God to the Power of his Natural Affections he necessarily sinks into the Level of Common Impotence without any other Influx This View of the State of Lapsed Nature I have drawn chiefly from the Doctrine of the Gospel Not that I suppose the Notice of it to be confined to that part of the Scripture For as it is a Truth that was always of Importance to be known so we have little reason to believe but that it was known by the Church of God in all Ages from the Beginning In the Books of the Prophets Nature's Insufficiency of Good Isa 26.12 Isa 55.1 c. as likewise the Free Overtures of Grace to help it out are plainly testify'd And yet more plainly in the Psalmist where all the Offices of the Holy Spirit conducing to Sanctification as Cleansing Guiding Helping Renewing Comforting Strengthening Establishing are mentioned as expresly as in the Gospel In the Writings of Moses the Necessity of God's Assistance of Sanctification is delivered with formal Evidence For after that God had institude Circumcision as a Symbol of Purity and had told the Israelites withal That the true Discharge of their Duty towards him consisted in the Moral Circumcision of the Heart i. e. In taking off their Love from the World and placing it in the highest measure upon God lest they should fail of their End through Ignorance of their Means and set about this great Work in Confidence of their own Ability he thus instructs them Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Now what plainer words can be used to express That although they stood obliged to love God with all their heart yet of Themselves they were not able to work out this Issue but that God was always ready to assist them to do it The Striving of God's Holy Spirit with Men for their Conversion Gen. 6.3 is spoken of a a known and received Truth before the Flood And whereas it is said of several of the Patriarchs That they walked with God Gen. 5.22 Gen. 6.9 the Expression with God must reasonably be interpreted to signifie With God's Assistance as well as According to his Will Farther than this Had I leisure to gratifie the Curious I have large room to make it appear That this very Doctrine was familiarly espoused by the Wise Men among the Heathen Who as they found by Conscious Experience That it was as little in a Man's Power to make himself Vertuous as it was to make himself Fortunate and as they likewise thought it suitable to the Goodness of God to take Care of Man's Greater Good as well as of his Lesser so they espoused this Belief of God's assisting Men to Probity of Manners as a Truth deducible from the first Principles of Reason Accordingly Plato delivers it as a Rule received from Socrates and laid down as a Fundamental in his Morality That Vertue was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Distribution and that Education Precepts Example and Practical Diligence were only partial Advances towards it but that the State was god and finished by the Concurrence of God And what can be more express and withal more venerable than that of Seneca when he says Nulla fine Deo mens bona No Soul can be Good without the Divine Assistance But I have asserted my Point from a better Authority and therefore thought it fit to engage no farther in this way of Proof as being supperfluous in a Christian Auditory Having then offered This as the True Prospect of the State of Lapsed Nature the next thing I purpose is a Vindication of this State from such Cavils as the Rash and such Complaints as the Weak are apt to conceive against it And this I intend for the Subject of the following Discourse SERMON II. St. MATTH XXVI 35. Peter said unto him Though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee IN a former Discourse upon this Text I offer'd the Scriptural View and Account of Lapsed Nature from whence it fully appears that no Man is sufficient either to be or to continue Good in his own Strength Which is a Doctrine directly serving the Two great Ends of Religion viz. To exalt the Glory of God And to beat down all Pretences of Humane Pride But as all Truth is abusable so we may be aware that many espouse this very Truth the more freely only that they may the more freely form it into an Apology for careless Living For Example thus they argue Our Nature is indisposed perverse and insussicient to Good therefore How miserable is our Condition thus to be maimed before we were born and made guilty before we knew how to act and obnoxious for doing that which we cannot help How unaccountably fatal was the Indiscretion of our First Parents which gave occasion to this Disorder And how unfortunate their Posterity to whom it is derived Why did not God with more appearance of Compassion redintegrate our Nature after the Fall and restore it to its Primitive Uprightness How much better had his Service been provided for by this Method and Man more happily prevented from his Displeasure Which Displeasure of his we cannot now avoid unless it be by his own Act whose Actings are not supposable to be at our Discretion Now it is certain that all such kind of Arguings are profane and tend to nothing but the Dishonour of God and the Support and Countenance of Vice in the World And therefore to obviate these Mischiefs and to carry on my Contemplation to its proper Usefulness I am obliged to enquire into the Reasons Why the Wisdom and Goodness of God thought fit to leave Mankind under this present state of Weakness and Insufficiency From which Enquiry I shall show 1. That what God Chiefly intended thereby was To oblige us more strictly to live in a perpetual Dependance upon himself And 2. That such a Dependance put in Practice will effectually cut off all possible pretences of humane Complaint My first Business is to enquire into the Reasons why the Wisdom and Goodness of God thought fit to leave Mankind under this present state of Weakness Insufficiency and Disorder We must allow That God could have immediately reformed that Disorder which was brought upon our Nature by the First Disobedience He could have check'd it in its first Authors and not suffer'd it to be propagated to their Posterity but in the mean time it would be much too bold for any one to say that this would have been the Better Method For 't is certain That in things proceeding from God that which Is is always Best though we sometimes cannot penetrate into the Reasons that make it so But as to the present Instance we may with Reverence penetrate into its Reasons and such as must be allow'd of Ex. gr 1. Who can think but that when Sin had got footing in despight of
influenc'd altogether with the Spirit of Religion And yet no sooner did our Saviour give them one just and gentle Rebuke reproaching them for being more affected with his Loaves than with his Doctrine and instructing them that God's Truth ought not to be follow'd mercenarily But he discover'd their Feeble their Cheat till then unknown even to themselves and made them discover it to all the World for 't is said ver 66. They took offence at it and went back and walk'd no more with him And thus it always falls out when Vertue happens to be attended with Temporal Advantages as Reputation Favour Fortunes and the like we can hardly tell without farther Experiment of our selves whether we regard Vertue for it self or only for its Advantages or whether it be Piety or simple Appetite that sets us a-work 2. It is hard to discern between a Religious State and a Religious Humour a Religious State that is founded steadily upon the Grace of God and a Religious Humour of outward Accidents and is as desultory and mutable as the Cause from which it springs How often does it happen that Men upon the Success of Affairs and Ease of Circumstances find their Hearts fill'd with Expressions of Thankfulness to God and Charity to all the World and yet upon the change of Circumstances they immediately sowr both towards God and Man Now if such Men shall estimate themselves during the Religious Mood how is it possible but that they should be deceived in the Opinion of their own state There is but one way possile to prevent their being deceived and that is the bringing themselves under the Probation of the voluntary Cross to the Offices of Mortification and Self-denial But then how hard is it moreover to persuade Men that they are obliged to this officious Probation 3. It is hard to free our Judgment from those Prejudices and extreme Mutations which it is subject to receive from the different Crasis and State of our Animal Spirits Thus sometimes when the Body is vigorous and gay it shuts out that measure of Fear which is necessary to make us wise and it suffers us not to see that Sin we are guilty of and that lies at our door And on the other hand When the Spirits are dejected and low they often let in such an Excess of Fear as betrays the Succours of Reason and makes Men cruciate themselves with the Apprehensions of Sin ev'n where there is really none And hence we have sometimes seen it come to pass That a Cordial Medicine has quieted a Mind and set a grieved Conscience at rights Which Effect could not possibly proceed from That Cause but upon the present Supposition viz. That our Judgments are apt to be impos'd upon and misled by the various Influences of our Body 4. To judge of our selves without Proof and Tryal is the sure way to be deceived and yet it is hard to discern what is the right Method of Proving our selves and what is our proper Tryal What a fair Progress had that Man in the Gospel made towards the Kingdom of God who told our Saviour That he had kept all the Commandments from his Youth Nor did he tell it in Hypocrisie for it is said that our Saviour lov'd him which could not have been but for the Truth of what he told and yet this Man could not bring himself over the Difficulty of parting with his Estate and becoming a Disciple though he were promised the Recompense of Treasure in Heaven How many have born up commendably under all the Pressures of Afflictions and at last sunk in a Calm and given themselves up vanquish'd to the Enticements of Prosperity Men of Courage but not of Caution And how many on the other hand have liv'd commendably in good Fortunes and at last quitted their Vertue lest their Fortunes should be worsted Men of Caution but not of Courage Thus I say No man can make a hasty Conjecture at what is his Proper Tryal But 5. When we have prov'd our selves and so may know our selves yet still it is hard to own our selves for such as we have prov'd our selves to be For when we have prov'd our selves to the bottom as we may do by the Doctrine of the Scripture and our own Experience we shall find our selves to be mere Weakness and Emptiness and without Power in our Selves to do any thing well Now though this be a Truth than which the Word of God delivers none more plainly nor can our own Experience attest any one more convincingly yet there lurks in us a natural Pride which makes us perfectly averse from Believing it We love to imagine our selves Great insomuch that we hate to know our selves otherwise and had rather suspect and find fault with the Glass that represents us under a diminishing form And this was properly Peter's Case He had been told with the rest by his Master That without him he could do nothing But this was a Lesson he had no Stomach to retain He would not doubt but that his Will was in his own Power and that his Executing Faculties were under the Power of his Will so that what he had Courage to Resolve he had likewise Ability to Perform And this fond Opinion expos'd him to that shameful Denyal which follow'd upon it After I have asserted that it is Hard to know our selves I am far from countenancing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the belief that we cannot know our selves This is a Notion fruitful of Mischiefs It is a Notion that hinders both Proficiency and Amendment that is contrary both to Faith and Hope and Consolation without which Religion can have neither Fruit nor Root Know our selves we Must God requires it and therefore besure know our selves we May Nay the Truth is we may easily know our selves if we take the right Method to do it For the common Obstacle of Self-Knowledge is this That when we go to examine and look into our selves we look through the wrong End of the Glass We seek for Greatness and Excellencies wherewithal to please our selves and from this Prospect we are sure to reap nothing but Deceit But let us turn the Glass and look patiently upon our Litteless and Defects whereby to humble our selves and this Prospect will certainly make us wise For Humility is the True Knowledge of our selves and he that knows himself to be nothing-worth knows himself well Which brings me upon my second Proposition viz. That to know our selves Truly is to know that we are and that in our best Estate absolutely weak and insufficient towards Good Goodness is a Lesson which simple Nature gives us not Capacity to learn For since the stream of our Affections naturally runs to Ill say who it is that can Turn that Stream Quis potest facere mundum de immundo says Holy Job Who can make himself clean since he is born unclean If our Nature be sinful though it must be changed yet we cannot change our Nature He that
have implored Ability from him whence all humane sufficiency is derived Lord leave not me that I may not leave thee Lord strengthen me by thy Grace that I may not deny thee and then I shall not deny thee In this method he had been secure and prevented his shamefull fall But instead of this he builds a Resolution upon his own Strength and our Lord to rebuke him did no other than leave him to his own strength to perform it and this was in effect the same as to leave him under the necessity of not performing it For this is the main Lesson that this instance teaches us viz. That Man when he is left unto himself is purely weak and insufficient to any thing that is good These two Points are evident in Peter's Case 1. That he did not rightly know himself when he made his Resolution And 2. That the Defeat of his Resolution taught him that notwithstanding all his particular Graces and Endowments he was not able to do any thing as he should do without God's actual Assistance And therefore for our present Instruction I shall draw these two Observations from the Case 1. That it is Hard to know our selves And 2. That to know our selves Truly is to know that we are and that in our best Estate weak and insufficient of our selves to do any thing that is good 1. It is hard to know our selves By the Knowledge of our selves I intend not the Knowledge of our mechanick Frame to know by what Ligaments our Soul is united to our Body or by what mediating Correspondencies they act mutually upon one another to know in what manner Sensation or in what Remembrance is performed what Springs set our involuntary Motions a-work or what Influence our Will communicates to those that are voluntary To know this is not simply Hard but impossible and it ought to mortifie the Pride of any Man's Understanding to consider That the smallest of the Parts we are composed of and the least of those Acts we are always conversant with which we see minutely and live by their being done do yet escape and surmount our Comprehension But if the Knowledge of this part of our selves be impossible one thing we may infer from the benignity of Providence That likewise wise it is not Needful It would not conduce any thing to the Happiness of Mankind to be better acquainted with the Philosophy of our Beings nor do we suffer any thing from the Ignorance of it The Soul acts as orderly in those that never Enquire as in those that pretend to determine the chief place of its Residence and our Pulse beats as well when we think not of it at all as when we think of it never so wisely But the Knowledge here intended is the Knowledge of our Moral Selves of our state in respect of Vertue whether we really chuse to follow that which is Good and what Firmness there is in our Choice whether we make Proficiency in Religion and whether there be Sincerity in our Pretences what is the state of our Wills Inclinations and Desires all which the Prophet Jeremy means by the word Heart when he thus pronounces concerning it The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Who can know it Not a second not any one without us this we are sure of But this is not all We our selves can hardly know that Heart which we carry in our own Breasts Its Propensions are retired and dark and it is not easie to guess whether the Bent of our Affections will carry us at any time when their respective occasions offer Now to be ignorant of our selves in this respect can never be of an indifferent importance If we know not our selves be sure we shall neither disapprove our selves nor mend our selves nor will natural Pride fail to take hold of the occasion that is To make the best Interpretation of that which we least discern And so the more Ignorant we are of our selves the more we shall come to be Opiniative and Conceited What false measures Men may take of themselves we are advertis'd in a remarkable Instance Rev. 3. where our Lord speaks of the Laodiceans in these words ver 17. Thou say'st I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Now was not this a Judgment of themselves wonderfully erroneous Wou'd one think it possible that any Man should not be able to discern between Riches and Poverty Sight and Blindness being Cloath'd and being Naked We may justly think it impossible in the Literal Sense but how is it then in the Moral Is it possible for a vicious Man to think himself Godly Is it possible for the Churl to account himself Liberal for the Sensual to account himself Heavenly-minded for the Negligent to account himself Devout Is not this equally hard And yet the Prophet Isaiah suggests Chap. 32.4 that when the Eyes of them that see are dim the Churl may account himself liberal and so in the rest That is When ounce indulged Affections have imposed upon the Understanding and darkned the Soul and Men are thereupon content to take up with false Notions and to judge of themselves by false Rules they may come to esteem themselves Good though they are absolutely Evil They may think well of themselves for some casual Acts of Vertue though in the mean time they live under the Habit of contrary Vices They may account themselves Religious even while they are Carnal Worldly and Immoral And yet to be Religious and at the same time to be Immoral implies as great a Contradiction as is to be found between Riches and Poverty Sight and Blindness But this indeed is a Deceit so gross that it cannot pass upon an honest and considerate Mind And therefore I shall produce some others that are more refin'd and subtle and such as may escape the Observation of a more scrupulous Enquiry into our selves For example 1. Even when we do well it is hard to discern from what Principles we act whether from the Fear and Love of God wh ich certainly sanctifie or from external Considerations which sanctifie not at all but yet may occasionally produce Actions of the same appearing Goodness When our Saviour entertained those that came to hear him with the multiply'd Loaves and fed their Bodies as well as their Souls St. John 6. what a hearty Confession did they break forth into ver 14. This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World How sedulously did they follow him What pains did they take to be with him How did they repine at the missing his Conversation but a part of a day Cou'd any one believe but that these were Disciples mature and steady and prepared to confess their Master at the peril of their Lives I question not but they believed as much of themselves and look'd upon themselves as