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
Thus Intemperance and Luxury shorten the Lives of Men and accelerate Damnation Fierce Desires and wild Rage are Fewel for the everlasting Fire in Hell The same Evils considered Physically are from the Efficiency of Sin consider'd legally are from the Guilt of Sin and the Justice of God This being a Point of great Usefulness that I may be more instructive I will consider the Evils that are consequential to Sin under these two Heads First Such as proceed immediately from it by Emanation Secondly Those Evils and all other as the Effects of God's Justice and Sentence First The Evils that proceed immediately by Emanation from it and tho some of them are not resented with feeling Apprehensions by Sinners yet they are of a fearful Nature Sin has deprived Man of the Purity Nobility and Peace of his innocent State 1. It has stain'd and tainted him with an universal intimate and permanent Pollution Man in his first Creation was holy and righteous a Beam of Beauty derived from Heaven was shed upon his Soul in comparison of which sensitive Beauty is but as the Clearness of Glass to the Lustre of a Diamond His Understanding was Light in the Lord his Will and Affections were regular and pure the Divine Image was imprest upon all his Faculties that attracted the Love and Complacency of God himself Sin has blotted out all his amiable Excellencies and superinduc'd the most foul Deformity the Original of which was fetch'd from Hell Sinners are the natural Children of Satan of a near Resemblance to him The Scripture borrows Comparisons to represent the defiling Quality of Sin from Pollutions that are most loathsom to our Senses from pestilential Ulcers putrifying Sores filthy Vomit and defiling Mire This Pollution is universal through the whole Man Spirit Soul and Body It darkens the Mind our supream Faculty with a Cloud of Corruption it depraves the Will and vitiates the Affections 'T is a Pollution so deep and permanent that the Deluge that swept away a World of Sinners did not wash away their Sins and the Fire at the last Day that shall devour the Dross of the visible World and renew the Heavens and the Earth shall not purge away the Sins of the guilty Inhabitants This Pollution hath so defil'd and disfigur'd Man who was a fair and lovely Type wherein the Skill and Perfections of the Creator was conspicuous that it repented God that he made Man As an Artificer having form'd a surprizing Piece either a Statue or Picture wherein Art almost equall'd the Life and Lustre of Nature if it be torn or broken throws it from his sight with sorrow impatient to see it so rudely defaced Thus God is said to hide his Face from Sinners to express his Displeasure as unwilling to behold the Disparagement of his Master-piece the excellent Product of his Wisdom and Power 2. Sin has degraded Man from his native State and Dignity Man by his Extraction and Descent was the Son of God a little lower than the Angels consecrated and crowned as a Priest for the Service and Communion with his glorious Maker and as King over the World But being in Honour he understood not his Dignity his Duty and Felicity and became like the Beasts that perish By his Rebellion against his Creator he made a Forfeiture of his Dominion and lost the Obedience of sensible Creatures and the Service of Insensible which I only mention and shall restrain my Consideration to shew how he is become like the Beasts as an Effect resulting from his Sin He is devested of his white Robe of Innocence and his noblest Perfections Reason and Religion Sense and Imagination the leading Faculties in Brutes are his Rulers The rational governing Powers of Man have lost their superior Sway and the Carnal Passions rove without Reins to forbidden Objects The lower Appetites are predominant which is the most ignominious and cruel Servitude wherein Human Liberty can be intangled and fetter'd His Understanding and Will that were capable of taking a flight for the Discovery and Fruition of Celestial and Eternal Things are debased and limited to sensual perishing Things and derive vilifying Qualities from them He is Earthly-minded his Aims Contrivances Desires are fastened to the Earth the Divine Spark within him is cover'd under Ashes He is carnally minded always studying and making Provisions for the Flesh. This is a viler Debasement than if the Counsellors of State were employed in the sordid Offices of the Kitchin or Stable Nay 't is a Diminution below the Rank of Beasts for by Nature they are uncapable of directing their Eyes and Desires towards Heaven but Man is Brutish by his voluntary Sin To see the Head of a rapacious Wolf or fierce Tyger or lustful Horse joined to the Body of a Man how monstrous would it appear But 't is more unnatural and ignominious for Men in whom Reason and Religion should govern to resemble them in the Brutish Appetites of Lust and Rage for there is a nearer Affinity between the Body of a Man and of a Beasts that agree in the common sensible Nature than between the Immortal Spirit of a Man and the Beasts that perish In short Sin has enslaved Men to Satan an Infernal Fiend They are taken Captives by him at his Pleasure And which is the lowest Degradation they are the Servants of Corruption 3. Sin has broke the sweet Peace and blessed Concord in the Soul the Felicity of our innocent State Peace is the Tranquillity that results from Order and Unity In Man there was a regular Harmony of all his Faculties the Affections were consonant with his Will his Will with his Understanding and his Understanding with the Law of God This was the inward State of his Soul in his Creation for having a derived Being it was natural and necessary that he should be appointed to his End and receive his Rule for the obtaining it from the Understanding and Will of his Maker Now whilst there was a Correspondence in his Faculties and their Operations with his Rule and End the Will of God and the Glory of God the Result of it as well as the Reward of it was Spiritual Peace with God Internal Peace with himself External Peace with others Now Sin has dissolved this Unity violated this sacred Order And from hence 1. Peace with God that consisted in his Favour and Friendship to us and our Filial Dependance upon him which is the Spring of full and satisfying Joy is broke God appears a fearful Enemy against the Sinners the penal Effects of his Wrath I shall speak of distinctly under the second General And that Divine Calm in the Conscience that Peace joyn'd with the purest Pleasure that was the Reflex of God's Favour on the Soul is changed into anxious Apprehensions of his just Power to punish us Guilt generates Fear and Fear Hatred and both cause a woful flight from God 2. Internal Peace is broke by Sin Whilst the Passions were subordinate to the Empire of
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
the weak or faint may be restored The first and last Lesson of Pagan Philosophy was to support Men under the Storms to which they are liable in this open State to render the Soul velut Pelagi rupes immota as a Rock unshaken by the Waves But all their Directions were unsuccessful and so could not secure them from Impatience or Despair But the Gospel that assures us of the Love of God in sending Afflictions for our Spiritual and Eternal Good is alone able to compose the Mind And whenever we faint in Troubles 't is either from Infidelity or Inconsideration 't is impossible a Person should be a Christian and be incapable of Comfort in the most afflicted State for we are really so by the holy Spirit who is the Comforter When we speak sometimes to those we judg infirm we speak to Infidels who only receive Remedy from Time which they ought to receive from Faith they they have the Name of God only in their Mouths but the World is in their Hearts Their Passions are strong and obstinate not subject to sanctified Reason The Difficulty they have of being comforted discovers the necessity of their being afflicted They need Conversion more than Consolation others who are sincere in Faith yet are apt to faint under Troubles from an Error like that of the Apostles when their Lord came upon the Waters in a stormy tempestuous Night to their Assistance they thought he was a Spirit So they look on God as an Enemy when he comes to sanctify and save them the Soveraign Remedy of our Sorrows is to correct the Judgment of Sense by a serious Belief of God's Promise Thus we shall reconcile the roughness of his Hand with the sweetness of his Voice he calls to us from Heaven in the darkest Night 'T is I be not afraid He corrects us with the Heart and Hand of a Father A due Consideration of these things will produce a glorified Joy in the midst of our Sufferings Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our Learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have Hope SERMON VI. LUKE xiv 23. The Lord said to the Servant Compel them to come in that my House may be full OUR Blessed Saviour in the days of his Humility among other Instances of his admirable Condescension was pleased in his Sermons to stoop to the Capacity of the Hearers and instruct them in a familiar easy way The infirm Eye of Flesh cannot behold Spiritual Things in their immediate Purity and Glory but as shadowed under sensible Comparisons Therefore his excellent Goodness made use of Parables to illustrate and explain by Representations and Patterns borrowed from things common and known things of a sublimer Nature and more distant from our Apprehensions and by this ingaging lively manner to awaken the Spirit to consider by what is said what is signified and to insinuate into the Affections Divine Truths so pleasingly conveyed to us Now of all the Parables in the Gospel this of the Marriage-Feast both in respect of the Excellence of the Matter and the manner of Expression sutable to our Capacity deserves the serious Application of our Minds and Hearts I will make some Observations upon it that may be useful and introductive to the following Discourse Two general Parts are to be considered in it viz. I. The Narrative of the Prepations and the Persons invited to the Feast II. The Success of the Invitation In unfolding these Generals I shall consider the Substance of the Parable without straining it by far fetch'd Parallels beyond the Intention of our Saviour 'T is a curious Folly to turn every Figure in Scripture into an Allegory The Parable is the same in Substance with that in the 22d Chapter of St. Matthew from the 2d Verse to the 15th that indeed has more of Circumstance and Magnificence in the Relation The certain Man that made the Feast is there stiled a King that is the blessed God and the Feast is for the Marriage of his Son Under this Figure of a Royal Marriage is represented the Mystical Marriage between Christ and his Church and the Type is infinitely excell'd by the Reality If we consider the Persons join'd in this Divine Alliance the Son of God of the same Nature of equal and eternal Greatness with his Father to unite himself to sinful miserable Creatures in a Conjugal Relation the most tender and entire What an immense distance was to be overcome What a seeming Disparagement was it to him In order to this it was necessary there should be a Conformity of Nature between us he therefore was made Flesh that we might be one Spirit with him he assumed our Nature in a Personal Union to the Diety that he might marry our Persons in a Spiritual Union He was a Saviour to redeem us that he might be a Husband to inrich us Astonishing Love The Lord of Glory higher than the Heavens stoop'd so low as to espouse poor Dust he gave his Life for us and himself to us for ever What Honour and Happiness accrues to us by this Alliance the Lord of Angels is our Husband His Gifts are answerable to his Love he is Heir of all things and endows his Church with Heaven and Earth the Apostle assures Believers all things are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's Our Communion with him is so perfect that he discharges us of all the Evils that we cannot bear our Sins and the Curse due to them by taking them upon himself and bestows upon us all the Blessings and Blessedness we are capable to enjoy Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption By the great Supper prepar'd we are to understand the Manifestation of the Messiah with all the most precious and unvaluable Benefits purchased and conferr'd by him upon Believers the Pardon of Sins Adoption into God's Family the Graces and Comforts of the Spirit and eternal Glory the becoming Testimonies of his Greatness and Love The prime Guests invited to this Feast are the Jews the select People of God to whom pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the Flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever When other Nations were excluded from the Alliance of God his Presence and Worship was their Privilege and for them this Feast was principally intended The Servants employed in the Invitation were first Moses and the Prophets inclusively to John the Baptist all to whom the Oracles of God were committed and by whom the eternal Counsels of his Wisdom were declar'd concerning the Messias All their Prophecies as so many Lines meet in this Centre The other Servants were the Apostles who were commanded to preach the Gospel first at Jerusalem The first order of Servants and the second both proposed the same Messias as the Object of our Faith
and Love but the Prophets under Shadows and Figures in the Promises the Apostles clearly in the Truth and Accomplishment The first invited while the Preparations were making but the Evangelical Ministers are more earnest and pressing Come for all things are now ready And in comparing these two Periods of Time there is the most shining and sensible Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion for the Marks of it are clear in the Prophecies by their exact References to the Accomplishment in the Person of Christ and they are clear in the Accomplishment by the Correspondence to the Prophecies Who can suspend Assent that our Redemption by Jesus Christ is the Work of Divine Providence when the design of it is so exactly delineated in the Prophecy Thus the unchangeable Firmness and Stability of God's Counsel is the Foundation of our Faith The Consummation of the Marriage will be at the second coming of Christ. II. The Success of the Invitation is related They all with one Consent began to make Excuse The first said I have bought a piece of Ground and I must needs go to see it Another said I have bought five Yoke of Oxen and go to prove them And another said I have married a Wife and I cannot come All the Carnal Affections are readily and presently conspiring in the refusal It may seem that the Allegations of a Purchase and Marriage for not coming to a Feast were very reasonable but the Feast represents Celestial Happiness in comparison of which all the Profits and Pleasures of this World are but Loss and Dung 'T is evident then their Excuses are strong Accusations of their Folly and Ingratitude Of Folly in preferring Shadows before substantial Felicity Moments before Eternity Of Ingratitude in rejecting contumeliously the most gracious and earnest Offer of such a Happiness This is spoken of the Jews who lived in the time of the Son of God's Descent for the Salvation of Men The love of the World caused them to despise his mean Appearance and neglect the Call of humble Mercy Upon their refusal the Servant came and shewed his Lord these things Then the Master of the House being Angry said to his Servant Go out quickly into the Streets and Lanes of the City and bring in hither the Poor and the Maimed and the Halt and the Blind And the Servant said Lord it is done as thou hast commanded and yet there is Room And the Lord said unto the Servant Go out into the High-ways and Hedges and compel them to come in that my House may be filled For I say unto you that none of those Men that were bidden shall taste of my Supper The Refusers are for ever excluded from the Joy of this Royal Feast being as unworthy as unwilling to partake of it This Judgment is still visible upon the Nation of the Jews who consent to their Progenitors rejecting and condemning the Messias and will not be convinced of the obstinate Imposture that was devised to prevent the Belief of his Resurrection But it did not become the Wisdom and Goodness of God that such costly Preparations should be lost it was requisite that some Persons should actually come to the Feast that is obey the Heavenly Call and receive the Gospel for otherwise the Redemption the Son of God so dearly acquir'd had been without Fruit he had died in vain which is directly contrary to the Promise of God to him I will give thee for a Light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation to the ends of the Earth Accordingly the Servant is ordered to bring in the Poor the Lame and the Blind and to go into the High-ways and Hedges and compel them to come in that the House may be filled These Expressions declare the extream Misery of the Heathens who were at that time without Christ Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no Hope and without God in the World Compel them to come in The Papists allege this Text to give colour to their Cruelty in their violent ways of making Proselytes to their Idolatry Their convincing Arguments are Swords and Racks and Gibbets and Fires If this be a proper Method of converting Men to Religion the greatest Tyrants are the most infallible Teachers The Vanity and Impiety of the Pretence will appear by considering 1. 'T is ridiculous to Reason to use forcible Means for such an End for the Understanding is a reasonable Faculty and can only be convinc'd by instructing Reasons It cannot judg of things but as they appear nor assent against its Judgment Indeed Threatnings and Tortures may make Men Infidels but not sincere Believers it may make them Hypocrites and Comedians in Religion but not unseigned Professors This is abundantly exemplified in France where the vast number of servile Converts have been made by their Dragoons not their Doctors 2. This is most contrary to the Practice of our Saviour and to the Spirit of the Gospel The Sword that Christ useth in subduing his Enemies and making them willing Subjects to his Scepter goes out of his Mouth His Kingdom was introduced into the World by Preaching and Miracles by doing Good and suffering Evil he open'd the way for the Gospel not by killing his Enemies but by dying himself and in his Members The establishing and enlarging his Religion are by sutable means the Illumination of Mens Minds the Perswasion of their Wills the drawing of their Affections to embrace it Accordingly the Apostle tells us The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds Casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledg of God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ. The Weapons are sutable to the Warfare and the Warfare to the Kingdom which is spiritual not of this World The using of Force to constrain Men to embrace the Christian Religion is contrary to the Love the Goodness Meekness Clemency and Benignity the blessed Temper the Gospel plants in the Breasts of Christians How severely did our Saviour rebuke the fiery Spirit in James and John You know not what manner of Spirit you are of the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them 'T is contrary to the Golden Rule given to all his Disciples What you would have others do to you do you to them But this must be acknowledged that 't is very congruous that the Papists make use of the material Sword when the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God strikes through the Heart of Popery The Doctrine of the Mass is a clear Contradiction to the Scripture and a notorious derogating from the Value and Virtue of Christ's Death they say 't is an unbloody Sacrifice of Christ propitiatory for the Living and the Dead Whereas our Saviour was offered up but once the Mass is ten thousand times
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
Grace in the Gospel The Sum of what has been discoursed of sinful and miserable Man is this The Understanding the directing Faculty is in ignorant Darkness and a dead Slumber not apprehensive of his Misery A dead Eye does not see its want of Sight nor a dead Heart feel its want of Life If the Head be obstructed with clammy Humours the whole Body is without Sense for the Nerves have their Root in the Brain and are the Channels to convey powerful Spirits to give Sense and Vigor and Motion to all the Parts The Will is a fierce and free Faculty commanding and active perverted and stubborn against the holy Law of God The Affections are exceedingly disordered and strongly inclin'd to sensual Things that flatter them with Satisfaction and very tumultuous and fiery against whatever shall cross their natural Inclinations Now how can one so stupid and refractory be made soft and flexible to the Call of Mercy As the Epicurean in Tully objects against the making of the World quae machinae qui vectes What Engines what Leavers were used in raising this vast Fabrick What he spoke in Derision may be said with Wonder What Engines what Instruments are used in craning up a Soul sunk below the Center to the highest Heaven What in making the new Creation that is more glorious and lasting than the first 'T is a Work respectively impossible not absolutely it can only be effected by the Power of God There is no Principle of Recovery left in fallen Man The Conversion of him from Sin to Holiness and from the Creature to God is a Miracle of Grace if he converted himself it were super-miraculous God can by his commanding Power bring Light out of Darkness but 't is plainly impossible that Darkness should produce Light The external Ministration of the Gospel without the concomitant Ministry of the Spirit is ineffective The Divinest Preacher cannot soften the Iron Sinew nor melt the Heart of Stone nor make the Rock to tremble The Prophet Isaiah whose sublime Eloquence overcomes all the admired Orators of the World yet complains Who has believed our Report to whom is the Arm of the Lord reveal'd The Angels of Light if they were sent from Heaven and were in this sense ministring Spirits they could not by their Seraphick Zeal and most excellent Eloquence change and reform Sinners One evil Angel seduced and corrupted the best Man Adam in the State of Innocence and Happiness but a Council of good Angels cannot restore one Man tho the least tainted to Holiness and Felicity No Creature can be a Creator the Sanctification of a Sinner is a new Creation 'T is only the Word of Life spoken by the Lord of Life that can raise dead Bodies and dead Souls Suppose the Word of God be assisted by his Rod yet that will be ineffectual to cleanse and change their Hearts without Divine Grace 'T is according to the wise Order of God whom the Word does not convert the Rod is made use of to cure and whom the Rod does not cure the Sword cuts off Prosperity furnishes the Carnal Appetites with delightful Objects and Men are easily induced to neglect their Duty like Children that forget their Lesson when they are at play Sense that reigns in Beasts and should serve in Men is then predominant But Affliction imbitters the carnal Sweets and is a proper Means to fix the Thoughts and restore the Mind to its Right and Jurisdiction as Blows and hard Usage bind up the ranging Fancy in distracted Persons tames and tires them and thereby reduces them to Sobriety Thus God is often pleased by Afflictions to shew Men their Transgressions to open their Ears to Discipline and effectually command them to return from their Iniquities But without the Instruction of his Spirit joins with the Voice of the Rod the utmost Effect of even sharp and long Afflictions is a forc'd and fading Repentance Constrained Devotion is like Fire struck out of a Flint hardly got and soon gone Thus 't is said of the Israelites in the Wilderness When he slew them they sought him they return'd and sought early after God but their Heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant How many open Rebels have been awaken'd by the fear of Death and when they have tasted and seen the Terrors of the Lord what Addresses what Submissions what Promises have they made to God but after their Reprieve how soon have they forgot the past Terrors and broke all the Bars of Reason and of their Resolutions and been as unreform'd as ever The wise Man tells us Bray a Fool in a Mortar pound him in pieces his Folly will remain in him Nay Miracles without the Application of them by Grace to the Spirits of Men are ineffectual to work Faith and Repentance The End of them is by the Evidence of Sense to excite the Mind to consider the Power that works them But they may astonish the Sense and the Mind not be convinc'd or if convinc'd yet they leave no permanent Operation upon the Hearts of the Spectators Moses charges the Israelites that notwithstanding they had seen all the miraculous Strokes of God's Power upon Pharaoh and his Servants yet the Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear to this day When the Son of God appear'd in his own Likeness and did such numerous and conspicuous Miracles that compell'd the most stubborn Devils to acknowledg his Deity yet the Pharisees remained obstinate and inconvincible The Souldiers who saw him rising in Power and Glory and were almost frighten'd to Death at the sight yet continued obdurate in their Infidelity Our Saviour assures us No Man can come to him except the Father which hath sent me draw him The Words are full of Emphasis No Man the Negation is universal not only the Act is denied No Man comes but the Power can come no less than Omnipotent Grace draws him A carnal Man will not come to Christ for Life and he cannot will to come for his Mind is so fore-laid with Prejudice and his Will is so depraved and intangled with the love of Sin that he cannot sincerely desire to be set free Every delightful Sin is like a charm'd Circle out of which the Sinner cannot move We are not to conceive of this Disability as if Sinners had not deliberative and elective Faculties to consider and choose what is best such a Disability would be an Argument for their Innocence and Justification Neither as if Men had a Will to forsake Sin and wanted Power like a miserable Slave that sighs after Liberty but is fasten'd by heavy Fetters but the perverse Will keeps them in Bondage They serve divers Lusts and Pleasures and delight in their Fetters 'T is a voluntary culpable Impotence join'd with a strong Reluctancy to Grace 't is the impudent imperious Weakness of the Whorish Woman charged upon the Israelites and
admits of no Apology and Defence Nay it aggravates the Sin and Sentence of such depraved Creatures As there is in Vertue and Holiness a Divine Degree of Perfection that makes Persons not capable of departing from their Duty so there is a Diabolical Degree in Sin when the Soul is so depraved that it cannot abstain from doing Evil. And as consummate Vertue is most worthy of Esteem and Praise so when a vicious Habit contracted by long Custom in Sin absolutely possesses the Soul 't is most worthy of Abhorrence Now only Divine Grace compels Sinners to come to Christ and to partake of saving Mercies that is changes the Biass of the Will and makes it obedient to the Heavenly Call God is the supream Mover and turns all Occurrences in the World to his Purpose and Praise and the Hearts of Men are not exempt from his Dominion but he turns them as the Rivers of Waters The effectual Operation of Grace does not violate the native Freedom of the Will but is congruous to it God's drawing is by teaching Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to me When the Author of the Gospel is the Teacher of it the most stupid and obstinate Sinners shall be convinc'd and obedient To make this more clear I will briefly consider the Intellectual Frame of Man and the natural Subordination of the Faculties in their various Operations As the Spring in a Watch so the Understanding is the first Mover in the reasonable Creature the Understanding has a double Faculty the Apprehensive to discover the Good and Evil in Objects presented to it and the Judicative to compare and ponder the Good and Evil discern'd in things and accordingly to esteem or disvalue to approve or dislike The Will chooses what the Understanding commends and rejects what the Judgment condemns The Affections of Desire and Delight are from the Choice of the Will the Affections of Aversation and Flight are from the Rejection of the Will The Pursuit or Neglect of Things the Application or Opposition we make in our Actions and Practice to them is from the Delight or Distaste of Things in our Affections But when Lust enter'd into the Soul it perverted this Order As the strong Tide of the Sea pouring into Rivers turns them back to their Springs in a Course contrary to their natural Motion thus the Heart overflowing with a strong Tide of Corruption empties it self into the Head the Spring of Actions the unholy Affections work upon the Will to reject the Offers of Grace in the Gospel and the corrupt Will works upon the Mind to vilify them 'T is to be observ'd that the Tempter works upon Mens Minds in the unnatural way he makes use of the disorder'd Affections to pervert the Will and of the perverted Will to divert the Understanding from due Consideration of Objects and to corrupt its Judgment But God works by the Understanding on the Will and Affections according to the regular Dependance of those Faculties The first Beam of saving Grace shines into the Mind with so strong a Light discovering Spiritual and Eternal Things in their Reality and Glory that the Will and Affections are drawn to choose and embrace and to follow them with Zeal and Constancy In this blessed Work we are to consider the Revelation of the Object and the Irradiation of the Mind As in the discerning of Corporal things there must be Light in the Eye or there can be no Seeing and Light in the Air or there can be no Sight So the great Mysteries of Godliness which are of impossible discovery without Revelation are made known in the Gospel and the Understanding is illuminated to see them in their Reality and transcendent Goodness as the Apostle expresses This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners He prays for the Ephesians That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledg of him that the Eyes of their Understanding being inlightened they may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Altho the Evidence of Faith be not so clear as that of Sense yet 't is so sure that the Adherence of Faith is more firm to its Objects tho future than of Sense to things present With the Irradiation of the Mind there is such a determining fluence on the Will and the Affections that Christ and Heaven are joyfully chosen before all things In converting Sinners there is not a bare proposal of the Objects of Faith with the Motives to believe and accept them and Men are left to their own Discretion and Choice The Holy Ghost who certainly knows the manner and efficacy of his own Operations expresses converting Grace by the exceeding Greatness of his Power toward them that believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the Dead and set him at his own Right-hand in Heaven 'T is true the Principle of Resistance in corrupt Nature is not quite extinguish'd but actual Resistance is overcome by the holy Spirit who works to will and to do of his good Pleasure In the Human Will we are to consider the Faculty of choosing and refusing which includes in it Freedom and Liberty without which it ceases to be a Will 2. The Depravation of it and this consists in a necessity of choosing the Evil of Sin represented as pleasing to the Carnal Affections and rejecting the Law of God which is holy and good The sinning Will contracted this necessity Now Grace does not destroy the Nature of the Will but changes its Quality of Carnal and Earthly makes it Holy and Heavenly this is exprest by a new Heart and a new Spirit And when the Spirit of the Mind is renewed by illuminating Grace and the Will and Affections of the Heart are renewed by purifying Grace the Will does as freely and necessarily choose Spiritual and Eternal Things as in the State of Nature it chose Things pleasing to the corrupt Appetites God draws Sinners to himself with the Cords of a Man in a rational way without Violence to their Faculties and fastens them by Bands of Love He instructs the Soul and infuses such a Principle and Disposition as is sutable to the Doctrine When the Will is directed and drawn by the illuminating Guidance of the Mind to choose and embrace the most excellent Good and the other Faculties to obey this is Man's true Liberty In Heaven the unvariable fixing the Will upon God our Supream Good is its Perfection and Felicity The outward Means of inducing Men to comply with God's Call is the preaching of the Word If it were the Will of God he can immediately create Men as Adam in compleat Stature and with the Perfection of Reason but he makes use of Second