tendeth no less effectually to the Honour and Glory of God than a due Command of our Will For God is no less dishonoured by mean and unworthy Apprehensions of him by Idolatry and Superstition by denying his Existence or debasing his Attributes which are the effects of misguided Reason than by an open Violation of his known Precepts which proceeds from the Corruption of the Will And thus it appears that a full Enquiry into the Reasons and Arguments of the Christian Religion and a perfect knowledge of the truth of them not only contributes exceedingly but in Persons having means to attain it is absolutely necessary to beget a true and perfect Faith and secure to us the reward of it III. A distinct and clear knowledge of the Mysteries of our Faith and Rules of our Religion will afford to us many and great Motives to the practice of our Duty and direct us in the performance of it It is the peculiar Prerogative of the Christian Religion that the more we search into the Reasons and Constitution of it the more fully the Divinity of it will appear Every new Discovery will give us fresh occasions to admire the Wisdom Goodness and Justice of God eminently conspiring in the Revelation of it This will excite in us if we be not insensible a profound Veneration of the Divine Majesty an ardent Love of his Excellencies and the most intense degree of Gratitude It will manifest to us the Misery of Man and his lost Condition without the Sacrifice of the Cross which might expiate for his Sins and mediate his Pardon and hereby will increase our Sense of the Divine Mercy will enhance the value of that inestimable Sacrifice teach us to adore love and devote our selves to our Saviour to resign up our belief to his Revelations as to our Prophet to depend wholly upon the Expiation of our sins once made and Intercession for us always continued by him as of our High Priest to yield an intire Obedience to his Commands and Precepts as to our King Can we view the Love and Mercy of God manifested in our Redemption the wonderful Contrivances of Providence both to secure the Divine Justice and Honour and yet give Pardon to sinful Man and not be wound up into an Extasie of Love and Admiration Can we consider the most wise Methods whereby God brought this wonderful design to perfection and trace the footsteps of it through all Ages can we think upon the Majesty of him who condescended to suffer for us and the unworthiness of Man to receive so great a Favour without filling our Understandings with awful and reverent Conceptions of him our Wills with a passionate desire of Union with him and enlarging all the Faculties of our Souls to approach his Presence and receive his influence Or can we hope to raise our Souls to a worthy Sense of the Divine Favours and Benefits and carry up our Affections to a gratitude not inferiour to the Greatness of them without a perfect knowledge of their Design and Excellency Surely the Admonitions of the Prophets Apostles and even our Blessed Saviour were not in vain which so earnestly press us to the study of Divine Truths command us to search the Scriptures assure us That they were written for our instruction and which is to be observed commend those who were conversant in them above all other Persons Yet how small a part of the Holy Scripture are those things which are absolutely necessary to be believed The infinitely greater part of it serveth only to declare the extraordinary Acts of his Providence to the Church and Testimonies of his Love to Mankind to celebrate his Mercy and Goodness and induce us by manifold Arguments to our Duty Yet these also hath the Divine Wisdom thought necessary to the knowledge and instruction of Men and surely not without Reason For what can be more worthy of Man more perfective of his Nature or conducing to enstate him in the greatest Happiness than to comprehend the Riches of the Divine Goodness to entertain noble Conceptions of his Creator and by a constant Meditation and exalted Knowledge raise his Affections to a vehement Love of him By this we anticipate the Joys of Heaven and begin to possess them even before we are received into them For both Reason and Revelation assureth us that the Fruition of Celestial Happiness consists in a constant and unwearied Contemplation and Love of the Divine Perfections The study of these sacred Matters was esteemed the best indication of a pious Mind and the most certain method of attaining the utmost degree of Happiness upon Earth even under the Old Law when God had not yet made a full Manifestation of himself and the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy were obscure and hid under a veil of Ceremonies and Ritual Observations For proof of this to go no farther than the CXIX Psalm wherein such inimitable strains of Piety Devotion and an ardent Love of God appear The Holy Psalmist every where ascribes his Proficiency in Vertue and the inward satisfaction and Happiness of his mind to the assiduous study of the Divine Laws I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart when I shall have learned the judgments of thy righteousness Open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy law For I remembred thine everlasting judgments O Lord and received comfort Lord what love have I unto thy law all the day long is my study in it O how sweet are thy words unto my throâ—… yea sweeter than honey unto my mouth Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths For thy testimonies are my delight and my Counsellours See all the Marks of a Soul big with Devotion and filled with transports of Joy from the Consideration of the Divine Goodness and Excellency manifested under the Mosaick Law But alas how inconsiderable is this if compared to that greater Light which Christianity hath brought into the world What satisfaction and advantage may not we now hope for from the study and Contemplation of the more perfect Law of Christ that hath revealed to us the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and represents to us the Divine Goodness not under a veil and shadow but in its full Dimensions The antient Christians were truly sensible of this who placed their Happiness on this side Heaven in this Holy study chose rather to part with their Lives than Bibles and branded those who delivered them up to their Persecutors although in exchange for their dearest Blood with the name of Traditores or Traitors And in the last Age our Forefathers gave eminent Instances of the same perswasion and resolution when great numbers of them ventured their Lives to enjoy the advantage of reading the Scriptures in their Mother tongue and rather than forego that Benefit chose to forfeit their Lives to the Persecution of a Church whose interest it was that those Divine Truths should not be known It is our
most Holy Reform'd Religion of our Church which is indeed no other than the pure and genuine Christianity by decrying it as Heretical and Damnable To obviate the Designs of these men nothing can be more effectual than to apply our selves diligently to the study of Christianity to enquire in the Holy Scriptures what Christ hath revealed to us and to search the Design and Mysteries of his Religion This is become the Duty of every private Christian at this time that so his Ignorance may not lay him open to the Attempts of designing Men who lay in wait to deceive and betray him to be a prey to Errour and Superstition To this pursuance and encrease of knowledge our Church encourageth and earnestly intreats us She taketh no refuge in the Ignorance of her Communicants nor discourageth them from examining her Doctrines and Opinions as well knowing that this Examination will end in a full Conviction of the truth of them and that the Improvement of our knowledge in Divine Matters and an impartial study of them will infallibly secure us from the delusions of her Enemies And this is the first Reason why every private Christian ought to be fully instructed concerning the Reasons of his Faith that so he may answer the Objections and escape the Assaults of those who endeavour to withdraw us from the truth or seduceus to the belief of any Enrour II. It is a strict Enquiry into the Reasons and Arguments of our Religion and full Comprehension of them which properly maketh Faith to be praise worthy in it self acceptable to God and capable of reward An assent to Christianity without respect to the Arguments of its truth may be a Happiness to ignorant Persons in as much as they enjoy those opportunities which lead to such an assent such as are Education in a Christian Countrey or under Christian Parents or Masters whereby through custom or respect to the Authority of those Persons they embrace Christianity and are led thereby to the knowledge of God the Practice of their Duty and dependence upon the Merits of a Crucified Saviour But surely we cannot imagine this to be an Act deserving the Favour of God or even comparable to the meanest of moral Vertues Before all which a true Divine Faith is so frequently and so eminently preferred in Scripture For since such a Disposition of Mind I mean an inclination to follow the Example and Authority of our Countrey Parents or Masters in assenting to the Religion received by them may and doth equally dispose Men to the embracing of Errour as of Truth it is to be accounted a thing wholly indifferent and if it proceeds from a a willful Negligence of examining the Grounds of any Religion when means and ability are not wanting to us is extremely vicious but no otherwise laudable than in the happy consequences of it and opportunities it may possibly minister of coming to the Truth Indeed Christianity is so admirably fitted to the perfection and Salvation of Mankind that it cannot be assented to upon any Grounds whatsoever even by the most ignorant Persons without a precedent habit of Mind which is truly vertuous and excellent and in an extraordinary manner testifying a profound obedience to the Commands of God in the Person assenting may not unfitly be thought to qualifie him for the Divine Favour For Christianity proposing such Rules as restrain the corrupt Lusts and Passions of men teaching a strict Sobriety and Abstinence from unlawful Pleasures forbiding the satisfaction of the most darling Lusts and commanding men to deny to themselves what they are apt to imagine an extreme Happiness the unlimited Fruition of all sensual Pleasures and even upon occasion to forforsake the Conveniences of Life it self Choosing rather to suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season None can assent to a Religion of this Nature without first overcoming his Lusts and Passions and being thoroughly convinced that all these ought to give place to the Command and Will of God which he believes to be proposed to him in the Christian Religion Such a Disposition is truly excellent and in them who want means of attaining a more perfect knowledge is rewarded by God as a true and perfect Act of Faith who condescends to the imperfection of Mankind and requiring of none more than he hath given to him supplyeth by his Mercy what is wanting to the perfection of our Faith But then such a Disposition of Mind is so far from being a true and proper Faith that it may consist without it and be joyned with Errour Neither can we imagine that Faith which hath all those glorious and particular Pro rises of Reward annexed to it in the Holy Scripture consists only in assenting to and firmly believing what we are assured God hath revealed to us For that we cannot but do None ever that believed the Existence of a God dis-believed what he was perswaded to have been revealed by him To do that were to suppose that God could err or lye and consequently were not God Such an assent therefore being necessary and unavoidable is not capable of a Reward and hath nothing excellent in it No Man can be an Infidel in this Sense And therefore none can be esteemed faithful from it And hence it appears that to have only moral and not demonstrative Proofs is so far from prejudicing the truth of Christianity that it is both necessary and advantageous to it For if the Truths of Christianity had been self evident or placed in as clear a Light as the Sun in Heaven Assent to them had been necessary and no Act of Choice and therefore incapable of reward Whereas now God hath so wisely contrived it that a rational Afsent to it and perfect Comprehension of it will exercise the diligence obedience and reason of Mankind in enquiring into whatsoever carrieth the stamp of Divine Authority in submitting to whatsoever justly appears to bear that sacred Character in using aright our Faculties of Reason and Understanding and employing them to the Glory of God All these Acts and Habits are in themselves praise worthy and rewarded by God with the Reward of Faith that is with infinite and eternal Happiness For 't is in a rational and just Assent to the Christian Religion for the sake of those Arguments which perswade it to have proceeded from the Divine Authority and a due use of our Reason in discovering its Divine Original that a true and perfect Faith consists For upon Conviction of its having been revealed by God we cannot but yield to the truth of it and if we desire or expect to attain the Rewards proposed by it betake our selves to a serious obedience to the Precepts of it For as a due use of our Understanding is no less difficult in it self and advantageous to us than of our Will so we ought to suppose that God will no less favourably accept it and no less highly reward it Certainly a right use of our Reason
suffer our Reason to take place if we willfully shut not our eyes against the Truth and embolden our Minds against the influence of it when discovered we cannot but repent To harden the heart is to Act against the Conviction of a Man 's own Conscience and against the Dictates of Truth clearly and fully manifested Thus Pharaoh is often in Scripture said To have hardned his heart when he refused to let the children of Israel go He was abundantly convinced that the Dismission of them was commanded by God he knew very well that Moses was a true Prophet he experienced the Power of God in the dreadful Plagues inflicted upon his Kingdom and acknowledged him to be the true God by recurring to him and imploring his Mercy and Pardon as often as he desired the Plagues to be removed Yet for all this he perversely refused to obey the Command of God and was therefore made an Example of the terrible Justice of God even in this World We have yet a nearer instance of this kind in the People of the Jews whom the Psalmist in these words particularly reflects on Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works They were a People peculiarly chosen by God and obliged by the most amazing temporal Benefits that ever were conferred on any fed with a constant Miracle led by a Prophet and confirmed by continual Miracles wrought in Favour of them Here was sufficient Conviction of the Truth and Power of that God they worshipped of the Greatness of the Obligation laid upon them and the Reasons they had to yield an intire Obedience to his Commands Yet we find frequent Defections in them contempt of his Precepts vilifying of his Benefits and disbelief of his Promifes which enforced God in Indignation to say of them How long will this people provoke me and how long will it be e're they believe on me for all the signs which I have shewed among them I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them c. Numb XIV 11 12. So then To harden the heart is to Act against the Convictions and impulse of our own Consciences a Sin of the highest Enormity against which God expresseth the greatest Indignation and on which he inflicteth the most severe Punishments This we cannot but acknowledge this we willingly confess We wonder at the impudence and obstinacy of Pharaoh we are apt to conceive Indignation and pronounce Sentence against him when we read or hear his History We abhor the ingratitude and baseness of the Jews and are astonished to think that they should after so many signal Miracles wrought in Favour of them rebel against God slight his Favours and endeavour to stone his Prophet and their own Deliverer We condemn the Folly and unreasonable Conduct of both and are prone to conclude with our selves had we then been in the place of Pharaoh or in the number of the Jews far be it from us that we should have imitated his obstinacy or their Perverseness But let us not deceive our selves or flatter our selves with a vain Opinion of behaving our selves better in such Circumstances Let us reflect upon our own Behaviour in relation to the Duty of Repentance and we shall find the Omission of it to be in no less a Degree a hardening of the heart than was the Crime either of Pharaoh or of the Jews For our Conviction is no less than was that of Pharaoh our Obligation greater than was that of the Jews We are without doubt fully satisfied that our God is the true God that he hath a just Right to lay his Commands upon us and to require our Obedience We know very well that he hath commanded us to observe the Rules of Holiness Temperance and Justice and that although he hath reserved Mercy and Pardon for Sinners yet that this is dispensed upon no otherCondition than that of Repentance Without the Practice therefore of this no Obedience to God can consist or be preserved And then may not he justly be said to have hardned his heart and defied the Divine Majesty who acknowledgeth all this and yet cannot be prevailed on to manifest his Obedience by forsaking bewailing and amending his former Disobedience Who confesseth himself to be his Creature and to owe to his Liberality both his Life and all the consequences of it and yet continueth to profess Enmity to him by retaining his sinful Habits Who believeth all his Attributes of Almighty Power Wisdom and Omnipresence and yet neither dreads his Anger nor reveres his All-seeing eye So that if Men considered but the natural Obligations which they have to God they could not disobey him or continue in Disobedience by unrepentance without either the constant Accusation of their Consciences or a studious stifling of them by a profligate hardness of heart But then who can reflect upon the wonderful Benefits of God revealed in the Redemption of Mankind without concluding impenitent Christians to be guilty of unparallel'd Obstinacy When the Dictates of Reason and natural light of Mankind by an universal decay of Piety wanted their effect and failed in promoting among Men obedience to their Sovereign Lord and Maker God contrived such a method to reduce them to their Duty as if an inexcusable ingratitude did not oppose could not miscarry He invited them by the Blood of his only begotten Son proclaimed Pardon to all penitent Sinners proposed infinite Rewards to sincere Repentance and settled a Succession of Pastors in the Church who might renew these Promises and promote Repentance by constant Exhortations After all this it is impossible to corroborate or add to the Obligation of what is required of us And if we inquire what that is we shall find it to be briefly comprehended in Repentance This was the Message of John the Baptist sent to prepare the way to our Saviour this was the subject of theApostles Sermons Repent and be baptized So necessary is it to the Profession of Christianity that it is pre-required to it The main design of that most Holy Religion is to promote the Honour of God by procuring a just Esteem and Adoration of himself an universal Obedience to his Laws and Devotion to his Will None of which can take place until the love of Sin be first renounced and changed into a steady Resolution of Submission to the Divine Precepts If then neither the offers of Pardon can perswade us nor the love of Christ constrain us if the frequent Exhortations of faithful Monitors cannot move us nor the necessity of the thing it self engage us if these Arguments contrived by the most Wise Providence of God become fruitless and ineffectual it must be imputed to an Obduration greater than any other because opposing Reasons stronger than any other If to slight and over-look all these Obligations be so enormous an obduration much more Criminal will it be to despise the glorious
fitted to receive the favour of God Other Sins there are which may consist with such a pious Habit of Soul as is required namely Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity The first sort arise from an Errour of the understanding when a Man offends against his Duty because he knows it not The second Spring from the disorder of the sensual Appetite as when a Man through a sudden fear or Passion is hurried on rashly to commit a Sin before he well considers what he doth before he hath time to reflect upon his Duty or to consider with himself what he should or should not do But a willful Sin or Sin of Presumption ariseth from a corruption of Will and proceeds upon deliberate Choice and advised Resolution I will illustrate all these by Examples St. Paul persecuted the Church of God not knowing it to be his Church although he was all the while ready to receive and obey the Truth as soon as it should be manifested to him This was a Sin of Ignorance for which he saith of himself that he received Mercy because he did it in unbelief If this Ignorance should be affected because Men will not inquire after Truth or will not attend to it the mis-carriages founded upon it cease to be Sins of Ignorance and become willful Sins Of sins of Infirmity St. Peter is a great Example who through a sudden fear of Death or Punishment was betrayed to deny his Master Although he had before fully resolved against it and as soon as the violence of his Fear was over and his Mind returned to the former Freedom as soon as he thought of it He wept bitterly Of willful Sins that of David against Uriah is an eminent Instance where the Sin of Adultery and Murder was after long Deliberation and a Contrivance of many days together at last put in Execution by him And for this it was that Nathan told him he had deserved to die this created to him that lasting and vehement Sorrow which we often find described in the Book of Psalms and this stuck as an indelible blot to his Memory when lesser offences were passed by And therefore it is said of them 1 King XV. 5. That David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing which he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite We read of many Sins of Infirmity which he committed but these were easily pardoned that stuck close to him and could not be wiped off but by a long and strict Repentance and patient enduring of terrible Calamities inflicted on him Other Sins alter not the Constitution of the Soul of Man and if a good Man should suddenly die even in the Commission of one of them we might still hope for Mercy but for a willful Sin no Mercy is to be expected till the habit of the Mind be intirely changed by Repentance This Distinction of Sins may instruct you in the necessary manner of forming your Repentance For Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity a general Repentance may suffice a hearty Sorrow for having offended God in Thought Word or Deed an humble Supplication of Pardon a sincere Resolution of endeavouring to avoid any such for the future But for every willful Sin a particular Repentance is required a sad reflection of the Mind upon it an earnest and continued Supplication for pardon of it a diligent strugling with the corrupt Inclinations of the Will a long Preparation of it by Prayer by Resolution by Meditation by all necessary Acts of Mortification which may intirely change the Bent and remove the Corruptions of it and subdue it to the Obedience of God Then and not till then may the willful Sinner presume of Pardon believe himself reconciled to God and to have escaped the Sentence of Destruction pronounced in the Text which God of his infinite Mercy Grant that by a true and perfect Repentance we may all avoid for the Sake c. The Twelfth SERMON PREACH'D April 21st 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts. X. 34 35. Then Peter opened his Mouth and said Of a Truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons But in every Nation he that feaâ—…eth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him THE Christian Religion being the ultimate ought also to be the most perfect Revelation of the Will of God And that it is so cannot better be discovered than from its most perfect agreement with the Divine Attributes and subservience to them The end of all Religion is first the Honour and Service of God and then the good of Men. The first is promoted by noble conceptions of God and his infinite perfections the latter is inhanced by the extent of it The primary attribute of God in relation to us is his Goverment of the World and the excellency of that consists in the Justice of it This Justice appears most conspicuously in the Universal diffusion of his Benefits in dispensing his Rewards as well as punishments impartially to all Orders and Ranks of Men in excluding none from his Favour but for Reasons common to them with all Mankind This all Men conceive to be a perfection in God and as such it must be an eternal Attribute of the Divine Nature although the influences and effects of it may be more manifest in some Ages and under some dispensations than in others As his Mercy his Goodness and his Power were from all Ages equal and uniform but more openly declared to the World by external Actions relating to us His Justice was always impartial and universal yet clouded in a great measure under the Mosaick Law while the Divine Mercies were in appearance appropriated to a small division of Mankind not clouded indeed directly and by necessary consequence but by reason of the fond Opinion of Men who from the peculiar Favours of God would take occasion to fancy him partial in their behalf and exclude the rest of the World from the participation of the same Happiness This the Jews in a most gross manner did who imagined themselves to be the only Members of Mankind for whom God had any care or respect fancied themselves dear to God not upon the common account of Piety and Obedience but for peculiar Reasons as their descent from Abraham their separation from the rest of the World by Circumcision and other Typical Rites Upon this account they Treated all other Persons as Prophane and Unclean allowed no share of the Divine Favour to them and believed them to be utterly unregarded by God in his Government of the World A prejudice which the Jews had so far imbibed that the Apostles retained it many years even after the descent of the Holy Ghost and would not receive the Gentiles to their Company or Conversation much less to the hopes and fellowship of the same blessed Calling until God by an extraordinary Vision and by the example of Cornelius taught St. Peter not to call any Man
St. Martins and now most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury Who having in his hand a Manuscript concerning the incurable Scepticism of the Roman Church written in Latin and after a Scholastical manner by Mr. John Placet of Hamburgh desired Mr. Wharton to Epitomize it in a plain way of Argumentation and to translate it into English which was in a very short time perform'd by him Not long after this he was by the same Eminent Person recommended to the Lord Arundel of Trerice as a fit Tutor for the Education of his only Son In which Trust he acquitted himself to the great satisfaction of that Noble Lord who gave him a very honourable Allowance while with him and ever after retain'd a particular Esteem for him as long as he lived though he was pleas'd at the request of the most Reverend Archbishop Sancroft to part with him to be his Chaplain Next came forth a Treatise called Speculum Ecclesiasticum writ by a Papist Soldier which Mr. Wharton considered and refuted the false Reasonings and Quotations of it with that quickness that in the space of one day only he both begun and finished that Discourse Adding thereto by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum for having got a view of the Defence while it was in the Press his Answer to it came out as soon or sooner than the Book it self and the Second to the half sheet against the Six Conferences Times now grew warm and the Papists began to be very confident of their Cause insomuch that there was a fear and accordingly Care taken about some Choice Manuscripts lest they should unhappily fall into the Enemies hand Hereupon in November 1687. Mr. Wharton was requested by several eminent Divines in London to go down to Cambridge and transcribe such Manuscripts as were of better Note Which so far as the time permitted he perform'd by the assistance of the Worthy Mr. Cory and Mr. Sagg two of the then Fellows of Corpus Christi College and of the Learned Mr. John Laughton the University Library-Keeper At his return from thence he Printed one of them Intituled The Rule of Faith writ before the Reformation about the Year 1450. by Reginald Peacock Bishop of Chichester to which he joyned a large and learned Preface proving the Holy-Scriptures to be the adequate Rule of Faith After these came out his own Treatise Of the Celibacy of the Clergy wherein he shewed such sharpness of Wit clearness of Reasoning and vastness of Reading as mightily rais'd his Esteem among all The Learned especially had extraordinary thoughts of him that a Person so young having hardly yet exceeded Twenty three years of Age should be able to compose such exquisite Works and to write such excellent Discourses as he had done This and his other ingenious and learned Performances extorted Commendations of him even from the Romanists themselves who took no small Pains to bring him over to their side To this end Mr. Matthews the Priest who privately said Mass in Windsor Castle had a Conference with him and was or at least might have been convincâ—…d by his Discourse that he was not likely to make him a Proselyte Others in like manner tried their Skill and the most excellent of the Popish Pieces were sent him out of France in hopes to prevail upon him but he remain'd immoveable For to use his own Expression Quo magis says he Pontificiorum Scripta pervolvi eo leviora ac futiliora illorum argumenta mihi semper visa sunt the more I have read their Writings the more weak and vain the lighter and more trifling did their Arguments always appear to me What their weaker Arguments fail'd in his own more solid perform'd reducing one of excellent Parts to our Communion which he had in his younger Years been unhappily prevail'd upon to desert who in Testimony of the reality of his Conversion receiv'd from his hands the Blessed Sacrament at St. Martin's Church leaving a Schedule of his Abjuration of Popery in the hands of the Reverend Doctor Tenison then Vicar there with whom it may possibly still remain But to return to his Works In the foremention'd year he translated out of French into English Monsieur Dellon's History of the Inquisition of Goa giving an account of the horrid Cruelties exercised therein About the same time also it was that he turn'd some Homilies of St. Macarius the Prologue and the Epilogue of Eunomius his Apologetick Treatise formerly transcrib'd by him out of a Manuscript of the Reverend Doctor Tenison with a Treatise of Pseudo-Dorotheus found by the Learned Mr. Dodwell in the Bodleian Library out of Greek into Latin and the famous Bull in Caena Domini out of Latin into English annexing a short Preface containing some Reflections upon the Bull and Annimadversions on the late account of the Proceedings of the Parliament of Paris He offered his assistance likewise to a new Edition of Dr. James's Corruption of the Scriptures Councils and Fathers by the Prelates of the Church of Rome for the maintenance of Popery which being a bad Cause was not to be supported by fair and honest Methods And at the request of Mr. Watts He reviewed the Version of Philalethe and Philirerre fitting it for the Press Immediately after these he publish'd his Enthusiasme of the Church of Rome wherein from the Examples of some of her most Illustrious Saints and more especially of those Three from whom Three of the chiefest Orders among them have their Denomination of Jesuits Dominicans and Franciscans he does most evidently make it appear that their great Founders whom they so much admir'd while living and now highly reverence when dead were in truth no other than wild and extravagant Fanaticks Upon the 12th of April 1688. the then most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Sancroft sent for him to Lambeth and put into his hand Archbishop Ushers Dogmatical History of the Holy Scriptures in Manuscript with a Command to transcribe it and publish it which he in a few Months perform'd bestowing great Pains thereon in supplying what was imperfect digesting into Order what was confused and amending what was less accurate the iniquity of those timès not having permitted the Learned Author to put his last hand to it And then added thereto a large Supplement wherein he produces innumerable Testimonies for the same Argument from the first Ages of the Church successively and in Order to the Year 1520. In May following by the Advice of Dr. Tenison he put out Bishop Ridley's Treatise concerning the Eucharist togethèr with some choice Excerpta out of Bishop Poinets Diallacticum In June the same Year though as yet no more than Deacon he was honoured by the Archbishop with a Licence of Preaching through the whole Province of Canterbury a Favour vouchsafed to none but himself during the Continuance of that most Reverend Prelate in that See who was pleas'd to have him begin his Preaching on Whitsunday June the 3d which
wonderful Miracles should be wrought by him And some such extraordinary Actions were required to excite the Jews to a serious consideration of the Quality and Character of the Person who wrought them If the Actions of Christ had been deficient in any one point of Conformity to the precedent Prophesies it had been irrational as well as unlawful for the Jews to have admitted his Revelations altho' confirmed by the greatest Miracles imaginable Since they must have owned thereby the falsity of those Prophesies of the truth of which they were abundantly convinced as being confirm'd to them by an equal Authority of Miracles But not only doth the Reason and Nature of things demonstrate this Truth The Practice and Example of Christ and his Apostles evidently manifest it The first while yet on Earth constantly asserted his Divine Mission and Quality of Messias from the Scriptures of the Old Testament which had Testified of him And his Disciples after his Death carryed on the same Argument He perform'd indeed greater Miracles than any ever had done before him But in Disputing with the Jews he commonly waved that Argument and appealed to the Scripture As well knowing That if they would not hear Moses and the Prophets neither would they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead By which words he plainly infinuates that the greatest of his Miracles his Resurrection was a less valid proof and inferiour to the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets This he often thought alone sufficient to propose as a necessary motive of belief to the Jews And such a motive as could not be rejected without disowning and destroying the Authority of the Old Testament For thus he Disputes in the Vth. of St. John Verses 39 46 47. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which Testifie of me For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me For he wrote of me But if ye believed not his writings how shall ye believe my words No other Method did he make use of to convince his Disciples walking to Emmaus that all those Calamities which had befallen his Person ought necessarily to be inflicted on the Messias All those Glorious Miracles of which themselves had been witnesses proved unsuccessful and could not secure their Faith from a shameful fluctuation Until Christ beginning at Moses and all the Prophets expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself and opened their understanding that they might understand the Scripture that it was thus written and that it thus behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the Dead the Third Day If the constant Companions of our Saviours Life could be drawn to the true knowledge of him by no other Argument than a full and plain Interpretation of the Prophesies of the Old Testament In vain do we hope that any other Arguments could convince the remaining Jews who were less acquainted with the Holiness of his Life and greatness of his Miracles In the next place we may observe that the Apostles were chosen by Christ and used as the inseparable Companions of his Life Not so much to be instructed in the Mysteries of the Christian Faith or trained up in the necessary qualifications of Preachers who might propagate the Gospel after the departure of their Master As to be Witnesses and Spectactors of his Actions and Conversation which they might afterwards Testifie to the World and thereby convince Mankind that they were intirely conformable to the Antient predictions of the Prophets That the former could not be the end or intention of their accompanying Christ through the whole discharge of his Prophetick Office appears plainly from their Ignorance both of the Mysteries of Religion and their own Duty at the time of our Saviours Crucifixion Yet can we not suppose but that Christ obtain'd his chief aim which he proposed to himself in selecting certain Persons for the Companions of his Life This end therefore could indeed be no other than that which I have already assigned of witnessing and publishing to the World the Actions of Christ whose reasonableness and agreement to the predictions of the Mosaick Law was to be judged and determined by every private Man For we no where find that the Apostles from the Authority of their Miracles which were not inferiour to those of Christ himself pretended to set up themselves for infallible Judges or exercise an arbitrary command over the judgments of other Men. They might indeed much more justly have claimed such a priviledge than any ever since their times As being personally infallible and endued with the power of working Miracles Yet they never endeavoured to command the assent of their hearers before they had informed and satisfied their Understandings But proceeded in a more rational method and following the example of their Master chose rather to convince their judgment with Arguments whose attention they had before excited by Miracles These Arguments when directed to the Jews were chiefly taken from the Old Testament Whose Prophecies they demonstrated to have plainly soretold and described the Actions and Sufferings of Christ of which Actions themselves were witnesses Thus we find St. Peter in his Sermon made to the Jews upon this Day to have used no other Method And not so much to have urged the Illustrious Miracle of the gift of Tongues newly conferred on them as the conformity of that and all other Actions of Christ to the Antient Predictions of the Prophets His Sermon in the following Chapter proceeds from the same Foundation And St. Stephen in the VII Chap. St. Paul in the XIII use no other Argument when Disputing against the Jews From a clear Interpretation of the Prophecies in Scripture concerning the Messias Philip convinced the Eunuch who was a Jewish Proselyte of the Divinity of Christ Acts VIII and Acts XVIII Apollos is said to have mightily convinced the Jews and that publickly shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. St. Paul pleading before King Agrippa endeavoured before all things to prove that he stood there to be judged for the hope of the Promise made by God unto the Fathers Acts XXVI 6. And ver 27. appealed to the Prophets and asked Agrippa whether he believed not them insinuating that if he truly believed the Prophets and understood their genuine Sense he could not but embrace the Christian Religion Lastly to say no more his Disputes with the Jews at Rome were employed in expounding and Testifying the Kingdom of God Perswading them concerning Jesus both out of the Law of Moses and out of the Prophets from Morning till Evening Acts XXVIII 23. It appears then That the chief reason of the choice of the Apostles to a familiar conversation with our Saviour before his Ascension was no other than that they might thereby be enabled to Testify and publish to the World his Actions Miracles and Sufferings which being received from them might then by every private Man be examined and compared with the
them When ye have lift up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am He. And this in some measure mitigates and excuseth the present ignorance of the Apostles that they had not yet seen the completion of the last and greatest Acts of Christ particularly his Resurrection Lastly To say no more the extraordinary Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost were not yet poured forth Of these Gifts none of the least was a due preparation of Will and penetration of Judgment to conceive rightly the sence and meaning of all Divine Revelations and Mysteries This was afterwards plentifully poured down upon the Apostles as upon this Day but before that time was not conferred on them That the want of this extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost was a main cause of their Ignorance is plainly insinuated by all those Texts wherein Christ promiseth to the Apostles the Mission of the Holy Spirit to dispel their Ignorance and enlighten their understandings as in the words of the Text and John XV. 26. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall Testify of me and when He the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all Truth The ordinary assistance of the Divine Spirit had indeed all along accompanyed the Apostles which had been abundantly sufficient when added to the Motives of Faith and advantages of Instruction which they received from Christ to inform them in all things necessary considered as private Persons if they had removed all prejudices and used due attention and reason but the extraordinary Inspiration of the Holy Ghost being not necessary was not yet conferred on them For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified St. John VII 39. These were the principal causes of that Ignorance of the Apostles which we proposed to inquire into of that misapprehension of the Nature of our Saviours Office and Design which so eminently appears in the context as we before explained it which disabled them from considering the consequence of his Miracles For their heart was hardned Mark VI. 52. by reason of which They understood none of these things his Passion and Resurrection and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken Luc. XVIII 34. which caused the words of the women relating to the Resurrection of Christ to seem to them as idle Tales and incredible Fables Luc. XXIV 11. and the indignation of which drew from Christ that sharp Exprobration O ye of little faith Mattâ—… VIII 26. That this Ignorance ought not in the least to surprize us or induce us to entertain any thoughts prejudicial to Christianity it self appears from the Reasons which I have already assigned to it but will more fully be manifested in considering the second Head proposed which was To shew That the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel This will evidently appear from these two Considerations I. That it would be incongruous to the Divine Wisdom to use any extraordinary methods in removing the Ignorance of the Apostles and perfectly informing their Understandings until such Information not being possible to be obtained by the ordinary methods of Instruction should become absolutely necessary to the being of the Church II. That such a perfect and plenary Information was not necessary to the Apostles till after the Ascension of Christ. The first of these Propositions naturally follows from that known truth and received principle that God never worketh Miracles without necessity nor recurreth to extraordinary causes while natural and ordinary will suffice However fully to evince this matter and clear all remaining doubts I will consider all the possible methods of perfectly instructing the Apostles before the Ascension of Christ when the natural and ordinary means failed and demonstrate that God could not use any one of them without being injurious to his Wisdom and Honour These extraordinary methods may be reduced to these three Heads First God by his Almighty power might have over-ruled their understanding and without expecting the assent of the Will violently imprinted a perfect knowledge of his Revelations in it or even forced the Will to assent to it although it had not yet discoverd the truth of it But nothing can be imagined more injurious to the honour of God than a proceeding of this kind to prepare the way for Religion by violating those Priviledges of reasoning and free will which he at first conferred on them which were in truth to make Mankind happy by destroying their Nature Secondly our Saviour having already abundantly convinced the Apostles of the Divinity of his Mission and consequently of his Infallibity might have plainly and openly revealed to them all the Mysteries of his Religion and future Actions to be yet performed and required their immediate Assent to them without taking care to satisfie them at the same time of the truth and reasonableness of such Revelations by their Conformity to all precedent Revelations or the Law of Nature but this also was irrational in it self and consequently unworthy of the Divine Wisdom and might justly have been esteemed unsatisfactory by the Apostles For as they were fully convinced that our Saviour was a Divine Person so were they no less that all the precedent Revelations were delivered by inspired men and consequently deserved the same degree of Assent which his could do So that if the least repugnance between the Doctrine or Life of Christ and the ancient Prophesies could have been difcovered they were not in the least obliged to assent unto them Nay to a full and unexceptionable Proof of the truth of his Revelations it was not only necessary that no repugnance between them and the predictions of the Old Testament were discovered but also that an entire Conformity should appear Since the true Messias was by God designed to the Jews under those two Characters of extraordinary Miracles and perfect agreement of Life Actions and Doctrine to the precedent Predictions and Revelations and consequently could not be evidently distinguished without the concurrence of both those Proofs And indeed such an arbitrary Command of a blind Assent to any Revelations confirmed by Miracles without a previous Examination of the truth of them is so absurd and repugnant to the Laws of reasoning that it could not be used by Christ himself even in respect of Heathens For such a resignation of the Understanding could rationally be made to no other Authority than an Authority founded upon Arguments of greater Credibility than can be found in any other Case But such is not the Authority derived from Miracles for all objects of Sense and necessary Deductions from reason include at least an equal many a greater degree of Credibility I mean not hereby that any truths whatsoever can have a greater certainty than
those which are revealed by God supposing them to have been indeed revealed but only that any such Revelation is really made can appear no otherwise than by Arguments of probability Thirdly a perfect knowledge of all the Mysteries of Religion might have been extraordinarily obtained by the Apostles before the Ascension of our Saviour by conferring on them the same Gifts of the Holy Ghost as were afterwards poured on them on the day of Pentecost But neither was this convenient to the design of the Gospel nor the Wisdom of God Not to the former For the plentiful Effusion and Mission of the Holy Ghost was an Act of the Regal power of Christ which he commenced not till after his Ascension when he first began to exercise that Authority which he had obtained to himself by the obedience of Death And therefore our Saviour tells the Apostles S. Joh. XVI 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And in another place this is assigned as the Reason why the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Wisdom of God also was no less engaged which might justly have been arraigned if he had used so wonderful and signal a Miracle as was the Mission of the Holy Ghost for the extraordinary instruction of the Apostles before the Ascension of our Lord since no such Instruction was yet necessary which was the second Point I proposed to prove Namely II. That a perfect and infallible Information of the Apostles was not absolutely necessary till after the Ascension of Christ. For this was required in the Apostles for no other cause than that they might thereby be inabled to teach the Doctrines of our Saviour to the whole world and at last deliver them down in writing to succeeding Ages infallibly and without danger of any intermixed Enrour to the suspicion of which the Christian Religion would ever have been subjected if they had not been indued with such clearness of apprehension concerning every Point of it and attended by such an extraordinary assistance as might secure them from all possible danger of mistaking the Sense of that Doctrine which they were to deliver to the rest of Mankind To create this clear apprehension in the Apostles and convey down this assistance to them was the chief intention of sending the Holy Ghost as upon this day and the principal effect of that Mission at least as far as I am at present concerned So that since the sending of the Holy Ghost was designed purely to enable them to the due execution of their Office of preaching and propagating the Doctrine of Christ to the whole world which Office was not to be commenced till after his Ascension it manifestly follows that an exact and infallible knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion was not absolutely necessary to the Apostles before that time A perfect knowledge would have been useful indeed to them even before that time but useful to them only as private Persons not as bearing the publick Office and Character of Apostles whose Office before the Ascension of our Saviour consisted as we before observed in taking notice of the Actions Sufferings and Miracles of Christ that they might be able afterwards to testifie them to the whole world This Office of observing the Actions of Christ required no exact and perfect knowledge of all the Reasons of his Actions and Mysteries of his Doctrine but might be sufficiently discharged by any Persons who were not devoid of common Sense and Honesty The Mission of the Holy Ghost was necessary upon Reasons of another nature and would have continued necessary although the Apostles had perfectly understood all the Doctrine of our Saviour before his Ascension For however they might then sufficiently understand it nothing less than a perpetual extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost could infallibly secure them from all future Errour in delivering it to others or create such a degree of probability as might deserve the Assent and Belief of Mankind in all future Ages Thus I have shewn the Reasons of that Ignorance of the Apostles which is so remarkable through all the History of the Gospels and for which our Saviour promiseth so extraordinary a remedy in the words of my Text and withal demonstrated that there is nothing in all this Conduct of the Apostles continuing under that Ignorance till the Ascension and of our Saviour permitting it till that time disadvantageous to the Truth and Divinity of the Christian Religion It remains that I draw some few Conclusions from what hath been said which was the third and last Proposal First then if as we before shewed our Saviour and the Apostles who were unquestionably infallible never set up themselves for infallible Judges nor required from their Hearers a blind Assent to their Dictates if they submitted their Doctrines to the Examination of Scripture and Judgment of all private men in vain do any at this day pretend in vertue of an Authority derived from them to set up themselves for infallible Judges of Controversie from whom lyeth no Appeal either to Scripture or Reason and thereby exercise a Jurisdiction which they never claimed But I wave that Particular and choose rather to insist on some more practical Considerations Of which The first is That if the knowledge of the Christian Religion was so difficult to the Apostles who enjoyed so many and so great advantages under the Instruction and Government of their Divine Master the Author of this Religion if after the sight of his Miracles the Enjoyment of a triennial Conversation and the constant hearing of his Divine Discourses they continued ignorant of the true Spirit and Nature of Christianity this ought to excite us to great diligence in learning and studying the Mysteries of our Religion and enquiring the true Sense of those Revelations which our Saviour conveyed to the world It is indeed the peculiar Excellency and Glory of the Christian Religion that its admirable simplicity hath fited it to the Understandings and Capacity of all men that it is not such an abstruce Science as surmounts the ordinary reach of Mankind and must intirely be confined to the Discipline of the Schools and knowledge of Learned men the acquisition and understanding of it is possible and even easie to all men But then God in proposing this Religion intended not purely to supercede the Labours of men and consult their ease Some Conditions are also necessary on our side that we diligently search the Truth examine the Scriptures hearken to the instruction of our Pastors carefully weigh the Reasons of things and bring a mind ready disposed to assent to any Truths which shall evidently appear to us how contrary soever they may be to our Passions and Inclinations For although we labour not with those prejudices of a temporal Kingdom
to be founded by the Messias or expected from him which so long clouded the Understandings of the Apostles and hindred them from entertaining true Notions of that Mystery although having the Happiness to be brought up in a Christian and Orthodox Church we suck in true Notions of the Christian Religion in general even from our Infancy yet the prejudices which arise from our Passions and corrupt Affections are no less violent and betray us to no less fatal mistakes These not only defeat the Benefit of that assistance of the Holy Ghost in the Inquisition of truth which God hath promised to all well disposed Persons who rightly ask it of him but also directly introduce the foulest and most pernicious Errours by prompting us to form such Notions of Religion as may be most adapted and favourable to those corrupt Inclinations And this diligence in the Inquiry and Examination of our Religion will be so much the more necessary if we consider that God had indeed provided an effectual remedy for all the mistakes of the Apostles by the plentiful Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them but hath left us to the ordinary Emanations and Assistance of the Divine Spirit which will lead us into all necessary Truths if our own Endeavours be not wanting but upon defect of those or any other due disposition of the mind will not only not produce this happy Effect but also depart from us II. The Sense of this great and inestimable Benefit conferred this day upon the Apostles and then upon the whole Church and our selves in particular ought to excite us to the utmost gratitude and engage us to endeavour not to render our selves unworthy of it at least not permit our selves to be ungrateful for it For this Benefit was not confined to the persons of the Apostles it brings down with it many great and inestimable advantages to the Church which continue till this day By this we are assured that the Christian Religion hath received the last degree of Confirmation by this we know that Christ hath really ascended into Heaven and there taken possession of his Kingdom that however he hath removed his corporeal Presence he still continues to be present with us by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost that he ceased not at his Ascension to govern and take care of the Church but abundantly provided for the necessity and convenience of it by sending the third Person of the ever Blessed Trinity who might actuate and direct it and performing the Office of a Paraclet teach exhort comfort and intercede for every single Member of it By this the drooping Spirits of the Apostles were erected their Fears dispelled and their Minds enlightened by this the truth of the Christian Religion was put past all Dispute and the Church invigorated with such an assurance of Divine assistance as might secure it from all Dangers and place it beyond the rage of men or fury of Tyrants We also at this day partake of the blessed Effects of this great Benefit we share in the Joys of the Apostles and experience the Influences of that Divine Spirit By this they were inabled to convey down to us infallibly the Christian Religion and found a Church of which to be Members we esteem our greatest Happiness By this Spirit we are united to the Body of the Church to Christ our Head and to one another By this we are excited to vertue and the practice of our Duty are assisted in the search of Truth are comforted in Afflictions and upheld in Dangers This Spirit our Saviour promised ver 16. should abide with us for ever not in that measure indeed and abundance which was conferred on the Apostles but according to the proportion of our necessities and the Improvement of that present Portion which is already conferred on us Let us endeavour by an exact discharge of our Duty and daily improvement in Piety to augment our Interest in the benefits of this Day and favour of the Holy Ghost at least let us take care least by our negligence and degenerate Behaviour we forfeit our Title to them both Lastly as we are obliged to admire and celebrate the infinite Goodness of God in bestowing upon the Church the diffusive Presence of the Holy Ghost by his Mission as upon this Day so are we no less engaged to be thankful for his particular Presence in the Holy Sacrament since this not only gives us a firm assurance of the continuance of that Presence which was at first granted as so great a Blessing to the Apostles but also derives down upon all worthy Communicants as far as is necessary to them the same Gifts and Graces which the first Descent of it procured to the Apostles By this means we may not only commemorate but act anew and experience in our selves all the Glories of this day by receiving into our Souls a plentiful Effusion of the same Spirit But then as several previous Dispositions were required in the Apostles to qualifie them for the reception of so great a Benefit so must we prepare our selves for the Participation of so great a Mystery with no less diligence and caution that as they firmly believed and constantly expected the Promises of our Saviour although he had removed his Corporeal Presence from them so we should without any Fluctuation believe the certain performance of all those Graces which are promised to all worthy Communicants and that however his natural Body is absent from us yet he is really present in the Elements by the Efficacy and Operation of the Holy Spirit that as they prepared themselves for the reception of the Holy Ghost by an intire Resignation of their Wills to his influence and direction so we should fit our Souls for the Entertainment of all those Graces conferred in the Sacrament by a perfect Resignation of our selves to God and steady Resolution of performing his Commands And that as they in order to obtain the promised Mission of a Comforter met all together with one accord in one house so we in order to receive the mighty Benefits of this Sacrament should be united in perfect Charity to one another If any of these due Qualifications be wanting we shall be so far from obtaining any share in the Benefits of this Day or Commemorating as we ought the wonderful Mission of the Holy Ghost that we shall forfeit our Title to all the Benefits of the Gospel and do despight to the Spirit of Grace Now to God the Father God the Son c. The Second SERMON PREACH'D Septemb. 16th 1688. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Philip. II. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus OUR blessed Saviour hath not only revealed to us the whole Will of God in relation to Mankind and thereby given to us a most excellent and truly Divine Religion but also set us a most perfect Example of Holiness and universal Righteousness in the whole Conduct of his Life therein exceeding all other Lawgivers
Conceptions dark and unaccountable above the understanding and capacity of the common People fitted only for the Contemplation of Philosophers and after all no other than the products of a volatile Fancy So little adapted to the understanding of the vulgar or indeed intended for their benefit that they were studiously concealed under the venerable Name of Mysteries and imparted only to Confidents Among the Jews all imaginable Care was taken to instruct the People in all necessary Duties relating to God Themselves and their Neighbours But even the more Learned of them knew not the Reasons of those many Ceremonies and Legal Observations imposed on them They knew in general that many of them typified the coming of a future Messias who should institute a more excellent Religion and be the Author of signal Benefits to their Nation But alas this knowledge was lame and imperfect in its own Nature and infinitely unsatisfactory to them who desired to know somewhat more certain yet still continued to wander in the dark without any certain guide This appears from the Writings of those Learned Jews who lived about the time of our Saviour's coming These employed their Labours in finding out the hidden meaning of the Mosaick Law and discovering the Reasons of all those Ceremonial Institutions but so unsuccessfully that they plainly mistook the design of their Divine Lawgiver and by turning all his Ritual Precepts into Allegories and obscure Mysteries defeated their Institution and corrupted the truth of their Religion with false Notions and Interpretations And no wonder indeed for the veil was not yet taken from them nor to be removed but by the coming of the Messias who was to be the Sun of righteousness dispersing the dark Clouds of ignorance and giving light unto the World He alone hath made a full Discovery of the Will of God rendred the knowledge of it easie to all and thereby made the Ignorance of necessary Truths to be inexcusable herein compleating the Covenant which God made with the House of Israel in the Prophet Jeremy XXXI 33 34. After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. Yet must we not imagine that in proposing this plain and easie Religion God intended to supercede all Labours of Mankind and imprint the knowledge of it even violently upon our Minds He hath dealt with us as rational Creatures proposed the truth clearly to us enforced it with the most perswasive Arguments fitted it to our Capacity and afforded us easie means of obtaining a perfect knowledge of it After such abundant Provision for the free Entertainment of it in our Minds he leaves it to the Liberty of our Will whether we will embrace or reject it To deal otherwise with us were to suppose us meer Brutes and Machines not capable of entertaining any Religion and unfit to receive either Rewards or Punishments It was not only the Precept of our Saviour but the Wisdom of all Ages Not to cast holy things before Dogs nor Pearls before Swine to create a knowledge of Divine Truths in persons insensible of the Benefit conferred upon Mankind in the Revelation of them and who make no advancement towards their Reception The Divine Wisdom hath chosen to propose those eternal Truths in such a method as that a perfect Acquisition of the knowledge of them might exercise the diligence and obedience of Mankind We must bring Minds freed from all Prejudices and Passions use due attention search the Scriptures weigh the Reasons and Arguments which perswade their Divinity and being once convinced of that acquiesce in them and in a word use all means which God hath abundantly provided for our Instruction We must not satisfie our selves with an Historical knowledge but inquire into the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy reflect upon the reasonableness of it and make it the Subject of our Meditations A Subject than which none can be more worthy the Dignity of our Nature or more necessary to the being of a Christian. By this we shall be convinced That the performance of all Christian Duties is not only enforced by the revealed Will of God but also commanded by the Law of Nature that the constant Practice of them is our greatest Perfection and would be our utmost Happiness although attended with no Rewards Every increase of knowledge will augment the force of our Obligation and bring some perswasive Argument to the Exercise of our Duty But then if we consider what the Revelation of Christianity hath added to those imperfect Discoveries made by the light of Nature the Mysteries of our Redemption the Sacrifice of the Cross the Free Pardon of our sins the hopes of eternal Life and those Foederal Rites the Sacraments by which we are intitled to these Benefits we shall be able more perfectly to comprehend the Wisdom and Goodness of God and the Greatness of our Obligation to him These advantages naturally flow from a perfect knowledge of our Faith However the Apostle in giving this Precept more immediately respects the Conviction of those Persons who spoke evil of the Christians as of evil doers as appears from the following Verse For when Christianity first appeared in the World teaching the Worship of one only God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Commanding all men every where to repent and enjoyning them upon the severest Penalties to live godlily holily and righteously in this present world Men decried it as leading to Atheism and the Extirpation of Divine Worship because forbidding any Worship to be given to those false Gods who were the universal Objects of Adoration at that time and changing all pompous external Ceremonies into a spiritual and internal Worship They traduced it as irrational and debasing the Dignity of Mankind because not proposed with the usual Ostentation of worldly Wisdom and Philosophy and requiring men to deny their Lusts conquer their Desires and sorfake their most darling Passions Lastly they rejected it as impious and execrable as an unheâ—…rd of Superstition and a fond Credulity because they knew not those Arguments upon which it was founded nor considered the demonstrative Proofs which recommended it To convince the Folly and Ignorance of these men the Apostle requires all Christians to be ready always to give an answer to every man of the reason of the hope that is in them that so whereas they speak of them as evil doers they may be convinced that neither the Doctrine of Christians leads to Immorality nor their Practice favours it For the knowledge of Christianity was not intended to be a Speculative Science meerly to inform the Judgment and not Correct our Errours But as an operative knowledge which might visibly exert it self in all our Duties to God and Man The Divinity
by reflecting on it would perswade himself that his Interest is indeed engaged in it For it affects those very Passions which are wont to betray the Will of man to sin desire and fear and would men consider could not but be more prevalent than all other Objects which move those Passions since the Reward proposed is more desirable the Punishment denounced more to be feared than any other thing whatsoever This was the Argument which our Lord his forerunner John Baptiâ—…t and his Apostles employed to convert the World Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand the time now cometh when he will no longer wink at the Sins of Mankind when he will evidently declare his Resolution to punish impenitent Sinners and even exemplifie it in the terrible Destruction of the impenitent Nation of the Jews as he did shortly after The axe is now laid to the root of the tree and every tree which bringeth not foâ—…th good fruit shall be hewen down and cast into the fire These and such like Denunciations of the wrath of God to unrepenting Sinners drew multitudes of Men to a sense of and sorrow for their Sins not only the more devout Jews but also Soldiers and Publicans who confessing their Sins were then Baptized manifesting by that anciently received Emblem of Purity and Innocence their Resolution of sinning no more Even after a full Conviction formed of their Duty our Lord thought fit to propose this very Argument to his Disciples who had been long trained up in Obedience to him and were now entring upon the most difficult Point of Christianity the patient enduring of Persecution Affliction and even Death it self all which he foretold should befall them in that Mission which he then enjoyn'd them Yet to these Fears he opposeth as the greatest Remedy this Consideration only Fear not them which can kill the Body and after that can do no more but I will tell you whom you shall fear Fear him who can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell All other Motives of Interest all other Objects of fear or hope concern the Body only and terminate there But in the Matters of Religion the Reward to be desired the Punishment to be feared equally concern both Soul and Body the common Happiness or Misery of both which depends upon it The Reward you may slight perhaps as not desiring any greater Satisfaction than what you now enjoy but the Fear you cannot surmount that will still affect you For if you so much value the present ease of the Body the one part of you you cannot but be affrighted at the certain Expectation of the eternal Misery of both Soul and Body If this Consideration hath not that effect upon us which it had upon the Hearers of Christ John Baptist and the Apostles it is because the Expectation of this denounced Destruction far from being certain in us is eluded by vain Perswasions that Destruction may be avoided without Repentance We all believe the truth of the Divine Revelations prescribing Rules of Piety Justice and Temperance commanding Repentance upon neglect or violation of these Rules giving Sentence of dreadful Punishments upon Impenitence We all confess that we have violated those Rules we apply not the Remedy of Repentance and yet we hope to avoid the Punishment For did not Men really flatter themselves with those hopes it is impossible that the mind of Man convinced of the truth of such a future Punishment and conscious of its own Demerits should not immediately apply it self to prevent the Execution of that dreadful Sentence by a timely Repentance These false hopes and perswasions may be referred to a double Head either that of Presumption or that of Inadvertency That men through a fond Opinion of their own worth fancy God will exempt them from the general Sentence and from the necessity of Repentance or at least allow this and another and a third Sin to them or that they proceed in sin securely and with a sort of Stupidity never willingly considering the consequences of Punishment upon Sin and when they are suggested to them still putting them off and continuing to imagine that God will however save them though theyk now not why Both these sort of Prejudices are too common among all Christians and to both I shall oppose some general Considerations shewing it impossible that Goâ—… should not execute the Sentence of Destruction pronounced universally against all impenitent Sinners or in the words of my Text that it cannot be that Men should not repent and yet should not perish The necessity of Destruction consequent upon Unrepentance is drawn chiefly from the Determination of the Divine Will which hath so appointed it And the resolution of God herein is so frequently and fully expressed in Scripture that no doubt can be admitted of it Nay the holy Spirit of God seems to have taken particular care least men should be deceived herein by affixing vehement Asseverations to his Threats of Punishments As in Ezech. XVII 19. Thus saith the Lord God as I live surely my Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompense upon his own head And in the XXII Chapter having denounced to Sinners the extremity of his anger he subjoyns Verse 14. Can thy heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it So that those who promise Salvation to themselves without Repentance of past Sins or Reformation of Life must either pretend to new Lights and new Revelalations new terms of Covenant or disbelieve those contained in Scripture which are indeed the only true ones Yet I will not say dis-believe them For far be it from me to judge that of many Christians who do firmly indeed believe all the Revelations of that Sacred Writing and yet continue their hopes of Salvation without employing the means of it Only we must confess that believing them we do not regard them and when we do seriously reflect upon it must acknowledge that such vain hopes are inconsistent with those revealed Truths For I hope none of this Assembly have been deceived with the idle Pretences of inward Lights or unaccountable Revelations of Arbitrary Election for secret Reasons and absolute Reprobation for unknown Causes which Delusions when once entertained would render all Repentance useless We hold fast to the old form of Tradition delivered to the Saints pretend to no Revelations unknown to former Ages to know more of the Will of God than what our Lord or the Apostles have plainly delivered in Scripture We are content to go to Heaven the same way that all Saints have gone before us by the Exercise of Repentance and good Works Nor if there be any truth in those Sacred Writings is there any other way Yet we hear those Holy Scriptures daily read to us wherein we are commanded by Precepts we are allured by Promises we are terrified by Threats
Happiness to enjoy that advantage in a most eminent manner to have the Scriptures translated most exactly into our own Language to read them securely and hear them weekly explained to us Let us manifest that we are not insensible of so great a Benefit by a right use of it least we fall into the Condemnation of those who abuse the Divine Mercy and that Candlestick of which we are not worthy be removed from us It remains that we briefly apply what hath been said And first If our Religion be so excellent and rational attended with such Evidence and Conviction it is our Duty to maintain a firm and constant Profession of it at all times or in the words of my Text To be ready always to give an account of it not to dissemble it for fear or interest much less betray it by a denial of it The great ends of Religion are to secure the Honour of God and advance the Happiness of Mankind By such shameful Cowardize both these ends are defeated the Honour of God is wounded and the hopes of Happiness intirely destroyed Hereby Men renounce all dependence upon God disown him to be their Lord and Master and bid defiance to him Nor may we flatter our selves that this execrable Crime of Apostacy consists only in denying all Christianity and wholly renouncing our Saviour to yield up the least truth which we are convinced to be Divine to assent to the least Errour which we believe to be false to forsake a Communion which we know to be pure and lawful to embrace one which we are perswaded is corrupt and erroneous is no less truly the sin of Apostacy and will undoubtedly meet with the same Punishment The Nature of the sin is the same in both Cases that we willfully recede from the Truth and affront the Divine Majesty by preferring a Lye to his revealed Will. The maintenance of Truth and directing our Conduct by the Dictates of it is the Dignity of Man and perfection of his Soul To betray the most inconsiderable Truth to any temporal Considerations is a plain Confession that we have inverted the order of Nature and subjected our more noble part the Soul to the Lusts and Passions of the Body an Indignity unworthy a rational Being which prostitutes the Honour of his Nature Ranks him among brute Beasts and from being the head of all visible Creatures degrades him into the condition of a Slave to dust and ashes But when Eternity and an Interest infinitely greater than any which can be promoted on Earth by such Apostacy lays at stake when immortality and everlasting Happiness are destroyed by it nay when the utmost Displeasure of an Almighty God and the direful effects of it eternal Torments are the consequences of it to preferr a few trifling Pleasures of this World disclaim all hopes of Happiness in another Life and incurr the Divine Vengeance is a height of Folly which all the Affairs and Examples of this Life cannot equal an Impiety which neither the Art of Men or Devils can exceed When the Interest of Truth is concerned the Honour of God engaged to lay down our Lives in Testimony of the one and Vindication of the other to forego all the Conveniences of this Life to despise all worldly Considerations and with a generous Contempt overlook all the Sollicitations and Threats of men this the Dignity of our Nature requires of us this our Duty to God obliges us to this the Expectation of a future state leads us to For surely we are no longer deserve the Name or Character of men than while we continue rational We deny all Relation to God when we sacrifice his Commands to our Interests and disclaim all Title to a future state when we yield up the Conditions of it for the sake of a present advantage Yet how many Examples of such Apostacy hath the Church deplored in all Ages And I wish our Age afforded none of those who have betrayed the Profession of their Faith I will not say to the fear of Death for so great a Terrour all Spirits cannot overcome And we of this Nation thanks be to God do not suffer but to the fear of Poverty or perhaps to the hopes of continuing or advancing their Preferment in the world A most amazing wickedness that Men should Sell their God at so low a price and exchange their Religion for such mean Considerations Resign to me the hopes of Heaven and I will give you a possession in the Earth give me up your Soul and I will enrich your Body deny your Creator and I will give you Honour among your Fellow-Creatures A Proposal which even a Heathen Philosopher would entertain with Scorn and every sober Christian with a pious Horrour These are the Flatteries of the world and with these the Prince of the world attempted our Saviour All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me But our Saviour immediately rejected such base Proposals with a generous Disdain and with a get thee behind me Satan manifested with how great Indignation he had received them thereby giving us an Example how we ought to behave our selves upon such occasions and not to admit even the thoughts of such a Crime For surely in the cause of God even to deliberate with our selves whether we shall betray it or no is a degree of Apostacy in that Case deliberasse est descivisse and the thought of foolishness is sin To put the question to our own Souls is to trifle with the Divine Majesty to dishonour our Religion and degrade our Nature But to decide it in Favour of our Lufts and the petty Temptations of the world is to fill up the measure of our iniquity and in the most reproachful Sense turn the grace of God into wantonness I speak of those who are convinced of the truth of any Religion or Communion at the same time that they forsake it As sor those who may pretend Reasons of Conscience and Conviction of Judgment for their departure from our Church let them seriously consider whether this be not indeed a Pretence and whether they can really answer it to God and their own Consciences Let them examine themselves whether they were not byassed in their Judgments and powerfully prejudiced in Favour of that Communion to which they have revolted by the Temptation of secular interest and advantage in this Case let them know that God will not be mocked and that to force our Understandings is no less Criminal than to force our Consciences God hath proposed sufficient direction to us in the Holy Scripture and will by no means pardon us if we willfully shut our eyes against the Truth We need not go any farther than the words of my Text for this direction The Apostle commands all Christians to be ready to give an answer of the reason of the faith that is in them If then any Society of men discourageth and overthrows the use of reason in private Christians