superstition the design of those is to supersede honest Vertue and inward Goodness and by some other ways to think to purchase the Divine Favour and the Happiness of Heaven 'T is very hard and difficult to men to be inwardly good and exactly vertuous to drive out every known sin and live in the practice of every duty which is the plain and the honest path-way to Heaven and therefore superstition would find out other by-roads and easier passages and would have Religion lie in more easie and outward performances and would relieve it self against that strait and narrow way which the Gospel directs us to and would have it suffice to be sent to Heaven by an Absolution or an Indulgence Thus by a Pass as it were by the Priest or Pope to the other World by making a short Confession and being a little contrite and absolved and anointed on the Death-Bed the work is quickly done and as well he thinks as if the Man had lived a Saint or died a Martyr or if he had been so Religious in his life time as to tell over his Beads every day and carry a Crucifix always about him and perform the Pennance of his Confessor and gone a few Pilgrimages to a few Saints then he has done such works as are very meritorious tho' his Saviour never Commanded one of them and he must be thought to be very Religious tho' 't is such a Religion as the Gospel is a perfect stranger to But Superstition is for placing Religion in some other things than the Gospel does in some inventions of its own in some little and easie and trifling performances in some of the externals and shadows of Religion in a strict observance of some lesser duties and a zealous concern for inconsiderable matters in being over forward for the little adjuncts and appendages of Religion but very negligent of that which is the true life and substance of it and in vainly believing to please God by some other things than by a righteous and good mind and the practice of universal Holiness Thus did the Jews think that often washing their Hands would make their Souls clean that to observe the lesser duties of the Law and the Rites and Traditions of their Elders was the way to render them extraordinary Holy and Religious though they foully neglected the weightier duties of Judgment Mercy and Truth Superstition will often overdo in some parts of Religion and therefore puts on the face of greater sanctity and is a kind of excess in Religion but 't is at the bottom a great defect a want of true and inward goodness and it would supply that defect by other shows and appearances and a mighty zeal in little things it would compound as it were with Heaven and commute its sorry and worthless performances for actions of true and substantial goodness It always lays too much value upon the little things of Religion and does but little esteem and not heartily love Morality and inward Goodness and therefore the truest principle to free us from all superstitious follies and mistakes in Religion is this That nothing will please God but being truly and inwardly good that nothing will commend us to his favour but a Vertuous Mind and a Holy Life and the sincere practice of all the moral substantial duties of Religion and that without those all other little things in Religion will be vain and idle and insignificant which is the truest principle in the World and the best preservative against Superstition The Eleventh Sermon ACTS XXVI 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead THe Resurrection of the dead is an Article of our Faith of that weight and importance that as it confirms and strengthens all natural Religion for if Mens bodies rise most undoubtedly there is a future State so it is the very Basis and Foundation of Christianity without which our Faith in Christ is as the Apostle says vain and ungrounded It seems not so necessary indeed for the truth of Religion in general to believe the Resurrection of the flesh or body since the Soul without that may be capable of Happiness or Misery in another state and the belief of this alone may be sufficient to the designs of Vertue and Religion But Christianity lays a very great stress upon it makes the Resurrection of the body as necessary and fundamental an Article upon some accounts as the immortality of the soul and this because of the Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour which as 't is the great demonstration of the truth of our Religion so it is an Argument of the Resurrection of all other Humane Bodies for if he be risen again with the same Body with which he lived and with that is gone into the Heavens it 's fit we should follow him thither with our bodies too with our whole Humane Nature which he was pleased not only to assume upon Earth but to carry up to be an Inhabitant of the mansions above if he our head be raised we his Members must be raised with him he the first fruits from the dead has by his Resurrection Consecrated our Bodies to Life and Immortality It would be very strange if he should carry his Humane Body into Heaven were there no others of the same nature to follow him so that as the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 15.13 If there be no Resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen It does therefore highly concern us to maintain and defend this main post and strongest hold of our Religion by which our Christianity must either stand or fall and that the more because Infidelity and Irreligion is most apt to be making its attempts and assaults upon it in this place the weakest as is supposed which belongs to it and to represent this article above all others as an impossible and incredible thing There were found not only among the Athenians some of the Sect of Epicurus probably who when they heard of the Resurrection mocked at it Acts 17.32 and Pliny I remember reckons it among one of the things that exceed the power of God revocare defunctos but even amongst the Jews there were some known to St. Paul who thought it a thing unreasonable and unfit to be believed to whom he directs himself in this his defence of Christianity the Sadduces were a numerous and prevailing Sect among them who say there is no Resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit Acts 23.8 There are too many of their mind in our days who cannot believe or conceive any spiritual or immaterial substances and who cannot think that a body after it has been dead and lain rotting so many hundred or thousand years and been dispersed into ten thousand atoms and scattered into as many different places and had a thousand other bodies made out of it that this should be brought together again and rise the same body it was before Against these modern Sadduces and Unbelievers these pretenders to Reason
unseen state which above all things it concerns us to take care about and wisely to provide for This Life is a continu'd round and circle of bodily Actions and Business but in death these cease and have an end that let 's down the Curtain and the Drama of Life is over and whatever parts we Acted on this Stage we lay them all aside and what we enjoy'd in this Body and this World is to be no more and as if it had never been and we only had dream'd of it for a while He taketh away their breath they die and turn again to their dust That said he is my present Case and in that very day all their Thoughts perish i. e. all their apprehensions of Worldly Happiness and Enjoyments with all their mighty projects and designs they had here how reasonable then is it for us frequently to meditate upon dying and how properly was it plac'd of old among the first rules and principles of Wisdom And upon my saying to him that as he seemed to be got almost to the end of the race of Life his Friends were running hard after him and would in a short space overtake him he replied True but prithee remember that I have got the start of thee Here he took occasion to discourse of the Christian Revelation which has discovered the most amazing but the most important and momentous Truths for Man to know 'T is this said he that gives me the greatest ease and satisfaction in my present Circumstances and fills my mind with the most serene hopes when I can find pleasure in nothing else and without it all my thoughts when I stretch them as far as ever they will go are either dark or troublesome That God should send his only begotten Son into the World in our likeness to redeem and save Mankind that he should propose by him the advancing us who are very inconsiderable yea sinfull Creatures to such a height of Glory as to be equal to Angels to see God as he is and to have eternally communicated to us of his own Excellencies and Perfections cannot but affect every one who believes and exercises his thoughts about these matters with Wonder and Admiration with all possible Love and Gratitude and a most sollicitous study and endeavour to obey God universally in hopes of that eternal Life which God who cannot lie as the Apostle speaks has promised He added That the design of Christianity and the Terms of Life therein propos'd did appear to him so very plain that it was just matter of amazement how any Men who had look'd into those records and consider'd their own nature and had any notion of the happiness of reasonable Creatures could miss of understanding them aright The Antinomian Scheme he look'd upon as directly Antichristian and the very worst that the most malicious Enemies of the Christian name could possibly have invented and he gave me a very sad instance of a Person who liv'd many years in the habit of a very gross sin and yet had a quiet Conscience and thought himself very safe upon those principles 'till being startled by a publick Discourse of his God made him an Instrument of setting the poor Man right in his Notions and engaging him to reform his Life for which his new Convert was very thankfull and assur'd him That he would not for all the World have liv'd so long in the habit of that sin if he had believed as he thoroughly did now that it would have hazarded his Salvation Here he took occasion to say that he was much confirm'd in his notion of the nullity of a Death-bed Repentance by considering his present Circumstances What could I do said he Were I now to begin to Repent of a long Wicked life I profess I could not have the least hopes of my Salvation but blessed be God this is not my own Case I am sensible of a vast number of Weaknesses and Imperfections but they are such as I am well assur'd the Covenant of Grace will make an allowance for I can say I have been Sincere in the main designs of my Life and I thank God I make no question of being happy when I can once get loose from this Prison of an Earthly infirm body and shall be set above those Imperfections which cannot be wholly remedied in this state and to be freed from which is the reward of the next He gave me his thoughts at large about the Doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity which are not needfull to be here set down especially since I have already taken some notice of that Matter All that I shall add is That he never intended any Controversie with those who believed this Doctrine his business was to defend it against those who opposed it and he was fully satisfied that what he had Preach'd and Wrote on this subject was agreeable to the Scriptures and the sense of the Church and he was fully confirmed in his Thoughts by the judgment of the most Learned and unexceptionable Divines of our Church The Right Reverend Bishop Pearson explains the Divine Vnity as he has done and asserts the necessity of it for avoiding that old and so often urg'd objection Tritheism It is most necessary says he To assert that there is but one Person who is from none for if there were more than one which were from none it could not be deny'd but that there were more Gods than one This Origination of the Divine Paternity hath anciently been look'd upon as the assertion of the Unity and therefore the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one God with the Father because both from the Father who is one and so the Union of them He perfectly concurred with this excellent Person who without any question is allow'd to speak the sense of the Catholick Church and with the Fathers of the Nicene Council as their sense is exprest in their Creed which is a part of our Liturgy He believed the Father Son and Holy Ghost were one God and yet three real distinct Persons as evidently distinguish'd in their Persons as united in their Nature The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Ghost the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son the true and living God can be but one the Father is originally the one God the Son is the same God but not originally of himself but has his Divine Essence by Communication from the Father the Holy Spirit is the same God not originally subsisting of himself but having the same Divine Nature and Essence common both to the Father and the Son communicated by them both to him So that Father Son and Holy Ghost are one God The Father originally that one Essence of infinite Wisdom Power and Majesty The one Person originally of himself subsisting in that infinite Being The Son is God of God by being of the Father the Holy Ghost is God of God by being of the
Father and the Son as receiving that Infinite and Eternal Essence from them both this is the explication of that adorable Mystery as 't is deliver'd by that excellent Prelate forementioned in his Authentick Book upon the Apostles Creed By this time his spirits and his breath fail'd him and he could proceed no further and now having entertain'd me as long as he could he gave me to understand That I must not expect much more from him about one thing or other but that he would look to be entertain'd by me the little time I should have him with me And immediately calling the Family to Prayers so soon as they were ended he went to Bed and was willing I should leave him for that night In the morning which was Thursday he desir'd me to accompany him in his Chariot to London to consult Dr. M not that he expected any relief from his prescriptions for he concluded himself too far gone to be recovered but because he thought it not fit to omit any thing that could be done for the sake of his Family chiefly whose interest it was that he should have liv'd a little longer with them I returned with him to his Lodgings but he found himself so far spent that he hastned to Bed and desired me to come up to his Chamber and in the Church form to commend his Soul to God Not being willing to sink his Spirits too much and presuming that his apprehensions of present Death were the effect of the disorder his Journey had thrown him into I made use of some other Collects proper at that time and purposely omitted the commendatory Prayer upon which he called to me and entreated me to use no other than that and if I pleas'd the Lord's Prayer with it For said he I am just going So soon as I had done Well said he I now thank thee and take my leave of thee I have nothing more to say to thee nor needst thou say any thing to me thou hast nothing further to do but to bid me good night And immediately turning himself on one side lay still and spoke no more all that night On Friday morning he told me he wondered to find himself alive however we perswaded him to bleed according to the Dr.'s order the night before he told us it was to no purpose and had an opinion he should die whilst he was bleeding but he added that he gave up his body to our management and we might do with it as we pleased by this time his Friend Dr. T came in to whom he talk'd sensibly of his case and told him he was so well skill'd in his Profession that he knew very well he could not live out another night The Dr. was no sooner gone but he called me to him and attempted a Discourse which he was not able to go thro' with what he aim'd at was something to this purpose What a poor Creature is Man if he had hopes only in this Life he must go naked and alone and without any Friend to accompany him to the dark Grave All that thou wilt see of me presently will be a stiff and senseless carkass I have already lost all my thought I can scarce tell what I say to thee I did not just now know where I was now I do I am in my Bed-chamber I have no power to command a thought thou shalt in a few moments see that they are all perish'd and gone This he repeated several times with some concern and in half an hour they went quite away and returned no more for all that afternoon he lay still only at ten at night he put forth one hand to me and lifted up the other and his eyes to Heaven to signifie to me that he had yet some knowledge tho' his speech was gone and that he was praying for himself and a little after midnight he breath'd his last I have seen many Persons die but none like him in all my life I heard not the least unbecoming word from him in all his illness which was to me the more strange because I knew the natural heat and eagerness of his temper he shew'd not the least sign of uneasiness or dissatisfaction in his circumstances nothing of fondness for this World or any desire to stay longer in it no manner of fear of death or doubts about his future good state but throughout his sickness and to the last minutes that his understanding continued a perfect contempt of all Earthly things vigorous hopes of a Blessed Immortality and an entire and absolute resignation of himself to the Will of God The truth is his behaviour was enough to make a Man in love with death and to long for a dissolution and at that time it made such an impression upon my spirits that while it lasted I thought I could with great ease have dy'd with him Having been longer than I intended in my account of the Author I shall leave the following discourses to speak for themselves There is evidently a spirit of true Piety that breaths in them and one general aim propos'd to promote a wise understanding and sincere practice of Religion They are publish'd as they were found in his ordinary Notes and not designed by him for the Press but if they may do any service to God and Religion and the Souls of Men Our Author himself would have ventur'd them Abroad into the World without being any ways concern'd for the defects and imperfections which may be spy'd out in 'em for in the prosecution of such noble ends he has declar'd himself sufficiently arm'd against all manner of censures whatsoever and publickly profess'd That it was more satisfaction to him to publish a few plain and usefull Discourses Pref. to Practical disc of Rep. than to have had the ability or met with the applause of writing the Wittiest or Learnedst Book in the World The First Sermon ROM IX 14. What shall we say then Is there unrighteousness with God God forbid THE Apostle in defence of Christianity and the Gentiles being received into it who were Strangers and Aliens rather than the Jews who were the Children of Abraham and God's peculiar People having to justifie this made use of an Instance of God's free disposing his Favours as he pleases and such as to the Jews was an unanswerable President because upon it all their Priviledges depended above the rest of the World the same Children not of Abraham only but of Israel to whose line the promised Seed was confined before they were either of them born or were in a capacity to do Good or Evil yet God declared that Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated v. 13. and notwithstanding the rights of Primogeniture yet transmitted this his Love and Hatred down even to their Posterities the Israelites and the Edomites upon this he seems to be startled with an Objection rising up from all this and looking him fully in the Face What shall we say then is their
him I say upon his return with more expressions of love and kindness and rejoycing than he ever did the other who had never offended him This seemed not a just and a fair usage to the elder Brother as much failing in Justice to him as exceeding in kindness to the other too little rewarding the constant duty of the one and too much encouraging the Lewdness and Prodigality of the other so that not without good reason he seems to take it ill and to be angry at this unreasonable dealing of his Father's Parables are very good ways of Instruction and very lively Representations of things or truths by way of Picture or Scene and Dramatical History now tho' all the parts must be suitable and agreeable to one another yet there is a main aim plot and design that runs thro' the whole which was chiefly designed by it and is the great scope of it and other things are but as the Circumstances and Ornaments the Dress and Habit this is the air the stroke that give life and likeness to the whole The Parables of this Chapter concerning the lost Sheep the lost piece of Silver and the returning Prodigal were designed to show how acceptable and well pleasing to God the Repentance of a Sinner is and that he shall certainly be received very kindly upon it and to represent this after the manner of men in a way suitable and affecting to us God who is said in Scripture to be angry and provoked at Sinners is here said to Joy and Rejoyce at their Return and Repentance The joyfull Father kissing and embracing his returning Son putting the best robe on him and killing the satted Calf for him and receiving him with all the expressions of Mirth and Rejoycing this is to represent the love and kindness of God to a Sinner upon his Repentance but we must not apply Parables too far for they touch not in all their parts but only like Globes here and there in a point These Parables seem at first sight to teach and denote that the Repentance of a great Sinner in some part of his Life is more pleasing to God than the constant obedience of a good Man all his Life which undoubtedly can never be true and therefore the Parable can never mean that but only by comparative and condeseending representations to show that God is very well pleased and will certainly accept a Sinner upon his true Repentance that expression must not be understood strictly and rigorously There is Joy in Heaven over one sinner that Repenteth more than over ninety nine just Persons that need no Repentante v. 7. the Angels those lovers of Vertue cannot but rejoyce as much and more at Mens living always by the Laws of Heaven as at their sometimes Repenting for breaking them and God like a wise and good Father cannot but be better pleased that his Children were always Dutifull and Vertuous and Obedient than that they were any time otherwise This is plain and undeniable at first sight indeed upon a Vitious Son 's being reclaimed a Parent may have a quicker Passion and Resentment as upon a Child's recovery after a hopeless Sickness in which he was given over his being restored to life as it were gives a greater Joy to the Parent than if he had been never ill but this is but the working of Different Humane Animal Passions in us and the ebbing and flowing of our Spirits upon apprehension of some good or evil that greatly affects us None of this is truly in God but only the several acts of his Wisdom and Wise resolves of his will and meant and denoted by them 'T is all human and a condescention to the Passions and Humors of men to rejoyce more at the finding one lost Sheep or one lost piece of Silver than at a great many that were always safe so for a lost Chisess â—â—â—â—â—ing home than for a great many that cover were in danger This is not to be taken strictly but only as 't is to teacâ—â— and represent this positive truth that the Return and Repentance of a Sinner is very acceptable and well pleasing to God and that he will certainly be received by him thus in other Parables when Christ to show the power of earnest and constant Prayer represents it by a Widow's importuning an unjust Judge Luke 18. Chap. and by a Friend 's prevailing to make another rise and give him what he wants not because he is his Friend but because of his importunity Luke 11.8 this which is usual with Men must not be strictly applied to God as if his blessing flowed not so much from his own goodness as that they were extorted by importunity so in the Parable of the unjust Steward Luke 16. and in others there is not to be 〈◊〉 nice Application of every part but only of the main scope and primary design which is as it were thereslex image representing the thing intended without those Collatoral rays that are but adventitious and adhering to it Among the many mistakes about Repentance which are not a few for we have made a shift to corrupt most of the positive parts of our Religion and were it not for what is Moral and Natural nothing would secure it from being turned into meer Superstition to serve the Lusts and Looseness and yet stupifie the fears and delude the hopes of Men Sinfully inclined one I say of the greatest mistakes is to think a constant obedience is not to be preferr'd to the truest Repentance or that God will not be more pleased with and more highly reward the one than the other The contrary to which is here plainly supposed and asserted Son thou art always with me and all that I have is thine Where plainly the Father who Rejoyced so much at the returning Prodigal yet allows a great difference between him and his Innocent Son who had always served him and never at any time transgressed his Commandments To make out and illustrate this I shall offer the following Particulars 1. There are a great many I hope in the World who as our Saviour says need no Repentance Luke 15.7 i. e. no such Repentance as is to alter their whole state and spiritual Condition and to change the whole Habit and Temper of their Minds and from bad men to make them good ones for they who by means of a good Education have been always brought up Vertuously and Religiously and preserved from any great and wilfull Sin who never erred from the paths of Vertue nor stept into those of Sin and Death these have a Title to the Character of Zacharias and Elizabeth Luke 1.6 that they are Righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless and these who never defiled themselves need not to be washed and cleansed as those who have made themselves filthy and impure they deserve not the Character given to the vile and wretched sinners in Scripture nor need such exhortations to Repentance as
truth of who thought them if not meer Bugbears and Fables yet things a great way off and at a great distance that they should not much trouble themselves withall when now they find all these are true and are put in mind of 'em by such a way as this is and they so nearly concern them and are like in a little while to be their own Case Surely by all these they will be perswaded and brought to Repentance I believe there is no sinner but thinks he himself should be perswaded by these means and if God should use such an extraordinary way to convert him this he questions not but would do it tho' now he is of another mind and has no thoughts of leaving his sins yet that he thinks would certainly work upon him He I doubt may be as much mistaken of himself as Dives was of his Brethren of whom Abraham assures him that if they heard not Moses and the Prophets neither would they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead And that I may give you some account of the likelihood of this and of the truth of what Abraham here says I shall offer you these five considerations 1. All the Arguments which a Messenger from the dead would bring along with him and which are indeed so strong that when one seriously considers them one would think it impossible to resist them these we have already and they have been offered to us with their full strength and advantage we have been made acquainted with the immortality of our Souls and a future state with the Joys of Heaven and the torments of Hell these can be no new discoveries to us that we never heard of before God in the Scripture had laid open the other World before us and shown us the two vast and different parts of it he had given a general notice of this to all Men by the light of Nature by that they could discern that there was another Country that lay off from this another state after this life wherein good men would be happy and wicked men miserable This was known to all the old unskillfull World before ever there was any Revelation any pixis nautica or any such Map or Chart as we have now of the other World they had not only a kind of guess or probable conjecture of it like Columbus of America but something more that made it a received Article of the Heathen Religion but this is made plainer to us by the Scriptures and Gospel Revelation by which Life and Immortality is brought more clearly to light so that all those Arguments are set before us and that with the same strength and advantage that they could have been by a Messenger from the dead He could bring us no more nor any new ones but only what we have already God has informed us of what belongs to another World so far as it is of any concern to us and so much as is sufficient to make us take care about it we cannot have better and fairer warning about those things and we can have no stronger or more powerful Arguments than we have already 2. We have so much reason to believe the truth of those things that they who will not be satisfied with that neither would they be perswaded tho' they had a particular Messenger to certifie 'em about them we have a Divine Revelation added to natural light and the universal suffrage of mankind we have had a number of Miracles and extraordinary Effects of Divine power to assure us of the truth of that Religion that delivers us the belief of those things We have had many Prophets sent from God and with sufficient Credentials to satissie us that they were so to Preach these things to us We have had one come from Heaven and after he was dead rise again and so become even a Messenger from the dead to us and testisi'd all these things to be true And if we will be such Scepticks as still to entertain doubts and disbelieve all these we should be the same I fear tho' we had one come from the dead to us we should be apt to think it but a Spectre a meer Image of Air or of Fancy a Melancholy Mormo or a waking Dream and be inclined to think that we were impos'd upon by our own active Imaginations and the many reports and stories we have heard of such things running in our minds he that can disbelieve all the undoubted Arguments for the truth of Scripture and reveal'd Religion may run so far into Scepticism as to dis-believe his senses and to think every thing that appears to him to be fantastick and imaginary 3. If he did believe it at that time and were never so much startled and affrighted at the surprizing apparition yet in a little time the sense of it might wear off and he be never the better for it it might put him into a sit of horror and consternation as the hand on the Wall did Belshazzer Dan. 5.6 so that his Countenance should change and the joints of his loins be loosed and his knees smite one against another but the sright might work upon his Body more than his Mind and when that is over they might both return to their former and natural temper Is it not usual for a great many who by a dangerous sit of lickness are brought so near the other World that they can almost see into it and have at that time as firm a belief and as strong a sense of it as if not only a Messenger from the dead came to them but they were there themselves yet these when they rise as it were from the dead and return from the borders of another World when they have recovered their health and are come into their old Company their former Circumstances and course of Life how do they lose the sense of what they had in their sickness tho' it were never so strong and become the same Men they were before Like persons in a shipwrack when the next Wave is likely to be their Sepulchre and they think themselves every moment sinking into the deep below then they are greatly concerned and make a great many Vows and Resolutions which at that time they question not to keep but when the storm and the fright is over they forget all their good Intentions and their Religious Temper goes off and they return to their former Temper of Mind It must be a calm and gentle a sedate and composed method that generally works upon a Man's mind and brings by degrees new Thoughts and Dispositions into it rather than a sudden and hasty fright that only startles and amazes it and 't is that is more agreeable to the nature of a free and reasonable Creature which is to be dealt withal by such a suitable and kindly procedure rather than that which has nothing in it but force and violence 4. As God does seldom humour Men by doing any thing that is Miraculous or
Extraordinary when they have sufficient ordinary means so if he would do it it would hardly cure their perverse obstinacy and infidelity God is not willing to gratifie the wantonness or infidelity of mankind and prostitute his Almighty power to their Lusts and Follies by doing extraordinary things when there is no need of them he will not work Miracles as fast and as often as the Atheist is pleas'd to call for 'em when he has given him other sufficient demonstrations of a Divine power he will not send an Angel to Preach his Laws over all the Earth or to speak to men every day with a voice of Thunder when he has otherwise sufficiently made known his will to them Our Saviour would not come down from the Cross to satisfie the Cavils and unreasonable Request of an unbelieving Jew when he had done sufficient Miracles before to convince him he would not give such a sign as was desired by an Evil and Adulterous Generatition Mat. 12.39 when they had other signs enough As this would make his Almighty power Cheap and Contemptible to let it be at the pleasure and call of every unreasonable and humoursome person so if he should exert it never so often it would not have that effect we imagine upon them for he who is so unreasonable an Infidel and so obstinately unsatissied as to shut his Eyes against full Evidence and just Conviction will never be wrought upon in all likelihood by any thing that shall be done farther though Heaven should be at a farther expence and tire it self as it were to do Miracles without End or Number yet it would be still the same Of this we have a very great instance in the Old Testament Pharaoh who had so many Miracles wrought before him and as many Plagues as Miracles to make him Obedient to one Command of God when he saw the Rivers and all the Water in his Country turn'd into Blood Exod. 7.19 when all his Land was covered with Frogs and they came into his presence Chamber when the dust of the Earth was become Lice and he could not but confess that this was the singer of God when a great many more Miracles of which he could not but have a very great sense were done before his Eyes yet still his obstinacy was too hard for 'em and a Miracle beyond all the rest Indeed when he was under the present smart of a Judgment it would awaken him for a moment Exod. 8.28 but as soon as it was removed and he had respite he was immediately hardned And thus probably would an obstinate and hardned sinner when a Messenger from the dead was talking with him he would melt and soften and cry out as Pharaoh did I have sinned Exod. 9.27 and resolve at that time to let his sins go but yet in a little time he would harden again and resolve not to part with ' em Of this there is an instance as great and strange also in the New Testament and that is not in a single Person but in a whole Nation The Jews in our Saviour's time tho they saw him do such works as never man did such as out-did all that were recorded of any of their own Prophets tho' they saw him raise the dead and cure the sick and were Eye-Witnesses of the daily Miracles he wrought amongst them yet all this would not cure 'em of their obstinate Infidelity nor could the Son of God use any remedy for their perverseness and wilfull incredulity which plainly shows that men may arrive at such Stubbornness and Infidelity that even Miracles and the most extraordinary means will not work upon them Where there is not such an obstinacy of the Will but only a more innocent Ignorance caused by want of the same means that others have enjoyed there those extraordinary Miracles would have another effect as if the works which our Saviour did in Galilee had been done in Tyre and Sidon they had long ago repented in sack-cloath and ashes as he tells 'em Mat. 11.21 and so if a Messenger had come from the dead to those that had never heard of Moses or the Prophets or never had any Revelation or Means of knowing those things another way they would probably have been perswaded by him but when Men have once stood out against the ordinary means that God has afforded them there extraordinary ones will seldom prevail upon them if God should think fit to make use of 'em and that 5. As another reason why if they heard not Moses and the Prophets neither would they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead because the mind is so blinded by the love of its sins and the Will so depraved and corrupted by them especially by a long custom and habit continued in against all the ordinary means of Grace and all the powerfull considerations of Religion that it becomes utterly incurable The love of Vice darkens a Mans mind and blinds his reason and judgment it bars up his Understanding against the plainest Truths and makes him resolve not to believe that to be true which it is his interest should be false and from hence it is that a great many who would be glad that there were no Heaven or Hell hereafter are brought to question the truth of them and pretend not to be satisfi'd with that Account and Evidence that the Scripture gives of them and if they had more and the same that they do now require to see one from the dead yet the love of wickedness would still make 'em very unwilling to believe it and their corrupted Wills would be too hard for their understandings it would be very hard to convince them that that was true which they had so great an inclination and so great a desire should be false And from hence it is that Men's Infidelity springs in matters of Religion not from want of sufficient Conviction to their understandings but from a corruption and pravity of their Wills by which means their understanding has a cloud and a film drawn over it so that it is quite darkned to the clearest and most evident light they grow senseless and stupified and their intellectuals are besotted and their reason depraved and the whole mind sunk into such a miserable state and condition that they are become such of whom the Scripture speaks John 12.40 He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted so that God should heal them and that neither with all the ordinary nor the extraordinary methods which he can use towards them Let us therefore take care not to fall into such a sad state and condition by indulging our selves in the love or the practice of any wilfull sin which may by degrees so strangely harden and deceive us so fascinate and bewitch us that when it has baffled and overcome all the ordinary remedies of the Divine Grace and Providence it shall be past
feeling as Scripture speaks so they darken and blind the Understanding which is as it were the Eye of the Soul and bring a cloud over it or cast a mist before it and hinder it from seeing and discerning things as it ought to do These I confess are all figurative expressions whereby we are forc'd to describe and illustrate the Acts and Operations of the Mind by material and bodily resemblances as the Holy Ghost it self does But there are such real effects in the Mind as answer to them and about which we can use no other Words or Ideas Mens Sins at the same time they harden their Wills and bring them to a senselessness and stupidity about their moral Actions they blind their Judgment also and bring them to a Reprobate sense so as not to see the plainest Truths or greatest Evidence nor be aware of the grossest and most notorious Errors nor be convinced by the strongest Arguments and Demonstrations for the Truth or Practice of Religion 2. I shall consider a little more particularly in the 2d place how and to what degrees the mind is thus hardned and blinded by its Sins 1. And this is done first of all by breaking thro' natural shame and the innate modesty of our minds this is one of the strongest sences which God and Nature have set about Vertue and the greatest check and restraint against Vice for it arises from the first quick and discerning sense of the mind whereby it sees the â—â—â—ness and reasonableness of the one and the indecency and natural turpitude and shame of the other and when this is once broke thro' the mind is quickly Prostituted and Debauched to the greatest Lewdness and Villany and comes to Sin Impudently and with a Where 's forehead at first indeed it was modest and reserv'd and blusâ—â—'d at the rude offers of Sin and ran from them but by coming nearer and making some further approaches to it it was drawn in to consent and so having lest its Original innocence and native modesty it is sooner brought to after-acts of Sin and wears off by degrees that shame which was its great guard and preservative at first and then it lies open to every Temptation and 〈…〉 to every offer and opportunity that invites 〈◊〉 and hardly needs to be tempted but becomes a tempter both to it self and others and a Pander in time to all Vice and Wickedness 2. Sin hardens by stupifying Conscience and deadning the inward and natural sense of good and evil on our Minds so as to bring Men by degrees to Sin without struggle dispute or reluctancy It must be a great while before it comes to this and a man must have gone thro' a long course before he can arrive at this state and perfection of Sinning No Man can commit a plain and great Sin at first without great struggle and remorse of mind and great reluctance and opposition from his own Conscience the spirit will strive against the flesh as the flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5.17 there being a natural principle of Vertue in us as well as of Vice And as a good Man must have many conflicts with his lower inclinations before he can arrive at a full state of Vertue so must a bad Man have as great a contest with his Conscience and the natural sense of his own Mind before he can be perfectly wicked Conscience will check and restrain him at first and inwardly smite and reprove him for doing amiss and this is an evident proof of the natural difference between good and evil and an excellent Monitor set up by God in every Mans breast to mind him of his duty and the great security indeed of all Religion but when Men have by many acts and long customs of wickedness wasted and sinned away Conscience and stifled or stupisied the inward sense of their own minds so as to sin with greater ease and without any trouble or opposition from within without any rebukes or resistances or remorses of their own Consciences for whatever they do then they are become perfect Sinners indeed and come to an absolute and full state of Wickedness to be hardned into an utter insensibility so as to be past feeling and to have their Conscience as it were seared with a hot iron as the Scripture speaks 1 Tim. 4.2 so as to be quite senseless This senselessness may seem an easier and less painfull state but it is more mortal and dangerous and is just such a Disease to the Soul as an Apoplexy or a Lethargy is to the body If this senselessness and stupidity would always last it were much better indeed than sharp and actual pain but the Conscience of a Sinner tho' it may sleep and slumber a while yet it will awake one time or other and like an enraged Lyon tear and devour all about it Either Death or Sickness or some Judgment or Affliction will probably rowse it here and bring the stupify'd mind to it self or to be sure the flames of Hell will make it open its Eyes when it is too late when it can see nothing but horror and despair before it and round about it and where it Conscience shall always torment it with a Worm that never dieth and with never ceasing Anguish and Remorse 3. A third instance and degree of being thus hardned by Sin is doubting of the Truth of Religion and calling into question the principles of it and at last an utter rejecting and dis-believing of them No Man ever did this till he was corrupted in his morals and engaged in a vitious course so that this Scepticism and Infidelity was plainly the effect and consequent of his Vices and proceeded from his Will blinded with his Sins and Lusts rather than from his Understanding or from any want of Evidence about those matters It was first the Sinners wish and desire that there were no God before he question'd whither there was one or no and he never doubted of the truth of another World till it was against his Interest and he was lost and undone if there were one and therefore he was very unwilling to believe it Men must have very much blinded their Minds if they do not see the plainest Evidence for Religion both from Nature and Reason and from History and Revelation from the make and frame of the World and from the make of their own bodies and the inward sense of their own Minds all which make it as unreasonable almost to doubt of the Being of a God as to doubt of their own being and existence and we may as well be Scepticks to the truth of any thing else as to the truth of Religion 4. There is a degree yet beyond this and that is ridiculing Religion and exposing it to Contempt and Laughter which is not only the utmost and most desperate attempt and affront against God but the most rude and unmannerly as well as mischievous thing to all Mankind for all sober and wise Men and civiliz'd
spoiling and corrupting all its Life and bringing to this fad state and condition and now it is desperate and irrecoverable and because it has lost the only opportunities of improving and sitting it for happiness it must now necessarily be miserable with it as long as its duration lasts that is for ever God grant that we may avoid all those sins which will thus spoil our minds and bring this hardness and this misery upon us FINIS ERRATA besides some false Pointings PAge 2. L. 11. r. there p. 4. l. 18. r. Principle p. 9. l. 9. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. l. 7. r. distractions p. 22. l. 2. for the r. any p. 33. l. 5. r. perception p. 49. l. 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 50. l. 16. r. true Judgment p. 51. l. 7. r. Reason Would men p. 58. l. 6. r. only are p. 91. l. 27. r. Sediment p. 100. l. 16. r. Dying the. p. 106. l. 8. r. hid p. 143. l. 17. r. leave them p. 158. l. 12. r. ever p. 214. l. 31. r. take p. 219. l. 1. r. better not p. 246. l. 8. r. as it was of p. 270. l. 28. r. no where p. 289. l. 5. r. could ADVERTISEMENT THe Mystery of the Christian Faith and of the Blessed Trinity Vindicated and the Divinity of Christ proved In three Sermons Preached at Westminster-Abbey upon Trinity-Sunday June the 7th and September 21. 1696. By the late Reverend William Payne D. D. In the Press before his Death and by himself order'd to be Published And also a Letter from the Author to the Bishop of Rochester in Vindication of them THE CONTENTS Sermon I. Rom. IX 14. WHat shall we say then Is there Vnrighteousness with God God forbid P. 1. Sermon II. Matth. XI 29. last Part. And ye shall find rest unto your Souls p. 29. Sermon III. Matth. VII 13 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there he that find it p. 71. Sermon IV. Matth. VI. 19 20. Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves break through and steal But lay up for your selves Treasures in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves do not break through and steal p. 103. Sermon V. Luke XV. 31. And he said unto him Son thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine p 131. Sermon VI. Acts XVI 30 latter part Sins what must I do to be saved p. 167. Sermon VII Job XXVIII 28. And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Vnderstanding p. 185. Sermon VIII Rom. XII 21. Be not overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with Good p. 203. Sermon IX Luke XVI 31. And he said unto him if they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead p. 223. Sermon X. Acts XVII 22. latter part I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious p. 245. Sermon XI Acts XXVI 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead p. 295. Sermon XII Heb. III. 13. latter part Lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfullness of sin p. 325. Books Printed for Ri. Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's-Church-Yard Immorality and Pride the great Causes of Atheism The Atheist's Objection that we can have no Idea of God refuted The notion of a God neither from Fear nor Policy Three Sermons Preach'd at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul Jan. 3. Feb. 7. and Mar. 7. 169◠being the First Second and Third of the Lecture for that year founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By John Harris M. A. and Fellow of the Royal Society 4vo Remarks on some late Papers relating to the Universal Deluge and to the Natural History of the Earth by the same Author 8vo Dr. Woodward's Natural History of the Earth 8vo Dr. Abbadies Vindication of the Truth of the Christian Religion against the Objections of all Modern Opposers In 2. Vol. 8vo A serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their true and greatest interest By a Lover of her Sex The Third Edition 12o. A serious Proposal to the Ladies Part II. wherein a Method is offer'd for the Improvement of their Minds By the Author of the First Part 12o. Letters concerning the Love of God between the Author of the Proposal to the Ladies and Mr. John Norris 8vo An Answer to W. P.'s Key about the Quakers Light within and Oaths with an Appendix of the Sacraments 8vo A Letter to the Honourable Sir Robert Howard To gether with some Animadversions on a Book entituled Christianity not Mysterious 8vo