damnation and that when the Apostles and Evangelists wrote the New Testament in which they laid the same stress upon Faith that Christ himself had done before them that they I say should mean something else by the word than what it signified according to common use and yet that they should not tell us so The Writers and first Preachers of the Gospel did indeed treat of new Subjects viz. of those new Revelations of God's Will that had been lately made but when they made use of words that had a known meaning they did not depart from the received signification of those words But by Faith or believing men always understood being persuaded of the truth of some Proposition And thus Faith is described in the Scripture where it is described most fully In St. John 11.25 says our Saviour He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live but this is explained v. 27. I believe that thou art Christ the Son of God that should come into the world And again John 8.24 If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins Moreover that Faith by which the Church should stand wanted nothing surely that belongs to the nature of Faith and that is thus expressed We believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God and this because not flesh and blood but God had revealed it Thus Abraham's Faith which was imputed to him for righteousness was his accounting that God was able to raise up Isaac even from the dead And all the holy men mentioned in Heb. 11. are said to have died in faith being persuaded of the promises As to those that think there is more in the nature of Faith than this comes to they either return to this in other words or add something that doth not belong to the nature of it those that say there must be a particular application of the Promises where there is true Faith say well but then application is nothing else but a persuasion of or an assent unto a single Proposition For instance I am persuaded that God sent his Son into the world to save mankind is a general persuasion Christ came for my Salvation which is the Application is a particular one Without holiness no man shall see the Lord therefore without holiness I shall not This last is but persuasion and there is that in the former therefore Faith in both Again if resting and relying upon Christ is said to be Faith the meaning must be either that I am assured Christ will save me and this is being persuaded of the truth of that saying or else that I rely upon his Person but a Person cannot be believed otherwise than by believing something of him or something that he has said Some there are that think the nature of Faith doth consist in a certain degree of Persuasion and the Romanists tell us there must be Infallibility in it But now there is a weak as well as a strong Faith and though a greater degree of Assent is more working and powerful yet the nature of Faith is in the least Lastly some good men are apt to think that the goodness of the Will and Affections nay and Holiness of Life belongs to the nature of true Faith but this cannot be because although Faith where it is in that degree that it ought to be there as I shall shew it will produce holiness of Heart and Life and therefore Faith is sometimes spoken of in the Scriptures as comprehending those good Affections and those good Works which it causes yet sometimes they are distinguished from one another and therefore they are not the same so that when all is done the whole nature of Christian Faith doth consist in this That it is a persuasion of the Truth of those Doctrines which Christ hath made known to us Now for the second Point 2. Concerning the power and efficacy of Faith we are to consider that there are these two things attributed to it our Justification and our Holiness or Obedience to the Gospel And here we will first consider 1. What Efficacy Faith has as to the Justification of him that believes and this I shall shew very briefly and plainly in these following particulars 1. Faith may be said to be justifying or saving in that it puts a man into a good way of being justified and thus believing that Jesus is the Christ may be said to be justifying Faith because it is the first step towards Justification and believing his Precepts with his Promises and Threatnings is in this sense a more Justifying Faith because it brings a man nearer to that state in which he shall be justified But 2. If we speak of Actual Justification and continuance in God's favour then not any nor all the proper acts of Faith taken together but separate from Repentance and Obedience are sufficient for where God hath made more conditions than one necessary there the performance of all but one will not suffice and therefore where forgiveness and salvation is promised to one single condition there the presence of all the rest is supposed He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple shall not lose his reward but shall cold water wash away the treachery of Judas or the injustice of Pilate He that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ hath eternal life but still to be carnally minded is death He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Nevertheless it is true that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore where nothing less than Salvation is promised to Believing and Baptism all that which in reason should follow is meant though it be not expressed 3. If we speak of final and irreversible Justification this is neither to be obtained by Faith nor Obedience without perseverance in both God doth in this Life justify true Believers but not once for all till they have fought their good fight and finished their course As the Lord in the Parable forgave his Servant and yet called him to account for his Debt when he proved cruel to his Fellow for this shewed that his pardon was but conditional So likewise says our Saviour shall your heavenly Father do unto you Now I confess what hath been said in answer to the first and second Inquiries gives no sufficient account why we are said to be justified by Faith so frequently in the Scripture but rather seems to make it more unaccountable For if there be no more in the nature of Faith than assent to Truth this seems to be a very common attainment not deserving those great things that are spoken of Faith in the Scripture Can that be the Faith by which all good men have wrought righteousness which hath been held in unrighteousness by as many wicked And then as to the power of this Faith in order to Justification Can that be the faith of God's elect which the Reprobates have as
he lays down in the remaining part of the Text. 1. That this Righteousness proceeds from Faith The righteousness of God from faith to faith 2. That this principle of Righteousness was mentioned in the Old Testament As it is written the just shall live by faith And therefore we are first to enquire 1. What is the meaning of that Passage from faith to faith In what sense is the Righteousness which God requires said to be from faith to faith I answer that the meaning is this The Righteousness which pleaseth God is that which must begin from Faith which must still proceed from Faith and which at last must end in Faith For this is a saying like to that in Rom. 6.19 As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness For by serving iniquity unto iniquity is meant adding one sin to another and daily growing worse And by serving righteousness unto holiness is meant adding one degree of goodness to another and growing better And thus here the Righteousness which is from faith to faith is a Righteousness which first proceeds from Faith and is always built upon it afterwards and is at last perfected by it For that which the Apostle intimates by these words is That the Righteousness of a good Christian having Faith for the ground and reason of it does encrease as his Faith encreases and that the more he is rooted and strengthned in Faith the better he grows and he pleases God the more This seems to be the most natural interpretation of these words viz. That Faith is all along the Principle and Ground of that Righteousness which God expects and is pleased with But then 2. What relation hath that Passage out of the Old Testament to this matter As it is written the just shall live by faith I answer That the Apostle does hereby design to shew that though the Promises of the Gospel are incomparably more excellent than those that were made under the Law yet it was the belief of God's Promises then that held good men to the performance of their duty and intituled them to the favour of God The words are taken out of Habakk 2.4 God had promised the Jews that they should return from their Captivity in his appointed time v. 3. therefore says he though the vision tarry wait for it because it will surely come but the just shall live by his faith that is to say The sure belief of this Promise would support good men in the service of God under the Captivity in an Idolatrous Land and their Faith should be rewarded with a return into their own Country in God's appointed time In like manner Christians who have better promises viz. of an Heavenly Countrey do in this Faith work that Righteousness which the Gospel requires and for thus living by Faith in this World they shall live for ever in their Heavenly Countrey Faith was the foundation of the Jews observing their Law of outward Works and it was rewarded with such Blessings as that Law promised But the Gospel of Christ as we read in the foregoing Verse is the power of God unto salvation and therefore it is still true but in a much higher sense that the just shall live by faith because the Gospel requires an inward and spiritual Righteousness to which we are brought by the belief of promises of spiritual and eternal good things and because such Faith shall bring us to everlasting life Thus much for the Explication of the Text. And now my work shall be to enquire upon what ground it is that the Scriptures do attribute so much to Faith as they do and to shew that this is done without any disparagement at all to Godliness and Virtue And I have chosen this Argument to discourse upon that it may appear how unreasonably we of the Reformation are charged by our Adversaries as we often have been with Solifidianism as they call it that is with attributing all to Faith and leaving no necessity for Righteousness and good Works We do indeed with the Scriptures say That we are justified by faith and that the just do live by Faith but we do with the Scriptures also affirm Faith to be the principle of obedience and there is a righteousness from faith to faith without which we cannot please God nor be justified before him We do also renounce the merit of good Works and resolve the acceptance of them into the Grace and Mercy of God in not imputing our sins to us and when we have done all they are the gracious Promises of God and it is not the dignity of our own Righteousness that we rely upon but then we say it is the faith of these Promises that maketh us live to God by Repentance and good Works which are so necessary that we are dead without them Now from hence indeed it follows That where there is that faith which God requires holiness will follow For if we are justified by faith if he that believes shall be saved and yet without holiness no man shall see the Lord then they that believe are holy which if it be found true then we not to say the Scriptures are justified in attributing so much to Faith as we do that it is by Faith we please God that we live by Faith and that we are saved by Faith On the other hand it seems hard to understand how those great things should be spoken of Faith when there are many that do not hold faith and a good conscience but hold the truth in unrighteousness And since it follows more certainly That a man believes because he is holy than that he is holy because he believes it should rather have been said that a Believer shall live by his Righteousness than that the just shall live by faith and yet following the Scriptures we say that we live by faith and are justified by faith To clear this difficulty it will be requisite to consider well these two things 1. What the Nature of Faith is And 2. What power it has or what efficacy must necessarily be granted to it and when it hath that power and efficacy I shall not only aim at making the notions of these things clear but also profitable unto Godliness 1st then As to the Nature of Faith I do not see that the Scripture means any thing by Faith but a persuasion of the truth of something that is affirmed upon the Testimony of one that affirms it or upon some other reason besides sensible evidence or immediate knowledge And thus Divine Faith is a persuasion of the truth of those things which we have God's testimony for And that we are thus to understand these words Faith or believing in the Scriptures is very plain because otherwise the Scriptures must have altered the common sense and signification of words But can we think that when our Blessed Saviour required believing under the penalty of
well as they Do the just live by that Faith with which others perish How is that Faith imputed to them for righteousness which does but aggravate the condemnation of these Nay how is that justifying and saving Faith which the Devils have as well as we for they assent and therefore believe and tremble because they believe Let us therefore proceed to the second Consideration concerning the power and efficacy of Faith viz. To make men attain to that righteousness which God requires and accepts Now if upon a just examination of this matter it will appear that Faith if it be in men as it ought to be in them will make them obedient and holy and therefore that the wicked want Faith that is properly so called and have not that Faith which God in the Scripture requires then there will be no difficulty in conceiving why the Scripture so often and so remarkably says that we are justified by faith Here therefore I shall represent what those things are in which the force of Faith lies to govern our Hearts and Lives and then I may leave you to judge whether it would not produce the effect of holiness when they are all together and consequently that there is a defect of Faith in all ungodly men Now 2. The power and efficacy of Faith to make us holy lies in these three things 1. In the nature of the things themselves that are believed 2. In the manner of believing them 3. In the permanency of the belief it self or rather in the dwelling of our mind upon it I shall begin with considering what influence it hath by virtue of the things believed 1. The Truths we believe do represent good and evil to us they are not Points of Doctrine which we are never the better nor the worse whether they be true or not but they are of very near concernment to us and are therefore fit to work upon our desires and affections 2. What we believe does represent to us our greatest good on the one hand and what we have most reason to fear on the other If a good thing that is offered us may be disparaged by a greater good that stands in competition with it it doth not much inflame or move the Affections Now he that believeth aright apprehends the Joys of another Life to be so great that there is nothing in this to rival them this is that which made the Patriarchs to count themselves Pilgrims and Strangers upon earth they desired a better i. e. a heavenly countrey 3. We are persuaded that this Inheritance belongeth to us upon our care and faithfulness in doing the will of our heavenly Father If we had absolute assurance of the heavenly Country this Faith might well cause satisfaction in the benefit but if we are to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul or we are sure to be excluded if we assent not only to the truth of the Promise but to the condition of the Promise then our Faith works by fear and hope and puts us upon fulfilling the condition but if men do not believe the condition it will be an harder matter to persuade them to obey because it will be so easy for them to persuade themselves that they need not 4. We are also persuaded that the condition viz. doing the will of our Heavenly Father is through the grace of God possible otherwise the belief of an Eternal Happiness in the Life to come would not stir us to labour for it This is one reason why the Devils tremble only though they believe because they cannot assent to the Promises as made to Them for they are not made to Them and if we should want the Faith of the possibility of Salvation all the rest of our Faith would make us miserable and desperate but not active and careful to work out our salvation In short if we believe the truth wherein the greatest good is promised and that 't is promised upon condition of obedience and that the condition is enforced by the threatning of the greatest punishments and that it may well be performed then in this Faith there is nothing wanting as to the matter of it to make us fruitful in holiness good works But if we do not believe all this but only some part of it our unfruitfulness may well be imputed to want of Faith but this I confess doth not go very far to satisfy the difficulty because many believe all needful truth and yet remain unholy Wherefore let us go to the second Point Viz. 2. The manner of believing Divine Truth for there is very much of the power of Faith to sanctify us in this very thing Let us for instance take the first Article of the Creed I believe in God or I believe that God is To believe this considerately and distinctly is to believe that there is an Infinite Being an Omnipresent Being and that he is holy just and good But now our believing that God is hath no power to make us circumspect in our actions and careful of our thoughts but by such distinct persuasions and considerations as these which are truly and properly Faith Nor will these distinct considerations have much power neither unless they be distinctly applied to our selves God is infinite in all Perfections and therefore I am to serve and worship him he is Omnipresent and therefore he is with me and sees me in all that I do and knows every one of my secrets and even every thought of my heart and therefore how shall I dare so much as to regard iniquity in my heart He is infinitely Wise and Good and therefore in this or in any other matter it would be extreme folly as well as sin to follow mine own will in opposition to his Now all this is Faith or believing true Doctrine and it is by such distinct apprehensions and applications as these that we must be enabled to overcome the World and to purify our hearts But if we believe in that manner as to rest in the general Doctrine and to go no farther I do not see how our Faith should be operative much more than if we had none at all and if the general belief of one Article is therefore fruitless because it is but general and not resolved into the awakening Considerations that are under it nor applied distinctly to our selves under such Considerations then also will the believing of the whole Creed in this fashion without particular persuasions and applications be fruitless also and it may be said of us that we understand neither what we say nor whereof we affirm and then what we say and affirm can have no great force upon us to make us subdue our Passions and mend our Lives But though this will go a great way to resolve the unholiness of men professing the Faith into want of Faith yet I think it doth not altogether satisfy that where Faith is as it should be there will be an holy mind and a
so called also and which the Scripture requires Either they want the Faith of assenting to some needful Truth which perhaps doth not often happen or they want the Faith of a distinct and particular persuasion and application to themselves which happens more often or they want the Faith of frequent assenting of a permanent persuasion fixt in their hearts by consideration which I doubt is the frequent defect But now the Scripture doth not barely require that we should once for all persuade our selves of the Truths of God's Word but moreover That the word of God should dwell richly in us and that we should be rooted and established in Faith that Christ should dwell in our hearts by Faith and the like which is plainly to require a fixed and lively sense of Divine Truths upon our souls caused by much conversation with them and thinking upon them Now this I say That every act of Meditation or Thought upon these things is a distinct Assent to them and is therefore truly and properly Faith Now because we are to interpret Scripture by Scripture therefore this Scripture That by Faith we are justified is to be interpreted by the aforesaid Exhortations and consequently by Justifying Faith we are to understand an habitual and permanent persuasion of the great Truths of Religion effected by a frequent and just consideration of them and such Faith will justify because it will sanctify it will procure the relative change of putting us into a state of Favour with God because it will procure the real or personal change of subduing our corrupt affections and making us obedient to God from the heart For suppose a man by constant consideration to have gained such a sense of Spiritual things as by assiduity men come to have in all matters they frequently think of and converse about how is it possible but he must be a good man in the rest of his life But men are but half persuaded that never think of these things but by chance or when they cannot help it So that this is the great point wherein we exercise liberty in matters of Religion viz. Whether we will consider or not i. e. Whether we will often persuade our selves of the great Truths of God and a World to come or but very rarely This is the main hinge upon which our state turns and here lies the principal power we have still under the Grace of God to help and reform our selves which seems to be suggested by the Scriptures insisting so much upon it That we are justified by Faith for this shews us where our strength lies Nay the just himself lives by his Faith and it is by Faith that he perseveres in Righteousness And where such Faith is as I have now described it will not fail to influence the mind and conversation For we are led by persuasion to evil as well as to good and when a man doth ill it cannot be that at the same time he should be persuaded to do well No wonder therefore that the Scripture concludes of all wicked men That they are not persuaded of the truth of those things which they profess to believe They profess says the Apostle to know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 But works neither deny nor affirm any thing they only shew whether we our selves do one or the other If then all that are disobedient are in a true sense unbelievers then all who fully believe are holy By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac but if the command to offer up his Son was the Trial of his Faith then had he not obeyed his belief had not been true Therefore also where the belief is true where it is a fixed and lively sense of God and Religion where it doth not come in as a sojourner but dwelleth richly in the Soul it will sanctify and cleanse it In short This permanent persuasion of the Truths of the Gospel being that without which we cannot bring forth fruit unto God in all good works he hath required of us and with which we shall it must necessarily be the faith by which the just do live Finally therefore my Brethren Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil stand having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breast plate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace But above all take the shield of faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God By all which it appears That Christian Truth is our Armour against Sin and therefore let that humble man's Prayer be ours and our care answerable Lord we believe help thou our unbelief And may the God of Truth increase our faith in us that it may be fruitful in good works to the glory of his Name and our eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The Second Sermon HEB. XI 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him THE words are the most comprehensive that I can find in all the Bible for bringing all that is necessary to be said concerning the true nature the full extent and proper use of Faith under one Text which possibly you will acknowledge if you consider with me the very deep and yet clear sense of these excellent Words The first clause of them contains a general Proposition But without faith it is impossible to please God The second contains a proof of that Proposition for he that cometh to God must c. By comparing the Proposition proved with the proof thereof we shall come to understand every phrase and word of the Text. For if we enquire 1. What is here meant by pleasing God in the general Proposition let us see what answers thereunto in the following words and we shall find by pleasing God is meant the doing of those things whereby God is pleased for saith the Apostle He that cometh to God must believe that he is Now to come to God is an obvious phrase signifying to worship God Wherefore it being supposed as the Apostle's form of arguing makes it necessary that to worship God or to come to him is to please him it must needs follow that to please God signifies the doing of those things whereby God is pleased But hence we must not conclude that the worship of God properly so called is the only thing that is pleasing to God because the Apostle's intent in the proof of his general proposition is to give some particular instance of each part thereof as I shall shew all along in the Explication of these words There are other things which please God besides
Worship viz. all kinds of virtue and moral Goodness such as Justice and Mercy Fidelity and Truth Meekness and Patience Sobriety and Temperance and 't is true of these things as well as of Worship that without faith they cannot be performed because they are all such things as God is pleased withal and 't is said in general That without Faith we cannot please him From hence 't is plain that we are thus to understand the phrase of pleasing God when the Apostle saith Without Faith we cannot please him viz. Without Faith it is impossible a man should be a worshipper of God and a practicer of Virtue More distinctly thus Without Faith a man cannot Love God or Fear him or Trust in him or Obey him or Honour him in his Thoughts Words or Deeds Nor can he be Righteous and Charitable Meek and Humble Sober and Temperate Or in a word That without Faith 't is impossible a man should be truly Religious in his life and actions If it be enquired 2. What the Apostle means by Faith without which 't is impossible to please God let us look to the following words again and we shall find the Faith the Apostle speaks of is 1. In general a persuasion of the truth of some proposition or an assent thereunto that it is true for he saith He that cometh to God must believe that he is To believe therefore to be persuaded that this proposition is true viz. that there is a God is an instance of the Faith whereof the Apostle speaks Likewise he that cometh unto God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that seek him To believe therefore or to be persuaded of this proposition That God is a rewarder of them that seek him is an instance of that Faith of which the Apostle speaks and consequently by Faith is here meant in general a persuasion concerning any Doctrine or Proposition that it is true 2. By consequence also as to the nature of those propositions which the Apostle saith we must believe if we will please God we find more particularly that the Faith without which we cannot please God is a persuasion of the truth of those propositions which are proper arguments and motives inducing a man to do those things whereby God is pleased for the Apostle saith He that cometh unto God must believe that he is And plain it is that to believe that there is a God is a reason why men should do those things which please him He says also that he that cometh unto God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Alike plain it is that to believe God to be such a rewarder is a reason or motive inducing a man to do those things whereby God is pleased and consequently the Faith which the Apostle speaks of is a persuasion of the truth of those Propositions or Doctrines which are proper motives or inducements to the doing of those things whereby God is pleased But hence we must not conclude that there are no other Doctrines or Propositions besides those here mentioned that are proper motives to Religion because all that the Apostle intends as I noted before is to give some particular instances to shew the truth of the general proposition Although therefore there be other Doctrines which are motives to Godliness and Vertue yet if without the belief of these a man cannot be induced to do those things which please God that was sufficient for the Apostle's purpose to prove that without Faith it is impossible to please him And that there are other Doctrines of like use with these I shall shew in due place If it be enquired 3. Whether by Impossible the Author of this Epistle means properly something that is absolutely impossible or more largely something that is exceeding difficult or highly improbable as sometimes the word is used to that purpose I answer This is to be resolved by considering also the following propositions to be believed the former of which is of that nature that it is absolutely necessary to be believed in order to Worship and Virtue viz. That there is a God Without this belief it is utterly impossible it implies a contradiction that a man should be a Worshipper of God and a practicer of Virtue But the latter of these beliefs that God is a rewarder c. is not in the same degree necessary that the former is because it does not imply a contradiction That that man who does not believe that God is a rewarder of them that seek him should be a Worshipper of God because 't is barely possible he may Worship God upon a belief that there is a God and a bare hope that he is a rewarder c. But then if we consider the woful corruption and degeneracy of Mankind and the power of those Temptations we are under 't is so utterly improbable that without this belief men should set themselves to do those things which please God that according to the usual manner of speaking it may be ranked with things impossible So that I do thus understand the Apostle as to what he says concerning the impossibility of pleasing God without Faith That there are some Doctrines so necessary to be believed in order to the practice of Religion and Virtue that it is naturally impossible a man should be a Worshipper of God and a doer of Righteousness without the belief of them and of this sort he hath given us one instance viz. That there is a God That also there are some Doctrines so necessary to be believed in order to the practice of Religion that 't is morally impossible a man should be a Worshipper of God and a worker of righteousness without the belief of them And of this sort he hath also given us one instance viz. That God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Thus I have by comparing one part of the Text with another given you as I am persuaded the true sence of the whole and that as I hope with great clearness of truth and plainness of words And according to this Explanation the words of the Text may be interpreted according to this Paraphrase Without the belief of some such Doctrines as are proper and suitable motives to the worship of God and the practice of Virtue wherewith God is pleased it is impossible any man should fear God and work Righteousness For some Doctrines there are so necessary in order to that end that 't is impossible to conceive how a man should find himself obliged thereto without the belief of those Doctrines Some Doctrines also there are so necessary to be believed in order thereunto that without the belief of them no man finds himself encouraged to the practice of Religion For instance the Worship of God is a part of Religion without which he will not be pleased with us but it is plain that no man can be a worshipper of God without believing that there is a God because if
of disobedience 1. The perfection of the Rule which requires a more exceeding Righteousness than either the Law of Moses or the Law of Nature And this is one reason why the Christian Baptism is the Sacrament of Regeneration whether to Jews or Gentiles Because they must become new men and as it were born again by living up to those Divine Principles and holy Rules which are peculiar to the Christian Doctrine by practising that piety and purity and charity in all their conversation which seems to be more than enough for the happiness of single persons or of Societies in this World but which is necessary for an everlasting happiness in the life to come And here are these causes of complaint 1. That there is a severe restraint laid upon our Natural Appetites and Inclinations which often carry us as violently to those Satisfactions which the Law of Christ forbids as to those which it allows There is in every man by nature the love either of pleasure or greatness or revenge c. and this Inclination for the most part stifned by custom so that he cannot be a Christian without self-denial and putting himself to pain And the duty of this kind may be so grievous that as Jesus himself hath described it it may be like cutting off a right hand and pulling out a right eye 2. His Law hath made no allowance for the prevailing Opinions and Customs of the World In common account to forgive one injury is to be exposed to another to refuse a Challenge is to be mark'd for a Coward to use plain dealing is the way to die a Beggar and to neglect several opportunities of gain or pleasure though for Conscience sake is to go for a Fool. But though it is a grievous thing to lie under contempt yet the Doctrine of Christ without consideration of this hard case has tied us up to contrary Rules and expresly required us not to be conformed to this world 3. We must guard our selves against innumerable temptations to the sins of Lust Covetousness Envy Ambition and the like inordinate Affections to which a Christian must by no means consent The very opportunities of doing ill are in some cases hard to be refused and moreover every sin hath its proper incentives which beset us in all places And these are so busy and importunate that some think it impossible to be religious without retiring from the conversation of the World But what rest can there be in perpetual circumspection and standing upon our guard And yet Jesus himself thought this necessary for us Watch and pray saith he that ye enter not into temptation 4. The Law of Christ prescribes to the Thoughts and Affections as well as to the overt Action He that does not defile his Neighbour's Bed may be an adulterer in his heart And he that hates his brother is a murtherer If it be hard to forbear the action what pains must be taken to conquer the Desire to make it an obedient Slave and not suffer it so much as to dispute And yet this is the case neither body nor mind neither deed nor thought is exempted from the obligation of this terrible Law but we must cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit 5. It is not easy to suffer yet if need were we must take up the Cross and be always in mind prepared to endure reproach the loss of Goods yea and of life it self for righteousness sake And the Scripture speaking of this does acknowledge that no chastisement for the present is joyous but grievous So that in giving up our names to Christ we seem to commit our selves to a Sea of troubles instead of making to a Haven of rest He that will be my disciple saith Jesus let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me This is enough to shew the strictness of the Rule and the perfection of Virtue and Piety which the Gospel requires but that which makes all more grievous is the second cause of Complaint 2. The penalty of Disobedience For this is no less than exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven and a more intolerable Sentence at the day of Judgment than those shall receive that never heard the Doctrine of Christ And the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation And our Saviour hath plainly told us by what Rule the Good and the Evil shall be judged The words that I have spoken the same shall judge you at the last day And now that we have heard these things we may be exceedingly amazed as our Lord's first Disciples were when they heard the like and say Who then can be saved or at least where is the truth of his Promise For the condition of his Promise is so hard and the consequence so terrible if we fail of the condition that the extream danger and the great uncertainty seems to create a new trouble not well consistent with the promised rest He is indeed true and faithful that hath promised But whilst my Soul is troubled how can I believe that 't is at rest How therefore shall we bring these things together The truth is nothing has more exercised the wits of men than to find out expedients for this purpose And for my own part I have that experience of Human Frailty on the one side and that desire to be saved on the other that I never lend my ear more willingly than to him that shews me an easy way to Salvation And I am sure he attaques my Affections to so much advantage that I can have no prejudice against his way and nothing but evident want of truth could make me afraid to trust it Some have said That Christ himself hath fulfilled all righteousness in our stead and that upon our faith his righteousness is imputed to us for justification This I confess would cut the knot which we would fain unty for if this be true the Gospel does not only release me from punishment but from duty too But where has our Lord or his Apostles said any thing to this purpose Indeed he has promised to save me from God's angry Justice and that because he was a Sacrifice for Sin offered in my stead But I find that he has imposed upon me the keeping of his Commandments as a condition of that Salvation and therefore I conclude that he did not perform them in my stead too Nor can I conceive how the holiness of Christ should be made an argument in the Scripture to follow his Example if it may be improved into a good reason why we need not follow it So that the Merit of Christ will not save me the labour of becoming a new man and if that will not I am sure no other Merit can And these men not willing to trust their own Invention
according to the Gospel for their common Prayers and Worship for celebrating the Holy Communion and for doing all those things in which the outward profession of true Christianity stands that they laid down their lives and have been tormented many of them not accepting deliverance and therefore our Saviour who here says Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter c. hath also said Whosoever shall confess me before men him shall the son of man also confess before the angels of God But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God Luke 12.8 9. So that although confessing Christ be not of it self enough for salvation yet it is always necessary to it and sometimes it is of that force that one may conclude nothing else is wanting and that is when we confess with great hazard to our selves in this World But one reason why 't is sometimes so exceedingly praise-worthy and signifies all other necessary qualities is because it is always a duty for if it were in it self but indifferent and might be omitted without breach of our duty to God it were a foolish thing not to omit it when our own safety and welfare in this World required us to forbear In a word Confession with the mouth assembling our selves together for Prayer Baptism and the celebration of the Holy Communion and every other part of outward Religion in which the profession of Christianity stands are all of them required in the Scriptures which we are not to wonder at since it is evident that the Honour of God that Charity to men and the Interest and maintenance of Christianity do require it also 1. The Honour of God doth plainly require it for if it be fit and necessary that God should be honoured by us i. e. confessed praised and prayed unto who doth not see that all this ought to be done not only in private singly but in publick jointly unless one should think that we have Reason and Speech given to us for transacting common Affairs of the least moment and not of the greatest viz. those which concern our dependance upon God and our subjection to him Hence it is that David in the Psalms called his Tongue his glory because he did therewith praise and confess and glorify God amongst men And in the New Testament we are not only exhorted to glorify God with our Mind but with our Mouth too Nor can any thing be more plain at first fight than that without this it is impossible that God should be honoured as it is most fit he should be in the Societies of Mankind And 2. The outward profession of Religion is no less requisite to the good of the World to which we in charity are to contribute what we can For there is nothing more necessary for the common welfare of Mankind than a sense of God and Religion which although it has its foundation in our very Natures yet as many other natural Inclinations may be strangely weakned and in danger to be lost if it be not supported by use and exercise and what is there more necessary for the maintaining of a common sense of Religion than a common profession of it And therefore in a matter of so great moment as this is every man ought to be an Example to his Neighbour and all men should encourage and animate one another Nor can any one single person withdraw from the profession of Religion but in so doing he grows an enemy to Mankind and as much as in him lies he teaches others to be so too But then 3. Above all The interest and maintenance of Christianity requires a publick profession of it For Christianity doth not only consist in the belief of such and such Doctrines but in meeting together also for the Worship of God according to them which is the most comprehensive instance of outward profession for when our Lord instituted a Church and his Apostles did afterward gather men to it nothing could be more plain than that he made a profession of his Doctrine and the outward Service of God according to his Gospel a part of Christianity for without this it is impossible that Believers should be a Body or a Society as they are And therefore that man that lives without Christian Communion or which is all one without Christian Profession cannot rightly be called a Christian but hath rather renounced his Baptism by declaring in effect that although he was admitted by Baptism into the Body of Christ's Church yet now he will have nothing to do with it But if the secret belief of the Doctrine of Christ without any appearance of Profession of it were enough to make a man a Christian as I think it is not yet such a person would deserve very ill of Christianity to conceal his belief for it is by our profession of it that it must be upheld in the World and propagated amongst those that do not yet receive it and he that dissembles his Faith doth therefore his part and gives his consent that the True Religion should fail from among the Children of men And there is no doubt but that amongst other Reasons the Gospel requires that Believers should profess their Faith and be a visible Communion of Worshippers that so the Doctrine and worship of the Gospel might be upheld and maintained in the World The truth is there is that wickedness amongst men that so holy a Doctrine as that of our Saviour's will not be readily entertained and there is that folly and superstition every-where that so reasonable and excellent a Worship as that which the Gospel prescribes is not apt to take with most people and for this reason Error and Superstition are things that men will run into of themselves When therefore our Lord brought into the World the knowledge of Divine Truth and of the way how God would be worshipped and served he did therefore make his Disciples a Society of men professing the way of Truth and Purity that his Doctrine might spread in the World and keep all the ground it should gain by every man's making profession of the common Faith For which reason Origen thought that when Our Saviour said Vpon this rock will I build my Church he meant by the rock every Christian that should do as St. Peter had done i. e. who should make open confession of that Truth which St. Peter confessed because the Profession of every Christian did something to support the Interest of the Gospel in the World A great many more things might be said to this purpose to shew that what is meant here by saying unto Christ Lord Lord i. e. an outward profession of true Christianity is so far from being an indifferent thing that it is a most necessary duty standing upon plain Commands and plain Reasons nay so necessary that without it we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven no though it should bring never so much trouble upon us in this World
indeed to convince a man of that mistake that his form of godliness will supply the want of the real power of it But alas where Truth is professed without the mixture of any Doctrinal Errors of this kind there is still too much room left for this practical Error of holding the truth in unrighteousness For whilst some men are led into sin by Error do not others who are guilty of the same sins hope that they shall be overlooked for the sake of their opposition to those Errors and the professing and maintaining the contrary Truth 'T is true that our Church according to the truth of the Scriptures and the clearest reason that there is for any thing in the world holds forth a necessity of actual reformation in order to God's Pardon and eternal Life and we disclaim all manner of ways to supply the want of effectual repentance and a thorough change of heart and life from Sin to God But my Brethren let us lay one Particular seriously to heart under this General and that is this That our very Profession of this Truth in the natural and proper sense of it That without holiness no man shall see the Lord will not serve our turn without the practice of it our profession of the necessity of an holy life is not that holy life which is necessary And if the unavoidableness of professing some Religion and the desire we have to keep our Sins too works this way upon us as to make us trust in the purity of our Profession we are guilty of one Error as pernicious if we continue in it as if a thousand more were added to it I say if we continue in it for there is this advantage of a true and pure profession of Christianity that whosoever makes it to use the words of our Saviour in a sense something different he is not far from the Kingdom of God there is less to do to recover him to repentance no false Principle being in the way to hinder it he lies open to Exhortation and Persuasion and every serious Instruction and Admonition smites his very Conscience he feels the truth that is delivered to him there is that within him which confesseth it all and will not easily let him be quiet till it hath made him a new man But to proceed 3. In some Persons a dishonourable opinion of God may be the reason of expecting his Rewards without performing the Duties of Purity and Charity I fear there are those in the world who think that God hath appointed the confession of his Name with Prayer and Thansgivings and other holy Offices of Religion that by these things men might give him the satisfaction of hearing the greatness of his Perfections and the excellency of his Works applauded by his Creatures and therefore that these things being performed they have entitled themselves to his thanks and favour But this is in truth to have but a very low and mean opinion of the Divine Majesty and seems to suppose God to be altogether such an one as our selves who perhaps are so vain as to take great delight in our own praises and love to be flattered into a great opinion of our selves If we believe worthily of the Divine Nature we must say That because God is holy and good therefore he will have men to be so and that he expects to be glorified by us to be confessed and adored not that he needeth us or is taken with our commendations of him but because it is infinitely fit and reasonable and equitable that we should thus worship him and because this is a necessary means also of forming our minds and actions into the likeness of what God is and of what he does in the World We are mistaken if we think that our Saviour is beholden to us for keeping up the profession of his Name or that some great Interest of his is served when Religion gets ground upon the World because there will be more and more to speak his Praise and to celebrate his Goodness and his Greatness as if he were like some one of those great men who if they have Flatterers enough and can make others seem to honour them though there be no such matter are very well pleased The Religion of our Saviour was not sent into the world for the ostentation of his Power and Greatness and he plainly told us that he sought not his own honour It is indeed our indispensible duty to honour him before all the World with all expressions of gratitude and humble reverence and we are most inexcusable and wretched Creatures if we do it not But the end of his Religion was to turn us from our iniquities and to make us a peculiar people zealous of good works and so far as this Design takes so far he approves of us otherwise he hath plainly told us what we are to expect from him even that Sentence Depart from me ye that work iniquity I know you not 4. The conceit and expectation of some unpromised mercy of God must necessarily be one ingredient into the presumption oâ— those men that hold the truth in unrighteousness For the Threatnings of God's Word are so undeniably plain that a man of sense who believes the truth as it is in Jesus can have no ease under a guilty Conscience but upon a supposition that God will or may at least abate something of the rigour of his threatning and accept of less perhaps a Death-bed Repentance of less I say than he hath required This seems to be at the bottom of their Confidence of whom our Lord foretold that they should say Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name c. that is to say they had been instrumental to maintain and support his Doctrine in the World and expostulate now with him as if they always had some secret hope this would at last be accepted though there was no promise of it before-hand But to prevent this presumption Our Saviour hath said before-hand Then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of iniquity which plain dealing was very necessary For though it is true that he that threatens punishment doth not delight in taking punishment but intends to prevent the fault yet when God threatens for this end and adds moreover Declaration upon the Threatning That he will not spare if the fault be not prevented 't is an affront to him to presume that he will spare for all that To conclude Let us seriously lay to heart these words of our Saviour which are an answer to the most concerning Question in the World who are they that shall be saved Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of our father which is in heaven He that can say I was by my natural temper and inclination thus and thus but the Religion of Jesus and the Worship of God according to the Gospel hath given me a new heart and a new nature and
Tongue in his Head to use them as occasion serves which experience shows may be done without any natural Sagacity or Rules of Art 2. It is sometimes pretended by common Swearers though I think but rarely That men will not believe them without an Oath and what is this but to confess they have been so notoriously given to Lying that no body dares trust them upon their bear word for a man that is known to make conscience of speaking the Truth finds no difficulty of creating a belief of what he says amongst any of his Friends without making any appeal to God Besides the Oath of a common Swearer gives indeed but very little assurance of the truth of what he says if I know a man to be afraid of an Oath his Oath shall satisfy me beyond any other testimony that he can give and upon the Oath of such a man a Court of Judicature may proceed with confidence but what regard can reasonably be had to his Oath above his simple and bare word as we use to say who is known to swear upon all occasions if he does not lie 't is well but of this I have no peculiar assurance by his Oath because it is as ordinary with him to swear as to speak and therefore in Athens a Common Swearer's Oath was not allowed nor accepted of in their Courts and sometimes the testimony of a man of known Probity and Honour was admitted without it this last seems to be imitated by the wisdom of our Laws which suppose the Asseveration of a Peer to be equivalent to the Oath of another man and therefore for another man to Swear needlesly is to disparage the Reputation of his Fidelity but for a man of Honour to do so is to renounce his Priviledge and for any man to do thus is not only to bring the honesty of his Word but the truth of his Oath also into question 3. The most usual excuse framed for the extenuation of this Impiety is that of sudden Passion thus when some men are a little provoked or when they are surprized with some unexpected good Fortune or any unlook'd-for misadventure befals them either their Rage or their Joy bursts out presently into Oaths and they pretend they cannot help it for they have no other way to discharge their minds and give vent to their Passions but by Cursing and Swearing now is not this a plain confession that they have lost the government of themselves and have no rule over their own spirits So common it is for men while they are framing an excuse for one sin to betray themselves guilty of another what greater argument can lightly be given of an impotent mind than that every petty accident is able to bereave one of all consideration and make him cease to be his own man till the fit is over And the truth is though Passion be brought in to mitigate the business yet it is plain enough that any trifling occasion is able to set these men a swearing that make this excuse for themselves when provocation is alledged to mollify this Crime one would think it must arise from no less a cause than if he should find his house in flames or his friend attempting the honour of his bed but upon examination this same emotion and heat of spirit is pleaded for the begging of your pardon when a man swears upon the most trifling and inconsiderable occasions And what can excuse that childishness and impotency of mind to which these men have thus given themselves over But let never such extraordinary causes of joy or grief or anger happen it is an unmanly thing to set no bounds to these Passions and they are never less unbridled than when we make such undue expressions of them as Oaths and Curses are St. James gives us this Rule Above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth nor by any other Oath James 5.12 But the particular Case wherein he thought this Rule was useful was that of Affliction for he had before exhorted them to whom he wrote to take the Prophets for an example of suffering affliction and of patience and particularly recommended to them the meekness and patience of Job for their imitation ver 10 11. But if they could not perfectly equal such great examples as those were yet at least he strictly enjoins them not to be transported so far into Anger and Impatience as to break forth into Oaths But above all things my brethren swear not but keep your selves within the bounds of modest and Christian Language and that they might see that he allowed them to have a sense of the good and evil of this World and was far from thinking it a Virtue to be stupid and dull and unconcerned about either the Comforts or the Calamities of human Life he directs them how they may convert the Passions which are thereby excited to an excellent and profitable use Is any man among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms ver 13 15. If any man be overtaken with worldly misery let him turn himself to more devout and earnest Prayer that God would either remove his burden or give him patience under it if he be surprized with some new blessing let him break forth into the Praises of God to whose Bounty and Goodness he stands obliged for it Thus to improve the excitations of joy and grief within us is a demonstration that our Passions have not overwhelmed our Reason and Understanding but left us the free use of our selves to do what becomes us as Men and Christians but in either case to lash out into Oaths is a plain token of an impotent mind that hath no rule over it self but is hurried away by intemperate Passions which is matter of so much shame to a reasonable Creature and much more to a Disciple of Christ that we should blush to confess so much evil against our selves as to make it the excuse of any other Sin 4. If Swearing be excused under the notion of a compliance with the custom of other men who are our Friends and Companions this pretence indeed carries a shew of civility and kind nature but for all that is the silliest that can readily be thought of and the making of it argues a mean and degenerate mind for although in things of an innocent and indifferent nature 't is commendable for men to remit of their own way and humour and to suit themselves to the customs and manners of those whom they converse with yet to be complaisant in all things without exception is the way to grow as profligate and vile as the Devil would wish any man to be for what wickedness could want Authority if this pretence were once admitted What is this but to proclaim that a man hath lost all sense of difference between good and evil And that he hath left off to judge all things according to their own nature that he hath no more
use left for his Reason that his Conscience is no longer in his own keeping and that he is now fit to herd with the Beasts that follow the foremost without discretion The Laws of Truth and Goodness are immutable and another man's violation of them gives me no dispensation to do so too I may not prostitute my Conscience to the Lusts of other men who are to be governed by the Laws of God as well as I if they call my resolution not to provoke my Maker an humour in this matter I were a Fool not to be tenacious of my own humour in this case there can be no reason why he that is in the right should go over to him that is wrong unless he that sets the evil example could change the nature of things and made evil not to be evil and sin and punishment to be other things than what they are Lastly The common way of excusing rash Oaths by pleading an habit implieth the greatest evil of this nature that can be for this is but to confess that a man is guilty of this sin in the highest degree an evil custom being the heighth of wickedness Thus both by shewing what those dispositions are which lead to common Swearing and by considering the excuses that are usually framed in the behalf of it I have discovered the Immorality thereof and that it cometh of evil I might here add the Authority of wise men who had no particular Revelation to guide themselves by and yet condemned this practice and disswaded all men from it for these Persons could discover the evil of it only by the light of Natural Reason which they could not have done if it had not been evil in its own nature Plato wrote smartly against Swearing upon light causes Hierocles tells us It is a dishonour to truth to confirm it lightly with an Oath Epictetus gives this advice Avoid Swearing altogether if thou canst if not as much as thou canst In a word The wise and sober Heathens were generally of this mind That an Oath was to be reserved for Cases of necessity and the practice of common Swearing was not in use amongst any but Stage-players and Slaves nor do we ordinarly meet with Oaths in any of their Writers excepting the Comedians and some of their dissolute Poets but the grave men and Philosophers took not the liberty themselves and dehorted others from it And this may serve to confirm us in the belief of its Immorality for what so many wise men agreed in condemning seems to be condemn'd as evil by reasons common to all men and possibly such as I have offered to your consideration so great a shame and ignominy it is to Christians to allow themselves in a Custom so easy avoidable that is condemned by the light of Nature however by the Authority of the Son of God whose Disciples we profess our selves to be Thus have I finished what I had to say upon this subject having been willing to say all that was any way proper to oppose a custom tending so manifestly to the dishonour of our Nation and the discredit of our Church and the scandal of Christian Society and finally to the ruin of Mens Souls for ever for without universal obedience to the Laws of Christ whereof this is one which I have been preaching to you we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven for which reason if I had chosen any other command of our Lord and Saviour to discourse upon I had been as vehement in urging you to the obedience of that as I have been in pressing this Now the God of mercy grant that we may walk before him blameless and be holy in all manner of Conversation as becomes the followers of Jesus To Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour praise and glory now and for ever Amen The Tenth Sermon MATTH VII 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven THE Point determined in these words is of the highest concernment to us in the world viz. Who of those that hope for Salvation by Christ shall not and who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven The former is described in that part of the Text Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord The latter in the close of it But he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Let us first consider the former part Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord which being compared with the Clause opposed to it is evidently to be thus interpreted Not any one that saith Lord Lord and does no more than say so but neglects the doing of God's Will not any such person shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven By calling Christ Lord is meant an open profession of Christianity and by calling him Lord Lord is meant a vehement profession of it such a Profession as is to be seen in all the ways of making known to the World what Religion we are of For instance When we do not only not renounce our Baptism and suffer our selves to be called Christians and call our selves so which is common to the most careless Professors of Christianity in the World but when also we do solemnly confess that Faith in the Assemblies of the Church into which we have been baptized and frequent the Table of Our Lord to shew forth his death and join in publick Prayers and are zealous for the purity of Christian Profession and contend against Error then we are those that call Christ Lord Lord i. e. who make a vehement profession that we are his Servants and Followers Now whereas our Saviour says Not every one that doth this shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven the plain meaning is That he doth not exclude this outward profession as unnecessary but that he makes it insufficient of it self in order to salvation 1. He doth by no means exclude it as unnecessary or as a Condition that may well enough be spared he said upon another occasion Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am John 13.13 And St. Paul tells us That as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness so with the mouth confession is made to salvation Rom. 10.10 Nay it is so necessary if we will be saved to confess Christ and his Truth publickly in the World that no danger will excuse us from it For the doing of this if need be we must venture all that is dearest to us in this life nay and life it self It was on this account that our Saviour told his Disciples Whoever will come after me must take up his cross and follow me It is the confession of the true Faith added to holy living that hath made Martyrs of Saints since it was properly for confessing Christ with their mouths for contending in the behalf of Truth against Error for serving God in Religious Assemblies