again in Question So that the Reason of working Miracles being then ceased it was reasonable that the Power of working Miracles should cease too at least till such time as God should think fit to make some Alteration in or Addition to his former Revelations which we have good Reason to think he will never do or 'till he should please to undertake the Conversion of those Nations to the Christian Faith to whom the Knowledge of the former Miracles that had been wrought for its Confirmation could not be so well communicated by credible History as it is to us For as was hinted before Credible History is all the Proof and Evidence that we ever think reasonable to require in other Cases of the like Nature As for instance When a new Law is made concerning any Matter it is requisite according to the Custom of our Country that it should pass both Houses of Parliament and that the King should ratifie and confirm it and that afterwards it should be some way so published and promulged that all the Subjects that are then alive should have sufficient Assurance given them that such a Law is made But after this Law has been once so passed and ratified and promulged it is passed and ratified and promulged for ever and no Man is so unreasonable as to expect that every Parliament that is called afterwards should read and pass over again all the Laws that have been made before their Time or that every King that succeeds to the Throne should afresh ratifie and publish all the Laws that were made by all his Predecessors But all the Proof that we ever require of the Authority of any ancient Law is a true Copy of it and a good History or Record of its being made at such a time by such a King confirmed by the Tradition of all the intermediate Ages to our Time which have allowed of its Authority by citing it as a Law of the Land by Pleading from it and by giving Judgment according to it And he who will not allow of the same Proof and Evidence of the Authority of the Christian Institution so many hundred years ago established but would needs have new Miracles and new Revelations to confirm the former is every whit as unreasonable as that Criminal would be who being Indicted upon some Ancient Statute should refuse to plead to his Indictment upon Pretence that he knew not whether there was any such Law or not it being made if ever it was made long before his Time and there being none now alive that were present at the making of it Shew him the Law in the Statute Book why how does he know he 'd say but that the Printers had a mind to put a Cheat upon the Nation by Printing a Law of their own making as a Law made by some of our ancient Kings nay shew him the Original Record still he 'd say There have been abundance of Forgeries in the World and how does he know but that this is one The Record he 'd own perhaps looks like an Ancient Deed and has all the Marks of such Antiquity as it pretends to but after all 't is possible it may be and therefore he cannot be sure it is not a Forgery and 'till he is assured of this he will not plead to an Indictment that is grounded upon it But if the King and Parliament that now are will be pleased to declare that this is a good Law and if he himself may be allowed to be by when they shall declare it or if at least two or three Witnesses that he can trust shall testifie upon Oath that they were present when it was passed into a Law then he will allow it to be a good Law and after that will be content to suffer the Punishment of it if he shall ever again be a Transgressor Now what Man is there that would think this a reasonable Demand Or what Judge or Court would ever allow of such a Plea And yet as unreasonable as it is it is just the same with theirs who pretending to be more wise and cautious than their Neighbours will not allow of the same sort of Proof tho' indeed much better in its kind of the Truth of the Christian Religion but tho' we have as Authentick Histories as any are in the World such Histories as the greatest Adversaries of Christianity have not been able to say any thing to invalidate the Truth of which declare that Christ and his Apostles taught such and such Doctrines and wrought such and such Miracles to confirm the Truth of their Doctrine yet will not believe that the Doctrine of Christianity is true and Divine unless they may have special Messengers sent to them to declare a-fresh all the same things which the Apostles once did and those endued with a Power of working in their sight and presence the same Miracles over again that are said to have been formerly done by Christ and his Apostles to confirm the Testimony that they gave 2. The Unreasonableness of that Request which the Rich Man here makes in the Behalf of his Brethren viz. That God would make a new Revelation for their particular Conversion or in general The Unreasonableness of our now desiring fresh Revelations new Miracles or Apparitions of Men from the dead to confirm the Truth of those things which are already sufficiently proved to us by the Standing Revelation of the Gospel will further appear if we consider That to us who live now in Christian Countries other Grounds of Faith or stronger Motives to Repentance than we have already in the standing Revelation of the Gospel might be inconsistent with the Excellency of Faith might destroy the Virtue of Believing and might be too great a Force and Constraint upon us such as would in a manner take away our Liberty of Choice For there is no Virtue at all in Believing what we see there is no Praise or Thanks at all due for doing what we are driven or forced to do and for us who have already abundantly sufficient Grounds to believe and embrace Christianity to have fresh Miracles wrought every day before our own eyes such Miracles as we could not possibly doubt the Truth of to confirm those Doctrines which are already sufficiently confirmed would not be to persuade us but to force us to be Christians so that then the State we are now in would not be as God designed it should be a State of Trial for the Trial of Wisdom is when there are some Reasons on both sides and he is the Wise Man who in that Case gives Judgment on that side on which the Reasons are strongest But against what I have now said perhaps it may be objected That the Evidence which we desire of the Truth of Religion is no more than we are told has been already given to some Men particularly to those who lived in our Saviour's and his Apostle's times and we can't see why it would be more inconsistent
and strong Evidence of the Truth of Religion as leaves no Room for a possibility of Doubting would destroy our Freedom of Choice and with it the Virtue and Excellency of Believing for 't is not Faith to believe what we see and feel and 't is no Commendation to a Man to be good and Virtuous if his Virtue be not the Fruit of a wise Judgment and a free Choice which it would not be if his Judgment was over born by irrefragable Demonstration And if that farther Proof and Evidence that is desired of the Truth of Religion be no other than such as will leave us a Freedom of Choice and a Possibility of Doubting then I say 't is not likely it should be more convincing to us than that which we have already in the Standing Revelation of Holy Scripture For it may be considered further in the second Place 2. That the Proof and Evidence already given us of the Truth of Religion is such as cannot fairly be excepted against and that there is no Proof thereof that could be given us unless it be such as is not resistible and consequently such as is not fit for God to give us while we are here in a State of Trial but what is liable to foolish Cavils and unreasonable Exceptions so that consequently the same Temper and Disposition of Mind and the same unwillingness to believe which now disposes Men to Infidelity and prompts them to make Exceptions to the present Grounds of the Christian Faith would work the same Effect in case other Proof and Evidence were given of the Truth of it I say first That the Proof and Evidence already given us of the Truth of the Christian Religion is such as cannot fairly be excepted against To shew this has been the Design of several former Discourses Serm. III IV V VI. And therefore to what has been said I shall only adde that if the Exceptions that are made to the Evidence already given us of the Truth of the Christian Religion were fair and reasonable they would be allowed by Mankind to be so in other Cases of the like Nature which yet they are not Nay if they who make these Exceptions in the Case of Religion did themselves think that they were just and reasonable they ought to make the same in all other Cases that are equally liable to the same Exceptions and in all other such Cases they ought to live and act as if they had the same Doubts and Scruples upon them which they say they have in the Case of Religion But we see the quite contrary every Day we live For that same Infidel who will not allow of the Testimony which was given to our Saviour by his Apostles tho' they gave the best Assurance that it was possible for Men to give both of their Knowledge of what they testified and of their Honesty in relating it yet readily allows that in all other Cases the Testimony of two or three Credible Persons should be received without any collateral Evidence of the Truth of their Testimony and thinks it reasonable that all Disputes and Controversies among Men concerning their Civil Rights their Estates nay and their Lives too should be thereby determined And he that questions whether the Books of the New Testament were written by the reputed Authors yet makes no Question but that other Books of as ancient or older Date and of the Authority of which there is not half so much Traditional Evidence were written by those Persons to whom they are ascribed and he would think those very unreasonable Men who when he was arguing any Point of Learning with them upon the Authority of Virgil or Cicero or Seneca should refuse to admit his Argument till he had first undeniably and demonstratively proved that the Aeneids were written by Virgil or that the other Pieces that have been allowed in all Ages ever since to have been written by Cicero or Seneca were not falsly Fathered upon those Authors The Infidel who doubts of the Truth of the Gospel-History at the same time has no Doubt at all of the Truth of other Histories as ancient and much more possible to be false and of the Truth of which there is not the hundredth part of that Evidence that there is of the Truth of this And he that pretends to be uncertain whether there ever was such a Man as Jesus of Nazareth and whether he said and did the things Recorded of him by the Evangelists and whether by the Preaching of his Apostles he did spread his Spiritual Empire over all the Countries of the World An Empire which is still kept up in most of the Countries over which it was first extended and of which there are evident Marks and Memorials still remaining even in those Countries that have since revolted from it He I say that doubts of these things altho' witnessed by the Writings of those who were Eye-Witnesses thereof yet makes no Doubt but that there was such a Man as Alexander the Great who lived above three Hundred years before and that he translated the Empire of the World from Persia to Greece and he also gives full Credit to the other things which he finds related of him by Curtius Plutarch and Arrian altho' none of these Authors were Eye-Witnesses of his Wars and Greatness but either Copied what they wrote from former Histories or took it up from Report and altho' there are perhaps no Remains of that Empire now left in the World And if he was but as sure of a good Estate as that the History of Alexander's Expedition and Conquests is in the main a true History he would not I believe give the Hundreth Part of its Value to ascertain his Title to it Those therefore are manifestly unreasonable Exceptions to the Proofs of Christianity which no Man will allow which even those that make them in this Case do not think reasonable to make in other Cases of the like Nature so that it is not at all likely that any Person that is not convinced by these Proofs should be convinced if more were given For as I farther noted there is no Proof that could be given us of the Truth of the Christian Religion unless it be such as is not resistible and consequently not fit for God to give us while we are here in a State of Trial but what is liable to foolish Cavils and unreasonable Exceptions This I think is so self-Evident that nothing plainer or more undeniable can be said to prove it For tho' the Demonstration of the Truth of Religion were as plain as Demonstrations in the Mathematicks yet even these may be cavil'd at by such as will allow of no Postulata's nor grant the Truth of the clearest Axioms Nay there have been Scepticks in the plainest Matters of Sense and some have denied Motion at the same time that their own Tongues were moving to deny it Not that I think the Demonstration of the Truth of Religion is as clear as
already inclined on this side to us who to be sure are not prejudiced against it to us whose Interest leads us to continue in the Religion we were first bred in such Proof as we always accept and allow of in other Cases of the like Nature is Proof strong enough And therefore much rather when we have as indeed we have a stronger and more uncontrouled Tradition for the Truth of the Gospel-History than of any History in the World besides we shall be inconsistent with our selves if we do not allow it to be sufficient So that upon the whole Matter considering the Prejudices both from Education and Interest which they lay under who lived in those Times when the Gospel was first reveal'd and preach'd even their own Eye-sight of some of those Miracles that were then wrought to confirm it was not more perswasive than is that good Assurance that we now have by credible and undoubted Records that such Miracles were then wrought The Proof they had consider'd in it self was indeed stronger than ours but considering our disserent Circumstances that Proof was not more apt or likely to convince them than that which we have given us is to convince and persuade us And if we had now the very same Proof and Demonstration of the Miracles wrought for the Confirmation of our Christian Religion viz. The Evidence of our own Senses this which was but sufficient to them might to us be such a Proof as would be in a manner a Force upon us such clear Demonstration meeting with no strong Prejudice or considerable Interest on the other side might be enough to over-power us so that we could not be Infidels if we would and then there would be no Virtue in Believing 3. The Unreasonableness of desiring more Proof of the Truth of Religion than God has been pleased to afford us by the Standing Revelation of the Gospel and particularly of desiring that God would be pleas'd to work new Miracles for our particular satisfaction or for the Conviction of some of our Friends that are not persuaded by the Gospel-Revelation will further appear if we consider the equal Right that all other Men have to desire the same and the many Inconveniencies and Absurdities that would follow in case all Men should be gratified in this Desire For as to the first of these viz. The equal Right that all other Men have to desire the same What Reason can I pretend for my Infidelity which another Man may not also as well plead for his Have not I as good Proof of the Truth of Religion as my Neighbour has Have not I as free Recourse to the Holy Scriptures as he and the same Evidence of the Truth and Divine Inspiration of them that he has And are we not also in all other Respects alike Being Born in the same Country and having had the same Education and consequently being probable to have the same Inclinations towards or the same Prejudices against or Aversion to the Christian Faith And if so what Reason can I plead for any extraordinary or peculiar Favour For is not he God's Creature as well as I And hath not God the same Tenderness and Regard for him that he hath for me and consequently the same Desire of his Welfare that I can suppose he hath of mine Why then should not God grant him this same Request whether in the Behalf of himself or his Friend as well as I can expect he should grant it me In a word Why may not every Man desire the same as well as I And why should not God grant it to all that desire it as well as to any one But now if God should do this see what Inconveniencies and Absurdities would follow thereupon One sort of Men would not believe unless they might see Apparitions If one went unto them from the dead they would repent And so for their sakes the World must be filled with Ghosts the Dead must never be at Rest in their Graves and the Souls in Bliss who once rejoyced in the thought of being for ever got clear out of a troublesome World must be content to gratifie these Men to leave their Place in Abraham's Bosome and to be deprived of the Beatifical Vision and the unspeakable Joys of Heaven as long and as often as any of these unreasonable Men are pleased to desire it But another sort of Men it may be there are that would not like this kind of Proof A transient Apparition of a Ghost they 'd look upon perhaps as a thing too liable to Cheat and Imposture they 'd therefore desire some more plain and sensible and permanent Miracles than this some such Miracles as those were which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought and if they could but see such they make no doubt but they should be convinced And so for their sakes and for their Conviction half the Men that are born into the World must be born Lame or Blind that so they may be afterwards Cured by Miracle for the satisfaction of these Men And a great many must be possessed with Devils and be grievously torn and tortured by them that these Men may have the Pleasure of seeing with their own Eyes the Evil Spirits cast forth and of observing how much more calm and sober the Men are after the Devil is gone out than they were before But even these Miracles 't is like would not satisfie all but some it may be would be apt to suspect that there might be some Trick or Collusion in them and that what they saw was done only by a Confederacy between the Physician and the Patient to amuse and deceive the Beholders and therefore what they it may be would desire for their particular satisfaction wou'd be to see a dead Man raised to Life again after he had been dead several Days and began to stink and such a Miracle as this they are sure would convince them And so for their sakes a great many Men must die two or three times over or much oftner because perhaps every time before they have been dead a Week some other Person that was not present before may have a desire to see with his own Eyes the same Experiment tried over again But even this Miracle also would perhaps be excepted against by some and nothing less would satisfie them than the very same Evidence which the Apostles themselves had who conversed with our Saviour for some years together and heard all his wise Discourses and saw all his Miracles and mighty Works and were present with him when he expired on the Cross and assisted at the laying his dead Body into the Sepulchre and within three Days after saw him alive again touched and handled him eat and drank with him and after they had thus several times by the Space of forty Days been by many Infallible Proofs assured of the Reality of his Resurrection saw him visibly taken up in his Body into Heaven They that had this they grant
had very good Proof and Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion and had they but been of this happy Number they are sure they should not only have believed but also willingly have suffered as much as the Apostles themselves did for Bearing their Testimony to the Truth of those things which they had seen and heard And what now must be done for the Satisfaction of these Men For these have as much Right to a full Satisfaction as any others and by the same Reason that others do expect to be gratified in what they desire these may do so too And therefore in order to their Satisfaction it is necessary that our Saviour should be Born into the World in every Age of it or indeed much oftner and that in every Country at least if not in every Town and Village he should live and Preach and do Miracles and be Crucified and Rise again for that these things have been once done they can't they say believe only upon the Testimony of other Men who say they did see them And therefore by the same Reason if they themselves should see them other Men that should come after or live in other Countries would have as little Cause to believe their Testimony So that for the full satisfaction of all such Doubting Men as these our Saviour must have suffered often since the Beginning of the World and must continue to do so very frequently as long as the World shall last because with some Men nothing but seeing is Believing But that this should be is what I presume none besides themselves can think it reasonable either for Men to ask or for God to grant 4. Lastly The Unreasonableness of desiring any further or additional Proof of the Truth of Religion besides what is already afforded us in the Standing Revelation of the Holy Scripture will farther appear by considering our own Interest in being convinced and persuaded of the Truth of Religion by such Arguments and Motives as are in themselves sufficient for that purpose altho' they be not so very strong and forcible as we could wish they were And this Argument I shall handle in the way of Reproof and a just and seasonable Reproof I think it to such bold and presuming Persons as I have been now speaking of who will needs stand upon their Terms with Almighty God and will not be persuaded to Believe and Repent but just by such Reasons and such Motives as they themselves shall be pleased to require Tell not us say they of Moses and the Prophets and of things that were done a great while ago we know not when We 'll have fresh Revelations and new Miracles or Messengers from the Dead or else we will not Believe and Repent that we are resolv'd on Very well Then I say you may if you will continue still in your Unbelief and Impenitence Nevertheless I would advise you before you fully determine to persist in this Resolution to take a little time to consider seriously whose Interest and Concern it is either that you should Believe or that you should not Believe consider who it is that will be a Gainer or a Sufferer either by the One or by the Other For let me tell you if there be really a Heaven and a Hell and a Judgment and a Life to come 't is not your not believing them that will make them not to be and if these things are true 't is your own Life and Soul that is at Stake and if you are resolv'd to lose both unless you may be Saved your own way you your selves will be the greatest nay you your selves will be the only Sufferers And this is a Consideration that affects the Case very much and makes it very unreasonable to insist upon having such satisfaction in this Case as in some other Cases might not so very unreasonably be desired For if any Man tells me a Story which it is for his Interest I should believe it is his Concern to give me such Assurance of it as I shall require even altho' less than I require would be in all Reason sufficient And therefore if I will not believe one or two Witnesses tho' it may be unreasonable in me not to believe them yet it is his Business and what it behoves him to do to produce if it be possible ten or twenty Witnesses or as many more as I shall ask for And if one sort of Proof tho' in it self it be never so good will not satisfie me it is his part and what he ought in Reason to do if he be able to bring other Proofs of it and so to go on multiplying his Witnesses and his Proofs 'till such time as I shall declare my self fully satisfied And the Reason is because the Loss or Inconvenience will be his and only his in Case he cannot convince me of the Truth of his Relation But now on the other side if the Story which he tells me be true and it be for my Interest and Advantage only not at all for his that I should believe it to be true If I say he will be neither a Gainer nor a Loser whether I believe his Report or whether I do not believe it then if he gives me such Evidence of the Truth of it as is sufficient to convince a Man of Reason he has done enough he has done all that belonged to him as a Friend to do And if after this I make it my Business to cavil at and to except against his Evidence and go about to prescribe to him what sort of Proof he should give me of the Truth of what he relates declaring withal that less or other Proof than just that which I require shall never satisfie me he may justly reject my Suit as unreasonable and condemn me for a Fool that will not see my own Interest nor know when a Friend has done enough And this is exactly our Case God has sent his Son to us with the Promise of Eternal Life and has given us sufficient Assurance of his Divine Mission and thereby of the Truth of that Revelation which he made Now if we will believe this well and good the Profit will be all our own we shall save our own Souls alive But God will receive no Advantage to himself by our Believing his perfect Happiness being not capable of any Increase But if we will not Believe this Testimony that God has given of his Son if we except against his Witnesses and cavil at his Evidence and will not Believe but just upon that very sort of Proof which we our selves are pleas'd to pitch upon why then we may e'en take our own Course we may be Unbelievers still but 't is we only that shall suffer by our Unbelief the Infinite and Essential Happiness of God being as little capable of Diminution as of Advancement And as if we Believe and Repent God will be Glorified in our Salvation so if we will not Believe and Repent he will be
no less glorified in our Destruction Seeing therefore whether you Believe or whether you do not Believe God will be neither a Gainer nor a Loser but the Profit or the Damage will be all your own it is plainly your Interest as well as your Duty to give Credit to such Evidence as really and in it self is Credible and such I hope I have already shewn that to be which is given us of the Truth of Christianity and not to set your selves to cavil at it and to study Exceptions to it not to take upon you to prescribe to God Almighty and boldly to tell him what sort of Evidence he must give you or else you will not be satisfied Do not then stand in your own Light do not bring Destruction upon your selves when you may avoid it but give Ear to what Moses and the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles speak to you in the Holy Scriptures and hear them without Prejudice with a Mind ready to hearken to Reason and resolved to be persuaded by it and then what they will say to you will be abundantly sufficient to satisfie you for they say as much in this Case or more as by the common Voice and Reason of all Mankind is judged to be sufficient in all other Cases of the like Nature But if you are resolved not to be persuaded so long as there is any Possibility of Doubt or Scruple left if you are resolv'd not to Believe unless you may have just that very Evidence given you that you your selves are pleas'd to require if you will boldly and arrogantly take upon you to teach God as if he knew it not what Evidence he ought to give Men of the Truth of Religion and are resolved to find or make Exceptions against any other Look you to it For if God has done enough already he is under no manner of Obligation to do more more did I say Nay he needed not to have done so much for it was meer Grace and Favour in God that he has done so much as he has done that he has made us any Promises at all and given us any Assurance of the Truth of them And therefore for what he has done we ought to be thankful and not to find fault with him that he has done no more Such Impudence and Sauciness as this for I can call it by no better a Name from a Man to his Maker from a mean inconsiderable Creature to the Great Lord of Heaven and Earth is I 'm sure no proper Qualification to merit extraordinary and peculiar Favours For as our Saviour says to some in a like Case to some who formerly made the like unreasonable Demand that you now do Matth. 12.39 Mark 8.12 It is an Evil and Adulterous Generation that seeketh after a Sign and therefore there shall no Sign be given Verily I say unto you there shall no Sign be given to this Generation Let us then be content with that assurance which God has given us of the Truth of Religion for greater than this we shall not have 'till it be too late Let us thankfully accept of and readily comply with this and not expect or wait for more for God will not gratifie us in our unreasonable Desire He is resolved to deal with us as with Men to incline not to determine our Choice to persuade not to force us to be Happy And having already given us the Standing Revelation of the Gospel which is sufficient both to instruct and convince us and having prov'd the truth of this sufficiently to us he will not be making new Revelations or sending more Prophets Divinely inspir'd or working fresh Miracles every Day He has done enough already to satisfie our sober Judgments and he will not do every thing that we can think of to gratifie our wild and extravagant Fancies And there is the less Reason that he should do so because if the Ordinary Means which he uses for our Conversion do not succeed the Fault lies wholly in us And therefore 't is highly probable so certain that it need not be tried that any other means proper for God to use to reclaim us would be alike unsuccessful If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the Dead This is the last Reply that Abraham makes to the Rich Man's Request and it was the third of those three Points which I at first propounded to speak to but which I must reserve for the Subject of my next Discourse FINIS NEW REVELATIONS Would probably be UNSUCCESFUL A SERMON Preach'd at the CATHEDRAL-CHURCH of St. Paul November 4th 1700. BEING The Eighth for the Year 1700 of the LECTURE Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By OFSPRING BLACKALL D. D. Rector of St. Mary Aldermary and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by J. Leake for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. St. LUKE XVI 29 30 31. Abraham saith unto him They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And he said Nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent And he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead IN Discoursing on these Words I have already done these two Things I. I have shewn that the present Standing Revelation of God's Will in the Holy Scripture is abundantly sufficient to persuade Men to Repentance if they are not unreasonably blind and obstinate This is intimated in the first Verse of the Text They have Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles let them hear them And II. I have likewise shewn that having already such good Grounds of Faith such full Directions for Practice and such strong Motives to Repentance it is unreasonable to desire more This was what the Rich Man had done at the 27th and 28th Verses and which he still continues to do in the 2d Verse of the Text even after Abraham had told him that the Standing Revelation of God's Will in the Holy Scripture was sufficient Nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent He says it positively they will repent He speaks it as a thing that no Doubt could be made of In Answer to which therefore Abraham tells him in the last Verse of the Text that that which he thought so very certain was not so much as probable If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead And this was the third Point I propounded to speak to in discoursing on these Words viz. III. To shew that in Case God should condescend to gratifie Men in this unreasonable Desire working every Day new Miracles before their Eyes or sending their deceased Friends to them from the Dead to assure them of a Future State and to warn them to prepare for it 't is highly probable that
very few or none of those who do not believe and are not brought to Repentance by the Preaching and Standing Revelation of the Gospel would be persuaded by this means If they hear not Moses and the Prophets I add nor Christ and his Apostles neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead And the Truth of this will I suppose sufficiently appear if these following things be considered 1. That we can't have better or stronger Motives to Obedience and a Holy Life than are already offered in the Holy Scripture to persuade us 2. That the Proof and Evidence already given us of the Truth of Religion is such as cannot be fairly excepted against and that there is no Proof thereof that could be offered but what is liable to Cavils and unreasonable Exceptions 3. That if God should gratifie all Men in this Request the Abundance and Commonness of the Miracles that must then be wrought would go near to destroy the Efficacy and Persuasiveness thereof And Lastly That it is Matter of Fact and Experience that new Miracles have been generally unsuccessful upon those who have not hearkned to nor been convinced by a Standing Revelation of God's Will 1. I say we can't possibly have as to the Matter of them stronger Motives to Obedience and a Holy Life than those which are already offered in the Holy Scripture to persuade us For there we have Life and Death set before us Blessing and Cursing on one Hand the Promise of this Life and of that which is to come and on the other Hand all the Evils that we can justly dread the wrath of him who is a consuming Fire who often punishes Transgressors with remarkable Judgments in this Life and has threatned to all impenitent Sinners Eternal Torments in the next Now if a new Revelation was to be made and we our selves were to contrive the Matter of it what stronger Motives than these could we think of Or if one should come from the dead to Preach to us if Lazarus were sent on purpose to persuade us what could he offer more towards it Could he give us Assurance of any thing better or more desirable than of God's Readiness to forgive us upon our Repentance and of compleat and perfect Happiness both of Body and Soul to all Eternity if we do Repent Or could he threaten any thing more like to deter us from Sin than intolerable and everlasting Misery If not to what Purpose should he be sent to us Or indeed to what Purpose should there be any new Revelation at all For these things are already promised and threatned clearly enough in the Holy Scripture Life and Immortality are already fully brought to Light by the Gospel And if the Hope of Eternal Life and Happiness and if the Dread of Everlasting and Intolerable Torments will not persuade us nothing certainly will or can persuade us All that I think could in any new Revelation be added to that Encouragement that is already given us in Scripture to Virtue and Godliness or to that Discouragement that is therein given as to Vice and Wickedness would be an Assurance that there should be always as remarkable a Difference made by the Providence of God between good and bad Men in this World as we are told in Scripture there will be by his righteous Judgment in that which is to come And a good Assurance given us of this by some new Revelation confirmed by our own constant Observation that it was always well with the Righteous and ill with the Wicked in this World we may think perhaps would do much more towards the Reformation of Mankind than only those Promises and Threatnings of future Happiness or Misery that we meet with in the Scripture have done or are ever like to do And this indeed might be But then 't is to be considered that a new Revelation to this Effect would be inconsistent with the Nature of Religion and would frustrate the Design of God in sending us into this World which was to prove and try us to see whether we love the Lord with all our Heart whether we can believe him for those things which we do not see and whether we are so wise as to prefer a greater future Good before a less that is present a Blessed and Glorious Immortality after this Life before the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Season For if the Reward of Virtue and the Punishment of Vice were always visible and present there would be no Room left for Faith in God which is a firm Belief of the Truth of his Promises and Threatnings tho' we do not see a present Performance of them Heb. 11.1 Faith as the Apostle defines it is the Substance or (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. in Loc. confident Expectation of things hoped for the Evidence or (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conviction of things not seen And if all the good things both of this Life and of the next were the certain Portion of Virtue and all the evil things that can be suffered both in this World and in the other were the certain and never-failing Consequence of Sin there would be no room left for a virtuous and wise Choice nay indeed there would be hardly Matter for Choice at all for it can't be conceiv'd that a Creature that has Understanding and a Power of chusing and refusing should knowingly chuse all Misery rather than all Happiness Such a Revelation as this being therefore so evidently inconsistent with the Nature of Faith and Religion and with the Design of God in sending us into this World can't be expected And I say that bating this there can be nothing added to the Matter of the Scripture Revelation From whence therefore it plainly follows that such as are not persuaded by the Gospel Motives to Repentance are not capable of being persuaded by any such Motives as consistently with the Nature of Faith and Religion and Vertue could be offered to them And it can't be supposed that any true divine Revelation should ever offer any Motives to persuade us that are not such But it may be said perhaps that tho' better or stronger Motives to Repentance cannot be offered by any new Revelation than are offered already in Holy Scripture yet we might by a new Revelation have better Assurance given us of the Truth of the Gospel Motives and that if we had 't is very like they would be then more prevailing than they now are And this likewise I believe must be granted But then 't is to be considered that the Nature of Faith and Religion and of that State of Trial which we are now in requires that there should be a reasonable Boundary set to the clearness of that Evidence that is given to Men of the Truth of those Motives whereby they are to be persuaded as well as to the Force and Strength of the Motives themselves Because as I noted in my last Discourse such very clear
No Reason to desire NEW REVELATIONS A SERMON Preach'd at the CATHEDRAL-CHURCH of St. Paul October 7th 1700. BEING The Seventh for the Year 1700 of the LECTURE Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By OFSPRING BLACKALL D. D. Rector of St. Mary Aldermary and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by J. Leake for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. St. LUKE XVI 29 30 31. Abraham saith unto him They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And he said Nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent And he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead WHEN I first began to Discourse on these Words I proposed to speak to these three Points I. To shew that the present Standing Revelation of God's Will contain'd in the Books of the Old and New Testament is abundantly sufficient to persuade Men to Repentance if they are not unreasonably blind and obstinate They have Moses and the Prophets I add they have also Christ and his Apostles let them hear them II. To shew that having already such good Grounds of Faith such full Directions for Practice and such strong Motives to Repentance it is an unreasonable Request to desire more Nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent And III. Lastly To shew that in case God should condescend to gratifie Men in this unreasonable Desire working every Day new Miracles before their Eyes or sending their deceased Friends to them from the dead to assure them of a future State and to warn them to prepare for it 't is highly probable that very few or none of those who do not believe and are not brought to Repentance by the Preaching and Standing Revelation of the Gospel would be persuaded by this means If they hear not Moses and the Prophets nor Christ and his Apostles neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead The first of these has been the subject of several former Discourses the second I design to speak to at this time viz. II. To shew that having already such good Grounds of Faith such full Directions for Practice and such strong Motives to Repentance as I have shewn we have in that Standing Revelation of God's Will which is contained in the Holy Scripture it is an unreasonable Request to desire more Nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent And the Unreasonableness of the Request which the Rich Man here makes in the behalf of his Brethren viz. That God would be pleased to send one from the dead to preach to them or in general how unreasonable it is for men now a-days to desire or look for more means of Conversion or Motives to Repentance than God has been pleased to afford us in the Standing Revelation of the Gospel will appear if we consider these following things 1. That the Principles of Faith and the Motives to Repentance which we have already being well grounded upon Matters of Fact which have been once already sufficiently prov'd and attested 't is altogether needless that any fresh or further Proof should be given of them and 't is what we never think reasonable to desire in other the like Cases That when God requires us to believe or do any thing and sends a special Messenger to acquaint us with his Will he should grant to this Messenger such Testimonials as are sufficient to satisfie reasonable Men that he is no Impostor but a Teacher sent from God is indeed a thing that may fairly be expected And if God should not do thus we should be excusable in not hearkning to such a Messenger because we could not know whether he was a true or a false Prophet and God does not require neither indeed is it reasonable that we should believe every Pretender to Revelation And the clearest Proof of any Man 's being sent from God to teach us any thing being a Power of doing such Miracles and Mighty Works as are manifestly above the skill and strength of a Man to do it was therefore highly requisite and what might reasonably be look'd for that God should grant such a Power as this to all those whom he has ever inspired with new Light and Commission'd to make any new Revelation of his Will to Mankind And this he has always done He gave this Power to Moses in a large measure because the Matters that Men were to trust him for were many and very considerable He gave it also to some of the succeeding Prophets but in a less measure because their Business for the most part was only to Interpret or to press the Observation of the Law of Moses which had been sufficiently prov'd before And he gave it in the largest measure of all to our Saviour and his Apostles because the Revelation made by them was of Truths very mysterious some of them above the Reach and Comprehension of Humane Reason It was also a Revelation in a manner wholly new even to the Jews themselves and much more to the Gentiles And besides it was a Revelation in many Points to appearance contrary to a former Divine Revelation inasmuch as it ordered the Abolition of many things which had been before enjoyned by divine Authority viz. all the Ritual and Ceremonial Law of Moses And therefore to gain Credit to their Testimony that they were inspired and sent by God to teach such things it was very requisite that they should produce more and more plain and undeniable Testimonials of their divine Mission than Moses himself had done And such Testimonials they had such they did produce working more Miracles and those as I may say more wonderful and Miraculous than Moses and all the Prophets together had wrought before But when these Testimonials had been once fairly produced and examined and by all reasonable Men allowed to be true and sufficient and when Christ and his Apostles had made and published all that Revelation which they were Commissioned to make And when to prevent all misunderstandings of it or mistakes concerning it they had committed it all to Writing and the Men that lived in those times and were capable of enquiring into the Truth of it were well assured that the Books said to be written by the Apostles and Evangelists were indeed theirs and contain'd in substance all the same things and no other which they had before declared by word of Mouth and confirmed by Miracles After this I say when the Divinity of the Revelation was thus once at the first Publishing of it so fully confirmed there was no need that it should be proved any more and all other Proof thereof would have been superfluous because the whole Matter both Doctrine and Proof being once faithfully recorded and those Records well attested there could afterwards be no reasonable Cause to call it
any Proposition in Euclid or as the shining of the Sun at Noon for that can't be and I have already given Reasons why if it might it should not be so but it is as clear as such a Matter is capable to be And I dare be bold to say that there is no other Proof of Religion fit to be offered or reasonably to be desired to which a Sceptick might not make as just and plausible Exceptions as he can to the Standing Proofs of Christianity For one single Miracle done in his own Presence would be nothing near so convincing as the many Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles were of some or other of which there were more than ten thousand Witnesses And if he can suppose that so many were deceived in plain Matters of Sense he may much rather suppose that he a single Man may be imposed upon And an Apparition of a deceased Friend would be a Matter wherein any one Man might be more probably Cheated or be more easily persuaded that he was Cheated than the Apostles could be in the Resurrection of our Lord when he was seen by them very frequently and sometimes by a great Company of them met together by the space of forty Days And a single Miracle that is over as soon as done could not make such a deep and lasting Impression upon a Man's Mind as that constant Power of working Miracles and especially the Gift of Tongues which lasted a whole Life must needs do upon the Apostles and those that lived in their time who were either Partakers of these Gifts themselves or constant Witnesses thereof in others In short whatever Miracles we can desire may be wrought for our Conviction either they must be seen by us with our own Eyes or else they must be receiv'd by Testimony from others And tho' they should be seen by us with our own Eyes yet so long as 't is against our Inclination or inconsistent with that Love which we bear to the World or to our Sins to believe that they are true Miracles we should easily be apt to fansie that they were only melancholy Delusions or Tricks put upon us by Designing Men which our first Fright or Amazement hindred us from discovering the Fraud of and so they would probably have no effect at all upon us longer than till our Fright or Amazement was well worn off But if we should only have an Account of them by Testimony from others they would be yet less likely to persuade us because there can be no Testimony concerning any such Matters of Fact more clear and unexceptionable than that which we have already of the Truth of our Saviour's and his Apostles Miracles so that if we believe not this we should hardlier believe any other Testimony because we can scarcely have so good Assurance of any Man's Truth as we have of the Sincerity and Veracity of all those who are the present Witnesses to our Religion and we can hardly be surer that we hear any Man whom we know speaking to us than we are that we hear the Apostles speaking to us in the Books of the New Testament And therefore I think it plainly follows as I farther noted that the same Temper and Disposition of Mind and the same Unwillingness to believe the Truths of the Gospel which now dispose Men to Infidelity and prompt them to study and make Exceptions to the Proofs already given us of the Christian Faith would work the same Effect if other Proof and Evidence were given of it and that Men would then quickly make as good Exceptions to that as they do now to these For from what has been said I think 't is plain that if Men do not see the Truth when 't is placed in so clear a Light as 't is in already the Reason must be because they wilfully shut their Eyes or else are so blinded by a Love of this World or of their sinful Lusts that if the Light were ten times brighter than it is they would see no more than they do now And it would be to as little Purpose in order to the Conviction of such perverse and obstinate Men to add any more or stronger Proofs of the Truth of Religion as it would be to light up abundance of Torches to a Man that is quite blind For this is indeed the true Cause why Men will not hear Moses and the Prophets why they will not believe Christ and his Apostles testifying the certainty of a future State and other Truths of Religion 't is not I say because there is any just Exception to their Testimony but because they do not like the Matter of it and so are resolved not to believe They love their Sins so well that they can upon no Account be persuaded to part with them and being so resolved it is an easie thing to cavil at any Motives or Arguments that are urged to persuade them to it Seeing they will not see and hearing they will not hear nor understand and to Men so obstinately resolved against Conviction no Proof can be convincing enough And this is the sad effect of Love to Sin it Viciates the Judgments of Men so that they can't distinguish between things that differ most vastly it darkens their Understanding so that the plainest Proposition or the clearest Consequence in the World if it be against the Interest of Sin seems dark and obscure to them and it renders their Minds so averse to Religion that they can't with any Patience so much as hear the Arguments that are offered to prove it And be a Reason never so good 't is not to be hoped it should be convincing to a Man who will not hear it or who will not allow himself calmly to consider it From all that hath been said therefore upon this Head it plainly appears That the proper Cure of Infidelity is not the Addition of more Proof of the Truth of Religion but a right Prepaartion and Disposition of Mind to consider well the Proof thereof that is offered which is sufficient to convince and persuade all those that have a Love of Truth and a Will disposed to Virtue The Causes of Infidelity must be first removed and then the Cure of it will be easie by those Means which God has provided and directed us to use and there will be no need of his Working Miracles for Men's Conviction But 'till the Causes of it are removed 't is hardly to be Cured even by a Miracle But it will be said perhaps that tho' fresh Revelations and new Miracles might not be sufficient to convince all they might however convince some because there are several Degrees in the Perverseness and Obstinacy of Men Some indeed there may be whom no such Proof of Religion as is fit to be given us in this State of Trial would persuade whose Case therefore must be given over as desperate but then there are others Acts 26.28 who as King Agrippa was are almost persuaded to
be Christians and when the Scales are already near even a small weight put into the lightest will make it overbalance the other so that it may reasonably be hoped that some small Addition to the Proof of Religion no more than might be made to it without destroying either our Freedom of Choice or the Excellency of Faith and Virtue would prevail with these Half Christians And perhaps it might But God is wiser than we are and knows better than we what is fit for him to do towards the Conversion of Men. We ought therefore to conclude that he does all that is fit to be done tho' we do not see but that he might do more But this it may be will not be taken for an Answer but will rather be thought a way of avoiding a Difficulty too hard to be accounted for And therefore I say further and it was the third thing which I proposed to be considered 3. That if God should gratifie all Men in this Request working new Miracles every Day for the Conviction of particular Persons Sermon VII and as I have formerly noted there is no Reason in the World why any one Man should be gratified in this Request rather than others when they have all equal Reason and equal Right to desire it should God I say gratifie all Men in this Request the Abundance of the Miracles that must then be wrought would be so far from adding to the Proof of Christianity that it would rather lessen or weaken that Proof of it which we have already because Miracles the properest Proof of a Publick Divine Revelation would not be then so convincing as they are now For that which most of all affects Men in a Miracle is the Unusualness of it because it is such a thing as was never or but rarely before ever seen or heard of As the Blind Man that had been Cured by our Saviour well observes Joh. ix 32. Since the Beginning of the World hath it not been heard that any Man hath opened the Eyes of one that was born Blind Had it been a common thing it would have been no Miracle I mean it would not have appeared so it would not have been thought so by Men. For that which makes Men wonder even at a true Miracle is not so much because it is such an Operation as they cannot give a fair account of by Natural Causes for this they can't do I 'm confident I may say they have not yet done it of many of the Works and Productions of Nature But they therefore conclude such a thing not to be a Natural Operation because it is not usual because it is such a thing as was never before known to be done And if the same thing which now for this Reason we should account a Miracle was done every Day the Virtuosi would presently set themselves to invent and would quickly fancy they had found out some Natural Solution of it And I believe there are not many Miracles that have been done which they might not after long Study be able to give as clear and probable an Account of by Natural Causes as they have done of Gravity of Fire of the Loadstone of Vision of the Production of Vegetables of the Generation of Animals and of many other things which yet are doubtless the Works and Effects of Natural Causes So that I say the most probable Consequence of having Miracles so very common as they must be if they were wrought for the Conviction of particular Men would be this that they wou'd cease to serve for that Purpose for which Miracles were designed because being common they would be disregarded or would quickly be looked upon to be the Effect of Natural Causes only There would not be wanting those that would offer to give an Account how they were done and all those would be despised by the Scorners of Religion as too much addicted to Superstition who rather than attribute the greatest Miracle to a Supernatural Power would not acquiesce in that Solution how silly soever that was given of it by meer Matter and Motion And in particular I question not but that if it was a common thing for dead Men after they had lain in their Graves for some time to come forth again and shew themselves alive to their Friends this wonderful Effect would be attributed by a great many to some Vital Principle in the Body which only Slept for a while as it does in Corn or other Seeds while they are kept dry and above Ground but afterwards when the Body was buried a while was excited by some Natural Virtue that was in the Earth to exert it self and so by its Plastick Power formed the Body into the same shape it was in before This I say would in all probability be the Effect that the greatest Miracles would have in the World if they were very common They'd only serve to set the Philosophers Wits to work to invent new Forms of Matter and new Laws of Motion by which to solve them and any Solution of them tho' never so improbable tho' only by Occult Qualities would serve turn and be thought better than to recur to an Almighty Power The Consequence of which would be that this which we desire as an additional Proof of Christianity would in effect destroy one of the best Proofs of it that we have already But 4. Lastly If it be supposed that Miracles would still be thought Miracles notwithstanding their Commonness yet Abraham might well deliver it as a General Truth to which there are none or very few Exceptions that he who is not wrought upon by a Standing Revelation of God's Will would not be persuaded by an extraordinary Message or a new Miracle because it is Matter of Fast and Experience that this last Method has been generally unsuccessful upon those who have not hearkned to nor been convinced by a Standing Revelation For this was the very Case of the Jews in our Saviour's time the Parable was literally fulfilled in them For as they would not believe Moses and the Prophets testifying of our Saviour so neither did they any more believe our Saviour himself when he came down to them from Heaven in the Power of God And as they did not believe him while he lived amongst them and went about Preaching and doing Miracles so neither did they believe him a jot more after he came again to them from the dead Never were there such Signs and Miracles wrought for Mens Conviction and yet never was there such a number of obstinate Infidels as then Very few even of those who were Eye-witnesses of our Saviour's Miracles were the better for them but many were a great deal worse wilfully blaspheming that Spirit by which he wrought them and attributing those Operations to the Help of the Devil which they were convinced in their own Judgments were done by the Power of God The opening the Eyes of the Blind Joh. 9.39.11.47 12.10 did but make those that
saw the Miracle more blind than they were before And when once a dead Lazarus did come forth out of his Grave and appear to them which was the very thing that the Rich Man here desires in the behalf of his Brethren as being in his Judgment the most powerful and so like to be the most effectual method to reclaim them when I say this was done by our Saviour in the presence of a great number so that the Truth of the Miracle could not be doubted and was not denied by any of them all the Effect that it had upon those obstinate and incredulous Men was only that it made them enter presently sooner perhaps than otherwise they would have done into a close Consultation to put to death both Jesus and Lazarus too Some Examples indeed it must be granted there are on the other side For we are told in Acts xi 41. of a great number about three thousand that believed upon the first Preaching of St. Peter and sight of that great Miracle the Gift of Tongues wherewith the Apostles were endued But then it may be considered that it was not the Miracle that convinced them I mean not that alone for many that were then present Verse 13. and heard the Apostles speaking with Tongues were so far from being persuaded thereby that they most falsly blasphemed that as they had done all our Saviour's Miracles before attributing the fruit of that most evident Power of the Holy Ghost to new Wine And it may be further noted that those who were persuaded by it were such as before they saw the Miracle were in a good Disposition to embrace that pure Religion that is taught in the Gospel or else that Miracle would not have persuaded them for the Persons convinced thereby were not of the Pharisees or unbelieving Jews that had rejected our Saviour before Verse 5. but they were Devout Persons Jews or Proselytes who had come at that Feast of Pentecost from other Parts of the World to Jerusalem to Worship and who had probably never heard of our Saviour before more than by uncertain Report but being well read in Moses and the Prophets and giving good heed to them were Converted more by the manifest Accomplishment of all the ancient Prophecies concerning the Messias in the Person of our Saviour than by the sight of that great Miracle This therefore being Matter of Fact and Experience what has been done and come to pass already that new Miracles have been generally unsuccessful upon such as have not regarded a Standing Revelation of God's Will we may reasonably inser that 't is highly probable if not certain that the same Experiment tried over again would have no better success The Summ of all therefore is this such as are as St. Luke says they were who were Converted by the Preaching and Miracles of the Apostles Acts 13.46 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Predisposed or fitted for Eternal Life that is such as are modest and teachable who hear without prejudice and judge without Partiality and have no Interest of Sin or the World that stands in competition with their Desire to obtain everlasting Happiness such as enquire out the Truth with the same Indifference that a Traveller does his Way who has no Inclination to one Way more than to another but only desires to be directed right and is resolved to take that way which he is persuaded is the right tho' it should not prove so very clean and smooth and pleasant as he hoped it would such I say as are of this honest and docible mind will be persuaded by a good Reason especially if it be as good as the Matter is capable of tho' it falls short of Demonstration and if there be Reason or appearance of Reason on both sides they will judge on that side on which the Reasons seem most weighty and for the Conviction of such as these the Standing Revelation of the Gospel being so well proved as it is is abundantly sufficient so that such shall not need new Miracles or new Revelations And on the other side such as only do need them that is such as being of perverse Minds and stubborn Wills and devoted to Sin will not hearken to Moses and the Prophets nor to Christ and his Apostles speaking in the Scripture would very probably receive no Benefit from new Miracles or new Revelations For nothing will serve to convince those who will not be convinced at all no Arguments can be sufficient to persuade a Man to that which he is strongly prejudiced and fully resolved against And this being the Case of all those who do not hear Moses and the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles preaching to them in the Holy Scripture or are not persuaded by them we may well conclude with Abraham in the Text that any other means that might be used to reclaim them would most probably prove as ineffectual as this has been and that they would not be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead And now having shewn that the present Standing Revelation of God's Will in the Holy Scripture is sufficient to convince and persuade Men having also shewn that more Proof and Evidence than we have of the Truth of our Religion cannot reasonably be desired And having likewise shewn that any other Proof or Evidence thereof would probably be ineffectual upon those who will not hear Moses and the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles preaching to them in the Holy Scripture I have finished all that I proposed to do in discoursing on these Words I shall conclude all with an useful Exhortation first to Infidels who will not by all that has been said be persuaded to admit this divine Revelation and secondly to Christians who do receive it 1. To you who are yet Infidels if there are any such here as I hope there are not or if these Discourses shall happen to fall into the Hands of any such I beg leave to address my self in a few words And I would desire you in the first Place to prepare and dispose your Minds to hear gravely and without prejudice the Reasons that are offered to prove the Truth of Christianity by considering seriously the great Importance of Religion if it be true And if you do but consider this you will quickly see that it is well worth your while to be at some pains to satisfie your selves fully whether Religion be true or not For if Religion be true and you can't be sure it is not till you have well examined the Grounds and Proofs of it you have a great Concern at stake and in a Matter of such Moment it becomes not a Wise Man to be determined by a Jest or a Quibble And if you seriously consider the great Importance of Religion you will likewise readily see that of the two you had much better be mistaken in believing the Truth of Religion tho' it be false than in disbelieving it if indeed it be true so that
Isa 41.21 Produce your Cause as the Prophet speaks and bring forth your strong Reasons by them it may be if you propound them seriously you may convince us that we are in a mistake but we are now in too grave an Humour to be wrought upon by a Jest and how strong soever your Objections against Religion are by a light and trifling way of expressing them you will make them lose all their Force But indeed 3. To what purpose is it for you to make it your Business any ways or by any Arguments to endeavour to proselyte Men to Atheism and Infidelity For whether our Religion be true or false it is better for you as well as for all the World besides that it should be generally believed and that Men should think themselves obliged to live according to the Rules and Precepts of it You can't surely be so unacquainted with the World if you have lived any time in it or read any thing of History but that you must needs know that before the Principles of Atheism and Deism prevail'd so much as they have done of late Years there was a great deal more Truth and Justice and Honesty and fair Dealing in the World than there is now So that if you should succeed in your Endeavour if you should be able either to reason or to laugh Religion quite out of the World the most probable nay the most certain Consequence of it would be that when the Godly Man ceased Ps 12.1 2. the faithful would also fail from among the Children of Men that then they would speak Vanity every one with his Neighbour with flattering Lips and with a double Heart would they speak That then Strength would be the Law of Justice Wisd 2.11 and that which is feeble would be found nothing worth If therefore you have as you think perhaps you have found out the Cheat of Religion 't is your best Prudence however to keep your Discovery to your selves Delight your selves as much as you will with the Contemplation of your own Happiness above other Men in that you are now freed from the Terrors of Conscience and the Fears of another World by means of that notable Discovery which you have made of the Vanity of Religion please your selves as much as you will with thinking that you are not now as others are tied to speak truth when 't is to your disadvantage to suffer any thing in this World for Conscience sake or to be just and honest in your Dealings when you can get considerably by Fraud and Oppression and can order the Matter so secretly as to be safe from Discovery and consequently from all Shame and Punishment from Men But be the Advantage which you have gained to your selves by discovering the Cheat of Religion never so great yet the greater it is and the greater you think it so much the more cautious you ought to be not to make known to others what you have so happily discovered for when once others shall come to know as much as you think you do viz. That all Religion is a Cheat all your Advantage above them will cease they will then be all upon the same Terms with you they will then be all as much at Liberty to defraud oppress or otherwise injure you as you are now to defraud oppress or injure them You ought not therefore in Prudence to try to convince them of their Mistake tho' you were sure it was a Mistake for why should you make it your Business to cut in sunder those Cords of Religion by which they are now tied up from doing you mischief In a word either Religion is true and well grounded or it is not and which soever it be it is better both for them that do believe the Truth of it and for you also that they should continue in the Belief of it why then should you be at Pains only to do mischief For put Case first that Religion is vain and groundless it must be confessed however that it is of some present Advantage to them that do believe it because it serves to bear them up under the unavoidable Pains and Troubles and Misery of this Mortal Life with the comfortable Hope of a blessed Immortality and it will be no Disadvantage to them hereafter for when they are dead if indeed there be no Life after this they will be as if they had never been they will not be then in a Capacity of grieving for their Disappointment And it is also for your present Advantage that they that are mistaken in believing the Truth of Religion should continue in their Mistake because it makes them better to you in every Relation than they would otherwise be more Just and Merciful Governours more Loyal and Obedient Subjects more Loving Parents more Dutiful Children more Gentle Masters more Faithful Servants and more Just Honest and Loving Neighbours why then should you be at any Pains to Cure that Mistake if it be a Mistake which does them no harm but rather good and which is likewise so profitable for you Especially when you can't be so vain as to expect to merit Heaven if indeed there be no Heaven by your Zeal for the Truth of Atheism But if indeed Religion be true and you can't be sure it is not how deficient soever you may think our Proofs of it are as I shall not need to say that it will be better for them that believe it that they should persist in their Belief of it so I shall not need to say much to shew that it will in the Event be better for you that you should not endeavour to pervert them for certainly if there be a Hell they will be condemned to the hottest place in it who not only withdrew themselves from their Subjection to Almighty God and would not suffer him to reign over them but made it also their Business to corrupt others to form a Party against Heaven and to raise an Universal Rebellion against God These things and more to the like Purpose I would say to the Atheists if I thought they were here to hear me And I should not be without Hope that altho' what was said before in the foregoing Discourses was not sufficient to cure their Infidelity what has been now said might serve to convince them that it is the wisest Course to keep their Infidelity to themselves that how little soever they believe of the Truth of Religion it is not Prudence to tell the World that they are Men of no Principles and consequently not fit to be employed or trusted that 't is not good Manners to make a Jest of Serious and Sacred things and to affront the common Reason and Judgment of Mankind and that 't is not for their Interest to endeavour to bring other Men over to their side because if none had more Religion than themselves they could not be near so safe and secure in their Rights and Possessions and in their Lives the only
things they value as they now are But I do not think there are any here present concern'd in this Part of my Discourse and therefore shall lengthen it no further Heb. 6.9 I am persuaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation For your Presence here in the House of God and in the Assembly of Christians makes it reasonable to believe that you are already convinced not only of the Being and Providence of God but likewise of the Truth of the Christian Religion and of the Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Holy Scriptures 2. To you therefore who are Christians I shall now turn my Discourse Heb. 13.22 And I beseech you Brethren suffer the word of Exhortation it is only this Since you have Moses and the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles and believe that they are Messengers sent to you from God to instruct you in his Will receive the Truth and the Law at their Mouths mind what they say and be careful to follow their Directions in all things For even we who have the Scriptures the lively Oracles of God may perish for want of Knowledge as well as they that have them not unless we make that Use of them which they were given for unless we are diligent in reading them and careful to practise what they teach For the Rich Man spoken of in this Parable had the Scriptures but his meer having them did not keep him from Hell And his five surviving Brethren had likewise the Scriptures and yet were then in a fair way of following their Brother to that Place of Torment They had Moses and the Prophets but they did not hear them And this also may be our Case who have not only these but also Christ and his Apostles Preaching to us if we do not hear them for what Advantage can it be to us to have good Instructors if we will not mind what they say if we stop our ears to all their Counsels and Reproofs No Man was ever made a Scholar only by having a good Library in his Possession No Man ever learnt any Art or Science tho' it was never so well taught in any Book only by keeping the Book in his Chamber or carrying it about in his Pocket And as little shall we be the wiser only by having the Holy Scriptures tho' as the Apostle says they are able to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 if we do not read and study them with an honest Design to furnish our selves from thence with a stock of useful Knowlege and with a firm Resolution to lead our Lives according to the Directions which they give us Nay so far shall we be from receiving any Advantage only by our having the Holy Scriptures given us and free Liberty allowed us to look into them a Privilege we of this Nation have above most of our Neighbours that if we do not read and study them it will be much the worse for us our Condemnation will be the greater and our Destruction so much the more certain For the Case of those who offend thro' Ignorance when their Ignorance is unaffected is very pitiable and tho' we can't certainly say how God will deal with those who had no clear Revelation of his Will made to them this we may be sure of that God who is a merciful God will deal mercifully with them John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them says our Saviour they had not had Sin But the Case will be quite otherwise with those Luke 12.47 who knew their Master's will and did not do it They as our Saviour says shall be beaten with many Stripes And it will be all one if they did not know it if their Ignorance of it was occasioned by their own fault in neglecting those Means of Knowledge which God has afforded them And much rather if their ignorance of their Duty was affected and chosen that they might Sin with less disturbance of Mind for our Saviour's Judgment in this Case is very plain and 't is his Judgment by which we must stand or fall to all Eternity Joh. iii. 19. This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds were Evil. Having therefore Moses and the Prophets and also Christ and his Apostles continually Preaching to us in the Books of Holy Scripture let us hear them This is both our Duty and our Interest And that our study of the Scripture may be with good success and we may thereby be thoroughly furnished unto all good Work Let us Pray as we are taught by our Church in a most excellent Collect suited to the Subject I have been Discoursing of Blessed Lord who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our Learning Collect for 2d Sunday in Advent Grant that we may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by Patience and Comfort of thy Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed Hope of everlasting Life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS ERRATA Page 55. line 10. for some read same