to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the minds of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankind and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerful arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As tho' we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a moâ—t signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonâ—â—rations of a divine power which accompanied the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel ofâ—ers the anâ—wer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor woulâ— deceive us if it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankind which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deter men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it do Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joys shall be full and constant the perception clear and undisturbed the fruition with continual delight and continual desire Where there shall be no fears to disquiet no enemies to allarm no dangers to conquer nothing shall then be but an uninterrupted peace an unexpressible Joy and pleasures for evermore And what could be ever imagined more satisfactory to minds tired out with the vanities of this world than such a repose as that is What more agreeable to the minds and desires of good men than to be eased of this clog of flesh and to spend eternity with the fountain of all
who patiently endured the flames if they might but give the greater light to the world by them Such who did as far out-go any of the admired Heroes of the Heathens as the purging the World from sin is of greater consequence than cleansing an Augoean Stable from the filth of it and rescuing men from eternal flames is a more noble design than clearing a Country from Pyrats and Robbers Nay most of the Heathen Gods who were so solemnly worshipped in Greece and at Rome owed their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such slender benefits to Mankind that sure the world was very barbarous or hugely gratefull when they could think them no less than Gods who found out such things for men If a Smith's forge and a Woman's distaffe if teaching men the noble arts of fighting and cheating one another were such rare inventions that they only became some of the most celebrated Deities which the grave and demure Romans thought fit to worship sure St. Paul had no cause to be ashamed of his Religion among them who had so much reason to be ashamed of their own since his design was to persuade them out of all the vanities and fooleries of their Idolatrous Worship and to bring them to the service of the true and ever-living God who had discovered so much goodness to the world in making his Son a propitiation for the sins of it And was not this a discovery infinitely greater and more suitable to the nature of God than any which the subtilty of the Greeks or wisdom of the Romans could ever pretend to concerning any of their Deities Thus we see the excellent end of our Religion was that which made St. Paul so far from being ashamed of it and so it would do all us too if we did understand and value it as St. Paul did But it is the great dishonour of too many among us that they are more ashamed of their Religion than they are of their sins If to talk boldly against Heaven to affront God in calling him to witness their great impieties by frequent oaths to sin bravely and with the highest confidence to mock at such who are yet more modest in their debaucheries were not to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ we might find St. Pauls enough in the Age we live in and it would be a piece of gallantry to be Apostles But this is rather the utmost endeavour to put Religion out of countenance and make the Gospel it self blush and be ashamed that ever such boldfaced impieties should be committed by men under the profession of it as though they believed nothing so damnable as Repentance and a Holy life and no sin so unpardonable as Modesty in committing it But to use St. Paul's language when he had been describing such persons himself Heb. 6.9 We are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany that salvation the Gospel was designed for though we thus speak For certainly nothing can argue a greater meanness of spirit than whiâ—e wicked and profane persons are not ashamed of that which unavoidably tends to their ruine and should be shy of the profession and practice of that which conduces to their eternal happiness What is become of all that magnanimity and generous spirit which the Primitive Christistians were so remarkable for if while some are impudent in sinning others are ashamed of being or doing good If we have that value for our immortal souls and a future life which we ought to have we shall not trouble our selves much with the Atheistical scoffs and drollery of profane persons who while they deride and despise Religion do but laugh themselves into eternal misery And thus much for the first ground of St. Paul's confidence viz. The excellent end the Gospel was design'd for 2. The effectualness of it in order to that end It is the Power of God to salvation Wherein two things are imply'd 1. The inefficacy of any other doctrine for that end 2. The effectualness of the Gospel in order to it 1. The inefficacy of any other Doctrine for this end of promoting the eternal salvation of Mankind If the world had been acquainted with any doctrine before which had been sufficient for the purposes the Gospel was designed for there would have been no such necessity of propagating it among men nor had there been reason enough to have justified the Apostles in exposing themselves to so great hazards for the preaching of it If the notion of an eternal God and Providence without the knowledge of a Saviour had been sufficient to reform the World and make men happy it had not been consistent with the wisdom or goodness of God to have imploy'd so many persons with the loss of their lives to declare the doctrine of Christ to the World So that if Christianity be true it must be thought necessary to salvation for the necessity of it was declared by those who were the instruments of confirming the truth of it I meddle not with the case of those particular persons who had no means or opportunity to know God's revealed will and yet from the Principles of Natural Religion did reform their lives in hopes of a future felicity if any such there were but whether there were not a necessity of such a Doctrine as the Gospel is to be discover'd to the world in order to the reformation of it For some very few persons either through the goodness of their natures the advantage of their education or some cause of a higher nature may have led more vertuous lives than others did but it is necessary that what aims at the general good of Mankind must be suited to the capacities of all and enforced with arguments which may prevail on any but the most obstinate and wilful persons But when we consider the state of the World at that time when Christianity was first made known to it we may easily see how insufficient the common Principles of Religion were from working a reformation in it when notwithstanding them mankind was so generally lapsed into Idolatry and Vice that hardly any can be instanced in in the Heathen World who had escaped both of them And there was so near an affinity between both these that they who were ingaged in the rites of their Idolatry could hardly keep themselves free from the intanglements of vice not only because many of their villanies were practised as part of their Religion and there was little hopes certainly of their being good who could not be Religious without being bad but because the very Gods they worship were represented to be as bad as themselves And could they take any better measure of Vertue than from the actions of those whom they supposed to have so divine an excellency in them as to deserve their adoration So that if there were a design of planting wickedness in the world which need not be for it grows fast enough without it it could not be done more successfully than by worshipping
divine Assistance which is promised to those who embrace it 1. In confirmation of the Truth of it For the World was grown so uncertain as to the grand foundations of Religion that the same power was requisite now to settle the World which was at first for the framing of it For though the Precepts of Christian Religion be pure and easie holy and suitable to the sense of Mankind though the Promises be great and excellent proportionable to our wants and the weight of our business though the reward be such that it is easier to desire than comprehend it yet all these would but seem to baffle the more the expectations of men unless they were built on some extraordinary evidence of divine power And such we assert there was in the confirmation of these things to us not only in the miraculous birth of our Saviour and that continual series of unparallel'd miracles in his life not only in the most obliging circumstances of his death not only in the large effusion of divine gifts upon his Apostles and the strange propagation of Christian Religion by them against all humane power but that which I shall particularly instance in as the great effect of divine power and confirmation of our Religion was his Resurrection from the dead For as our Apostle saith Rom. 1.4 Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead No way of evidence could be more suitable to the capacities of all than this it being a plain matter of fact none ever better attested than this was not only by the unanimous consent of all the witnesses but by their constant adhering to the truth of it though it cost almost all of them their lives and no greater evidence could be given to the World of a divine power since both Iews and Gentiles agreed in this that such a thing could not be effected but by an immediate hand of God So far were they then from thinking a resurrection possible by the juice of herbs or an infusion of warm blood into the veins or by the breath of living Creatures as the great Martyr for Atheism would seem from Pliny to perswade us when yet certainly nothing can be oâ— higher concernment to those who believe not another life than to have tried this experiment long ere now and since nothing of that nature hath ever happened since our Saviour's resurrection it only lets us know what credulous men in other things the greatest infidels as to Religion are But so far were they at that time from so fond an imagination that they readily yielded that none but God could do it tho' they seem'd to question whether God himself could do it or no. As appears by the Apostle's Interrogation Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Act. 26.8 This was therefore judged on both sides to be a matter of so great importance that all the disputes concerning Christian Religion were resolved into this Whether Christ were risen from the dead And this the Apoâ—tles urge and insist on upon all occasions as the great evidence of the truth of his Doctrine and this was the main part of their Commission for they were sent abroad to be witnesses of his Resurrection Which was not designed by God as a thing strange and incredible to puzzle Mankind with but to give the highest assurance imaginable to the World of the truth and importance of Christianity Since God was pleased to imploy his power in so high a manner to confirm the certainty of it 2. God's power was seen in the admirable effects of Christian Religion upon the minds of men which was most discernable by the strange alteration it soon made in the state of the world In Iudoea soon after the death of Christ some of his Crucifiers become Christians 3000 Converts made at one Sermon of St. Peter's and great accessions made afterwards both in Hierusalem and other places Yea in all parts of the Roman Empire where the Christians came they so increased and multiplied that thereby it appeared that God had given a Benediction to his new Creation suitable to what he gave to the first So that within the compass of not a hundred years after our Saviour's death the World might admire to see it self so strangely changed from what it was The Temple at Hierusalem destroy'd and the Iews under a sadder dispersion than ever and rendred uncapable of continuing their former Worship of God there the Heathen Temples unfrequented the Gods derided the Oracles ceased the Philosophers puzzled the Magistrates disheartned by their fruitless cruelties and all this done by a few Christians who came and preached to the World Righteousness Temperance and a Iudgment to come whereof God had given assurance to the World by raising one Iesus from the dead And all this effected not by the power of Wit and Eloquence not by the force and violence of rebellious subjects not by men of hot and giddy brains but by men sober just humble and meek in all their carriages but withal such as might never have been heard of in the world had not this Doctrine made them famous What could this then be imputed to less than a Divine Power which by effectual and secret ways carries on its own design against all the force and wit of men So that the wise Gamaliel at whose feet St. Paul was bred seem'd to have the truest apprehensions of these things at that time when he told the Sanhedrin If this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest haply ye be found to fight against God Act. 5.38 39. 3. In the Divine Assistance which is promised to those who embrace it in which respect it is properly the power of God to salvation and therein far beyond what the Philosophers could promise to any who embraced their opinions For the Gospel doth not only discover the necessity of a Principle superiour to Nature which we call Grace in order to the fitting our souls for their future happiness but likewise shews on what terms God is pleased to bestow it on men viz. on the consideration of the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Christ our Saviour Titus 3.5 There being nothing in humane nature which could oblige God to give to Mankind that assistance of his grace whereby they are enabled to work out this salvation the Gospel is designed for with fear and trembling The whole tenor of the Gospel importing a divine power which doth accompany the preaching of it which is designed on purpose to heal the wounds and help the weakness of our depraved and degenerate nature Through which we
this testimony which God gave to the Apostles by the solemn celebration of that glorious descent of the Holy Ghost upon them on the day of Pentecost that which naturally follows from it is the great care we ought to take lest we be found guilty of neglecting that great salvation which is offered to us in that Doctrine which was attested in so eminent a manner by God himself and that from the consideration of our own danger for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation wherein are three things considerable 1. The care God hath taken to make us happy by offering so great salvation to us 2. The care we ought to take in order to our own happiness not to neglect the offers which God hath made us 3. The unavoidable punishment which those do incur who are guilty of this neglect How shall we escape I need not tell this Auditory how forcible the Negative is which is expressed by such an interrogation which appeals to the judgment of all who hear it and so relies not upon the bare authority of the speaker but upon the plain evidence of the thing which others were judges of as well as himself As though he had said if you slight and disesteem the Gospel of Christ upon whatever grounds ye do it if either through too great an opinion of the wisdom of this world you despise it as vain and useless if through too mean an opinion of the excellency of Christianity you reject it either as uncertain in its Theory or impossible in its Practice or if through too great a love of the pleasures of sin or a secure and careless temper of mind you regard not the doing what Christianity requires to make you happy think with your selves what way you can find to escape the wrath of God for my part I know of none for if God were so severe against the violation of a far meaner institution viz. of the Law of Moses insomuch that every contempt and disobedience did receive a just recompence of reward how shall we escape who neglect so great salvation or as the Apostle elsewhere argues to the same purpose He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace This is a sad subject but I am afraid too necessary to be spoken to in the Age we live in wherein men seem to be in apprehensive of the danger of inwardly despising the Religion they profess to own and the neglecting of that which they hope to be saved by It is strange that it should be so but much more strange that men should think to do so and not be called to an account for it It is not only the gross and open sinner that defies Heaven and by his oaths and blasphemies dares God to shew his Power and Justice upon him but the slie and self-deceiving hypocrite that hates Religion while he thinks he loves it that in his heart contemns it but is afraid to know that he does so that ought to be possessed with a truer sense of Religion and a greater dread of the issue of the contempt or neglect of it There is some appearance of ingenuity in an open enmity but none so dangerous as that which hides it self under the disguise of friendship In our Saviours time there were several â—orts of those who shewed their dis-esteem of him some that were so enraged against him that they contrive all ways for his disgrace and punishment others could hear him with patience but the cares of this World the deceitfulness of Riches and the lust of other things choaked and stifled all good apprehensions of him that they became weak and ineffectual And those were guilty of making light of the marriage-feast because of other business which they had to mind Matth. 22.5 as well as those who offered all the injuries and affronts to his servants that invited them v. 6. And as it was in the days of our Saviour so it is now some were eating and drinking minding nothing but the vain and sensual pleasures of the world some were buying and selling so busie in this world that they had no leasure to think of being happy in another some were deriding and blaspheming but all these too wise or too vain or too profane to mind the offers of eternal salvation I wish we could say it were otherwise now that a sensual and voluptuous an easie and a careless life in some that ambition and the restless pursuit after the honour and riches of the world in others that a profane wit and a contempt of all that is serious in those that think themselves too great to be Religious did not enervate the force of Christianity upon their minds and make them all though upon different grounds agree in the neglect of their own salvation But is the case of such men grown so desperate that no remedy can work upon them hath the love of sin and the world so far intoxicated them that no reason or consideration whatever can awaken them have they hardned themselves against all the power of divine Truths with a resolution as strong as death and as cruel as the grave whither they are going Will neither the love of happiness nor the fear of misery their own interest and the wisdom of avoiding so great a danger the dread of the Majesty and Power of God and the horror of the great day prevail at least so far on men to consider whether these things be true or no and if they be what unspeakable folly it is to neglect them And the better to make that appear I shall prove these following things 1. That God by the Gospel hath taken so great care of mens happiness that nothing but a gross neglect can make them miserable 2. That nothing can be more unreasonable than when God hath taken so much care of it men should neglect it themselves 3. That it is very just for God to vindicate himself against so gross a neglect by the severe punishments of the life to come 1. That God by the Gospel hath taken so great care of mens salvation that nothing but a gross neglect can make them miserable For whatever the mind of man can imagine necessary in order to its own happiness in its present fallen and degenerate condition is abundantly provided for by the Gospel of Christ. For man was so wholly lost as to his own felicity that among the ruins and decays of his Nature he could not pick up so much as the perfect Image and Idea of his own happiness when he reflects upon himself he finds himself such a confused mass of folly and weakness that he can never imagine that so noble a design should have its
with a great deal of pomp and ceremony with the sounding of the Trumpets and rejoycing of the People which continued during the libation or pouring it out before the Altar after which followed the highest expressions of joy that were ever used among that people insomuch that they have a saying among them That he that never saw the rejoycing of the drawing of water never saw rejoycing in all his life Of which several accounts are given by the Jews some say it had a respect to the later rain which God gave them about this time others to the keeping of the Law but that which is most to our purpose is that the reason assigned by one of the Rabbies in the Ierusalem Talmud is because of the drawing or pouring out of the Holy Ghost according to what is said with joy shall ye draw water out of the Wells of Salvation By which we see that no fairer advantage could be given to our Saviour to discourse concerning the effusion of the Holy Ghost and the mighty joy which should be in the Christian Church by reason of that than in the time of this solemnity and so lets them know that the Holy Ghost represented by their pouring out of water was not to be expected by their rites and ceremonies but by believing the doctrine which he preached and that this should not be in so scant and narrow a measure as that which was taken out of Siloam which was soon poured out and carried away but out of them on whom the Holy Ghost should come rivers of living waters should flow whose effect and benefit should never cease as long as the World it self should continue So that in the words of the Text we have these particulars offered to our consideration 1. The effusion of the Spirit under the times of the Gospel But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive 2. The nature of that effusion represented to us by rivers of living waters flowing out of them 3. The time that was reserved for it which was after the glorious ascension of Christ to Heaven For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified 1. The effusion of the Spirit under the times of the Gospel by which we mean those extraordinary gifts and abilities which the Apostles had after the Holy Ghost is said to descend upon them Which are therefore called signs and wonders and divers gifts of the Holy Ghost and the operations of the Spirit of which we have a large enumeration given us in that place The two most remarkable which I shall insist upon and do comprehend under them most of the rest are the power of working Miracles whether in Healing diseases or any other way and the gift of tongues either in speaking or interpreting they who will acknowledge that the Apostles had these will not have reason to question any of the rest And concerning these I shall endeavour to prove 1. That the things attributed to the Apostles concerning them could not arise from any ordinary or natural causes 2. That they could not be the effects of an evil but of a holy and divine spirit and therefore that there was really such a pouring out of the spirit as is here mentioned 1. That the things attributed to the Apostles could not arise from any meerly natural causes It is not my present business to prove the truth of the matters of fact viz. that the Apostles did those things which were accounted Miracles by those who saw them or heard of them and that on the day of Pentecost they did speak with strange tongues for these things are so universally attested by the most competent witnesses viz. persons of the same age whose testimony we can have no reason to suspect and not only by those who were the friends to this Religion but the greatest enemies Jews and Heathens and by all the utmost endeavours of Atheistical men who have not set themselves to disprove the testimony but the consequence of it by saying that granting them true they do not infer the concurrence of a divine spirit that on the same grounds any person would question the truth of these things he must question the truth of some other things which himself believes on the same or weaker grounds than these are Supposing then the matters of fact to be true we now enquire whether these things might proceed from any meerly natural causes which will be the best done by examining the most plausible accounts which are pretended to be given of them And thus some have had the confidence to say That whatever is said to be done by the power of miracles in the Apostles might be effected by a natural temperament of body or the great power of imagination and that their speaking with strange tongues might be the effect only of a natural Enthusiasm or some distemper of brain 1. That the power of miracles might be nothing but a natural temperament or the strength of imagination 1. An excellent natural temper of body they say may do strange and wonderâ—ul things so that such a one who hath an exact temperament may walk upon the waters stand in the air and quench the violence of the fire and by a strange kind of sanative contagion may communicate healthful spirits as persons that are infected do noisom and pestilential These are things spoken with as much case and as little reason as any of the calumnies against Religion which are so boldly uttered by men who dare speak any thing as to these things but reason and do any thing but what is good But can these men after all their confidence produce any one person in the World who by the exquisiteness of his natural temper hath ever walked upon the waters or poised himself in the air or kept himself from being singed in the fire If these things be natural how comes it to pass that no other instances can be given but such as we urge for miraculous We say indeed that Christ walked on the Sea but withal we say this was an argument of that divine power in him which as Iob saith alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the Sea We say that Elijah was carried up into Heaven by a Chariot of fire and a whirlwind but it was only by his power who maketh the winds his Messengers and flames of fire his Ministers as some render those words of the Psalmist We say that the three Children were preserved in the fiery furnace that they had no hurt and even Nebuchadnezzar was hereby convinced that he was the true God which was able to preserve his servants from the force of that devouring element which was therefore so much worshipped by those Eastern people because it destroyed not only the men but the Gods of other nations But is this enough to satisfie any reasonable men that these things were done by
this was so great a part of the Apostles doctrine to preach of this judgment to come and that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead No wonder the Apostle speaks here with so great assurance of it knowing therefore c. And no persons can have the least ground to question it but such who wholly reject the Christian doctrine upon the pretences of infidelity which are so vain and trifling that were not their lusts strongeâ— than their arguments men of wit would be ashamed to produce them and did not mens pasâ—ions oversway their judgments it would be too much honour to them to confute them But every Sermon is not intended for the conversion of Turks and Infidels my design is to speak to those who acknowledge themselves to be Christians and to believe the truth of this doctrine upon the Authority of those divine persons who were particularly sent by God to reveal it to the world And so I come to the last particular by way of application of the former viz. 3. The efficacy of this argument for the perswading men to a reformation of heart and life knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men For as another Apostle reasons from the same argument Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness There is great variety of arguments in the Christian Religion to perswade men to holiness but none more sensible and moving to the generality of mankind than this Especially considering these two things 1. That if this argument doth not perswade men there is no reason to expect any other should 2. That the condition of such persons is desperate who cannot by any arguments be perswaded to leave off their sins 1. There is no reason to expect any other argument should perswade men if this of the terror of the Lord do it not If an almighty power cannot awaken us if infinite justice cannot affright us if a judgment to come cannot make us tremble and eternal misery leave no impression upon us what other arguments or methods can we imagine would reclaim us from our sins We have been too sad an instance our selves of the ineffectualness of other means of amendment by the mercies and judgments of this present life have ever any people had a greater mixture of both these than we have had in the compass of a few years If the wisest persons in the world had been to have set down beforehand the method of reforming a sinful nation they câ—uld have pitched upon none more effectual than what we have shewed not to be so Firâ—â— they would have imagined that after enduring many miseries and hardships when they were almost quite sunk under despair if God â—hould give them a sudden and unexpected deliverance meer ingenuity and thankfulness would make them afraid to displease a God of so much kindness But if so great a flash of joy and prosperity instead of that should make them grow wanton and extravagant what course then so likely to reclaim them as a series of smart and severe judgments one upon another which might sufficiently warn yet not totally destroy These we have had experience of and of worse than all these viz. that we are not amended by them For are the Laws of God less broken or the duties of Religion less contemned and despised after all these What vices have been forsaken what lusts have men been reclaimed from nay what one sort of sin hath been less in fashion than before Nay have not their number as well as their aggravation increased among us Is our zeal for our established Religion greater Is our faith more firm and settled our devotion more constant our Church less in danger of either of the opposite factions than ever it was Nay is it not rather like a neck of land between two rough and boisterous seas which rise and swell and by the breaches they make in upon us threaten an inundation By all which we see what necessity there is that God should govern this world by the considerations of another that when neither judgments nor mercies can make men better in this life judgment without mercy should be their portion in another O the infatuating power of â—in when neither the pity of an indulgent Father nor the frowns of a severe Judge can draw us from it when neither the bitter passion of the Son of God for our sins nor his threatning to come again to take vengeance upon us for them can make us hate and abhor them when neither the shame nor contempt the diseases and reproaches which follow sin in this world nor the intolerable anguish and misery of another can make men sensible of the folly of them so as to forsake them Could we but represent to our minds that State wherein we must all shortly be when the bustle and hurry the pleasures and diversions the courtships and entertainments of this world shall be quite at an end with us and every one must give an account of himself to God what another opinion of these things should we have in our minds with what abhorrency should we look upon every temptation to sin how should we loath the sight of those who either betrayed us into sin or flattered us when we had committed it Could men but ask themselves that reasonable question why they will defie God by violating his known Laws unless they be sure he either cannot or will not punish them for it they would be more afraid of doing it than they are for supposing both to do it is perfect madness to question his power who is Almighty or his will who hath declared it and is immutable is the height of folly 2. The condition of such is desperate whom no arguments can perswade to leave their sins For there can be no breaking prison in that other State no escaping tryal no corrupting the Judge no reversing the sentence no pardon after judgment no reprieve from punishment no abatement or end of misery How canst thou then hope O impenitent sinner either to fly from or to endure that wrath of God that is coming swiftly upon thee to arrest thee by death and convey thee to thy tormenting prison canst thou hope that God will discharge thee before that dreadful day comes when he hath confined thee thither in order to it Canst thou hope that day will never come which the vindication of God's Justice the honour of Christ the happiness of the blessed as well as the punishment of the wicked make so necessary that it should come or canst thou hope to defend thy self against an all-seeing eye a most righteous Judge and an accusing conscience when that day doth come when all the mercies thou hast abused the judgements thou hast slighted