Reflections our Sorrow should be most afflicting our Humiliation deeper our Selfcondemnation most severe for those Sins which have been most dishonourable to God and defiling to us Not that we can make any Satisfaction for our Sins tho we should fill the Air with our Sighs and Heaven with our Tears but it becomes us to have our Sorrows inlarged in some proportion to our Unworthiness And this mournful Disposition prepares us for the Grace of God The Law does not allow Repentance but exacts entire Obedience 't is the Privilege of the Gospel that repenting Sinners are assur'd of Forgiveness without this Qualification 't is inconsistent with the Majesty Purity and Justice of God to extend pardoning Mercy to Sinners for they will never value nor humbly and ardently seek for Mercy till they feel the woful Effects of Sin in their Conscience only the stung Israelite would look to the brazen Serpent And this is requisite to prevent our relapsing into Sin for the Dominion of Sin being founded in the Love of Pleasure the proper means to extinguish it is by a bitter Repentance the Heart is first broken for Sin and then from it To conclude Let us renew our Repentance every day let not the Wounds of our Spirits putrify let not the Sun go down upon God's Wrath let us always renew the Application of Christ's Blood that alone can cleanse us from Sin SERMON III. 1 JOHN V. 2. By this we know we are the Children of God if we love God and keep his Commandments OF all the Marks that are useful in the Trial of our Spiritual State in reference to Eternity there is none affords a more clear and comfortable Assurance of God's special and saving Mercy than Love to the Saints This has often resolved the Doubts and quieted the Fears of afflicted enquiring Souls when other Graces have not been so apprehensible in their Operations But there is no Mark which the deceitful Heart does more securely rest upon through the mistake of Natural Human Love for that which is Spiritual and Divine It is therefore most worthy our serious Thoughts the Deceit being so easy and infinitely dangerous to shew what is the unfeigned genuine Love of the Brethren to which Salvation is annex'd to confirm the humble sincere Christian and undeceive presuming Hypocrites The great Design of St. John in this Epistle is to excite and enflame in Christians the Love of God and of their Brethren the two comprehensive Duties and bright Sum of the Law our principal Perfections in Heaven and Earth These he recommends by the most affectionate and obliging the most warming melting Perswasives the superlative Love of God to us and our Communion with the Saints in Nature and Grace In the former Verse the Apostle argues from the reality of the Effect as an Evidence of the Cause Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ that is the Saviour of the World foretold by the Prophets and expresses the Truth of that Faith in a sutable Conversation is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him Grace is not less powerful in producing tender reciprocal Affections between the Off-spring of the same Heavenly Father than the subordinate Endearments of Nature The Pretence is vain of Love to God without loving his regenerate Children And in the Text he argues from the knowledg of the Cause to the discovering of the sincerity of the Effect By this we know that we love the Children of God with a holy Affection if we love God and keep his Commandments There is but one Difficulty to be removed that the Force of the Apostle's reasoning may appear 't is this a Medium to prove a thing must be a clearer Evidence than what is concluded by it Now tho a Demonstration from the Cause be more noble and scientifical yet that which is drawn from the Effect is more near to Sense and more discernable And this is verified in the Instance before us for the Love of God who is absolutely spiritual in his Being and Excellencies doth not with that sensible Fervour affect and passionately transport us as Love to his Children with whom we visibly converse and who are receptive of the most sensible Testimonies of our Affection Accordingly the Apostle argues He that loves not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen As the Motives to love our Brethren from our Conjunction in Nature and familiar Conversation are more capable to allure our Affections and more sensibly strike the Heart than the invisible Deity who is infinitely above us by the same reason we may more easily judg of the truth of our Love to them than of our Love to God To this the Answer is clear the Apostle doth not speak of the Love of God as a still silent contemplative Affection confined to the superiour Faculty of the Soul but as a burning shining Affection like Fire active and declarative of it self in those Effects that necessarily flow from it that is voluntary Obedience to his Commands and thus it becomes manifest to the renewed Conscience and is a most convincing Proof of the Sincerity of our Love to the Saints The Text being cleared affords this Doctrine Doct. The Sincerity of our Love to the Children of God is certainly discovered by our Love to God and Obedience to his Commands For the Illustration and Proof of the Point I will briefly shew I. Who are described by this Title The Children of God II. What is included in our Love to them III. What the Love of God is and the Obedience that flows from it IV. How from Love to God and willing Obedience to his Commands we may convincingly know the Sincerity of our Love to his Children To explain the first we must consider that this Title The Children of God is given upon several accounts First By Creation the Angels are called the Sons of God and Men his Off-spring The reason of the Title is 1. The manner of their Production by his immediate Power Thus he is stiled The Father of Spirits in distinction from the Fathers of the Flesh. For tho the Conception and forming of the Body be the Work of his secret Providence yet 't is by the hand of Nature the Parents concurring as the second Causes of it but the Production of the Soul is to be entirely ascribed to his Power without the Intervention of any Creature 2. In their spiritual immortal Nature and the intellectual Operations flowing from it there is an Image and Resemblance of God from whence this Title is common to all reasonable Creatures and peculiar to them for tho Matter may be ordered and fashioned by the Hand of God into a Figure of admirable Beauty yet 't is not capable of his Likeness and Image so that neither the Lights of Heaven nor the Beasts and Plants of the Earth are called his Children Secondly By External Calling and Covenant
it was requisite to atone the just Displeasure of God for our Offences 'T is said he offered his own Body on the Tree his peculiar Right in it was requisite to make it a proper and acceptable Sacrifice 'T is true the Father and holy Spirit had the same Right in the Human Nature of Christ as the Son had with respect to the making it but the Son by assuming it into a Personal Union with himself has a peculiar Right in it and offer'd his own in a strict sense And in Consequence to this his Sacrifice was of infinite Value He did not compound with God but paid a Ransom equivalent to what was due for Sinners He bled a Fountain from his wounded Side that cleanses from all Sin 2dly By his Intercession He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him for he ever lives to make Intercession for them God pardons Sin as a Soveraign upon the Throne his Authority is preserved entire without any Condescension of his Person therefore the Blood of Christ shed on the Cross is pleaded in Heaven to reconcile God to us he satisfied Justice and sollicites Mercy his Blood speaks still and its Voice is as powerful as ever The Prevalency of his Intercession depends upon the Dignity of his Sacrifice the Dearness of his Person to the Father does also assure us of his favourable Audience He declar'd on Earth I know thou always hearest me 3dly The Gospel sets forth his Willingness to save us Faith has an Aspect upon Christ as able and willing to save for Power without a Will to save is unprofitable and the Will without Power is fruitless and ineffectual For the begetting of Faith we are to consider the Proposal and Offer of Grace in the Gospel and the Promise of it 1. In the Gospel there is a Proposal of Grace to all the Invitation is universal Whoever will let him come to the Waters of Life freely Our Saviour gave this Command to the Apostles Preach the Gospel to every Creature Neither the number nor quality of Mens Sins are a Bar against their coming to Christ for Life None are excluded but those who exclude themselves In the Parable those were earnestly invited by the Command of the Master of the Feast who refused to come This Offer of Grace and Life to all that will humbly receive it is the first Foundation of Faith and induces our Acceptance of it for without this the self-condemned Sinner sinks into Misery bottomless and helpless The most miserable Despair is drawn from Impossibility If Men think 't is impossible to obtain what they desire they will not endeavour to obtain 'T is easily clear'd by the Scriptures if Men will believe the Scriptures when they are clear that as the Brazen Serpent the Sign of Salvation was lifted up on high and made obvious to every Eye to convey healing Virtue to those who were stung by the fiery Serpents so our crucified Saviour is lifted up in the Gospel for every Soul-wounded Sinner to regard The belief of inviting Mercy opens the Springs of Godly Sorrow a Natural Sorrow arises from the sense of oppressing Evils and is terminated upon our selves a Spiritual Sorrow proceeds from the sense of our Unworthiness and the Divine Goodness that is so ready and desirous to save us 2. There is a Promise of Grace to all that repent and believe Our Saviour encourages us Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you Rest. Those who feel Sin as an intolerable Burden and their fainting Souls are without Support let them devolve their Burden upon him and trust entirely in him they shall obtain blessed Rest. The timerous Sinners that tremble under the Weight of their Guilt are encouraged for in this condition Christ invites them to come to him and promises Rest. Let them aggravate their Sins to the highest yet St. Paul challenges the Precedence as the chief of Sinners and obtained Mercy When the Heart is broken for Sin and from it not to believe the Promise of Mercy is dishonourable to our Saviour's Love and the Value of his Blood as if not sufficient to save poor Souls that would fain live in him We have the strongest Testimony of his Love in dying for us when we were Enemies Christ came with this Intention to save Sinners and when they come to him will he reject them He cannot deny himself he 's Truth and he has most expresly declar'd Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out and this Promise is confirm'd by the Will of his Father that sent him Christ invites thirsty Souls to partake of the Waters of Life and when he has inspir'd them with ardent Desires and they come will he send them away empty 'T is absolutely impossible for him who is incarnate Love and Mercy to despise and reject the Soul that looks to him that longs and languishes after him and will be ever unsatisfied without him In short the precious Promises in the Gospel of the Pardon of Sin and eternal Salvation are so proposed to us that the Hope of returning Sinners may be cherish'd and confirm'd and the Presumption of secure Sinners may be dash'd and controul'd While we are in this middle State the fear of Caution join'd with the lively hope of Mercy is the most congruous Temper and becoming the Breast of a Christian. The Presumer is like a Ship without Ballast floating so lightly in his own Folly that every Gust of Temptation oversets him The fearful Spirit is like a Ship over-laden and if not lightned will certainly sink and perish Fearless Security exposes to all the Temptations that gratify the Carnal Appetites desponding Fear causes a neglect of the Remedy If there be no fear of Punishment or no hope of Pardon the Consequences are equally fatal 3. 'T is necessary in order to the bringing Men to Christ to remove their carnal Prejudices The first and most fear'd Difficulties are That serious Religion will be a damp to all their Joys a harsh and unreasonable Restraint of their Liberties a Bar against all the Advantages of the World the sickly Fancy is frighten'd at the thoughts of this If the Way to Heaven were short and fair Men would like it but 't is long and deep and they are discouraged as the Israelites with the tedious and troublesom Wilderness before their arrival at the Land of Promise Accordingly Carnal Men cast a slanderous Shade upon Religion as a melancholy severe and joyless Discipline Now we may rectify these Mistakes by the Light of Scripture of Reason and of Experience 1. The Scrpiture declares that the Ways of Wisdom are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace The Entrance the Progress and Continuance in these Ways is joyful to the renewed Soul Let us take a right View of the Divine Commands the Sum of them is this That Men would be happy here and for ever We are commanded
may stain the Execellence of an understanding Creature To live righteously which respects the State and Situation wherein God has disposed Men for his Glory It comprehends all the respective Duties to others to whom we are united by the Bands of Nature or of Civil Society or of Spiritual Communion And to live godly which includes all the internal and outward Duties we owe to God who is the Soveraign of our Spirits whose Will must be the Rule and his Glory the End of our Actions In short The Law is so form'd that prescinding from the Authority of the Law-giver its Holiness and Goodness lays an eternal Obligation on us to obey it Now Sin is not only by Interpretation a Reproach to the Wisdom and other Perfections of God but directly and foimally a Contrariety to his Infinite Sanctity and Purity for it consists in a not doing what the Law commands or doing what it forbids 'T is therefore said That the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God An active immediate and irreconcilable Contrariety to his holy Nature and Will From hence there is a reciprocal Hatred between God and Sinners God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity without an infinite Displicence the Effects of which will fall upon Sinners and tho 't is an Impiety hardly conceivable yet the Scripture tells us that they are Haters of God 'T is true God by the transcendent Excellence of his Nature is uncapable of suffering any Evil and there are few in the present State arrived to such Malice as to declare open Enmity and War against God In the Damned this Hatred is explicit and direct the Fever is heightned to a Frenzy the blessed God is the Object of their Curses and Eternal Aversation If their Rage could extend to him and their Power were equal to their Desires they would dethrone the most High And the Seeds of this are in the Breasts of Sinners here As the fearful Expectation of irresistible and fiery Vengeance increases their Aversation increases They endeavour to raze out the Inscription of God in their Souls and to extinguish the Thoughts and Sense of their Inspector and Judg. They wish he were not All-seeing and Almighty but Blind and Impotent uncapable to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God The Heart is the Fountain of Desires and Actions interpret the Thoughts and Affections from whence the Inference is direct and conclusive that habitual Sinners who live without God in the World have secret Desires there was no Soveraign Being to observe and require an Account of all their Actions The radical Cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that Attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are Enemies to God in their Minds through wicked Works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1st His creating Goodness 'T is clear without the least shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first Being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy Works and that my Soul knows right-well Thine Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my Members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy Hands have made me and fashioned me round about The Soul or principal Part is of a Celestial Original inspired from the Father of Spirits The Faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorify and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of Time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no Necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superiour Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the Consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was God's end in making us Certainly it was becoming his Infinite Unerstanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fulness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgment of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all Things and for thy Pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments as not to acknowledg 't is our indispensable Dutry Our reasonable Service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his Glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Nature I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of Light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed
for some growing Distemper every Corrosive is for some proud Flesh that must be taken away In short they are deliberate Dispensations to cause Men to reflect upon their Works and Ways and break off their Sins by sincere Obedience Therefore we are commanded to hear the Voice of the Rod and who hath appointed it 'T is a Preacher of Repentance to lead us to the Knowledg and Consideration of our selves The Distress of Joseph's Brethren was to revive their Memory of his Sorrows caused by their Cruelty Now when Men disregard the Embassy of the Rod are unconvinceable notwithstanding its lively Lessons when they neither look up to him that strikes nor within to the Cause that provokes his Displeasure when they are careless to reform their Ways and to comply with his holy Will as if Afflictions were only common Accidents of this mutable State the Effects of rash Fortune or blind Fate without Design and Judgment and not sent for their Amendment this is a prodigious despising of God's Hand For this reason the Scripture compares Men to the most inobservant Creatures to the wild Asses Colt the deaf Adder to the silly Dove without Heart and the Advantage is on the Beasts side for their Inconsideration proceeds meerly from the Incapacity of Matter of which they are wholly compos'd to perform reflex Acts but Man's Incogitancy is the sole fault of his Spirit that wilfully neglects his Duty The Prophet charges this Guilt upon the Jews Lord when thy Hand is lifted up they will not see 2. Insensibility of Heart is an eminent degree of despising the Lord's Chastenings A pensive feeling of Judgments is very congruous whether we consider them in genere Physico or Morali either materially as afflictive to Nature or as the signs of Divine Displeasure for the Affections were planted in the Human Nature by the Hand of God himself and are duly exercised in proportion to the quality of their Objects And when Grace comes it softens the Breast and gives a quick and tender sense of God's Frown An eminent Instance we have in David tho of Heroical Courage yet in his sad ascent to Mount Olivet he went up weeping with his Head covered and his Feet bare to testify his humble and submissive sense of God's Anger against him Now when Men are insensible of Judgments either considered as natural or penal Evils if when they suffer the loss of Relations or other Troubles they presently fly to the Comforts of the Heathens that we are all mortal and what can't be help'd must be endured without the Sense Humanity requires that Calm is like that of the dead Sea a real Curse Or suppose natural Affection works a little yet there is no Apprehension and Concernment for God's Displeasure which should be infinitely more affecting than any outward Trouble how sharp soever no serious deep Humiliation under his Hand no yielding up our selves to his Management this most justly provokes him of this Temper were those described by Jeremiah Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they refused to receive Correction Secondly The Causes of this despising of God's Chastenings are 1. A contracted Stupidity of Soul proceeding from a course in Sin There is a natural Stubbornness and Contumacy in the Heart against God a vicious Quality derived from rebellious Adam we are all hewn out of the Rock and dig'd out of the Quarry and this is one of the worst Effects of Sin and a great part of its Deceitfulness that by stealth it increaseth the natural Hardness by degrees it creeps on like a Gangreen and causes an Indolency The Practice of Sin makes the Heart like an Adamant the hardest of Stones that exceeds that of Rocks From hence proceeds such Unteachableness of the Mind that when God speaks and strikes yet Sinners will not be convinc'd that Briars and Thorns are only effectual to teach them and such an Untractableness in the Will that when the Sinner is stormed by Affliction and some Light breaks into the Understanding yet it refuseth to obey God's Call 2. Carnal Diversions are another Cause of slighting God's Hand The Pleasures and Cares of the World as they render Men inapprehensive of Judgments to come so regardless of those that are present Some when ever they feel the Smart of a Cross use all the Arts of Oblivion to lose the Sense of it The Affliction instead of a leading them to Repentance leads them to vain Conversations to Comedies and other sinful Delights to drive away Sorrow Others altho they do not venture upon forbidden things to relieve their Melancholy yet when God by sharp and sensible Admonitions calls upon them they have presently recourse to Temporal Comforts which altho lawful and innocent in themselves yet are as unproper at that time as the taking of a Cordial when a Vomit begins to work for whereas Chastisements are sent to awaken and affect us by considering our Sins in their bitter Fruits this unseasonable Application of sensual Comforts wholly defeats God's Design For nothing so much hinders serious Consideration as a voluptuous indulging the Senses in things pleasing like Opiate Medicines they stupify the Conscience and benumn the Heart 'T is Solomon's Expression I said of Laughter It is mad for as Distraction breaks the Connexion of the Thoughts so Mirth shuffles our most serious Thoughts into disorder and causes Men to pass over their Troubles without Reflection and Remorse And as the Pleasures so the Business of the World cause a supine Security under Judgments We have an amazing Instance of it in Hiel the Bethlemite who laid the Foundation of his City in the Death of his First-born and set up the Gates of it in his youngest Son yet he was so intent upon his Building that he disregarded the Divine Nemesis that was apparent fulfilling the terrible Threatning prophesied against the Builder of Jericho 3. An obstinate fierceness of Spirit a Diabolical Fortitude is the Cause that sometimes Men despise afflicting Providences so far as to resist them There is a passive Malignity in all an Unaptness to be wrought on and to receive Spiritual and Heavenly Impressions from God's Hand but in some of the Sons of Perdition there is an active Malignity whereby they furiously repel Judgments as if they could oppose the Almighty Their Hearts are of an Anvil-Temper made harder by Afflictions and reverberate the Blow like that Roman Emperor who instead of humbling and reforming at God's Voice in Thunder thundred back again All Judgments that befal them are as Strokes given to wild Beasts that instead of taming them enrage them to higher degrees of Fierceness The Prophet described some of this Rank of Sinners who said in the Pride and Stoutness of their Hearts the Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars And many though not Explicitly yet
virtually declare a Resolution notwithstanding the most visible Discouragements from Heaven to proceed in their sinful courses with more greediness and from a sullen secret Atheism are more strongly carried to gratify their Lusts again when they are in Afflictions I shall proceed to consider the other Extream of fainting under God's Rebukes 1. The Original Word signifies the slackening and relaxing of things that were firmly join'd together The Strength of the Body proceeds from the Union of the Parts when they are well compacted together By their disjointing 'tis enfeebled and rendred unfit for Labour In this Motion the Apostle in the 12th Verse exhorts them to lift up the Hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble Knees That is to encourage and strengthen their Souls by a real belief of the Promises made to afflicted Christians 2. It may respect the sinking and falling away of the Soul like Water being hopeless of overcoming Troubles When Water is frozen into hard Ice it will bear a great Burden but when 't is dissolved and melted nothing is weaker So the Spirit of a Man confirmed by religious Principles is able to sustain all his Infirmities Si fractus illabitur orbis if the Weight of the heaviest Afflictions fall upon him yet his Mind remains erect and unbroken and bears them all with Courage and Constancy But if through Impatience under Tribulation and Diffidence in the Divine Promises we shrink from our Duty or reject the Comforts of God as if they were small and not proportionable to the Evils that oppress us this is to faint when we are rebuked by him The Causes of this Despondency are usually 1. Either the kind of the Affliction when there is a Singularity in the case it increaseth the Apprehension of God's Displeasure because it may signify an extraordinary Guilt and singular Unworthiness in the Person that suffers and upon that account that Sorrow swells so high as to overwhelm him 2. The number and degrees of Afflictions when like those black Clouds which in Winter-Days join together and quite intercept the Beams of the Sun so many Troubles meet at once and deprive us of all present Comfort Job lost his Children by a sudden unnatural Death and was tormented in all the Parts of his Body and reduced from his rich Abundance to the Dunghil and a Potsherd to scrape his Boils Indeed his Heroical Spirit was supported under those numerous and grievous Troubles but such a Weight were enough to sink the most 3. The continuance of Afflictions When the Clouds return after Rain and the Life is a constant Scene of Sorrows we are apt to be utterly dejected and hopeless of Good The Psalmist tells us All the Day long I have been plagued and chastened every Morning and from thence was strongly tempted to Despair 4. Comparing their great Sufferings with the Prosperity of those who are extreamly vicious inclines some to Despair For not only their present Evils are heightened and more sensibly felt by the Comparison but the prosperous Impiety of others tempts them to think there is no just and powerful Providence that distributes things below and looking no higher than to Second Causes that are obvious to Sense they judg their State past Recovery The next thing is to prove that 't is the Duty and Wisdom of the Afflicted not to Despise the Chastenings of the Lord nor to faint under them First 'T is their Duty carefully to avoid those Extreams because they are very dishonourable to God 1. The Contempt of Chastisements is high Profanation of God's Honour who is our Father and Soveraign and in that Quality afflicts us 'T is our Apostle's Argument Furthermore we have had Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us and we gave them Reverence shall we not much more be subject to the Father of Spirits and live 'T is a Principle deeply planted in the Human Nature which the most barbarous Nations have kept inviolable to express the reallest Respect to our Parents from whom we derive our Life and by whose tender Care we have been preserved and educated altho their Discipline be rigorous but it is infinitely more just and reasonable that we should reverently submit to the Father of Spirits who hath the highest Right in us As much as the immortal Spirit excels the infirm corruptible Flesh proportionably should our Reverence to God when he most sharply rebukes us exceed our Respects to our Earthly Fathers when they correct us The manner of the Apostle's Expression is very significant Shall we not much rather If there be any vital spark of Conscience remaining in our Breasts if Reason be not wholly declined to Brutishness we cannot do otherwise 2. Fainting under Chastenings reflects dishonourably upon God 'T is true in some respect those who are extreamly dejected are not so guilty as the Despisers for usually they acknowledg the Order and Justice of his Providence But that false Conception of the Father of Mercies either that he willingly afflicts the Children of Men or that he hates them because he afflicts them here is so contrary to his holy Nature and injurious to his Goodness the special Character of his Nature that 't is an equal Provocation with the slighting his Soveraignty How to bear Afflictions SERMON V. HEBREWS xii 5. My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Secondly I Shall proceed to prove 't is the best Wisdom not to despise God's Chastenings nor faint under them I will not insist upon the Consideration that 't is the Counsel of the supream Wisdom to us nor that 't is the avoiding the vicious Extreams which is the chiefest Point of Moral Prudence but it is the only way to prevent the greatest Mischiefs that will otherwise befal us 'T is said he that is wise is profitable to himself that is either in obtaining Good or preventing Evils Now it will appear how pernicious those Extreams are by considering 1. The Contempt of Chastenings deprives us of all those Benefits which were intended by them God's End in them is to imbitter Sin to our Taste and make us disrelish that deadly Poison for as according to the Rules of Physick Contraries are cured by Contraries so Sin that prevails by Pleasure by something delightful to the Carnal Part is mortified by what is afflictive to Sense Repentance is a Duty that best complies with Affliction for when the Spirit is made sad and brought to the Sobriety of Consideration it will more readily reflect upon the true Causes of Troubles When the Springs overflow 't is but directing the Stream into a right Channel the changing the Object of our Grief viz. mourning for Sin instead of sorrowing for outward Trouble and we are in the way to Happiness Sensible Sorrow leads to Godly Sorrow The natural is first then the spiritual Now the Despisers of God's Hand that are unaffected with Judgments are incapable of this
into Hell God tries them in the Furnace of Afflictions to purify and prepare them for Heaven 2. 'T is a strong Cordial against fainting to consider that by virtue of the Paternal Relation he scourges every Son whom he receives for no Troubles are more afflictive and stinging than those that are unexpected Now when we are assured that there is no Son whom the Heavenly Father doth not chasten we are less surprized when we meet with Crosses Indeed there is hardly any kind of Affliction that may befal us but we have some instance in Scripture of the Saints suffering the same Are we poor and mean in the World we should consider that Poverty with Holiness is a Divine Complexion Jesus Christ the holy and beloved Son of God had not where to lay his Head Are we under bodily Distempers good Hezekiah was struck with an uncomfortable Disease as to the Quality of it and Gaius had a flourishing Soul in a languishing Body Are our dear Relations taken away Aaron and David lost some of their Sons by terrible Strokes Are our Spirits wounded with the sense of God's Displeasure Job and Heman were under strong Terrors yet the Favourites of Heaven Briefly how many most dear to God were called forth to extream and bloody Trials for Defence of the Truth How many Deaths did they endure in one Torment How many Torments in one Death yet they were so far from fainting that the more their Pains were exasperated the more their Courage and Joy was shining and conspicuous as the Face of the Heavens is never more serene and clear than when the sharpest North Wind blows 'T is the Apostle's Inference Seeing we are compassed with such a Cloud of Witnesses let us run with Patience the Race that is set before us This is further enforc'd by the following words If ye be without Chastening whereof all are partakers then are ye Bastards and not Sons If God doth not vouchsafe us the Mercy of his Rod 't is evident we are not part of his Fatherly Care The Bramble is neglected while the Vine is cut till it bleeds 'T is a miserable Privilege to be exempted from Divine Discipline and by Ease and Prosperity to be corrupted and made fit for Destruction St. Austin represents one expostulating with God O Deus ista est Justitia tua ut mali floreant boni laborent O God it is righteous with Thee that the Wicked should prosper and the Good suffer Dicis Deo ista est Justitia tua Deus tibi ista est Fides tua haec enim tibi promisi ad hoc Christianus factus es ut in seculo isto floreres in inferno postea torquereris God replies to him Is this your Faith Did I promise you Temporal Prosperity Were you a Christian for this that you might flourish in this World and be miserably tormented in Hell The Apostle represents the special Prerogative of God as the Father of Spirits and so hath a nearer Claim to us than the Fathers of our Flesh and that he is not liable to those Imperfections that attend the Earthly Relations They for a few days chastened us for their own Pleasure Human Love is a troubled irregular Passion mixt with Ignorance and prone to Error in the Excess or Defect Sometimes Parents are indulgent and by a cruel Compassion spare their Children when they are faulty sometimes they correct without Cause sometimes when the Reason is just yet they err in the manner or measure of the Correction so that their Children are discouraged But in God there is a perfect Union of Wisdom and Love of Discretion and Tenderness his Affection is without the least Imperfection His Will is always guided by infinite Wisdom If his Children offend he will chastise them with the Rod of Men that is moderately for as in Scripture things are magnified by the Epithet Divine or of God so they are lessened by the Epithet Human. Accordingly the Apostle declares to the Corinthians that no Temptation had befallen them but such as is common to Man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it As a prudent Physician consults the Strength of the Patient as well as the Quality of the Disease and proportions his Medicine so all the bitter Ingredients their Mixture and Measure are dispens'd by the wise Prescription of God according to the degrees of Strength that are in his People The Apostle specifies the immediate End of God in his Chastenings But he for our Profit that we may be partakers of his Holiness This is the supream Excellency of the Divine Nature and our Conformity to it is so valuable that it renders Afflictions not only tolerable but so far desirable as they contribute to it In the present State our Graces are imperfect and our Conformity to the Divine Purity is like the Resemblance of the Sun in a watry Cloud very much beneath the Perfection and Radiancy of that great Light Now God is pleased to fashion us according to his Image by Afflictions As a Statue is cut by the Artificer to bring it into a beautiful Form He is pleased to bring us into divers Temptations to try our Faith to work in us Patience to inflame our Prayers to mortify our Carnal Desires to break those voluntary Bonds whereby we are fettered to the Earth that we may live with those Affections wherewith others die And certainly if we make a true Judgment of things we have not the least cause to suspect the Love of God when he chastises us to take away Sin the only abominable Object of his Hatred and deep Detestation and to render us Partakers of the Divine Nature And the present peaceable Fruit of Righteousness is the Product in those who are duly exercised by their Troubles It is an Allusion to the Reward of the Conquerors in the Olympick Games who had a Crown of Olives the Emblem and Shadow of Peace But true Peace a Divine Calm in the Conscience shall be the Recompence of all that exercise their Graces sutable to an afflicted State In short the Apostle assures Believers that they are chastened of the Lord to prevent their Condemnation with the World The correcting Rod delivers them from Hell This Consideration changes Thorns into Roses and extracts Honey out of Wormwood if the way be stony or showery that leads to Blessedness a Christian should willingly walk in it To conclude from the Consideration of what the Scripture declares concerning Temporal Evils let us lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees and make streight Paths for our Feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed i. e. In our Affliction let us take Courage and Resolution from the Promises and live in a holy Conformity to God's Will that
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
and the Terrors of Conscience he will blow them up again Now any reigning Lust is a Viceroy of Satan's and keeps Possession for him and consequently excludes the Son of God from Admission into the Heart 3. He perswades Men that Religion in its Power and Strictness is not necessary the abstaining from enormous Crimes and the performance of some outward Service will be available for Salvation Hell is the Portion of the Devil and his Children and none are of his Race but incarnate Devils unclean Spirits in brutish Bodies He makes use of carnal Men under the pretence of Friendship to perswade those who make a Shew of Conscience to be less tender and vigilant by telling them this Strictness is superfluous 't will spoil you make you unsociable and odious the Wise and Learned that think to go to Heaven with the first take a greater liberty they will say Moderation is a Vertue and by the pretence of Temper cherish the loathsom Distemper of Lukewarmness that is as fatal as a deadly Coldness The Tempter will permit Men to make use of Religion as a Medicine a little in fainting Fits to relieve and recover them but not as our daily Food not to be their diligent and constant Practice The crafty Serpent will abuse the Words of the holy Spirit Be not righteous overmuch As Judas said of the precious Ointment poured upon our Saviour Why was this waste so carnal Men are apt to say Why these severe Restraints from satisfying the natural Appetites Why such Circumspection in our walking Why keep the Lord's-day so religiously Is it not enough to hear the Sermons May we not afterwards unbend and enjoy free Society and recreate our selves with carnal Contentments They do not believe that God is so strict in his Commands nor will be so exact in requiring an account for them fond Creatures to entertain such carnal Conceits of God to think him like themselves They are apt to say the Ministers will fetter them all by imaginative Rules of Holiness unprescribed in the Scriptures For Men would fain have the Light and the Law that regulates them to be sutable to their Appetites and Actions But are we not commanded to imitate and honour our Pattern to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy in all manner of Conversation Are we not enjoined to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling to cleanse our selves from all Pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God to follow Holiness with the most zealous and unsatisfied Desires that if it were possible we might anticipate Heaven on Earth Can there be any Excuse for neglecting these holy Duties There are none more dangerously deceived than those that think they are holy enough and make no question of the Favour of God and their final Happiness They condemn profane outragious Sinners those who visibly come short of them they think will fall short of Salvation but to excel them they think is a needless Preciseness a Pride of Singularity a Mask of Hypocrisy 'T is one of Satan's Arts to conceal the Good that is in the Saints that they may condemn themselves and to conceal the Evil that is in the Unregenerate that they may flatter themselves How many fall as deep as Hell from such high Hopes for he that does not seriously desire and endeavour to be renewed into the unspotted Image of God was never truly renewed SERMON VIII LUKE xiv 23. The Lord said to the Servant Compel them to come in that my House may be full 3dly IF Conscience be not seared and senseless but awakens Sinners to reflect upon their Condition and to seek for the pardoning Mercy of God he deceives them with false Notions of Faith and Repentance and hinders their entire Compliance with the Terms of Mercy offered in the Gospel Final Unbelief and Impenitence utterly exclude Men from Salvation for the Death of Christ was not appointed to be a Sacrifice for those Sins There is no Salvation to be obtain'd without the Remission of Sin no Remission without the Blood of Christ no Application of that precious Blood without Faith This is the vital Qualification required in all justified Persons for it has a peculiar Efficiency in receiving Christ and Pardon and ascribes the Glory of it intirely to the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ. 'T is said To as many as received him he gave Power to become the Sons of God to those who believed on his Name Receiving is relative to God's Offer of Christ to the Condemned and Miserable and implies the taking him in all the Essentials of his Office as a Prophet to instruct us in our Duty and Happiness by his Word and Spirit as a Priest to atone the Divine Displeasure by his Propitiation and Intercession as a King to govern us by his Law and to bestow spiritual and eternal Blessings on us Faith receives whole Christ as a Kingly Priest and a saving Prince he is stiled a Priest upon a Throne a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins He purchas'd the Forgiveness of Sins as a Priest by his Sufferings on the Cross and pardons as a King upon the Throne from hence it necessarily follows that Faith receives Pardon from him in that Relation wherein he procur'd it and confers it The Apostle declares He died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and thereby redeem'd us and acquir'd a Dominion over us then 't is clear and consequent that saving Faith receives him for all those Uses for which God did appoint him and accordingly purifies the Heart overcomes the World works by Love and Love is the Spring and Substance of every Duty the fulfilling of the Law Now Carnal Men are deceived in this Imagination that the single Act of resting upon Christ is sufficient to entitle them to the Promise of Salvation to all that believe in him they desire an Interest in Christ to quiet their Consciences and the World to satisfy their Affections They will rest on him as a Redeemer but reject him as a Lord they would enjoy his Salvation but will not endure his Dominion they will come to partake of the Festival-Entertainment the Pardon of their Sins but not for the Honour of the Bridegroom As if the Gospel were a free Charter to Sin and gave an impure Indulgence to the vicious Affections which is as inconsistent with it as the Darkness of the Night with Noon-day in the same Hemisphere for then it would foil it self and frustrate its own End Our Saviour first redeems from Sin from the vain Conversation then from Hell There can be no regular saving Trust on his Death without an unfeigned Resolution to live within the Compass of his Laws He is the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him 'T is a blasphemous Conceit that he will save Men with their Sins If they will die in such a pleasing Dream who can prevent it
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
our Assent tho we cannot resolve all the Difficulties that are raised against them 'T is unreasonable to deny what is evident because we cannot unfold what is obscure There is no Doctrine more frequently and emphatically asserted in the Divine Writings than that the Repentance of a Sinner and his acceptance of Pardon and Life is very pleasing to God He assures us in the most sacred and solemn manner of this As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live He is willing they should be saved and they are wilful to be damned With what render and melting Compassions does he argue with them Why will ye die O House of Israel as if they were upon the brink of Hell and ready to drop into irrecoverable Misery 2. We must distinguish between his directing Will and his approving Will whatever God decrees to effect shall be infallibly accomplish'd but many things that he approves are left undone His Commands are his Will the Rule of our Duty but not of his Purpose what he will do The Scripture mentions the Word of God's Power and the Word of his Holiness The Word of his Power effects all things according to his Will but the Word of his Holiness his Laws declar'd to regulate our Lives are often oppos'd and without Efficacy 3. The Wisdom of God directs all the Operations of his Attributes that orders the Dispensations of Mercy and the Inflictions of Justice When the Apostle had considered the astonishing Oeconomy of Providence with respect to the Jews and Gentiles he breaks forth O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out That so great a part of the World live in Darkness and die in Darkness and go to their Fathers where they shall never see Light and the Day-spring from on high visits other Nations is according to the Counsel of his Will 4. God does afford assisting Grace to Sinners which if they improved he would not desert them The Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit to illuminate excite and perswade Sinners not to forsake their own Mercy He strives with them he woes and waits to be gracious till by their obstinate Resistance they quench his holy Motions 'T is true he dispenses Grace in different degrees for he is the Master of his own Favours but tho effectual converting Grace is not bestowed upon all yet there is common Grace that has a tendency to Conversion which if humbly and thankfully improved such is the most free and excellent Goodness of God Men would receive further Supplies But they are careless and opposite to his gracious Operations therefore the Spirit is most righteously withdrawn from them He that in Luxury has wasted his Estate 't is just he dies in Poverty Besides this 't is very considerable that Men shall be condemned at the last Day not for mere Impotence but obstinate Opposition they loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil not for the want of that Grace they did not receive but for the neglect to improve that Grace they had received and rejecting what was offered The slothful Servant was condemn'd for hiding his single Talent in a Napkin not because he had not five Talents Secondly 'T is the great Design of God to glorify his Son When he brought his First-begotten into the World the Command was Let all the Angels of God worship him God has given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of things in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father Those who cross his Supreme Wisdom and Soveraign Will shall by a constrain'd Submission acknowledg the high Dignity of his Son The great Command of the Gospel is that Men should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance and Remission of Sins The Death of Christ may be considered as an Act of Obedience to God and of Love to Men. His Intention was to glorify God by bringing lost Souls to him Now 't is promised as a Reward of his Sufferings he shall see of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied He is infinitely pleased with the Salvation of Souls as the Fruit of all his Anguish and bloody Agony The Election of a number of the lost World that shall believe in him and be adopted and saved by him has a special respect to his Honour that his Death might not be in vain that the Son of God may be magnified in his unspeakable Love to them and their sincere Obedience to him his relative Glory as Head of the Body will shine in them for ever 'T is also observable the Decree of Election is of infallible Accomplishment both as to the Conversion and Perseverance of the Elect not only because the Divine Will is unchangeable and insuperable with respect to the Events determined by it but with a peculiar regard to the Glory of Christ. No Principle of Opposition in the corrupt Heart of Man can frustrate the Operation of God's Spirit either in the powerful entrance or sure continuance of his Grace Our Saviour tells us All that the Father gives me shall come to me And speaking of his Sheep he saith My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pull them out of my Father's Hand The Purpose of God and Purchase of Christ secure their Salvation for these our Saviour intercedes Holy Father keep through thine own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are His Mediation is never interrupted when Christ's Prayer and God's Power are ineffectual then may they fall away totally and for ever whom God keeps and Christ commends to his keeping From hence it appears that the Ministers of the Gospel are indispensably obliged zealously to endeavour the Salvation of Souls which the Father has design'd for the Honour of his Mercy and which the Son of God esteems his dearest Glory The APPLICATION 1. From hence there is just cause to admire the glorious Grace of God in converting Sinners and making them willing to comply with the Terms of the Gospel Indeed 't is strange to Amazement that Men involv'd under the Guilt of Sins so numerous and so heinous and liable every hour to the Sentence of the Law so sure and severe Eternal Death for their Sins should neglect a Pardon so dearly purchas'd and so graciously offer'd and not with the deepest Humility with ravishing Joy and the highest Thankfulness receive it Is there no Spirit no Understanding left in them Nay is sensible Nature and its inviolable Inclinations so extinguish'd that they are Enemies to themselves But
Feed my Lambs 'T is his Delight and Glory to be the Saviour of Sinners How dearly has he bought our Love How willingly did he redeem us when we were Enemies His Love condescended to our low State to become a Servant that he might exalt us to his State to be the Sons of God How does he out-love us We do not love his Glory as he loved our Meanness not him the blessed God as he did us cursed Creatures O the Miracle of his ardent Love to us O the Strangeness of our cold Affection to him Love cannot be idle but will add Fire and Vigor and cause unfainting Perseverance in our Lord's Service Love and Duty will overcome all Difficulties If we consider by how many Titles he deserves our Service and feel the dear Obligations he has laid upon us we shall compel them to come in that our glorious King's House may be full I shall only add that to save Souls the Work is glorious and the Reward is more glorious In the Assembly of immortal Spirits above all united in Perfection and Felicity Those who turn many to Righteousness shall shine with a brighter Glory like the Stars for ever and ever Who would be so unhappy as to prefer sluggish Ease before a brighter Crown in Heaven Lastly I will finish this Discourse with an earnest Perswasive that Men would comply with the Invitations of the Divine Mercy Who can without some sparks of Pity and Indignation seriously observe that Men are slight and foolish in things of eternal Interest beyond all the degrees of Folly in the Concerns of this World Who would that is in danger to lose his Life or Estate and has but one day to secure them waste it in frivolous Matters when the Opportunity is so short and the Omission is irreparable Yet altho the present Life be certainly short and uncertainly continued and Eternity depends upon our present securing the Favour of God and our Title in his Kingdom Men employ their Time to gain the World and neglect their Salvation in comparison whereof all the Affairs of Time are a busy Folly and vain Impertinence Stupendious Security Now to perswade Men to come to Christ for Life let them consider 1. 'T is God's Call to which present Obedience is due Carnal Sense is apt to object Is it not a Man I see and hear 'T is true but the Message is the King 's not the Embassador's that brings it A spiritual Eye looks beyond the Object of Carnal Sight and sees Christ in the Minister by the Light of Faith Were this believed how would it fasten our Minds and Senses in the most serious Attention to the preaching of the Gospel 2. Make judicious Comparisons between this World and the next As in the Light of the Sun there is an Influence that cherishes the vital Heat and a Power that extinguishes the Kitchin Fire so the Light of God's Word has a double Efficacy it kindles Heavenly and quenches Earthly Affections Indeed there wants neither Glory nor Joy nothing of compleat Happiness in the World to come to raise our Affections and fasten them upon it and in this World all is Vanity and Vexation to alienate our Affections from it What infinite Distance and Disproportion is there between the Objects of our Choice Who would think it possible but that 't is visible every day that they who have Mortal Souls should be careless of Eternal Things and spend all their Pains and Passions about Things that expire with the Flux of Time That they should neglect solid Happiness and pursue shining Bubbles But the present World fascinates their Understandings inspires their Fancy with Dreams of Happiness here Sensuality charms them into Stupidity they are unwilling to be disenchanted they enjoy their Error and are entertain'd with pleasant Delusions till awaken'd by eternal Flames Let the enlighten'd Mind consider and judg the Soul is of a Divine Original a Spiritual Substance of an everlasting Duration and can never be happy but in the Enjoyment of those Objects that are Divine and Spiritual commensurate to its Capacity and Duration Let a Man possess the World with all its Advantages and Delights the starved Soul would suffer infinite Want and can only be satisfied with the Fulness of God Under what Notion soever Happiness is conceived 't is only to be found in God What can inrich a Spirit but Spiritual Treasures Holiness is the richest Jewel in the Celestial Crown What can dignify and ennoble a Spirit but an Alliance to God as a Father and the Likeness of him in his Divinest Excellencies What can satisfy an Immortal Spirit and replenish it with Joy but vital Union with God and the immediate Influence of Almighty and Eternal Goodness Carnal Men when they obtain their immediate End Riches Honours and Pleasures they fail in their main End true Happiness they seem wise for the present and are Fools for ever The Scripture tells us the Less is blessed of the Greater How can the present World that is so inferiour to Man in the Nobility of his Nature afford Perfection and Satisfaction to him How unsutable how insufficient is it to fill the largest and strongest Desires of the Soul The World may cloy but cannot satisfy us but the Favour of God the more 't is enjoyed the more 't is desir'd and delighted in Carnal Joy seems but is not Fear and Stings of Remorse may be disguised and gloss'd over with a chearful Countenance and Carriage but are not extinguish'd Spiritual Joy seems not but is the Apostle tells us As sorrowful but alway rejoycing there may be a Winter in the Face and a flourishing Spring in the Heart There is a secret Sweetness in the Practice of Religion that the Unrenewed are Strangers to they cannot see a Taste Carnal Joy cannot repel its Contrary it cannot endure the Assaults of the slight and transient Evils to which we are expos'd here Sickness Disappointments Apprehensions of Evils that hover over us may imbitter the most pleasant Condition A wounded Spirit like an ulcerous Palat that is fretted and pain'd with the sweetest things turns all the Pleasures of the World into Vexation Fear struck Belshazzar at his Feast into a trembling But Peace with God and the Joy that flows from it the World can neither give nor take away 't is as unable to destroy it as to produce it Believers rejoice in Tribulations All Carnal Joys are of short Continuance The World passes away and the Lusts thereof Life is dying and the Comforts of it All Flesh is Grass and the Glory as the Flower of the Grass that by Heat or Cold by a Blast or a Worm is soon destroyed All the Objects of the sensual Passions are very fading The finest Stamp of Beauty in the Countenance how easily is it defac'd by Sickness or Sorrow by many Accidents or Age Riches take the Wings of the Morning and flee away from the Possessors Honour is casual and uncertain the
their sinful Security are not to be parallell'd in Hell The Devils rebel against the Creator against his Authority and Laws but Men rebel against their Soveraign and Saviour and 't is admirable Grace The Son of God interpos'd as Mediator to make God reconcilable to the World But he did not assume the Nature of Angels he took no hold of them nor can they take hold of him The Golden Scepter was never extended to them Justice was strict and severe for the first Sin they were presently expell'd from the Habitation of Glory and their Doom is irrevocable But Men are within the Reserves of Mercy God spares them in order to Pardon and renews his compassionate Calls to them to forsake their Sins and live by his Word and wonderful Patience he invites them to Repentance and by Repentance to his Favour and to Happiness Now what a violent Provocation is the Contempt of such Mercy The Furnace of Hell is heated seven times more for the Despisers of the Gospel How will the remembrance of their Folly rack their torn Minds The fiercest Furies cannot so torment them as their self-condemning Consciences 3. Let the Ministers of the Gospel be excited to discharge their Commission with Fidelity I shall set down some Directions and Motives in order to it The general Direction is this Salus Populi suprema Lex esto The Salvation of Souls is the End of Preaching and must regulate it The Qualifications of a Minister to make him successful are First Excellent Knowledg An ignorant Minister is a plain Solaecism as to say a blind Eye not capable to perform the Act proper to it The Office and Authority without Abilities to exercise it is in vain The Apostle declares the Perfection of the Scripture that 't is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works He is to instruct the Ignorant to remember the Careless to refute the Erronious to resolve the Doubting and comfort the Afflicted Not only Fidelity but Wisdom is requisite in the Servant whom his Lord made Ruler over his House to give them Meat in due season There must be substantial Learning to convince Gainsayers and spiritual Skill to understand the Arts of the Tempter who will fail with every Wind and make use of the various Dispositions of Men to do them Mischief He feeds the blazing Presumption of indulgent Sinners He speaks Peace to them when God is their Enemy if there be sometimes a sad Countenance the shadow of Repentance it is sufficient But he perplexes tender and fearful Spirits by suggesting they do not mourn enough to damp their Endeavours and make them heartless in God's Service Now 't is a principal Duty of an Evangelical Minister to unmask the Malice of Satan and defeat his Design to preach the Word in that distinct manner that secure Sinners may be afraid of Vengeance and that the Penitent may apply the Divine Mercy He that wins Souls is wise The Terrors of the Lord must be set in array against the rebellious obstinate Transgressors but the indulgent Love of our Heavenly Father the tender Compassions of our sensible Head and Saviour and the Consolations of the holy Comforter are the Portion of relenting and returning Sinners An understanding Minister instructs his People in their Duty and Happiness he will not offer them Stone for Bread intricate controversial Matters that astonish and cannot edify but plain Evangelical Truths the proper Food for the Soul The Manner and Language in Preaching must be answerable to the Majesty of Divine Truths There is nothing more odious than a sacred Subject triflingly handled The Affectation of Wit and flanting Eloquence frustrates the End of Preaching that is to convince Sinners of their Guilt and Misery and by the Conviction of Conscience to make them fly to the Sanctuary our blessed Saviour for Protection partly because those things that flatter the Fancy are not proper to affect the Conscience light trimmings of Language gaudy Expressions glittering Points of Wit please the Imagination but Conscience is excited and inflam'd by representing eternal Things with powerful Plainness and in a solemn manner and partly because the Human Spirit being limited while one Faculty is attentive another suspends its Activity and Operations so that the Exercise of the Fancy hinders the Mind from serious reflecting on Divine Truths and applying them to the Soul Vain Ornaments in a Sermon are like a painted Complection the more 't is advanc'd to the Eye the more 't is abased to the Judgment The Discourse of a Preacher should directly go to the Heart it should be so fram'd as to prove and illustrate the Subject and work on the Understanding and Affections We have the Pattern of this in Scripture where the Love and Mercy of God to his Children and his Justice and Power against his Enemies are represented in the most pathetical manner I will produce an Instance of both Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have Compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet I will not forget thee What can be more supporting and comforting The other Instance is as terrible God is angry with the Wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready He hath also prepared the Instruments of Death This Description of God's righteous Displeasure is more powerful to shoot through the Conscience of hardned Sinners than the bare threatnings that Justice will surely punish them Secondly A Minister should be zealous and diligent in the discharge of his Office St. Paul adjures Timothy in the most solemn and fearful manner I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the Quick and the Dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine Did the Apostle stir up the Fire in so vigilant a Minister how much more needful is it to blow up the Embers in our drowsy Spirits Certainly if Conscience be not sear'd and dead so sharp a Charge will rouze it to the performance of our Duty Zeal for the Glory of our Saviour if it inflames our Hearts will fire our Lips and animate our Sermons Let Knowledg be the Breath to blow the sacred Fire and the most burning Zeal is not excessive But our Affections at the highest are very defective How many preach the Word so coldly as if they had no desire to save Souls from eternal Death How many Ministers lie down in their Laziness and wretchedly neglect their Duty to better themselves and benefit others in preaching the Gospel Idleness enervates and unstrings the Bent of the Spirit the Mind is benumm'd by a useless and ignoble Dulness Some who are deputed Shepherds may think it a Disparagement to their
Greatness to be frequently in so mean a Work as Preaching whereas the Son of God was a Preacher of the Gospel Others make a Gain of the Flock but put off the Instructing and Care of it to others They will serve Christ by Proxy who died for us in his own Person How can they commit to others the Charge immediately entrusted to themselves What Exemption can they plead what Account can they give to the great Shepherd Thirdly Let Ministers that they may be successful adorn the holy and without Holiness dangerous Office of the Evangelical Ministry by a sutable Conversation Innocence and Abstinence from foul Sins is not sufficient to recommend them but the Power of Godliness and the Beauty of Holiness must shine in their Lives They can never effectually teach others what they do not practise themselves if any Sin reigns in them their Prayers cannot ascend with Acceptance to God and descend with a Blessing on the People Let a Minister preach Divine Doctrine yet if his Conversation be Earthly and Sensual he is more likely to harden Sinners than to convert them How unbecoming and disgraceful are unholy Ministers to their Profession What a Scandal do they give to the Profane and occasion to blaspheme their high and holy Calling Let such prepare themselves for many Stripes they cannot escape a double Damnation for the Neglect of their own Souls and the Souls of others committed to them Though a Heavenly Light shines in their Sermons if in their Practice they are dark Clouds the Blackness of Darkness is reserved for them for ever Fourthly Union among Ministers is a happy Advantage to recommend their Doctrine to the People Division and Jealousy will lessen the Authority and Efficacy of their Preaching If one Dog opens the Deer is not alarm'd but the full Cry rouses him When Ministers with one Consent declare the Wrath of God from Heaven against Sin the Profane and Secure are afraid and the awful Fear of Justice makes them seek for Mercy 'T is true there cannot be expected an entire Conformity in Opinions among the wisest and best Men therefore in Doctrines not so clear nor of that moment as the great Truths a mutual Forbearance is our Duty But to coin Controversies about clear and necessary Truths and obscure them by Opposition is a great hinderance to the Success of the Gospel Some worthy Men earnestly deny the Gospel to be a Law Will they reform the Scripture Is not the Gospel called the Law of Faith the Law of Liberty the Law of the Spirit of Life 'T is true the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace but it has all the Essentials of a Law 't is the revealed Will of the Soveraign Law-giver commanding Sinners to repent and believe upon no less Reward and Penalty than Eternal Life to penitent Believers and Eternal Death to those who disobey the Gospel Now the Command and Sanction are the proper Characters of a Law If we duly consider it the Soveraignty of God is such that whatever Covenant he offers to the reasonable Creature has the Force and Obligation of a Law I instance in this one Point that of late has occasion'd an unhappy Difference O the blessed State above where Ignorance and Strife are abolish'd for ever Fifthly Frequent and earnest Prayer to God is a powerful Means to render our Ministry successful Paul plants and Apollos waters but God gives the Increase Let a Minister be compleatly furnish'd with Learning Judgment Eloquence yet all his Labour will be fruitless without Divine Grace A Key that is exactly fit to all the Wards of a Lock cannot open it without a Hand to turn it Let the most proper and powerful Motives to work upon the reasonable Nature be represented yet they cannot open the Heart unless they are manag'd by the holy Spirit 'T is very observable that in the Narrative of the Miracles by the Prophets some Circumstances are related that declare they were done by the Divine Power Sometime the Command of God was before the Performance thus in all the astonishing Works done by Moses the Command of God was the beginning Take thy Rod stretch out thy Hand and others Orders that demonstrate the miraculous Actions not to proceed from an inherent Virtue in his Person but from a superiour and borrowed Power Sometimes Prayer was addrest to God before the Miracles were done Thus Joshua first speaks to the Lord before he commands the Sun to stand still upon Gibeon and the Moon in the VÃ lley of Ajalon Thus Elias and Elisha revived the Dead by Prayer to the Lord of Life This was declaratory that the Prophets were but Instruments and that God was the absolute Author of them Accordingly in the Conversion of Souls which is a Work as miraculous as any of those illustrious Miracles there must be the Divine Appointment of the Means and ardent Prayer to God for his Blessing 'T is the great Encouragement of Ministers in their Service that whatsoever is God's Ordinance shall effect that for which it is ordain'd the Rod of Moses was powerful to subdue Egypt to drown Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea Three hundred Souldiers with Gideon only arm'd with Lamps and Pitchers destroyed the numberless Army of the Midianites Astonishing Victory And the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation But Prayer is requisite to obtain the holy Spirit by whose Influence the Word is effectual to recover lost Souls to Heaven And 't is evident that numerous and entire Conversions of Sinners have been by the Ministry of holy Men who made it their great and earnest Request that they might be successful in bringing Souls to Christ. Cold Formalities are unacceptable to God and without Efficacy but Prayer actuated with Life and holy Heat of Affection ascends to Heaven and prevails And what is more worthy of our constant and most ardent Desires than the Salvation of precious and immortal Souls II. To excite Ministers to a faithful Discharge of their Duty let them consider 1. The Example of our blessed Saviour It was one principal Part of his Office to preach the Gospel this he undertook in wonderful Mercy and perform'd with amazing Diligence He rises before Day and retires himself into a solitary Place to pray that he may lose no time in Preaching He preach'd on the Mountain in the Desert in the Ship in the Synagogues in the High-way in the House no Place no Persons no Time was unseasonable It was his Meat and Drink to do the Will of his Father Thus constant and delighted was the Son of God who laid aside his Majesty and Glory that he might instruct the People without terrifying them in his blessed Work How does his Example reprove and upbraid our Negligence How should it inflame us to imitate and honour him 2. His Love to us should make us ardent and active to save Souls as a Testimony of our Love to him Thus he speaks to Peter Lovest thou me