or Death are ascertained to us that he should delineate to our very eyes in plain and legible Characters the excellency of his Doctrine by the Piety and Innocency of his Life and so recommend his Precepts to our practice by his own Example set before us that he should convince and assure us of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine by many and undeniable Miracles that he should seal the truth of what he delivered by his own bloud offer up his Life a Sacrifice to death to procure life to the sinful World that by his divine power he should rise out of the Grave gloriously ascend to Heaven intercede with his Father on our behalf and from thence send us another Comforter even the spirit of Truth which should inform our minds with the knowledge of all necessary truths and bring us to the love and practice of all Christian Vertues and Graces Certainly this method is abundantly able to destroy the works of the Devil and the prevail with sinners to lead godly and pious lives Which will most evidently appear if we proceed to consider the second Argument to illustrate the truth of the Apostles Assertion II. The Son of God hath in many remarkable instances already supplanted the Power of the Devil in delivering many Souls from the tyranny and dominion of that insulting Enemy notwithstanding the great disadvantages and discouragements that the Christian Religion hath met with in the World both from Jews and Gentiles from the first plantation of the Gospel until now For though the Jews were circumcised the eighth day and in their Childhood kept in cruel bondage under their Parents and Masters who constrained them to learn the Law of Moses and when they came to riper years were taught by the Scribes and Pharisees who sate in Moses Chair that their Religion was eternal and the Oeconomy thereof never to be altered and therefore were bound to reject any person that should broach any other Doctrine to discard him from their Synagogues to stop his mouth that he might not speak and their ears that they might not hear And 't is notorious that the Gentiles were no less fortified in their Heathen Rites and superstitious Customs every Nation having their respective Deities whom they constantly adored and offered Sacrifice to and some of them so careful to secure the honour of their Gods and all under their Authority in their Idolatrous observances that as Melanchton notes in his Epistle to his Comment upon the Romans every Athenian made a Vow at his admission to the Liberties and Franchises of the City se pugnare pro diis solum cum aliis not onely to fight valiantly in the front of an Army to defend and vindicate their Gods but like the Roman Scaeva to withstand whole Legions Adde to all this the Opposition that was to be expected without the Scoffs and Jears that Christians must expect from their Neighbours the Censures of their Laws and the displeasure of their Governours the meanness of Christ and the unworthiness of his Apostles the poverty and weakness of them both that they were utterly unable to supply the wants of their Disciples or defend them from the malice and cruelty of their Enemies But above all consider the corruption of their hearts and the contrariety of the Gospel to their former course of life forbidding the least Impurity and threatening vengeance against the smallest sin which they poor wretches were wholy immersed in and in honour of their Gods were not onely taught to practise but commanded to observe And yet notwithstanding such great contradictions the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God to salvation constrained both Jews and Gentiles with a holy violence to break asunder their unlawful Oaths to disclaim their former Religions to flie from the snares and delusions of the Devil and to become Proselytes to the Religion of Jesus For when that glorious Light the Sun of Righteousness appeared in the World the beams of his Majesty were immediately dispersed over the face of the Earth and his Glory in a short time dispelled that hideous darkness which had overspread the World and brought Life and Immortality to light For so the Evangelist tells us that by the miraculous instinct and conduct of a Star the news of his birth was revealed to the furthermost parts of the Earth as soon as ever he was born and the Princes thereof came to pay their Adoration to him and when they saw him fell down and worshipped him Mat. 2. And when he entered upon his Prophetick Office though he did not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets yet the Children of men slockt in abundance to hear him deservedly counting it their greatest honour to become the Disciples of so glorious a Master So great Worth they saw in his Person and such Excellency in his Doctrine such glorious Rewards he propounded to them such intolerable miseries he warn'd them to flie from that they made hast to deliver themselves from the bonds of sin by which they were detained Captives to the will of the Devil and without delay became the Followers of Christ glorying in nothing more than in being Christians And as our Lord himself did so miraculously rescue the Souls of men from their subjection to Sin and Satan so that life and vigour which continually attends the dispensation of the Gospel hath been illustriously manifest in opposition to all the Powers of Darkness and the Malice of Hell it self For as his Apostles went up and down preaching the Gospel the Lord added to the Church dayly such as should be saved Three thousand Souls became Converts to the Christian Faith at one Sermon of St. Peter's Acts 2.41 In the Roman Empire and the Province of Judea multitudes multitudes thronged into the Kingdom of Christ and not onely the weak and impotent people but the great ones and wise men of the Earth cheerfully embraced this divine Religion accounting their Strength weakness and their Wisdom folly until then Cornelius a Centurion became a Proselyte to it Nero's Family had some Saints Sergius Paulus a Proconsul and Dionysius the famous Areopagite at Athens became Converts to the Christian Faith And the Histories of the Church present us with many and many excellent Persons of great esteem for their admirable Learning and vast Endowments who in a short space of time voluntarily forsook the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and sincerely devoting themselves to the service of Christ were deservedly famous in their Generations for Piety and Devotions Which very Argument Arnobius insists upon when he reasoned with the Heathen to perswade them to receive the Faith of Christ that men of the greatest Wits and Parts Tam magnis Ingeniis paediti Oratores Grammatici Rhetores Consulti Juris ac Medici Philosophie etiam secreta rimantes Magisteria hec expetunt spretis quibus paulò antè fidebant c. Arnob. cont Gent. l. 2. p. 44.
highth of admiration they manifested to the World the frequent effusion of the Spirit upon themselves the communicating of it to others by praying preaching and laying on of hands whereby evil Spirits became subject to them that they prevailed over the Devil and his deluding Oracles whose Tongues they silenc'd whose Forgeries they discover'd whose Favorites they strangely and in a moment struck dead and restrained the malice and fury of Lucifer himself Were these the effects of any other power than the Spirit of the Lord Was it ever heard that a meer Mortal was able to do the like to alter the course of Nature and produce effects directly contrary to the production of natural causes Is it within the power of the Mighty or can the Devils themselves bring it to pass No It requires an Omnipotent arm no less than that which created the World and setled the particular Beings therein to change their courses to alter their natures to work not onely with slender and unlikely means but without and against all probable methods certainly none but the Spirit of the Almighty can do thus When therefore the power of working Miracles is the alone work of a Deity and such remarkable instances were plainly manifest by Christ and his Apostles to discover the Divinity and procure the belief of his Doctrine it 's a plain Argument that that extraordinary power with which they were invested was on purpose designed to discard the Devil and confront his Power because that Doctrine which was confirmed by them is directly contrary to the designes and projects of that evil Spirit Secondly By its continual influence upon the Understanding and Wills of men to enable them to resist the Devil and overcome his Temptations Though the Doctrine of the Gospel had such an undeniable Evidence as the Power of Miracles to ascertain the truth and verity of it that one would think no man which believes the matter of fact that such miracles were wrought should doubt of the truth or question the divine Authority of the Christian Religion and consequently would soon resigne up their Understanding to the obedience of Faith to be governed by the Laws of that divine Institution yet he that considers how little men regard the Authority of that divine Testimony and consider the excellency of the Gospel discovery and how careless men are to be strict and serious in their Conversations and how soon debauched by the most easie Temptation who profess to believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and assent to his Doctrine as infallibly true will soon perceive the necessity of some supernatural assistance to bring the hearts of men to the love and their lives to the practice of all necessary truths contained therein over and above that miraculous diffusion at the first delivery and preaching of it And blessed be the Name of God such is the large and plentiful effusion of divine Grace now under the dispensation of the Gospel that 't is always ready at hand to assist the spirits of men in all religious purposes and holy undertakings Joh. 14.26.16 And in several places of the Gospel the Spirit is promised to the devout and humble petitions of honest Christians Luke 11.13 Joh. 16.23.26 So that the most degenerate Soul that does but seriously apply his mind to fear God and keep his Commandments will find such continual assistance from the blessed spirit of Grace as will enable him to mortifie his own Corruption to quench the fiery darts of the Devil to vanquish all oppositions in the way to Goodness and with ease and pleasure to do the Will of God For this very purpose the Son of God intercedes with his Father and presents our Prayers to the Throne of Grace by vertue of his own intercession that the Promise of the Holy Ghost may be continued to his Church to the end of the world to sanctifie the hearts of his People and to fill their Souls with all those graces that accompany Salvation to enlighten the Understanding to convince the Judgment to awaken the Consciences of men that they may believe and consider the great and weighty Principles of Religion and be preserved from all false Doctrine Heresies and Schisms to press upon their consideration the folly and unreasonableness of sin with the dreadful consequences of a wicked life the excellency of true Religion and Goodness with the blessed effects of a vertuous Conversation that men may be perswaded to depart from evil and do good to remove the obstinacy and perverseness that is natural to fallen man that their Spirits may become pliable and submissive to the providential dealings of God respective and obedient to the Laws and Constitutions of Heaven and entirely devoted to his Will and Pleasure to confirm their Faith increase their Integrity to assist them against Temptations to support them with patience under afflictions to compleat their Charity to perfect their Repentance and to enable them by Promises Encouragements and Gifts to suffer for the Lord Jesus and the profession of the Gospel if called to it All this and much more is the Promise of the Father to purchase of the Son of God and the gift of them both to give the holy Spirit to the Church first to sanctifie and make it good Gal. 5.22 1 Thess 5.23 then to preserve it spotless and unblamable to the coming of the Lord. These are the principal means invented by the Wisdom of God to take away the sins of the world to destroy the works of the devil and in infinite mercy presented to mankind by his onely begotten Son to deliver them from the power of darkness and by turning them away from their iniquities to translate them into the kingdom of his dear Son And what can the wit of man conceive what doth the weakness of men want as farther needful to promote and carry on this blessed and glorious designe What could God have done more to subvert the power of the Devil and to reconcile Mankind to himself If he had raised up some mighty Prophet in the World and furnished him with the Inspiration of the Almighty that he had spoken as one having Authority and commended his Message to us in the Name of the Lord we should certainly have received him in the Name of a Prophet or if an Angel had descended from Heaven and appeared visibly to us Mortals and delivered his Embassage to us in a Seraphick manner and backt it with Reasons clear as his Angelical nature we should certainly have admired the goodness of God and acknowledged our selves obliged to so gracious a Dispensation But that God himself should descend from those Regions above into this dark and dismal World become one like us one of us and so in a way agreeable to our humane capacities deliver us the Records of Heaven tell us the terms on which our Eternity depends assure us upon his undoubted Veracity that upon our obedience or disobedience to them Heaven or Hell Life
is the onely signe of a Child of Grace the onely certain evidence of a good Christian That man who in the general course of his life carries a sincere respect to the Commandments of God and in good earnest studies to conform his actions to his holy Laws that carefully avoids the occasions of evil and seriously resists the Wiles and Temptations of the Devil that despiseth not any Precept of the Gospel because the matter of it may seem small and inconsiderable nor refuseth the severest duty because of the pains and trouble it may put him to Such a man is the honest upright Christian a true Disciple and Sevant to the Son of God notwithstanding his infirmities and frailties which through Inadvertency Surprize or a violent Temptation he may sometimes commit which as 't is impossible for the best man in this imperfect State to secure and fortifie himself against so the Mercies of God in the dispensation of the Gospel doth graciously pardon and through the Merits of Christ readily pass them over But he that committeth sin is of the Devil He that casts off the fear of God from his eyes and lives in a constant course of a wicked life that complies with the Temptations of the Devil but is careless and indifferent in the Profession and Practice of Religion that habituates himself to the practice of any one known sin or the neglect of any necessary Christian duty though he be not arrived to the highth of wickedness but make some shew and appearance of Religion by prosessing the Christian Faith frequenting the publick Offices of Religion and exercising the material parts of some Vertues and Graces yet if his Obedience be not uniform and entire according to the scope and tenour of the Gospel he is certainly in a state of sin and iniquity and whatever his Profession or Confidence be without controversie a Child of the Devil for St. James tells us that true Christian Wisdom must shew itself without partiality without hypocrisie and the same Apostle confidently assures us that whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all Jam. 3.18 â— 2.10 2. This Argument is an excellent Criterion to judge of the truth of Doctrines which are delivered as the Doctrines of Christ whether they be so or no. Our Apostle gives us an admonition and direction to this purpose 1 Jo. 4.1 2 3. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus is come in the flesh that is every Doctrine which is consonant with the Incarnation of the Son of God and the design of his being manifest in the world is of God for God manifested in the flesh is a great Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.15 and St. Paul calls the Christian Faith the truth which is after Godliness Tit. 1.1 But every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus is come in the flesh that is every Doctrine which is contrary to the design of his Incarnation that is apt to hinder a good life or invalidate the necessity of it cannot be from God Whatever Doctrine gives licence or connivance to sin must needs proceed from the Devil that enemy of all goodness though the Author pretend to an Infallible Spirit like the Church of Rome or to Divine Inspiration like our Modern Enthusiasts Yet in the Church of Rome such Doctrines as these are solemnly constituted as Essential parts of the Christian Religion and imposed upon the Christian world with the same authority as the most Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith Thus the Sacrament of Penance joyned with Confession is represented as sufficient to Salvation The Doctrine of Purgatory which supposeth an expiation of sin by the Prayers of the living after death Prayers in an unknown Tongue The prohibition of the Scriptures without licence to the people The dispensing of Indulgences the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility and others of the same nature are imposed with the same Authority and received with the same Veneration and Piety as the belief of Deity the Redemption of the world by the Son of God and the Rewards of another Life It 's needless and would be too tedious to consider them particularly but what man of common sense and understanding is not able to see that these Doctrines are directly and of their own nature great impediments and obstructions of a good life and therefore are not of God To the same ill purpose tend those frequent discourses of the Absolute Decrees of God the irresistibility of Divine Grace together with the weak and imperfect description of Faith with the strange Metaphorical expressions by which those Doctrines are unhappily represented to the world with Doctrines of like affinity confidently vented and spread abroad by the too curious and bold discoverers of hidden and unrevealed Mysteries For that Faith that doth not ingage men to become new Creatures and to keep the Commandments of God can never justifie much less save them and that Grace which shall infallibly work to convert men however disposed may make men careless and oscitant to the duties of Religion but doth neither require nor incourage their care and industry and those decrees which have irrevocably and absolutely sentenced men to Heaven or Hell from all Eternity may pamper some with presumption drive others to despair but can have no efficacy to perswade men to work out their Salvation with fear and trembling And therefore those persons that have imbibed these opinions ought to have a great care to keep their Hearts sounder than their Heads that they may be good though they apprehend no rational necessity why they should be so But if such men be good upon false and pernicious Principles as I make no question but many such erroneous persons are what eminent Lights might they be in the Church of God for sanctity and holiness of life if they would suffer right Reason and the acknowledged Principles of Religion to supplant their Erroneous Opinions and be perswaded to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus Lastly the consideration of this Doctrine should be a prevalent and most effectual Argument to perswade those that believe the truth and purport of it to leave off their sins and to lead Religious and godly lives We acknowledge our selves Christians and thereby profess to believe the Doctrine of Christ to live in obedience to his commands and in the stricter imitation of his holy life let us then look unto Jesus the Captain of our Salvation that we may prosecute that great and glorious end for which he came into the world became Emmanuel God with and incarnate among us That he was manifest in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil hath been in some measure represented to your consideration both from his holy life and meritorious death the design and tendency of his Doctrine the mission and dispensation of the Holy Ghost the many signal and eminent victories over the