more considerable Signs and Wonders than before or since that time were ever wrought since the Creation of the world yet all this will not content them Notwithstanding all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they require a sign the meaning whereof is better interpreted by their Practice and behaviour to our Saviour than by the Dictionary And of this their behaviour I shall only produce two or three instances In the sixth of John we finde that Christ fed 5000 men with five Loaves and two Fishes and when they had seen the Miracle they were so taken with it that they said that he was that Prophet which should come and they would have taken him by force and made him a King But the very next day these very men that had seen and felt and tasted of the Miracle because he told them that they followed him for the Loaves take a miff at him they pirk up themselves and come boldly and malepertly to him saying What Sign shewest thou that we may see and believe What do'st thou work As if the former Miracle had not been now a Sign When Christ hung upon the Cross the Noble and the Mighty the Grave and Wise amongst them the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders came and offered him a bargain if he would then just then come down from the Cross they would believe but our Lord Christ had just then something else to do In the eighth of Mark the Pharisees came forth and began to question him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cavil and dispute with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 requiring a sign seeking of him a sign from Heaven tempting him They would have and that presently upon the spot a sign not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that which is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from Winde or Sea or Earth but from Heaven not that they intended to be his Disciples but for a trial of his skill and ability was not this a Gallant and a Wise a Noble and a Worthy Postulatum Could it chuse but move him to a compliance This moved him indeed to comply so far with his own defign as to promise them a sign the sign of the Prophet Jonas that irrefragable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Gospel which should render them inexcusable But though he was meek and lowly of heart the soft and gentle Lamb of God so that he snffered himself to be accused condemned buffeted and spit upon and yet held his peace as a Lamb that is dumb so opened he not his mouth Yet the nobleness and ingenuity of this Postulatum kindled a fire within him so that he spake with his tongue This moved him to scorn and indignation so that in effect he called them bastards for for their labour telling them that they were no sons of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but a wicked and adulterous Generation and that no sign should be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas I suppose I shall need to say no more concerning the absurdity and unreasonableness of the Jewish or Semeiotical Postulatum And I have now done with the former part of my undertaking which was to endeavour to make it appear That the Comtemners of the Gospel have reason to be ashamed of their Prejudices 2. I come now to the second which is the last part of what I have propounded viz. to shew That there is no reason for Christians or for Preachers to be ashamed of the Gospel And that upon two Considerations 1. Propter veritatis Evidentiam 2. Propter virtutis Excellentiam The former of which is implied if it were not the truth of God it could not be the Power of God The later is expressed For it is the Power of God to salvation to every one that believeth The evidence of the Truth is so great that whosoever duly considers it will certainly believe the Gospel The Virtue and Excellency of the Gospel is so great that whosoever truly believes the Gospel shall infallibly be saved 1. First I am to speak of the Evidence of the truth of the Gospel But because it is here only implied and because I have formerly employed my poor endeavours upon that Argument I shall only briefly touch upon it The Mysteries of the Gospel though they are inexplicable and inconceivable yet are they not incredible though incomprehensible yet they are not unaccountable Nor was the Author and Finisher of the Christian Faith so severe upon the understanding of his followers as to exact a Belief without a sufficient proof and Demonstration of the truth of that which he delivered Though he would not offer at the Grecanick way which he knew to be impossible to grant to be absurd and unreasonable to require yet he would afford it that Demonstration whereof it was capable a Demonstration properly so called accommodate to the Understanding of all Mankinde Jews and Gentiles Greeks and Barbarians Noble and Ignoble Learned and Unlearned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that refused to gratifie the impudent Scribes and Pharisees in their way would not leave the truth of the Gospel undemonstrated in his own And of the truth of all the Mysteries which he delivered this is the Analemma Catholicon the Common the Universal the Comprehenfive demonstration He that made himself the Son of God as the Jews express it That said he was one with God I and the Father are one that he was in the Father and the Father in him That declared the Mission and Emanation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son and that always spoke of him as a person distinct And that these three are one In a word He that was the Author of these and all other Mysteries whereof we have been speaking did not put the issue of believing upon his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but upon an undeniable and unrefuseable Criterion If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may know by Demonstration as well as believe that I am in the Father and he in me He did not only bear witness to himself although he died in testimony of his Doctrine He had not only the glorious Company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs for his Witnesses But he called Heaven and Earth to witness He subpena'd whatever was in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places to bear testimony to him There were three that bore witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit those three which he affirmed to be one The Angels ministred unto him The Devils trembled and fled before him Plants and Animals the Winde and Sea obeyed him The Stars in their courses or rather out of their courses militated for him To give testimony to Consummatum est at the time of his
Authority Because Christ and the Apostles did profess and declare that what they delivered to the world was of Divine Authority And because our Lord Christ did undertake not only for himself but for the Inspiration of his Apostles also 1. In the examination of the next Opinion I shall be obliged to lay before you some of the evidences of Divine Authority in Christ and his Apostles here it is sufficient to produce their assertions of it The time of our Lord Christs ministration betwixt three and four years was spent in preaching and working and his Authority was often questioned In Luke 20. 1. and in the parallel places While he was in the Temple teaching the People and preaching the the Gospel the Chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders came upon him saying tell us by what Authority thou dost these things preachest to the people and who gave thee that Authority Knowing the perverseness of their minds he was not pleased to gratifie them at that time with a direct answer but confounded them with a question concerning the Baptism of John But at other times upon other occasions we find the Divine Authority of his teaching abundantly declared and asserted by him I am the way the truth and the life The words which I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life The words which I speak I speak not of my self but of the Father which dwelleth in me My Doctrine is not mine but his that sent me I do nothing of my self but as my Father hath taught me so I speak I have not spoken of my self but the Father that sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say and what I should speak Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away Thus did our Saviour afsert the Divine Authority of his Words 2. And so likewise the Apostles are very frequent in asserting the Divine Authority of the things which they delivered In the 15. of the Acts we find them assembled about the question of Circumcision and they accounted it no robbery to entitle their Decrees to the Holy Ghost It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us v. 18. Nor do they pretend to revelation when gathered in Council only but each one severally for himself St. Peter professes of himself that he was a partaker of the glory which was revealed And of his Gospel that it was revealed from Heaven St. John declares that he had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Father and the Son as for his other writings that they contained the things which he had heard and seeen with bis eyes which he had looked on and his hands had handled of the Word of life As for the Apocalypse he professes that being in the Spirit in Isle of Patmos he received it and was commanded to write it in a Book The greatest writer among the Apostles was St. Paul and the greatest question hath always been amongst Unbelievers concerning his Calling and the Authority of his Gospel He knew this very well and therefore we find him asserting both his Calling and his Gospel with abundant care and diligence He affims himself to have been an Apostle not of man neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father That by God himself he was separated to preach constituted a Preacher an Apostle and a defender of the Gospel As concerning his Gospel he professes to have received it by Revelation of God As for the Spirit wherewith he wrote and preached he professed himself ready to give a proof of Christ speaking in him He appealed to the Prophetick Spirit then in the Church If any man think himself a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledge the things which I write to be the Commandments of God Out of this assurance it was that he enjoyned his Epistles to be read in the Churches of Coloss Laodicea Thessalonica and excommunicates such as should be disobedient in that particular And lest any one should here repeat the Objection made against our Saviour Thou bearest witness of thy self thy witness is not true St. Paul speaking of all the Apostles affirms that God had set them in the Church and that the Mystery of the Gospel was revealed to the holy Apostles by the Spirit Particularly notwithstanding that dispute betwixt St. Peter and St. Paul from the first Ages of the Church to our own Times objected by Unbelievers to the prejudice of Religion it is remarkable that in the same place where St. Paul gives an account how Peter was to be blamed and how and wherefore he withstood him to his face at Antioch he doth expresly affirm that the Gospel of the Circumcision was committed to Peter and that God wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision On the other side St. Peter in that very place where he may seem to complain of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul yet even there he owns him as his beloved Brother acknowledges his Wisdom to have been gi-given him of God and numbers all his Epistles inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the other Scriptures 3. Lastly For such as would put a difference of degrees betwixt the Authority of the words of Christ and the writings and Sermons of the Apostles they may take notice that the Authority of these resolves it self into the veracity of Christ himself He it was who being to leave the World promised his Disciples again and again that he would send down upon them the Holy Spirit that should instruct them and teach them all things that should Lead them into all truth Bring to their remembrance all things which he himself had spoken that should shew them things to come that with this Spirit they should not be lightly dash'd or sprinkled but that they should be Baptized and as it were plunged into it How all these promises were performed and how the Assertions of the Divine Authority of the Words of Christ and the Apostles were proved to be true I am next to shew In the interim I conclude that supposing the truth of the words of Christ and his Apostles they are to be esteemed of Divine Authority III. The third opinion is of such as pretend to believe matters of fact to have been truly related in the New Testament but they do not believe the truth of the Doctrinal parts relating to Faith or Manners Of these there have always been too great a number not only pretenders who under a form of Christianity deny the power thereof but generally all forts of Hereticks When Porphyrius had revolted from Christianity to Platonism and had bent all his forces against the Scripture-History he was refuted not only by Lactantius and Methodius men Orthodox in Doctrine but by Eusebius and
the Apostles the Promulgers of the Gospel Wherefore it is to be believed The Antecedent of this Enthymem is the sum of what I shall deliver When the Pharisees said unto Christ thy Record is not true because thou bearest record of thy self I am one saith Christ that bear record of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me Moreover he tells the Disciples that the Comforter should testify of him And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning So that beside the Witness of the Apostles the Gospel had the Attestation of all the persons of the Trinity viz. of the 1. Father 2. Son 3. Holy Ghost 1. God the Father bore witness to his Son and that he did by 1. Visible Signs and 2. Audible Voices 3. by Mission of Angels 4. by Co-operating in his Miracles c. 1. At his Nativity a new Star appeared At his Baptism they saw the heaven opened and the Spirit sent from the Father in the visible shape of a Dove and lighting upon him Before his Passion he was transfigured in their sight And At it the Sun was eclipsed when the Moon was full the Veil the Rocks rent so that the Centurion said Surely this man was the Son of God Bodies of Saints were seen of many All these were visible signs 2. As for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Daughter of the Voice In his Baptism Lo a voyce from heaven Saying This is my beloved Son At his Transfiguration a Voyce came out of a cloud which said This is my beloved Son hear him A little before his death as he was Praying Father glorifie thy Name There came a voyce from heaven Saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again 3. For mission of Angels by the Father We find them still ready upon all occasions from before his Coming down to the time of his Ascension into Heaven Before his Conception the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zachary and to Mary before his Nativity to Joseph saying fear not Joseph At the time of his Nativity a whole Chorus appeared to the Shepherds In his Infancy an Angel appeared twice to Joseph admonishing him of his going to Egypt and his return from thence In his Adult age they ministred to him in his hunger Before his death they strengthned him in his Agony After it they rolled away the stone from his Sepulcher They declared his Resurrection and in his Ascension they stood by and foretold his coming again to Judgment Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing This same Jesus 4. The Father co-operated with him according to that of our Saviour The father worketh hitherto and I work c. These are some of the Attestations of the Father 2. Christ bore witness of himself And this he did by proving himself to be the Messiah viz. by fulfilling all the prophesies relating to the Person or Offices the Life and the Death of the Messiah His Generation was such as cannot be declared he was born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah of the Family of David about 490 years after the return from Captivity When the Scepter was just now departed from Juda. He performed not only the Substance of the Prophesies but all the Circumstances foretold concerning the Life and Death of the Messiah 1. He was to be a Prophet and so he was The Spirit of the Lord anointed him to preach and he spake as never man spake He foretold many things to come they all bare him witness 2. He was to be a King and so he was His Name was Wonderful his Power was shewen throughout the universal System of the World the Angels good and evil the Heavens Elements Plants Fishes Brutes Health and Sickness Life and Death were all obedient unto his Word 3. He was to be a Priest and so he was He made an Atonement by his Obedience and by his sufferings to the least punctilio to the taking of a little Vinegar and when all things were fulfilled He cryed with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Moreover for the Justification of his Gospel and that he might leave no place for Infidelity he rose again from the dead appeared to many convinced them by all their Senses They saw him They heard him They felt his hands and his side They Eat and Drank with him They Conversed with him 40 dayes He was seen by more then 500 at once and lastly in the sight of Many of them he Ascended Visibly into Heaven These were some of the Testimonies which our Lord Christ bare to himself 3 The time would fail me if I should speak of all the Testimonies given by the Holy Spirit In his Conception to Mary fulfilling the Promise of Gabriel Before his Nativity to Zachary and Elizabeth in his Infancy to Simeon and Hanna in his Baptism to John I knew him not saith John but he that sent me to baptize said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and resting on him that is he and I saw the Spirit descending Throughout his whole Ministry till his Death the Spirit gave witness to him Moreover in his Resurrection he was declared the Son of God with power by the Holy Ghost After his Ascension the Holy Ghost fulfilled all his undertakings in that Grand Manifestation at Pentecost at the time and place which Christ had undertaken for A manifestation made to all the Senses and to men of every nation under heaven Parthians besides a Multitude of other Instances Such were the Attestations given to Christ the Author and finisher of our faith 2. And for the Apostles the Promulgers of it besides the Change of their Spirits from darkness to light Whereby they were led out of Ignorance and Infidelity into all Truth And from torpid and pusillanimous persons during thelife of their Master they became when he was dead the most active and magnanimousin the world I say besides this Change They had bestowed upon them All things necessary either for their 1. Own Assurance or for the 2. Conviction of the World Concerning the truth of the Gospel which they delivered 1. As for themselves besides the Conversation with their Master before and after his Resurrection they had 1. Apparitions of Angels And to one of them Christ himself appeared after he was ascended to his father 2 They had the Bath Kol Voices from Heaven In the 9 of the Acts we find a Voice from Heaven maintaining a Dialogue with Paul and at another time a voice saying to Peter Arise Peter Kill and Eat 3. They had extatical Visions Peter was in a trance Act 10. 10 19. Paul rapt up to the third heaven 4. They had monitory Dreams Paul saw a man in a Dream saying unto him Come into Macedonia and help us 5. They had Impulses of the Spirit So Paul was forbid by
things continue as they were before And for the manner and Apparatus of his coming Our God shall come saith the Psalmist and shall not keep silence there shall go before him a devouring fire and a mighty Tempest shall be stirred up round about him Behold the Lord will come with fire saith the Prophet and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire The streams of Zion shall be turned into Pitch and the dust thereof into Brimstone the Earth thereof shall be burning Pitch the smoke thereof shall ascend day and night and shall not be quenched compare Revel 6. with Esai 34. The Kings of the Earth shall tremble the Captains and the mighty shall be horribly asraid the great men and the rich men shall hide themselves all the bond-men and all the freemen shall fly to the Rocks of the Mountains And soon after all this The Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl the Earth and the Elements shall melt away for God shall arise to judge terribly the Earth Have not all these things come upon us the men of this Generation Is it weakness is it a vain and superstitious scrupulosity to call these things to our remembrance Have we no reason at all to apprehend the approach of a General Judgment either upon the World or upon our sinful Nation Do we not now envy those despised souls which have made their accounts ready We thought it madness to see them pine away with poenitential exercises and macerate themselves with mourning We thought it folly which they called Conscience for which they denyed themselves the pleasures and enjoyments of the World We fools counted their life madness and their latter end to be without honour But the time is coming when they shall be comforted and we shall be tormented Because he hath called and we have refused he hath stretched out his hand and we have not regarded He will laugh at our calamity and mock when our fear cometh When our destruction cometh as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon us May we not therefore give up our selves to the torments of our hearts and surrender up our souls unto Despair so Israel said there is no hope we will follow every one the devices of his heart after 20 30 or 40 years continuance in our courses 't is in vain to think of turning from them Our arrears are so far gone that there is no hope to discharge them and why should we trouble our selves with the thoughts of our Account Nay that which must come let it come and what is a few days respite to Eternity Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Let us go forth as at other times and shake our selves and scatter these troublesom apprehensions of future Judgment What if we should drink a little to drive away Melancholy Yes and fall perhaps and spew and rise no more Nay but I beseech you stay a little and consider consider at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Who among us can dwell with a devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Such careless and desperate resolutions are the advantages which the Devil aims at that he may sear our Consciences and seal us up in a final obduration But there is another kind of advantage which God and our Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel and the Ministers aim at That advantage which I told you of in the beginning of my Discourse That knowing the terror of the Lord they may perswade men And now what is it that they would perswade us that we will be contented to part with the tormenting fears of Judgment that we will condescend not to be miserable to all Eternity That we will accept of deliverance from the wrath to come that we will not neglect so great salvation nor trample on the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Behold God calls upon us Turn you turn you at my reproof why will you dye O House of Israel As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of sinners Our Lord Christ calls upon us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you In the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles he stood and cried Saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink The Spirit sayes come and whoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely The Gospel assures us That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Behold I set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing and as an unworthy Ambassadour in Christ's stead I pray you be reconciled to God take his yoke upon you his yoke is easie and his burden light embrace now the tender of the Gospel only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus accept him for your Saviour and your Lord. Your Prophet to instruct you your King to govern you your Priest to save you and you shall be saved Saved from the fears and horrours of a Guilty Conscience condemned by it s own witness Saved from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. You shall meet the Lord with Confidence We shall be able to stand with boldness in the Judgment to lift up our heads with joy because our redemption draweth near This is the way of save our own souls from perishing which is the General design of all our Preaching And this is the way to appease the wrath which is gone out against us and to preserve our Nation from destruction which is the particular and more immediate end of our present Humiliation whereof I am yet to speak THe hand indeed of the Lord hath been heavy upon us his wrath hath been kindled it hath waxed hot against the Sheep of his pasture and he hath plagued our Nation very sore His Judgments have been multiplied his strokes have been redoubled and for all this his anger 〈◊〉 not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Wars and Pestilences and those other fore-runners of Christ's coming to Judgment have been seen and felt amongst us and now when these have not been able to prevail To awaken a drowsie people to rowse up a Lethargic Nation to ferment a people setled upon their Lees God has made a new thing in the midst of us he hath wrought a work in our dayes which makes the ears of all that hear it to tingle A work not to be parallel'd perhaps in all the circumstances since the Creation of the World How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of our Zion with a cloud in his anger and hath cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the Day of his Anger he hath swallowed
up in chains that he should exclude them from the benefit of Repentance and reserve them to the Judgement of the Great Day That he should allow this priviledge to lapsed men that he should reveal himself to them that he should make them understand their duty and their interest that he should set before them good and evil happiness and misery the desire and the detestation of humane nature that he should by all means court and wooe them to that which all men naturally desire and discourage and divert them from that which they naturally abhorr That after all this he should not prevail in such a case as this that they should scornfully reject the end of all their hopes that they should studiously pursue the object of all their fears This is that rational wonder that I am now to lay before you To manifest this wonder a little more explicitely let us consider the advantages of Nature and the Motives from Scripture to bring men to repentance The grounds and fundamental elements of the Doctrine of Repentance are these The Being Attributes of God The immortality of the Souls of men The principles of Synteresis The terrours of natural Conscience The forecasts of vengeance The apprehension and desire of an Attonement And all these are manifest from the Dictates and discoveries of the Light of Nature The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work They speak it loud they spread it largely they proclaim it constantly Their sound is gone out into all the world there is no speech or language but their voice is heard among them The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen even his eternal power and God-head Concerning his providence in governing the world St. Paul tells the men of Lyftra and the Priest of Jupiter that he did not leave himself without witness amongst the Heathen The whole earth is full of his righteousness and all the people see his glory So that a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth He is not far from any one of us in whom we live and move and have our being He is the Father of Spirits and we are his off-spring Surely there is a spirit within a man and that spirit immortal deriving from Him who only hath immortality And these things have asserted themselves with so great evidence that they have been generally acknowledged by all sorts of heathen Authors Philosophers Historians Orators and Poets Moreover they shew the Lam of Synteresis written in their hearts they have consciences accusing or excusing they find themselves concluded under sin and are perplexed and tormented under the apprehensions of an offended God For Conscience condemned by its own witness is very timorous and always fore-casteth grievous things The starting of Alexander when he had killed his friend and of Nero when he had destroyed his mother The confusions of Tiberius when he wrote from Capreae to the Senate concerning the death of Sejanus The fore tastes of an avenging Nemesis described by heathen Orators and Historians The passions ascribed to Medea and Hercules and Orestes c. by the Poets The Rites and Sacrifices of all the Pagan world The prodigious ways of expiations devised to make their attonement with their imaginary Deities offended They were all of them the products of natural Conscience exerting it self in such a disquisition as is delivered by the Prophet Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord or bow my self before the high God shall I come fore him with burnt offerings with calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul All these and many more are the Indications of Nature the incitements and provocations of natural Conscience to bring men to repentance But beside these common Motives the persons of the Text whether they were the Jews and Inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time of the destruction of it by Titus and Vespasian or any that called themselves Christians they had a clearer and more glorious light to guide them they had far more efficacious and noble Motives to 〈◊〉 and urge them to repentance the Light and Motives of the Holy Scriptures There it is that the Power and Wisdom and Goodness and Severity of God are gloriously displayed the immortal Nature and sinful condition of the souls of men the rewards and punishments of this life and of the world to come are clearly discovered The elements of the Doctrine of Repentance the Motives to it are there explained and applyed mixt and combined a 1000 several ways The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are nothing else but a Systeme of various powerful Methods to bring men to repentance This is the general aim and common scope of all the Doctrines the Histories the Logick and Rhetorick of the Book of God This was Noah's Text upon which he preached to the old world 120 years Upon this errand God sent all the Prophets rising early and sending them they said Turn again now every one from his evil way This was the message of him that was the voice of one crying in the wilderness Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand Our Lord Christ and his seventy Disciples and his twelve Apostles they all with one voice infisted upon this Theme and when the Holy Ghost himself descended he likewise drove at this conclusion Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. The time would fail me if I fhould attempt in any measure to lay before you the declarations promises threatnings exhortations dehortations reasonings expostulations instances of mercies and of judgements delivered in the Scriptures to bring men to repentance To this end God hath declared himself slow to anger gracious and merciful He hath said that he would have no man perish He hath sworn that he doth not desire the death of the wicked but had rather that he should turn and live He considers our frame and his ways are equal He is ready to pardon to pardon iniquity transgression and sin though they are as scarlet to make them white as snow if they be a cloud to scatter them like a cloud Wherefore let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous his imaginations and return unto the Lord. On the other side to break the hardness of the hearts of men to rouze them up from their impenitency he declares his justice and asserts his propriety in vengeance Vengeance is mine and I will repay it He protests that he will by no means acquit the guilty that he is of
hearts of men have hardened them yet more in a course of desperate impenitency Felix trembled and said Go thy way When Belshazzar had plundered the house of God and was making a debauch in the bowls of the Temple the finger wrote upon the wall MENE We read that his countenance was changed and an horrible trembling seised upon him The joynts of his loyns were loosed his knees smote one against another But we do not read that he repented As plagues were multiplyed so Pharaoh's heart was hardned and he vowed he would not let the people go When the King of Moab was in anguish and in great distress it was a warning to repent but he took his eldest son and offered him for a sacrifice upon the wall When the Philistines made war upon Saul and God was departed when he was sore afraid and his heart greatly trembled who would not expect that he should have turned unto the Lord But he betook him to the witch of Endor Of Ahaz it is said that in the time of his afflictions he trespassed yet more this is that King Ahaz And we read that when a great hail fell from heaven Men blasphemed God because of the hail But if single mercies and judgments will not do perhaps an intermixture of them may prevail and indeed for a rational and probable means to bring men to repentance the imagination and apprehension of man can go no higher than to such a case where signal and remarkable judgements are brought upon some and others are reserved and set as it were upon a Scaffold or a Theatre in safety to behold the destruction and plagues brought upon their Neighbours Turbantibus aequora ventis E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem So Israel beheld the Egyptians drowned in the Sea and Corah and his complices swallowed in the Land This is the case of those whom God preserves from plagues and famines and desolations making them survivors and spectators of the destructions brought upon the world And this was the case of the persons in the Text this one would think should never sail When he slew them then they i. e. the remnant sought him and turned them early and sought after God Nay but even this hath also too often failed for even these did but flatter him with their lips and dissemble The Israelites that were spectators of the drowned Egyptians within three days fell to their wonted murmurings The Spectators of Corah within one day returned to their rebellion The Prophet Amos in the name of God complains of those that had escaped famine and pestilence and sword I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha and ye mere as a fire-brand snatched out of the burning yet have ye not turned unto me saith the Lord. And this was the case of the persons in the Text they were a remnant of men which were not killed by the plagues brought upon others yet they repented not Notwithstanding the wonder according to reason we have seen the truth and observed the frequency of such mens impenitency in common experience it remains that we consider the consequence and issue of it observable from the Text as it stands in relation to the Antecedent parts and the Catastrophe of this Vision They repented not And the seventh Angel sware that there should be time no more no more time for repentance no longer reprieve of vengeance III. Such an obstinate impenitency is the great provocation of the wrath of God such a final impenitency is the certain forerunner of final ruine and destruction Though the Lord be patient he is not of wood or of stone though he be slow to anger yet he can be angry and who can stand before him when he is angry It is true that the Lord is strong and patient and our God is provoked every day he is long-suffering and abundant in forbearance though we do evil an hundred times he prolongs our days He is not extreme to mark what is done amiss He considers that we are but dust and as a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Many and many a provocation he passes by for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Behold he stands at the door and knocks By his word and by his works and by his spirit striving to reclaim the sons of men that he may keep their life from the pit and their soul from perishing But if all this cannot prevail what can reasonable men expect or what would they have him do His Spirit shall not alway strive with men his abused lenity and his affronted longanimity will be turned into jealousie and fiery indignation For to him belongeth vengeance as well as mercie and the God to whom vengeance the God to whom vengeance belongeth will shem himself God will arise and his enemies shall be scattered He will awake as one out of sleep he will rouze himself up as a Gyant refreshed with wine He will smite his enemies in the hinder parts and put them to a perpetual shame Thus saith the Lord of hosts the mighty one of Israel Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Concerning persons the Apostle tells us of a certain state wherein there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement Concerning Nations our Saviour tells of a certain measure of iniquity Fill ye up the measure of your fathers so false is that conceit fo dangerous is that imagination that men can repent at any time at leastwise whensoever they shall have a mind to it They shall call saith God but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me As I live saith the Lord I will not be enquired of by you Saul enquired of the Lord he answered him not neither by prophets nor by Vrim nor by dreams Esan sought for repentance but he he found no place for repentance though he sought it even with tears I gave her space to repent but she repented not behold I will cast her into great tribulations This is a case which I tremble to insist upon What tongue can express the misery of such a person or such a people How dreadful is this place surely this is none other than the gate of Hell the entrance of all the miseries of this world and of the world to come 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual and 3. Eternal 1. The Lord shall send upon them cursing and vexation and rebuke until they be destroyed and perish quickly They shall be cursed in all their interests and concernments in their estates in their credit in their relations in their persons Cursed shall they be in the city and cursed in the field cursed in the basket and in the store They shall become an astonishment and a proverb and a by-word and a reproach
of the love of a mother to her child can a Mother forget her Child c The love of Man to God holds no proportion to his Excellency and his goodness and the heart in judging of it is obnoxious to mistakes and very deceitful therefore the Apostle helps us towards an apprehension of it He that loves not his neighbour whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen So seeing the turpitude of mens ingratitude towards God is ineffable and inconceivable it will be requisite to speak a little of the unworthiness of Ingratitude towards men and leave you to work out this proportion Look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth so great nay infinitely greater is the unworthiness of ingratitude towards God And here I shall not go about to Philosophize or to demonstrate the turpitude of ingratitude from the nature of it à priori The immediate and evident corollaries of natural principles admit only of jejune and inconsiderable reasonings in that kind of demonstration The odiousness of ingratitude is such a corollary naturally and immediately flowing from that universal maxim quod tibi fieri non vis c. which runs thorow all morality and is not only the last resolution of Philosophy but of the Law and the Prophets and of the Gospel Luke 6. 31. As therefore when an abstruse proposition in matter of speculation is resolved into an evident principle or the contrary position into a plain absurdity the demonstrator goes no further but hath said all that can be pertinently spoken so when a piece of doubtful Morality is once resolved into this grand absurdity Omnia dixeris there is no more to be added all the rest is diminution It is said that Lycurgus made no law against ingratitude because Nature had made one to his hand So some Divines have observed that there is no direct precept against ingratitude in the Scripture though many testimonies in effect against it because it was needless as being supposed from the light of nature and below the Majestie of the spirit breathing in the Scriptures to insist upon it according to that of our Saviour If ye love and do good and lend to them that love and do good to you what thanks or reward have you do not Sinners or Publicans even the same To that spirit which commands us to return good for evil to love our Enemies c. it were a kind of whiffling to command the return of good for good or prohibit the return of evil to those that have obliged us Now of these two sorts of ingratitude the former is branded in Scripture with an everlasting brand in the case of Pharaoh's Butler to Joseph the Israelites to Jerubaal and the like But the ingratitude in the text being of the latter kind and of a deeper die and because the easiest Criterion of turpitude is the detestation of all the sons of men I shall endeavour à posteriori by some Scriptural instances of the resentments of that kind of ingratitude to shew the turpitude of it in the judgment of mankind We read when Joash had commanded Zachariah to be stoned who was the son of Jehojada who had preserved him in his minority from Athaliah and made him King his own servants conspired against him and kill'd him in his bed because he remembred not the kindness of Jehojada but slew his son When Abner apprehended ingratitude in Ishbosheth whom he had made King consider his resentment he was very wroth he said am I a Dogs head who do shew kindness to the house of Saul God do so to Abner and more also except I translate the Kingdome from the house of Saul He swore he would do it and he did perform it It may be objected that the resentment of these men was not so considerable as that the Judgment of Mankind should be collected from it those that conspired against Joash were Zabad the son of an Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of a Moabitess and we read not any great praise either of the piety or morality of Abner Consider then the resentments of Gideon of whom it is said the Lord was with Gideon and of David the man after God's own heart When the men of Succoth dealt ungratefully with Gideon he said that he would tear their flesh with the thorns of the Wilderness and he took the Elders of the City and the thorns of the Wilderness and with them he taught the men of Succoth i. e. he taught them better Morals When Nabal had upon a good day the shearers feast refused to give a little something that should come to hand and put a scorn upon David who is David c. then David said Surely in vain have I kept the goods of this fellow and he hath requited me evil for good so and more also do God to the enemies of David if I leave of all that perteineth to him before the morning light any that pisseth against the wall But it may be said that these be men of war and those enraged and these might be the resentments only of their passions Proceed we therefore to the resentments of Prophets and righteous men let us have recourse from David the Captain to David the Prophet and the Psalmist when he was composed and when he was composing Had it been my open enemies then I could have born it but it was thou my friend and my acquaintance it was an act of Treachery and Ingratitude let death seise upon them and let them go down quick into hell And again They rewarded me evil for good let them be confounded let them be as the dust before the wind let their way be dark and slippery and the Angel of the Lord persecute them Shall evil be recompensed for good saith Jeremy I stood before thee to speak good for them and they have digged a pit for my soul Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and pour out their blood by force of the sword c. Briefly because it may be objected that all these were the resentments of a legal and Mosaick spirit consider the resentment of the lamb of God the son of man the man Christ Jesus when he denounced a woe upon Corazin c. Woe unto thee Corazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre c. Therefore it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for thee Consider his resentment when he pronounced a judgment upon Jerusalem O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee How often would I have gathered thy children and ye would not Behold now your house is left unto you desolate From what hath been spoken of the resentments of men the wickedness of Israels ingratitude against God though it cannot be perfectly yet it may in some measure
and dissembled with him in our double heart Do we not despise our very Manna and wish again for the Garlick of Egypt ready to change our glory for the Calves of Egypt or the confusion of Babylon In a word are we not a sinful people laden with iniquity as ingrateful and Nabalistical as Israel a foolish people Again for matter of imprudence wherewithal can we purge our selves from it Doth not God know our miscarriages also doth he not understand us our ways and doth he not interest himself in us doth he not resent our provocations can we escape for our wickedness With what apologies shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the high God Have we had no caveats from the Ministers of God no warnings no Alarms from God himself have we not heard have we not seen hath it not been told us The thunders and the lightnings the trumpets sounding the mountain smoaking the Angel destroying the Sword devouring Are we able to contest with a jealous God are we stronger than he are we able to tear him out of his Throne or to devest him of his Thunder or to stand the storm of his fiery indignation Have we not been a foolish people unwise What then remains but that God should execute upon us the sentence which we our selves have been ready to pass upon the people in the text that he should do thus and thus unto us that he should consume us in a moment and blot out our names from under Heaven Nay rather it remains men and brethren lest he should do thus and thus unto us that we prepare to meet the Lord our God that we rouze up the spirit of our minds and discuss and scatter that Lethargic stupor that is upon us Awake awake Deborah and arise Barak the son of Ahinoam Who can tell but God may yet have mercy upon us may have mercy upon our souls and speak peace to our land When I say to the wicked thou shalt surely dye if he turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall surely live Wherefore let every one of us examine himself and find out the plague of his own heart and be deeply sensible of his own ingratitude let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord let us make haste to escape before the decree bring forth and we be surprised by the stormy wind and tempest let us lose no longer time but make haste in this our day before the things belonging to our peace are hid from our eyes Let speaker and hearers O let my self and all this assembly let every soul here present let all the people of the land turn unto the Lord with all our hearts with fasting weeping mourning And let the priests my brethren the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the alter and say spare thy people O Lord be favourable O Lord be favourable O Lord deal not with us after our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities though we have thus requited the Lord being a foolish people and unwise FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by James Collins at the Kings-Arms in Ludgate-street 1672. OBservations upon Military and Political Affairs by the most Honourable George Duke of Albemarle Folio Price 6. s. A Sermon preached by Seth Lord Bishop of Sarum at the Funeral of the Most Honourable George Duke of Albemarle Quarto Price 6. d. Toleration not to be abused or A serious question soberly debated and resolved upon Presbyterian Principles viz Whether it be adviseable especially for the Presbyterians either in Conscience or Prudence to take advantage from his Majesties late Declaration to Deny or Rebate their Communion with our Parochial Congregations and to gather themselves into distinct and separate Churches By one that loves Truth and Peace Quarto Philosophia Pia or A Discourse of the Religious tendences of the Experimental Philosophy to which is added a Recommendation and Defence of reason in the affairs of Religion by Joseph Glanvil Rector of Bath Octavo Price 2. s. The Way to Happiness represented in its Difficulties and Encouragements and cleared from many popular and dangerous mistakes by Joseph Glanvil A Praefatory Answer to Mr. Henry Stubbe the Doctor of Warwick by Joseph Glanvil Octavo Price 1. s. 6. d. The Life and death of Mr. George Herbert the excellent Author of the. Divine Poems Written by Iz. Walton Octavo Price 1. s. A Discourse of the forbearance or penalties which a due Reformation requires by Herbert Thorndike one of the Prebendaries of Westminster Octavo A Private Conference between a rich Alderman and a poor Country Vicar made Publick wherein is discoursed the Obligation of Oaths which have been imposed on the Subjectsof England 8 o 2. s. The Episcopacy of the Church of England justified to be Apostolical from the Authority of the Primitive Church and from the confessions of the most famous Divines beyond the Seas by the Right Reverend the late Lord Bishop of Duresm with a Preface written by Sir Henry Yelverton Baronet Octavo TATAOON or Divine Goodness explicated and vindicated from the exceptions of the Atheist Wherein also the consent of the Gravest Philosophers with the holy and inspired Penmen in many of the most important points of Christian Doctrine is fully evinced by Richard Burthogge Doctor in Physick Octavo FINIS AN APOLOGY FOR THE Mysteries of the GOSPEL BEING A SERMON PREACHED At WHITE-HALL Feb. 16. 1672 3. BY SETH Lord Bishop of SARVM PRINTED By his Majesties special Command LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for James Collins at the Kings Arms in Ludgate-street 1674. AN APOLOGY FOR THE Mysteries of the GOSPEL ROM I. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ For it is the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth THE former part of this Text being delivered in terms unusual hath afforded matter of Disputation to Interpreters The Question is Whether it be to be taken for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be understood simply and plainly according to the usual import and meaning of such expressions That St. Paul so long after his Miraculous Conversion a little before his Appeal to Caesar drawing near to the finishing of his Course That St. Paul after he had planted the Gospel from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum after the composing of all those excellent Epistles written before his bonds whereof this Epistle to the Romans was the last That St. Paul I say after all this should descend to so poor an Expression as might insinuate that there was something in the Gospel whereof it was possible that some of the Romans might imagine that he ought to be ashamed That in the judgement of St. Paul the Gospel should administer occasion for the Anticipation and Amolition of so contemptible a Prejudice It