Ruin and the Wages of Sin this eternal Torment and Death we would be above all things careful to avoid this Place of everlasting Torments and make use of our Time and Opportunity while we have it in providing for a happy Eternity The End of every Man's Life is the Beginning of Eternity to him then Time shall be no more no more Space for Repentance and working out our Salvation and after the great Change that Death will make in our Condition no more Changes from thence forward for ever no intermediate Purgatory to cleanse our remaining Filthiness but as Death leaves a Soul so shall Judgment find it and an irreversible Sentence be pass'd upon it And this great Truth can never be too often call'd to Remembrance and there is so much of Terror in it to a wicked Liver that whoever thinks at all must needs be inclin'd by it to husband well this his only Opportunity of making himself for ever Happy and immediately endeavour to clear himself from that Guilt which if he dies in will make him for ever miserable and that without the least Alleviation The last thing this Parable informs us of is That every Man may be sufficiently assur'd of this great Truth that reads the Scriptures and powerfully enough inclin'd to avoid that future Misery and secure his eternal Happiness without any more extraordinary Ways of Conviction in this Matter or Perswasives to act accordingly And that those who are not satisfied with what has already been reveal'd of future Rewards and Punishments in all Probability will never be satisfied though one should come from the Dead to assure them of it This is express'd in the Parable by the Rich Man's desiring after he was sadly assur'd by Abraham that there was no Remedy for himself that he would send Lazarus to his Father's House for I have five Brethren says he that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this Place of Torment To this Abraham answers They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But this would not satisfie the miserable Rich Man and he said nay Father Abraham but if one went to them from the Dead they will repent To this Abraham gives this final Answer If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the Dead As if he had said There is all the Assurance given to Men by the Holy Writings of the Truth of these things that any reasonable Man can desire and the same Obstinate and Atheistick Infidelity and Debauchery of Manners that makes Men disbelieve what the Scriptures affirm of another Life would make them still disbelieve it though one arose from the Dead to assure them of it And if this was true before the Gospel when these things were but darkly reveal'd in comparison of what they are now and the Jews might then be sufficiently assur'd of them by attending to the Writings of Moses and the Prophets it is a much more confirm'd Truth to us Christians the Scriptures of the New Testament assuring us of it in the most plain and express Terms that can be According to what the Apostle says 2 Tim. 1.8 that our Lord has brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel And yet some are so unreasonable as when we discourse about Judgment to come and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life not to tremble at it as Foelix did but with perverse Infidelity question the Truth of the thing and ask us how we can be sure it is and shall be so and whether we have been told it by one that came from the other World and has experienc'd what we say to be true And that nothing less than such a Proof shall ever make them believe it And when they are urg'd with the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets and of the Son of God himself they have the Confidence to laugh at this as an Invention of Church-Men and no better than a Religious Cheat. They are not ignorant they say that the Writings which we affirm were divinely inspir'd do very plainly and expresly assert That there shall be a Judgment to come and that every Man shall be rais'd from the Dead and plac'd before the Almighty Judge and consign'd to eternal Happiness or Misery according to what they have done in this Life whether it be good or evil But they deny the Truth of those Writings and consequently the Reality of what they assert of this Nature Our Business therefore must be to prove the Truth and Divine Authority of those Holy Scriptures and then 't will follow that he that still disbelieves the Doctrine of future Rewards and Punishments and is not inclin'd to live accordingly will neither be convinc'd nor perswaded in this Instance though one rose from the Dead The Opposition Anti-scripturists make against the Holy Writings is in short this Either they will deny that those Books were written by the Men whose Names they bear or if they are forc'd to grant that they will deny the Truth of the Matters of fact which they set down and endeavour to pick out Inconsistencies and Contradictions in their Relation and if beaten from that Post they 'll deny that the Writers were Men divinely inspired and affirm that the Doctrine they wrote was meerly the Product of their own Brains and what strange Occurrences they record of their Master Jesus as of his Resurrection from the Dead as an Argument that there shall be another Life after this is ended and all Men then arise likewise and be call'd to give account of their Works that this and the like strange Passages they record of Jesus supposing them to be true were not done by a Divine Power but by Art Magick and the Power of the Devil And this could it be made good would be a shrewd Blow indeed and all reveal'd Religion soon sink into Ruine But in short for to inlarge here would far exceed the Bounds of a single Sermon a Christian's Defence of the Truth and divine Authority of the Holy Writings may be this First Though some have deny'd that the Books of the Old and New Testament were written by the Men whose Names they bear yet no Man ever yet could prove it nay on the contrary they have been receiv'd as Genuine for many Hundreds of Years and by Men of very different Religions and Perswasions and that were bitter Enemies to the Religion there taught and the Professors of it and would have been extreamly glad to have prov'd the Whole a Forgery if they could But since they did not when 't was so much for their Interest to have don 't 't is plain they could not and since they are to this Day approv'd by all Sorts of Religions as genuine 't is as much as can be said in the Case and as much as can be said for any other Book in the World And we must either throw aside all Books as spurious or believe this which we
call the Bible to be genuine Well but though this may be true yet they object further that there is no Truth in the Matters of fact which these Men set down and particularly that the whole Story of our Saviour's Life and Death and Resurrection is a Falshood and that their Relations are contradictious But to this we may return That though this has been by some Men said yet it has never been prov'd nay on the contrary several Heathen Writers as Pliny Tacitus Lucian Suetonius and others of great Antiquity quoted by * De veritat Christ Rel. Lib. 2. Grotius and †Demomsta◠Evangel Propos 3. prope Initium Haetius have given in their Evidence as to the Matters of fact on the Christian Side and though they have made it their Business to vilifie the whole Story of our Lord's Life and Death yet they could say much less prove that there were no such Occurrences are as recorded by the Evangelists And truly the Evangelists are so punctual in all Circumstances of Time and Place so particular in naming of Persons concern'd and that were Eye-Witnesses of those Transactions and those too Enemies as well as Friends Jews and Heathens as well as Christians and those Transactions were so publick and in the Face of the World and the Account of them was written so soon after they were done that it would then have been a very easie Matter to have detected the Falshood of the Whole or of any Part of the Story if there had been any and both Jews and Heathens were very much concern'd to do it if they could and no doubt they endeavour'd it to the utmost of their Power But yet after all we find that neither then nor since any thing of this Nature has been fastned upon these Writings but rather the Truth of them has been approv'd by the Confession of the Enemies of Christianity than which no better Argument can be produc'd for the Truth of any Ancient History in the World And as for the Contradictions and Inconsistencies which they say are in the New Testament though to Men unlearn'd or else deeply prejudic'd some things may at first sight seem to clash a little yet upon a closer View of any competent and unprejudic'd Person they will be found to be far from being irreclaimable And these seeming Differences are likewise in things not material in the main there is an unquestionable Harmony Which considering that four several Men were the Writers and that they writ in different and distant Places is no mean Argument that what they so punctually and agreeably relate is true And indeed those little Differences that are taken Notice of are rather an Argument for the Truth of their Relation than any thing to the contrary for had it been a pack'd Business they would have been careful not to have differ'd in a Title As for their last Reserve that supposing the Matter of fact to be true which they relate yet those strange things that are recorded of Jesus might be performed by Art Magick and the Power of the Devil And that what he or his Apostles have deliver'd by Way of Precept and Doctrine was meerly the Product of their own Brains and no Inspiration of God To this we may return in this Manner 'T is certain that the coming of Jesus Christ into the World was to destroy the Works and Kingdom of the Devil as is evident from his casting so many evil Spirits out of possess'd Persons and from their trembling at his Presence and crying out for Dread and from his teaching so Holy and Heavenly a Religion than which nothing can more weaken his Infernal Kingdom And to attest the Truth of this his Doctrine and that he was sent by God to teach it to the World he wrought diverse and very amazing Miracles and those highly beneficial ones too such as giving Sight to Men that were born blind and curing long and desperate Diseases and raising to Life those that had been dead and one of them four Days buried and this only with a Word or with his Touch John 11◠15. which is Part of those Matters of fact set down by the Evangelists which we before prov'd to be true Now can any Man in his Senses think that the Devil were he able would so far assist one that come on purpose into the World to destroy his Kingdom 'T is our Lord's own Answer to the foolishly masicious Pharisees who when they saw him work a stupendious Miracle upon one possessed with a Devil both Blind and Dumb insomuch that the Blind and Dumb both spake and saw objected presently This Fellow casteth out Devils by Beelzebub the prince of the Devils And Jesus knew their Thoughts and said unto them every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to Desolation and if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself How then shall his Kingdom stand A Demonstration this that 't was not by the Power of the Devil that he wrought his Miracles but by the Power of God For though deluded Men may be so foolish as to frame such an Objection the Devil is too wise to put the thing in Practice As for the other Part of what is objected That what our Lord and the Writers of the New Testament the Evangelists and Apostles have deliver'd by Way of Precept and Doctrine was meerly the Product of their own Brains and not the Inspiration of God I might only appeal to the Precepts and Doctrines themselves which are of so Exalted and Heavenly a Nature and far above any thing that either before or since was ever written by Man that they themselves will prove their Original to be Divine But there is a farther Proof of this the many and great Miracles that were wrought both by Christ and his Apostles in Confirmation of the Doctrine they taught and of their being commission'd by God in an extraordinary Manner to declare it as the Rule of their Obedience to him and of their Conversation in the World For no reasonable Man can think that God would have so wondrously assisted those above all other Men had they not been his peculiar Messengers to make known his Will to Mankind And this in short may be sufficient to prove to any reasonable and unprejudic'd Man the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and consequently we have sufficient Assurance that there shall be another Life when this is ended wherein Men shall be for ever recompenc'd according to their Works For this is very plainly and expresly asserted in those Writings as every Man knows that has read them And therefore 't is as plain that 't is an unreasonable Obstinacy and too great Love of the sinful Enjoyments of this World that makes Men deny their Assent to so great a Truth and hinders them from being inclin'd by it to lead a more Innocent and Holy Life And the same Obstinacy and Infidel Hardness of Heart and Vileness of Manners would make them
what Instruction he hath met with in the School of Righteousness what plenty of Religious Discourses and Exhortations he has enjoy'd and how frequently he has felt Motions from within to a still more and more holy and exemplary Life He that hath experienc'd all this in a great degree that hath had his pregnant natural Capacity well cultivated by an early and excellent Instruction and had the whole of Religion plainly laid before him in all the Doctrines Duties Rewards and Punishments of it and been often and affectionately exhorted to live accordingly in all holy Conversation and Godliness and has frequently felt secret internal Motions and Perswasions to it this Man has received much more than One Talent at the hands of God and God will expect from him a proportionable Improvement and he must abound in every good Word and Work For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much requir'd and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more But because all Men are not of equal Abilities naturally neither have the same Opportunities of Instruction and Improvement nor the same immediate Impulses of the Blessed Spirit where there is any defect in these Respects God will abate proportionably in his Expectations and he that received the One Talent had he gained but One other with it would have been call'd a good and faithful Servant and been receiv'd into the Joy of his Lord. Let us all therefore endeavour to grow in Grace according to the measure of this unspeakable Gift to perform our Duties each in his Station and according to his Ability faithfully and industriously that when our Lord comes to make Enquiry into each ones Improvement of his Talent and call for every ones particular Account we may all from the least to the greatest chearfully give it up and receive the immense Reward of a sincere Diligence For In the third Place There will most certainly be a Time when our Great Lord will come to take Account of every Man's Improvement of the Grace that was given him and reward every Man according to his Deserving That there will certainly be a Day of Judgment both of Quick and Dead when every Man shall be rewarded according to that he hath done in the Body whether it be good or evil is a Truth so evident from Scripture that those who have read and do believe those Writings can make no doubt of it And the Proof of this from Reason has been so convincingly manag'd by several Learned Pens particularly of late by Dr. Sherlock in his Excellent Discourse upon Judgment that I think nothing can be added to it I shall only therefore Collect such a Description of that Great Day and the Proceedings in it out of the Revelations where it is the most movingly represented as may incline us all with the greatest Diligence and immediately by self-Examination and Amendment of every evil Way to prepare for that great Audit that we may give up our Accounts with joy and not with grief In the 20th Chapter of the Revelations ver 12. after the divine Apostle had given a Description of the Appearing of the great Judge upon his Throne I saw a great White Throne says he and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them He proceeds I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those Things that were written in the Books according to their Works and the Sea gave up the dead that were in it and Death and the Grave deliver'd up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their Works And whosoever was not written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire That is The Records shall then be laid open wherein every Man's Receipt of Grace is enter'd and those whose Works shall be found proportionably good according to the Assistance they have receiv'd from Above or in the Stile of the Parable that have made an answerable Improvement to the Number of Talents committed to them their Names shall be written in the Book of Life and they received into the eternal Joy of their Lord. But those who can then give no good Account of their Talents shew no suitable Improvement in Holiness according to the measure of Grace they have received shall never see Life but be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second Death And because so very few will be so wise as to make due Preparation for this great Day of Account by improving the Grace God has given them to the great Ends for which it was design'd therefore as 't is describ'd Rev. 3.15 The Kings of the Earth and the great Men and the rich Men and the chief Captains and the mighty Men and every Bond-man and every Freeman many of all Qualities and Conditions from the highest to the lowest shall hide themselves in Dens in Rocks and Mountains and say to the Rocks and Mountains fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand May these Terrors of the Lord perswade us to provide in this our day for the Things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our eyes looking for by frequent Meditation and hastning unto by a diligent Improvement of our Talents the coming of this dreadful day of God and being above all things careful That we be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless for God will bring every secret Thing into Judgment whether it be good or evil and exactly adapt every Man's Recompense to his Work Which brings me to the next Thing I am to consider in this Parable namely Fourthly That at that great Day of Account when every Man's Work is fully known and his Improvement compar'd with what he has receiv'd the Diligent shall not only in general be receiv'd into the Joy of their Lord and the unprofitable cast into outer Darkness but the most Diligent those that have made the greatest Improvement shall receive the greatest share of Happiness And those that have been most careless and Unprofitable shall be doom'd to the greatest misery That is in short there will be degrees of Happiness or Misery respectively awarded to Men according to the degrees of their Holiness or Impiety I know this has been much question'd by some and wholly deny'd by others and their main Reason against it I conceive to be this That since the Happiness of the Just in Heaven consists in the Vision of God or the Excellencies and Beauties of the Divine Nature which will fill a holy Soul with eternal and inexpressible Delight for so St. John expresses the Bliss of Heaven by seeing God as
say to his angelical Reapers gather ye first together the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And accordingly they shall gather out of his Kingdom all that have been a Scandal to it and under the Disguise of Christianity have done Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth And then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father That is when the Close of the World shall come and the whole intelligent Creation be met together at the Summons of the Trump of God Men to receive their several Sentences whether of Absolution or Condemnation according to their several Deserts and Angels to execute these Sentences Then shall the sincerely good Christians indeed and in Truth be plac'd by the blessed Angels of God on the right Hand of the glorious and just Judg and after a Display of their excellent Piety and Charity to all the World hear this joyful Sound Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Foundation of the World and then be immediately caught up into the Clouds to meet their dear Lord in the Air and from thenceforth be for ever with him and shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father having Crowns of eternal Glory plac'd upon their Heads and loud and rapturous Halleluja's in their Mouths Whilst those miserable Wretches that knew no more of Christianity than the Name in whom Religion was only Shew and Formality having no real Influence upon thir Lives and bringing forth no Fruits of Piety whilst these shall find to their Confusion that God is not to be mock'd and be plac'd on the left Hand as Vessels of Wrath and be doom'd to depart for ever from the Fountain of Happiness into eternal Burnings prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Then will the good find by a happy Experience that there is indeed a Reward for the Righteous and that however they were laugh'd at and discourag'd here their Labour is not in vain in the Lord. And then will the Mock Hypocritical Christians be sadly assur'd notwithstanding all their Plea of having eaten and drank in the Presence of the Judge and at his Table and of his having taught in their Streets that without real and substantial Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And instead of being receiv'd into their Master's Joy for cringing and fawning upon him and giving him magnificent Titles Lord Lord Jesus Saviour but heeding little his Commandments they shall be rejected with I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And then will God be justifyed in the Face of the whole World and found to be not an unconcern'd Spectator of the Affairs of Man-kind but a wise all-knowing and just Governour of the Universe And though Clouds and Darkness seem here to be round about him yet Righteousness and Judgment are the Establishment of his Throne Then will there be eternal Joy and Exultation of the blissful beatify'd Souls of the righteous and weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in the wretched Companies of the Damn'd for ever Mal. 4.1 Behold the Day cometh saith the Prophet Malachi that shall burn like an Oven and all the proud and all they that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the Day that cometh saith the Lord of Hosts shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch Rev. 9.6 And in that Day shall Men seek Death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and Death shall flee from them And now for a Conclusion of the whole Matter Since from this Parable of our Lord's it appears that though an empty Shew of Religion may pass well enough in this World and meet with no open Discrimination or Punishment from God here yet there shall most certainly be an after Reckoning when all the Thoughts and Intentions of Men's Hearts shall be reveal'd and their vile Hypocrisy and secret Impiety laid open before Men and Angels and an irreversible Doom of greatest Severity pay'd upon them according to their Deservings Since this is true it nearly concerns us all to be Christians in Reality as well as in Name and Appearance to obey the Commands of Christ as well as call him Lord and to approve our selves true Disciples of this holy Institution by leading our Lives in all holy Conversation and Godliness diligently endeavouring to be found of this great Judg in Peace without Spot and blameless Remembring that God shall bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil and that the wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment but the righteous into Life eternal The PRAYER I. O Holy Saviour Jesus from whom are deriv'd all our Possibilities of Salvation the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory but who expectest our Concurrence with thy gracious Endeavours for our Hapiness and for the Tryal of our Sincerity permittest thine and our great Enemy to scatter his hellish Injections where thou sowest thy heavenly Doctrin I earnestly intreat thee so to assist me with thy Life-giving Spirit that my Faith and Obedience which thou hast made the Condition of my Happiness may be so vigorous and active as to manifest that I am thine not only in Word and in Shew but in Deed and in Truth Grant that I may ever esteem those inward Motions which I feel to a progressive Holiness to be what indeed they are thy gracious Endeavours to promote my eternal Welfare and may I always thankfully and chearfully embrace and follow them And whatever Thoughts and Inclinations tend to discourage sincere Religion and perswade to rest in the Formality of it for thy Mercies Sake help me to reject them with the greatest Abhorrence and Indignation as the Endeavours of Satan to involve me in his own Ruin And since 't is while we sleep that our great Adversary sowes these his Tares Give me Grace O blessed Jesus to awake to Righteousness and rouze from my thoughtless Inadvertency and shake off my Dreams of Vanity lest this spiritual Slumber at length prove fatal and betray me into eternal Death II. Thou hast assur'd us O Lord to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment that this Life is the only Time of our Probation O therefore grant that now in this our Day all we that name the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and embrace the things that belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes That by serious Consideration we may make Religion our Choice and adhere to it firmly with all our Powers and Faculties and be in Reality thy peculiar People zealous of good Works remembring thy blessed Words why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I command And that though here the wicked go unpunish'd it will not be always so and at last Hypocrisy shall meet with its Deserts And
another and shews what wretched Shifts Ill Men are put to to palliate their great Neglect of their Duty to their Master as appears by his Lord 's answering and saying Thou wicked and slothful Servant thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers that at my coming I might have receiv'd my own with Usury By which is represented the Necessity of Mens improving their Talent for that very Reason were it true which they are apt to plead in Excuse for their slothful Negligence For to him that looks upon God as so austere a Being there is more than ordinary Obligation to improve what he has committed to his Trust for that Purpose And because a Man esteems God as an hard and severe Master therefore to be idle and negligent in his Service is a very preposterous Course and looks as if he had a mind to provoke his Anger against him But indeed This is the Truth God is so very far from being an unreasonably severe Master that He is a most indulgent Parent and commands nothing but what is very practicable and highly conducive to the Good and Happiness of his Creatures which should create a Filial Love and Reverence in us towards him rather than a slavish Dread But however he is not so unreasonably fond neither as to pass by the Provocations of obstinate irreclaimable Rebels and clear those that are Impenitent as well as Guilty that have heinously offended him and yet take no care to amend and recover his Favour Though he does not reap where he did not sow nor gather where he did not strew yet he expects a due Improvement of what he commits to our Charge and is ready likewise proportionably to reward our Industry And this is apt indeed to quicken and encourage us in our Duty but by no means to scare and affright us from it For nothing can be more reasonable than for God to expect we should improve what he bestows upon us for that very end and that we should obey those Commands of His which are so highly reasonable in themselves and which he likewise assists us to perform Let no Man therefore say God is an unreasonably rigid Master and his Commands intolerable Burdens for 't is abominably false as will appear more fully in the Sequel But were it true it would be no Excuse for Sloth and Idleness in his Service much less for wholly deserting it but rather an Argument for double Care and Diligence in it By the Lord of that Slothful Servant commanding his One unimprov'd Talent to be taken from him and given to him who by his Industry had improv'd his Five Talents to Ten is represented God's depriving those of his Grace and the Assistances of his Holy Spirit who so much neglect it and make no use of it to the great Enas for which it was given them viz. His Glory and Their own Happiness and making still greater Additions of his Grace to such as have well improv'd their former Stock And by his commanding the Unprofitable Servant to be cast into Outer Darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth is express'd their Deplorable Condition in the Regions of eternal Misery and Despair who make no Improvement of the Talents committed to them the Deprivation of Grace in this World being a certain Forerunner of Perdition in the other It nearly concerns therefore every Man carefully to improve the Talent committed to him because unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have Abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath This Parable thus interpreted affords us these Six Heads of Discourse First That God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation Secondly That God expects from every Man that he should improve what Grace he has receiv'd and that proportionably to the Measure in which it was given him and make use of it to the Ends for which it was given Thirdly That there will be a Time when our Lord will come to take Account of Men's Improvement of the Grace that was given them and reward every Man according to his Deserts Fourthly That there shall be Degrees of Men's Happiness or Misery in the other World according to the Degrees of their Improvement or Negligence and Carelessness in this Fifthly That 't is abominably False and Impious to charge God as being unreasonably rigid and severe in taking this Account of Men's Improvement and expecting to find a Good Use made of what he committed to their Trust And Lastly That the Condition of the Diligent will be unspeakably happy and that of the Unprofitable unspeakably miserable and that both in this World and the next First God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation I say to every sensible Christian because I would confine my Discourse to the State of such as are Christians and such of them as have the Use of their Senses and their Reason For as for those that are out of the Pale of Christ's Church though Charity will incline us to hope well of them and that God's Mercy will extend even to Heathens that never yet heard of the Gospel of Christ and his Spirit assist them to live according to that Natural Law written in the Heart of every Man yet we can determine nothing in this Case with Relation to them and have nothing else to do but to leave them to the Infinite Mercy of God and pray for their Conversion And as for such as have been receiv'd into the Fold of Christ and have afterwards prov'd Idiots and without the Use of their Reason their Case is likewise wholly in the Dark to us and though we need not question but God's Infinite Goodness will incline him to pity their Deplorable Condition yet which Way he will express his Mercy to them we must not presume to say Hidden things belong to God the reveal'd are for us and our Children Among which I take this to be one That God gives sufficient Grace to every sensible Christian wherewith to work out his Salvation And here not to enter into the Endless and most Abstruse Dispute about Predestination which the less Men trouble their Heads about the better 't is for 'em in all Respects I shall only urge two or three plain Places of Scripture to confirm this Position and add to 'em one as plain Reason The Places of Scripture are first that in 2 Pet. 3.9 where the Apostle says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance to which is agreeable that of St. Paul to Timothy 1 Epist 2.4 God will have or desires that all Men should be sav'd and come to the Knowledge of the Truth Now the next Scripture I will quote which is 2 Cor. 3.5 tells us That we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as