beats his Breast and sighs out O Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Our Saviour tells us what was the effect I tell you this man went down rather justified than the other As the Pharisees Self-conceit and Arrogance made him pray in such a manner as he did so his Prayer made him more arrogant still It could not but increase his presumptuous Opinion of himself to reckon up and that before God himself all his Religious Qualities and Actions without taking notice of but one small fault and to have compared himself with one so despicable in his Eyes as the poor Publican It is reasonable to believe he went away bigger and statelier from his Prayers than he came to them On the contrary as the Publican's Behaviour Posture and Prayer proceeded no doubt from a due Sense of his sin and guilt and consequent humility So did it likewise dismiss and send him away with a greater Degree of it He saw that before in himself which made him cry out with shame and indignation against himself Lord be mercifull to me a sinner And doubtless he saw it yet more and with deeper impression upon his heart for having made his short but most passionate Confession 4. This confession of sin makes us less censorious and contemptuous of others more backward to publish their Faults or to insult over them We shall not be so ready to censure talk of despise others when we are accustomed to look upon and justly and humbly to acknowledge what is as bad or worse at least bad enough in our selves We are not so forward to reproach others when we permit our own Consciences to reproach our selves We are loth to condemn at least to treat others with Wrath and Contempt when if we are impartial we see too much cause to do the like by our selves No men so ready to proclaim and aggravate other men's Faults as those who take the least notice of their own He who knows his own defects and miscarriages as he pities himself so is he apt to do to others Most men esteem and despise others comparatively or as thy judge them superior or inferior to themselves in worthy and deserving Qualities and Performances We take the Measures of others from our selves Now he that observes most Infirmities and Faults in himself will think himself less above or more under Men than he who though ignorance or self-conceit sees no blemish nor blame in himself The former often despiseth himself comparatively with others the latter foolishly despiseth every one besides himself In the Example just now alledged how haughtily doth the Pharisee hold up his Head and with what Contempt doth he throw his Eye upon the Publican This Publican saith he But we hear no such Language from the Publican who in truth had more reason to have derided the Ignorant and Hypocritical Pharisee 5ly And lastly This confession makes us more sensible of the Divine goodness and disposeth us to greater Gratitude and Love to God The Divine goodness may well be our wonder That the infinite Majesty so provoked hath not yet made us remarkable Examples of his Justice and Displeasure Nay that he hath continued to us Life Health Strength Plenty Power and the like Favours which we ungratefull Wretches have dishonoured him with His lenity and long suffering cannot but be admired by us when we consider that we have grown wanton and proud against him by his own benefits and his bounteous Goodness which should have highly obliged us hath made us careless and presumptuous as if we now wanted him no more and could stand upon our own Legs But that which may justly increase our wonder is that after all this upon our humble confession and actual Change of our Behaviour towards him he is ready to forgive our greatest Crimes and to blot out all our Transgressions So great is his goodness that he is more ready to give us his pardon upon such a Repentance than we are to ask it or by Repentance to render our selves capable of it as if he courted our Friendship and stood in need of our Reconciliation Finally there is something yet more which exceeds wonder and that is that God should be pleased so kindly to accept our late Repentance and Obedience as to take occasion from thence to bestow upon us no less than Eternal life Now the serious and deliberate Confession of our sins giving us a necessary occasion to observe and consider all this so certainly the Truth cannot but deeply affect us with Gratitude and Love to the Authour of such unparallell'd Goodness and Love expressing it self by all ways possible our Words Services whole Lives Of so great and much greater spiritual benefit and profit is a true sincere serious affectionate and free Confession of our sins to Almighty God Which was the fifth Reason for the performance and frequent Exercise of it And now if we put all these Arguments together the just Honour we owe to God and his Laws the Edification and Pleasure of others our own spiritual Comfort and great Benefit one would think they should be sufficient to reasonable Men guided in their opinion and actions by good understanding though we had no Commands from revealed Religion not only to secure this Duty of Religion and Piety from contempt or neglect but especially to recommend it to their frequent and serious Practice from the highest to the lowest For no mortal so high whom it doth not exceedingly become and perhaps better than the meanest For excellent and great Qualities sit best upon the greatest are most amiable in them and most justly expected from them And true Religion the right Knowledge reasonable Worship and Resemblance and Imitation of the Supreme Being and the Universal Parent is the utmost Perfection and Attainment of humane Nature Nor is there any in this Life so holy and innocent take all our Lives together who have not great cause for and abundant need of this confession of sin Thrones and Shrines Crowns and Glories Soveraigns and Saints are with all just Humility to lie at the Foot-stool of the Almighty and most mercifull Father of his Creatures we may altogether send up with one Heart and Voice our common Cries of Confession of Guilt and Petition for Pardon without fear of offending against the Dignity of our Condition or Sanctity of our Profession None too great none too good to say with this great and good Prince I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgression to the Lord that he might forgive the iniquity of my sin For a conclusion of this Discourse it may not be amiss to pick out of it and put together a brief Representation of a true penitent Confessour in some such manner as follows The sincere and deliberate Penitent then is no negligent Person of himself to let all things go at random but is desirous to bring things to a Trial and to keep them in order
is to be honoured but then Wisdom and Goodness which are to direct and determine that Power deserve it much more It is true Wisdom and Goodness without Power are moveless and ineffectual things but then Power without them may be most mischievous Goodness without Power if it can do no good yet it can do no harm But power without goodness may be used to make miserable if it be managed by Cunning Pride Malice and Ill-nature But above all is that Person honourable and amiable where Greatness Wisdom and Goodness are in Conjunction as it is in God with Infinity The Examples of such work marvellous Effects in their Sphere and carry all before them They have great force to change the very inward Springs and Principles of Men's Actions their Opinions and Inclinations at least they outwardly bind them to their good Behaviour And oh that Heaven as it hath begun among us would go on to bless the World with such an Happiness and refresh the Souls of Righteous men grieved and tired with wicked Generations by so beautifull and lovely a Sight And here we cannot miss to make the Observation how much greater obligations the Great are under to look at their Conduct and Example than others and how much larger their Account will be for the Evil they have and the Good they might have done and what can be said by those for themselves who because they are great already will be greater than God himself who made them so and take that liberty which he never used 3. A third Cause of the greater influence of bad Examples is their Confidence Promptness and Fierceness Good men more generally unless they be very happy in the Gifts of Eloquence quick Apprehension and Courage all together converse with Caution and consequently are more sparing in their Speech and Actions more modest in their Affirmations more tender of the Reputation of their Conduct more carefull of their own peace and satisfaction more sollicitous concerning the influence of their Examples Now the confidence and boldness of bad Examples is usually accompanied with some Wit and Freedom of Speech and Carriage and some Passion always with more vigour and life Which things are more discernible and acceptable to most Company than good Sense and Reason and often make so great an impression as almost to force themselves upon those who assuredly know much better There is also in such Confidence a certain heedlesness and negligence which carries the Air and Appearance and is some ingredient of Generosity and Courage which first much commends the Persons and then their Discourse and Actions especially to those who are their Equals or Inferiours and are no wiser than themselves though in other Circumstances where it may seem excessive or unseasonable to understanding Men it is usually as offensive Finally the confidence of bad Examples to the greatest part of Spectators is a sign of assurance of Truth and Reason in what they say and do at least of no great harm or folly but where the former inclinations to imitation are back'd by appearing Reason its force is irresistible On the contrary Calmness and Reservedness seem lifeless dubious cowardly and even when they are thought to be the Effect of Wisdom and Judgment yet they are gratefull but to very few of the same temper and the Examples of such reach the Generality with no force or with very little impression Whence good Men may be advised that there is place and reason sometimes for Freedom and a handsome Confidence in conversation though many very wise may want that faculty managed with a regard to the Measure Seasonableness and other Circumstances and with a Design to convey as opportunity may serve some good sentiment and instruction It is a laudable and usefull Dexterity in conversation to communicate wise and vertuous things with advantage and to convey it acceptably and particularly with a seeming heedlesness of what one is doing when indeed it is the main Design to do it well like as the discreet Physician may seem to his ungovernable Patient to be doing nothing of consequence when he designs the administration of some effectual Remedy for his Disease 4. The last Cause we shall name is the most general Corruption of Humane Nature consisting principally in prevailing Inclinations to other Objects above those to Religion Vertue and Wisdom The depravation and vitiosity of our active Powers is this that those Appetites and Inclinations which should be moderate governable and subservient are the most violent ungovernable and commanding Though this Cause be very general yet it is not remote but near and immediate This is the reason why supposing good and bad Examples equal in number set before us and recommended alike advantageously we should except here and there one secured by a rare Felicity of Temper or the Grace of God without much deliberation enter our selves into the worst Company This is the reason why if Orations could be made with equal seeming Reason and Eloquence for Vertue and Vice and we were the Moderators perfectly left to our own liberty without the restraint of shame we should soon heartily determine against Vertue This is the Reason at the Bottom why one single Example of one great Man hath more influence than twenty of the prudent and vertuous the wise and the good 'T is because our very opinions as well as our practices are perverted and corrupted We esteem admire and love Power more than Goodness to be great rather than good to do what we list rather than what we ought And then our general Veneration and great Opinion of the Great inclines us to a particular promiscuous Approbation and Imitation of what he is and doth 'T is from this miserable inborn Propension of our Natures to Vice heavy and forcible that if sometimes by the most excellent and celebrated Examples we are a little heaved upwards that 's all and we presently flop down again all at once And sometimes they do not in the least move us and all their beauty and lustre no more affect us than if we were deaf or blind 'T is from hence till it be changed that like the fi lt by Swine we will never learn to be cleanly though in the Midst â—f a verdant Meadow covered with innocent Sheep if there be but one Puddle where we may wallow in the Mire or like some naturally clownish and slovenly People who will never be taught any decent Carriage and Manners though always in the Company of those who are gentile and well-bred Oh the deplorable Pravity and Degeneracy of Mankind desperate and utterly incurable without a mercifull Touch by the Finger of God and the special powerfull Influence of his Grace preventing following assisting our earnest Prayers and serious Endeavours without which the Company of Heaven it self would never mend them They would still retain the Propensions and Inclinations nay the Actions too if they could of Devils and Brutes in the midst of Saints and Angels These
who are in Heart and Life obedient to the Laws of Christ And that is the Observation as briefly as may be to be treated of Vicious and dissolute Men wonder that all others are not like themselves It is not to be doubted of but that they have their Reasons for it what-ever they be And they are the same by which they use to justifie and excuse themselves and all others who are drawn to compliance with naughty Manners and corrupted by evil Examples It shall be my business at this time to see what some of them are and to give the strongest of them its full Answer We may conceive some of them to be these They say then that as the World ever did and now goes to be Conscientious Pious and Virtuous is 1. To be Singular and to call all men's Eyes and Talk and Censures towards us 2. It is to be Solitary Melancholy and Cheerless when others are diverted courted and crouded with good Company 3. 'T is to be contemptible and ridiculous 4. To be revil'd and persecuted 5. 'T is to undertake an impossible or at least an extreamly difficult and consequently painfull thing We have not time to speak any thing considerable to all these Excuses For the present we 'll take only the three last and of them put the two first together more briefly but the last of all which seems the best they have and is by experience found most to deter Men from the Resolutions of undertaking a vertuous Life and bidding a final farewell to vicious Manners and Company is that which we shall hear and answer more particularly 1. In the first place then to abstain from the evil Manners and Lives of the bad to joyn our selves to and practise with the good the first being the generality of Men of all ranks and conditions will expose us to much contempt hatred and ill Treatment We shall meet with neither favour nor justice Such was the usage of the Christians by the Heathens Here in the Text they are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking evil viz. of the Christians No doubt their Tongues and their Hearts and their Actions went together they reviled despised hated and ill used the Christians because they would not comply with their abominable Customs and Practices And it is the same thing still in general though there may be some difference in degrees and some Circumstances between the bad and the good even of the same external Profession of Religion Of which some of the Causes in few words seem to be The foolish and false Opinions of Libertines especially if great who take licentiousness to be the privilege and property of their rank that religious and conscientious Men are timorous and mean spirited because they dare not venture upon some Actions and Courses which they fear not when it truly proceeds from their Judgment Choice and a great Mind or on the contrary they will have them to be proud and self-conceited thinking themselves wiser than every body else and on purpose contradicting common practice whereas 't is true Wisedom and good Understanding to fear God and depart from evil 'T is Piety to God Charity and Compassion to the World prudent Care of their own greatest Interests Finally they think that the opposite Manners of good and vertuous Men reproach them first these by their courses of life which they take in effect call them Fools or perverse weak or wilfull Which indeed is true but it is the necessary signification of their Principles which they cannot help nor are they willing if they could because they hope it may at last prevail upon some of them to be wiser and to do better At least they think themselves obliged to appear in and for the Cause of Religion and Vertue and not any way to contribute to the danger of the few good or the confirmation of the many bad But let the Causes of this unjust usage of the Religious and Conscientious be what they will 't is confessed that the Matter of Fact is true but it is denied to be a sufficient reason either for the compliance of the good or for the wonder of the bad that they do not As if there were no better reason for Vertue and living well than the pleasing of Men not one in 1000 of which have any reason at all for what they are â—â—d do but only humour passion appetite and example of the most and worst 'T is true he that discreetly and conscientiously will not go with a multitude to do evil may be evil spoken of and ill used by the blind inconsiderate or cowardly but can never deserve it 'T is they who are the foolish and oft-times perverse and wilfull in their pernicious Folly and therefore their Qualities to be despised and their Persons pitied Let men give me better reason than I have for what they do and I 'll follow and thank them too But this contempt of those who have no other reason but their confidence number and humour or blind passions and inclinations is to be contemned and will never move a Man of ordinary spirit or understanding who knows what and for what reasons he ought to do any thing And the truth is the Argument for imitation of the many great or small in evil Manners to avoid being neglected contemned despised frowned upon or hated reacheth only the more mean and vulgar minds whatever they appear from which notwithstanding they ought to be secured by particularly shewing and minding them of the folly and injustice of it in respect of God our Neighbour and our selves and that there is no comparison to be made which is worst to be really an ill man and to be ill-spoken of or ill-used by ill men through pride and ill-nature or even by the better through mistake For we 'll take but that one consideration of our own true Interest and a prudent care of our selves Who would not take it for a Reproach to be counted like a silly Sheep to drown for company or prefer being wicked and miserable with a Multitude before being innocent and happy alone least they should scoff or be angry with them for Cowardice or breaking Company Suppose nineteen of twenty should in a Frolick draw their Blood or drink Poyson to the Ruin of Health or endangering Life doth any man think himself under the least Temptation to imitate such folly and madness least he should be taken for a Dastard or an ill Companion These Similitudes are not impertinent or improper let men believe as they please For wicked Courses of Life continued in are and will be as surely the death and destruction of our Souls and often of our Bodies and Estates altogether as some Wounds and Potions are mortiferous to our Bodies only Add to this the considerations of Piety to God and Charity to Men. The good Man who reckons himself born for the Service of God and to do good to others as well as enjoy it himself reasons
and the justifier of bad Men and Manners The Answer in few words is this That supposing the whole Course of a conscientious and vertuous Life to be very painfull and grievous which is false yet it is a folly and madness which deserves the greatest wonder and pity for the avoiding of that to lose an everlasting Happiness and to plunge our selves into an eternal Misery which is not Talk only but Truth and Justice if there be any God or Providence in the World To a man of a comprehensive Reason Justice and Generosity may be added further and beyond all the rest A 4. Answer which I must not now insist upon but only in very few words say To please serve and honour God by love and obedience to contribute what we can to the common Good and Happiness by all vertuous Life and Actions Vice is useless or mischievous a common Nuysance is certainly a Duty and an Obligation which no Difficulty Pains or Suffering in this Life can discharge us from I do not understand how all our Duty is derived from our own Interest although I know they are inseparable To serve and please God and to do good to others meerly for our own sakes and to refuse to undergo any thing for theirs when necessary seems neither ingenuous nor reasonable And I am sure it seem'd so to that great Heathen Tully As if such things or rather nothings as we were more to be consider'd than the Infinite God and all the World besides when we may as well weigh a single Atome against the Universe Nor seems there any difference between a good and bad Man in respect of their Will but only of their Understanding if both of them make themselves their entire ultimate End The one takes the right course to be happy the other the Wrong But this last is mistaken only and would have done as the first if he had known better And even the Man of Courage and Generosity would take it for a great Reproach to be told that he fights only for a little Wages or Honour either and would not venture upon a Wound or Death it self to save his Prince and Countrey and to repress an insolent and malicious Enemy who pleaseth himself in the Destruction of all Mankind to gratifie his boundless Lusts Which with many other Instances is an Argument that the Soul of Man at present is not uncapable of so great and noble a Quality I am sure our divine Religion hath taught us as much both by Precept and Example when it commands us to love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves Nor do I see reason to find a Figure in the known Expressions of Moses and St. Paul To such a Greatness of Soul we ought to aspire Notwithstanding we are to know which may be proved even to a Demonstration from the Nature of God and of the Soul that our Duty and Interest our perfection of Nature and Happiness of Life are inseparable except for a Moment or two in this Life for Exercise and Improvement of Vertue or other Ends which vanisheth into nothing compar'd with Eternal Duration It is impossible that the wicked should be happy or not miserable and that the vertuous and good should be miserable or not happy As impossible as that there should be no God at all or that God should not be infinitely powerfull wise and good and consequently distributively just And now I have said all I have at present in Answer to the wonderers and their best reason for vicious Manners Practices Customs and Examples and perhaps the general Heads of all that can be said and what I think cannot be answered again by those who will act like Men and be governed by Truth and Reason But as for those who disclaim or burlesque their own most excellent Nature and will abandon themselves to blind and haughty Self-will Humours Lusts and Passions who will be like the Horse or Mule that wanteth understanding I leave them to other Arts and Methods of Perswasion and to the Mercy of God Almighty which we will not confine All that can be done for them on our parts is to pity and pray for them as we do daily when we say Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done That God may at last rule over and in the Hearts of all the Sons of Men. He can when he pleaseth work most effectually upon the Souls of the most sensless and obdurate Sinners even upon those who scorn all Instruction as a mean and hate understanding as a troublesome thing even upon those who most foolishly take it for a Point of Wisdom and Greatness of Heart to make a Mock at Sin even upon those finally who with the Heathen Idolaters in the Text think it strange that all Men run not with them to the same Excess of Riot speaking Evil of them because they will not SERMON III. PSAL. XXXII 5. I said I will confess my Transgression unto the Lord. I Am a while to treat of a Duty of Religion both revealed and as I think natural which perhaps passeth among the wise and brave of this World for a weak and mean thing and an effect of superstition rather than Religion But to me it seems just contrary so qualified and directed as shall presently be mentioned Confession of Sin to Almighty God hath very evident Arguments of many excellent Qualities For is it not a sign of a just Honour for God and all his Laws made known by Reason or Revelation Is it not a Mark of a generous Love of the Truth and that a Man will own his Faults and Follies tho' to his present Disadvantage and that he is more ashamed to commit a Sin than confess it Is it not a proof of great probity and strength of mind for a man not only to permit but command his Conscience and others too if there be occasion to report to him all the Truth and nothing but the Truth concerning himself to set all his Faults and Infirmities before him and not to conceal excuse or justifie any because he is not willing to mend any or hath no concern for the Health and Ornament of his Nature Are not these and such like Qualities highly laudable On the contrary are not a vulgar Carelesness and Insensibility of our Manners and Actions vain self-conceit arrogance affectation of appearing to ones self and others something worthy rather than being so indeed and above all the contempt of the Word and Commandments of Omnipotent Goodness Wisdom and Sanctity by a weak ignorant and sinfull Creature I say are not these sordid and truly contemptible Nor doth this confession of sin to the Supreme Deity seem to me less a part of natural Religion than Prayers and Praises to him though we have little mention of it among the Heathen Moralists And as this is Truth in it self so we find that the greatest Souls who have had the Knowledge of the true God have always behaved themselves with Truth
and Decency towards him acknowledged their Sins thrown themselves at his Feet and humbly implored his Pardon and Grace Nor was there ever recorded a more eminent Example of this than David as great a Prince as Saint He wanted not surely that Courage which is so magnified and adored by the World who when scarce got out of his Childhood killed the Lion and the Bear and when a Stripling armed only with a Sling ventured upon the prodigious Bulk of a Giant a Man of War from his Youth and laid him dead at his Feet and returned to the Camp lugging his Head the Trophee of his Victory who from a simple Swain was advanced to the Alliance and then Possession of a Throne for his Prowess and Wisdom And yet lo this is the Man who cries out Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot put all my transgressions Wash me thoroughly from my sin for I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me Against thee only have I sinned c. This is the man who in this Psalm proclaimeth the Blessedness of the Innocent or the Pardoned and telleth us That while he kept silence his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long This is he finally who in the Verse of the Text acknowledged his sins unto God who said and did accordingly That he would confess his transgressions unto the Lord. And because it is and ought to be a daily Religious Duty enjoyned and recommended in our publick and private Devotion and Worship it ought also more especially to be well understood prudently directed and shewn to be most agreeable to natural Reason and Justice as well as expresly commanded and constantly practised by good Men in the Holy Scripture Accordingly we shall chuse out three things for the Heads of our Discourse concerning it First the Nature and Parts of it Secondly the Rules for it Thirdly the Reasons of it 1. And very briefly in a more solemn and deliberate Confession of Sin especially and it is best to take into its signification more than one single Act three Three Parts parts may be observed and that in this Order 1. Self-accusation The Penitent having first enquired into his past Temper and Behaviour consulted his Conscience concerning his Duty and observed his Aberrations from the Rules of it He proceeds as a Person different from himself to accuse and bring an Endictment against himself and here he acts like a Plaintiff 2. But Secondly Follows an ingenuous and free Acknowledgment of the Truth of what with the greatest Impartiality he judgeth to have been bad in him or ill done by him Neither by Superstition or Timidity vainly frighting nor by Boldness or Partiality favouring himself Here he acts the part of a guilty Defendant and an upright Witness against himself 3. Thirdly He pronounceth himself guilty and deserving of the Punishment which God hath threatned for the Transgression of his just Laws And so he leaves himself to God whether he will execute the Sentence and punish him as he deserves or else be pleased upon his humble Confession and other parts of a compleat Repentance to shew him mercy reprieve and forgive him Thus the true Penitent in this part of Repentance termed Confession acts as a Prosecutor guilty Defendant and Witness and an inferior Judge In such manner may be in short distinctly conceived the Nature and Parts of Confession 2ly The Rules follow Some of which may be these 1. Let our Confession be made with exact Truth We are at no time and with no Person to say that which is not true Least of all when we address our selves to God This fault can only be on one side viz. by confessing those things to be sinfull in us which are not so or to deserve a greater Punishment than they truly do For if we falsly think any thing really sinfull in us not to be so we do not confess that at all The number and evil Deserts of our Sins are truly great enough in themselves we need not to multiply or magnifie them in our Confession by imagination and passion As those for example have always seemed to me to do who in their Prayers acknowledge all their Actions before their Conversion to be sins i. e. before Grace was generally the ruling Principle in their Hearts or their lives were governed by their Consciences For a bad man generally speaking may now and then drop a good Action Nay there are those who have been so humble which is excellent when it speaks truth and not despisable even when it is mistaken if sincere in their Confession as to say That all the very best Actions of the best Men after their Conversion are sins too but pardoned in Christ which I do not well understand Defective indeed they may be and so is the most perfect love to God in the highest Angel for no Creature can honour and love him in that degree which he deserves defective I say they must needs be but not sins He who loves God with all his might strength and understanding as I doubt not hath been done often by pious Souls surely sins not nor need ask any pardon for it though he may justly acknowledge that the greatest affection our hearts are capable of to him are infinitely below the infinite Excellency of his Nature The Confession of the neglect of a more than Jewish Observation of the Sabbath in some men's Phrase is upon this account blameable but such an Observation of the Lord's Day and other Festivals as is prescribed by the Church of England in one of their pious and grave Canons is most agreeable to Christian Piety and Prudence and the general wilfull neglect of it more than savours of Prophaneness There are other strange things too which in the depth of a seeming or mistaken humility have been uttered especially in some men's ex tempore Confession without countenance from Scripture rightly interpreted and shocking the common Reason of Mankind Numerous also are the Instances of this Errour among the Romanists who out of ignorance or design unreasonably oft-times rack and vex men's Consciences But these things need not to be too subtilly searched into It is too much that the best of us have too many and too great faults to confess to Almighty God The most usual Causes of this Fault in confession is such a degree of Self-revenge Indignation and Contempt against our selves as to cause us to forget Truth and Justice to our selves as they would ordinarily be the Causes of false Judgment on the worst side against others whom we are apt in such Fits to accuse of much more than they are guilty of But of this Cause though surely it be a fault I am almost tempted to wish we could see more But there is a second Cause very dangerous and that is a Design to flatter Almighty God It is not impossible but that some
words read and see what instruction they will afford us to discourse upon By the term Fool it is well known that in the Scripture generally is not meant only an ignorant or erroneous Person but also one who is wicked and of ill-manners because he knows not or mistakes his own interest as well as departs from his Duty The Hebrew word is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies him that doth foul as well as foolish Actions So Nabal is said to have done according to his Name when he was so ungratefull and churlish to David as well as so foolish and imprudent that had it not been for Abigail by sparing a little he had lost all 1 Sam. 25. 25. And the Syriack Version here renders the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an unjust wicked and perverse Man 2. It follows hath said in his heart i. e. he hath thought so though perhaps he never dared to say so for that was Blasphemy and therefore death by the Jewish Law 3. There is no God i. e. there is no such thing really existent 't is but a name or an imagination Or if he be any where yet he is not present upon this Earth he meddles not with humane Affairs Some foolish wicked Men in their thoughts deny either the Being or the Providence of God extending it self to this lower World Like the Ancient Sect of the Epicureans among the Greeks long after these Fools of the Psalmist and consequently the true and necessary Perfections and Attributes of his Nature his Omnipresence Omniscience Omnipotence his Universal Goodness whereby he governs and directs the whole Universe at once to the best Ends his Sanctity Justice and the like And further consequent to this they deny all distinction between Moral good and evil right and wrong vertue and vice other than the present gratification and fulfilling their own lusts of haughtiness pride violence covetousness voluptuousness c. which sort of Men the Psalmist here more particularly means by the Fool. Nay finally hence it must necessarily follow that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews speak i. e. they denied their Religion despised even the Authority and Laws of Moses and were Judaical Infidels as ours now-a-days are Christian ones which is the more usual signification of the word and restrained to revealed Truths This last sense wants not Equal probability with the former For it is likely that from the beginning of Mankind there have been many more who have question'd the Providence and true Attributes than the Existence of a God for want of the true notion of his Nature and therefore the Chaldee Paraphrase seems not to have done amiss when it paraphraseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fool hath said in his heart that God hath no Dominion or Government in the Earth 4. The words they are corrupt they have done abominable works c. may be looked upon with the coherence either of a cause or an effect of the preceding Proposition The fool hath said in his heart c. As if they should be thus uttered Because they are corrupt c. therefore they have proceeded to that extremity of folly and impudence as to think there is no God at all and that he doth not see and know what they do or if he doth yet he cannot or will not concern himself to punish them Or we may read then to this sense Foolish and lewd Men have first perswaded themselves that there is no God or no Providence which reacheth humane Affairs and then have let loose the Reigns to their lusts which have carried them to the most wicked Works and abominable Practices From whence we may learn these Two things 1. That they who deny the Being or Providence of God over Mankind and the consequent Truths mentioned are both ignorant and wicked or infidelity is the quality of vicious Fools The fool c. 2. That the denying of those great Truths and such like is the cause of corrupt manners or infidelity is followed with still greater corruption of manners and wickedness of practice To take the first of these Among many heads of Discourse which have and may be handled in this great and most important Argument I shall choose but these Two 1st To observe some of the most frequent causes of this Disease And 2ly To propose some remedies to prevent or suppress their Efficacy And because those of both parts are many to be named I shall be as brief as I can in each of them and do little more than enumerate them 1st The first cause then of this infidelity is ignorance A charge which perhaps they may wonder or smile at who have so often been by themselves and others taken for more than ordinary Wits and so indeed they are but 't is in levity shallowness temerity self-conceit and boldness and some other as worthy qualities to be mentioned And we affirm still that one of the leading and first Causes of infidelity is great ignorance of the Nature of all Beings short of infinite Perfection and particularly of the material or corporeal World to believe it possible for any thing to exist without a God or a Being whose Essence is to be infinitely perfect and consequently necessarily to exist himself and to be the productive and conservative Cause of all other things whatsoever existent And then when there is such a Being it is to have lost the faculty of reasoning seriously to deny those Attributes of his Nature before mentioned and his Universal Providence For it would be to ungod him again It must be from a gross ignorance more particularly for any man to doubt his Universal Goodness whereby he disposeth and ordereth all things for the best State of the Universe of Beings in all its duration taken together and consequently his Justice so that it shall be better with the Good and Righteous than with the Evil and Wicked all Conditions or their whole Duration considered and comprehended It is from no better Cause that any man questions the Immortality of humane Souls in their own Nature and the unsuitableness of the Divine Attributes to annihilate them And it is far more incredible and further from all belief that God should make our Souls only for this point of time we live upon this Earth than that he should make all humane Race to come into this World only to cry and die 'T is I say it again from a contemptible ignorance of the Nature of Body and Spirit the Nature of God the true Ends of all Being Life and Action that these grand and fundamental Verities are seriously and ex animo disputed or denied by any It would be at present too tedious and impertinent to deduce at large the particular proofs of these most important Truths It hath been especially in this last Age excellently well performed to which in some things a further Addition may be made Let Infidels or Scepticks sufficiently
use it And indeed the first is always attended with the other two For he that hath a great affection for truth will readily embrace it where ever he discovers it endeavour to recommend and make the best use of it he can shewing what influences it hath upon his heart and life This excellent quality of our Spirits is more than once commended and commanded in the Holy Scriptures 'T is this which our Saviour means in his Parable by the honest and good heart which having received the word keeps it and brings forth fruit with patience Luke 8. 15. It was the want of this which was one of the Causes of the seduction from the Verity of the Gospel in those who perished viz. Because they received not the love of the truth i. e. Not only the Gospel particularly called the truth but of truth in general 1 Thess 2. 10. And it was this our Saviour above all things required in men to become his Disciples And 't is for this reason together with the incomparable evidence of the truth of Christian Religion that it is to be believed that never an honest man of capacity who hath been rightly instructed in the principal Doctrines of it hath long held out against it and finally disbelieved it We may add to this natural effect of probity the extraordinary and supernatural one even in those who may be for some time doubtfull or erroneous in those greatest Verities so perhaps may God permit It procures God's especial care to enlighten and encline such to the reception of truth 3ly Another cure of this Infidelity is a branch of modesty that is but a just and true esteem and value for our selves and therefore particularly to be carefull we entertain not too great a Conceit of our own ability and sufficiency above other mens to find out the falsity or weakness or uncertainty in common receiv'd opinions of consequence If we seem to our selves to observe it let us still be diffident of our own Judgment and believe we may be mistaken and that there may be something in them or for them which we do not yet see and therefore reserve the alteration of our belief to further consideration Those who are strongly conceited of their knowledge and sufficiency in judgment above other men and are hugely pleased with it are very forward and ambitious to shew it to themselves first and then to other men more especially in contradicting and correcting what is generally taught and believed and that by the most esteem'd and of the best Reputation and Authority The Holy Scripture hath given us this general advice also Rom. 12. 3. Not to think too highly of our selves but soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith But because some men in their Infidelity may rely more upon the Wit and Learning of one whom they much esteem than upon their own it is to be advised 4ly To have a great deference and respect to the most publick Testimony or to the most general received Opinion so much the more still by how much it is larger in respect of places and ages The least effect this consideration ought to have upon us is to make us cautious and suspicious when we are inclined to believe and advance any Opinion contrary because it appears true to our selves or some few other really knowing men We ought diligently and impartially to examine what it is in the common Opinion we cannot perswade our selves to be true and how such a general mistake should come to pass He that contradicts an Universal belief had need be the wisest of men and he that rejects a very general one should be very wise The first is not to be done without a Demonstration and even that which so appears to us is reasonably to be suspected though till we see otherwise it cannot be denied by us because in a thing a thousand times considered and debated it may seem much that none before hath light upon this Demonstration though I do not say it is impossible And as for those perswasions which are very general in things judged of great concern and consequently most frequently brought into conversation writing and practice it had need be a very great evidence and having lain long under variety of examination is at last also generally approved that should entirely remove or displace them Yet I deny not but a man may have sometime a reason sufficient at first to suspect to doubt to say that the new Opinion looks with a good countenance and seems not to want a fair probability And then it seems no more than Justice and a thing becoming the publick Care that it should have a fair hearing But here too that we be not imposed upon we are to take a true account of the Universality or Generality of received perswasions not call those of one Nation or Country or perhaps one quarter of the World introduced and maintained by mere interest cunning and force or of one or some few Ages I say we must not call these universal or more general than indeed they are This is the fault and folly of the Roman Church which will needs have Transubstantiation Purgatory Image and Saint Worship and an hundred others to be the Catholick Opinions and Practices in the Church of Christ when we can produce whole Countries and Nations greater than theirs now and many more Ages and the best even of their own Church which neither believed nor practised such things This remedy is proper against blameable singularity whether out of ignorance or affectation I will add but one more and so have done with this general head also And that is 5ly That as it hath been already a general Advice to possess our minds throughly with probity and plain honesty and consequently a prevalent love of the truth So it will much help and assure the effect thereof to purge them of all prejudices which may oppose it and to leave truth and honesty as few and as weak Enemies in our Breasts as it is possible for us We must therefore turn out and send away all unreasonable Inclinations Humours Appetites and Passions which may have any influence upon our understanding and judgment in our enquiring or assent to any truth We are to keep our minds sincere and upright This will prevent or repress the Influences of many Causes of Infidelity at once For in pursuance and application of this general Direction we shall free our minds from the love of any lusts from the extravagant and most unreasonable desire of liberty uncontroulableness and independency from pride vain self-conceit and affectation of singularity from the humour of setting our selves in good earnest to oppose and contradict from wrath and impatience against God Almighty and his Providence from spite and envy against knowledge and goodness and good men against their reputation and interest in the World and finally from Scepticism it self or as I now take the word from timidity
inconstancy instability of judgment and assent in which there seems some passion and inclinations without reason as well as in all the rest Then shall we be clear and free to believe the truth merely because it is the truth as far as we can apprehend and for no other reason whatsoever Till we have thus cleansed our souls deposed and laid aside all these prejudices the more ingenious and witty we are the greater is our danger of error and unbelief and the common sort of men who have not so much Wit Haughtiness Self-conceit and Pride do with much more safety and security follow the easie and natural Sense of their own minds and the common belief of the World who are wiser than themselves And now what use shall we make of this whole Discourse I shall make but one inference from it and that is If what we have all this time been delivering be truth and reason as I hope it is then it is our Duty to contradict the Fool here in the Text and that two ways both in his Infidelity and in his consequent Practice Hath the vitious Fool said in his heart there is no God or no Providence Let us deliberately peremptorily and decretorily conclude in our hearts and confess it with our mouths that there is a God and verily that this God judgeth in the Earth But then let us be sure boldly to oppose and contradict him in the consequence of our Faith else our Faith and Profession will serve us to no purpose but to condemn us out of our own mouths or it will be suspected that our inward Faith and outward Profession do not agree that we say one thing as loud as any and think another At least that our Faith is very slight cold and rare and therefore little valued by us For a serious express firm and frequent Faith or actual Assent especially after deliberation or doubting is a great matter and very operative We see the settled Opinions of men in other Affairs of Life how sturdy and forcible they are They govern even their Passions and Persons and are difficultly mastered or hindered by any opposition So would it be also in Divine Faith if it were as well rooted in our hearts and as frequently made actual use of Is then this wicked Fool corrupt and vitious Hath he done abominable Works Let it be our firmest resolution and utmost care and endeavour to be of an incorrupt sound and strong Vertue and a laudable and amiable Practice and do good Works But more particularly and immediately the Vertue which our belief in God his Nature Attributes and Actions should produce and preserve is that of Piety and Religion or Divine Worship in which I comprehend all our Duty to this God Let us then spare him as many thoughts as we can and contemplate his Beauty and Glory as much as our frail Nature and Condition will bear let us conceive the most worthily of him let us honour him with all the force of our Souls love him with all our might above all things together both in Heaven and Earth rejoyce and be happy in his Favour and fear his displeasure put our ultimate trust in him alone and above all entirely resign up our Wills to his in whatever is to be done or undergone by us and all his Creatures that his Will may be done both in Heaven and Earth This which is the internal Worship of God we are at all fit Seasons and Circumstances to signifie by our Lauds Praises Prayers Thanksgivings solemn Profession of a sincere universal constant perpetual Obedience to all his Commands and Appointments and above all by the Tenor of our Life and Actions which is External Worship Behold a heart and life sutable to our Faith and to the God in whom we believe An employment worthy indeed of all reasonable Creatures from the highest to the lowest The perfection of all their noble Powers and Exercise of them This Religion and Conversation with the Deity is the highest Accomplishment and Felicity of any spiritual Nature All other objects do not fill their Capacities This State we are all here as much as we can which is but little to endeavour to attain to The rest we are to desire hope and prepare our selves for Now to this God whom the wicked Fool denies who made and upholds all things by the Omnipotent Word of his Power and governs all things by his All-wise Providence to this one most excellent infinite Nature in three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be all this inward and outward Worship constantly rendred by Men and Angels from henceforth and for ever-more Amen SERMON V. ROM V. 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THere are hardly any words of the Holy Scripture more common in the Mouths of Christians especially reformed or uttered with more affection or more frequently made use of than these of Justification by Faith Nor is there any Doctrine of Christianity which hath of late been disputed with more Volumes or greater Heat than that which is said to be contained under them To which we may add that in truth it is a Doctrine both in matter and phrase in great measure new and proper to the Christian Religion and yet of a great importance honourable to God and comfortable to Men. For the most devout and even inspired by God among the Jews as far as appears knew little of the principal Part of it and the most learned among the Heathens nothing Nay it seems by what we read that it hath been defectively and but ill-understood even by Christians themselves till of late And although in a good part of this last Century it hath been much cleared and recovered by many learned Men who began better to understand the Style Phrase Occasion and other Circumstances of the New Testament and by none more perhaps than our own judicious pious Paraphrast yet me-thinks somewhat more may be done in the matter I shall at present only briefly and plainly endeavour the explication and application of the words The two things which deserve a particular explication are 1 Justification 2 Faith 1. For the word Justification I take the original and general Notion of it to be the doing by any Person for to that I now restrain it though it be spoken of Actions also as useth to be done to one who is just and righteous i e some way to shew favour or to do good to him whether by approbation commendation or beneficence Of this general sense of the word it is easie to see that the juridical Sense of acquitting absolving c. is but one instance or kind This usage may be in respect of some particular Act or Quality only or of a man's general Temper of Mind and Course of Life We have several Examples of the first It is said by our Saviour of the Publican who went up with the Pharisee to the Temple to
usually signifies amongst us between God and the best of Men or the most excellent Angel is to give a very false Idea of the Case For to merit from any one is first to profit or advantage him some way and then it is to impart some-what of his own and lastly he that receives the Benefit is bound to requite it by some Law without and superiour to himself Now there is nothing of all this between God and his Creature For can a Man profit his Maker A Master indeed may be benefited by the labour and service of his Servant Next the strength industry and fidelity of the Servant is his own in respect of his Master he never had any of this from him But what have we which we have not received from God Our very Being Faculties Liberty all kind of Ability and Capacity are they not the free gifts of our great and good Creatour Finally what Law is there superiour to God's own Nature and Will to oblige him to any Action who can or ought to say to him What dost thou not so much in respect of his irresistible Power for there is no Tyranny in Heaven as his all comprehending Wisdom his immutable Righteousness and essential Goodness It is true there is such a thing as just and right eternal and unchangeable But it is therefore so because God is so It was eternally a property of the Divine Will if I may so speak as truth was of the Divine Understanding It is his own immutable Nature to do that which is right and fit That which we call right fit just is a due Relation or Habitude of all Will Action Power to its Object which Object is bonum good and that the greatest too in respect of intention extension and duration and there can be no more respects This is the ultimate due End and Object I say of all Will Action and Power whatsoever But this Relation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is therefore eternal and immutable only because God is so It could never have existed without a Subject and that Subject the Divine Will exists necessarily The very Being or Existence therefore of any such thing depends upon the Existence of the Divine Will Besides this Relation which we call Right and Just is something wherefore it as all other somethings must have the Will of God or active Power or his Nature for its Cause But though Right and Just depend upon the Divine Will for its eternal Existence yet we cannot conceive it ever separated from them or without them We cannot but conceive it a pure perfection and therefore cannot but attribute it to God an All-perfect Being For an instance or application we say that the Object of God's will is always the Universal good the good of all Beings the greatest good either fit or possible and in order to this he wills benè bonis malè malis he justifies the Righteous and condemns the Wicked He orders and distributes respective recompences of rewards and punishments to the good and bad the quantity quality time and other Circumstances are to be left to the Divine Wisdom But this proceeds from no Cause without the Divine Will it self We cannot but conceive the Divine Will thus to act There is no Power or Will to determine or constrain it God's Nature is such that we cannot but conceive him to will and do that which is just and right for the greatest good of all reasonable Beings and yet most freely because it is his own immutable Nature for what can be more free than what is natural Liberty in God is not an indifferency for that would be an imperfection but that infinite force and delight with which he acts I have no better words to express my meaning by Liberty and Necessity therefore in God are not only consistent but inseparable It is right and just for God to reward the good who keep his Commandments and observe his Laws which are the infallible Rules and Instances of what is right and just but we must not say God is bound to it or that those who are good merit it from him in a strict and most received Sense and common Usage because that imports as if he must do it whether he would or no and there were some Law or Person without or superiour to himself We may and ought to say that God most certainly will do so because it is his own immutable Nature to do it The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness and his Countenance beholdeth the upright 'T is true to put an end to this not useless or very impertinent Digression that worthy Qualities and Actions i. e. such as do effect or but tend to the common good that are usefull or beneficial to the World do justly entitle any Person to a Reward such as Honour Power Wealth or pleasurable Life because those same Qualities and Actions are thereby maintained increased and propagated and consequently the best and happiest State of the World furthered and advanced Every one in his place and according to his Ability is bound to this but especially all sorts of Governours And such qualities have and may with good reason obtain the Name of Merits amongst Men and in respect of them in its most common and received sense For they are the property of those who possess them they never received them from other Men they are beneficial and usefull to Men and there is a superiour Law and Power to oblige and compell Men to reward them none of which can be said in respect to God Though it being a congruous and reasonable thing as is above mentioned God always doth and always will necessarily from his own Nature will and act in such manner And if there be no more meant by meriting than that we may safely in such a sense be said to merit from God too And in this sense it is that St. Paul saith that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6. 9. And benceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. i. e. It is a congruous and fitting thing of best effect certainly in God's Government of the World that good Men should be so used by him I have been some-what the longer in this Digression because I believe the whole Controversie about Merit between the Jews and St. Paul with his Christians and between the Pontificians and the Protestants may by the little that hath been here said be easily cleared and decided At last we conclude then with St. Paul and the Gospel-doctrine against the Jewish Doctors and the legal Doctrine which they taught viz. That we sinners are justified by God and more particularly upon our repentance and perseverance in Holiness of heart and life pardoned and saved not by Works of Righteousness which we have done not by any
the spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh Most plainly Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own salvation for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Nay the same Doctrine may seem fairly intimated in several places of the Old Testament as Deut. 30. 16. God promiseth to circumcise the hearts of the Israelites and their Posterity c. where we may observe a spiritual promise in the body of the Law And Jerem. 13. 23. Can an Aethiopian change his skin c. and David prays in his penitential Psalm that God would not take his holy Spirit from him as supposed necessary to his perseverance much more than to Repentance Although it is to be acknowledged that this Doctrine of the Necessity of Divine Grace Influence and Operation and especial Providence to make and keep Men inwardly holy and good was only reached by some of the Prophets or most eminent Saints or of a sublimer genius among the Jews the generality never thinking of any such thing and when by Christianity taught denied by them Nor was it scarce ever dreamt of among the Gentiles except here and there a Philosopher or Poet may have dropt something that looks that way But hardly any Doctrine more common and known in the Christian Church where every Child learns it before its Letters And certainly the Belief and frequent Attention to so near especially and constant Presence of the Deity to the Souls of Men as it is true so is it many ways a great Cherisher of Piety and Religion It were to be wished that the Fathers supposed by some to know best the mind of the Apostles as being nearest to them had enlightned us here in this obscurely to us delivered Doctrine But these next of all to the Apostles were content to speak simply and little varying from the Apostolical words Clem. Epist to the Cor. p. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we therefore being called by the Will of God in Jesus Christ are not justified by our own Wisdom or Understanding or Piety or Works which we have done in Sanctity of Heart but by Faith by which the Almighty hath ever justified all Men from the beginning which differs little in words nothing in sense from the Apostle Rom. 4. in the case of Abraham And the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 11. explain'd in the Discourse above But if we go further downward among the Fathers I do not know whether we shall learn much concerning this point Those who please may try themselves Just Martyr the Philosopher seems to me to have taken the Notion of it best and St. Augustine and St. Jerome in some places at least though worst with a prejudice and narrowness common to Persons of Wit Eloquence and Zeal in their own Religion especially when flourishing in Power and Reputation Such a zeal in so truly excellent Religion as the Christian even when mistaken is pardonable But more acceptable to the wiser sort of Men when attended with Judgment and a just regard to Truth St. Jerome seems to have been a greater Master in the Language of the Jews so far as Biblical Hebrew and Chaldee went than in their Opinions and their Books in which they are contained And though he may sometimes mention some-what he had learned in conversation with his Masters as in his Epistle to Algasia the Collection called Misna as I think against Morinus and a Custom or two of the Jews and their opinion concerning Melchisedeck in his Epistle to the Evangelists Yet I do not know perhaps others may know better whether he hath quoted any one Sentence out of any Jewish Book in its own Language But without doubt there were enough of them in his time to have quoted and which contained the same Opinions concerning Justification which we have cited in these Annotations and the Jews teach to this day Or if St. Jerome had read such Books it seems it was not in his thoughts to compare St. Paul's Doctrine in this matter with that of the Jews Let any one read St. Jerome on Gal. 3. St. Aug. quaest 80. quaest 73. and de spir litera ad Marcell and his Expos of the Epistle to the Gal. and his Book de fide operibus and others There may be some things very good now and then dropt But generally what they say is of such confused and uncertain Sense and sometimes not true that a man is little the better but only to know that such men have said so I would not be here thought by this to desire the Abatement of the just Esteem of so great a Name as the Fathers For I believe them to have been generally of exceeding Piety and the greatest men of their Ages for knowledge some in one thing some in another some in all but it cannot be allowed that they were equal either in Philosophy the true knowledge and distance of the Natures of things or in the skill of expounding and interpreting the Holy Scriptures which this present Age by the good Providence of Almighty God doth enjoy We shall I think be very unjust to it if we do not acknowledge so much May the effect of this our advantage in knowledge be also our improvement in a substantially religious and vertuous Temper and Practice without which it is but diversion not business that which may please the Speculators but profit no body and nothing mend the State of the World ADVERTISEMENT BY reason of the Affinity of the Subjects of Justification and Satisfaction I had thoughts of adding a Discourse of this last and that under these general Heads I. What was the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning that which is so called viz. Satisfaction by the death and merits of Jesus Christ II. What was the distinct Nature Ends and Uses of a Sacrifice and particularly of an Hylastick or Expiatory one III. How they operated or what they contributed toward the procuring securing or recovering the Favour of God in general and particularly that instance of his Favour Remission of Sins upon Repentance and how IV. Whether Jesus Christ dying was not a proper Expiatory Sacrifice V. Whether he was not in many respects a more excellent Expiatory Sacrifice than the Patriarchal or Mosaical VI. What is the true and distinct Notion of a Merit and how the Merits of Jesus Christ might obtain in general the Favour of God to sinfull Mankind and particularly Remission of Sins to Penitents and the reasonableness thereof VII Whether the Act of God's forgiving Sins to penitent Sinners in Consideration of the Sacrifice and Merits of Christ Jesus instead of the Act of punishing them might not be called properly and according to the Original and received use of the word Satisfaction i. e. of as much value of equal or more good Effects to the Community or rather in the World which God governs In all which I think much would be said which hath not been said before or not so clearly and distinctly But