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
Law the declared Will of his Maker accordingly a Law the Rule of his Obedience was written in his Heart Now Sin the Transgression of this Law contains many great Evils 1. Sin is a Rebellion against the Soveraign Majesty of God that gives the Life of Authority to the Law Therefore Divine Precepts are enforced with the most proper and binding Motive to Obedience I am the Lord. He that with purpose and pleasure commits Sin implicitely renounces his Dependance upon God as his Maker and Governour over-rules the Law and arrogates an irresponsible Licence to do his own Will This is exprest by those Atheistical Designers who said With our Tongue we will prevail our Lips are our own who is Lord over us The Language of Actions that is more natural and convincing than of Words declares that sinful Men despise the Commands of God as if they were not his Creatures and Subjects What a Dishonour what a Displeasure is it to the God of Glory that proud Dust should fly in his Face and controul his Authority He has ten thousand times ten thousand Angels that are high in Dignity and excel in Strength waiting in a Posture of Reverence and Observance about his Throne ready to do his Will How provoking is it for a despicable Worm to contravene his Law and lift his Hand against him It will be no Excuse to plead the Commands of Men for Sin for as much as God is more glorious than Men so much more are his Commands to be respected and obeyed than Mens When there is an evident Opposition between the Laws of Men and of God we must disobey our Superiours tho we displease them and obey our Supream Ruler He that does what is forbidden or neglects to do what is commanded by the Divine Law to please Men tho invested with the highest Sovereignty on Earth is guilty of double Wickedness of Impiety in deposing God and Idolatry in deifying Men. It is an extream Aggravation of this Evil in that Sin as it is a disclaiming our Homage to God so 't is in true account a yielding Subjection to the Devil For Sin is in the strictest Propriety his Work The Original Rebellion in Paradise was by his Temptation and all the actual and habitual Sins of Men since the Fall are by his efficacious Influence He darkens the Carnal Mind and sways the polluted Will he excites and inflames the vicious Affections and imperiously rules in the Children of Disobedience He is therefore stiled the Prince and God of this World And what more contumelious Indignity can there be than the preferring to the glorious Creator of Heaven and Earth a damned Spirit the most cursed part of the Creation It is most reasonable that the Baseness of the Competitor should be a Foil to reinforce the Lustre of God's Authority yet Men reject God and comply with the Tempter O prodigious Perversness 2. Sin vilifies the ruling Wisdom of God that prescrib'd the Law to Men. Altho the Dominion of God over us be Supreme and Absolute yet 't is exercis'd according to the Counsel of his VVill by the best Means for the best Ends he is accordingly stiled by the Apostle The eternal King and only wise God 'T is the glorious Prerogative of his Soveraignty and Deity that he can do no Wrong for he necessarily acts according to the Excellencies of his Nature Particularly his Wisdom is so relucent in his Laws that the serious Contemplation of it will ravish the sincere Minds of Men into a Compliance with them They are framed with exact Congruity to the Nature of God and his Relation to us and to the Faculties of Man before he was corrupted From hence the Divine Law being the Transcript not only of God's Will but his Wisdom binds the Understanding and Will our leading Faculties to esteem and approve to consent and choose all his Precepts as best Now Sin vilifies the Infinite Understanding of God with respect both to the Precepts of the Law the Rule of our Duty and the Sanction annex'd to confirm its Obligation It does constructively tax the Precepts as unequal too rigid and severe a Confinement to our Wills and Actions Thus the impious Rebels complain The Ways of the Lord are not equal as injurious to their Liberty and not worthy of Observance What St. James saith to correct the uncharitable censorious Humour of some in his time He that speaks Evil of his Brother and judges his Brother speaks Evil of the Law and judges the Law as an imperfect and rash Rule is applicable to Sinners in any other kind As an unskilful Hand by straining too high breaks the Strings of an Instrument and spoils the Musick so the Strictness and the Severity of the Precepts breaks the harmonious Agreement between the Wills of Men and the Law and casts an Imputation of Imprudence upon the Law-giver This is the implicit Blasphemy in Sin Besides the Law has Rewards and Punishments to secure our Respects and Obedience to it The wise God knows the Frame of the reasonable Creature what are the inward Springs of our Actions and has accordingly propounded such Motives to our Hope and Fear the most active Passions as may engage us to perform our Duty He promises his Favour that is better than Life to the Obedient and threatens his Wrath that is worse than Death to the Rebellious Now Sin makes it evident that these Motives are not effectual in the Minds of Men And this reflects upon the Wisdom of the Law-giver as if defective in not binding his Subjects firmly to their Duty for if the Advantage or Pleasure that may be gain'd by Sin be greater than the Reward that is promised to Obedience and the Punishment that is threatned against the Transgression the Law is unable to restrain from Sin and the Ends of Government are not obtained Thus Sinners in venturing upon forbidden things reproach the Understanding of the Divine Law-giver 3. Sin is a Contrariety to the unspotted Holiness of God Of all the glorious and benign Constellations of the Divine Attributes that shine in the Law of God his Holiness has the brightest Lustre God is holy in all his Works but the most venerable and precious Monument of his Holiness is the Law For the Holiness of God consists in the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his moral Perfections Wisdom Goodness and Justice and the Law is the perfect Copy of his Nature and Will The Psalmist who had a purged Eye saw and admir'd its Purity and Perfection The Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes The Word is very near therefore thy Servant loves it 'T is the perspicuous Rule of our Duty without Blemish or Imperfection The Commandment is holy just and good It injoins nothing but what is absolutely Good without the least Tincture of Evil. The Sum of it is set down by the Apostle to live soberly that is to abstain from any thing that
moved and melted at the sight of others Miseries and such may be beneficent and compassionate to the Saints in their Afflictions but the Spring of this Love is Good-Nature not Divine Grace There are Human Respects that incline others to Kindness to the Saints as they are united by Interest Fellow-Citizens and Neighbours and as they receive Advantage by Commerce with them or as obliged by their Benefits But Civil Amity and Gratitude are not that holy Affection that is an Assurance of our Spiritual State There are other Motives of Love to the Saints that are not so low nor mercenary in the thickest Darkness of Paganism the Light of Reason discovered the amiable Excellence of Vertue as becoming the Human Nature and useful for the Tranquillity and Welfare of Mankind and the Moral Goodness that adorns the Saints the Innocence Purity Meekness Justice Clemency Benignity that are visible in their Conversations may draw Respects from others who are Strangers to the Love of God and careless of his Commandments And as the Mistake of this Affection is easy so it is infinitely dangerous for he that builds his hope of Heaven upon a sandy Foundation upon false Grounds will fall ruinously from his Hopes and Felicity at last How fearful will be the Disappointment of one that has been a Favourer of the Saints that has defended their Cause protected their Persons relieved their Necessities and presum'd for this that his Condition is safe as to Eternity tho he lives in the known neglect of other Duties and the indulgent Practice of some Sin But if we find that our Love to the Children of God flows from our Love to God that sways the Soul to an entire compliance to his Commands and makes us observant of them in the course of our Lives What a blessed Hope arises from this Reflection We need not have the Book of the Divine Decrees opened and the Secrets of Election unvail'd for we know that we are past from Death to Life if we love the Brethren This is an infallible Effect and Sign of the Spiritual Life and the Seed and Evidence of Eternal Life How to bear Afflictions SERMON IV. HEBREWS xii 5. My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him THE words are an excellent Passage from the Book of the Proverbs wherein the Supream Eternal Wisdom is represented giving Instruction to the Afflicted how to behave themselves under Troubles so as they may prove beneficial to them the Counsel is that they should preserve a Temperament of Spirit between the excess and defect of Patience and Courage neither despising the Chastenings of the Lord by a sinful neglect of them as a small unconcerning matter nor fainting under them as a Burden so great and oppressing that no Deliverance was to be expected To enforce the Exhortation Wisdom useth the amiable and endearing Title My Son to signify that God in the quality of a Father corrects his People the Consideration whereof is very proper to conciliate Reverence to his Hand and to encourage their Hopes of a blessed Issue The Proposition that arises from the Words is this 'T is the Duty and best Wisdom of afflicted Christians to preserve themseves from the vicious Extreams of despising the Chastenings of the Lord or fainting under them To illustrate this by a clear Method I shall endevour to shew I. What it is to despise the Chastenings of the Lord and the Causes of it II. What fainting under his Rebukes signifies and what makes us incident to it III. Prove that 't is the Duty and best Wisdom of the Afflicted to avoid these Extreams IV. Apply it First To despise the Chastenings of the Lord imports the making no account of them as unworthy of serious Regard and includes Inconsiderateness of Mind and an Insensibleness of Heart 1. Inconsiderateness of Mind with respect to the Author or End of Chastenings 1. With respect to the Author when the Afflicted looks only downwards as if the Rod of Affliction sprang out of the Dust and there were no superiour Cause that sent it Thus many apprehend the Evils that befal them either meerly as the Productions of Natural Causes or as casual Events or the Effects of the Displeasure and Injustice of Men but never look on the other side of the Vail of the second Causes to that invisible Providence that orders all If a Disease strikes their Bodies they attribute it to the extremity of Heat or Cold that distempers their Humours if a Loss comes in their Estates 't is ascribed to Chance Carelesness and Falseness of some upon whom they depended but God is concealed from their sight by the nearness of the immediate Agent Whereas the principal Cause of all Temporal Evils is the over-ruling Providence of God Shall there be Evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it They come not only with his Knowledg and Will but by his Efficiency The Locusts that infected Egypt are as real an Effect of God's Wrath as the most miraculous Plague altho an East Wind brought them and a West Wind carried them away The Arrow that was shot at a venture and pierc'd between the Joints of Ahab's Armour was directed by the Hand of God for his Destruction Shimei's cursing of David tho it was the overflowing of his Gall the Effect of his Malignity yet that holy King look'd higher and acknowledged the Lord hath bidden him As the Lord is a God of Power and can inflict what Judgments he pleaseth immediately so he is a God of Order and usually punisheth in this World by subordinate means Now where-ever he strikes tho his Hand is wrap'd up in a Cloud yet if it be not observed especially if by habitual Incogitancy Men consider not with whom they have to do in their various Troubles this profane neglect is no less than a despising the Chastenings of the Lord. 2. Inconsiderateness of the End of the Divine Discipline is a great degree of Contempt The Evils that God inflicts are as real a part of his Providence as the Blessings he bestows as in the course of Nature the Darkness of the Night is by his Order as well as the Light of the Day therefore they are always sent for some wise and holy Design Sometime tho more rarely they are only for trial to exercise the Faith Humility Patience of eminent Saints for otherwise God would lose in a great measure the Honour and Renown and his Favourites the Reward of those Graces Affictions being the Sphere of their Activity But for the most part they are castigatory to bring us to a sight and sense of our State to render Sin more evident and odious to us They are fitly exprest by pouring from Vessel to Vessel that discovers the Dregs and Sediment and makes it offensive that before was concealed The least Affliction even to the Godly is usually an Application of the Physician of Spirits
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
the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law neither can be As the Lusts of the Flesh are opposite to the Law of God so the Wisdom of the Flesh is to the Gospel This corrupt Nature makes the World such a dangerous Snare to Men for it blinds their Minds so as not to see the Dros of Earthly Things and the Glory of Heavenly St. John expresses the tempting Objects of the World by the vicious Affections that are drawn out and fastn'd upon them All that is in the World is the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life for the Lusts of Men put a Gloss upon them and make them pernicious The Poison is not in the Flowers but in the Spider that turns the Extraction from them into its own Nourishment Accordingly St. Peter speaks of the Corruption in the World through Lust. The vain Heart is more deceitful than the vain World for not only Reason that instructs the Wise but Experience that instructs Fools affords sufficient Conviction that all things here below are Vanity and Vexation there is none so low none so exalted in the World but finds it so By tasting a sprig of Wormwood the Bitterness is perceived as truly as by drinking a strong Infusion of it The World with all its Varieties is a multiplied and perpetuated Vanity it affords no solid Satisfaction the setting down a thousand Cyphers makes no Sum. But the carnal Heart is so enchanted with the false Lustre and seeming Pleasures of the World that by changing one Vanity for another it seeks and expects Satisfaction This verifies the Observation of the wise Preacher The Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and Madness is in their Hearts while they live and after that they go down to the Dead What a prodigy of Madness is it for Men to catch at a shadow of Happiness to seek for that which they are uncertain to find and if they do find they are certain to lose and to neglect substantial Felicity which if they sincerely seek they shall obtain and if they obtain they shall enjoy for ever But that it may be more evident that the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts does powerfully interpose to hinder Men from embracing the Gospel I will particularly consider its Opposition to the supernatural Doctrines revealed in the Gospel the Objects of Faith to the holy Precepts of it the Rule of Obedience to the spiritual Rewards recommended to our Choice 1. The great Mystery of Godliness is the Incarnate Son of God who by an ignominious and accursed Death purchased a glorious blessed Life for his People this Doctrine is accounted Foolishness and rejected by the proud unrenewed Mind The Gospel is stiled the Word of Faith 't is conveyed to the Soul with Authority and Efficacy by Faith As Faith in Christ was required of the Sick and Blind and Lame that his healing Vertue might rest on them so the belief of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine is the first vital Qualification that makes us capable of spiritual healing Infidelity stops the Fountain of Grace The Apostle saith the Word preach'd did not profit them that heard it not being mixt with Faith Now altho the Light of the Gospel be so clear and convincing that the sincere considering Mind cannot suspend its Assent to it yet the carnal Mind stain'd with Prejudices and vicious Affections will not admit it An evil Heart is the principal cause of Unbelief The Jews from Pride Vain-Glory and the Love of the World rejected the Son of God tho all the Characters of the Messias were conspicuous in him he did not come with visible Glory and Observation according to their Expectations and Desires they saw no Form nor Comeliness in him and did not believe the Report concerning him they were scandaliz'd at his Parentage and mean Condition he discovered their beloved Sins and sharply reproved the reigning Vices among them which made his Person and his Preaching so odious to them Our Saviour tells us that Light was come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil The Prejudice of their Passions was so strong that they rejected the saving Truths of the Gospel and believed damnable Delusions Now the same Roots of Offence are in the Hearts of Men against the Gospel Such a Cloud arises from the Steam of carnal Lusts darkning the Understanding that it cannot discover Truths so high as the mysterious Doctrines of Christ. Love in the Heart is requisite as well as Light in the Mind to know spiritual things Obedience to the Will of God is the best Preparative to believe his Word Our Saviour justly tax'd the Pharisees they did not repent that they might believe Men are averse from receiving those Doctrines that condemn their Lusts and are Infidels that they may be freely wicked that the Shadow of Repentance may not disturb them 'T is said of Atheistical Scorners they are willingly ignorant The corrupt Will rules imperiously and turns the Thoughts from those Arguments which if duly considered Reason with a strong hand would constrain them to acknowledg there is a righteous God who has Authority to command and Power to punish those who rebel against his Laws 'T is true they pretend to offer something for a more colourable Denial of supernatural Revelation but the perversness of Infidelity appears through all their Pretences Some object against the Sublimity of the Doctrines of the Gospel It was the scornful Expression of one This is like the Peace of God that passes all Understanding As if the Reality of things depended upon the Conception and Capacity of the Human Mind and Divine Truths were impossible because incomprehensible Such foolish Pride obstructs the Reception of Divine Truths and from hence humble Christians are despised as led by a blind Belief Others are offended at the simplicity of the revealing them The Doctrines are so high they cannot reach unto the manner of conveying them is so low they will not stoop to But 't is evident these arguings are not from the Reason but the Lusts of Men. For the rare Accord of the Matter and Manner of the Gospel-Revelation is a sensible Character of its Descent from God The Doctrine is high and bright of an extraordinary Revelation the Delivery of it is easy and familiar since 't is for the Instruction and Salvation of Men and accordingly the Divine Wisdom has made an exact Temperament of these things Briefly the corrupt Affections pervert the Will to reject the Gospel and the perverted Will influences the Understanding to disapprove it Nay carnal Lusts force Men against their Light as the Jews did Pilate to condemn the Person of Christ to condemn his Doctrine There are many in this degenerate Age who altho they dare not publickly own the defil'd and abhorr'd Name of Infidels yet among their Companions employ their