2. Men are miserably deceived about Repentance This is indispensably required not only by the Command but as a Disposition that qualifies the Sinner for pardoning Mercy For altho the Majesty and Supremacy of God be illustriously visible in pardoning Sinners and 't is most evident that his Authority is above the Rigor of the Law and his Mercy is infinitely free yet they are always exercis'd correspondently to his essential and unchangeable Perfections his ruling Wisdom his unspotted Holiness and governing Justice From hence it follows that a Sinner remaining in the Love and under the Power of his Sins is not a capable Object of pardoning Mercy Who can conceive that a wise Prince should send forth a Proclamation of Pardon to Rebels without their Consent to return to their Allegiance John the Baptist the Forerunner of the Rising Sun of Righteousness the Morning-Star of the Gospel preach'd the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins Even our Saviour begins his preaching the Gospel with this Repent ye and believe the Gospel St. Peter directed those who were anxious and inquiring about their Salvation Repent and be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins He repeats this Doctrine in Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the Times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. And he gives Testimony of the Resurrection of Christ Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sins According to this unalterable Tenor of the Gospel Repentance is the Condition that qualifies the Subject without which no Man is pardoned Some are strangely scrupulous of using this word Condition tho 't is authorized by the full Current of the Reformed Divines and I know none more convenient to express the necessity of it in a pardon'd Person Our Saviour tells his Disciples Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Are not those words a Conditional Assertion upon what Terms they possess that inestimable Privilege of being his Friends Thus when God invites Men to come out from the Pollutions of the World and to touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be your Father and you shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty Are not these Conditional Promises And upon the Performance of the Terms the Blessing will be bestowed and not otherwise 'T is objected that the asserting Repentance to be the Condition of Pardon lessens the Grace of the Gospel but this is a great Mistake for Repentance is an Evangelical Duty and Grace The Law requires Innocence and perfect Obedience or condemns without Mercy the Gospel commands and accepts Repentance This Grace was purchas'd by our Saviour and is wrought in us by the holy Spirit and join'd with Faith are the first Fruits of the returning Sinner to God When 't is exercis'd in the most eminent degrees it has not the least Merit nor Causality in the obtaining Pardon If a repenting Sinner could fill the Air with his Sighs and Heaven with his Tears if all his vital Springs were open'd and Streams of Blood flow'd out they cannot be satisfactory to God's injured Justice The unreconcilable Hatred of Sin the ardent Love of Holiness and stedfast Resolution to follow it which are Ingredients in sincere Repentance tho they are pleasing to God yet are the Duty of the reasonable Creature before the commission of Sin and therefore can deserve nothing of God But the ordaining an inseparable Connexion between Repentance and Pardon is honourable to God and very beneficial to Men for there is no State of Misery more miserable than for the Sinner to be hardned in his Sins But to return from this Digression The Scripture describes Repentance by a sincere Change and Renovation of the Mind the leading Faculty by the entire turning of the Heart from the love of Sin to the love of Holiness by the active lively Passions Sorrow Fear Shame Indignation Zeal that are principal Ingredients in it and by the Fruits worthy of Repentance and Works meet for Repentance 'T is called Repentance from dead Works and Repentance unto Life Now Men are willingly deceived with an insincere and ineffective Repentance either with a meer mental Change or with broken Resolutions instead of the intire Heart or with the leaving some Sins and retaining others that are sutable to their Humours and Lusts. They confess their Sins and condemn themselves for them sometimes they have flashing Thoughts melting Affections good Purposes to forsake Sin this they think to be sincere Repentance but when a Temptation appears they are easily overcome and live in the habitual Practice of their provoking Sins This Conceit of their being true Penitents is as unreasonable as if one that has a returning Ague should think himself freed from his Disease in the intervals of his Fits Now to quiet Conscience they readily apply to themselves the words of the Apostle What I do I allow not And since the best Saints while they are in sympathy with frail Flesh cannot be perfect but many Sins they unwarily and unwillingly commit which are Infirmities lamented by them and graciously forgiven by their Heavenly Father therefore indulgent Sinners take shelter under this Pretence that their Relapses are meer unavoidable Infirmities But what Weakness can be pretended for wilful habitual Sins Such Excuses do not cover their Guilt but discover their strong Affections to their Lusts They have not the Excuse of Ignorance to pretend the Flesh and the World are omnipotent Enemies that cannot be resisted is to blaspheme the Grace of the holy Spirit In short a new Life is inseparable from Repentance in its Reality Sad and serious Thoughts Sighs and Tears the sorrowful Confession of Sins and good Purposes against them are the Blossoms of Repentance ineffective without the substantial Fruits of it in a reformed Conversation 'T is one of the Arts of Satan to join things together that are inconsistent In Paradise he assured the Woman that she might take of the forbidden Tree and of the Tree of Life and he now deceives many with the hope that their indulged repeated Sins are consistent with Repentance But if Men do not forsake the foul Sins they lament their Sorrow will go with them to Hell and settle in the Worm that shall never die Fifthly The Tempter hinders Men from Compliance with the present Invitations of Grace by suggesting there will be time enough for accepting them hereafter and a future Repentance will be sufficient to redress all their Miscarriages By this Deceit he trains them on to Ruin By this he eludes the Force of present Convictions that without Repentance they must perish for ever and puts Men out of the Compass of Conversion 'T is clear by its own Light and needs no other Proof that present Obedience is due to the Commands of God To day if you will hear
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
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
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
Custom 2. By opposing those who sincerely comply with the Heavenly Call either by Scorn and Derision or Violence and Persecution Human Nature is very sensible of disparaging Reflections and 't is one of the spiteful Arts of Satan to make use of his Instruments to deride serious Religion out of the World 'T is equally profane and pernicious to turn into Raillery and wild Mirth the Impieties and Impurities of the Wicked and the Holiness that shines in the Lives of excellent Saints for the making a Mock of Sin takes away the just Horrour and Detestation of it and the scurrilous vilifying of Holiness takes away the Veneration and high Respect that is due to it Carnal Men who live in Pleasures without restraint of their licentious Appetites upbraided by the holy and heavenly Conservation of sincere Christians cannot with Patience suffer others to practise what they neglect and to countenance their own Looseness and from Revenge scurrilously abuse whom they will not imitate Pure and undefiled Religion is the Game that winged Wits fly at He that avoids the appearance and approach of Sin that strives to be holy as God is holy in all manner of Conversation is the Mark wherein their poison'd Arrows are fasten'd The just upright Man is laughed to scorn Nay even dull Wretches will set up for Wits and attempt by their insipid Jests and thredbare Fooleries to abuse the Saints But all the bitter Sarcasms that are darted upon Religion are infinitely more hurtful to the Despisers than the Despised It argues a prodigious Depravation of Mind in those who take a perverse delight in scorning Holiness the glorious Likeness of God in Man such in the account of Scripture are the worst Sinners the most forlorn Wretches whose Condition is dreadful if not desperate This scornful exposing Religion to make Men asham'd of it is most successful upon the Dispositions of young Persons and those who are of higher Birth and Rank in the World Youth is the blushing Age and has a Tenderness of Face that cannot bear the Prints of Disgrace If one in his early Age begins to breath the Life of Holiness if he abstains from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul he is represented as fondly nice and ridiculously scrupulous no less than the special Grace of of God is necessary to fortify his holy Resolutions and make him superior to the Scorns of the Wicked The Honourable are fearful of Disgrace and more tender of their Reputation than others being in a greater Light and expos'd to more Eyes and Observations If one of noble Quality renounces the Vanities and Enticements of the World makes the Fear of the Lord his Treasure if he zealously endeavours to be more distinguish'd from others by his eminent Vertues than by the Splendor of his Condition he is scornfully traduc'd as a melancholy Fop as a low Spirit as if Constancy in Devotion and the Practice of Mortification were a descent from his Dignity and cast a dark sad Shade upon his Honour Thus the vain perverted World vilifies that Holiness in Men which the blessed Angels adore in God But alas how many that had serious Inclinations to be religious and were entred into the way of Life have been cool'd and check'd in their first Fervors they could not firmly sustain Reproach and endure Conflicts with the Passion of Shame therefore return'd to the Course of the World and with it have perish'd to Eternity We read of the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt they met in the way with Amalec who feared not God and smote the feeble and faint and weary of them Therefore the Lord strictly charged them to blot out the Memory of Amalec from under Heaven In this Type profane Scorners that discourage Beginners in Religion may see their Doom To conclude this first General I shall observe the Parable represents to us that those who were first invited not only made light of it but entreated spitefully the Servants and slew them Their neglect of the gracious Invitation was like the Sleep of one opprest with the Fumes of Wine that does not hear a Message sent to him their cruel Rage against those who invited them was like the awaking of a distracted Person who hearing the Voice that calls him and by an Error of Judgment mistaking what is said in fury snatches his Sword and destroys those about him Wicked Men are of Satan's Society he was a Murderer from the beginning and hates the Word of Life As soon as our Saviour was born and pointed out by a new Star in Heaven there was a design to destroy him 'T is true the subtile Tempter does not at first inspire Men with Rage against the Gospel but as in the Art of dying some Colours are preparatory for others the Cloth is first dipt in Blew before it takes a Black so by several degrees in sinning he brings them to extream Wickedness Thus the Neglect of the Gospel makes way for the Contempt of those who bring it and Contempt proceeds to Hatred and Hatred sometimes produces mischievous and deadly Effects Now the fear of Temporal Evils especially if extream to which Men are open and obnoxious for the Gospel will hinder them from embracing it or cause them to forsake it if they are not supernaturally enlightned and confirm'd by the Spirit of Power and Love and of a sound Mind SERMON VII LUKE xiv 23. The Lord said to the Servant Compel them to come in that my House may be full I Proceed to the second Hinderance of Mens rejecting the Call of the Gospel The Flesh that in the Language of the Scripture signifies the corrupt Nature and inbred Inclinations of Men to forbidden things obstruct their coming to Christ. The corrupt Nature is called Flesh not only as that is a term of vilifying for the Original and Resolution of Flesh is into the Dust but partly with respect to its Propagation and chiefly in that the usual attractive and defiling Objects of Mens Thoughts and Desires are carnal and are enjoyed by the carnal Faculties Our Minds and Affections are coloured and qualified distinguish'd and denominated from the Objects about which they are conversant This Corruption is spread through all the Faculties of the Soul the Mind is carnal in its Principles and Acts in opposition to the Spirit of the Mind renewed by Grace the Will and Affections are depraved Whatever is born of the Flesh is Flesh. The Apostle fully expresses this Corruption he saith the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God that implies the stubborn Aversness in the Will and Affections from spiritual things for they are Foolishness to him neither can be know them because they are spiritually discerned The natural Mind is indispos'd and incapable of knowing supernatural things in their Reality and Goodness so as to ravish the Will into a Compliance till 't is purified and spiritualiz'd by the holy Spirit The same Apostle tells us that
Wit to dispute and deride the most sublime and sacred Truths out of the World Their Faces are full of Death the Tokens of Reprobation are visible upon them The Issue will discover them to be the wretched Examples of that fearful Rule Those who are destin'd to final Ruin are infatuated Others are Believers in Profession and their own Conceit but Infidels in Practice Their Faith is but a vain Opinion a loose Assent to the Christian Doctrine because 't is the Religion of the Country but with our Radication and Establishment This is evident considering that the Doctrines of the Gospel are not meerly intellectual the Objects of Theory and Speculation but moral and practical the Objects of our choice and seeking This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners Accordingly the unfeigned belief of them is seated not only in the Mind but in the Heart and is correspondent to the infallible Truth and transcendent Goodness of the thing revealed they make such an Impression on the Soul that the value of them is above Life and whatever comes in Competition is with despising Disdain rejected But when Men seldom remember and little regard eternal Things how specious soever the Profession is can there be a reasonable Belief of their Words against their Works Therefore in the Language of the Scripture all that do not first seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof are Unbelievers it being morally impossible that Men should sincerely believe and have a due Apprehension of it but it must be the great Design of their Souls and the main Business of their Lives to obtain it 2. Security is the constant Effect of Infidelity and hardens Men in their Sins and the neglect of Salvation so dearly purchas'd and graciously offered to them in the Gospel Direct Infidels set their Mouth against Heaven and defy the Furnace of Hell They are blindly bold and fearless of that Judgment that makes the Devils tremble Others tho not open and palpable Infidels are in a dead Calm not sensible of their Sins and have slight Apprehensions of their great Danger Infidelity lies at the bottom of their Security As the Egyptians in the thick Darkness that covered the Land moved not from their Places so many in ignorant Darkness sit down and are at rest careless of the Saviour that can deliver from the Wrath to come Only those who have strong Apprehensions of Evils imminent and destructive will fly to Christ as a Sanctuary and Shelter and submit to his Terms of saving them Secondly The Corrupt Nature will not submit to the Sanctity and Purity of the Gospel The forecited Scripture tells us the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God and that Enmity is arm'd with many strong Lusts-opposing his Law The principal Cause of rejecting the Gospel is common to all We will not have this Man to reign over us 'T is observable that as Holiness is that Attribute wherein God doth most excel and Men are most defective so the corrupt Will is most opposite to it The Justice and Power of God in some cases Men do approve and apply themselves to if injuriously accused or opprest they desire his Justice to vindicate their Innocence and revenge their Wrongs if in Distress and Exigencies they pray that his powerful Providence may regard and relieve them but they are extreamly averse from his Holiness shining in his Laws which excites his Justice and Power to punish those who rebel against it They are ready to say to Christ what the rebellious Israelites said to Rehoboham Thy Father made our Yoke grievous now therefore make thou the grievous Service of thy Father and his heavy Yoke which he put upon us lighter and we will serve thee They will measure out the scantling of their Obedience how far he shall rule and farther they will not yield But our Saviour declares I am not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it 'T is true the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace a soveraign Composition of precious Promises of recovering Grace and pardoning Mercy but 't is also a Law and enjoins Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As without Compensation to the Justice so without Conformity to the Holiness of God we can never be restored to his Favour and enjoy him as our Felicity Our Saviour prescribes this indispensable Rule to his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me This is a comprehensive Fundamental Duty and the natural Man has a strong Reluctancy to every part of it 1. Self-dependance upon our own Vertues and Duties for the obtaining the Favour of God and the Eternal Reward is very natural to Men it was the Condition of the first Covenant to which they cleave Men of a fair Conversation and unblemish'd in the Eyes of the World have some Sparks of the Pharisee in them who justified himself that he was no Extortioner nor Unjust nor an Adulterer nor as the profane Publican and that he fasted and paid Tithes Upon such Reasons many presume of the Goodness and Safety of their Spiritual State they take Pride and Content in themselves in their Moral Goodness and do not feel the want of a Saviour nor apply themselves with humble mournful Affections to him for Reconciliation to God Others think by the Worthiness of their Works to compensate for the Unworthiness of their Sins to commute one Duty for another and ballance their Accounts with Heaven not considering that if their Works were perfectly good they are but the Performance of their Duty if they had never sinn'd It was one great Obstruction that hinder'd the Jews from receiving the Gospel They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness did not submit themselves to the Righteousness of God One of a high Spirit will rather wear a mean Garment of his own than a rich Livery the Mark of Servile Dependance Pride resists Grace and Grace resists Pride The Law of Faith requires us to renounce not only our Unrighteousness but our Righteousness even the most excellent Graces and the Fruits of them in comparison of Christ and as a Foundation of obtaining the Pardon of Sin and Salvation for ever Our Righteousness is defective and defiled and cannot endure the trial of God's inlightning Tribunal All our Doings and Sufferings cannot expiate the least Sin we must only rely upon the Lord our Righteousness to reconcile us to God and that we may stand in Judgment He was made Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him not in our selves How hard it is to awaken Men out of the Pharisaical Dream of their own Righteousness is evident both in the Doctrine and Practice of those of the Roman Communion They assert the formal Cause of our Justification in
his Voice harden not your Hearts Yet against all the Evidence of the Word without and of Conscience within Satan so strongly deceives Men that they rebelliously neglect their Duty till their Time and Life are expiring But how unbecoming how difficult how hazardous is a late Repentance How unbecoming is it to put off God till hereafter Such is his glorious Majesty we should with the most reverent Respect and humble Thankfulness obey his first Call If a Prince should invite a Subject to come to him for some great Favour would he so break all the Rules of Decorum as to delay his coming by saying Hereafter will be time enough And what is the greatest Majesty on Earth to the God of Glory no more than a More to the Sun and proportionably the Indignity arises to neglect the Offers of his Grace Besides how incongruous is it to give the Flower of our Time and Strength to our Lusts and to reserve the Bran for God To spend the Age of our vital and vigorous Actions in the Vanities and Business of the World and to allow only our languishing Age for the obtaining of Heaven That Men should content themselves with dead Affections in his Service who is their Life that were so lively in the Service of Sin that is their Death How difficult is a late Repentance Can you repent and believe at your pleasure Men think that in their Age after the ebbing and retirement of the carnal Affections they shall more easily forsake their Sins but 't is a pernicious Deceit The native Corruption of Mens Hearts alienates them from a dutiful return to God and contracted Corruption by habitual Practice fastens them in Sin as their Centre In Youth when the Blood and Spirits are high and fierce the Body has a corrupting Influence upon the Mind but by Custom in Sin the Mind is so depraved that it heats the frozen Blood and corrupts the Body Suppose the exciting Grace of the Spirit be not totally withdrawn which has often been ineffectual Can it be expected that after Men have been hardened in the commission and continuance of Sin they should be more receptive of Heavenly Impressions A Disease neglected at first that stealingly slips into the Habit of the Body and gradually weakens Nature becomes at last uncontroulable and incurable How hazardous is it to neglect present Obedience to the Call of Divine Mercy Our Days in the Language of the Psalmist are but as an hand-breadth and can Men extend their Lives beyond their Span A vast Eternity follows without Dimensions an undivided Duration It is no more in their Power to continue Time to come than to recal Time past How many are surpriz'd by hasty Death in their Security and die in their unrepented Sins and perish for ever The wise Man alarms the Sluggard with approaching Poverty and his Expressions are very applicable to the Delayers of Repentance Death comes like a Traveller gradually by silent Steps and as an armed Man will irresistably arrest them and Damnation follows which they can neither repel nor discover till they are seiz'd by it O that deluded Sinners would consider that nothing so ripens them for Death and accelerates Judgment as the Presumption that the Season of Grace will continue notwithstanding their lavish and careless wasting it But suppose that Life be extended to the utmost Date can you expect that the holy Spirit should visit you that have been so long putrifying in the Grave and breath a new Life into you 'T is the most severe threatning My Spirit shall not always strive with Man and then their Case is desperate There is a fearful Example recorded in Scripture the old World was first drowned in Sensuality and resisted the holy Spirit till he was withdrawn and then the Deluge wash'd away those Swine in their Mire Can you expect that at last when the World and your Sins leave you God will accept and receive you You are commanded to seek him in your early Spring in the first Dawnings of his Light and Favour and is a poor Remnant of your Life sufficient for obtaining his Meroy The Harlots respected not the dead but contended for the living Child Satan and the World strive to have the prime and best part of your Lives and will God be contented with the dying Remains Or do you expect an easy Composition for all the Abuse of his Benefits because of his Patience Do you presume because he forbears so long he will readily forgive at last The Servant not call'd to an account till he was run into an irrecoverable Arrearage of ten thousand Talents was delivered to the Tormentors till he should pay all his Debt How are Men degenerated and fallen lower than the Brute Creatures The Stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but Men know not the Judgment of the Lord. This Consideration made our compassionate Saviour dip his Words in Tears He beheld the City and wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes O wretched deceived Souls how long will you neglect a Saviour and Salvation How long shall he wait to be gracious and expect your lingering Repentance in vain Remember the time of Grace is limited if you refuse Obedience to the present Call do you know he will renew the Offers of his Grace Now is the accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation Will this New last for ever There is no Now of Favour and Hope in Hell 'T is true God is merciful and 't is one of his Royal Titles The God of Patience though Threatnings are denounced against Sinners and Judgments are ready to seize upon them he repents and stops his Wrath but there is no State more fearful in this World than when Men by neglecting Repentance make God weary of repenting When Patience has had its perfect Work towards the Unrelenting and Unreformed Justice succeeds before God cuts off a Sinner he cuts off all his Excuses Read with Fear the first of the Proverbs Because I have called and you refused I will laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear cometh God's Frown much more his Scorn is infinitely terrible and insupportable Those who delay Repentance till the Body is diseased all over and Death is printed in the Countenance and the languishing Lights are almost quench'd and the vital Frame is near a Dissolution yet presume a few Sighs will transport their Souls to Heaven How just and dreadful will their Disappointment be However they are deceived God is not mocked as a Man sows he shall reap SERMON IX LUKE xiv 23. The Lord said to the Servant Compel them to come in that my House may be full II. I Am now to consider the Means by which Men are wrought on to accept of the Invitations of
Grace in the Gospel The Sum of what has been discoursed of sinful and miserable Man is this The Understanding the directing Faculty is in ignorant Darkness and a dead Slumber not apprehensive of his Misery A dead Eye does not see its want of Sight nor a dead Heart feel its want of Life If the Head be obstructed with clammy Humours the whole Body is without Sense for the Nerves have their Root in the Brain and are the Channels to convey powerful Spirits to give Sense and Vigor and Motion to all the Parts The Will is a fierce and free Faculty commanding and active perverted and stubborn against the holy Law of God The Affections are exceedingly disordered and strongly inclin'd to sensual Things that flatter them with Satisfaction and very tumultuous and fiery against whatever shall cross their natural Inclinations Now how can one so stupid and refractory be made soft and flexible to the Call of Mercy As the Epicurean in Tully objects against the making of the World quae machinae qui vectes What Engines what Leavers were used in raising this vast Fabrick What he spoke in Derision may be said with Wonder What Engines what Instruments are used in craning up a Soul sunk below the Center to the highest Heaven What in making the new Creation that is more glorious and lasting than the first 'T is a Work respectively impossible not absolutely it can only be effected by the Power of God There is no Principle of Recovery left in fallen Man The Conversion of him from Sin to Holiness and from the Creature to God is a Miracle of Grace if he converted himself it were super-miraculous God can by his commanding Power bring Light out of Darkness but 't is plainly impossible that Darkness should produce Light The external Ministration of the Gospel without the concomitant Ministry of the Spirit is ineffective The Divinest Preacher cannot soften the Iron Sinew nor melt the Heart of Stone nor make the Rock to tremble The Prophet Isaiah whose sublime Eloquence overcomes all the admired Orators of the World yet complains Who has believed our Report to whom is the Arm of the Lord reveal'd The Angels of Light if they were sent from Heaven and were in this sense ministring Spirits they could not by their Seraphick Zeal and most excellent Eloquence change and reform Sinners One evil Angel seduced and corrupted the best Man Adam in the State of Innocence and Happiness but a Council of good Angels cannot restore one Man tho the least tainted to Holiness and Felicity No Creature can be a Creator the Sanctification of a Sinner is a new Creation 'T is only the Word of Life spoken by the Lord of Life that can raise dead Bodies and dead Souls Suppose the Word of God be assisted by his Rod yet that will be ineffectual to cleanse and change their Hearts without Divine Grace 'T is according to the wise Order of God whom the Word does not convert the Rod is made use of to cure and whom the Rod does not cure the Sword cuts off Prosperity furnishes the Carnal Appetites with delightful Objects and Men are easily induced to neglect their Duty like Children that forget their Lesson when they are at play Sense that reigns in Beasts and should serve in Men is then predominant But Affliction imbitters the carnal Sweets and is a proper Means to fix the Thoughts and restore the Mind to its Right and Jurisdiction as Blows and hard Usage bind up the ranging Fancy in distracted Persons tames and tires them and thereby reduces them to Sobriety Thus God is often pleased by Afflictions to shew Men their Transgressions to open their Ears to Discipline and effectually command them to return from their Iniquities But without the Instruction of his Spirit joins with the Voice of the Rod the utmost Effect of even sharp and long Afflictions is a forc'd and fading Repentance Constrained Devotion is like Fire struck out of a Flint hardly got and soon gone Thus 't is said of the Israelites in the Wilderness When he slew them they sought him they return'd and sought early after God but their Heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant How many open Rebels have been awaken'd by the fear of Death and when they have tasted and seen the Terrors of the Lord what Addresses what Submissions what Promises have they made to God but after their Reprieve how soon have they forgot the past Terrors and broke all the Bars of Reason and of their Resolutions and been as unreform'd as ever The wise Man tells us Bray a Fool in a Mortar pound him in pieces his Folly will remain in him Nay Miracles without the Application of them by Grace to the Spirits of Men are ineffectual to work Faith and Repentance The End of them is by the Evidence of Sense to excite the Mind to consider the Power that works them But they may astonish the Sense and the Mind not be convinc'd or if convinc'd yet they leave no permanent Operation upon the Hearts of the Spectators Moses charges the Israelites that notwithstanding they had seen all the miraculous Strokes of God's Power upon Pharaoh and his Servants yet the Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear to this day When the Son of God appear'd in his own Likeness and did such numerous and conspicuous Miracles that compell'd the most stubborn Devils to acknowledg his Deity yet the Pharisees remained obstinate and inconvincible The Souldiers who saw him rising in Power and Glory and were almost frighten'd to Death at the sight yet continued obdurate in their Infidelity Our Saviour assures us No Man can come to him except the Father which hath sent me draw him The Words are full of Emphasis No Man the Negation is universal not only the Act is denied No Man comes but the Power can come no less than Omnipotent Grace draws him A carnal Man will not come to Christ for Life and he cannot will to come for his Mind is so fore-laid with Prejudice and his Will is so depraved and intangled with the love of Sin that he cannot sincerely desire to be set free Every delightful Sin is like a charm'd Circle out of which the Sinner cannot move We are not to conceive of this Disability as if Sinners had not deliberative and elective Faculties to consider and choose what is best such a Disability would be an Argument for their Innocence and Justification Neither as if Men had a Will to forsake Sin and wanted Power like a miserable Slave that sighs after Liberty but is fasten'd by heavy Fetters but the perverse Will keeps them in Bondage They serve divers Lusts and Pleasures and delight in their Fetters 'T is a voluntary culpable Impotence join'd with a strong Reluctancy to Grace 't is the impudent imperious Weakness of the Whorish Woman charged upon the Israelites and
Causes forms them in the Womb brings them into the World by the ordinary way of the Earth and raises them from Infancy to a mature State according to the Rules of Nature Thus God could by one Act sanctify Sinners in Perfection but he is pleased by the preaching of the Word to convert Sinners and gradually perfect the Saints The Gospel is the Ministry of Reconciliation and of Regeneration And this is very congruous to the Human Nature for the Sinner is not converted as a Stone ascends by a forc'd and blind Motion but is instructed and affected by proposing Objects to his Mind and Will and acts according to the Impression he received from them Now the Natural Man being a Servant to Corruption the external propounding of the most powerful Objects and Motives cannot change him the converting Efficacy of the Word is from Jesus Christ. To make this more evident let us consider In every Action where an Instrument is us'd the Action is properly ascrib'd to the Agent God is a pure Spirit without any Composition of bodily Organs of Speech yet when he form'd a Voice in the Air for the proclaiming the Law He spake and whether by any created Voice or by the Voice of Men appointed for preaching the Gospel he speaks In human speaking the Voice is from the Tongue but the Sense and Meaning is from the Mind that directs it From hence it is that the Gospel preached is of admirable Efficacy and works above the Power of any Creature The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joints and Marrow and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart It subdues open Rebels and makes their Pride and Confidence fall as low as Hell it mollifies the most obdurate and makes them compliant to the Invitations of Grace And altho the Minister be never so mean in his Person and Appearance yet a weak Instrument in an Almighty Hand does Wonders Our blessed Saviour in his Person was the first Preacher of the Gospel and in his Sermons we are directed how to work upon the Reason and the Affections of Sinners by which alone they are capable to be moved The Substance of his several Sermons was Repent ye and believe the Gospel 1. The Order and Progress of converting Grace is by the Conviction of the Mind to turn the Will and Affections Sin prevails in Men by the love of Pleasure and till there be a mixture of what is more bitter than Sin is sweet they will not forsake it The World corrupted by Lust is an imaginary Paradise wherein there is nothing but forbidden Fruit and the Fruit is so pleasant to the Eyes and Taste that only flaming Terrors will expel them out of it No Man will cut off his Right-hand till an incurable Gangreen has seiz'd on it The light neglected Notions of Heaven are ineffective to reform Sinners till the Terrors of the Lord are set in array against them they are fasten'd in their Sins Of this there is visible and frequent Experience how many that have lived in a careless Contempt of God till their last Sickness and when they feel themselves sinking to the Grave and Hell and Conscience is an exact Remembrancer and terrible Accuser of all their inward Wickedness and notorious Sins then what furious Reflections do they make upon themselves and what Promises do they make if they might be spar'd 'T is therefore the first Duty of Ministers by clearing Light and convincing Strength to work on Conscience and by the Mediation of it to apply Guilt and Wrath to the Sinner that he may be restless in his Sins The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men 't is decreed before the World was 't is denounc'd in the Word and shall be fully executed in the Day of Wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God nothing is more certain than that Day and nothing so heavy as that Wrath. 'T is a Burden so insupportable that the Son of God was ready to sink under its Weight he meekly and silently endur'd all the cruel Rage of his Enemies but mournfully broke forth My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me Who can understand the Consequence of that Complaint Who can support himself under the Apprehension of an absent and angry God When the convinced Person ponders his Sins what Indignities he has offered to the glorious God his Maker and Preserver his Law-giver and Judg that he has abus'd his Mercies perverted his Benefits and emploied them in the Service of Satan that he has despis'd his Justice and ventur'd upon his inflam'd Anger for transient Pleasure and trifling Profits when these killing Aggravations are duly consider'd and laid close to the Heart how are all the sorrowful Affections moved serious Grief that springs from the Depth of the Soul confounding Shame anxious inquiring Fear to stop the Execution of the fatal Sentence past against him Thus 't is related of those Converts at the first Sermon of St. Peter that being convinc'd of their Crimson Guilt in their crucifying of the Lord Jesus they were pricked in their Heart and said to the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Then Sinners will humbly sue for Peace by the blessed Peace-maker Jesus Christ then Salvation will be so much the sweeter by how much the Danger was more threatning The Recovery from Death to Life is a double Life 2. The Lord Jesus must be propos'd as an all-sufficient and compassionate Saviour who invites the weary and heavy-laden to come to him for Rest. This is the order of the Spirit 's Operations first to convince of Sin then of Righteousness 'T is true there are diversities of Workings the Spirit instructs and terrifies Sinners by his Office of Bondage but not always in the same manner and degrees but the Soul is so humbled by the sight of Sin and impendent Wrath as it sees and feels the necessity of a Saviour and is willing to comply with the Terms of Mercy offered in the Gospel The whole need not a Physician but those who are sick A condemned Man values a Sheet of Paper wherein his Pardon is written and sealed more than the Conveyance of a rich Estate One near drowning values a Cord thrown out for his Rescue more than a Crown Thus when the Guilty are deeply sensible they have lost the Favour of God and cannot fly from his Power and there is but a step between them and Eternal Death then a Saviour will be infinitely precious and they will entirely close with him Now the Gospel represents the Son of God incarnate 1st An all-sufficient Saviour by his Propitiation and Intercession The Excellency of his Obedience and the Excellency of his Person were influential to obtain the Pardon of Sin His Propriety in the Sacrifice and the Value of
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
if we consider the Depravation of Mankind so inveterate and invincible we shall turn the Current of our Wonder another way that the obstinate Perverseness of any is subdued and that with consenting Wills they receive Christ as their Prince and Saviour Election is the Fountain of distinguishing Grace Many are called but few are chosen Conversion Adoption Justification Sanctification Glorification are all the Fruits of electing Mercy By the most gracious and free Act of his own Will he chose some out of the corrupt Generality and they are but a little diminutive Flock to make them Vessels of Honour that his Goodness might be the more admirable Those who are made a willing People were by the natural and contracted Hardness of their Hearts as averse and repugnant to the Heavenly Call as others if after a thousand Repulses the Spirit had been withdrawn they had died in their Sins but as 't is said of Lot's miraculous Rescue from the Flames of Sodom While he lingred the Angels laid hold upon his Hand the Lord being merciful to him and brought him forth and set him without the City so the free and omnipotent Grace over-rul'd their reluctant Hearts and strongly and sweetly inclin'd them to God their supream and satisfying Good and to come to Christ as the only means to restore them to the Favour and Enjoyment of God The natural Man is no more able to believe with a saving Faith in Christ than to obey the whole Law 't is the Gift of God He provides the Means of Salvation and applies them he by victorious Grace leads Captivity captive and bestows that most precious Gift upon his People How many that enjoy'd the same Gospel and did not reject so many Invitations nor so often grieve and vex the holy Spirit nor so long abuse the Patience of God were justly left in their Sins this will set a Lustre upon special and saving Mercy O what a conspicuous Discovery what a lively and thankful Sense will there be of this Grace in the next World Our Saviour tells the unbelieving Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and you your selves turn'd out The Comparison of the opposite States will then be more joyful and transporting to the Saints and more manifest and tormenting to the Reprobates They shall feel a burning Thirst after the Happiness they have lost and be tortur'd between Desire and Despair for ever 2. Let those who make light of the Invitations of Grace consider what will be the Issue of their Obstinacy Within a little while Conscience will awaken the Remembrance of their careless Contempt of the Divine Mercy and that will awaken Despair To instruct such Persons and make them afraid that they may fly to the Sanctuary from the Destroyer let them consider 1. This will render them inexcusable Their Obduration and final Ruin will be of themselves God is pleased to appeal to the Human Understanding What could I do more for my Vineyard that I have not done His Works and his Words are declaratory of his Will how pleasing the Repentance and Life of Sinners is to him He has prepar'd a Saviour and Salvation and offers them to lost Souls In the Year of Jubilee Liberty was proclaim'd for all the Israelites who had been Servants but if any one would not leave his Master his Ear was bored and he was a Servant for ever Thus the acceptable Year of the Lord is proclaim'd in the Gospel a happy Freedom to Sinners by Jesus Christ but those who are in love with their reigning Lusts refuse this Freedom and are condemn'd to the worst Bondage for ever God by his Authority commands them to repent and believe the Gospel He invites them by the most gracious Promises to accept and receive them he expresses the most tender Compassions towards perishing Sinners Why will ye die He reproaches their unaccountable Folly How long ye simple ones will ye love Simplicity He urges them by terrible Threatnings not to neglect his offer'd Grace But they are deaf to his loudest Calls if a Lust whispers from their Earthly Affections they are presently moved No Mercy will soften them no Reproofs will reform them the richest Means of Grace are lost and they prodigally perish Now how justly do they fall under the condemning Sentence of the Law who slight the Mercy of the Gospel God takes no Pleasure in the Death of a Sinner but they take Pleasure in their Sins they die in their Sins because they will die they are deprived of Life because they will not come to Christ that they may have Life At the Day of Judgment lost Sinners will intirely clear God and deeply charge themselves with their deserved Ruin 2. Such are irrecoverable The Gospel is the only Dispensation of Grace if Men obstinately reject it their Condition is as desperate as if they were bound in Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the great Day Mercy alone can heal us and if that be wounded our Sickness is incurable He that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abides on him His Doom is sealed and irreversible God now speaks in a still Voice but hereafter he will speak in a Whirlwind to the Despisers of his Grace 'T is true we cannot say a Soul is quite lost while there is a delay of Judgment but the Scripture declares that Sinners by their stubborn Refusals of Mercy make God inexorable to their Prayers There is a day of Grace and the Lapse of it is fatal to the Neglecters Of this there have been very fearful Examples how many Despisers of the Grace of the Redeemer in the course of their Lives yet in the Agony of their last Departure when their Sins with a ghastly Aspect appear and with frightful Horror they look into the bottomless Pit Conscience anticipates the Divine Judgment Let the most compassionate Ministers offer them the Cordials of the Gospel and tell them they despair too soon the self-condemning Conscience replies they repent too late O that Men were early wise to secure their eternal Interest 3. The neglect of Salvation will aggravate Sin and the Judgment of Men. This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light The higher the Disobedience the lower the Damnation will be of Sinners The Heathens in their Race of ignorant Rebellion are not so guilty nor liable to so heavy a Sentence as those who disobey the Gospel The Israelites had so abus'd the Mercies of God to his Dishonour there were no such Rebels on Earth the Prophet was fain to descend to Hell for a Comparison to equal their Wickedness Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom Give Ear unto the Law of our God ye People of Gomorrah But those who turn the Grace of God into an occasion of
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