not fully to know it and it will be our Happiness if we both know and do it Secondly the imitation of our Saviours Example was most wisely proposed to all his Followers for this end that it might convince them that Christianity was not a meerly Speculative but a practical Religion Men would have been willing to have taken up with the bare Contemplation of those Divine Truths which were by Christ revealed to the world and imagined the bare knowledge of them to be sufficient had not our Saviour by his own Example confuted that Opinion and taught them that the most exalted knowledge was not sufficient without a correspondent Vertue If we view the state of the World at that time in which Christ published his Revelation we shall find nothing to have been more necessary to his design than this method All Mankind at that time seemed to conspire in this common Error that the knowledge of revealed Religions drew no Obligation of practice with them The Heathens indeed pretended to sacred Mysteries and imagined themselves to know the secrets of Heaven But this knowledge was so far from having any influence upon their Lives that they believed not it ought to have any The Jews possessed truly a Divine Religion yet in a great measure defeated the ends of it by the same false Opinion They contented themselves with the satisfaction of having Abraham to their Father and thought nothing else was required of them than to know the Prerogative of their Nation Even the Pharisees who sate in Moses's Chair and pretended to a more strict and perfect Holiness laboured indeed to know the Precepts and Punctilios of the Law but believed not themselves obliged to a Conscientious performance of it fondly imagining that the defect of that would be abundantly supplied by the merits of their Descent from Abraham So prone is Mankind to this fatal Error which flatters their ease and indulgeth them in the Exercise of their Lusts and Passions This our Saviour therefore unanswerably confuted by his own Practice giving us thereby to understand that his Religion was designed no less to reform the Wills than instruct the Understandings of his Followers And how necessary this Conduct was appears not only from the prevailing Errors of those times but also from the depraved Inclination of Mankind in all Ages Even in our Age there are not wanting unreasonable men who pretend that Christians are not obliged by the Law of Nature nor bound to the Practice of it An Error than which none can be more directly contrary to the Spirit of Christianity and the whole design of the Gospel Our Saviour more than once assureth us That he came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law which since it cannot be understood of the Mosaick must necessarily of the Moral Law This makes the chief Subject of all his Precepts and Exhortations and in urging this his famous Sermon upon the Mount consisting of three whole Chapters is almost intirely taken up Lastly That no Argument might be wanting to enforce the Practice of it he hath recommended it by his own Example He prescribed no Duty to us which he practised not invariably in his own Person and as his Religion includeth the whole Duty of Man so himself exercised it in the most eminent and perfect manner which bringeth me to the second Head proposed Namely II. That the Life of Christ was the best and most compleat Example which could be proposed to Mankind as the Object of their Imitation All other men were never able to live up exactly to the Rules of their Religion but in many things we offend all It was Christ alone who performed a constant and universal Righteousness Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth But to represent this Matter more fully to you I will consider the Exemplary Holiness of our Saviour in some of the more illustrious Branches of our Duty to God our Selves and the rest of Mankind First then in relation to God to whom as partaking of the humane Nature he owed the same Subjection that we do his Piety and Devotion was remarkable He often withdrew himself from his Disciples and retired into Solitary places that he might calmly enjoy the Contemplation of God and pour out his Soul in Prayers unto him Sometimes departing late in the Evening alone into a Mountain to pray Matth. XIV 23. John VI. 16. Other times rising up early in the Morning and withdrawing into a Solitary place to perform the same Office Mark I. 35. And more than once spending whole Nights in Prayer thereby teaching us that we ought to Dedicate sometime daily to the private Devotions of the Closet where we may converse with our God by Prayer and Meditation He oftimes denied to his Body its natural Rest and Sleep to enjoy his Father in private Contemplation and offer up his Petitions to him And shall not we set apart some of our vacant hours to the Exercise of the same Piety Our Subjection to the Divine Majesty surely is not less and our wants infinitely greater The subject of his Prayers could be no other than to offer up to God the Tribute of praise and thanksgiving and to intercede for others whereas we besides all this have many sins to bewail and to implore the Pardon of them Then as for the publick Acts of Religion which tend most directly to increase the Honour of God and procure to him due Adoration amongst men our Saviour manifested by his constant performance of them how dear the Glory of God was to him He frequented all the publick and solemn Festivals of the Jewish Religion and that whether of Divine as the Passover or humane Institution as the Feast of Dedication omitting no ocsion whereby he might advance the Divine Honour by joyning in all the usual Solemnities of Divine Worship Even in his private State before he entred upon the Execution of his Ministerial Office however silent the sacred History be as to his other Actions yet this we are assured That he used to attend the publick Worship of God in the Synagogues every Sabbath day For so St. Luke relateth Chap. IV. 16. where describing his entrance upon his Ministerial Office he tells us And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his Custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day What can be now wanting to render this Example of Piety most compleat and worthy our Imitation He frequented the publick Acts of Worship lest we should imagine private Devotion to be sufficient and intermitted not the pious Exercises of the Closet least we should rest content with having joyned in the publick Prayers and proceed no farther If we view the other Characters of Piety and Religion we shall find them all to have been eminently united in this illustrious Example With what profound Humility did he profess himself to come into the world to perform his Fathers Will How constantly did he ascribe the
any Rewards or Punishments We had been obliged by the Laws of Creation to embrace and practice it to obey the Dictates of Reason that by obeying them we might have procured the perfection of our Nature Many Duties do arise from the Consideration of our Nature and that Relation which we bear to God and the whole world which would not have ceased to oblige us although no Revelation had been made unto us Or if it had pleased God to re-inforce these Duties by a particular Revelation yet was it not necessary that he should entail any rewards on the performance of them as being parts of our Duty antecedently to any such Revelation If he had required of us more than was naturally suggested to us by the light of Reason even the most difficult and laborious Duties He might justly have done it by the right of Creation as being the Author of our Being It had been a sufficient Reward to Mankind to have received from God the benefit of Existence and the Continuation of it and to enjoy the ordinary effects of his Providence If to these he had added Threats and Punishments he might reasonably be supposed to have abundantly secured Mankind from the neglect of his Commands since none but the most stupid and brutal Persons would for the Fruition of a few not only irrational but trifling Vanities incurr the displeasure of an Almighty Being and draw upon themselves the effects of his Vengeance Or if to Actions in themselves indifferent and not in the least contributing to the perfection of our Nature Actions having nothing extraordinary in them beside the greatness of their Difficulty he had adjoyned a Promise of infinite Rewards yet could we not have omitted them without the highest degree of Folly when the performance of them might procure so vast a Reward the sole hopes of which might induce us to force our Inclinations and do violence to our Nature But when to the common Benefits of Creation and Preservation he hath added the Revelation of Divine Truths and adapted those Revelations to the capacity and imperfection of our Nature when he hath urged the practice of these revealed Truths by the Promise of Reward on the one side and the Threats of Punishment on the other And as if all this were not sufficient proceeds to heap new Favours on us intreats us as a Friend bears with us as a Father and by Prodigies of Mercy leads us to our own Happiness we must profess our selves astonished and confounded at so stupendious a Goodness and acknowledge our selves unable to celebrate as we ought the Mercy of God who when he might have satisfied both the Justice and Holiness of his Nature by requiring of us the performance of the greatest Duties without any Reward or proportioned his Reward to the imperfection of our Service or proposed both Rewards and Duties without adding continued Acts of Mercy and Forgiveness yet contributed all to the Happiness of Mankind and thereby made the Emanation of his Goodness to be no less infinite than his Nature the Fountain of them Who when it was sufficient alone to manifest the Justice of his proceeding to appeal even to the Judgment of Mankind as he did sometime in the Prophet Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal O house of Israel chose rather to conquer us by kindness and by the greatness of his Goodness lead us to Repentance By the Goodness of God in this place we are not so much to understand that incommunicable Attribute of perfect Holiness upon account of which our Saviour said Matth. XIX 17. There is none good but one that is God As his kindness and benignity which inclines him to exercise Acts of Beneficence Love and Mercy which is frequently in Scripture called by the name of Goodness as Psalm LXXIII 1. Truly God is good unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart And again Psalm CXLV 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Where his Goodness is aptly expressed by the Tenderness of his Mercy The former Attribute indeed representeth God to Mankind as a fit object of Worship and Adoration and inciteth brave and generous Souls to the exercise of Vertue that so they may attain a nearer Similitude and Conformity to their Creator the imitation of whom is their ùtmost perfection But the latter chiefly creates in us that Love of God which is the best and most efficacious Principle of all religious Actions by representing to us his infinite affection to Mankind his benefactive Nature and proneness to Acts of Mercy and Compassion which even although we forget our Duty and neglect our Interest cannot but excite a lively Senfe of gratitude in us and a profound Veneration of the Divine Mercy This Beneficence and indulgence of God is designed in the Text by the term Goodness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eminent instance of which the Apostle had laid down in the former part of this Verse in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forbearance and Long-suffering whereby God does not immediately inflict the deserved Punishments upon Sinners but with-holds his anger and patiently awaits their Repentance whereby he does not presently revenge the Injuries and Affronts done to his Laws and Person by the sins of Mankind but compassionates our Nature and at all times reserveth Mercy for penitent Sinners An Attribute than which nothing can render God more amiable and dear unto us or more effectually secure our Obedience to him were not the Perverseness of Mankind no less infinite than his Goodness Yet did many in that Age and as I fear more in our Times make a contrary use of this Goodness by thence taking Encouragement to continue in their sins because they see not Vengeance to be speedily executed and experience in themselves and others the Forbearance and Long-suffering of God The Apostle complains of these Men in the former part of the Verse That they despised the riches of the goodness forbearance and long-suffering of God and from these Attributes inferrs a contrary Conclusion to what they had formed namely That this ought rather to dispose us to repentance and reformation of Life by enforcing all other Arguments of our Duty with a powerful Obligation of gratitude which is violated in a most enormous manner by those who abused the Divine Mercy to a contrary intent Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance In handling these words I shall endeavour to illustrate and improve the Apostles Argument by considering it as well in Relation to that influence which it ought to have upon all our Actions in general as in disposing us to this Duty of Repentance in particular In Discoursing of the first Head I will lay down these two Propositions I. That gratitude or a right Sense of our Obligation arising from the consideration of the infinite Benefits and Mercies of God towards us was intended by God
into those Mansions of which they had been by him sufficiently inform'd At this Thomas far from acknowledging any suchinformation complains in the 5th verse that they were ignorant both of the place and the way to it Our Saviour answers that the place was no other than the Society of his Father whom they had sufficiently known by conversing with Him This far from removing the mistakes of the Apostles gave occasion to the discovery of a far greater ignorance in them For in the 8th verse Philip desireth him to shew the Father to them thereby manifesting how widely he had hitherto mistaken the Doctrine of Christ and what gross notions of the Father he entertain'd So strange an ignorance drew a sharp expostulation from our Saviour Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not knoâ—…n me Philip ver 9. Thereupon declaring unto him what sufficient means he had already given them of knowing the Father and promising to enable them yet further to a more perfect knowledge of him by sending the Comforter the Spirit of Truth He assureth them of a more clear and express Revelation of this matter at his Resurrection by manifesting himself and consequently the Father to piously disposed Persons who loved him and kept his Commandments Although he intended not to manifest himself in the same degree and manner to the whole World At this Judas Lebbaeus seems to be astonished and in a passionate exclamation which includeth somewhat of despair in it saith unto him ver 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World as imagining this illustrious manifestation to be no other than taking possession in a solemn and magnificent manner of that Glorious Worldly Kingdom which himself with the other Apostles in vain expected to be founded by their Master Such strange mistakes of which the meanest Christians would be ashamed in the present Constitution of the Church might justly be admired to have proceeded from those who were the familiar attendants of Christ through a Triennial Preaching Acquainted with all his Discourses and honoured with a familiar Conversation if we enquir'd not more narrowly into the causes of things and reasons of the divine dispensation OurSaviour himself seems not in the least to be surprized at it But only after a short answer to Lebbaeus his question hence taketh occasion to renew the promise of that remedy which he had ever design'd and often before promis'd I mean the Mission of the Holy Ghost in these words These things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you As if he should say These answers I have briefly given to your doubts and scruples such as the shortness and necessity of the time would permit which still remains to me to be spent in your company I had before sufficiently explained all these Mysteries to you Provided your minds by removal of all prejudices by ordinary endowments of right apprehension and using due diligence had been rightly disposed to receive them But since you still continue ignorant of those great Truths and infinitely mistake my Doctrine And not only so but suffer your selves to be possess'd with terror and amazement at the news of my departure I will not forsake you or leave you destitute of the means either of consolation or better instruction but abundantly provide for both by sending to you after my Ascension another Comforter Even the Holy Ghost whom the Father at my Intercession and for my sake will send unto you He shall erect your drooping Spirits and remove your grief by administring consolation to you And dispel your Ignorance by enlightning your minds with clear notions and true Interpretations of whatsoever I have Taught unto you and recalling into your mind all those Doctrines and Lessons of mine which you may have forgotten These words being thus explained represent to us I. The promise of sending a Comforter II. The Person to be sent the Holy Ghost III The Office to be performed by the Holy Ghost when sent Which however various is perfectly included Either in the diverse significations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Comforter which may be taken as an Advocate a Monitor or a Consolator Or in the annexed action of Teaching thâ—…m all things and bringing all things into their remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them At present I shall consider no more than the latter branch of the Third Point that is the Office of Teaching the Apostles which was to be performed by the Holy Ghost And in handling this I shall in the first place inquire what were the Causes and Reasons of this prodigious Ignorance of the Apostles after so long and so excellent Instruction Secondly I shall prove that the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel Thirdly I shall draw some few conclusions from both First then the Causes and Reasons of this so long continued Ignorance of the Apostles Of these I take the chief and most fundamental one to have been their Ignorance of the true sense of Scripture For the better explaining of this Cause I will premise some few Observations As 1. The Conformity of the Life and Actions of Christ to the Prophesies of the Old Testament was to the Jews the best and principal Argument of the Divinity of Christ of his Divine Mission and the Truth of his Revelations Miracles indeed might create a great probability of the truth of these Articles But such a conformity alone could demonstrate it since Miracles were common to inferâ—…our Prophets and sometimes even to false Prophets But an intire agreement of the precedent Prophesies was appropriated to the sole Person of the true Messias This appears from the nature of the Old Testament and end of writing it which taken in all its parts is chiefly designed to point out the future Messias by certain plain Notes and Indications whereby he might easily be discover'd to the Jews The Historical Books are imployed in describing his Genealogy The Psalms and Prophets in foretelling the time of his coming the manner of his Life his Passion Resurrection and Doctrine Now it would be highly injurious to the Wisdom of God that he should professedly cause so many Books to be written chiefly to design the Messias And yet design him by such Characters as should not be proper to him alone but might be common to other Persons So that the agreement of those Prophesies to the Person of Jesus Christ was to the Jews a most demonstrative proof that he was the true Messias Miracles indeed were in their respect also necessary to him But that chiefly because it was before Prophesied of the Messias that great and
Conceptions dark and unaccountable above the understanding and capacity of the common People fitted only for the Contemplation of Philosophers and after all no other than the products of a volatile Fancy So little adapted to the understanding of the vulgar or indeed intended for their benefit that they were studiously concealed under the venerable Name of Mysteries and imparted only to Confidents Among the Jews all imaginable Care was taken to instruct the People in all necessary Duties relating to God Themselves and their Neighbours But even the more Learned of them knew not the Reasons of those many Ceremonies and Legal Observations imposed on them They knew in general that many of them typified the coming of a future Messias who should institute a more excellent Religion and be the Author of signal Benefits to their Nation But alas this knowledge was lame and imperfect in its own Nature and infinitely unsatisfactory to them who desired to know somewhat more certain yet still continued to wander in the dark without any certain guide This appears from the Writings of those Learned Jews who lived about the time of our Saviour's coming These employed their Labours in finding out the hidden meaning of the Mosaick Law and discovering the Reasons of all those Ceremonial Institutions but so unsuccessfully that they plainly mistook the design of their Divine Lawgiver and by turning all his Ritual Precepts into Allegories and obscure Mysteries defeated their Institution and corrupted the truth of their Religion with false Notions and Interpretations And no wonder indeed for the veil was not yet taken from them nor to be removed but by the coming of the Messias who was to be the Sun of righteousness dispersing the dark Clouds of ignorance and giving light unto the World He alone hath made a full Discovery of the Will of God rendred the knowledge of it easie to all and thereby made the Ignorance of necessary Truths to be inexcusable herein compleating the Covenant which God made with the House of Israel in the Prophet Jeremy XXXI 33 34. After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. Yet must we not imagine that in proposing this plain and easie Religion God intended to supercede all Labours of Mankind and imprint the knowledge of it even violently upon our Minds He hath dealt with us as rational Creatures proposed the truth clearly to us enforced it with the most perswasive Arguments fitted it to our Capacity and afforded us easie means of obtaining a perfect knowledge of it After such abundant Provision for the free Entertainment of it in our Minds he leaves it to the Liberty of our Will whether we will embrace or reject it To deal otherwise with us were to suppose us meer Brutes and Machines not capable of entertaining any Religion and unfit to receive either Rewards or Punishments It was not only the Precept of our Saviour but the Wisdom of all Ages Not to cast holy things before Dogs nor Pearls before Swine to create a knowledge of Divine Truths in persons insensible of the Benefit conferred upon Mankind in the Revelation of them and who make no advancement towards their Reception The Divine Wisdom hath chosen to propose those eternal Truths in such a method as that a perfect Acquisition of the knowledge of them might exercise the diligence and obedience of Mankind We must bring Minds freed from all Prejudices and Passions use due attention search the Scriptures weigh the Reasons and Arguments which perswade their Divinity and being once convinced of that acquiesce in them and in a word use all means which God hath abundantly provided for our Instruction We must not satisfie our selves with an Historical knowledge but inquire into the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy reflect upon the reasonableness of it and make it the Subject of our Meditations A Subject than which none can be more worthy the Dignity of our Nature or more necessary to the being of a Christian. By this we shall be convinced That the performance of all Christian Duties is not only enforced by the revealed Will of God but also commanded by the Law of Nature that the constant Practice of them is our greatest Perfection and would be our utmost Happiness although attended with no Rewards Every increase of knowledge will augment the force of our Obligation and bring some perswasive Argument to the Exercise of our Duty But then if we consider what the Revelation of Christianity hath added to those imperfect Discoveries made by the light of Nature the Mysteries of our Redemption the Sacrifice of the Cross the Free Pardon of our sins the hopes of eternal Life and those Foederal Rites the Sacraments by which we are intitled to these Benefits we shall be able more perfectly to comprehend the Wisdom and Goodness of God and the Greatness of our Obligation to him These advantages naturally flow from a perfect knowledge of our Faith However the Apostle in giving this Precept more immediately respects the Conviction of those Persons who spoke evil of the Christians as of evil doers as appears from the following Verse For when Christianity first appeared in the World teaching the Worship of one only God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Commanding all men every where to repent and enjoyning them upon the severest Penalties to live godlily holily and righteously in this present world Men decried it as leading to Atheism and the Extirpation of Divine Worship because forbidding any Worship to be given to those false Gods who were the universal Objects of Adoration at that time and changing all pompous external Ceremonies into a spiritual and internal Worship They traduced it as irrational and debasing the Dignity of Mankind because not proposed with the usual Ostentation of worldly Wisdom and Philosophy and requiring men to deny their Lusts conquer their Desires and sorfake their most darling Passions Lastly they rejected it as impious and execrable as an unheâ—…rd of Superstition and a fond Credulity because they knew not those Arguments upon which it was founded nor considered the demonstrative Proofs which recommended it To convince the Folly and Ignorance of these men the Apostle requires all Christians to be ready always to give an answer to every man of the reason of the hope that is in them that so whereas they speak of them as evil doers they may be convinced that neither the Doctrine of Christians leads to Immorality nor their Practice favours it For the knowledge of Christianity was not intended to be a Speculative Science meerly to inform the Judgment and not Correct our Errours But as an operative knowledge which might visibly exert it self in all our Duties to God and Man The Divinity
most Holy Reform'd Religion of our Church which is indeed no other than the pure and genuine Christianity by decrying it as Heretical and Damnable To obviate the Designs of these men nothing can be more effectual than to apply our selves diligently to the study of Christianity to enquire in the Holy Scriptures what Christ hath revealed to us and to search the Design and Mysteries of his Religion This is become the Duty of every private Christian at this time that so his Ignorance may not lay him open to the Attempts of designing Men who lay in wait to deceive and betray him to be a prey to Errour and Superstition To this pursuance and encrease of knowledge our Church encourageth and earnestly intreats us She taketh no refuge in the Ignorance of her Communicants nor discourageth them from examining her Doctrines and Opinions as well knowing that this Examination will end in a full Conviction of the truth of them and that the Improvement of our knowledge in Divine Matters and an impartial study of them will infallibly secure us from the delusions of her Enemies And this is the first Reason why every private Christian ought to be fully instructed concerning the Reasons of his Faith that so he may answer the Objections and escape the Assaults of those who endeavour to withdraw us from the truth or seduceus to the belief of any Enrour II. It is a strict Enquiry into the Reasons and Arguments of our Religion and full Comprehension of them which properly maketh Faith to be praise worthy in it self acceptable to God and capable of reward An assent to Christianity without respect to the Arguments of its truth may be a Happiness to ignorant Persons in as much as they enjoy those opportunities which lead to such an assent such as are Education in a Christian Countrey or under Christian Parents or Masters whereby through custom or respect to the Authority of those Persons they embrace Christianity and are led thereby to the knowledge of God the Practice of their Duty and dependence upon the Merits of a Crucified Saviour But surely we cannot imagine this to be an Act deserving the Favour of God or even comparable to the meanest of moral Vertues Before all which a true Divine Faith is so frequently and so eminently preferred in Scripture For since such a Disposition of Mind I mean an inclination to follow the Example and Authority of our Countrey Parents or Masters in assenting to the Religion received by them may and doth equally dispose Men to the embracing of Errour as of Truth it is to be accounted a thing wholly indifferent and if it proceeds from a a willful Negligence of examining the Grounds of any Religion when means and ability are not wanting to us is extremely vicious but no otherwise laudable than in the happy consequences of it and opportunities it may possibly minister of coming to the Truth Indeed Christianity is so admirably fitted to the perfection and Salvation of Mankind that it cannot be assented to upon any Grounds whatsoever even by the most ignorant Persons without a precedent habit of Mind which is truly vertuous and excellent and in an extraordinary manner testifying a profound obedience to the Commands of God in the Person assenting may not unfitly be thought to qualifie him for the Divine Favour For Christianity proposing such Rules as restrain the corrupt Lusts and Passions of men teaching a strict Sobriety and Abstinence from unlawful Pleasures forbiding the satisfaction of the most darling Lusts and commanding men to deny to themselves what they are apt to imagine an extreme Happiness the unlimited Fruition of all sensual Pleasures and even upon occasion to forforsake the Conveniences of Life it self Choosing rather to suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season None can assent to a Religion of this Nature without first overcoming his Lusts and Passions and being thoroughly convinced that all these ought to give place to the Command and Will of God which he believes to be proposed to him in the Christian Religion Such a Disposition is truly excellent and in them who want means of attaining a more perfect knowledge is rewarded by God as a true and perfect Act of Faith who condescends to the imperfection of Mankind and requiring of none more than he hath given to him supplyeth by his Mercy what is wanting to the perfection of our Faith But then such a Disposition of Mind is so far from being a true and proper Faith that it may consist without it and be joyned with Errour Neither can we imagine that Faith which hath all those glorious and particular Pro rises of Reward annexed to it in the Holy Scripture consists only in assenting to and firmly believing what we are assured God hath revealed to us For that we cannot but do None ever that believed the Existence of a God dis-believed what he was perswaded to have been revealed by him To do that were to suppose that God could err or lye and consequently were not God Such an assent therefore being necessary and unavoidable is not capable of a Reward and hath nothing excellent in it No Man can be an Infidel in this Sense And therefore none can be esteemed faithful from it And hence it appears that to have only moral and not demonstrative Proofs is so far from prejudicing the truth of Christianity that it is both necessary and advantageous to it For if the Truths of Christianity had been self evident or placed in as clear a Light as the Sun in Heaven Assent to them had been necessary and no Act of Choice and therefore incapable of reward Whereas now God hath so wisely contrived it that a rational Afsent to it and perfect Comprehension of it will exercise the diligence obedience and reason of Mankind in enquiring into whatsoever carrieth the stamp of Divine Authority in submitting to whatsoever justly appears to bear that sacred Character in using aright our Faculties of Reason and Understanding and employing them to the Glory of God All these Acts and Habits are in themselves praise worthy and rewarded by God with the Reward of Faith that is with infinite and eternal Happiness For 't is in a rational and just Assent to the Christian Religion for the sake of those Arguments which perswade it to have proceeded from the Divine Authority and a due use of our Reason in discovering its Divine Original that a true and perfect Faith consists For upon Conviction of its having been revealed by God we cannot but yield to the truth of it and if we desire or expect to attain the Rewards proposed by it betake our selves to a serious obedience to the Precepts of it For as a due use of our Understanding is no less difficult in it self and advantageous to us than of our Will so we ought to suppose that God will no less favourably accept it and no less highly reward it Certainly a right use of our Reason
imagine that Pomp and Grandeur Riches and Majesty did more become the Messias than Humility and Affliction Poverty and Contempt being things in their own Nature indifferent and of no Esteem any otherwise than in respect to their conducement to some better end Which in the Messias was the Instruction of the world and the Reconciliation of it by his Death to his offended Father To the latter Contempt Affliction and Suffering were absolutely necessary And to the former highly convenient For since our Lord was not only to reform the Errours of Mankind by his infallible Doctrine and attone for the Sins of it by his Passion but also to deliver to us a most compleat Pattern of Vertue and Holiness in his own Person it was highly expedient that he should suffer all the Calamities incident to humane Nature that so he might teach Men by his own Example patiently to endure Affliction undergo Poverty with Contentment and not be affrighted by the terrour of Death from the performance of their Duty No perswasion was necessary to induce Men to admit Riches Pleasures and Prosperity but to suffer all the Miseries of this World with a generous and unrepining Mind nothing less than the Example of God incarnate could perswade them The manner wherein God chose to reveal the Gospel might perhaps seem strange to the Jews as being different from that wherein the Law was revealed on Mount Sina but far from appearing incredible ought rather to have seemed more congruous to the Nature of God certainly more agreeable to the Nature of the things revealed which being Matters of the highest Bounty and Clemency to Mankind required not to be revealed in such a terrible manner as the Law which was employed rather in denouncing the Judgments than the Mercies of God but in a manner which by the sweetness of it might declare the Clemency and Loving kindness of its Author It can be no other than a bruitish Stupidity not to be raised to the knowledge of God any otherwise than by the Effects of his Power and Justice as if Acts of Mercy did not equally declare his Nature and lay a far greater Obligation of Obedience upon us Or if Acts of Power must be employed as indeed they are highly necessary in the second place they were far more numerous and wonderful in the Revelation of the Gospel than of the Law not so amazing but more Divine not so terrible but more illustrious The Jews indeed were wont to require a Sign as the last Proof of the Christian Faith which since it is apparent that Miracles were frequently wrought by the Apostles in Confirmation of the Faith can be understood of no other than either that great and final Miracle which they vainly expected from the Messias the Restitution of their Nation to its temporal Happiness or performing a Miracle as often as every single Person should desire it for establishing the Truth of Christianity Or else relying more upon Miracles than the Testimony of the ancient Prophecies concerning Christ and never urging their Authority to the Jews without some concomitant Miracle In whethersoever of these Sâ—…nses the Jews were wont obstinately to require a Sign of the Apostles nothing could be more unreasonable or impertinent For would it not be unworthy the Majesty of God to violate the ordinary Course of Nature to gratifie either a false Opinion or a fond Desire The Restitution of Liberty was never promised from the Mâ—…ssias to the Jews and therefore was in vain expected from him The Prophecies were sufficiently clear and needed not the concurrent Testimony of constant Miracles and to gratifie the idle Curiosity of every petulant Humour by working Miracles as often as should be required would be such a trifling Extravagance as would more effectually destroy the Authority of such a Lawgiver than all his Miracles would confirm it Or if a constant uniform Miracle attending the Publication of Christianity would satisfie such Men as surely it ought to do they may discover one in that very Circumstance which they use to inforce their Objection namely that it was Successfully propagated in the World by ignorant and illiterate Persons who could neither impose upon Mankind by the Crafty Artifice of Rhetorick or Insinuation nor delude them by the Authority of their Names a Circumstance which unanswerably argueth a Divine Power and Assistance to have attended the first Preachers of the Gospel and affected the Minds of their Auditors And then what greater Argument can we desire of the Wisdom of God in contriving and using this Method than those illustrious Advantages which it administred to the designed End the Conversion of the World and the Glory of God For not only might the wonderful Success of it in all parts even of the learned World wrought by such weak and contemptible means convince all sober Persons of somewhat more than humane directing the Conduct of it but also this method admirably conduced to secure the Honour of God and destroy the Pride and Ambition of Men who if they had been qualified for such an Office by acquired Learning would have been apt to have ascribed their knowledge of Divine Matters to their own Sagacity not the Gift of God and intitled all the Glory of Success to their own Prudence not the Divine Power and further might have induced Men to have attributed the Success of Christianity to the Sophistry and Insinuation of its Teachers not the Power of that Truth which accompanied it and the Providence of that God who founded it Thus we have answered the Prejudices of the Jews and by shewing the Wisdom of God in employing unlearned Persons defeated a like Objection of the Heathen Philosophers But then what the Jews admitted that Supernatural Revelations were both convenient and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind theseMen deny trusting to the supposed Excellency of their own Learning and imagining themselves able by the sole light of Reason to attain the highest Perfection of spiritual Knowledge herein putting themselves into a worse Condition than those whom they treat with so much Scorn Idiots and Barbarians For these are sensible of the failures of their own Understanding and therefore willingly admit a Remedy whereas those disowning all Disease neglect the Cure of it Surely no great Reason is required to confute these Men. For is it unworthy the Mercy of God to assist the Soul of Man by supernatural Revelations even although it might although not without great Difficulty attain to the knowledge of all things necessary This none will say Or is it unbefitting the Goodness of God to provide for the Instruction of unlearned Persons by Revelation although most learned Men may not want it This cannot be doubted Or if a Revelation must be made could it be done in any more prudent and rational manner than was Christianity This none will affirm So then the extraordinary Revelation of Divine Truths is consistent with the Majesty of God and Reason of Man and the necessity
them When ye have lift up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am He. And this in some measure mitigates and excuseth the present ignorance of the Apostles that they had not yet seen the completion of the last and greatest Acts of Christ particularly his Resurrection Lastly To say no more the extraordinary Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost were not yet poured forth Of these Gifts none of the least was a due preparation of Will and penetration of Judgment to conceive rightly the sence and meaning of all Divine Revelations and Mysteries This was afterwards plentifully poured down upon the Apostles as upon this Day but before that time was not conferred on them That the want of this extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost was a main cause of their Ignorance is plainly insinuated by all those Texts wherein Christ promiseth to the Apostles the Mission of the Holy Spirit to dispel their Ignorance and enlighten their understandings as in the words of the Text and John XV. 26. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall Testify of me and when He the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all Truth The ordinary assistance of the Divine Spirit had indeed all along accompanyed the Apostles which had been abundantly sufficient when added to the Motives of Faith and advantages of Instruction which they received from Christ to inform them in all things necessary considered as private Persons if they had removed all prejudices and used due attention and reason but the extraordinary Inspiration of the Holy Ghost being not necessary was not yet conferred on them For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified St. John VII 39. These were the principal causes of that Ignorance of the Apostles which we proposed to inquire into of that misapprehension of the Nature of our Saviours Office and Design which so eminently appears in the context as we before explained it which disabled them from considering the consequence of his Miracles For their heart was hardned Mark VI. 52. by reason of which They understood none of these things his Passion and Resurrection and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken Luc. XVIII 34. which caused the words of the women relating to the Resurrection of Christ to seem to them as idle Tales and incredible Fables Luc. XXIV 11. and the indignation of which drew from Christ that sharp Exprobration O ye of little faith Mattâ—… VIII 26. That this Ignorance ought not in the least to surprize us or induce us to entertain any thoughts prejudicial to Christianity it self appears from the Reasons which I have already assigned to it but will more fully be manifested in considering the second Head proposed which was To shew That the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel This will evidently appear from these two Considerations I. That it would be incongruous to the Divine Wisdom to use any extraordinary methods in removing the Ignorance of the Apostles and perfectly informing their Understandings until such Information not being possible to be obtained by the ordinary methods of Instruction should become absolutely necessary to the being of the Church II. That such a perfect and plenary Information was not necessary to the Apostles till after the Ascension of Christ. The first of these Propositions naturally follows from that known truth and received principle that God never worketh Miracles without necessity nor recurreth to extraordinary causes while natural and ordinary will suffice However fully to evince this matter and clear all remaining doubts I will consider all the possible methods of perfectly instructing the Apostles before the Ascension of Christ when the natural and ordinary means failed and demonstrate that God could not use any one of them without being injurious to his Wisdom and Honour These extraordinary methods may be reduced to these three Heads First God by his Almighty power might have over-ruled their understanding and without expecting the assent of the Will violently imprinted a perfect knowledge of his Revelations in it or even forced the Will to assent to it although it had not yet discoverd the truth of it But nothing can be imagined more injurious to the honour of God than a proceeding of this kind to prepare the way for Religion by violating those Priviledges of reasoning and free will which he at first conferred on them which were in truth to make Mankind happy by destroying their Nature Secondly our Saviour having already abundantly convinced the Apostles of the Divinity of his Mission and consequently of his Infallibity might have plainly and openly revealed to them all the Mysteries of his Religion and future Actions to be yet performed and required their immediate Assent to them without taking care to satisfie them at the same time of the truth and reasonableness of such Revelations by their Conformity to all precedent Revelations or the Law of Nature but this also was irrational in it self and consequently unworthy of the Divine Wisdom and might justly have been esteemed unsatisfactory by the Apostles For as they were fully convinced that our Saviour was a Divine Person so were they no less that all the precedent Revelations were delivered by inspired men and consequently deserved the same degree of Assent which his could do So that if the least repugnance between the Doctrine or Life of Christ and the ancient Prophesies could have been difcovered they were not in the least obliged to assent unto them Nay to a full and unexceptionable Proof of the truth of his Revelations it was not only necessary that no repugnance between them and the predictions of the Old Testament were discovered but also that an entire Conformity should appear Since the true Messias was by God designed to the Jews under those two Characters of extraordinary Miracles and perfect agreement of Life Actions and Doctrine to the precedent Predictions and Revelations and consequently could not be evidently distinguished without the concurrence of both those Proofs And indeed such an arbitrary Command of a blind Assent to any Revelations confirmed by Miracles without a previous Examination of the truth of them is so absurd and repugnant to the Laws of reasoning that it could not be used by Christ himself even in respect of Heathens For such a resignation of the Understanding could rationally be made to no other Authority than an Authority founded upon Arguments of greater Credibility than can be found in any other Case But such is not the Authority derived from Miracles for all objects of Sense and necessary Deductions from reason include at least an equal many a greater degree of Credibility I mean not hereby that any truths whatsoever can have a greater certainty than
those which are revealed by God supposing them to have been indeed revealed but only that any such Revelation is really made can appear no otherwise than by Arguments of probability Thirdly a perfect knowledge of all the Mysteries of Religion might have been extraordinarily obtained by the Apostles before the Ascension of our Saviour by conferring on them the same Gifts of the Holy Ghost as were afterwards poured on them on the day of Pentecost But neither was this convenient to the design of the Gospel nor the Wisdom of God Not to the former For the plentiful Effusion and Mission of the Holy Ghost was an Act of the Regal power of Christ which he commenced not till after his Ascension when he first began to exercise that Authority which he had obtained to himself by the obedience of Death And therefore our Saviour tells the Apostles S. Joh. XVI 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And in another place this is assigned as the Reason why the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Wisdom of God also was no less engaged which might justly have been arraigned if he had used so wonderful and signal a Miracle as was the Mission of the Holy Ghost for the extraordinary instruction of the Apostles before the Ascension of our Lord since no such Instruction was yet necessary which was the second Point I proposed to prove Namely II. That a perfect and infallible Information of the Apostles was not absolutely necessary till after the Ascension of Christ. For this was required in the Apostles for no other cause than that they might thereby be inabled to teach the Doctrines of our Saviour to the whole world and at last deliver them down in writing to succeeding Ages infallibly and without danger of any intermixed Enrour to the suspicion of which the Christian Religion would ever have been subjected if they had not been indued with such clearness of apprehension concerning every Point of it and attended by such an extraordinary assistance as might secure them from all possible danger of mistaking the Sense of that Doctrine which they were to deliver to the rest of Mankind To create this clear apprehension in the Apostles and convey down this assistance to them was the chief intention of sending the Holy Ghost as upon this day and the principal effect of that Mission at least as far as I am at present concerned So that since the sending of the Holy Ghost was designed purely to enable them to the due execution of their Office of preaching and propagating the Doctrine of Christ to the whole world which Office was not to be commenced till after his Ascension it manifestly follows that an exact and infallible knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion was not absolutely necessary to the Apostles before that time A perfect knowledge would have been useful indeed to them even before that time but useful to them only as private Persons not as bearing the publick Office and Character of Apostles whose Office before the Ascension of our Saviour consisted as we before observed in taking notice of the Actions Sufferings and Miracles of Christ that they might be able afterwards to testifie them to the whole world This Office of observing the Actions of Christ required no exact and perfect knowledge of all the Reasons of his Actions and Mysteries of his Doctrine but might be sufficiently discharged by any Persons who were not devoid of common Sense and Honesty The Mission of the Holy Ghost was necessary upon Reasons of another nature and would have continued necessary although the Apostles had perfectly understood all the Doctrine of our Saviour before his Ascension For however they might then sufficiently understand it nothing less than a perpetual extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost could infallibly secure them from all future Errour in delivering it to others or create such a degree of probability as might deserve the Assent and Belief of Mankind in all future Ages Thus I have shewn the Reasons of that Ignorance of the Apostles which is so remarkable through all the History of the Gospels and for which our Saviour promiseth so extraordinary a remedy in the words of my Text and withal demonstrated that there is nothing in all this Conduct of the Apostles continuing under that Ignorance till the Ascension and of our Saviour permitting it till that time disadvantageous to the Truth and Divinity of the Christian Religion It remains that I draw some few Conclusions from what hath been said which was the third and last Proposal First then if as we before shewed our Saviour and the Apostles who were unquestionably infallible never set up themselves for infallible Judges nor required from their Hearers a blind Assent to their Dictates if they submitted their Doctrines to the Examination of Scripture and Judgment of all private men in vain do any at this day pretend in vertue of an Authority derived from them to set up themselves for infallible Judges of Controversie from whom lyeth no Appeal either to Scripture or Reason and thereby exercise a Jurisdiction which they never claimed But I wave that Particular and choose rather to insist on some more practical Considerations Of which The first is That if the knowledge of the Christian Religion was so difficult to the Apostles who enjoyed so many and so great advantages under the Instruction and Government of their Divine Master the Author of this Religion if after the sight of his Miracles the Enjoyment of a triennial Conversation and the constant hearing of his Divine Discourses they continued ignorant of the true Spirit and Nature of Christianity this ought to excite us to great diligence in learning and studying the Mysteries of our Religion and enquiring the true Sense of those Revelations which our Saviour conveyed to the world It is indeed the peculiar Excellency and Glory of the Christian Religion that its admirable simplicity hath fited it to the Understandings and Capacity of all men that it is not such an abstruce Science as surmounts the ordinary reach of Mankind and must intirely be confined to the Discipline of the Schools and knowledge of Learned men the acquisition and understanding of it is possible and even easie to all men But then God in proposing this Religion intended not purely to supercede the Labours of men and consult their ease Some Conditions are also necessary on our side that we diligently search the Truth examine the Scriptures hearken to the instruction of our Pastors carefully weigh the Reasons of things and bring a mind ready disposed to assent to any Truths which shall evidently appear to us how contrary soever they may be to our Passions and Inclinations For although we labour not with those prejudices of a temporal Kingdom
to be founded by the Messias or expected from him which so long clouded the Understandings of the Apostles and hindred them from entertaining true Notions of that Mystery although having the Happiness to be brought up in a Christian and Orthodox Church we suck in true Notions of the Christian Religion in general even from our Infancy yet the prejudices which arise from our Passions and corrupt Affections are no less violent and betray us to no less fatal mistakes These not only defeat the Benefit of that assistance of the Holy Ghost in the Inquisition of truth which God hath promised to all well disposed Persons who rightly ask it of him but also directly introduce the foulest and most pernicious Errours by prompting us to form such Notions of Religion as may be most adapted and favourable to those corrupt Inclinations And this diligence in the Inquiry and Examination of our Religion will be so much the more necessary if we consider that God had indeed provided an effectual remedy for all the mistakes of the Apostles by the plentiful Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them but hath left us to the ordinary Emanations and Assistance of the Divine Spirit which will lead us into all necessary Truths if our own Endeavours be not wanting but upon defect of those or any other due disposition of the mind will not only not produce this happy Effect but also depart from us II. The Sense of this great and inestimable Benefit conferred this day upon the Apostles and then upon the whole Church and our selves in particular ought to excite us to the utmost gratitude and engage us to endeavour not to render our selves unworthy of it at least not permit our selves to be ungrateful for it For this Benefit was not confined to the persons of the Apostles it brings down with it many great and inestimable advantages to the Church which continue till this day By this we are assured that the Christian Religion hath received the last degree of Confirmation by this we know that Christ hath really ascended into Heaven and there taken possession of his Kingdom that however he hath removed his corporeal Presence he still continues to be present with us by the Influences and Operations of the Holy Ghost that he ceased not at his Ascension to govern and take care of the Church but abundantly provided for the necessity and convenience of it by sending the third Person of the ever Blessed Trinity who might actuate and direct it and performing the Office of a Paraclet teach exhort comfort and intercede for every single Member of it By this the drooping Spirits of the Apostles were erected their Fears dispelled and their Minds enlightened by this the truth of the Christian Religion was put past all Dispute and the Church invigorated with such an assurance of Divine assistance as might secure it from all Dangers and place it beyond the rage of men or fury of Tyrants We also at this day partake of the blessed Effects of this great Benefit we share in the Joys of the Apostles and experience the Influences of that Divine Spirit By this they were inabled to convey down to us infallibly the Christian Religion and found a Church of which to be Members we esteem our greatest Happiness By this Spirit we are united to the Body of the Church to Christ our Head and to one another By this we are excited to vertue and the practice of our Duty are assisted in the search of Truth are comforted in Afflictions and upheld in Dangers This Spirit our Saviour promised ver 16. should abide with us for ever not in that measure indeed and abundance which was conferred on the Apostles but according to the proportion of our necessities and the Improvement of that present Portion which is already conferred on us Let us endeavour by an exact discharge of our Duty and daily improvement in Piety to augment our Interest in the benefits of this Day and favour of the Holy Ghost at least let us take care least by our negligence and degenerate Behaviour we forfeit our Title to them both Lastly as we are obliged to admire and celebrate the infinite Goodness of God in bestowing upon the Church the diffusive Presence of the Holy Ghost by his Mission as upon this Day so are we no less engaged to be thankful for his particular Presence in the Holy Sacrament since this not only gives us a firm assurance of the continuance of that Presence which was at first granted as so great a Blessing to the Apostles but also derives down upon all worthy Communicants as far as is necessary to them the same Gifts and Graces which the first Descent of it procured to the Apostles By this means we may not only commemorate but act anew and experience in our selves all the Glories of this day by receiving into our Souls a plentiful Effusion of the same Spirit But then as several previous Dispositions were required in the Apostles to qualifie them for the reception of so great a Benefit so must we prepare our selves for the Participation of so great a Mystery with no less diligence and caution that as they firmly believed and constantly expected the Promises of our Saviour although he had removed his Corporeal Presence from them so we should without any Fluctuation believe the certain performance of all those Graces which are promised to all worthy Communicants and that however his natural Body is absent from us yet he is really present in the Elements by the Efficacy and Operation of the Holy Spirit that as they prepared themselves for the reception of the Holy Ghost by an intire Resignation of their Wills to his influence and direction so we should fit our Souls for the Entertainment of all those Graces conferred in the Sacrament by a perfect Resignation of our selves to God and steady Resolution of performing his Commands And that as they in order to obtain the promised Mission of a Comforter met all together with one accord in one house so we in order to receive the mighty Benefits of this Sacrament should be united in perfect Charity to one another If any of these due Qualifications be wanting we shall be so far from obtaining any share in the Benefits of this Day or Commemorating as we ought the wonderful Mission of the Holy Ghost that we shall forfeit our Title to all the Benefits of the Gospel and do despight to the Spirit of Grace Now to God the Father God the Son c. The Second SERMON PREACH'D Septemb. 16th 1688. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Philip. II. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus OUR blessed Saviour hath not only revealed to us the whole Will of God in relation to Mankind and thereby given to us a most excellent and truly Divine Religion but also set us a most perfect Example of Holiness and universal Righteousness in the whole Conduct of his Life therein exceeding all other Lawgivers
whether Divine or Humane who never could equal the Excellency of their Laws by the spotless Sanctity of their Lives Even Moses who had this Testimony from God that he was faithful in all his House did not always preserve inviolate that intire reliance on the Divine Power which he so earnestly and so often recommended to his People but offended at the waters of strife and was provoked to speak unadvisedly with his lips As for other Lawgivers whose Pretences to Revelation were either none or feigned they were little sollicitous to recommend the Practice of their Laws by their example thereby giving just occasion to suspect that they intended them rather for Politick than Religious ends not so much to promote vertue as to secure their own Interest It is the peculiar advantage of the Christian Religion that all the Precepts of it were exactly performed in the person of its Founder who gave us not only a Rule but an Example of perfect Piety In him all Noble and Divine Vertues eminently shone forth and yet in such a manner as might rather attract our Imitation than dazle our Contemplation Justly did he say of himself John IX 5. that while he was in the world he was the light of the world directing all Persons the way to Happiness by his illustrious Example and in the highest degree practising all those Vertues which in other Persons were singly admired Insomuch as we may justly apply to him in respect of all the parts of our Duty to God our selves and others what he said of himself in respect of Humility For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Joh. XIII 15. For it is not sufficient for us his Disciples to admire the Greatness and Excellency of his example he requires farther of us to do as he hath done that we express our obedience to him by the constant Imitation of his Life and Practice that we continue the remembrance of his incomparable Vertue and Piety by proposing them as a Pattern of perfection in all our Actions That we manifest our selves to be his Followers by the similitude of our Conduct in a word that the same mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus In treating of these words I shall divide my Discourse into three Heads I. I will shew that the Life of our Saviour was by God intended to be the Grand Example and Pattern of our Actions II. That it was the best and most compleat Example which could be proposed to us III. I will produce some Arguments inducing us to a careful Imitation of this Example I. That the Life of our Saviour Christ was intended to be the grand Pattern and Example of our Actions This appears not only from hence that it is the Duty of all Christians to live up to the Rules of Piety Temperance and Justice which the Gospel prescribeth and our Saviour in the most perfect manner practised and consequently to conform our Lives to his Example which however indirect is yet a most evident Argument but also from many other direct Arguments Of which I shall name some few 1. It appears from the whole Sequel and design of the four Gospels One great part of which is taken up in relating those Actions of our Saviour which serve only to demonstrate his admirable Vertue and Holiness In the whole Conduct of our Saviour and the History of it contained in the Gospels we may chiefly observe four Kinds of Matters which the Holy Ghost hath thought fit to convey to us by the writing of inspired Persons his Miracles the Conformity of his Life Death and all the Circumstances of them to the antient preceding Prophesies concerning the Messias his Doctrines and his Actions Of these the two first lead us to the knowledge of Christ the two latter direct us in it By his Miracles and the Conformity of his Life to the antient Prophesies of the Messias he abundantly proved himself to be a Divine Person the Son of God and the true Messias Who was to come into the world By his Doctrines and Practice he hath taught us the way to attain the same Happiness into which he is gone before us Now if we observe how great a part of the Gospels is taken up in relating Matters of the last sort if we consider that the Evangelists have taken no less care to acquaint us with these than with his Doctrines the immediate Rule of our Belief and Practice We cannot but conclude that they also were intended for a certain and infallible Rule of our Life and Conduct and proposed as the Object of our Imitation The Holy Ghost assureth us That all Scripture was written for our Instruction and although this is undoubtedly true of all parts of the Divine Scripture yet can it not with such evidence of Truth be affirmed of any part of it as of the Holy Gospels which contain the History of our Saviours Life and Actions These the Church in all Ages esteemed the most considerable part of that sacred Rule which was committed to her Care and given for her Direction It manifestly appears to have been the design of each Evangelist apart to deliver a compleat System of all things necessary to be known and done by all Christians and yet all conspired in nothing more than in giving a full Relation of the Vertues and Graces of our Blessed Saviour a plain Argument that the Holy Ghost which directed those sacred Pen-men and whose infallible Wisdom doth nothing in vain thought nothing more necessary than it to the knowledge of all Christians It becomes us as to adore the admirable Wisdom and Goodness of God in this Matter so to take Care least by neglecting to imitate the Example so studiously and fully proposed to us we defeat his most wise Contrivance 2. It is evidently manifest from the express Testimony of Scripture Our Saviour after he had performed that stupendious Act of Humility in washing his Disciples feet John XIII tells them ver 15. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you thereby intimating that by that Ceremony he designed nothing else than to teach them Humility that they should not presume to retain high Conceptions of their own worth and merit much less Pride and Ambition when they had seen him their Lord and Master condescend to execute the meanest Office of a Servant to them who were his domestick Servants And indeed the Action could be designed for no other end It had nothing miraculous in it tended not to the Completion of any antient Prophesie served not to demonstrate the Divinity of his Person and indeed had nothing excellent or admirable in it but as it conduced to this end And what greater Argument can we desire of the Life of Christ being proposed for our Imitation than that many of his Actions aimed at no other end than to draw us to the Practice of the most noble Vertues by the
of the Soul otherwise it would be vain and trifling to found Piety and Religion in the internal Acts of the Mind and appropriate either Rewards or Punishments to them only Again Christianity directeth all our Actions to their natural end the Supreme Good the Enjoyment of God and Obedience to him It is but too apparent and hath been plainly confessed by many of them that all the refined Morality of the Heathen Philosophers was founded upon a Principle of Vanity and directed rather to the Acquisition of Praise and Glory than the discharge of their Duty to God Themselves and their Neighbours Whereas the Christian Faith directs us to perform all in obedience to the Divine Laws to ascribe all our good Deeds to God the Author and Fountain of them and preserve an awful Sense of our own unworthyness in respect of the Divine Majesty and Goodness Hereby it addeth to all other excellent Perfections and Crowns them with Humility a Vertue almost unknown to any other System of Religion yet naturally arising from the Principles of Christianity Lastly This Religion is most pure and simple equally adapted to all Orders and Ranks of men and thereby may justly be accounted most agreeable to their Nature since it equally concerneth and includeth all The Precepts of it are plain and easie laying level with the meanest Capacity and placed beyond the Power of none such as carry their Conviction along with them and need no other Argument than to be proposed The Principles and Mysteries of it are perspicuous and significant such as may create a right Sense and esteem of the Divine Attributes and afford powerful Arguments to Men of manifesting their obedience to God In a word nothing can be found or discovered in it unworthy of God or not agreeable to Men nothing which doth not proclaim it self owing to a Divine Original Which brings me to the second Consideration Namely II. That the Christian Religion is rational and evident in respect of the undoubted certainty of its having been revealed by God To evince this we have already made no inconsiderable advance in shewing it to be most worthy of God and fitted to the Nature and Necessity of Mankind For hereby all Objections which can be formed against it are prevented and the Proofs of its Revelation left in their full force Whereas no one System of false Religion hath ever obtained in the World which hath not taught somewhat contrary to Reason and upon that account ought to have been rejected without inquiring into the truth of those Proofs and Arguments whereby it pretended to Revelation The falfeness of the Pagan Religion discovered it self in proposing the Worship of many Gods in giving extravagant and undecent Notions of them representing them as Murderers Adulterers and Criminals of the like Nature in practising Childish and oft-times brutish Superstitions and confining all Religion to external Worship To come to our own Times the falseness of the Mahometan Religion appears in the most absurd and extravagant Fables which it relates of God unworthy the petulancy of an Infant much more the Majesty of an all-wise Being But chiefly in placing the Supreme and eternal Happiness of Man after this Life in an open Violation of the Laws of Nature by the continual Practice of unbridled Lusts and indulging a brutish Appetite in all sensual Pleasures I will not add to these a corrupt part of the Christian Church which teacheth Doctrines contrary both to Sense and Reason But from the whole we may draw a convincing Argument of an All-wise Providence presiding over the World and directing all things to the good of Mankind In that it never suffered any false Religion to obtain which did not carry along with it most evident Marks of its falseness and consequently into which none could enter but by betraying their Reason and wilfully shutting their Eyes upon the Truth Hereby the Plea of Ignorance and involuntary Errour is taken from all For the existence of One only God may be easily discovered by the light of Nature The Laws of Nature are known to all and the meanest Ideots may judge of sensible things by their Senses So that to fall into any Errours contradicting the light of Nature or the report of our Senses may justly be accounted wilful and inexcusable Thus all erroneous Religions discover themselves by the falseness of their Doctrines whereas Christianity recommends it self to the Understandings of all Men by the reasonableness and Divinity of its Doctrines To this we may add that some Revealed Religion was plainly necessary to Mankind overwhelmed with an universal corruption of Ignorance and Superstition and miserably subjected to the Dominion of the Devil and their own Lusts. But as none more excel-cellent Religion than this could be proposed so none could be founded upon better Proofs For since all Revelation must be made at some certain time to some certain Persons and in some certain place However it might to them be attested with the greatest and most uncontestable Miracles yet the report of it could be conveyed to Persons distant in place and time no otherwise than by the Testimony of those who had been Eye-witnesses of it and consequently to them the Proofs of it could be no other than the Nature of the thing would admit Not Demonstrative and excluding all Doubt but Moral and excluding all just Doubt No general and universal Revelation such as is Christianity can be made in any other manner and therefore to expect any other Proofs of it would be highly unreasonable although these it possesseth in the highest and most eminent manner which I proceed in the next place briefly to shew Miracles are by all acknowledged to be the peculiar effects of God and to exceed the Power of a finite Being That wonderful and unaccountable Actions may be and often have been performed by the sleight of Men or concurrence of evil Spirits must be Confessed but these fail not to carry some Evidence of deceit and imposture along with them and may easily be discerned by judicious and attentive Persons from those which proceed from the finger of God and are the real works of Omnipotence Now it cannot be imagined that God will exert his Almighty Power in working Miracles upon slight and trivial occasions much less in Confirmation of a Lye or any pretended Revelation If therefore any Prophet appears invested with the Power of Miracles and we be satisfied that the Miracles are true and real and that his Revelations neither contradict the light of Nature nor any precedent Revelation we must own his Divine Commission and submit to his Revelations which in that Case will truly carry along with them a Divine Authority This was the Case of Moses whose Miracles were unexceptionable and his Revelations in no respect contrary to Reason nor yet to any precedent Revelation for no precedent one was yet made This also was the Case of our Saviour Christ but in a more eminent manner His Revelations far from opposing
the natural reason and sense of Mankind are most perfective of it as hath been already in some measure shown Neither are they contrary to any precedent Revelation For although they tend to abolish and destroy the Mosaick Institution This doth not in the least derogate from the truth of it The Mosaick Law by the very Nature of it was fitted only for the Nonage of Revelation and to continue no longer than till the times of Reformation should come But which cleareth the matter beyond all doubt God had expressly foretold to the Jews that he would put an end to their Dispensation and institute a new and more perfect Covenant Infinite places to this purpose might be alledged out of the Old Testament I shall name but one In the aforementioned passage of Jeremy God tells them Behold the days come that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt But this shall be the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel The Christian Religion doth not only not contradict the Jewish Revelation but also receive infinite Confirmation from it God by foretelling the coming of the Messias with all the Circumstances of it had abundantly provided that when he should come unless a fatal Blindness and Stupidity intervened he should not be rejected by those for whose sake he came God had promised his coming to our first Parents had assured Abraham That in him all the Nations of the carth should be blessed had revealed to Jacob That before the departure of the Scepter from Judah Shiloh should come and had declared to the Jews by the mouth of Moses That he would raise up a Prophet from among them like unto him whom they should be bound to hear in all things But all this is inconsiderable in respect of that full and more clear Manifestation given by God in after Ages The most Wise God choosing to prefigure him by more express Characters according as the time of his coming drew more near In the Psalms and Prophets the manner and place of his Birth the Nature of his Office the meanness of his Condition the manner and bitterness of his Sufferings the Triumphs of his Resurrection in a word all the Circumstances of his Life and Death are so plainly pointed out and related that nothing less than a perverse Blindness could doubt of the Person designed by them Among the latter Prophets Daniel foretold that he should come at the end of seventy weeks of years and Malachi the last of all that he should come before the Second Temple was destroyed and honour it with his Presence So that all the Miracles which were wrought in Confirmation of the Jewish Religion tend most effectually to establish the Christian Faith Not only because all the Characters assigned by the Prophets to denote the future Messias met most exactly in the Person of our Saviour but because they can meet in no one else For the time prefixed for the Accomplishment of the Prophecies concerning the Messias is plainly expired and yet no other Person hath yet appeared to whom the Characters of the Messias can with any shew of Reason be applied So that either the Jewish Religion is wholly false or the Christian infallibly true Then as for the Miracles of our Saviour it is impossible to imagine any more wonderful in their Operation more beneficial in their Nature more Convictive of their Divine Original or better attested than they were So great and stupendious that they forced even his Adversaries to confess That no man ever did such works as he convinced the multitude That even when the Messias should come he could not do greater works than those and induced the Roman Centurion watching at his Cross even at the lowest ebb of his Fortunes and after he had lost his Life by an ignominious Punishment to acknowledge him to be the Son of God They were not performed once or twice but frequently upon all occasions and for many years together by himself and his Apostles Not in Corners or before a few Confidents but in the Face of the world in the publick Streets before vast multitudes and in all parts of the Earth They tended not so much to raise the amazement and astonishment of Spectators as all false Miracles do as to relieve the Infirmities cure the Diseases and procure the benefit of some part at least of Mankind and therein by a wonderful mixture of Wisdom served no less to declare the Goodness than the Power of God That the History of the Miracles and Life of our Saviour as it is delivered to us in the Books of the New Testament is true we have all the Reason in the world to believe These Books were written by Persons who were Eye-witnesses of what they relate or at least who received Instructions from such They had all the advantages which could possibly be required of knowing the truth of them And so could not be mistaken in their Relations and that they should wilfully deceive us we have no reason to believe We might with as much reason call in doubt and dis-believe all the Relations of former Histories which depend upon no other Authority than that of their Writers yet should we justly esteem him Mad who should doubt whether there were ever such Persons as Caesar and Alexander in the world and we daily regulate our Actions and found our Concerns upon matters attested with no better Proofs But to our comfort and entire conviction Christianity hath yet much greater Evidence The Writers of these Books are known to have been Persons of unquestioned Integrity who far from managing any worldly design or interest in this matter quitted all the Conveniences of Life underwent the most toilsome Labours and Miseries suffered Punishments Contempt and Scorn and at last laid down their Lives in Attestation of the truth of what they had related Not to say that they confirmed the truth of their report by Miracles while alive and that their Holiness Sincerity and miraculous Power was in like manner attested for some Ages after by many pious and learned Persons who laid down their Lives in Testimony of their veracity and wrought Miracles in Confirmation of it until a great part of Mankind being by these convincing Proofs converted to the belief of Christianity and the truth of them fully made known to the world Miracles became no longer necessary All these things happened in a learned and inquisitive Age and were Matters of the greatest moment concerning no less than the eternal Happiness or Misery of Mankind So that on both these Accounts if the least ground of Forgery or Imposture could have been discovered in the Christian Religion it would have been impossible for it to have gained any Success or made any progress in the World Especially if
tendeth no less effectually to the Honour and Glory of God than a due Command of our Will For God is no less dishonoured by mean and unworthy Apprehensions of him by Idolatry and Superstition by denying his Existence or debasing his Attributes which are the effects of misguided Reason than by an open Violation of his known Precepts which proceeds from the Corruption of the Will And thus it appears that a full Enquiry into the Reasons and Arguments of the Christian Religion and a perfect knowledge of the truth of them not only contributes exceedingly but in Persons having means to attain it is absolutely necessary to beget a true and perfect Faith and secure to us the reward of it III. A distinct and clear knowledge of the Mysteries of our Faith and Rules of our Religion will afford to us many and great Motives to the practice of our Duty and direct us in the performance of it It is the peculiar Prerogative of the Christian Religion that the more we search into the Reasons and Constitution of it the more fully the Divinity of it will appear Every new Discovery will give us fresh occasions to admire the Wisdom Goodness and Justice of God eminently conspiring in the Revelation of it This will excite in us if we be not insensible a profound Veneration of the Divine Majesty an ardent Love of his Excellencies and the most intense degree of Gratitude It will manifest to us the Misery of Man and his lost Condition without the Sacrifice of the Cross which might expiate for his Sins and mediate his Pardon and hereby will increase our Sense of the Divine Mercy will enhance the value of that inestimable Sacrifice teach us to adore love and devote our selves to our Saviour to resign up our belief to his Revelations as to our Prophet to depend wholly upon the Expiation of our sins once made and Intercession for us always continued by him as of our High Priest to yield an intire Obedience to his Commands and Precepts as to our King Can we view the Love and Mercy of God manifested in our Redemption the wonderful Contrivances of Providence both to secure the Divine Justice and Honour and yet give Pardon to sinful Man and not be wound up into an Extasie of Love and Admiration Can we consider the most wise Methods whereby God brought this wonderful design to perfection and trace the footsteps of it through all Ages can we think upon the Majesty of him who condescended to suffer for us and the unworthiness of Man to receive so great a Favour without filling our Understandings with awful and reverent Conceptions of him our Wills with a passionate desire of Union with him and enlarging all the Faculties of our Souls to approach his Presence and receive his influence Or can we hope to raise our Souls to a worthy Sense of the Divine Favours and Benefits and carry up our Affections to a gratitude not inferiour to the Greatness of them without a perfect knowledge of their Design and Excellency Surely the Admonitions of the Prophets Apostles and even our Blessed Saviour were not in vain which so earnestly press us to the study of Divine Truths command us to search the Scriptures assure us That they were written for our instruction and which is to be observed commend those who were conversant in them above all other Persons Yet how small a part of the Holy Scripture are those things which are absolutely necessary to be believed The infinitely greater part of it serveth only to declare the extraordinary Acts of his Providence to the Church and Testimonies of his Love to Mankind to celebrate his Mercy and Goodness and induce us by manifold Arguments to our Duty Yet these also hath the Divine Wisdom thought necessary to the knowledge and instruction of Men and surely not without Reason For what can be more worthy of Man more perfective of his Nature or conducing to enstate him in the greatest Happiness than to comprehend the Riches of the Divine Goodness to entertain noble Conceptions of his Creator and by a constant Meditation and exalted Knowledge raise his Affections to a vehement Love of him By this we anticipate the Joys of Heaven and begin to possess them even before we are received into them For both Reason and Revelation assureth us that the Fruition of Celestial Happiness consists in a constant and unwearied Contemplation and Love of the Divine Perfections The study of these sacred Matters was esteemed the best indication of a pious Mind and the most certain method of attaining the utmost degree of Happiness upon Earth even under the Old Law when God had not yet made a full Manifestation of himself and the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy were obscure and hid under a veil of Ceremonies and Ritual Observations For proof of this to go no farther than the CXIX Psalm wherein such inimitable strains of Piety Devotion and an ardent Love of God appear The Holy Psalmist every where ascribes his Proficiency in Vertue and the inward satisfaction and Happiness of his mind to the assiduous study of the Divine Laws I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart when I shall have learned the judgments of thy righteousness Open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy law For I remembred thine everlasting judgments O Lord and received comfort Lord what love have I unto thy law all the day long is my study in it O how sweet are thy words unto my throâ—… yea sweeter than honey unto my mouth Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths For thy testimonies are my delight and my Counsellours See all the Marks of a Soul big with Devotion and filled with transports of Joy from the Consideration of the Divine Goodness and Excellency manifested under the Mosaick Law But alas how inconsiderable is this if compared to that greater Light which Christianity hath brought into the world What satisfaction and advantage may not we now hope for from the study and Contemplation of the more perfect Law of Christ that hath revealed to us the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and represents to us the Divine Goodness not under a veil and shadow but in its full Dimensions The antient Christians were truly sensible of this who placed their Happiness on this side Heaven in this Holy study chose rather to part with their Lives than Bibles and branded those who delivered them up to their Persecutors although in exchange for their dearest Blood with the name of Traditores or Traitors And in the last Age our Forefathers gave eminent Instances of the same perswasion and resolution when great numbers of them ventured their Lives to enjoy the advantage of reading the Scriptures in their Mother tongue and rather than forego that Benefit chose to forfeit their Lives to the Persecution of a Church whose interest it was that those Divine Truths should not be known It is our
Happiness to enjoy that advantage in a most eminent manner to have the Scriptures translated most exactly into our own Language to read them securely and hear them weekly explained to us Let us manifest that we are not insensible of so great a Benefit by a right use of it least we fall into the Condemnation of those who abuse the Divine Mercy and that Candlestick of which we are not worthy be removed from us It remains that we briefly apply what hath been said And first If our Religion be so excellent and rational attended with such Evidence and Conviction it is our Duty to maintain a firm and constant Profession of it at all times or in the words of my Text To be ready always to give an account of it not to dissemble it for fear or interest much less betray it by a denial of it The great ends of Religion are to secure the Honour of God and advance the Happiness of Mankind By such shameful Cowardize both these ends are defeated the Honour of God is wounded and the hopes of Happiness intirely destroyed Hereby Men renounce all dependence upon God disown him to be their Lord and Master and bid defiance to him Nor may we flatter our selves that this execrable Crime of Apostacy consists only in denying all Christianity and wholly renouncing our Saviour to yield up the least truth which we are convinced to be Divine to assent to the least Errour which we believe to be false to forsake a Communion which we know to be pure and lawful to embrace one which we are perswaded is corrupt and erroneous is no less truly the sin of Apostacy and will undoubtedly meet with the same Punishment The Nature of the sin is the same in both Cases that we willfully recede from the Truth and affront the Divine Majesty by preferring a Lye to his revealed Will. The maintenance of Truth and directing our Conduct by the Dictates of it is the Dignity of Man and perfection of his Soul To betray the most inconsiderable Truth to any temporal Considerations is a plain Confession that we have inverted the order of Nature and subjected our more noble part the Soul to the Lusts and Passions of the Body an Indignity unworthy a rational Being which prostitutes the Honour of his Nature Ranks him among brute Beasts and from being the head of all visible Creatures degrades him into the condition of a Slave to dust and ashes But when Eternity and an Interest infinitely greater than any which can be promoted on Earth by such Apostacy lays at stake when immortality and everlasting Happiness are destroyed by it nay when the utmost Displeasure of an Almighty God and the direful effects of it eternal Torments are the consequences of it to preferr a few trifling Pleasures of this World disclaim all hopes of Happiness in another Life and incurr the Divine Vengeance is a height of Folly which all the Affairs and Examples of this Life cannot equal an Impiety which neither the Art of Men or Devils can exceed When the Interest of Truth is concerned the Honour of God engaged to lay down our Lives in Testimony of the one and Vindication of the other to forego all the Conveniences of this Life to despise all worldly Considerations and with a generous Contempt overlook all the Sollicitations and Threats of men this the Dignity of our Nature requires of us this our Duty to God obliges us to this the Expectation of a future state leads us to For surely we are no longer deserve the Name or Character of men than while we continue rational We deny all Relation to God when we sacrifice his Commands to our Interests and disclaim all Title to a future state when we yield up the Conditions of it for the sake of a present advantage Yet how many Examples of such Apostacy hath the Church deplored in all Ages And I wish our Age afforded none of those who have betrayed the Profession of their Faith I will not say to the fear of Death for so great a Terrour all Spirits cannot overcome And we of this Nation thanks be to God do not suffer but to the fear of Poverty or perhaps to the hopes of continuing or advancing their Preferment in the world A most amazing wickedness that Men should Sell their God at so low a price and exchange their Religion for such mean Considerations Resign to me the hopes of Heaven and I will give you a possession in the Earth give me up your Soul and I will enrich your Body deny your Creator and I will give you Honour among your Fellow-Creatures A Proposal which even a Heathen Philosopher would entertain with Scorn and every sober Christian with a pious Horrour These are the Flatteries of the world and with these the Prince of the world attempted our Saviour All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me But our Saviour immediately rejected such base Proposals with a generous Disdain and with a get thee behind me Satan manifested with how great Indignation he had received them thereby giving us an Example how we ought to behave our selves upon such occasions and not to admit even the thoughts of such a Crime For surely in the cause of God even to deliberate with our selves whether we shall betray it or no is a degree of Apostacy in that Case deliberasse est descivisse and the thought of foolishness is sin To put the question to our own Souls is to trifle with the Divine Majesty to dishonour our Religion and degrade our Nature But to decide it in Favour of our Lufts and the petty Temptations of the world is to fill up the measure of our iniquity and in the most reproachful Sense turn the grace of God into wantonness I speak of those who are convinced of the truth of any Religion or Communion at the same time that they forsake it As sor those who may pretend Reasons of Conscience and Conviction of Judgment for their departure from our Church let them seriously consider whether this be not indeed a Pretence and whether they can really answer it to God and their own Consciences Let them examine themselves whether they were not byassed in their Judgments and powerfully prejudiced in Favour of that Communion to which they have revolted by the Temptation of secular interest and advantage in this Case let them know that God will not be mocked and that to force our Understandings is no less Criminal than to force our Consciences God hath proposed sufficient direction to us in the Holy Scripture and will by no means pardon us if we willfully shut our eyes against the Truth We need not go any farther than the words of my Text for this direction The Apostle commands all Christians to be ready to give an answer of the reason of the faith that is in them If then any Society of men discourageth and overthrows the use of reason in private Christians
Gratitude by their direct Tendency to the benefit of Mankind For among all the Miracles of Christ not above three or four can be found which do not immediately respect the Cure of the Infirmities the relief of the Wants or in general the good of Mankind And thus it appears both from the Nature of the thing and the Example of the Divine Oeconomy that a right Sense of the Divine Beneficence is the most effectual Motive of Obedience to the Laws of God But then Secondly This will appear more manifestly if we consider the Nature of the Divine Benefits how much greater influence they deservedly Challenge than any others Benefits so truly infinite and exceeding our comprehension that God might justly make that appeal to the whole world which he doth in the Prophet Isaiah Chap. V. Ver. 3 4. And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it So studiously hathGod endeavoured to procure the Happiness os Mankind by all thoseObligations which are wont to make impression on it Every one of the Divine Benefits may Challenge the most exalted Gratitude of our Soul and affords us Entertainment for Admiration as well as Love For to omit the common Benefits of Creation Preservation and the ordinary Acts of Providence and the peculiar ones of Redemption and Sanctification The means of grace and the hopes of gloâ—…y I will consider only that mentioned in the words immediately preceding my Text which the Apostle expresseth by the riches of his Goodness forbearance and long suffering whereby he winks at the sins of Mankind while there are any hopes or possiblity of Reformation left prolongeth the Execution of his Judgment giveth â—…s space for Repentance and gently leads us to it A Mercy which might justly alone incline us to conquer the Temptations of the world and depraved Inclinations of our mind and henceforward devote our Lives to the Service of God which having been so often forfeited to his Justice have been as often remitted by his Mercy A Vertue which hath been always wont beyond others to win the hearts of Men and hath antiently procured to the most admired Princes the Titles of Fathers of their Countrey and the delight of Mankind In them it was esteemed the highest degree of Perfection and to deserve from Posterity the most grateful Acknowledgements to pardon their conquered Enemies remit the offences of their Subjects and deferr the execution of Justice until the Criminal should appear incorrigible But alas how mean and inconsiderable are these Acts of Clemency if compared to the Divine Forbearance and Long-suffering where the Person offended is of infinite Worth and Dignity and Author of the most illustrious Benefits who is able to strike the Sinner dead in a moment and vindicate the Honour of his Name by a single nod where the offence is repeated not once or twice but very often perhaps every day and moment and that by inconsiderable Creatures who are the work of his hands the dependants of his Power and unable to render any Service to him which may tend to his Interest or augment his Greatness We are not ignorant with what transports of Joy and Resolutions of extreme gratitude a condemned Person would receive his Princes Pardon And if the same affection doth not seize us as often as we view the sins of our Life and consider the offers of Pardon made to us upon condition of Repentance if we do not with equal Gratitude resent the remission of every single sin we must acknowledge it to be no other than the product of a brutish stupidity which can be convinced by Sense that hainous Offences may forfeit their Lives to the Laws of their Countrey but will not be convinced by Reason that more hainous sins do forfeit them to the Divine Justice But I speak to those who are convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion who believe they were created for no other end than to honour God by Obedience to his Laws that even by the Law of Nature the Commission of sin renders us obnoxious to undergo the Divine Vengeance in whatsoever way that may be inflicted on us but that by the revealed Law of Christianity every single sin in its own Nature subjects us to the Divine Wrath and in that to eternal Punishment How infinitely therefore are we bound to celebrate the Mercy of God in that he doth not immâ—…diately pour out his Wrath upon us but patiently awaits our Repentance and is not only ready to re-admit us to his Favour but by an extraordinary Act of loving kindness not to be parallelled in the Actions of Mankind passionately wisheth that by our Repentance we would capacitate our selves to receive his Favour For thus Psalm LXXXI 14 15. he testifieth how delightful it would have been to him to continue his Favours to the Children of Israel if their obstinate perseverance in sin had not rendred it incongruous to the Holiness of his Nature to do it O that my people would have hearkened unto me for if Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have put down their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries And in like manner Esai XLVIII 17 18. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go O that thou hadst hearkned to my commandments then peace had been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea To name no more Passages of this Nature how passionate is that Protestation of God Ezek. XXXIII 11. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O ye house of Israel This carnest desire of God that by Repentance we would qualifie our selves to receive his Mercy can proceed from no other Principle than the utmost perfection of Clemency and Goodness to Mankind and beyond all other Arguments demonstrates to us the Greatness of it since the execution of Justice tendeth no less to manifest the Divine Glory than Acts of Mercy do And thus it again appears that a right Sense of our Obligation arising srom the Divine Benefits is the most effectual Motive of Obedience since his Benefits being infinite and transcendent may reasonably be expected to produce a sutable and not inferiour degree of Gratitude But then farther in Relation to the Divine Benefits it is to be considered that they are not only great in their own Nature but also wholly undeserved by us which contributeth very much to raise the esteem of their Excellency in our Minds and amplifie the riches of the Divine Beneficence The Psalmist made excellent use of this Consideration when comparing the unworthiness of Man to the
Nature and Religion to perform our Duty to God rather out of the Sense of our Obligations to him than the fear of Punishment or the hope of Reward In the first Case the chief Principle of all our Actions will be the Love of God in the latter the Love of our selves By this we may become the Clients but by that the Friends of God Lastly Let us remember that this Forbearance and Long-suffering of God will not endure for ever that if despised it shall be withdrawn from us and that God hath set a time for Repentance beyond which he will not a wait nor suffer his Goodness to be abused For we must not ascribe to God such an unlimited Exercise of Mercy as may destroy his Justice and include the highest Contradictions of Sinners and pardon Offences committed against plain Conviction of Conscience and in open Contempt of all means of Repentance afforded to them To pass by such enormous Sins would favour of a Childish Fondness debase the Majesty of God and by making him irrational destroy his Nature How shall I pardon thee for this saith God in the Prophet Jeremy V. 7 9. Shall not I visit for these things and shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this God hath appointed his Mercy as a refuge to Mankind for Sins of ignorance Passion and Inadvertency not as a Sanctuary to prophane and incorrigible Sinners He winked indeed at the times of ignorance but now commandeth all men every where to repent If a man will not turn he will whet his sword Psal. VII 13. And then the dreadful consequence of his anger himself tells us Deut. XXXII 40 41. For I lift up my hand to heaven and say I live for ever If I wheâ—… my glittering sword and mine hand take hold of judgment I will render vengeaâ—…te to mine enemies and will reward them that hatâ—… me Let us therefore perfect our Repentance while a space is yet open for us before Mercy return to Judgment and the Door be shut upon us that so we also may partake of the goodness forbearance and long-suffering of God and not fall into their Condemnation who despise the riches of them Wâ—…oso is wise will pâ—…nder these things and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. The Sixth SERMON PREACH'D December 30. 1688. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Cor. I. 23. We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness THE coming of the Messias into the world and therewith the Manifestation of the Divine Mercy to lost Mankind which we at this time Commemorate was so signal a Benefit and in all respects so infinite that it cannot but administer Matter of Admiration to us to see it rejected derided and opposed by the greatest part of Mankind It may justly seem strange to us that that which was proposed by God to rescue Men from that fatal Ignorance wherein they were involved should be treated with Scorn become a Stumbling-block and be accounted Folly That the glad tidings of great joy to Men should be made a Matter of Derision and be received not with Thankfulness as it deserved but with Scofts and Contumelies But such is the unhappiness of Mankind ever since the Fall of Adam that their Understandings being darkned with Ignorance as well as their Wills corrupted with Passions and inordinate Desires it hath been equally difficult without the Assistance of Revelation to find out the Truth as to pursue the Dictates of it when once discovered Such is the natural consequence of that unhappy Fall and such have been the Effects of it in all Ages But then whereas the Corruptions of the Will could not be denied or dissembled the Sense of which induced Men to seek Remedies for them the failings of the Understanding were so far from being perceived and acknowledged that a great part of Mankind had flattered themselves into an Opinion of a perfect knowledge and believed the Truth not only to be possessed by them but their own Understandings to be the rule and measure of it They had framed to themselves a System of Religion either from their own vain Imaginations or some precedent mistaken Revelation and being pre-possessed with Notions derived from thence refused to hearken to any Doctrine different from them They falsely imagined their own Conceptions to be infallible and thereby treated the Christian Religion which opposed them as an erroneous and ridiculous Doctrine especially being proposed with that unaffected Simplicity to which themselves were so much strangers as believing every Opinion to be so much Divine by how much more it was more refined and placed beyond the common Apprehensions of Men. Whereas the Christian Doctrine was more humane and easie lay level with the Capacity of the meanest Persons and excluded not the most illiterate from a perfect knowledge of it being an Enemy to Pride and Ostentation devoid of Subtilties and unuseful Niceties and resembling the Nakedness as well as the Purity of Paradise withal teaching such Mysteries as might directly contribute to destroy the Pride of such men not only by opposing their Opinions but also teaching the Mystery of God incarnate therein humbling himself to take upon him an humane State living a mean and obscure Life and at last undergoing the shame of the Cross a Mystery which at once intirely ruined both the carnal and spiritual Pride of the World The Simplicity of the Christian Religion its want of all those external pompous Arguments of Subtilty and mistaken Learning which recommended other Systems together with its opposition to the received false Opinions of men had induced some Christians at Corinth who lived among the learned Philosophers of the Heathens and Doctors of the Jewish Law to doubt of the Truth of it others to refine it into a System of mysterious and subtil Niceties and so hindred many from becoming Christians The Apostle therefore in this Chapter argueth against all these Men and in the 17th Verse opposeth to these new Refiners of Christianity his own Example who had preached the Gospel among them without any affected shew of Eloquence with a Simplicity becoming the Majesty and agreeable to the intention of the Lawgiver Not with Wisdom of words least the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect and fail of its Design as it would most certainly do if proposed according to the Fancies of those men who turned it into a System of difficult and elaborate Contemplation For hereby it would exceed the reach and capacity of the greater part of Mankind whereas it was indifferently intended for the benefit of all And it would want that powerful Confirmation of the truth of it that being proposed in a plain and familiar way by mean and unlearned Persons It notwithstanding surmounted the pompous Learning of the Schools and Synagogue and gained a more universal Reception in the world That therefore as God had chose to contrive the Redemption of Mankind in a way very different
who set upon the work without any Preparation of Learning or Interest proceeded in it with quiet and simplicity and in treating with the Jews chose rather to convince the Judgment than amaze their Senfes rather to argue from the Agreement of the antient Prophecies concerning the Messias to the Person of our Saviour than from the Performance of wonderful Miracles although those were not wanting upon just occasions Such were the Prejudices conceived by the Jews against Christianity which occasioned and continued their Illusion They knew very well that super-natural Revelation was the ordinary means by which Man should arrive to Happiness that it was agreeable to the Majesty and former Revelations of God to propose Matters of Belief and Practice not exceeding the capacity of the meanest Persons and thus far they proceeded in the right way but then the aforementioned Prejudices were a stumbling-block in their way which occasioned their Fall and hindered any farther Progress The Gentile Philosophers for against them and not the more unlearned sort of Heathens the Apostle here argues conceived yet deeper Prejudices against Christianity accounting it Foolishness and deriding the whole Design of it They were puffed up with an Opinion of their own perfect knowledge or at least Ability to obtain the perfection of it believing it therefore unnecessary for God to reveal the Truth to them which they could discover by their own Wit and Industry Or if God should put himself to this unnecessary trouble they vainly supposed that no Persons were so fit to be employed in it as themselves who were indued with extraordinary Assistances of acquired Learning Or at least not the Apostles of all Men who confessed themselves to be unacquainted with Secular Learning and appeared so to be and which mightily added to their Prejudice were by Birth and Education Barbarians whom the Greeks were wont to treat as the most vile and contemptible part of the Creation devoid of Reason and not much Superiour to Brutes And then as to theRevelation it self the Christian Religion seemed to them to be naked and homely and which they accounted a great indecency fitted for the Reception of all Men not the Contemplation of themselves only as not consisting of abstruse Mysteries and subtil Distinctions which by their Intricacy and Difficulty might Intitle themselves to Sublimity and a Divine Original but made up of easie natural and unaffected Truths equally obvious to the understanding of all Men equally concerning all and dispensing the Knowledge of her Mysteries to all Such were the Reasons and such were the Prejudices which caused the Christian Religion to become a Scandal to the Jews and Folly to the Greeks To these the Apostle giveth one general Answer in the 25. Verse Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men An Answer which invincibly overthrows the Plea of these Opposers of Christianity as who proceeded upon an arrogant Opinion of their Knowledge and Comprehension whereas the experience of many Ages might have convinced them how unsuccessfully Mankind hath ever endeavoured to obtain the knowledge of Divine Matters by its own Power Matters of Natural Religion were almost universally mistaken and how should we hope that the Mysteries of a Revealed Religion can be fully discovered by us We all find in our selves the defects of knowledge we acknowledge our Errours by changing our Opinions daily and may discover the imperfection of our Understandings even from the increase of Knowledge for every Degree added to it manifesteth a precedent Degree of Ignorance and that somewhat was still wanting to render our Knowledge compleat So difficult nay even impossible is it for Man to discover the Counsels of God in Relation to himself or to pass a Judgment on them He may easily perceive indeed whether any thing which pretends to carry that Sacred stamp be contrary to Sense and includeth a Contradiction and may thence certainly conclude it to be false and counterfeit but may not by any means be admitted to judge of the Conveniency or Inconveniency of the Divine Dispensations This is too high a Presumption and intrencheth upon the Majesty of God who being of infinite Wisdom knoweth always what is most convenient and knowing it doth effect it It is no hard matter to put plausible Colours upon this or that Model of Religion recommend it with abundant Arguments and pompously describe the Convenience of it But as the Apostle assureth us 1 Cor. III. 19. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God or in comparison of his greater and infinite Wisdom who seeth all things and their Tendency or Subservience to procure the end he designeth so that to be taught or commanded by him is the most certain Argument of convenience which can be proposed Not only doth the Excellency of the Christian Religion in general appear from this Argument the Reasonableness of the whole Design and Revelation of it in those Matters which are before objected against is no less manifest For first As to the Spirituality of it this is so far srom prejudicing the truth of it that if justly considered it ought rather to recommend it to the Reception of all considering Persons being the most express Character of Divinity which can be conferred on any System of Religion whatsoever as bearing thereby a greater resemblance to God the Author and Object of it This the Jews themselves did not deny only they pretended that this spiritual Worship opposed their own more gross and corporeal Worship which was acknowledged on both sides to have been revealed by God and defeated their hopes of a promised Messias whom they expected would deliver them from the Slavery of other Nations and by force of Arms settle them in a quiet and perpetual Possession of all temporal Happiness It seemed to them absurd that the glorious Messias should live an obscure despised and ignominious Life and at last die a shameful and a painful Death An Errour indeed into which the Genius of their Religion depending upon temporal Promises and Rewards did almost naturally lead them but which might easily have been discovered if they would have wisely considered either the Nature of God or Condition of Man From the first they might easily be convinced that a spiritual way of Worship was far more noble pleasing and agreeable to the Divine Nature And if their former Religion induced them to different Sentiments God had taken abundant Care to prevent their mistake by frequent foretelling to them in the Prophets his intention of changing their Religion dis-burthening them of the imposition of their Rites and Ceremonies and reâ—…ining it into a spiritual Worship by describing the Condition and Office of the Messias That he should be a man of sorrows acquainted with grief bear the sins of the people heal them by his stripes and be reckoned among the Transgressours Then as to the Nature of the thing it self it was no other than a childish Fancy to
of it to all Persons without Distinction the most learned as well as ignorant is no less apparent For however these Philosophers might please themselves with the false Opinion of a perfect Knowledge it is too notorious that their Pretences were vain and trifling They professed indeed a Science of Divine Matters but such as included only unuseful and oft-times absurd Notions which were as various as their several Sects and those as numerous as the Whimsies of ambitious Men and all derided by a powerful and learned Sect which denied any truth to be in things Or if any of them entertained right Notions of a Deity and Religion yet was it rather by way of Conjecture than Certainty which therefore had no influence upon their Lives nor afforded any other hopes of a future State than what were founded only on faint Wishes and uncertain Desires such as would never induce them to forego their Lives or any part of their temporal Happiness rather than renounce it or give them intire assurance of any Reward or Punishment in another Life If to pretend that Revelation is unnecessary and unuseful to them was frivolous and irrational in these Heathen Philosophers much more absurd was it to arraign the Christian Religion of its simplicity which fitted it for the Reception of all the members of Mankind not appropriating it to the Benefit of Philosophers only by proposing abstruse Contemplations and nice Subtilties beyond the ordinary reach of unlearned Persons This was the chief Reason why Christianity was by them accounted Folly as being hereby become the Portion of reputed Fools as well as the Science of those who flattered themselves with the Title of Wisdom And this is none of the least Reasons why we ought to esteem it the most excellent of all Religions and condemn the intolerable Pride and Superciliousness of such Men who either then did endeavour to engross the Knowledge of Divine Matters or now do true Belief and Salvation to themselves only Religion was intended by God to procure the Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind not of any Sect or Denomination of Men much less of a small inconsiderable Party who by appropriating to themselves the greatest Blessings of Heaven make themselves unworthy of the least of them Nothing therefore contributes so much to declare the Mercy of God or is so befitting the Holiness and Beneficence of his Nature as the generous Spirit of the Christian Religion which equally admitteth all Men and acknowledgeth no other distinction in Persons than what ariseth from their more or less perfect Obedience to the Law of God To this end it is admirably fitted by the Simplicity of it imposing no necessary Duties of Life and Conversation but what are commanded even by the Law of Nature and observing no other Sacraments or Ceremonies than what are easie and significant few and instructive And if this must be accounted a Prejudice against the Truth of Christianity to what a deplorable Condition hath the Reason of Mankind degenerated disliking Divine Truths because rational plain and obvious It hath indeed been a common mistake to despise all Doctrines recommended with these excellent Qualities and because lying level with the Capacity of the unlearned multitude and to pronounce them foolish as the Greek Philosophers in the Text accounted the Gospel to be Foolishness because of its Simplicity But this is such a Prejudice as nothing less than the most invincible Ignorance of the Nature of Truth and Religion can excuse A mistake however to which the corrupted Inclination of humaneNature is so prone that it hath not only affected the Greek Philosophers but also great numbers of Christians in all Ages who disdaining the Profession of a simple and easie Religion either added abstruse and sometimes incredible Articles to it or turned it into an artificial Science involved in the most perplex and intricate Subtilties or affected to propose and deliver it in an Enthusiastick stile in wild and undigested Conceptions It remains that I confider our Obligation notwithstanding all these Objections and the Scandals derived from them to believe and openly to profess the Faith of Christ. For however it be to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness we still preach Christ crucified and as it appears from what hath been said have Reason so to do being neither scandalized at the Contradiction and Opposition of the Jews and Gentiles nor deluded by the same Prejudices with them Which two Heads I will briefly speak to First then If the Christian Religion be to the Jews a Stumbling-block and to the Greeks Foolishness if a great part of the World continue not only in Ignorance of it but in Opposition to it if the Mysteries of it appear to some incredible and the manner proposing it ridiculous this ought not to scandalize us or induce us to believe the Truth of our Religion to be either less plain or less certain We all know Mankind to be subject to Errour and experience the weakness of humane Understanding We cannot be ignorant how prone all Men are to follow the direction of their Lusts and Passions and then if we consider that Christianity opposeth and restraineth these unruly Passions we shall cease to wonder at its Rejection and Contradiction God hath indeed set his revealed Truths in as clear a light as is sufficient for the Conviction of men but still leaveth our Will in its full Liberty to embrace or reject them that so he may leave place either for Reward of Belief or Punishment of the contrary Not that God requireth us to believe any thing incredible or extraordinary not that we merit any thing at the hands of God by being more credulous than the rest of Mankind or believing those things which other Men reject as foolish or monstrous Our Faith is no otherwise capable of a Reward than as it is just and rational as it is the result of the right Exercise of our Faculties and a Demonstration of readiness to obey the Will of God and acknowledge his Attributes of Veracity and Dominion over us It was therefore a strange Expression of an ancient Writer That the Mysteries of the Christian Faith are for that very reason certain credible and meritorious to be believed because they are foolish incredible and impossible that in this consists the merit of Christian confidence and that God therefore chose this way that he might as it were retaliate to Men the impudence of Idolatry in which they had voluntarily engaged themselves by the impudence of Faith which he imposed on them If things were so justly might Christianity be a Scandal to the Jews and Folly to the Greeks But blessed be God and blessed be that Holy Religion which we profess nothing is required of us to be believed but what is entirely Conformable to the Laws of Nature and Reason and which would be our Duty to assâ—…nt to although no Reward attended the Assent In the next place if we ought not to
by reflecting on it would perswade himself that his Interest is indeed engaged in it For it affects those very Passions which are wont to betray the Will of man to sin desire and fear and would men consider could not but be more prevalent than all other Objects which move those Passions since the Reward proposed is more desirable the Punishment denounced more to be feared than any other thing whatsoever This was the Argument which our Lord his forerunner John Baptiâ—…t and his Apostles employed to convert the World Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand the time now cometh when he will no longer wink at the Sins of Mankind when he will evidently declare his Resolution to punish impenitent Sinners and even exemplifie it in the terrible Destruction of the impenitent Nation of the Jews as he did shortly after The axe is now laid to the root of the tree and every tree which bringeth not foâ—…th good fruit shall be hewen down and cast into the fire These and such like Denunciations of the wrath of God to unrepenting Sinners drew multitudes of Men to a sense of and sorrow for their Sins not only the more devout Jews but also Soldiers and Publicans who confessing their Sins were then Baptized manifesting by that anciently received Emblem of Purity and Innocence their Resolution of sinning no more Even after a full Conviction formed of their Duty our Lord thought fit to propose this very Argument to his Disciples who had been long trained up in Obedience to him and were now entring upon the most difficult Point of Christianity the patient enduring of Persecution Affliction and even Death it self all which he foretold should befall them in that Mission which he then enjoyn'd them Yet to these Fears he opposeth as the greatest Remedy this Consideration only Fear not them which can kill the Body and after that can do no more but I will tell you whom you shall fear Fear him who can destroy both Body and Soul in Hell All other Motives of Interest all other Objects of fear or hope concern the Body only and terminate there But in the Matters of Religion the Reward to be desired the Punishment to be feared equally concern both Soul and Body the common Happiness or Misery of both which depends upon it The Reward you may slight perhaps as not desiring any greater Satisfaction than what you now enjoy but the Fear you cannot surmount that will still affect you For if you so much value the present ease of the Body the one part of you you cannot but be affrighted at the certain Expectation of the eternal Misery of both Soul and Body If this Consideration hath not that effect upon us which it had upon the Hearers of Christ John Baptist and the Apostles it is because the Expectation of this denounced Destruction far from being certain in us is eluded by vain Perswasions that Destruction may be avoided without Repentance We all believe the truth of the Divine Revelations prescribing Rules of Piety Justice and Temperance commanding Repentance upon neglect or violation of these Rules giving Sentence of dreadful Punishments upon Impenitence We all confess that we have violated those Rules we apply not the Remedy of Repentance and yet we hope to avoid the Punishment For did not Men really flatter themselves with those hopes it is impossible that the mind of Man convinced of the truth of such a future Punishment and conscious of its own Demerits should not immediately apply it self to prevent the Execution of that dreadful Sentence by a timely Repentance These false hopes and perswasions may be referred to a double Head either that of Presumption or that of Inadvertency That men through a fond Opinion of their own worth fancy God will exempt them from the general Sentence and from the necessity of Repentance or at least allow this and another and a third Sin to them or that they proceed in sin securely and with a sort of Stupidity never willingly considering the consequences of Punishment upon Sin and when they are suggested to them still putting them off and continuing to imagine that God will however save them though theyk now not why Both these sort of Prejudices are too common among all Christians and to both I shall oppose some general Considerations shewing it impossible that Goâ—… should not execute the Sentence of Destruction pronounced universally against all impenitent Sinners or in the words of my Text that it cannot be that Men should not repent and yet should not perish The necessity of Destruction consequent upon Unrepentance is drawn chiefly from the Determination of the Divine Will which hath so appointed it And the resolution of God herein is so frequently and fully expressed in Scripture that no doubt can be admitted of it Nay the holy Spirit of God seems to have taken particular care least men should be deceived herein by affixing vehement Asseverations to his Threats of Punishments As in Ezech. XVII 19. Thus saith the Lord God as I live surely my Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompense upon his own head And in the XXII Chapter having denounced to Sinners the extremity of his anger he subjoyns Verse 14. Can thy heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it So that those who promise Salvation to themselves without Repentance of past Sins or Reformation of Life must either pretend to new Lights and new Revelalations new terms of Covenant or disbelieve those contained in Scripture which are indeed the only true ones Yet I will not say dis-believe them For far be it from me to judge that of many Christians who do firmly indeed believe all the Revelations of that Sacred Writing and yet continue their hopes of Salvation without employing the means of it Only we must confess that believing them we do not regard them and when we do seriously reflect upon it must acknowledge that such vain hopes are inconsistent with those revealed Truths For I hope none of this Assembly have been deceived with the idle Pretences of inward Lights or unaccountable Revelations of Arbitrary Election for secret Reasons and absolute Reprobation for unknown Causes which Delusions when once entertained would render all Repentance useless We hold fast to the old form of Tradition delivered to the Saints pretend to no Revelations unknown to former Ages to know more of the Will of God than what our Lord or the Apostles have plainly delivered in Scripture We are content to go to Heaven the same way that all Saints have gone before us by the Exercise of Repentance and good Works Nor if there be any truth in those Sacred Writings is there any other way Yet we hear those Holy Scriptures daily read to us wherein we are commanded by Precepts we are allured by Promises we are terrified by Threats
fitted to receive the favour of God Other Sins there are which may consist with such a pious Habit of Soul as is required namely Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity The first sort arise from an Errour of the understanding when a Man offends against his Duty because he knows it not The second Spring from the disorder of the sensual Appetite as when a Man through a sudden fear or Passion is hurried on rashly to commit a Sin before he well considers what he doth before he hath time to reflect upon his Duty or to consider with himself what he should or should not do But a willful Sin or Sin of Presumption ariseth from a corruption of Will and proceeds upon deliberate Choice and advised Resolution I will illustrate all these by Examples St. Paul persecuted the Church of God not knowing it to be his Church although he was all the while ready to receive and obey the Truth as soon as it should be manifested to him This was a Sin of Ignorance for which he saith of himself that he received Mercy because he did it in unbelief If this Ignorance should be affected because Men will not inquire after Truth or will not attend to it the mis-carriages founded upon it cease to be Sins of Ignorance and become willful Sins Of sins of Infirmity St. Peter is a great Example who through a sudden fear of Death or Punishment was betrayed to deny his Master Although he had before fully resolved against it and as soon as the violence of his Fear was over and his Mind returned to the former Freedom as soon as he thought of it He wept bitterly Of willful Sins that of David against Uriah is an eminent Instance where the Sin of Adultery and Murder was after long Deliberation and a Contrivance of many days together at last put in Execution by him And for this it was that Nathan told him he had deserved to die this created to him that lasting and vehement Sorrow which we often find described in the Book of Psalms and this stuck as an indelible blot to his Memory when lesser offences were passed by And therefore it is said of them 1 King XV. 5. That David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing which he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite We read of many Sins of Infirmity which he committed but these were easily pardoned that stuck close to him and could not be wiped off but by a long and strict Repentance and patient enduring of terrible Calamities inflicted on him Other Sins alter not the Constitution of the Soul of Man and if a good Man should suddenly die even in the Commission of one of them we might still hope for Mercy but for a willful Sin no Mercy is to be expected till the habit of the Mind be intirely changed by Repentance This Distinction of Sins may instruct you in the necessary manner of forming your Repentance For Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity a general Repentance may suffice a hearty Sorrow for having offended God in Thought Word or Deed an humble Supplication of Pardon a sincere Resolution of endeavouring to avoid any such for the future But for every willful Sin a particular Repentance is required a sad reflection of the Mind upon it an earnest and continued Supplication for pardon of it a diligent strugling with the corrupt Inclinations of the Will a long Preparation of it by Prayer by Resolution by Meditation by all necessary Acts of Mortification which may intirely change the Bent and remove the Corruptions of it and subdue it to the Obedience of God Then and not till then may the willful Sinner presume of Pardon believe himself reconciled to God and to have escaped the Sentence of Destruction pronounced in the Text which God of his infinite Mercy Grant that by a true and perfect Repentance we may all avoid for the Sake c. The Twelfth SERMON PREACH'D April 21st 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Acts. X. 34 35. Then Peter opened his Mouth and said Of a Truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons But in every Nation he that feaâ—…eth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him THE Christian Religion being the ultimate ought also to be the most perfect Revelation of the Will of God And that it is so cannot better be discovered than from its most perfect agreement with the Divine Attributes and subservience to them The end of all Religion is first the Honour and Service of God and then the good of Men. The first is promoted by noble conceptions of God and his infinite perfections the latter is inhanced by the extent of it The primary attribute of God in relation to us is his Goverment of the World and the excellency of that consists in the Justice of it This Justice appears most conspicuously in the Universal diffusion of his Benefits in dispensing his Rewards as well as punishments impartially to all Orders and Ranks of Men in excluding none from his Favour but for Reasons common to them with all Mankind This all Men conceive to be a perfection in God and as such it must be an eternal Attribute of the Divine Nature although the influences and effects of it may be more manifest in some Ages and under some dispensations than in others As his Mercy his Goodness and his Power were from all Ages equal and uniform but more openly declared to the World by external Actions relating to us His Justice was always impartial and universal yet clouded in a great measure under the Mosaick Law while the Divine Mercies were in appearance appropriated to a small division of Mankind not clouded indeed directly and by necessary consequence but by reason of the fond Opinion of Men who from the peculiar Favours of God would take occasion to fancy him partial in their behalf and exclude the rest of the World from the participation of the same Happiness This the Jews in a most gross manner did who imagined themselves to be the only Members of Mankind for whom God had any care or respect fancied themselves dear to God not upon the common account of Piety and Obedience but for peculiar Reasons as their descent from Abraham their separation from the rest of the World by Circumcision and other Typical Rites Upon this account they Treated all other Persons as Prophane and Unclean allowed no share of the Divine Favour to them and believed them to be utterly unregarded by God in his Government of the World A prejudice which the Jews had so far imbibed that the Apostles retained it many years even after the descent of the Holy Ghost and would not receive the Gentiles to their Company or Conversation much less to the hopes and fellowship of the same blessed Calling until God by an extraordinary Vision and by the example of Cornelius taught St. Peter not to call any Man
hope by mortifying and changing our former vicious Course of Life into a new and Heavenly Life or by conceiving firm hopes and assurance of the Divine Promises concerning our own Resurrection by the Example of our Lords Resurrection The former manner indeed is purely Allegorical but an Allegory as well most natural in its self as most familiar to the Apostle who treats of it often and largely and inculcates it in almost all his Epistles As in the Chapter preceding my Text he tells the Colossians Col. II. 12 20. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also ye are risen with him and ye are dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the world Galat. II. 20. I am Crucified with Christ. Philip. III. 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his Death 2 Cor. IV. 10. Alwayâ—… bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body But more especially in the III. and IVth Chapters of 1 Pet. and Rom. VI. this Conformity between our Lord and us in dying and rising again is at large explained We were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life c. These Allegorical Conclusions were not the mere products of Fancy but the designs of the Divine Wisdom which so admirably contrived the Christian Religion that all the Actions of our Saviours Life tend no less to our Instruction than his Precepts and could not but have exceeding influence upon the Minds of Christians whose thoughts were then and ought now to be chiefly employed about our Saviours Resurrection They were excellently fitted to the Genius of the World at that time when both Heathen Philosophers and Jewish Doctors employed themselves almost wholly in Allegorical Explications of Natural or Divine Truths and were more particularly adapted to the Religion of the Jews and the Writings of the Old Testament concerning the Messias consisting in Types shadows and symbolical Representations of things to come And lastly least we should conceive any unreasonable prejudice against these Allegorical inferences besides that they are recommended by the Authority of the Divine Pen-man the present Allegory drawn from our Saviours Resurrection doth most excellently describe to us the Nature and Duties of our spiritual Regeneration as it will appear if we consider it more fully The design of the Christian Religion was to recover Mankind from his lost Condition free him from the Subjection of the Devil reform his Life and fit him for the Reception of those infinite Benefits which God had designed for him in another Life To this end a total Desertion of that corrupted state of Life wherein he was before engaged was absolutely necessary As well in the Nature of the thing it being wholly impossible that a vicious Soul should receive that Reward as by the Appointment of God who had determined not to grant the Reward on any other Condition And therefore our Saviour had assured his Followers That unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It was required that every one should relinquish all those temporal Enjoyments and Satisfactions which were contrary either to right Reason or the express Command of God and because the greatest part of Mankind placed the whole Satisfaction of their Life in these unlawful Enjoyments whoever renounced the use of them might well be said to die unto the world And this was it which all Christians were obliged to Promise at their Baptism solemnly to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and give themselves wholly to a new Life instituted by God which was excellently represented in the antient Form of Baptism to which the Apostle in all the places before mentioned referrs wherein the Person baptized was wholly immerged in the water so that the Immersion represented his Resolution of dying to the World and imitation of our Lord who was by Death taken from the World and then his Emersion presently following signified his entrance into a new state of Life and the Resurrection of our Saviour reviving and appearing after Death It is not sufficient therefore to mortifie one single Lust or to give up this or that sinful Affection in exchange for eternal Rewards and retain the rest This is not to die in imitation of our Saviour whose Soul was fully separated from his Body and continued in a separate state till the Resurrection He satisfied not himself to have endured Scourgings Reproaches and Buffettings he descended not from the Cross after he had endured most bitter Torments till he had completed his Sufferings by Death and laid down his Life as a Sacrifice to God which it could not be till it were destroyed It being the necessary Condition of all Sacrifices to be annihilated If then we be really baptized into his Death if we resolve to offer up our selves a Sacrifice to God we must yield up all our Pretences to the Pleasures of this World and enjoy no more of them than God permitteth to us we must absolutely free our selves from the Slavery of Sin and Satan and devote our selves intirely to the Divine Pleasure To die unto the World supposeth a full Conviction that the true Interest of a Christian is not placed on Earth and that his great Concern here is only to improve his short term of Life to the Acquisition of a more excellent and more durable Happiness hereafter From this perswasion it will easily follow that different Interests from this are not to be pursued in this Life which ought to be no other than a Preparation for a better And herein a Christian truly imitates the Death of his Lord and Saviour who best of all manifested that his Kingdom was not of this world by laying down his Life willingly that his Designs were far from founding an Empire and procuring to himself worldly Advantages when he submitted to undergo the Pains of Death Thereby teaching us that we are not truly Crucified with him until we as absolutely forsake all Desires and Inclinaons to our former sinful Life as if we were deprived of Life it self that we retain not the least Claim or Title to our former vicious Satisfactions but by a total relinquishing of them even put it out of our Power to recal and re-establish them In the next place if we view the dreadful Horrour and Anxiety under which our Saviour laboured while he bore the Sins of Mankind upon the Cross if we reflect on the Melancholy state of the Church his ignominious Condition and the Triumphs of the infernal Powers while he was detained in the Grave we may perceive the desperate and deplorable State of Man while yet detained in Sin labouring under the just Displeasure of an angry God
and not broke loose from the Chains and Dominion of the Devil The state of our Lord and his Church were indeed at that time in the highest confusion without any Consolation or apparent possibility of Recovery Yet much greater is the Misery of an unrepentant Sinner who suffers all this thro' his own Fault and until he be regenerate seeth no approaching Delivery From all these Calamities our Saviour and his Church were rescued by his glorious Resurrection And from all these Miseries is unhappy Man delivered by his Regeneration Our Lord by his Resurrection vindicated his Honour from the Blasphemies of Jews and Gentiles who had argued against his Divinity from the seeming Imperfections of his Sufferings overthrew the design of wicked Spirits endeavouring to defeat the Success of his Mission by the Ignominy of the Cross and delivered his Church from that Disgrace and Despair which it had by his Death incurred Such were the Benefits and Glories of this days Resurrection and no less are the Advantages of rising with Christ from Sin unto a new Life which removeth that Stain and Imperfection introduced into our Nature by Sin restores it to that primitive Glory which it obtained in the State of Innocence rescueth us from the Slavery of the Devil repairs the Honour and Integrity of our Souls and renders us infinitely Happy by making us Partakers of the Divine Favour For this was none of the least Arguments which inhanced the Glory os Christ's Resurrection that God by interposing in so extraordinary a manner in his behalf evidently manifested how dear he was unto him whom he would not leave in Hell in a state of Disgrace nor suffer to see corruption This raised him beyond the Degree of all mortal and corruptible Men and placed him in such an height of Glory as cannot be resembled by any thing but the Regeneration of a Christian wherein God interposeth by his Power not so visibly indeed but no less miraculously converting assisting and confirming him by his Grace without which this admirable Change cannot be effected A Change which however in an inferiour Degree declares the Power and the Love of God who produceth Habits of the most exalted Vertue in a Soul before overwhelmed with Sin and Wickedness For Resurrection denotes not only a Deliverance from the Calamities of Death and Corruption but also an enabling any one to renew an active Course of Life Our Lord was not barely content to rescue his Body from the Grave and the insults of his Enemies but he carried it with him triumphantly into Heaven and there sitting at the right hand of God employeth it in Conjunction with his Divine Nature to mediate continually the Redemption of Man If then we be risen with Christ we must manifest the truth of our Resurrection by vital Actions proper to a new and spiritual Life which are the Exercise of all spiritual Vertues and a strict Conformity to the Laws of that new Society with Heaven wherein we are engaged Farther a bare recovery of Life deserveth not the Title of a Resurrection for then the intermediate Death would have been of no advantage at least it reacheth not the illustrious Example of our Lord's Resurrection who after that was endued with a farr more glorious State than before his Death Before his Crucifixion he was subject to all the Infirmities of humane Nature Sin only excepted after his Resurrection exempted from them all-Before his Passion subject to change and decay after his Resurrection instated in an eternal and immutable Possession of Glory For as St. Paul amplifies this very matter Rom. VI. 9. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him His Life preceding and following his Resurrection were infinitely different that contemptible and mean this glorious and terrible that common with the rest of Mankind this exalted above all the Infirmities of humane Nature And this is the Reason why our Saviour conversed not openly among the Jews after his Resurrection as he had done before from that time a new and different State of Life was to commence never any more to be altered or relinquished Whence we are taught that to come up to the Resurrection of our Lord and Master and express it nearly in our Lives we ought to exceed what is required of us in a Natural State and improve our Obedience farther than was exacted of us in a State wherein no more than temporary Rewards were promised at least that after our Entrance into a new Life after our Profession of Christianity we walk invariably whereunto we have attained that we suffer not our selves to relapse into our former State which we relinquished bydying with Christ and deprive our selves of the Benefit of partaking in his Resurrection by a similitude in this Life which might otherwise secure to us a nearer imitation of him by a glorious Resurrection in the next Of this the Resurrection of our Lord giveth us the greatest assurance Without that signal Confirmation of the truth of the Divine Promises Men would have been prone to dis-believe them It seemed a matter incredible both to Jews and Gentiles that God should after many Ages recollect the scattered parts of a dead Body and reuniting them into their former Frame once more animate them with a living Soul This to some seemed impossible to others improbable But both were refuted by the Example of our Lord's Resurrection which was to that purpose always urged by the Apostles in their Preaching and is employed by St. Paul as the chief Argument against the incredulity of the Corinthians in the 1 Epist. XV. Chapter God had promised as well to raise up Mankind at the last day as to raise up his Son on the Third day and the certain Completion of this latter Promise secured the Belief of the former there being no more effectual Argument to perswade Men to rely upon the Promise of future Benefits than to demonstrate to them how all preceding Promises were infallibly performed And thus in some sense all Mankind may be said to rise with Christ inasmuch as Christ being risen from the dead is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. XV. 20. That as the whole Mass is sanctified by the Dedication of the first Fruits so all Mankind received an earnest of the Divine Promises concerning their Resurrection in the Person of Christ. But then in a more particular and proper manner all faithful Christians may be said to rise with Christ. There is a Resurrection to Death as well as Life a terrible as well as a desireable Resurrection To rise therefore with Christ is the happy Resurrection and That as St. Peter tells us 1 Epist. I. 4. is to rise to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us That this will be the Reward of all good and pious Christians the Resurrection of their Lord and Master is sufficient assurance to them To such Christ is a Head