon the Doctrines contained in it we may draw some few Inferences from hence As 1. That every Christian according to his Capacity ought to look upon it as his Duty to be able to give a Reason of his Faith It is the Apostles advice 1 Pet. 3.15 Be ready to give an Answer to every Man that asks you a Reason of the hope that is in you And again 1 Thess 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good For since GOD hath so far complied with our Weakness as to suit the whole business of Religion to our Measures and Capacities and yet made all its Commands and Doctrines to bear so grateful and pleasing a Harmony with our Rational Frame he expects that we should be able to say more for it than a Jew for the Mosaical Law or a Turk for the Alcoran or a Pagan for his ancient Superstition And yet so supinely negligent are the greatest part of those that profess Christianity that they can give no better Account why they are Christians than that it is the Religion which their Forefathers lived and died in or because it is that which by Law is established amongst them and they have been trained up from their Infancy in such a Persuasion which is no more than what multitudes of the greatest Hereticks have had to plead for themselves Whereas Christian Religion bearing in its Face the evident Marks and Characters of the eternal Reason must surely admit of a better Apology And the great cause why we do not discern the beauty and agreeableness of it must be attributed to our Slothfulness and Negligence and to the prevalency of those naughty Affections that we suffer to lead us about For it is certain that a Mind that is puffed up with Pride and Vain-glory that is filled with the Thoughts of the World and Earthly Vanities that is sunk down and drowned in bodily Pleasures is in no fitter Disposition to make a Judgment of Religion than a Blind Man to difference and distinguish Colours 2. From hence we see That GOD does not require us to believe without giving us good Grounds and Reasons For GOD in the structure of Christianity adapting it so far to the Imbecility and Imperfection of our Nature and taking all possible care for our Satisfaction that we may not believe blindfold without enquiring or asking a Reason it is a sure sign that he would have us make use of those Faculties that he has given us And moreover the great Cognation there is between the Laws of Religion and the Primitive Inscriptions of our Souls puts us out of all doubt that they are not the Effects and Results of mere Arbitrarious Will but the Products of immutable and eternal Wisdom Wherefore as GOD has given us our bodily Eyes to secure us from harm and danger and to direct us in the several Actions of our Lives so has he given us our Reasons and Understandings to perform the same Offices for our Souls that our Eyes do for our Bodies 3. Lastly There is no Man can despise and undervalue the Gospel but he must be given over to a Prophane and Atheistical Spirit For since there appears such signal Notices and characteristical Marks of Divinity all along in the Scriptures and that there is such a thing as Justice and Injustice Truth and Falshood antecedent to all Positive Laws whatever and these Notions engraven at their first Creation upon the Souls of Men it must necessarily argue a strange Disease and Distemper of Mind to contradict those things which are so symmetrical and agreeable with their intellectual Frame I confess there are some who as St. Paul speaks of the Gentiles or Pagans Rom. 1.18 do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unjustly detain and imprison the Truth that whereas their natural Faculties suggest to them the Being of a GOD and that this All-perfect Being can communicate his Will and Pleasure to us Mortals yet will rather stupifie besot and bedead the choicest Powers of their Souls than suffer them to entertain a Truth so uncomplying with their carnal Lusts and Affections And this the same Apostle expresses in another place 2 Thess 2.10 By not receiving the Love of the Truth i. e. not carrying such a pliable ductile and sequacious Temper of Mind as ought to receive and embrace what is so congenerous with it self And nothing sooner throws the Soul into this forced and preternatural State wherein it loses that Criterion that should distinguish between Good and Evil Truth and Falshood than Sensuality and the love of the Animal Life For this petrefies stiffneth and makes the Mind so insensible and obdurate as not to be rouzed up and awakened with the Voice of Thunder Wherefore when Religion is made so fully unexceptionable to deride and scoff at it as a mean jejune and contemptible Thing against all the Sence and Reason that ever Mankind was endued withal is as horrid a piece of Impiety as any one can be guilty of and will at last lead to the uncomfortable Chambers of eternal Destruction A DEFENCE OF Revealed Religion SERMON IV. ROM I. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ WE have taken away in what has been already discoursed from these Words the two first Causes or Grounds which may induce a Man to be ashamed of any Matter or Doctrine propounded to gain belief to it And they were if it were neither true nor reasonable 3. The third is if it be not intelligible i. e. if it be not delivered in such plain and easie terms as that those to whom it is delivered may understand it Now as to this Particular we shall lay down this conclusion That Christian Religion so far as concerns the Salvation of Mankind is so plain and open that the most mean and vulgar sort may understand it And this we shall prove not only very reasonable that it should be so but absolutely necessary and could not be otherwise And that upon these Accounts 1. Christianity was given to be the Religion of all Men not only of Philosophers and
of reasonable Creatures that if a disinteressed and unprejudiced Person were to speak his Mind he would say That neither the Wit of Men nor Angels could find out a more agreeable and effectual means for the recovery of the World than what is already made use of in the contrivance of the Gospel For here GOD hath consulted the Weaknesses Infirmities Prejudices and Imperfections of Mankind which they had contracted by a long Degeneracy and Corruption and Corruption and which were become so inveterate and deeply radicated as not to be removed but by such a Dispensation as might so far gratifie Humane Affections and natural Propensions as might be consistent with the Honour and Sanctity of the Divine Nature And this is that which St. Paul calls the Foolishness of Preaching 1 Cor. 1.21 For after that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the Foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe Which is not so to be understood as if the Pagan World had no knowledge of the one only true GOD the Creator and Governour of all things forthen the Apostle would have contradicted what he had said in another place Rom. 1.19 where he says the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is knowable or may be known of GOD was manifest within them but that the generality of the World before Christianity by their natural Light and Contemplation of the Works of GOD did not attain to such a Practical Knowledge of GOD as might both free them from Idolatry and effectually bring them to a Holy Life to both which ends Christian Religion was designed of GOD that it should attain Therefore it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe i. e. by a way of condescending Wisdom gratifying all our innocent Propensions and accommodating it self so far to the radicated and inveterate Prepositions of Humane Minds To give some Instances of this condescending Wisdom besides the general Impurity and Corruption of the Lives of Men a Learned Jewish Author gives this Account of the Pagan Polytheism and Idolatry The Idolaters says he first argued thus in respect of GOD That since he was of such transcendent Perfection above Men it was not possible for Men to be united to or have Communion with him otherwise than by means of certain middle Beings or Mediators as it is the manner of Earthly Kings to have Petitions conveyed to them by the hands of Mediators and Intercessors Secondly They thus argued also in respect of themselves That being Corporeal so that they could not apprehend GOD abstractly they must needs have something sensible to excite and stir up their Devotion and to fix their imaginations upon Here being then so early a Prepossession and general debauching of Men's Minds Divine Goodness and Wisdom hath so condescended to Humane Frailties and Inclinations as instead of that multitude of Middle Beings or Mediators which Apuleius calls Inter terricolas Caelicolasque Vectores hinc precum inde donorum qui ultrò citróque pertant hinc Petitiones inde Suppetias A kind of Carriers between the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth who travelling to and fro carry our Prayers and Petitions thither and bring from thence Gifts and Supplies for us to constitute and appoint One Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who offers up our Petitions and intercedes with GOD and procures Blessings and Favours for us By his Intervention we receive seasonable Supplies for all our Exigences and Necessities here and he takes care to conduct us at last to that Immortal Glory that he himself is now possessed of And that we may not err in transferring our Worship upon the Creature upon the Account that we can have no abstracted Conception of GOD and in this our Earthly State need something to invigorate our Devotion and fix our Imagination upon GOD hath cloathed himself with our Flesh and Blood and taken into a near Union with himself the Soul and Body of our Lord Jesus so that though rude and ignorant Mortals might fancy GOD as a pure and immense Spirit too raised an Object for them in this their degenerate Condition to have any Conception of yet what is sensible and visible and congenerous with themselves they must needs have an apprehension of and such is the Body of our Lord Jesus which is the Temple wherein now the Divinity is enshrined and wherein the Schechinah or glorious Majesty and Presence of God resides and manifests it self Which is a clear Instance of the condescending Wisdom of GOD which in compliance with the Prepossessions and Mistakes of Mankind wherein they were fatally and inextricably involved hath provided a visible Object of their Worship and Adoration by uniting himself with Humane Flesh I might instance in divers other Congruities wherein Christianity is so exquisitely fitted to redeem the World from the Tyranny of Satan and yet to gratifie even in a sensible manner all the more innocent Propensions and Inclinations of Mankind But I shall have occasion to take notice of some in the Progress of my Discourse It will now be requisite to take a more near and intimate view of the frame and contexture of Christianity wherein we shall with admiration behold a mighty congruity with our natural Faculties and a wonderful compliance all along with our Infirmities and Necessities For what can be thought more becoming and reasonable than 1. That some extraordinary Person should be sent from Heaven who should in the most convincing manner assure Men of the Will of God Now this is already done For by the Gospel we are assured that Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of GOD hath appeared upon Earth to declare his Father's Will unto Men. And by this way of proceeding GOD not only conciliates Reverence and Esteem to the Doctrine that was delivered but gives an evident and mighty demonstration of his infinite Love and Goodness and that he is really desirous of Mens eternal Happiness and Welfare In that the Will of GOD was discovered and made known by a Person so near and dear to him as his own Son is a sufficient ground of Reverence and Esteem Since all People in the World have ever reccived a Message from Heaven with the highest Veneration and so much the more as the Person that delivered it was of higher and greater worth And this was so general a Persuasion that the most famous Law-givers amongst the Pagans that they might make their Laws pass the better and find a more ready Acceptation with the People they feigned some Heavenly Power or other to be Author of them And what was but pretended by them was really and truly performed by our blessed Saviour who being the eternal Son of GOD clothed himself with Flesh and Blood and asserted his Commission to be from GOD and was owned by a Voice from Heaven to be what he declared himself And lest this should not be enough to convince the World
before he entred into his Glory Nor is it any more unbecoming or unworthy the Majesty of God to unite himself with a Humane Body which his own hands have fashioned and which is fearfully and wonderfully made than it was for the Divine Presence to take up its Residence in the Jewish Temple and dwell in a House of Stone Lastly That Jesus Christ should be made the visible Judge of Men and Angels is no less congruous and rational 1. In respect of himself this Honour and Triumph of the Divine Life being a just Reward of his voluntary Sufferings and Humiliation which is the Account our Saviour Christ gives himself John 5.27 And hath given him Authority to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of Man That is because he humbled himself to so high a degree as not only to take upon him our Flesh and Blood with all its harmless Infirmities and Imperfections but endured with wonderful Patience the Contradictions of Sinners the opprobrious Tauntings and Revilings of a Rude Generation and submitted himself at last to a Death full of Pain Ignominy and Disgrace 2. In regard of wicked Men and Devils For this visible Appearance of Jesus Christ in so solemn a manner attended with innumerable Legions of mighty Angels descending into these lower Regions near the Earth the Glory of whose Presence will be conspicuous to all the World must needs be a very sensible Conviction to all Wicked Persons of the Folly of their Doings when they shall see the same Jesus that delivered the Will of God to them now come to call them to an account for not obeying it And since there may be and doubtless are many Scoffing Atheistical Spirits in the Aerial Regions as well as here on Earth who ascribe all great Mutations in the World to Chance and Fortune or the necessary Combinations of Matter this appearance of our Lord and Saviour in such a visible manner according to the sure Predictions of the Holy Scriptures will effectually confute their vain Philosophy and force them even against their Wills to acknowledge the Interposition of a Divine Power and Providence Neither will it be a less afflicting Abasement of the insulting Pride of that Old Serpent and his Rebellious Associates who so long Tyrannized over Mankind with such Contempt and Scorn to feel themselves cast down into everlasting Destruction by that Nature which they had so much vilified and abused 3. In respect of those who have been faithful Adherents of Christ Jesus and firmly persisted in Goodness notwithstanding the many discouragements they met withal his Appearance in such a sensible manner will be exceeding comfortable and joyful for they beholding him coming down from Heaven with such transcendent Power and Glory must needs overflow with transports of Joy to find that now their Redemption will be fully compleated For what may not they hope for at his hands who is both their merciful Redeemer and their Judge And this very sight of their long-expected Saviour will invigorate their Souls with such a high degree of Life as shall through the inward Operation of the Divine Spirit transform their vile Bodies into the similitude of the glorious Body of the Son of God and in these fiery Chariots like Elijah they shall ascend from these mortal Regions to augment the Train of this great and Almighty Judge So every way agreeable are the Articles of our Christian Faith 2. We come now to the second Part of the Doctrines of Christianity which consists of such things as are commanded as Duties and matters of our Practice Which are only a reviving the natural Inscriptions and Laws of Righteousness Engraven upon our Souls at their first Creation For it cannot be thought but that that long Degeneracy we lay under and the powerful and vigorous growth of our Animal Faculties must exceedingly impair if not wholly obliterate the fair Impresses of the Divine Nature upon us so that we have need to have all those eternal Rules of Righteousness and Holiness to be laid down to us afresh And the manifestation of the Duties and Obligations that Christianity lays upon us is the exsuscitating and raising up that decaying and almost dying spark of Divine Life yet left in us and which may gain such strength by the powerful energy of the Spirit of Christ as to consume or convert into its Nature all that Rubbish which hindred and obstructed it And according to these Measures the Commands and Laws of Christianity are framed so that they are a part of the ancient Intellectual Furniture of our own Souls For furely there can be nothing more natural and consistent with our rational Frame than to Love and Honour God from whose infinite Fulness we and all things received their Being with all our Hearts and with all our Strength To depend upon him for all our Supplies and to acknowledge our own Nothingness that all that we have proceeds and flows from his inexhausted Bounty To sit quiet and contented under the various Dispensations of his Providence and to bring our Minds into a Subordination and perfect Conformity to his Holy Will in all things And as Christianity enjoyns us to pay all Duty and Service and Obedience to God so it strictly Commands all manner of Justice and Righteousness to others forbidding all harm and wrong to any thing living and instead of that requiring every Man in his several Station and Capacity to do all that Good that at any time lies in his Power To be kind and compassionate forgetting and forgiving all manner of Injuries done unto us and returning Good for the Evil that we have received Furthermore Christianity commands us to avoid all Lying and Hypocrisie as things beneath the excellency and dignity of our Nature and to speak the Truth in sincerity and singleness of Heart To banish out of our Minds all Malignity Rancour Malice and Envy as being the most contrary to the Nature of God who delights in the Prosperity and Happiness of his Creatures and therefore the Soul of a Christian above all others is enlarged and widened with an universal Love and Charity readily undertaking the help and relief of the Necessitous and Indigent looking upon all Mankind as Brethren and thereby joying and delighting in the Felicity of the whole World Now as to our selves we are engaged by the Precepts of our Holy Religion to exercise great Temperance and Moderation Sobriety and Chastity in reference to all Corporeal Satisfactions and Delights Not to defile and pollute our selves with debauched and sensual Pleasures but to remember that our Souls once came from the pure and incorruptible Mansions of Heaven and therefore that it is very unbecoming to suffer them to wallow and tumble in the Dirt and Mire of the Earth And since we are of a Divine Extraction Religion puts us in Mind to behave our selves as Citizens of that Heavenly Country and to release and withdraw our Affections from this World and to think of our return thither
a Happiness By what means then comes it to pass that the World is no fuller of true and sincere Christians Answ It is true indeed and must be confess'd with all sadness of Heart that notwithstanding our Duty is so clear and manifest and that the Summ of Religion like the Prophet's Vision Hab. 2.2 is written in such legible Characters that he that runs may read it yet it hath not had that due effect upon the Hearts and Lives of Men as it ought to have And although the unsuccessfulness of Religion may be resolved into many and different Causes yet I shall only instance in some which are most obvious and frequent As 1. Because Men place their Religion in Opinions and Sects in Words and Notions more than in the everlasting Rules of Righteousness Charity Goodness and Truth It cannot but be matter of Sorrow to every sober and serious Christian to see the Catholick Church rent into so many Pieces and Divisions one crying as of old I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos and a third of Cephas as if a Christian were not Baptized into Christ Jesus but into some particular Person whose Dictates and Perswasions he most of all affected to follow Every one almost locking up the Gates of Heaven with the Key of his own private Opinion and excluding all them that cannot compromise with his Judgment and Perswasion And thus they build up again that Partition-Wall between Jew and Gentile which at the Death of Christ was rent asunder to intimate to us That in the Christian Religion as the Apostle shows Col. 3.11 there should be neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ should be all and in all That is there should be no more distinction of Parties but all should be of the same Mind professing the same Christian Faith and owning the same common Saviour and should be so united and incorporated together as to become as it were one Mystical Christ Religion lies not in the Brain neither is it this or that Opinion that will bring a Man to the Haven of his desired Happiness without the constant Practice of all Christian Vertues and the indispensible Duties of the Gospel of Christ Great Knowledge without the inward Life and Power of Religion is but like the fruitless Fig-Tree that sent forth nothing but broad Leaves and renders a Man so much the more miserable by how much the more he knew his Masters Will and did it not Happy were it for the World if every Mans Knowledge would blossom into Practice and bring forth Fruits answerable to that Holy and Pure Religion he lives under There is no knowledge in Christianity that will do a Man any good unless it be in order to Practice and he only is truly Wise who makes this use of his Knowledge that he may become the better Christian Though I speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels and have not Charity says St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.1 I am become but as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal And if a Man had all the Wisdom of the World epitomiz'd and contain'd within his own Breast yet if he made use of this for Ostentation or to gain a Party and not for the purifying his Heart and enlarging the Kingdom of GOD in his Soul his Religion would be but an empty noise and he would find this building which he has raised upon the Sands too weak to hold out against the Storms of Troubles and Afflictions The Wisdom which is from above as St. James informs us Chap. 3.17 is first Pure then Peaceable gentle and easie to be Intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And again Chap. 1.27 Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World Now when Men shall neglect these plain and indispensible Duties of Christianity and take up with some self-chosen Opinions that contribute nothing to the true honouring of GOD or the edifying of our Fellow Christians it is no wonder that Religion does not gain ground and thrive in the World 2. Another Reason why Religion prevails so little upon Mens Hearts is because they live too much upon Sence We are more affected with the present Objects of our Senses than with the things that are invisible and at a distance from us and are only Objects of our Faith Whereas Christianity when firmly seated in us and the Power of it displayed upon our Souls would teach us to Walk by Faith and not by Sight 2 Cor. 5.7 And Accordingly if we did make the infinite Rewards of Immortality but present to our Minds and did as firmly believe them as we do what we see and hear and handle it is impossible but that we should be equally affected with them and they would have as strong a Faith upon us The sure Promise of Immortal Glory would as strongly move and put us upon Action as any worldly and sensible Good if the Belief were equal And if we acted agreeably to the Constitution of our own Natures the Reasons and Arguments suggested to us by our Rational Faculties ought as forcibly and powerfully to perswade us as those which are urged upon us by our Senses But while we speak doubtfully and believe waveringly and uncertainly the Felicities and Joys of the other World make little or no Impression upon us And this doubtless is one great Reason that Religion has so little effect upon our Minds Suppose we saw our Lord and Saviour coming in the Clouds attended with Thousands of mighty Angels to judge the World which with the Glory and Brightness of their Heavenly Bodies should cause a Light surpassing that of the Sun How strangely would such a sight as this affect us Surely it is nothing but our Earthliness and the dwelling of our Minds so much upon Sense that we are so little affected with the thoughts of it now since that which will certainly come to pass ought to be looked upon as just now present 3. Lastly to the foregoing Particulars we may add as one no mean Cause why the Gospel prevails so little upon Men viz. the want of that which the Apostle St. Jude speaks of ver 20. The building up one another in our most Holy Faith As GOD renews and regenerates our Natures by his Holy Spirit so it is the Duty of all Christians to be workers together with him and to edifie and strengthen one another and help to carry on to perfection that work which GOD has begun in their Souls In Rom. 15.2 3. the Apostle charges this Duty upon every Christian Let every one of you please his Neighbour for his good to Edification i. e. Let every Man subject his own ends and desires to the spiritual Good of other Men viz. to the confirming and building them up in the Christian Faith And to bind this Exhortation yet
faster upon the Consciences of Men the Apostle makes use of the Example of Christ in the next words For even Christ pleased not himself i. e. Christ had no respects for himself no ends of his own to consult but as if he had wholly forgotten himself he devoted himself perfectly to the promoting of his Father's Glory The whole number of Christians that believe in Jesus are one Body Now as the Members of the Body have the same care one of another so ought every Man to be very tender of the Good of his Fellow-Christian If a Man be a true and unfeigned Christian he will not walk solitary and alone in his way to Heaven but will strive to draw as many to accompany him as he can in so pleasant and gainful a Journey He will always be instructing those that are ignorant comforting the weak-hearted and strengthning those that are wavering and unsettled And where these things are wanting and every one lives as a Stranger to another it cannot be expected that the Gospel should draw off Men from Sin so successfully and with so much Triumph as it would if Men would lay aside their little Self-ends and be of more universal and publick Spirits and employ their Wit and Diligence in doing good to one another The summ and conclusion of the whole matter is this Since Christian Religion was intended not merely for Wise-Men and such as were of great Reach and Understanding but for the poorest and weakest Person it is in all things necessary to Salvation made plain and easie And that GOD might gratifie our innocent search after Knowledge he has hid many precious Treasures of Wisdom in the Scriptures as a Reward of our Piety and Diligence And therefore where any thing is delivered so obscurely that with our best diligence we cannot attain to the true sence and meaning of it it is a sure sign that whatever sence GOD intended yet he did not make that absolutely necessary to the Salvation of all Men. For if he had he would have laid it down in plain and not in intricate and ambiguous Terms In the mean time we must all consider that it is our Duty to pray unto GOD as the Apostle St. Paul for his Disciples the Colossians Chap. 1.9 10. and to desire that we may be filled with the knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding That we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good Work and increasing in the knowledge of God And let us remember that as GOD has distributed the measures of his Gifts and Graces to every one accordingly shall their account be at the last day He that cannot read the Bible and has fewer opportunities of knowledge his account shall not be so great as his that can Read and has leisure and time to inform himself And he that has skill and knowledge to understand the Scriptures shall yet be more severely treated if he do not make use of this both for his own and his Neighbour's Good A DEFENCE OF Revealed Religion SERMON V. ROM I. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ HAving dispatched the three first Causes of Shame we come now to remove and take away the fourth and last and to shew the great Usefulness of Christian Religion to the World The usefulness therefore of any thing consists in the serviceableness of it for that end to which it was designed Now this very Apostle assures us 1 Tim. 4.8 that Godliness is profitable to all things having the Promise of the Life that now is and that which is to come that is to say Christianity is serviceable useful and conducing to promote the Happiness of Mankind both in respect of this present Life and that which is to come First then we shall consider the Usefulness of Christ's Religion in order to the Felicity of the next World and shew how excellently well suited it is to the attaining of that Which the Apostle seems to intimate in the Words of the Text when he calls it the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believes Had Christian Religion designed the instructing of Men in the knowledge of Nature giving them a true System of the Heavens and declaring the Natures and Properties of all Things in this our Earthly Globe it would indeed have filled the Mind of Man with abundance of Pleasure and Delight but had mightily fallen short of that universal Usefulness that now it hath The great End therefore which GOD intended by the Gospel was the Advancement of true Godliness the pulling down and destroying the Kingdom of Sin and Satan and the erecting and setting up the Kingdom of Light and Grace in the Hearts and Minds of Men. And that this was the purpose of GOD cannot be unknown to any who considers the great Excellency and Perfection of the Commands of Christianity and what a high measure of Purity and Sanctity they aim at namely the entire Purification of the Soul from all manner of Terrestrial Defilements and Pollutions and the raising up in it a Divine and Heavenly Nature which being that State wherein we were at first created and into which we are recovered by the gentle Influences and Illapses of the Divine Spirit upon us there is begotten in our Souls a daily Tendency upwards and a restless endeavour to free themselves from that Preternatural Load that hangs about them and this effort of theirs receiving fresh Strength and Supplies from above never ceases till it have wrought them to such a high Pitch as through the Benignity and Power of him who is the beginning of the Creation of God they may be translated into the Peaceful Mansions of everlasting Glory We shall consider then the exquisite suitableness and serviceableness of the Gospel for the extirpation of all Sin and Vice and putting Men in possession of a Holy and Divine Nature which surely is the most advantageous Happiness the Soul of Man is capable of And if Religion be furnished with such Powers and Assistances as will against all Opposition whatever attain this great End then its usefulness to the World will be evidently discovered and no Man will have any reason to be ashamed of it Now that this End may be attained 1. GOD is pleased to promise us the Assistance of his holy and blessed Spirit For we being so sunk into this Earthly State that we are wholly carried away with its Affections and Lusts could never by our own single effort and solitary endeavours bring our selves back to the Participation of that Holy and Divine Life we fell from Therefore GOD out of his infinite Love and Compassion and upon the Intercession of our Lord and Saviour has vouchsafed us the aid of his blessed Spirit to regenerate our Natures and to form in us such a strong and active Principle of Holiness as should steadily carry our Wills to a perfect compliance and obedience to his Holy Will That we
Jesus Christ who took our Flesh and Blood upon him parted with his own Life to Redeem us from an inevitable Danger which would have undone us for ever And in recompence of this great Love he desires us only to make our selves Happy by taking upon us his easie Yoke and light Burthen And can we be so ungrateful as to slight him for it and forget his Commands What Bands or Cords can tye Souls nearer together than that Love which is stronger than Death Or what Words make deeper Impressions upon the Hearts of Men than those that are spoken by their dying Friends It is not possible for the Heart of Man to conceive a more effectual way to expell Sin and Wickedness and more conducing to the furthering of Goodness and Holiness than the consideration of the Death of Christ For that the Son of GOD who had no Sins of his own to satisfie for should descend from Heaven and submit himself to the Weakness Frailty and Drudgery of our Mortal State and endure such deep Agonies of Spirit as forced him to sweat drops of Blood and after suffer an inglorious and painful Death upon the Cross and this merely upon our Account and out of a mighty sense of Compassion for our Misery is so astonishing a Love as must needs thaw our icy Hearts and dissolve them into Tears and a ready Conformity to his Will How can any Man go on and continue in Sin when he considers that his Saviour came for this only end into the World that he might destroy the Works of Sin and Satan and present all Men a glorious Church to GOD without Spot or Wrinkle Whatever Sin therefore it be that assaults thy Soul present unto it thy dying Saviour who with his out-stretched Arms on the Cross sues for admittance into thy strongest Affections Art thou insnared with Pride How canst thou look upon thy self without watry Eyes when thou beholdest the Son of GOD born a helpless Infant of a poor Virgin subject to all the Hardships and sinless Infirmities of our Nature and at last breathing out his innocent Soul on the Cross for his bitter Enemies Art thou Covetous and too desirous of worldly Enjoyments then remember Judas and consider what a heinous and bloody Act his Covetousness betrayed him to even the delivering up his harmless Lord and Master to the malicious and implacable Jews And whoever sets his Heart upon the World he does with Judas sell his Saviour Thus you may see of what great usefulness this one Consideration of the Death of Christ is to the Mortification of all our Sins And this the Gospel every where holds forth to the same purpose that we should express his Death on the Cross in our Souls by our dying unto Sin and Crucifying all our corrupt Lusts and Affections 4. Another powerful means by which Men are drawn off from their Sins and engaged in Holiness is the example of our Holy Lord and Master Whose Life and Actions were therefore carefully written by his Disciples that Men might learn of him and follow his Steps And that we may more clearly discover wherein we are to imitate and follow the example of our Lord and Saviour we must distinguish between those Actions which our Lord did as a publick Person invested with Authority from Heaven As likewise those Actions of his which he did to confirm his Mission we must distinguish these I say from those wherein he is set as an Example for us to imitate 1. Therefore we are not called to imitate Christ in those Actions which he performed as a publick Person For there were many things which he did that related wholly to his Office as he was the Messiah the great Representative of Mankind who took upon him and came down from Heaven to reconcile the World to GOD. Thus he gave new Laws of Life to Men and forgave Sins by his own Power and Authority and laid down his Life as a publick Victim and Sacrifice for the World To these we may add his Fasting forty Days and forty Nights His leading a single Life and refusing all Earthly Honour and Dignity And hitherto likewise we may referr that Action of Zeal wherewith our Lord was possessed for the Honour of GOD and in behalf of the despised Gentiles against a corrupt Generation who only pretended but had really nothing of true Zeal or the Honour of GOD in them when as St. Matthew relates it Chap. 21.12 He went into the Temple of God and cast out all them that Sold and Bought in the Temple and overthrew the Tables of the Money-Changers and the Seats of them that sold Doves 2. Nor are we called to follow and imitate Christ in those Actions which he did to testifie the Truth of his Mission that he came from GOD and acted by his sole Authority Such were all his miraculous Works His giving Sight to the Blind Speech to the Dumb and hearing to the Deaf His commanding the Winds and Waves of the Sea which instantly obeyed him His multiplying Bread according to his own Pleasure so that a few Loaves should be sufficient to satisfie some Thousands of Eaters His curing all bodily Diseases and Distempers and shewing his Power over Evil Spirits which upon his sole Command and Word were forced to leave those Bodies they had vexed and tormented But above all his raising the Dead to Life shewing that he had a Power not only here but in the Regions of separate Souls likewise Now in neither of these are we called to imitate our Lord and Saviour But though we are not enjoyned to follow him in these yet are they not therefore thrown away or recorded to no purpose We may make a good use of every one of these Actions of our Saviour though we lie under no necessity to imitate him in them nay it were a presumption in us so to do When we read that he fasted Forty days we may learn that the further we withdraw our Minds from bodily Lusts and Affections we are in a greater Forwardness and better Disposition to converse with GOD. When we hear that our Saviour Christ stedfastly declined all Earthly Dignities and Honours It shews us what a light esteem GOD puts upon these things in comparison of the participation of his Nature in true Goodness and Righteousness And so of all our Lord 's Miraculous Actions which were as so many Credentials and Seals from Heaven that attested and verified his Commission and the Authority by which he acted There is something still that we may draw for our encouragement and support in that holy and unblameable Life which he came to propagate in the World When we find him by a Miracle redressing the Infirmities of Mankind and easing them of their Sorrows by curing their bodily Distempers Does not this teach us to be of a Compassionate Temper to sympathize with others in their Miseries and as far as we are able to lend our assisting hand to free them from them When
and fretting Passions of Pride Envy and Malice are the Causes that disturb Mens own Quiet and that of the Society wherein they live and makes them like those Disconsolate Spirits we read of in the Gospel continually wandring up and down seeking rest but finding none But if they would strive to suppress the Boilings and irregular Fermentations of their Spirits and endeavour to turn them into Calmness and Meekness if they would give that Honour and Deference to their present Governors that Christ's Law Commands and bear a hearty Love and Benignity to all their Fellow Creatures it is impossible but that a lasting Peace and Concord should ensue upon such fit and duly qualified Preparations They would then see that our present establishment which Divine Providence hath so miraculously brought about is not only for our own but the universal Good and Happiness of all Europe 2. Another Publick Blessing is Plenty which cannot be more desirable than it is ascertain'd and secur'd by the Laws of Christianity For what can more contribute to a general Plenty than that every Man be industrious in his proper Calling The Christian Doctrine enjoyns Diligence which like a provident Governess sollicites and excites the torpid and languishing Members of our Earthly Frame to a careful discharge of the several Offices of Humane Life Religion is a thing that retrenches the unruly Appetites of Men and cuts off those superfluous Expences which Luxury and Debauchery make them obnoxious to And this it does by teaching Temperance and Frugality and by shewing Men a nobler and more profitable way of converting their Abundance by Charity to the Necessitous and Indigent which is indeed a true imitation of that divine and overflowing Goodness which the whole Creation in their several Measures and Capacities tastes of 3. A third Publick Blessing is Safety and Security from Danger Which Religion hath so far an influence upon that it tells us it is only the true fear of GOD that can make us dwell in safety And That no Evil shall happen to the Just but the Wicked shall be filled with Mischief Again Righteousness exalteth a Nation but Sin is the Reproach of any People When Men once become Treacherous to their GOD they seldom prove true to his Vicegerent here below And if they had walked up sincerely to the Prescriptions of Christianity the Fears of a Foreign Invasion had been needless It is want of Religion that makes Men betray their Native Country correspond with its Enemies and puts them upon such courses as the braver and more generous Heathens looked upon as Wretched and Ignoble For surely those Persons who can let themselves loose to unhinge an established Government to weaken and undermine a Prince who upon juster Accounts Merits to be called Deliciae humani generis than that Noble Roman Emperor whatever pretences they may make to Christianity will find it the hardest thing in the World to prove they have any Religion at all Where a People are truly Religious submissive to their lawful Governours and Charitably affected towards one another there the invisible Ministers of GOD's Providence are engaged in their Protection and Defence and those Chariots and Horses of Fire are as ready now to preserve true Goodness as heretofore to secure the Prophet Elisha from the Attempts of the Syrian Army 'T is only when a Nation grows deplorably Wicked that their Guardian Providence is withdrawn and those kind and officious Spirits say as of old of Babylon Forsake her and let us go By this it appears that Religion and Vertue are abundantly serviceable for the obtaining Publick and General Blessings Now for those that relate to every particular Man's Person they are either the Blessings of the Soul or Body or of both Those of the Soul are 1. Joy and Contentment of Mind when the Soul enjoys it self in a perpetual Calm and is not ruffled and discomposed with boisterous Passions I do not mean that our Passions should be eradicated by a Stoical Apathy for that were to deprive the Soul of the choicest Furniture which GOD and Nature has bountifully conferred upon it and to turn Men into some other Species of Being than what they are Desire being the Feet and Wings of the Mind in its vigorous contention after Vertue and Hope and Gladness the Arms that embrace so great a Good But that when the Affections are kept within their due Bounds and Limits and all subjected to the Imperium and Command of the first mover Divine Love the Soul sustains and keeps it self so firm and compacted by that inward Power and Strength that the most violent Storm of external Accidents cannot shake or dissettle that Satisfaction and Contentment it reaps from the Exercise of Vertue And indeed this is such an inestimable and solid Treasure as is justly to be preferred before the choicest Gratifications of the bodily Life All worldly Joy is flashy and dilute and carries with it much of an Earthly Composition But that satisfaction of Mind that arises from a sence of well-doing is substantial and immoveable and can neither be destroyed by Time nor damp'd and choak'd by the most Calamitous Circumstances of Humane Life Who are there in the World that live so pleasantly and contentedly as they that are truly Religious Whose Minds are free from all distrustful Fears and Jealousies believing themselves secure under the Royal Mantle of Heavens Care and Providence and who can look back upon their past Lives without any sense of Terror and Guilt So that if our Hearts and Consciences condemn us not for Sin and Vice they will set us above all those anxious Fears and Sollicitude that render a Man's Life uncomfortable On the other side it is certain that every Vice fatally draws after it a Chain of Misery and Affliction and he that makes a Trade of Sin cannot but look upon himself as a Person always obliged to Punishment And this creates a perpetual distrust and misgiving of Mind affording him nothing to support his Patience under here nor any hope of bettering his Condition hereafter But besides these disquieting Fears and Terrors the constant Attendants of Vice which produce restless Days and sleepless and uneasie Nights those Evil and wicked Affections to which Men in this Life are enslaved have a very Evil Influence upon their Souls in the other World For whatever it be that the Mind of Man pursues as its ultimate Good and Felicity those Passionate Desires and Emigrations of Spirit after it follow him even into the next Life The Covetous Person who spins out his Life in a golden Thread hath his Appetite and Hunger keenly edg'd in the next World after the Idol which he ador'd in this And the Lascivious Man burns with those Flames his Debauched Soul had kindled here below And because the future State denies the acting of those Vices in such Circumstances as here upon Earth it rends the perplexed Mind with a perpetual Thirst after that which she can