and of different degrees of Goodness the Vine the Fig-tree the Apple-tree if an Apple-tree produce the best Fruits in its kind though not equal to the Fruit of the Vine 't is perfectly good Thus in the World there are several Conditions of Life among Men some are in places of Dignity and Superiority others of subjection and service A Servant that is faithful and diligent adorns the Gospel and excels in that Relation and is equally accepted of God as others in a higher order He that gain'd two Talents was esteem'd as faithful as he that gain'd five because the profit resulting from the improvement was in proportion to the stock entrusted with him There is a Perfection Relative to the various Spiritual States of Christians here St. John addresses his Counsel to Christians under several Titles to Children to Young Men and Fathers with respect to their different Ages in Christianity A Child is perfect in the quality of a Child when he has the stature the strength the understanding that is becoming his Age though he is distant from that compleat state to which he will arrive in his mature Age. A young Man has the Perfection proper to his Age. A new Convert that has such degrees of Knowledge and Holiness as are suitable to the Means and his Time of advancement by them is esteem'd Compleat in that state of Grace Some are enter'd into the School of Heaven and are in the first Lessons of Christianity others have made a higher progress in it to the fulness of the Stature Beyond the Perfection attainable here there is an absolute Perfection of Holiness in the extent of its parts and intention of degrees 'T is our present Duty to aspire and endeavour after this but attain'd only in Heaven where every Saint is renewed into the perfect Image of God and made glorious in holiness the great end of our Saviour's Love in dying for us By gradations Christians ascend to that Consummate state the period of Perfection CHAP. VI. Particular Graces Consider'd the internal Principles of Perfection Divine Faith Doctrinal Justifying and in the disposal of Providence Doctrinal Faith is not Imagination nor Reason The Objects of it The Motives consider'd The Essential Perfections of God Faith a divine Revelation is the most reasonable Act of the Humane Mind God's Truth a Principle immediately evident His Jurisdiction reaches to mens Understandings God never requires our Assent to supernatural Truths but he affords sufficient Conviction that they are reveal'd by him God reveals himself in Scripture by humane expressions according to our Capacity We are obliged to believe supernatural Doctrines no farther than they are reveal'd To attempt the Comprehensive knowledge of them is perfectly vain 't is impossible impertinent and dangerous Curiosity often fatal to Faith An Answer to Objections that supernatural Doctrines are not reconcileable to Reason That when men use all means sincerely to know the truth of them and are not Convinc'd of it they shall not be Condemn'd for involuntary speculative Errors I Will now particularly Consider those Graces that are of a more Excellent Nature and have a more powerful Causality and Influence in the lives of Christians Faith and Love Hope and Fear are the internal Principles of Christian Perfection I will first discourse of Divine Faith the first principle and foundation of Religion as the Apostle declares He that comes to God must believe that he is and the rewarder of them that diligently seek him The belief of his Being and Bounty is the Motive of Holy Worship This Grace is most Honourable to God and beneficial to us The understanding is our Supreme Faculty and by submitting it to divine Revelation we pay the most humble Homage to him By Faith we Conceive of God becoming his divine Perfections in believing the Revelation he has made of his Nature which is as Incomprehensible as 't is Invisible and the declaration of his Will though the things promis'd are encompass'd with opposition and seeming impossibilities we glorifie his perfect Veracity and Omnipotence in the highest manner He that believes the divine Testimony sets his Seal that God is true ratifies his word in the most solemn manner Faith is most beneficial to us 'T is the root of the Spiritual Life from whence all other Graces derive their flourishing and fruitfulness 'T is not only productive of its own acts but excites and animates every Grace in its distinct exercise Like the animal Spirits that give motion and vigour to all the Senses Faith in Christ conveys to a weak Christain a kind of Omnipotence The Apostle declares I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me The most eminent effects of other Graces either active or suffering Fortitude Zeal Self-denyal Patience are attributed to Faith as the Honour of a Victory is ascribed to the General by whose Conduct and Courage the Battle is managed though 't is obtained by the Valour of the Soldiers By Faith we are justified from the guilt of our many and mighty Sins We are purified from their deep Pollutions We are adopted into the line of Heaven and are saved from misery extreme and eternal I will consider Divine Faith under three Heads 1. Doctrinal Faith 2. Justifying Faith 3. Faith in the disposal of all things by the ruling Providence of God Doctrinal Faith I will consider 1. In its nature 2. The objects of it 3. The motives 4. The efficacy 1. The nature of it All the notions of Faith agree in this 't is a dependance upon the truth of another Thus Trust is called Faith because it relies upon the truth of a Promise And one is said to keep his Faith inviolate when he performs the Promise that another relyed on Faith in the propriety of expression is an assent for the veracity of the speaker Accordingly Divine Faith is a firm assent of the Mind to things upon the authority of Divine Revelation 'T is distinguish'd from Imagination and from comprehensive Reason Fancy draws a Copy of those Objects that are perceived by the external Senses or compounds many Copies together but creates no images of things not perceptible by the Senses We can imagine Mountains of Gold because we have seen Gold and Mountains We conceive monstrous mixtures in Dreams but no actors can appear on the theatre of Fancy but in borrowed habits from sensible things But the Objects of Faith are such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard and transcend the capacity of the Imagination to conceive and of the external Senses to represent Yet Infidels blaspheme the Eternal Truths of Divine Things as the fictions of Fancy 2. Faith is distinguish'd from Science acquired by Study and from Reason Reason implies a progress from one degree of Knowledge to another by consequences drawn from the first to the second But Faith asserts to things upon the account of superiour Authority that reveals them and commands us to believe them The same things may be
why to Believe and what things are reveal'd as objects of Faith To believe and not to understand the reason of our belief is to turn Faith into Folly and Extravagance The Men of Samaria were first induced to believe in Christ for the testimony of the woman that told them Come and see the man that has told me all that ever I did but when they heard Christ speak they said Now we believe not for thy words for we have heard and know that he is the true Saviour of the World The Understanding is convinc'd by reason of the Divinity of the Scriptures and as a pole supports a Vine but does not give Life and Vertue to its Root so Reason assists Faith in directing it to the Scriptures the Rule of it but Faith in the Mysteries of the Gospel derives its Life from God the Author of them By Reason we discover the relation order distinction and dependence of Reveal'd Truths and reject the vain opinions of Men when propos'd as Divine Oracles and the fruits of Fancy that are propos'd as Mysteries of Faith 4. God reveals himself to us in Scripture by Humane Expressions according to our Capacity of receiving the Knowledge of Divine things and we are to understand them in their apparent sense unless the precise litteral sense contains an evident Contradiction to what is certainly known by Reason and disparaging the Divine Perfections The sure Rule of interpreting them is to separate whatever is defective in them and apply them to God in the highest degree of Perfection We read of the Hands and Eyes of God in Scripture which signifie the perfection of God's Knowledge and Power they are the Organs by which Men do and know things but 't is Infinitely unworthy of God to think that the Divine Operation has need of such Instruments Thus the Communicating of the divine Nature from the Father to the Son is express'd by Generation which is the most Noble Production of one Living Creature from another especially of an Intelligent Creature with all its properties but who can declare his generation We must not conceive it with the Imperfection of Humane Generation wherein the Effect is separate from the Cause and successive to it For 't is a contradiction that God should beget a Son in his most perfect Image but he must be Eternal as the Father otherwise he would be defective in the resemblance of the first perfection of the Deity All resemblances of God in Scripture have their disparity and defects which must be separated from him But excepting such Cases the Word of God is to be understood in its proper sense For we must suppose that God speaks to us with an intention that we should understand him otherwise it were not Just to require us to believe it Our Minds could not firmly Assent to his Word but would be floating between Faith and Doubts And if God intends we should understand his Meaning how can we reconcile his Wisdom with his Will if he does not speak to us in the same sense as Men do to one another 5. We are obliged to believe supernatural Doctrines no farther than they are reveal'd God does not require our Assent to an Object beyond the Merit of it that is the degrees of its Revelation We cannot see an Object more fully than 't is visible The truth of Evangelical Mysteries is clearly reveal'd the manner of them is not discover'd To attempt the Comprehensive knowledge of them is perfectly vain for 't is Impossible Impertinent and of Dangerous Consequence 1. 'T is Impossible Supernatural Truths cannot be primarily and immediately discover'd by Reason but are only known to the Divine Mind and communicated to Created Understandings according to the pleasure of God No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declar'd him The Gospel is called the Mystery of Christ the mystery of God the Father and of Christ. Because God and Christ is the Author and Revealer of it God Contrived in the secret of his Eternal Wisdom the design of our Redemption and reveal'd it in his own time 'T is therefore call'd the Mystery of his will 'T is call'd the Mystery of Faith that is 't is received by Faith 'T is call'd the Mystery of the Kingdom of God conceal'd from the World and only known in the Church The sublime Doctrines of the Gospel it is impossible for the clearest spirits of Men to discover without special Revelation were they as pure as they are corrupt and as sincere as they are perverse This Word Mystery is never applied to the Revelation that God has made of his Wisdom in the Framing the World and in the Effects of his Providence because since the Creation it has been expos'd to the sight of all Reasonable Creatures Men were not commanded to believe in order to Salvation till by Experience they were Convinced of the Insufficiency of Reason to direct them how to be restored to the Favour of God The Apostle declares for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The Doctrine of the Trinity is purely supernatual for the internal distinction of the Persons in the Divine Nature by their incommunicable Characters is only proper to God The Counsels of the Divine Will are above any Created Understanding Who knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man so none knows the things of God but the Spirit of God The Angels are superior Spirits to us and excel us in sublimity and perspicacity of Understanding but they could never know the Decrees of God though in his immediate Presence but as gradually reveal'd 't is said of the Mysteries of his Counsels they desire to look into them We cannot form a Conception in our Minds but what takes its rise from sensible things 2. The attempt is Impertinent for God has reveal'd those great Mysteries sufficiently for saving Faith though not to satisfie rash Curiosity There is a knowledge of curiosity and discourse and a knowledge of doing and performance The art of Navigation requires a knowledge how to govern a Ship and what Seas are safe what are dangerous by Rocks and Sands and terrible Tempests that often surprise those who Sail in them but the knowledge of the Causes of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea is not necessary To believe savingly in Christ we must know that he is the Living and True God and True Man that dyed for our Redemption but 't is not necessary that we should know the manner of the Union of his two Natures 'T is prudent to Confine our inquiries to things which are possible and profitable to be known The discovery of the manner of Divine Mysteries is not suitable to the nature of Faith for 't is the evidence of things not seen the obscurity of the Object is
our judgment for that which has least Now 't is certainly much more suitable to the reasonable Mind to acknowledge that things may be true which we are not able to conceive and comprehend than to deny the natural and proper sense of many clear and express texts of Scripture that declare those things And by this we may judge of the Glosses of Socinus and his followers who without reverence of the Majesty of God and the sincerity of his Word rack the Scriptures to make them speak what they do not and use all Arts to silence them in what they do reveal Unhappy men 〈◊〉 that affect to be esteem'd Ingenious and Subtil to the extreme hazard of their own Salvation How much safer and more easie is it to believe the plain sense of the Scriptures than the turns and shifts that are invented to elude it and extricate Heretical Persons out of the difficulties that attend their Opinions I shall add the Doctrine of the Trinity is so expressly set down in the Gospel of Christ that 't is impossible the Son of God who is Infinite and Eternal Love who gave himself for our Redemption should have declar'd it and engag'd his Disciples in all Ages and Places in an Error of such dreadful Consequence as the Worshipping those who are not God 2. 'T is alledged that if a Person sincerely searches into the Scripture and cannot be convinc'd that the supernatural Doctrines of the Trinity and others depending upon it are contain'd in them he shall not be Condemn'd by the Righteous Judge of the World for involuntary and speculative Errors To this I answer 1. This pretence has deceiv'd many who were guilty of damnable Heresies and there is great reason to fear deceives men still The heart is deceitful above all things and most deceitful to it self Who can say that neither Interest nor Passion neither Hope nor Fear neither Anger nor Ambition have interven'd in his Inquiry after Truth but he has preferr'd the knowledge of Divine Truths before all Temporal Respects and yet he cannot believe what the Scripture reveals of the Nature of God and the oeconomy of our Salvation let this Imaginary Man produce his Plea for I believe there was never any such There are many that make reason the Soveraign Rule of Faith and determine such things cannot be true because they cannot understand how they can be true Prodigious Inference the most absurd of all Errors that makes the narrow Mind of Man the measure of all things This is the proper Principle of that horrible Compofition of Heresies and execrable Impieties which so many that are Christians in Profession but Antichristians in Belief boldly Publish They will choose to Err in matters of Infinite Importance rather than Confess their Ignorance And which is astonishing they will readily acknowledge the defectiveness of Reason with respect to the understanding of themselves but insolently arrogate a right to determine things in the Nature of God 'T is true Ignorance the more invincible is the more excusable but when the Error of the Mind is from a vicious Will both the Error and the Cause of it are sinful and inexcusable When the corrupt Will has an Influence upon the Understanding and the Mind is stain'd with some Carnal Lust when a Temptation diverts it from a serious and sincere considering the Reasons that should induce us to believe Divine Doctrines their Unbelief will be justly punish'd The Scripture declares That an evil heart is the cause of unbelief Pride and obstinacy of Mind and Carnal Lusts are the Cause that so many renounce those Eternal Truths by which they should be saved 2. 'T is alleged That speculative Errors cannot be Damnable To this I answer 1. The Understanding of Man in his Original State was Light in the Lord and regular in its directions now 't is dark and disorder'd and in the points of Religion that are reveal'd any Error induces guilt and if obstinately defended exposes to Judgment Some Truths are written because necessary to be believed others are to be believed because written 2. According to the quality of the Truths reveal'd in Scripture such is the hurtfulness of the Errors that are opposite to them Some Truths are necessary others profitable some Errors are directly opposite to the Saving Truths of the Gospel others by Consequence undermine them Those who deny the Lord that bought them are guilty of damnable Heresies capital Errors not holding the head 3. The Doctrine of the Trinity is not a mere speculative Truth nor the denial of it a speculative Error the Trinity is not only an Object of Faith but of Worship In Baptism we are dedicated to the Sacred Trinity in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which clearly proves they are of the same Authority and Power and consequently of the same Nature for 't is impossible to Conceive of three Infinite Beings for by necessity one would limit another The Apostle declares without Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh The Nature and End of this Divine Mystery is to form the spirits of Man to believe and love and obey God For in it there is the clearest Revelation of God's admirable Love to Men of his unspotted Holiness his incorruptible Justice the great Motives of Religion In that Divine Doctrine we have the most ravishing Image of Piety and Vertue the most becoming the Nature of God to give and of Man to receive Briefly God Commands us to believe in his Son without Faith in him we are uncapable of Redemption by him When Christ perform'd Miraculous Cures he requir'd of the Persons whether they did believe in his Divine Power and what he declar'd himself to be Electing Mercy ordains the Means and the End The Apostle gives thanks to God because he has chosen the Thessalonians to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth Holiness and Faith in the Doctrine of the Gospel are indispensable qualifications in the Learn'd and Ignorant that would be saved by the Son of God 'T is a high Contempt of the Truth and Goodness of God not to yield a firm Assent to what he has reveal'd concerning our Salvation by his Incarnate Son He that believes not the Record that God hath given of his Son makes God a Liar This infinitely provokes him and inflames his Indignation To dis-believe the Testimony that Jesus Christ has given of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine is to despise him it robs him of his Essential and his acquir'd Glory by the work of our Redemption There can be no true Love of God without the true knowledge of him as he is reveal'd not onely in his Works but in his Word Our Saviour who is the Way the Truth and the Life has declar'd when he gave Commission to his Apostles to preach the Gospel to the World whoever believes and is baptised shall be saved whoever believes not shall
consistent with the certainty of the Assent to it and 't is contrary to the end of Revelation which is to humble us in the modest Ignorance of Divine Mysteries which we cannot Comprehend and to enlighten us in those things which are requisite to be known 'T is the Glory of God to conceal a matter He saveth us by the submission of Faith and not by the penetration of Reason The meanest Understanding as well as the most raised are equally capable of Salvation The light of Faith is as much below the light of Glory as 't is above the light of Nature 3. 'T is of dangerous Consequence There is an Hydropic Curiosity that swells the Mind with Pride and is thirsty after the Knowledge of things unsearchable This Curiosity has often been fatal to Faith 'T is like a man's endeavour to climb up to the inaccessible point of a Rock that is very hazardous to see the Sun in its brightness which may safely be seen from the plain Ground The searching into the unsearchable things of God's Nature and Decrees has been the occasion of many pernicious Errors 'T is like the silly Moths fluttering about the burning Light till its Wings are sing'd Beside the affecting to be Wise above what is written and the attempt to make supernatural Doctrines more receivable to Reason by insufficient Arguments weakens the Authority and Credit of Revelation the endeavour to make them more easily known makes them more hard to be believed To venture to explicate them beyond the Revelation of them in Scripture is like a man's going out of a Fortress wherein he is safe into an open Field and expose himself to the assaults of his Enemies 2. I will now consider the Objections against supernatural Doctrines 1. 'T is alledged they are irreconcilable with Reason and 't is not possible for the Understanding to believe against its own Light and Judgment In answer to this specious Objection the following particulars are to be consider'd 1. Sense Reason and Faith are the Instruments of our obtaining Knowledge Sense is previous to Reason and Reason prepares the way to Faith By our Senses we come to understand natural things by our Understandings we come to believe divine things Reason corrects the Errors of Sense Faith reforms the Judgment of Reason The Stars seem but glittering Points but Reason convinces us they are vast Bodies by measuring the distance that lessens their greatness to our sight We cannot imagine that there are Men whose Feet are directly opposite to ours and are in no danger of falling but Reason demonstrates there are Antipodes 'T is as absurd for Reason to reject divine testimony and violate the sacred respect of Faith as for Sense to contradict the clearest Principles of Reason To deny supernatural Truths because they are above our Conception and Capacity is not only against Faith but against Reason that acknowledges its own imperfection 'T is true Reason and Faith are emanations from the Father of Lights and consequently there cannot be a real repugnance between them for God cannot deny himself Errors are often contrary but Truth is always harmonious with Truth If there seem to be an opposition it proceeds not from the Light of the reasonable Mind but from the Darkness that encompasses it 'T is certain that a Proposition that contradicts right Reason the general Light of Nations that have nothing common between them but the Humane Nature cannot be true As the Doctrine of Epicurus That God was not to be worship'd because he had no need of our Service and the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation that imputes Contradictions to God We must distinguish between things that cannot be discovered by Reason nor comprehensively known when they are revealed and those that are contrary to Reason In Paradise Reason was an inferiour and imperfect Light Adam could not perfectly know God He dwells in Light inaccessible not only to mortal Eyes but to the immortal Angels They cannot penetrate to the centre of his Perfections The Propositions that involve a Contradiction have the plain characters of falsity but the Doctrines of the Gospel that are incomprehensible have the characters of sublimity Reason cannot measure the extent nor reach the heighth of the love of Christ that passes knowledge That supernatural Doctrines are incomprehensible now they are reveal'd is one Argument to prove they could never be invented and discovered by Men For that which naturally cannot enter into the Mind of Man cannot naturally proceed out of it 2. Since the Fall Reason is weaken'd and its Light is clouded In the narrow and low sphere of natural things how often is Reason mistaken and lost in a Labyrinth There is not a Flower a Fly a Stone but is a Mystery We cannot fully understand the vegetation of the one nor the sensation of the other nor the motion of the other Let us make a tryal of the Light of Reason upon our selves and we shall discover its defects Who can discern the vital bands wherewith the Soul and Body are combin'd By what power does the Soul represent absent Objects Sounds without Noise Colours without Tinctures Light without Clearness Darkness without Obscurity What account can be given of the admirable operations of the Soul in Dreams when the Senses are suspended from working and the Body seems to be a warm Carcass 'T is one of those Secrets that Humane Wits labours in vain to explain how it composes Discourses so just and regular as to the invention and stile which by their impression in the Memory we know were not the effects of wild Fancy but of sober Judgment and that awake and intent we could not so speedily and orderly frame 'T is as strange as that an Artificer should work more exactly with his Eyes cover'd than seeing that a Painter should draw a Face better in the dark than in open day-light That Man were totally deserted of Reason who not being able to see things that are but a just distance from his Eyes would not acknowledge that things distant from him the extent of the Horizon are beyond his sight We are finite Beings there is some proportion between our Minds and our Natures If we cannot understand our selves what folly is it to presume that we know God Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection It is high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper than Hell what canst thou know The measure is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea Who can unfold the Divine Attributes They are not confused in their unity nor divided in number they are not separable qualities but his Essence He is not only wise but Wisdom not only lives but is Life We cannot speak of some Attributes without distinction Wisdom and Power nor of others without a seeming opposition Justice and Mercy yet they are the same Divine Nature and cannot be separate but in our thoughts He is Eternal without succession with him there
be damned We cannot make Laws to be the Rule of God's Judgment but must receive them However some may flatter Erring Persons in their Security it will be found in the great Day that Infidelity in the Light of the glorious Gospel will have no Excuse before God The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire that was darkness to the Egyptians but inlightned the Israelites in their Passage out of Egypt 't is conceal'd from the Proud and reveal'd to the Humble The Humane Mind is imperious and turbulent and averse from submitting to God's Authority who Commands the Wise and most Understanding to yield full Assent to his Word as the meanest Capacities The Natural Man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discern'd There is no proportion between the Faculty and the Object You may as well see an Angel by the Light of a Candle as see the great Mysteries of the Gospel by the Natural Mind their reality beauty and excellency so as savingly to believe them Faith is the Fruit of the Spirit who is stil'd the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation who discovers the Object and inlightens the Mind to see it and by free preventing Grace inclines the Will to embrace it The Holy Spirit alone can pull down strong holds and cast down Imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bring into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. The Spirit overcomes the Pride of the Natural Understanding by the Authority of the Revealer and inlightens the Ignorance of it by the Infallible Revelation Violence and Temporal Respects may by Terrors and Allurements make Men Hypocrites but cannot make them sincere Believers there will be a Form of Religion without and Atheism within 'T is special Grace inspires the Elect of God with Light to see Spiritual things and requires special Thankfulness Let us Humbly pray to the Father of Mercies and of Lights that he would reveal the Mysteries of his Kingdom to the Minds of Men. If the Gospel be hid 't is hid to those that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them CHAP. VII The Power of Faith to overcome all that is opposite to our Salvation A Speculative Assent to Supernatural Truths is not Saving The Efficacy of Faith against the Temptations of the World proceeds from the Nature of its Objects and the degrees of Assent and the frequent application of them to our Hearts There is an incomparable difference between the good and evil things that are present and those that are future The Evidence and Importance of future good things and our interest in them fixes our Assent and makes it effectual Justifying Faith consider'd in its Nature and Purifying Virtue Faith in the disposals of Divine Providence is a Fundamental Principle from whence many Practical Consequences are derived The Heathens had very disparaging Conceits of God's Providence The Scripture declares that nothing happens without the knowledge the Will either permissive or approving and the Ordering Providence of God This is very influential to the Lives of Men. 4. I Will now Consider the Power and Efficacy of Faith to overcome all that is opposite to our Salvation I shall premise there is a common delusion that has a pernicious Influence into the Minds and Lives of many that those are true Believers who yield a dry and barren Assent to the Mysteries of the Gospel without the practical Belief of them They do not foment and authorise doubts by the pretence of Reason nor excite revolts in their Minds and entertain Objections against supernatural Truths but they never felt the spirit and power of Faith in raising them above the low descents of Carnal Minds and setting their Affections on things above The Love of the present World like a stupifying Wine causes in them a forgetfulness of Heaven and that which is the most dangerous Idolatry in the sight of God is seated in their Hearts The Understanding submits to divine Revelation but the Will is Rebellious against the divine Commands They believe what is necessary to believe but not what is necessary to do They are satisfied with a speculative Faith that costs nothing and will go with them to Hell for the Devils believe supernatural Truths They are rich in the Notions of Faith but poor in the Precepts of Obedience Now in the Language of Scripture saving Faith and knowledge of divine things are productive of such Affections and Actions as are correspondent to the Nature of the things believed If the Head be inlightned and the Heart in Darkness if one professes never so fully his Assent and Adherence to all the Articles of Faith and the Beams of Faith are not visible in his Conversation he is an Infidel He that sayes I know Christ or which is Equivalent believe in him and keeps not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him Every habitual Sinner is an Unbeliever Unfeigned Faith receives the Word of God in all its parts Doctrines Commands Promises not only as Infallibly true but Superlatively good and precious and intirely embraces them with a despising of all things that may come in Competition with them and expresses the esteem and love of them in the practise The two inseparable properties of Saving Faith are 't is Humble and Submissive to divine Revelation 't is Dutiful and Obedient to divine Precepts This being premis'd I will consider the power of Faith proceeding 1. From the Nature of the Objects upon which 't is exercis'd 2. From the degrees of its Assent and Adherence to them 3. From the serious and frequent Application of the Objects to our Heart 1. From the Nature of the Objects upon which 't is exercis'd now between them and the most enticeing good things and the most fearful evil in this present state there is an incomparable difference The Apostle tells us This is the victory that overcomes the World even our Faith Victory supposes a Fight and a Fight supposes an Enemy The Enemy is declar'd the VVorld including the Men of the VVorld and the things of it This Enemy is in Combination with the Devil and the Flesh. He is stil'd the Prince of this World that manages the Temptations of it for the ruine of Souls He tryes his poisons according to the dispositions of Men in hopes of working in them He presents to some a charming Cup to intoxicate them with the pleasures of Sin he tempts others with things of Lustre with Titles of Honour and Dignity that dazle their Minds that they cannot give a true and safe judgment of things he allures others with Riches And as heat is doubled by reflexion so he enforces his
Persons He is stil'd Love and Light Love signifies his communicative Goodness the inclination of his Nature and Will to make his people happy and his complacency in their Happiness He will give grace and glory he will rejoyce over them with singing Now God being an Infinite Good and of Infinite Goodness we are sure his Will and Power are correspondent in making them happy God is stil'd Light which implies his most clear and perfect Knowledge for Light discovers all things His unspotted Holiness for Light can never be stain'd or sullied by shining on a Dunghil His Sovereign Joy for Light joyn'd with Vital Heat inspires universal Nature with Joy In Heaven God inlightens the Understandings of the Saints with the knowledge of his Glorious Nature of his Wise Counsels that are now seal'd in his Eternal Mind and of his admirable Works wherein the clear impressions of his Perfections appear He draws his Image upon them in all the Coelestial Colours that give final Perfection to it And from hence results that Joy that is unspeakable and glorious and is eternally exuberant in high and solemn praises of God Blessed are those who are in thy House they are always praising thee Now can an unholy Soul delight in these Emanations of the divine Presence and the exercise of the Saints above Can those who feed without fear and revel without restraint of their brutish Lusts Taste how good the Lord is Suppose the Soveraignty of God should dispense with Obedience to his Law and by an Act of Power an un-renewed Person were translated to Heaven can the place make him happy You may as reasonably imagine that a Swine whose inseparable quality is to love wallowing in the Mire can delight in a clean Room adorn'd with beautiful Pictures If the Tongue be depraved with a foul humour and the Disease is the Taster the most relishing Food is insipid till the Palate be cleansed and recover its true Temper it cannot judge aright 'T is equally impossible that an unholy Creature can enjoy Communion with the Holy God Till we are purified in our Minds and Affections the Divine Presence cannot be Heaven to us The Truth is Carnal Men do not love and desire the Heaven reveal'd in the Gospel but fear the Hell threaten'd because Fire and Brimstone are Terrible to Sense 2. The hope of Heaven purifies us from the Condition of the Promises that are clear and explicit in requiring Holiness in all that shall possess it Blessed are the pure in heart they shall see God follow holiness without which no man can see God The Promise is infallible to those who are qualified and the Exclusion is peremptory and universal of those who are unprepar'd These are not Conditions prescrib'd by Ministers of a preciser strain but by the Saviour of the World who with great Solemnity declares Verily verily I say unto you unless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God The Soveraign dispenser of his own Favours may by his un-accountable Will appoint what terms he pleases in bestowing them to which 't is our Duty to Consent with humble Thankfulness but the Vital Qualifications requir'd in order to our admission into the Glory of Heaven are not a meer arbitrary Constitution but founded in the unchangable Nature of God If there were any defect and irregularity in the Architecture of the visible World in the Frame and order of its Parts it were less dishonourable than if there were no Connexion between a Holy Life and Blessedness for the first would only reflect upon his Wisdom and Power but the other would asperse his Holiness and Justice the most Divine Perfections of the Deity 3. Christian Hope purifies by the frequent and serious thoughts of the heavenly Glory The Object of Hope fills the Mind and Memory and gives Order and Vigor to our Endeavours If Riches or Honour be the Object of our Expectation the Soul will entertain it self with the pleasant thoughts of them and contriving how to obtain them Love and Hope are fix'd upon the same Objects and have the same Efficacy they transport the Soul to their distant Objects and transform them into their likeness The Object is Spiritual and Divine and the frequent Contemplation of it has a warm Influence into the Affections purifies and raises them from the Earth When our Thoughts are often Conversant upon the State of future Glory we feel its attractive force more strongly working in us as in a Chase if there be a cold Scent 't is but coldly pursued but when the Game is in view 't is eagerly prosecuted When Heaven is seldom thought of our desires and endeavours are cool'd towards it but when 't is in the view of our Understandings and near us our inclinations and endeavours are more fervent and zealous The Apostle saith Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Lord Jesus 4. The hope of Heaven purifies us from a Principle of Thankfulness to God who is Donor of it St. John breaks into an extasie of wonder Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God! The Angels those comprehensive Spirits are astonish'd that worthless Rebels should be taken into a Relation so high and near to God who deserveto be irrevocably banish'd from his Kingdom The Apostle observes the various degrees of this Happiness Now we are the Sons of God but it does not appear what we shall be Now we are adopted but the heigth of our Felicity when we shall be crown'd is a secret but we are assured we shall be like the Son of God the glorious Original of all Perfection Now the confirm'd Hope of this transcendent Happiness inflames a Believer with sincere and supream Love to God that will make us zealous to please him by entire Obedience to his Precepts and a likeness to his Nature 3. The Purity of a Christian consists in a conformity to Christ. The Son of God incarnate is both the Author of our Holiness and the Pattern of it As the Sun is the first Fountain of Light and a Christal Globe fill'd with Light may be a secondary Fountain transmitting the Beams unto us So the Deity is the original cause of all created Holiness but 't is transmitted through the Mediator In his Life on Earth there was a Globe of Precepts a perfect Model of Holiness All the active and suffering Graces appear'd in their exaltation in his practice Our Relation to him inferrs our likeness For whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren The Image in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream had the Head of fine Gold the Breast and the Arms of Silver the Belly and Thighs of Brass the Legs of Iron the Feet part of Iron part of Clay But Christ united to his Church are not such an irregular composition As the Head is holy so are all
procuring of Wealth to maintain the state and pomp of the vain glorious Now if these vicious Affections are corrected the inordinate desire of Riches will be suddenly cured But Covetousness in its proper sense implies the seeking Riches for the love of them not respectively to their use From hence 't is the most unreasonable Affection and more inexcusable than any that are derived from the carnal Appetites Now Love is the leading Affection and produces 1. Immoderate Desires of Riches For what is loved for it self is desired with an unlimited Appetite Covetousness like the Grave never says it is enough 2. Immoderate Joy in possessing them A covetous Man is raised and ravish'd above himself in the sight of his Treasures He thinks himself happy without Reconciliation and Communion with God wherein Heaven consists It was a convincing evidence of Job's sacred and heavenly temper that he did not rejoice because his Wealth was great and his Hand had gotten much 3. Anxious Fears of losing them The Covetous suspect every shadow are fearful of every fancy wherein their Interest is concerned They are vex'd with the apprehensions lest they should be oppress'd by the Rich rob'd by the Poor circumvented by the Crafty or suffer loss by innumerable unforeseen and inevitable Accidents Content is the Poor Man's Riches when Possession is the Rich Man's Torment 4. Heart-breaking Sorrow in being deprived of them If you touch their Treasure you wound their Hearts According to the Rule in Nature what is possess'd with Joy is lost with Grief and according to the degree of the Desires such will be the Despair when they are frustrate Poverty in the account of the Covetous is the last of Evils that makes Men absolutely desolate Blind unhappy wretches Eternal Damnation is the extreamest Evil. 'T is infinitely better to be deprived of all their Treasures and go naked into Paradise than to fall laden with Gold into the Pit of Perdition 〈◊〉 Covetousness is vertually in the Actions which are to be considered either in the getting saving or using an Estate 1. The Covetous are inordinate and eager in their endeavours to get an Estate They rise early lye down late and eat the bread of carefulness They rack their Brains waste their Strength consume their Time they toil and tire themselves to gain the present World For when Lust counsels and commands Violence executes Their Eyes and Hearts their Aims and Endeavours are concentered in the Earth Who will shew us any good is their unsatisfied inquiry 1. They are greedy and earnest to obtain great Riches for they measure their Estates by their Desires 2. They will use all means fair or fraudulent to amass Wealth The lucre of Gain is so ravishing they will not make a stand but venture into a House infected with the Plague to get Treasure 2. They are sordid in saving and contradict all Divine and Humane Rights by robbing God their Neighbours and themselves of what is due to them A covetous Man robs God the Proprietor in neglecting to pay what he has reserv'd for works of Piety and Charity as an acknowledgment that all is from his Bounty He robs the Poor his deputed receivers He defrauds himself for God bestows Riches for the support and comfort of our Lives that we may with Temperance and Thanksgiving enjoy his Benefits He wants what he has as well as that he has not 3. They are defective in using Riches If they do Works externally good the spring and motive is vicious and the Ends more surely discover Men than their Actions They do not acts of Piety and Charity in Obedience and Thankfulness to imitate and honour God but sometimes for Reputation and Fame as the Pharisees whose inseparable properties were Pride and Covetousness dispens'd their Alms with the sound of a Trumpet to call the Poor together Other Sins require shades and retirements but Pride to be conspicuously distinguish'd from others 2. Sometimes they do Good to compound with God and appease Conscience for their unrighteous procuring Riches Their Gifts are Sin-offerings to expiate the Guilt contracted by ill-gotten Goods not Thank-offerings for God's free Favours and Benefits To countenance their Opinion and Practice they alledge our Saviour's Counsel Make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations As if bestowing part of their unrighteous Gains would purchase a discharge from the arrears due to Divine Justice Can there be a more monstrous perverting the rectitude of Truth to conform it to the crooked Lusts of Men St. Austin speaking of this vain and impious Presumption of some in his time advises them Do not form such an unworthy conception of God as were very unbecoming a good Man He is not to be brid'd by offerings of Robbery as if he were a party in the Robbery Such Alms and Legacies are so far from propitiating him that they cry for Vengeance against those that offer them Yet how many who have raised great Estates by Unrighteousness quiet their accusing Thoughts by resolving to bequeath some pious Legacies when they shall leave the World And how often when a Rich Man dyes his last Will dyes with him and is buried in oblivion How can an unrighteous Man confide in the Conscience of another when his own has been so unfaithful Besides that is only ours that remains when all our Debts are paid and till there be restitution of what by Deceit or Force was unjustly got there is nothing to give 2. A covetous Man is very defective in the manner of giving There are internal Affections to be mix'd with the acts of Charity They must be done with readiness and alacrity and no◠wrung out as a Man presses soure Grapes For there is no moral value in Benefits so obtain'd God loves a chearful giver Charity must be unconstrain'd as well as unconfin'd free and respecting all in their Wants and Miseries Now Covetousness makes one as unwilling to part with his Money as to have Blood the treasure of Life drawn from his Veins We are directed to put on bowels of Compassion and to remember them in bonds as bound with them Covetousness infuses an unrelenting frame into the Breast hardens the Bowels and makes them incapable of melting impressions The languishing Looks the pleading Eyes the Complaints and Calamities of the miserable do not affect those in whom Covetousness reigns The tender inclinations of Humanity are quench'd by it 3. The Covetous will not give in proportion to their abilities and the exigencies of others 'T is true an Estate is often more in reputation than in reality and there cannot be a visible convincing proof of Covetousness from the meanness of the Gift but there is a secret proof from the Conscience of the giver and known to God The Widow that gave two Mites to the sacred Treasury was more liberal than those who threw into it richer Gifts God accepts according
is inseparable from the Being of it This includes first a Conformity in the Heart and Life to God As a good Complexion fluorishes in the Countenance from the Root of a good Constitution within so real Holiness shining in the Conversation proceeds from an Internal Principle of Life seated in the Mind and Heart The Understanding esteems the Precepts of God's Law as best in themselves and best for us the Will Consents to the Sanctity and Royalty of the Law David declares I esteem all thy Commandments to be right and I hate every false way If the Divine Will be the reason of our Obedience it will be impartial Many elude Duty and deceive Conscience by partial respects to the Law They will make amends for Delinquencies in some things by Supererogating in others that are suitable to their Carnal Ease and Interest Thus the Pharisees were mighty Sons of the Church very accurate in Sanctimonious Forms great pretenders to Piety but stain'd Religion with Injustice and Uncharitableness They pretended to love God but hated their Neighbour they Fasted twice a Week but Devour'd Widows Houses they were very nice in observing the numerous Rites of Religion but neglected the Duties of substantial Goodness There is not a more exact resemblance between the immediate sight of the Face and the sight of it by reflection in a clear and true Glass than the spirit of the Old Pharisees is like the Formalist in every Age. Thus among the Papists how many under the Vail of Virginity conceal the grossest Impurities and under the appearance of Poverty are Covetous and Rapacious But our Saviour tells us unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If our Obedience be not of equal Extent to the Rule if there be an Indulgence to Contravene any Precept the Words of St. James are decisive and convincing Whoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in own instance he is guilty of all In one allowed sin of Omission or Commission there is a Universal Disobedience to the Authority of the Lawgiver Although the best Saint on Earth is not without Sin yet the least is without Guile 2. Sincerity produces Constancy There is a strict Connexion between the leading Faculties and their inward Operations with the outward Actions According to the renewed Temper of the Mind and Will such is the tenor of the Life Pure Religion and undefiled before God that is exercis'd from Divine Principles and Eternal Motives will fortifie a Christian against all Temptations he will neither be allur'd nor terrifled from his Duty Some when Religion is in publick Esteem are forward Professors but if the Testimony of Truth exposes them to Reproach as Seditious and Disloyal and the Consequences of that Reproach they will Comply with the temper of the Times to secure their secular Interest And as there are Change of Garments Summer and Winter Garments according to the seasons of the Year so they have Change of Religions as the times vary Persecution discovers them to have been formal Professors without the spirit and depth of Religion in their Hearts But sincere Christians are conspicuously such in the Fiery Tryal 'T is observ'd in digging Wells in the hot Months of July and August if a Vein of Water flows 't is a sign of a lasting Spring thus if in the Burning Heat of Persecution the Profession of the pure Religion is declar'd 't is an Argument it proceeds from sincere Grace that will be springing up to Everlasting Life There are numerous Examples of the Holy Martyrs who despised the enraged World as a swarm of angry Flies and turn'd Persecution into a Pleasure and with undeclining Fervor and Courage persever'd in the Confession of Christ till they obtain'd the Crown of Eternal Life Unfeined Faith and Sincere Love are the strongest security against Apostacy he that is sound at the Centre is unshaken by Storms The double-minded whose Hearts are divided between the inlightned Conscience and their Carnal Affections are unstable in all their ways Some have short expiring fits of Devotion while they are in afflicting Circumstances either by Terrors of Conscience or Diseases in their Bodies or disasters in their Estates they resolve to be regular and reform'd in their Lives to walk circumspectly and exactly but when they are releas'd from their Troubles they degenerate from their designs and falsify their resolutions and like a Lion slipt from his Chain that returns to his fierceness with his Liberty so they relapse into their old Rebellious Sins The reason is they were not inwardly cleansed from the Love of Sin nor chang'd into the likeness of God In all their Miseries they were in the state of unrenewed Nature though restrain'd from the visible Eruptions of it But real Saints have their Conversation all of a Colour in Prosperity and Adversity they are Holy and Heavenly In short Sincere Christians study the Divine Law to know the extent of their Duty and delight in the discovery of it they do not decline the strictest Scrutiny 'T is David's Prayer Lord search me and try me and see whether there be any way of wickedness in me and discover it to me that I may forsake it Conscience will be quick and tender like the Eye which if any dirt be in it weeps it out There may be Rebels in a Loyal City but they are not conceal'd and cherisht the Loyal Subjects search to discover them and cast them out But the Hypocrites hate the light because their deeds are evil they cherish a wilful Ignorance that they may freely enjoy their Lusts. The sincere Christian aims at Perfection he Prays Resolves Watches Mourns and Strives against every Sin This is as necessary to uprightness as 't is impossible we should be without spot or blemish here but the Hypocrite though he Externally complies with some Precepts of easie Obedience yet he will not forsake his sweet Sins Now if any sin be entertain'd or unrenounc'd by a Person he is unregenerate and a Captive of Satan as if a Bird be insnar'd by one Leg 't is as surely the prey of the the Fowler as if it were seiz'd by both Wings I shall onely add Sincerity commends us to God it gives value to the meanest Service and the want of it Corrupts the most eminent Service Jehu's Zeal was a bloody Murther though the destruction of Ahab's Family was Commanded by God The Consciousness of Sincerity rejoices the living Saint with present Comfort and the dying with the hopes of future Happiness The Apostle when surrounded with Calamities declares this is our rejoycing the testimony of Conscience that with simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our Conversation in this World Hezekiah having receiv'd a Mortal Message by the Prophet addrest himself to God Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart Truth and Perfection are equivalent this was a reviving Cordial
what beautifies the Soul Now 't is our Duty to increase in Knowledge both in the extent and degrees and in the quality and efficacy of it 1. In the extent and degrees There is a mutual dependance of Divine Truths one illustrates and infers another There is an harmonious agreement between them one supports another and 't is our Duty to apply our Minds intensely to understand them How many that have the Revelation of the Gospel are mean proficients in the School of Heaven Of these the Apostle speaks with reprehension They needed to be taught again the first Principles of the Oracles of God and are become such that had need of milk and not of strong meat Whereas others were come to full age and had their senses exercised to discern more perfectly good and evil How many Professors need the first Principles of Religion to be planted in them They pretend to exempt their Ignorance from discredit that it only belongs to the Ministers of the Word to study the Mysteries of Religion But 't is of infinite consequence they should be wise to Salvation Our Saviour tells us This is Life Eternal to know thee to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The dispensation of the Gospel is a state of Perfection 'T is the full and final declaration of God's Will in order to our future Blessedness 'T is not a provisional establishment as the Levitical Law There is no other alliance to be made between God and Men no other Sacrifice to be offered for Sin All the Types and Prophesies are compleatly fulfilled in Christ. Now some understand more clearly and distinctly the contrivance and parts of our mysterious Redemption and are comparatively perfect All the Treasures of the World are in real value infinitely inferiour to saving Truths There may be Knowledge without saving Grace but no saving Grace without Knowledge The Understanding is the leading Faculty Conversion begins in the renewed Mind Ye were darkness now ye are light in the Lord. The Gospel cannot be profitable for our Holiness and Comfort but by the intervening of the inlightned applicative Understanding the Conscience that discovers the Will of God to us from whence our immediate obligation arises to obey it 'T is true some Doctrines of the Gospel are fundamental and some are perfective Some are not of that consequence and clearness as others and the Ignorance of them is not damning not the Knowledge of them saving But every Divine Truth is worthy of our attentive Consideration according to our Capacity for they contribute to our Perfection We should strive to advance in Knowledge that as the Sun gradually ascends the Horizon till it gives Light to the Day and Day to the World so our knowledge of Christ should be more clear and extensive till we are compleatly transformed into his glorious Image When we shall see him as he is we shall be intirely like him 2. As our Knowledge is more vital affective and practical 't is more perfective of us Divine Truths have a Goodness in them and are not duely known without a stedfast belief of their Truth and a just valuation of their Goodness when the conviction of the Mind and the consent of the Will is influential upon our Lives The knowledge of some things is merely speculative One knows that the Eclipse of the Sun is from the interposing of the Moon between that globe of Light and our sight and the Mind acquiesces in the Theory for 't is of no practical use But the knowledge that Sin separates between God and us and intercepts the Light of his Countenance from shining upon us is infinitely profitable to make us fearful to offend him that we may not be deprived of the joyful sense of his Love Spiritual Knowledge includes a correspondent permanent impression upon the Heart and in the Life to the nature of sanctifying Truths In civil matters there is a knowledge of discourse and direction and a knowledge of performance And in holy things there is a knowledge of apprehension and in words and a knowledge that orders the Conversation aright The first is not onely fruitless but accidentally pernicious according to Solomon's Expression he that increases knowledge increases Sorrow A smaller degree of knowledge of God and Christ that is productive of Love and Obedience is far more valuable than a more large and accurate knowledge of the Divine Attributes of the union of the Natures and Offices of Christ that is not fruitful in Good Works as a spot of Ground Cultivated according to its quality is more profitable than a large Field that lies Waste 2. Moral Perfection is evident by a Threefold Comparison 1. Of the Saints with visible Sinners 2. Of the Saints among themselves 3. Of some eminent acts of Grace with lower acts in the same kind 1. The Comparison of Saints with visible Sinners makes them appear as perfect 'T is true there is a mixture of Principles in the best here of Flesh and Spirit inherent Corruption and infus'd Grace and the operations flowing from them accordingly are mixt But as one who has not the brightest Colours of white and red in the Complexion appears an Excellent Beauty set off by the presence of a Blackmoor so the Beauty of Holiness in a Saint though mixt with blemishes appears complete when compar'd with the foul deformity of Sinners Thus the opposition between them is express'd He destroys the perfect and the wicked 'T is Recorded of Noah that he was a just and perfect man in his generation in an Age when Wickedness reign'd when Chastity was expell'd from the number of Vertues and Modesty was censur'd as a Vice when Impiety was arriv'd at the highest pitch and the Deluge was necessary to purge the World from such Sinners then the sanctity and piety of Noah shin'd as brightness issues from the Stars He appear'd perfectly good compar'd with the prodigiously bad 2. In comparing the Saints among themselves some are stil'd perfect There are different degrees among Sinners some are so dispos'd to Wickedness that they may be denominated from as many Vices that possess their Souls as the Evil Spirit in the man spoken of in the Gospel answer'd his name was Legion from the number of Devils that possess'd him They drive through all the degrees of Sin so violently and furiously that compar'd to them other Sinners seem Innocent and are far less obnoxious to Judgment Thus there are singular Saints whose Graces are so Conspicuous and Convincing and a universal Holiness appears in their Conversation as makes them venerable among the vicious Their presence will restrain the dissolute from Excesses either in Words or Actions as effectually as a Magistrate by the terror of his Power Other Saints though sincere yet there is such a mixture of Shades and Lights in their actions that they are in low esteem Compare meek Moses with the passionate Prophet Jonas who justified his anger to the
the Objects of Faith and of Reason buâ— in different respects Reason may discover them by ascending from effects to their causes or descending from causes to their effects Faith receives them as revealed in Scripture By Faith we know the Worlds were made which may be proved by clear Reason 2. The Objects of Faith The general Object of Faith is the Word of God the special are those Doctrines and Promises and Things that Reason cannot discover by its own Light nor perfectly understand when revealed The Word of God contains a Narrative of things past and Predictions of things to come The destruction of the old World by a deluge of Waters and the consumption of the present World by a deluge of Fire are Objects of Faith But the Unity of the Divine Nature and the Trinity of Divine Persons the Incarnation of the Son of God his Eternal Counsels respecting Man's Redemption never enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive but are as far above our thoughts as the Heavens are above the Earth and cannot be comprehended God may be considered absolutely in himself or as revealing himself and his Will to us We have some knowledge of his Being and Divine Attributes Wisdom Power Goodness in his Works of Creation and Providence but we believe in him as declaring his Mind and Will to us in his Word We may know a Person and his excellent Vertues Intellectual and Moral but we cannot believe in him without some discovery of his Thoughts and Affections to us 3. The motives of Belief are to be considered Divine Faith must have a Divine Foundation Faith may be absolutely true and relatively false Many believe the Doctrine of the Gospel upon no other grounds than the Turks believe the Alcoran because 't is the reigning Religion of their Country and by the impression of Example From hence their Faith is like the House built on the Sand and when a Storm arises is in danger of falling The firm foundation of Faith is the essential supreme Perfections of God unerring Knowledge immutable Truth infinite Goodness almighty Power 'T is equally impossible that he should be deceived or deceive His infinite Understanding is the foundation of his perfect Veracity And whatsoever is the Object of his Will is the Object of his Power for to will and to do are the same thing in him 'T is true the knowledge of things by experimental Sense is a clearer perception than the perswasion of them by Faith The first is to see the original the other is to see the copy that usually falls short of it 'T is therefore said We now see in a glass darkly But the Divine Testimony in it self has the most convincing evidence above the assurance we can have by the report of our Senses which often deceive us through the indisposition of the Faculty or the unfitness of the medium or distance of the Objects or the knowledge of things by discursive Ratiocination The objective certainty of Faith is infallible We know with the highest assurance that God can no more lye than he can dye 'T is said All things are possible with God but to lye or dye are not possibilities but passibilities not the effects of Power but proceed from Weakness We know the sacred Scriptures are the Word of God by the signatures of his Perfections Wisdom Holiness Goodness Justice and by the Miracles perform'd by the Pen-men of them that proved they were divinely inspir'd and consequently infallible in what they wrote From hence Faith is often express'd by Knowledge Nicodemus gives this testimony of our Saviour We know thou art a teacher come from God We believe and are sure thou art that Christ the Son of the living God We know that if the house of this earthly tabernable be dissolved we have a building made without hands eternal in the Heavens We know that he was manifested that he might take away Sin We know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is I will not insist upon the particular supernatural Doctrines revealed in the Gospel for there is little new to be said upon those Points If Men with renewed Minds and Hearts considered the testimony of Scripture there would need no more arguing But I will lay down some Considerations that prove Divine Faith to be the reasonable act of the Humane Understanding 2. Answer the Objections alledged to justifie the disbelief of Divine Doctrines that we are not able to conceive nor comprehend 1. That God is true is a Principle immediately evident not dependently upon an antecedent motive This by its native irresistible evidence is beyond all dispute and exempted from all critical Inquiries There is no Principle written in the Minds of Men with clearer Characters 'T was the saying of a wise Heathen If God would converse visibly with Men he would assume Light for a Body and have Truth for his Soul God is most jealous of the Honour of his Truth Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name Truth is the supreme Character of the Deity The Apostle builds the assurance of Christians upon the Promises and their strong Consolation upon this infallible Rock God that cannot lye From hence it follows that in supernatural Doctrines we must first consider the authority of the revealer and then the nature of Doctrines 2. God's Jurisdiction extends to our Understandings as well as to our Wills He rules our Understandings by light our Wills by empire If God did command us to believe only Truths in themselves evident our receiving them would not be an undoubted respect to his Authority but to believe his testimony without the evidence of things is an Obedience worthy of him And we are equally obliged to believe his testimony concerning the truth of things notwithstanding the reluctancy of the carnal Mind and their seeming repugnance to the natural notions of Reason as to obey his Precepts notwithstanding the reluctancy of the corrupt Will and the inclinations to forbidden things 3. God never requires our assent to supernatural things revealed in his Word but affords sufficient conviction that they are Divine Revelations When God deputed any by Commission for an extraordinary Work he always afforded a Light to discover the Commission was uncounterfeit Moses was sent from God with a Command to Pharaoh to release the Israelites from their cruel Servitude and he had the Wonder-working Rod to authorise his Commission and confirm the truth of his Message by Miracles The Divinity of the Scripture the Rule of Faith shines with that clear and strong evidence that only those whose Minds are prevented with a conceit of the impossibility of the Doctrines contained in it and perverted by their Passions can resist it Colour'd Objects are not discern'd more clearly by their Colours nor Light by its Lustre than that the Scriptures are of Divine Revelation Reason is an Essential Faculty of Man and by it we are directed
is no past and to come He sees all things with one view not only Events that proceed from the constraint of natural and necessary Causes but that depend upon Causes variously free and arbitrary This Knowledge is too wonderful for us To believe no more than we can understand proceeds from the ignorance of God's Nature and our own For the Divine Nature is truly infinite and our Minds are narrow and finite 3. The Humane Understanding in our laps'd state is dark and defiled weakened and vitiated Of this we have innumerable Instances Although the Deity be so illustriously visible in the Creation yet even the wise Heathen represented him in such a degree of Deformity as is highly blasphemous They could not conceive his Infiniteness but made every Attribute a God They transformed the Glory of the immortal God into the likeness of an earthly dying Man And the Papists transform a mortal Man into the likeness of the great God They attribute to the Pope a Power of contradicting the Divine Laws For though God in the Second Commandment so strictly forbids the worship of Images and has annex'd to the prohibition the most terrible Threatening of visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon their Children to the third and fourth Generation yet in defiance of the Majesty of the Law-giver the Pope commands all his adorers to worship the Images of the dead Saints He arrogates a Power to dispense with Oaths the most sacred bands of Humane Society and thereby authorises Perjury 4. Though Reason is not able to conceive and comprehend supernatural Mysteries yet it can never demonstrate that they cannot be Who can prove by irresistible evidence that God who is an infinite Good cannot by an infinite communication of himself be in distinct Subsistences 'T is true our Reason may find unaccountable difficulties that One should be Three in the Subsistence of Persons and Three One in Nature But there can be no proof that 't is impossible without the perfect understanding the Nature of God The Incarnation of the Son of God is matter of astonishment that two Natures so different and immensely distant as Finite and Infinite Mortal and Immortal should be so intimately and inseparably united in one Person without confusion of their Properties But we have the strongest Reason to believe that God knows his own Nature and is to be believed upon his own testimony If the matter of his testimony be inconceivably great we must exalt Faith and depress Reason If we will believe the Word of God no farther than 't is comprehensible by our Reason we infinitely disparage him For this is no more than the credit we give to a suspected witness 5. The Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation have a clear connexion with other Truths that right Reason comprehends and receives without reluctancy That Men transgress the Laws of God natural Conscience is their accuser an essential Faculty of the Humane Nature that can neither dye with them nor without them That every Sin needs Pardon is most evident That God is just is known by the general light of Reason in all Men That 't is becoming God to pardon Sin in a way honourable to his Justice is as certain Now the satisfaction of Divine Justice requires the enduring the Punishment ordain'd by the Law and equal to the guilt of Sin The guilt of Sin rises from the Majesty of the Law-giver who is dishonoured by it and the satisfaction must be by a Person of equal dignity and consequently only God can make satisfaction Now Reason dictates that he that satisfies and he that receives satisfaction must be distinguish'd For 't is not reasonable that the same Person be the Judge and the Criminal therefore there must be two distinct Persons in the Deity From hence the Reason of the Incarnation is evident for the Deity is incapable of Suffering and it was necessary that the dignity of the Divine Nature should give value to the Sufferings It was therefore requisito that the Deity should assume our Nature capable of Suffering and the Salvation of the World should result from their conjunction This Doctrine is very honourable to God and beneficial and comfortable to Man which are the conspicuous Characters and strongest evidence of a Doctrine truly Divine This maintains the Royalty of God and the Rights of Justice this secures our Pardon and Peace and removes all the difficulties and doubts that are apt to rise in the Minds of Men Whether God infinitely provok'd by our rebellious Sins will be reconcil'd to us 'T is our duty to admire the mysterious Doctrines of the Gospel which we do understand and to adore those we do not We may observe the same connexion in Errors as in Divine Truths for they who rob our Saviour of his Natural Glory his Eternal Deity vilifie and disbelieve the value and vertue of his Priestly Office by which our Pardon is obtained In short the Fabrick of our Salvation is built on the contrivance and consent of the Divine Persons and the concurrence and concord of the Divine Attributes 6. The belief of supernatural things may be confirm'd by comparisons and examples of things in Nature for they prove and perswade that a thing may be Our Saviour to cure the Infidelity of the Pharisees tells them Ye err not knowing the Scripture and the Power of God In the Book of Scripture we read the declaration of God's Will in the Book of Nature we see the effects of his Power The Apostle says The weakness of God is stronger than Men. The expression is strange to a wonder for it seems to attribute a defect to God But he speaks in that manner to declare with emphasis that God is always equal to himself and has no need to strain his Power to overcome the strongest opposition The same Apostle argues against Infidels that say How are the dead raised up And with what Bodies do they come Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of Wheat or some other grain but God giveth it a Body as pleaseth him If our Eyes are witnesses of such an admirable Resurrection in Nature which our Understandings cannot comprehend shall it not confirm our Belief of the Resurrection of the Body the Wonder of Grace when 't is promised by God the Author of both All difficulties vanish before infinite Power St. Paul declares I know in whom I have believed that he is able to keep that I have committed to him till that day We are assur'd the Lord will change our vile bodies into the likeness of his glorious Body by the power whereby he can subdue all things to himself The belief of the Resurrection is drawn from the clearest springs of Nature and Scripture 7. 'T is a prudent foundation of judging things attended with difficulties to compare the difficulties and to determine
the dear Memorial of his purchasing blessedness for us His precious Blood appeas'd the just Anger of God and shall it not Cool and Calm our Inflam'd Passions In imitation of God and Christ we must abstain from all Revenge of the greatest Evils suffered by us We must extinguish any inclination to Revenge Sin begins in the Desire and ends in the Action We must not take the least pleasure that Evil befalls one that has been injurious to us for the root of it is Devilish Though the reparation of an Injury may in some cases be necessary yet Revenge is absolutely forbidden To retaliate an Evil without any reparation of our Losses is to do Mischief for Mischiefs sake which is the property of Satan As on the contrary to do Good for Evil is such a Divine Perfection that the Devil does not assume the resemblance of it 't is so contrary to his cursed Disposition Some will conceal their Anger for a time waiting for an Opportunity to take Revenge without the appearance of Passion Their Malice like slow Poyson does not cause violent Symptoms but destroys Life insensibly Some have such fierce Passions that strike Fire out of the least Provocation their Breasts are changed into a Tophet Some inflame their Resentments by considering every Circumstance that will exasperate their Spirits But the Command is Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good The Duty is so pleasant in its exercise and attended with such comfortable Consequences that 't is recommended to our Reason and our Affections Love suffers long Love bears all things endures all things And what is more ingaging than the delightful disposition of Love The doing Good for Evil often gains the Heart of an Enemy If there be any vital spark of Humanity it cannot be resisted There is an Instance of it recorded in Scripture Saul the unrighteous and implacable Enemy of David yet being spar'd when he was entirely at his Mercy was moved and melted into tenderness Is this thy voice my Son David Before he in Contempt called him the Son of Jesse Thou art more righteous than I I will do thee no more evil How will some of the Heathens condemn Christians both as to the Rule and Practice of this Duty for whereas 't is esteem'd to be the Character of Pusillanimity or Stupidity to bear frequent and great Injuries unrevenged One of their Poets mixed this Counsel among other excellent Rules of Morality That Man is arrived at an heroick degree of Goodness who is instructed in a dispassionate manner to bear great Injuries And when Phocion who had deserved so highly of the Athenians was condemned unjustly to dye his Son attending him to receive his last Commands immediately before his Death he charged him never to revenge it on the Athenians CHAP. IX Divine Hope has an eminent Causality in the Life of a Christian. The nature of Christian Hope 'T is the Character of a Saint 'T is natural congruous and necessary to a Saint in the present state 'T is distinguish'd from carnal Presumption by its purifying Vertue Fear considered in its nature and cleansing Vertue The Attributes of God the motives of holy Fear There is a Fear of Reverence and of Caution 'T is consistent with Faith and the affections of Love Hope and Joy 'T is the fountain of Fortitude 3. DIvine Hope has an eminent Causality and Influence in the Life of a Christian. St. John speaking of the glorious likeness of the Saints to Christ in the Divine World inferrs from it Every Man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure Three things are observable in the words 1. The Character of a Christian by his Hope Every Man that has this hope in him 2. The distinction of this Hope from its counterfeit by its inseparable effect Purifies himself 3. The regulating of the effect by its Pattern Even as he is pure 1. Christian Hope is a firm expectation of future Happiness 'T is distinguish'd from Worldly Hopes by the excellency of the Object and the stability of its Foundation The Object is an eternal state of Glory and Joy wherein we shall be conform'd to the Son of God Worldly Hopes are terminated on empty vanishing things gilded over with the thin appearance of Good The foundation of Divine Hope are the unchangable Truth of God and his Almighty Power that always seconds his Word God cannot lye and consequently neither deceive our Faith nor disappoint our Hopes and he can do all things The Apostle declares the ground of his Confidence I know in whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day All the Persons in the Deity are ingaged for our assurance and comfort Sometimes 't is said That our hope may be in God and Our Lord Jesus Christ our hope and That we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Worldly Hopes are always uncertain in this sphere of mutability There is so much of impotence or deceit in all the means used to obtain Humane Desires that the success is doubtful Fear mixes with the Desires and often Despair with Fear Young Men are flush with Hopes and of bolder Expectations than ancient Men who from Experience of many unforeseen and inevitable Difficulties that have travers'd their Hopes are inclin'd to Fear But Experience incourages and fortifies the Hopes of Christians which are attended with Patience and Joy If we hope we with patience wait for it Notwithstanding the distance of time and intervening difficulties before the accomplishment of what we expected no undiscernable Accidents can blast their assurance The interval of a thousand Years did not weaken Abraham's Hope of the promised Messiah Comfort is mix'd with the patience of Hope The Apostle saith That we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope The final security of the Blessedness promised is very joyful in an afflicted Condition This Hope is the Character by which a sincere Christian is denominated and distinguish'd from Heathens who are without God without Christ and without hope For God is the Object of it as our soveraign Good and Christ is the Means whereby we obtain and enjoy him This Grace is most natural congruous and necessary to a Christian in the present state 1. Natural Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fades not away reserved in heaven for you The supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance if Sons then heirs and the hope of Heaven is a consequent Affection As in the Natural Life the most early exercise of Reason excites desires and hopes to obtain what may supply the wants of it So in the Spiritual Life when Faith discovers to us Coelestial Blessendness revealed in
few have a Natural Generosity or Christian Mercy and Means to express and exercise it The Necessities of others do not affect Men with so quick a sense as the parting with their Money to relieve them As the Balsam Tree does not drop its healing Liquor till the Bark is Cut. Sometimes the great number of Suiters is a pretence to excuse from the exercise of Bounty None of these can be Conceived of God There is nothing more Divine in the Deity and becoming his Nature than his Inclination to do good As the Mother with equal Pleasure nourishes the Child with her Milk as the Child draws it For the breast is uneasie till emptied God much more rejoices in doing Good than we in receiving it We are also assur'd of obtaining Spiritual Blessings by the Intercession of the Mediator The dignity of his Person who is higher than the Heavens the Son of his Love the Merits of his Obedience and Sufferings assure us of his Power with God He takes us by the hand and brings as to the Father perfumes and presents our Requests to obtain a favourable Reception When we are under impressions of Fear that God will deny our Prayers for Spiritual Blessings 't is as if there were no Love in the Mediator nor prevalency in his Mediation Besides the Spirit of Holiness is plenteously Conveyed under the Dispensation of the Gospel The gift of the Spirit in the richest degrees was reserved as an Honour to Christ in his Ascension 'T is said The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Blood of Christ was liberally shed that the Spirit might be liberally poured forth But the bestowing of the Spirit was at the Triumphant Ascension of Christ. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive and received gifts for men that is from the Father as the Reward of his Victory that he might dispense them to Men. The Principal Gift is the Holy Ghost comprehensive of all good things The Promise is perform'd under the Gospel I will pour forth of my Spirit the Spirit of grace and supplication upon all flesh There were some Sprinklings of it under the Law and confin'd to a separate Nation but now showers are poured down upon all Nations to purifie them and make them fruitful in Good Works The Apostle declares the admirable Efficacy of the Gospel The Law of the Spirit of Life has freed me from the Law of Sin and Death The Spirit of the Fiery Law so call'd with respect to its Original and Operations convinc'd of Sin and constrain'd Conscience to inflict tormenting impressions on the Soul the Presages of Future Judgment but afforded no Spiritual Grace to obey it Therefore 't is said to be weak and unprofitable But the Gospel conveys Supernatural Strength to obtain Supernatural Happiness 'T is foretold concerning the state of the Church in the times of the Gospel He that is feeble among them shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Add farther the Holy Spirit directs our desires and God knows the mind of the Spirit who makes intercession for us according to the will of God Christ is our Advocate in Heaven and the Spirit in our Hearts by inflaming our Affections and exciting in us filial Trust in the Divine Mercy They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength If we are impotent in resisting Temptations and in doing the Will of God when Divine Assistance is ready upon our desires to confirm us our Impotence is voluntary and does not excuse us from Consequent Sin but is an antecedent Sin The sharpest Reproof we read from our Saviour to his Disciples was for their guilty Impotence Jesus answer'd and said O faithless and perverse generation How long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you He had given them Power to heal Diseases and expel Evil Spirits but they had not used the means of Prayer and Fasting that was requisite for the exercise of that Power How justly do we deserve that stinging Reproach who notwithstanding the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit do not by continual fervent Prayer apply our selves to God to partake of a rich abundance of Grace from the Holy Spirit I shall only add that as Prayer is a means to obtain more Grace by impatration so by the exercise of Grace in Prayer 't is increas'd Frequent Prayer has a cleansing Vertue in that as those who often come into the King's Presence to speak to him are careful to be in decent Habits that they may not be disparag'd in his sight so those who draw near to God will cleanse themselves from Sin that they may be prepar'd to appear before his Holy Majesty Humility Faith Reverence Love Zeal Resignation to the Divine Will Compassion to the Afflicted and other excellent Graces are exercised in Prayer as the sphere of their activity and as acquir'd Habits so infused are improved by exercise Frequent shooting not only makes persons more skilful in directing the Arrow to the Mark but more able to draw a stronger Bow None are more holy in Conversation than those that give themselves to Prayer Our Saviour prayed himself into Heaven and a Divine Lustre appear'd in his Countenance By our drawing near to God the beauty of Holiness will be impress'd upon us and brighten our Conversations Briefly according to the raised operations of Grace in Prayer we shall obtain more excellent degrees of it from Heaven for in bestowing the first Grace God is a pure Giver but in dispensing new degrees of Grace he is a Rewarder according to the Promise To him that hath shall be given 3. Frequent and attentive Hearing and Reading the Word and serious Meditation of it is a means appointed by the Divine Wisdom and Goodness for our growth in Grace The conception and propagation the sustaining and increasing the Spiritual Life is by the Word of Truth 'T is therefore compar'd to those things that are the productive and preserving Causes of the Natural Life 'T is the incorruptible Seed and Food to beget and nourish the Spiritual Life 'T is Milk for Babes Wine for the faint and strong Meat to confirm those of maturer Age. There is an objective Vertue in it whereby 't is apt and sufficient to regenerate us and to increase the vigour and activity of the new Life The Apostle calls it The Power of God to our Salvation The word of Grace is able to build us up to an inheritance among them that are sanctified 'T is a kind of Miracle in Nature that a Sience of a good Tree grafted into a sowre Stock draws the vital Moisture from the Root and converts it for the producing generous and pleasant Fruit The ingrafted Word being a Divine Doctrine over-rules the Carnal Nature and makes the Mind Will Affections and Actions holy and heavenly answerable to its quality The Commands of
it are clear and pure directing us in our universal Duty the Promises are precious encouraging us by the prospect of the Reward the Threatenings terrible to preserve us from Sin There is an instrumental fitness in the Word preached to perfect the Image of God in us for the manner of conveying the Revelation to us has a congruity to work upon the subject to whom 't is revealed The first insinuation of Sin was by the Ear the first inspiration of Grace is by it Through the Ear was the entrance of Death 't is now the gate of Life In Heaven we shall know God by sight now by hearing When a Minister of the Gospel is inlightened from Heaven and zealous for the Salvation of Souls he is fitter for this Work than if an Angel were a ministring Spirit in this sense and imployed in this holy Office For he that Preaches has the same interest in the Doctrine declar'd by him his everlasting Happiness is nearly concern'd and therefore is most likely to affect others When a holy fire is kindled in the Breast it will inflame the Lips the Mind convinces the Mind and the Heart perswades the Heart But we must consider that as the Instrument cannot effect that for which 't is made without 't is directed and applyed for that end so without a superiour influence of the Holy Spirit that gives vital Power to the preaching of the Word 't is without efficacy What our Saviour speaks of the Natural Life is applicable to the Spiritual Man lives not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from God's mouth A Minister with all his Reason and Rhetorick cannot turn a Soul from Sin to Holiness without the Omnipotent Operation of the Spirit The Apostle tells the Thessalonians that the Gospel came not to them in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost The Gospel then comes only in Word when it pierces no further than the Ear that is the sense to try Words and distinguish different Sounds and Voices But the Truth of God directed and animated by the Spirit doth not stop at the Ear the door of the Soul but passes into the Understanding and the Heart that make a change so real and great in the qualities of Men as is express'd by substantial productions 'T is therefore said We are begotten and born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word The Word becomes effectual for the increase of Holiness when 't is mix'd with Faith which binds the Conscience to entire Obedience 'T is the Word of God our King Law-giver and Judge the Rule of our present Duty and of future Judgment in the great day of decision The Divine Law is universal and unchangable and the Duties of it are not necessary for some and needless for others but must be obeyed without partiality notwithstanding the repugnance of the Carnal Passions When 't is seriously believed and considered the hearers are induced to receive it with preparation and resolution of yielding to it There is no Truth more evident nor injur'd than this that perfect Obedience is due to the Will of God declar'd in his Word This all profess in the general but contradict in particulars when a Temptation crosses the Precept Now the first act of Obedience to the Truth is the believing it with so stedfast an assent wrought by the Spirit that it purifies the Heart and reforms the whole Man 2. With Faith there must be joyn'd an earnest desire to grow in Holiness This is declar'd by St. Peter As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby In the Natural Life there is an inseparable Appetite of Food to maintain it the inward sense of its necessities causes a hunger and thirst after suitable supplies to preserve and improve it This is experimented in every one that is born of the Spirit they attend and apply the Word of God to them not merely to prevent the sharp reflections of Conscience for the impious neglect of their Duty for that proceeds from Fear not from Desire but to grow in Knowledge and Holiness not in an aiery flashy Knowledge that is only fruitful to increase Guilt and Punishment but substantial and saving Knowledge that is influential upon practice Hearing is in order to doing and doing is the way to Happiness 'T is not the forgetful hearer but the doer of the Word shall be blessed in his deed The bare knowledge of Evil does no hurt nor the bare knowledge of our Duty without practice does no Good Feeding without digesting the Food and turning it into Blood and Spirits affords no Nourishment nor Strength The most diligent hearing and comprehensive knowledge of our Duty without practice is not profitable The enemy of our Souls is content that Divine Truths should be in our Understandings if he can intercept their passage into our Hearts and Conversations He practices over continually the first Temptation to induce us by Guile to choose the Tree of Knowledge before the Tree of Life We are therefore commanded to be doers of the Word not hearers only deceiving our own Souls 3. That the Spiritual Life may be increased by the Word it must be laid up in the Mind and Memory and hid in the Heart David says I have hid thy Word in my Heart that I may not sin against thee His Affection to the Word caused his continual Meditation of it that it might be a living Root of the Fruits of Holiness in their season If there were the same care and diligence in remembring and observing the Rules of Life prescrib'd by the Wisdom of God in the Scriptures as Men use in remembring and practising Rules for the recovery of the Health of their Bodies and 't is justly requisite there should be more since the Life of the Soul infinitely excels the Life of the Body how holy and blessed would they be The Advice of the Roman Physician that is conducive for the Health of the Body is applicable to the Soul After a full Meal abstain from laborious Actions that the heat of the Spirits may be concentered in the Stomach for Digestion otherwise if diverted and imployed in Labour the Stomach will be filled with Crudities Thus after hearing the Word our thoughts should not be scattered in the World but we should recollect and revolve it in our Minds that it may be digested into practice 'T is said of the Virgin Mary She kept thâ—se sayings and pondered them in her heart There are powerful Motives to ingage us to a conscientious attendance upon this Duty Our Saviour tells us He that hears me that is with subjection of Soul hath Eternal Life And in one Instance he has declar'd how much approv'd and acceptable it was to him For when Martha was imployed about entertaining him and Mary was attentive to receive his Instructions he said Mary has chose the better part that shall not be taken from her His feeding Mary was more
pleasing to him than to be fed by Martha But how many neglect and despise this Duty Some pretend they know enough such if they do not want Instructers want Remembrancers of their Duty Others are infected with Pride and a worse Leprosie than Naaman's of whom we read that when the Prophet sent him a Message that he should go and wash in Jordan seven times and he should be clean he was wroth and said Are not Abana and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus better than the Rivers of Israel May I not wash in them and be clean So there are some who being directed to wash themselves often in the waters of Life the Scriptures of Divine Inspiration are apt to think Are not the Rivers of Greece and Rome the eloquent Discourses of Philosophers better more perfective of their Minds and Actions than the plain Rules of the Word But this proceeds from affected Ignorance and wilful perverseness for not only supernatural Doctrines necessary to be believed are only revealed in the Scripture but the Rules of Moral Duties necessary for practice are clearly and compleatly only laid down in it Besides as every thing in Nature has its Vertue by the appointment of God and works for that end for which it was ordain'd so the preaching of the Gospel was appointed to begin and maintain the Life of the Soul and powerfully works to that end The attendance 〈…〉 has a Blessing annex'd and the neglect exposes to Divine Displeasure He that withdraws his Ear from hearing the Law his Prayer shall be an abomination And let it be seriously ponder'd there is a time coming when only Prayer can relieve them I shall add that the serious reading the Scripture that there may be an impression of the Characters of its Purity on the Soul is a Duty of daily revolution We are commanded that the Word of God should dwell richly in us in all wisdom As the Soul quickens the Body by its residence and directs it in all its motions so the Word should be in the Soul an inward principle of Life to direct and excite and enable it for the performance of every Duty This Advice of the Apostle is comprehensive of all other Precepts and the effectual means of obtaining Perfection Our Reading must be with observation and applying the Word for our Good There is a great difference between sailing on the water for Pleasure and divinâ— in it for Pearls Some read the Scriptures to please their Minds in the History of the Creation and the Wonders of God's powerful Providence and the various Events in the Kingdoms of the World recorded in them But there must be diligent Enquiry for Spiritual Treasures to enrich the Soul How Careless are the most of this Duty There are above Eight Thousand Hours in a Year and how few are employed in Reading the Scriptures that direct us in the Everlasting Way The common pretence is necessary Business but all Excuses are vain against the Command of God Is the working oâ— our Salvation an indifferent idle matter Must the principal Affair of our Life be subordinate to lower Concerns The infinite business of Governing a Kingdom is no exemption to Princes from Reading the Word of God for the Command is to him that sits on the Throne to read the Law of God all the days of 〈…〉 Life that he may fear the Lord and do 〈…〉 Statutes 3. The Word must be sincerely received as 't is sincerely deliver'd The Rule is to lay aside all superfluity of naughtiness and receivâ— the engrafted word that is able to save our Souls There is no food more easily turn'd into Blood thaâ— Milk but if the Stomach be foul 〈◊〉 sowers and corrupts and is hurtful to the Body The Word of Grace if received into a sincere Heart is very nutritive it Confirms and Comforts the Soul but if there be false Principles Carnal Habits Sensual Affections it proves dangerous A Carnal Man will set the Grace of the Gospel against the Precepts and apply the Promises without regarding the Conditions of them and from holy Premisses draw sinful Conclusions Briefly Hearing the Word is not an Arbitrary but an indispensable Duty The Psalmist puts the question He that planted the ear shall not he hear and it may be said with the same Conviction He that gives us the faculty of hearing shall not he be heard But we must not rest in the bare hearing for 't is an introductive preparing Duty in order to practise There may be an increase in Knowledge some Convictions like a flash of Lightening some melting of the Affections like a dash of Rain soon over some Resolution of Obedience but without sincere practise the Man is a Hearer only and deceives himself Every Sermon that he hears will notwithstanding his vain Hopes be an argument against him at the Day of Judgment The Residence of the practical Truths is rather in the Heart than in the Head if they are only in the Head they are kept in unrighteousness yet there is no deceit more Common Men think they are enrich'd with the Ideas and Notions of Divine Truths in their Minds without the habits of Graces in their Hearts Briefly The End and Work of the Evangelical Ministry is the Perfection of the Saints as the Apostle declares We warn every man and teach every man that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus This testimony is given of Epâ—phras a Servant of Christ That he always labour'd fervently in Prayer that the Colossians might be perfect and compleat in all the will of God 3. The Religious Use of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is an excellent Means for the Increase of Grace The state of Grace is represented under the Similitude of a New Man born from Heaven and partaker of a Spiritual Life that Consists in Holiness and Joy This Spiritual Life supposes a Spiritual Nourishment to preserâ—â—e it and a Spiritual Appetite and that a Spiritual Eating and Drinking Our Saviour denominates himself by the Character of Life I am the way the truth and the life he being the Principle and Preserver of the Spiritual Life In the Sacrament he is the Bread of Life there are the Sacred Memorials of his Crucifixion of his Body and Blood which are meat indeed and are drink indeed that afford a more substantial and excellent Nourishment for the Life of the Soul than the perishing Food that supports the Body Our Saviour tells the Jews Your fathers eat Mannâ— in the wilderness and are dead the Bread of Angels could not preserve them from Death but the Bread of God is the Principle of Eternal Life He is pleased to deal familiarly with us suitably to our Composition and Capacity and humbles himself in a Sacramental Union with the Elements that sight may assist Faith This is a positive Institution that derives its Authority and Goodness from the Precept of our Soveraign and Saviour It was his dying Charge to his Disciples to which a special and
most sensible Relishes of his Love in Communion with him We read of the Lame Man from his Birth that upon his Miraculous Healing when he felt a new current of Spirits in his Nerves and his Feet and Arms were strengthen'd that he entred with the Apostles into the Temple Walking and Leaping and Praising of God This is a resemblance of the Zealous Affections of new Converts when they feel such an admirable Change in them they run in the wayes of God's Commandments with enlarged hearts they have such flashes of Illumination and Raptures of Joy that engage them in a Course of Obedience The Holy Spirit inspires them with new Desires and affords new Pleasures to endear Religion to them 'T is not only their Work but Recreation and Reward But aâ—as how often are the first Heats allayed and stronger Resolutions decline to Remisness Our Saviour tells the Church of Ephesus I have somewhat against thee bâ—cause thou hast left thy first love Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works 'T is said of Jehosaphat that he walk'd in the first ways of his father David intimating there was a visible declension in his Zeal He was not so accurate in his Conversation afterward The Converted are many times not so frequent and fervent in God's Service and though by the constraining Judgment of Conscience Duties are not totally omitted yet they are not perform'd with that Reverence and Delight as at first They are more venturous to engage themselves in Temptations and more ready to comply with them They are tir'd with the length of their Travel and the difficulties of their Way and drive on heavily We should with Tears of Confusion remember the disparity between our Zealous Beginnings and slack Prosecution in Religion we should blush with Shame and tremble with Fear at the strange decay of Grace and recollect our selves and re-inforce our Will to proceed with Vigorous Constancy And when the Saints are ready to enter into the Unchangeable State when the Spirit is to return to God that gave it how intire and intent are they to finish the Work of their Salvation How Spiritual and Heavenly are their Dispositions With what Solemnity do they prepare for the Divine Presence How exactly do they dress their Souls for Eternity and 〈◊〉 their Lamps that they may be admitted into the Joys of the Bridegroom How is the World vilified in their Esteem and unsavoury to their Desires The Lord is exalted in that day The nearer they approach to Heaven the more its Attractive Force is 〈◊〉 When the Crown of Glory is in their view and they hear the Musick of Heaven and are refresh'd with the fragancy of Paradise what a blaze of Holy Affection breaks forth When Jacob was Blessing his Sons upon his Death-bed he in a sudden Rapture Addresses himself to God O Lord I have waited for thy salvation As if his Soul had Ascended to Heaven before it lest the Body O when shall I appear before God! was the fainting desire of the Psalmist If Communion with God in the Earthly Tabernacle was so precious how much more is the immediate Fruition of him in the Coelestial Temple If one day in the Courts below be worth a thousand an hour in the Courts above is worth ten thousand Let us therefore by our serious Thoughts often represent to our selves the approaches of Death and Judgment This will make us Contrive and Contend for Perfection in Holiness The Apostle Exhorts the Romans to Shew forth the Power of Godliness from the Consideration of the Day of Grace they Enjoy and the Day of Glory they Expect for now is Salvation nearer than when you believed Let us do those things now which when we come to dye we shall wish we had done Thus doing we shall be Transmitted from the Militant Church to the Triumphant with a Solemn Testimony of our having adorned the Gospel in our Lives with the Victorious Testimony of Conscience that we have fought the good fight kept the Faith and have finished our Course and received with the glorious Testimony of our Blessed Rewarder Well done good and faithful Servant Enter into the Joy of thy Lord. FINIS BOOKS Writ by William Bates D. D. THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future State To which is now added the Divinity of the Christian Religion c. The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in Octavo The same is also Printed in Twelves and proper to be given at Funerals Ten Sermons Preach'd upon Several Occasions in Octavo Sermons upon Psalm CXXX verse 4. But there is Forgivness with thee that thou mayest be feared in Octavo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. A Funeral-Sermon on Dr. Thomas Manson who deceased October 18 1677. With the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached The sure Trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. A Description of the blessed Place and State of the Saints above on John 14. 2. Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The way to the highest Honour on John 12. 26. Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22. 12. Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Asbhurst A Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen Mary In regno nati sumus parere Deo est regnare In virtute posita est vera felicitas Sen. de Vita Beata Col. 3. Isa. 1. Job 14. 4. Isa. 1. Jer. 2. Jam. 4. Jam. 4. 8. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Col. 3. 5 8. Psal. 4â— Sen. de brevit vit Eccl. 7. 26 27 28. Prov. 1. Nox amor vinumque nihil moderabile suadent Illa pudore caret liber amorque metu Ovid. Ezek. 36. â—1 Repugnante Natura nihil Medicina proficiet Cels. Mark 10. 2â— 2 Pet. 1. 4. Nesciâ— utrum magis detestabile vitium sit ac deforme Sen. de Ir. Idem esse sibi Consilium adversus hostem quod plerisque medicis contra vitia corporum â—amâ— potius quam ferro superandi Quare fert agri rabiem phenetici verba Nempe quia nescire videntur quid faciant Sâ—n. l. 3. de Ira. Ne iras careâ—tur Ira enim perturbat artem Et qua noceat tantum non qua careat aspicit Sen. de Ir. Nec est quisquam cui tam valde innocentiae sua placeat ut non stare in conspectu Clementiam paratam Humanis erroribus gaudeat Sen. de Clem. Job 31. 25 Avaro tam deest quod habet quam quod non habet Mat. 6. Luke
Spiritual Perfection Unfolded and Enforced FROM 2 COR. VII 1. Having therefore these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard and Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill 1699. Gulielmus Batesius S. S. Theol Prof Aetat 73. Nov 1608. THE PREFACE THE great Design of God in his saving Mercies is to transform us into the Image of his unspotted Holiness We are elected to be holy redeem'd to be holy call'd to be holy and at last we shall be receiv'd into Heaven and made glorious in Holiness without spot or blemish It was worthy of the descending Deity into this lower World to instruct and perswade Men by his perfect Rules and Example to be holy as God is holy in all manner of Conversation The Enemy of Souls in combination with the Carnal Mind use all their Arts to cool our endeavours in following Holiness and raise an army of Objections to dismay us and stop our progress to Perfection Sometimes the Deceiver inspires a Temptation with so soft a Breath that 't is not discern'd He suggests the Counsel of Solomon Be not Righteous over-much The intention of the wise Preacher is to direct us in the exercise of compassionate Charity towards others and not to censure them with Rigor and Severity for humane Frailties the Tempter perverts his meaning to make us remiss in Religion and shy of strict Holiness Moral Men value themselves upon their fair Conversation they are not stain'd with soul and visible Pollutions but are externally sober and righteous and they will advise that Men should not take a surfeit of Religion but rise with an appetite that 't is Wisdom to use so much of Religion as may quiet the Clamours of Conscience secure Reputation and afford some colour of Comfort But 't is a spice of Folly to be over-religious and justly exposes Persons to derision as vainly nice and scrupulous They commend the golden mean and under the pretence of temper luke-warmness The Objection in some part of it is specious and apt to sway the Minds of Men that do not attentively consider things To discover its false Colour and to make a true and safe Judgment of our Duty it will be useful to consider 'T is true there is a mediocrity between vicious extreams wherein the essence of inferiour Moral Vertues consists for they are exercised upon Objects of limited Goodness and must be regulated both in our Affections and Actions correspondently to the degrees of their Goodness Thus Fortitude is in the middle between base Fear and rash Boldness and the more firm and constant the habitual quality of Fortitude is the more eminent and praise-worthy it appears But in spiritual Graces that raise the Soul to God whose Perfections are truly infinite there can be no excess The divinest degrees of our Love to God and fear to offend him our endeavours in their heigth and excellency to obey and please him are our Wisdom and Duty That part of the Objection That strict Holiness will expose us to Scorn is palpably unreasonable Did ever any Artist blush to excel in the Art that he professes Is a Scholar asham'd to excel in useful Learning And shall a Christian whose high and holy Calling obliges him to live becoming its dignity and purity be asham'd of his accurate Conversation Can we be too like God in his Holiness his peculiar Glory Can that be matter of Contempt that is the supreme honour of the intelligent Creature A Saint when despised with titles of Ignominy by the Carnal World should bind their Scorns as a Diadem about his Head and wear them as beautiful Ornaments The Apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. What Reproaches did the Lord of Glory suffer for us And what Pride and Folly is it that we should desire to be glorified by his suffering Reproaches and not willingly endure Reproach for his Glory Our continual and ardent endeavours to rise to Perfection commend us to our Soveraign and Saviour A cold-dead Heathen is less offensive and odious to him than a luke-warm Christian. It is a common Objection That to live in all things according to Rule to walk circumspectly and exactly to be confin'd to the narrow way will not only infringe but destroy our Liberty This is so precious a possession that Men will defend their Liberty with their Lives An ingenuous Person will rather wear a plain Garment of his own than a rich Livery the mark of Servitude But if Men will appeal to their Understandings they will clearly discern that the word Liberty is abus'd to give countenance to Licentiousness There is a free subjection and a servile liberty The Apostle tells the Romans When ye were the servants of Sin ye were free from Righteousness and being made free from Sin ye became the servants of Righteousness The Soul has two Faculties the Understanding and Will The Object of the Understanding is Truth either in it self or appearance the Object of the Will is Goodness either real or counterfeit Liberty is radically in the Understanding which freely deliberates and by comparative Consideration directs the Will to choose Good before Evil and of Good the greater and of Evil the less When the Understanding is fully illuminated of the absolute Goodness of an Object without the least mixture of Evil and represents it to the Will it is an act retrograde in Nature and utterly repugnant to the Rational Appetite to reject it The indifference of the Will proceeds from some defects in the Object or in the apprehension of it but when an infinite Good is duely represented to the Will the choice is most clear and free Of this there is an illustrious Example in the Life of Moses He refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the treasures of Egypt For he had an Eye to the recompence of Reward His inlightened Mind considerately ponder'd the Eternal Reward with the transient pleasure of Sin and his Judgment was influxive on his VVill to choose the glorious Futurity before the false Lustre of the Court VVhat is the goodly appearance of the present tempting VVorld but like the Rainbow painted Tears The heavenly Felicity is substantial and satisfying Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty He dispels the darkness of the Mind and by its illuminating guidance turns the VVill to accept and embrace those Objects that exceedingly satisfie its vast desires and capacity This is an eminent part of the divine Image engraven on the Soul in its Creation For God is soveraignly free and does all things according to the Counsel of his Will Our Servitude
was by Seduction Eve being deceived was in the Transgression Our Liberty is restor'd by Light The Truth makes us free The necessity that proceeds from external Compulsion and from the indeliberate and strong sway of Nature that determines to one thing is inconsistent with Liberty The Understanding is a free Faculty in the apprehension of Objects the VVill free in the election of them But in the consequent choice of the VVill that infallibly proceeds from Light and Love the perfection of its freedom consists VVhen God and his Commands are duely represented in their amiable excellencies the Love of the Law-giver and his Laws certainly produces Obedience to it with Choice and Complacency David expresses his Affection to the Divine Law and the principal motive of it I love thy Law because 't is pure As the Hands are free when they are directed by the Eyes and VVill so a Saint that with understanding and voluntary veneration worships God and obeys his Precepts which is our reasonable Service exercises and enjoys the truest sweetest and most honourable Liberty If the Son make you free ye are free indeed Freedom and Felicity are inseparable Servitude is the fatal concomitant of Vice VVhen a Philosopher was ask'd what Advantage he had obtain'd by the Study of Philosoyhy he replyed This among others that if all the Laws were cancell'd a Philosopher would live as uniformly according to the Rules of Decency and Honesty as before A Christian that has an inward Principle of Divine Knowledge and Love without the constraint of Paenal Laws will from a clear Judgment and Election obey God with delight and constancy There is a servile Liberty There are three mistakes in the VVorld of eternal destructive consequence to the Souls of Men concerning VVisdom and Folly Happiness and Misery Liberty and Servitude Some are seeming wise whose Ignorance is esteemed Judgment Such are the worldly wise who contrive and labour to lay up treasures for themselves here but are not rich towards God Our Saviour gives them a true Character They are Fools Others are esteemed happy in enjoying what they love whereas if they set their Love upon those Objects that deserve not that principal Affection but are pernicious to their Souls they are truly miserable in the fruition of them 'T is the sign of God's severe displeasure to give Men up to satisfie their vile Affections Some are seeming free whose Bondage is esteem'd Liberty Carnal Men presume of their Liberty because they follow the swinge of their Appetites But they serve divers Lusts and Pleasures and are under the dominion of Satan taken captive by him at his Will As if a Horse that takes a career in a pleasant Plain were free when the Bridle is in his Mouth and he is carb'd by the Rider at his pleasure The Apostles say of Idolaters That what they sacrific'd to Idols they sacrific'd to Devils 'T is equally true that when Men serve their Lusts they serve the Devil constructively doing things pleasing to them VVhen Man turn'd Rebel against God he became an absolute Slave His Understanding is now in the Chains of Darkness under Ignorance and Errors his VVill is inflav'd by infamous Lusts his Affections are fetter'd by insnaring Objects If no Man can serve two Masters how wretched is their Condition whose numerous and fierce Passions exact things contrary and are their Tyrants and Tormenters continually St. Peter speaks of impure Persons Their Eyes are full of the Adulteress they cannot cease from Sin This is true of all Sinners whose Hearts are possess'd by any kind of Lusts. They are hurried by them against the Reason and Rest of their Minds to the commission of Sin which is the most cruel and contumelious Bondage and the more shameful because voluntary But they are insensible of those subtle Chains that bind the Soul and think themselves to be the only free Men As when the Angel awaken'd Peter to release him from Prison he thought he saw a Vision so when they are excited to go out of their dark Prison they think the freedom of Duty the gracious Liberty of the Sons of God to be a mere Imagination Like one in the Paroxism of a Fever who sings and talks high as if he were in perfect Health but after the remission of the Disease feels his Strength broken with Pains and himself near Deaths Thus within a little while when the furious precipitancy of their Passions is cool'd and check'd by Afflictions they will feel and sink under the weight of their woful Bondage Another Objection and pernicious Fallacy of the Tempter whereby he frights many young Persons from the strictness of a holy Life is That Religion is a sowre Severity they must renounce all Delights turn Capuchins if they seriously engage themselves in a Religious Course and resolve to strive after pure and perfect Holiness But there is neither Truth nor Terror in this Suggestion to the inlighten'd Mind 'T is impossible true Holiness should make Men joyless and in the least degree miserable which is in the highest Perfection in God who is infinitely joyful and blessed Religion does not extinguish the joyful Affections but transplant them from Egypt to Canaan The Pleasures of Sin which are only forbidden in the first taste ravish the Carnal Senses But like Jonathan's Honey they kill by tasting when the Sweetness is vanish'd the Sting remains Whereas the Joy that proceeds from the exercise and improvement of Divine Grace and the Love of God shed abroad in the Heart by the Holy Ghost the Eternal Comforter the present Reward of it is vital and reviving the foretaste of Eternal Life 'T is true Carnal Men are strangers to this Joy they cannot relish Divine Delights but the Spirit of God like a new Soul inspires the sanctified with new Thoughts new Inclinations new Resolutions and qualifies them that Spiritual Objects are infinitely pleasing to them And whereas Carnal Pleasures are but for a season and within a little while dye and end in bitter distaste Amnon's excessive Love was suddenly turned into more excessive Hatred Spiritual Joys are increasing and ever-satisfying Now 't is an infallible Rule to direct our choice that is true Happiness which the more we enjoy the more highly we value and love I thought it fit to shew the Unreasonableness of these Objections that are perverse and poysonous which if not remov'd would blast my Design and desir'd Success in the subsequent Discourses But 't is more easie to prove our Duty to follow Holiness than to perswade Men to practice it I shall only add that the Reward of Holiness being so Excellent and Eternal our Zeal should encounter and overcome all Difficulties that oppose our obtaining it The strongest and swiftest Wings are too slow to dispatch our way to Heaven The Lord give his Blessing to make Sacred Truths effectual upon the Souls of Men. ERRATA PAge 15. Line 13 14. for Love read Law p. 29. in the Margent for iras