mind or conscience as was the case of the better sort of Heathens or by the Law of Moses as the Jews were in our Saviours time Or lastly by the benefit of a Christian education as the state of those among our selves is who come to examine the truth of the Gospel and to enquire more nearly into the sense of it Suppose we a man already instructed by any of these means in the fundamental rules of practice desirous of further knowledge and satisfaction in the doctrine of the Gospel he must be careful to live up to those principles he is already instructed in resolving also to submit obediently to whatsoever else upon his further enquiry he shall find to be his duty Such a man thus prepared by doing his duty and thus resolved to do the will of God as far as it shall be made known to him such a one is the person to whom this promise of our Savior doth belong If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self I proceed to the second thing propounded to shew the certainty of success to those that seek for knowledge with this preparation and here it will not be amiss to consider briefly in what sense this promise is to be understood before we undertake to prove the certainty of it We are to observe therefore that this promise of our Saviour is not to be understood so universally as though no man who was sincerely resolved to obey God shall fall into any kind of errours in matters of Religion For this is contradicted by the constant experience of all Ages for it would be very uncharitable to suppose that among most of the dissenting parties in Religion who maintain great controversies with one another there should not be some persons truly devout and sincere on both sides We are not therefore to suppose that a man truly religious shall not err at all but that he shall not be led into such errors as are dangerous to or inconsistent with his salvation And indeed the promise in this place is not set down in so general terms as that they should seem to require any larger interpretation than this I am speaking of If any man will do his will saith our Saviour he shall know of the doctrine I now beliver to you whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Which cannot reasonably be extended beyond these two things 1. He shall receive satisfaction concerning the truth of Christian Religion in general that it is a doctrine truly divine and heavenly and that the author of it came from God and delivered his mind and will 2. He that will do the will of God shall be satisfied also concerning those particular truths which are indispensably necessary for him to know in order to his salvation These two things will be the undoubted effects of a religious frame of mind of a sincere resolution to do the will of God and will certainly be made good to all who seek for knowledge with that preparation and this we have great reason to be assured of whether we consider 1. The natural influence that a religious temper of mind hath upon the understanding to make it fit for the reception of divine truth 2. The peculiar blessing and assistance of Gods good spirit which always accompanies a truly religious man to guide him into all truth which is necessary for him I will begin with the former and shall endeavour to shew that the practice of religious Duties hath a natural efficacy upon the mind to clear its discerning faculties to make it capable of understanding and giving a full assent to the doctrine of the Gospel And this I shall make appear by instancing in some particular duties which are of a natural obligation which no man can be ignorant of each of which singly considered hath a very immediate influence upon the understanding to make it capable of divine knowledge In consideration of which it will also appear that the contrary vices to these are the onely causes of dangerous and damnable errors The Duties I shall particularly insist on are these 1. Simplicity of mind without prejudice 2. Purity of heart and affections 3. Humility 4. Calmness of Temper 5. Prayer to God These are all Duties of a natural obligation and therefore he that comes to examin the truth of the Gospel cannot be presumed ignorant of nor unwilling to practise them if he seek for knowledge with that preparation I have been speaking of 1. He that examines the doctrine of the Gospel with this intention to satisfie his conscience concerning those things that are necessary for him to believe and do resolving by Gods grace to do the will of God as far as it shal be made known to him such a one will bring with him an honest simplicity of mind not biassed by prejudice or preconceived opinions such a one will consider with himself that the truth of things doth not depend upon his own fancy or petty reasonings that a strong imagination cannot make those things Articles of Faith which God hath not revealed and therefore he will bring with him no preconceived opinion which he will not be ready to lay aside upon sufficient evidence to the contrary he will not endeavour to distort and wrest the plain words of Scripture to that sense of things which he formerly had but will readily yield up all his former notions to the authority of divine revelation That we are naturally obliged to this simplicity of judgment in all enquiries after truth is evident because in all manner of disputes this is one of the first things we challenge from our Adversary as our undoubted right that he would hear what we have to say without prejudice and therefore we also ought to bring with us to a religious debate the same free and unprejudiced minds which we expect from others And indeed this temper of mind is highly necessary and very advantageous to prepare us for the reception of truth For certainly the power of prejudice is very great to darken mens minds and to mould them into such apprehensions as are most suitable to it And therefore it is easie to observe how men who are engaged in a Party and prepossessed with the distinguishing opinions of their Sect easily find ways to pervert the plainest places of Scripture to their own sense to make it agree with the Analogy of their Faith that is of their darling Notions When I speak of laying aside prejudice in the search after divine truth I do not understand that we must call in question all kind of preconceptions we have had concerning religious matters Some things there are in Religion of so great certainty and evidence that though an Angel from Heaven should teach us otherwise we ought not to receive him Such are those preconceptions we have concerning the Being and Attributes of God that he is most wise just powerful faithful
their endeavours in that affair may justly be esteemed a common enemy to mankind Now I do not understand any way whereby men do more directly undermine the Authority of our holy Faith and hinder the enlargement of it than by defaming the persons to whom the delivery of the Sacred Oracles and the Ministry of Reconciliation is intrusted For though it be a very unsafe and unreasonable way of arguing for any man to disbelieve the truth of Christian Religion and to neglect the practice of it because this or that particular man in Holy Orders is unfaithful to his own soul and lives not up to the purity and perfection which he preacheth to others yet certainly it is an argument which doth extremely prevail in the World and is equally dangerous whether it be grounded on the real or but supposed faults of men whose Office it is to instruct or persuade others to the practice of holiness For to him who believes a false report of his spiritual Guide the occasion of Scandal is as effectual as though the report were true and the censure just and then who can persuade himself that the man who raised the false accusation is not as injurious to the Church as the man whose life is really scandalous What hath been said of the ill effect that redounds to the Publick from the uncharitable censurings of men of this publick capacity will in proportion hold concerning the rash judgments we make of private persons according to the several degrees wherein they may be useful either in the Church or Commonwealth 2. I proceed to a second instance of the ill effects which redound to the publick by our uncharitable judging one another namely that our rash and censorious practice towards others provokes the like usage from them towards our selves and thence arises those many feuds and animosities mutual revilings and bitter envyings so visible among men of all conditions and a feud thus begun commonly spreads it self and all our friends and correspondents are soon made partners in the quarrel and how hard it is to lay aside or allay those animosities which have been thus begun every mans experience may convince him Now I need not use any arguments to shew that divisions and animosities among men are of very dangerous consequence to the publick Society where they live it being a truth attested by the common consent of Mankind and by the experience of all Ages so that we must needs conclude that whatever practices tend to the begetting and increase of strife and contention are very hurtful to the Publick Nor do I know any practice that doth more effectually tend that way than this of uncharitable judging and censuring other men How much the greater the end and design of any Society is so much more dangerous and hurtful those practices are to be esteemed which cause divisions in it The Church of God therefore being a Society whose happiness is not terminated in the temporal peace and tranquillity of this life we must needs conclude that those uncharitable censures which cause divisions among Christians receive from hence a mighty aggravation in that they do not onely hinder their present peace and tranquillity but endanger their falling short of that eternal salvation which is promised to none that do not follow after peace and holiness And from this consideration that we are all members of the Church of Christ I cannot but add a third ill effect which this uncharitable practice of judging and censuring one another brings to the Publick 3. Viz. That it brings reproach upon our Christian Profession and upon that Holy Name whereby we are called For suppose a Jew or a Pagan should peruse the writings of the holy Evangelists and Apostles and should read there the many precepts which require of us the greatest degree of meekness and humility in our opinions and judgments of other men should they read S. Pauls description of Christian Charity that it thinketh no evil that it believeth all things and hopeth all things did they consider the many arguments the Gospel uses to enforce the duty and great reward undispensably depending upon our practice and lastly the example of our Saviour himself who in his conversation among men was the greatest enemy to all uncharitable judgment of others but did himself exercise the greatest candor towards all men scarce ever passing a severe censure upon any but that proud censorious Sect of the Pharisees who made themselves judges of all others should they then descend to compare the practice of Christians with that excellent rule they pretend to and with the example of their Lord and Saviour and see how vast the disproportion is between our Practice and Profession they would easily persuade themselves that the generality of Christians did not seriously believe the Doctrine they vaunt of nor own the authority of their Saviour in giving Laws for the Government of their lives nor expect the accomplishment of those things which he hath foretold They will find it very hard to reconcile how the belief of those things can consist with many uncharitable practices unjust reproaches and mutual enmities which the profest Disciples of the blessed Jesus are so easily tempted to Thus besides the injury we do to particular persons and to the publick Society whereof we should be feeling members we cast a stumbling block in the way of those who might be won over to our most holy Profession did they not see the Professors of it so manifestly contradict in their lives and practices what they plead for with so much zeal and affection I proceed to the third thing propounded to shew the particular force of the argument here used to dissuade from uncharitable judging one another Because the Lord cometh And this will appear 1. From the consideration of his infinite knowledge if compared with our great inability to judge aright This branch of the argument is particularly urged by our Apostle in the words following my Text Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden works and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God The good and evil of what men do cannot be determined barely from outward appearances which onely are exposed to the knowledge of men Many actions may proceed from an heart truly pious and devout which may be acceptable to God that knows the heart which yet as to men may be liable to suspicion and mistake On the other side the outward actions of hypocrites may appear to men as instances of great piety and devotion when to God they are an abomination Now should we use the utmost of our discretion in these cases we could have no sufficient ground to judge rightly of these men or their actions So many are the secret windings and private retirements of the heart of man so various his thoughts and intentions and so numerous his pretences to disguise his actions that it
allowing those that differ from them any probable hopes of salvation He that considers this must necessarily suppose one of these two things Either that the way of obtaining the knowledge of divine truth is not sufficiently plain and certain so that all that use a due diligence in the search after it may reasonably hope to obtain it Or secondly that the generality of Christians that maintain so wide differences about matters of Religion do not seek for knowledge after a right manner The former of these viz. that the way of salvation is not sufficiently plain and that all who use a due diligence in the search of it may not reasonably hope to find it this cannot be granted without injury and affront to the divine goodness and justice For since the eternal welfare of all Christians doth depend upon their due performance of the condition of Christianity and this cannot be performed without a competent knowledge of those things that are revealed in the Gospel if these things were so dark and obscure that even the plainest Christian might not attain to as great a degree of knowledge as is necessary for him it would then follow that God had not taken sufficient care of his people to make the way of salvation known to them and withall that he dealt very hardly and unmercifully with the greatest part of them in excluding them from the means of knowledge when yet he hath annexed so great a penalty to the want of it as their falling short of that eternal inheritance to which they are called in the Gospel The true reason therefore why so many enquirers after knowledge do miscarry in their design and are led away into strange and dangerous opinions is not because the knowledge of the truth is so hard to be obtained but because there are but few that apply themselves to the search of it after a due manner It cannot therefore but seem necessary that while we all pretend to seek after knowledge and to desire to be informed in those important truths revealed in the Gospel that we first of all endeavour to satisfie our selves concerning the true way and method by which the knowledge we seek after is to be obtained and this our Saviour hath directed us to in these words If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self In the fore-going Verses of this Chapter we read that there was great murmuring among the people concerning our Saviour who about that time begun to shew himself to Israel and there was great variety of opinions concerning him Some said he is a good man others said nay but he deceiveth the people Now to decide this controversie concerning himself and the doctrine he taught he gives them this plain direction if any man will do his will intimating thereby that they who thus disputed concerning him had not that true frame of mind that was fit for his reception that they were not willing to obey God whatever they pretended and therefore that it was in vain for them to be so inquisitive about him For to what purpose should they look for further revelations and instructions from God when they refused obedience to that doctrine they had already received and which they knew to be divine For to this purpose he upbraids them v. 19. Did not Moses give you the Law and yet none of you keepeth the Law So then had the Jews been obedient observers of the Law as they pretended great admiration of it they could not have found so many difficulties in their owning our Saviour for the true Messias they would then easily have understood that he came from God and that the doctrine he taught was truly divine and heavenly and that he did not endeavour to destroy the Law and the Prophets as they were wont to object against him but that he did eminently and exactly fulfil them But not to insist on this strict connexion of the words with the foregoing and following Verses I shall now consider them not as having any peculiar respect to the Jews but as they are a general rule for all enquirers after divine truth If any man whosoever he be Jew or Gentile will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self In handling of these words I shall first endeavour to explain the nature of the condition which our Saviour here requires in order to the search of divine truth 2. I shall shew the certainty of success to all such as seek for knowledge after this manner here required 1. For the condition it self If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self This condition implies in it these four things 1. A previous sense of the divine Soveraignty over us and our obligation to do whatsover God commands This belief of the Supreme Authority of God is antecedently necessary to all enquiries after divine truth For he that would be satisfied concerning the truth of any particular kind of Religion must in the first place suppose that some religious worship is due from men to God and this is of so natural an evidence and obligation that there neither is nor hath been any Nation of the World wherein they have not had a sense of the Being of God and of his supreme right to give Laws to Mankind and that our well-being and happiness doth depend upon our doing those things which are well-pleasing to him and therefore we find that how far soever the Nations of the World had erred concerning the Nature of God oft-times attributing to him those unworthy passions and practices which a wise man would be ashamed of yet still they thought it necessary to find out some way of expressing their homage to him And though the ways of Worship devised by the Heathens were commonly very absurd and ridiculous yet thus much is abundantly evident from their practice that they owned an obligation to a religious worship of God and had a sense of his soveraignty and right to govern them and to dispose of them as he pleaseth And this sense of his divine Soveraignty is necessarily supposed in this condition If any man will do his will For no man can intend to do the will of God who is not before persuaded that he ought to do it whensoever it is made known to him 2. This condition if any man will do his will implies or presupposes a serious desire to know the will of God in order to practice and a diligent use of those means of instruction which God hath afforded us as viz. a search of the Scripture a sober use of our Reason in the examination of it a diligent attendance on those spiritual Guides which God hath set over us for our instruction in the way of righteousness and prayer to God for the guidance and assistance of
clear right on his side than any man can now pretend to but was entertained with the greatest contradiction of sinners that can be imagined and if any injury might justly provoke our rage and passion those offered to our Saviour were of the most hainous and provoking nature but yet when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not he rendered not evil for evil nor railing for railing but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously And now can any man pretend to own the obligation of our Saviours precepts and example and yet contend for the truth of his doctrine with so much bitterness and virulency of speech towards their dissenting brethren as some of our zealous Disputants do in these days S. Jude tells us that Michael the Archangel when he contended with the Devil he durst not bring against him a railing accusation and how then can we presume to do it in our Religious debates with our Christian brethren who for ought we know notwithstanding our misconceptions of them may be in truth the children of God though fallen into errour In a word to conclude this particular he that would learn must be willing to be contradicted and hear with patience what may be said be it never so opposite to his former notions or to his present wishes Otherwise he will be hardly capable to judge aright Again he that would instruct and convince others must do it also with calmness of spirit confuting errour with all the clearness and perspicuity he is able but sparing the persons he endeavours to reform For if by reproach and contumely he provoke their passion whom he should instruct he destroys the force of all his reasoning by discomposing those faculties which should judge of it 5. The fifth point of duty which I proposed to speak of as having great influence upon our understanding and receiving the Gospel is Prayer to God This is a duty of natural obligation as may appear by the many precepts of ancient Philosophers concerning it Pythagoras in particular advises to undertake no work to endeavour nothing without imploring the divine assistance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This he subjoins to many other precepts of Vertue as the complement and perfection of them And surely if the imploring the divine assistance is necessary in all our concerns it is principally to be regarded in our search of divine Truth For to whom shoud we seek for knowledg but to him who is the Fountain of Truth the Father of Lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes And the same Philosopher immediately after his precepts of Vertue and his direction to pray to God to bless and perfect our endeavours he adds this as the first and principal benefit that would redound to us thereby that we should by so doing gain the knowledge both of the divine and humane nature which is not much different from what I have hitherto endeavoured to prove viz. that the practice of Vertue hath in it self a natural efficacy to clear the understanding and make it capable of divine knowledge and surely if Philosophers by the force of natural principles understood the necessity we had of the divine assistance in all our endeavours and that Prayer was the means by which it was to be sought we who have received better means of instruction than they had cannot be ignorant of this point of duty especially the doctrine of the Gospel being so full of precepts of this kind requiring us to pray to God in all our exigencies and assuring us of success by so doing if we be not wanting to our selves Thus particularly Luke xi 9. our Saviour advises us Ask and it shall be given you And then follows v. 13. If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him And S. James yet more nearly to our present purpose directs us to make our humble addresses to God in order to the attainment of divine knowledge James 1. 5. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men plenteously and upbraideth not and it shall be given him I have thus far insisted on some particular duties each of which singly considered hath a very great efficacy to enable us to understand those truths which are revealed in the Gospel and to make us capable of satisfaction concerning them From whence the inference will be easie and obvious that if the practice of each of these be very useful and beneficial to us in our search after knowledge then surely where these are all united they cannot ordinarily fail of their desired effect But yet we are to consider further That the condition which our Saviour here requires is not compleated in our observance of those particular duties above-mentioned but in an universal and impartial obedience to the Will of God as far as it is already known to us and in a sincere resolution to obey him in all further revelations of his Will which upon perusal of the Gospel we shall find to be our duty And a man thus qualified besides the natural efficacy of Vertue to make him fit for receiving the Gospel hath moreover a peculiar promise of the divine blessing and assistance to enlighten his mind and to guide him into all necessary truth And this is the second account upon which we may be assured of the truth of our Saviours proposition If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self God who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth will not be wanting to any who seek for truth with a sincere resolution to submit to it especially to those who have already exercised themselves in doing his will according to their knowledge he will not fail to afford such further means of instruction as is necessary for them according to what our Saviour saith in the parable of the Talents Mat. xxv 29. Vnto every man that hath that is who maketh a due use of what he hath to him shall be given and he shall have abundance Every one who sincerely endeavours to live up to that measure of knowledge he hath God will give to him such further degrees of knowledge as shall be suitable and necessary for him and of this we have a great signal example in Cornelius the good Centurion Acts 10. whose Prayers and Alms while he was a stranger to Christs Religion were so far accepted by God that he was pleased miraculously to direct him to Peter for further instruction what he ought to do Now although we are not to expect that all sincere Enquirers after Truth shall be thus miraculously instructed as Cornelius was yet God hath given us abundant assurance that no such person shall miscarry for want of necessary knowledge For to this end God hath given his Holy
joy which it affords us in this spiritual Race which infinitely over-ballances all the false pleasures we forsake and all the difficulties we undergo in undertaking this enterprize And lastly I might put you in mind of the great danger reproach and confusion of face which will certainly attend us if by our negligence and indifference we fall short of this glorious prize all which arguments ought to have a mighty influence upon us to awake and excite our utmost industry and vigour to promote our vigilance and to confirm strengthen and maintain our courage constancy and resolution to go on stedfastly in the ways of holiness and to run with patience the Race set before us But the prosecution of these and the like arguments would be too large a scope for the time allotted to this exercise and the words of the Text confine my thoughts to a more particular consideration of the example of the Saints Martyrs and holy Confessors who have gone before us in this glorious Race and have already finished their course with patience Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight c. The word Martyr or Witness in an Ecclesiastical sense is usually restrained to such onely who have laid down their lives in testimony of the truth of the Gospel but in the language of holy Scripture I find no such limitation of it Any of these who were either great examples of obedience and faith in God any who bare witness to divine truth though they were not called to suffer death for that testimony being indifferently stiled by that name The Fathers mentioned in the former Chapter cannot all be accounted Martyrs in the stricter sense however they all help to make up the number which by reason of the multitude of them is here called a Cloud of Witnesses Now the force of their witness and example to engage us in a like diligence and constancy in running the Race set before us I shall endeavour to represent in these following particulars 1. They were witnesses of the truth and faithfulness and goodness of God in whom we believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him and therefore that our labour and industry in our Christian Race shall not be in vain I mention this truth more particularly because it seems to be the onely Creed which all the Saints recited in the former Chapter agreed in Some of them 't is true had a great prospect and hope of a Messias to come Abraham rejoiced to see his day Jacobs prophecy of him is very punctual and particular The other Prophets give witness to him But yet it appears not that all there mentioned had any knowledge at all either that he was to come or what he should do or suffer for the World And therefore the Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter lays down that viz. That God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him as the fundamental Article of their Belief in confidence of which they willingly underwent so many Trials and Temptations with such bravery and undaunted resolution If therefore we look upon these men onely as giving testimony to this truth yet this alone is sufficient reason for our imitation of them and doth justifie the wisdom of our choice in being religious and serving the same God on whom they believed and forsaking all in obedience to him as they did before us Since we have the same convictions of Reason that they had that our God whom we serve is a Rewarder of those that put their trust in him and are further confirmed in our belief of this by their patience and constancy in the same Profession and by their chearful suffering Persecution for it By their suffering we have this satisfaction at least that we are not singular in this our persuasion concerning God and that he hath not been without his Witnesses in all Ages who have laid down their lives in this Faith and Assurance and therefore we ought to be stedfast in it without wavering Now if any should object that the numbers of those who have died in this Faith though they are here called a Cloud of Witnesses are yet but a very few in comparison of those who have lived without God in the World and have despised and rejected all hopes of a future reward To this it is easie to reply that the credit of any testimony doth not depend on the number and noise of those that affirm any thing but from the manner of the evidence they give Now a few men who give sufficient proof that they understand perfectly what they say and do and would not deceive others are more to be valued as Witnesses than ten thousand of the ruder multitude who take up reports upon trust and if you come to examine them they shrink into nothing They said something they know not what but know not whence they had it nor why they said it The case is the same in matters of religion those that have been truly pious and religious have in all Ages been men of the clearest and best understandings that have always been able to give a reason of their Hope that was in them and to satisfie the World that they did not pretend this for any temporal advantage they did deliberately and chearfully expose themselves to the most severe Trials and Persecutions for their testimony of it not accepting deliverance as the Apostle speaketh that they might obtain a better resurrection This was the case of those Heroick Spirits recited in the foregoing Chapter They were men of found mind as appears by the glorious things they did and suffered many of which are at large recorded in sacred Story They knew the value of life as well as others they were sensible of disgrace and pain and want and could have no reason to expose themselves to these things without a mighty evidence and conviction of the truth of what they believed concerning God of the greatness of his Power that he was able to reward them after this life of the greatness of his Wisdom that he knew when and how to do it better than they could choose of the Justice of his Providence that he would certainly do it But then on the contrary for those that have rejected this belief or at least have not lived answerably to it it is plain that much the greatest part of them are onely a rash inconsiderate multitude of no understanding in these matters who never took time to think whether Religion had any real foundation in Nature or Reason or not and therefore these are not competent Judges in the case and not to be regarded as Witnesses For those others who have lived wickedly and have yet had some reason to consider of the grounds and obligations of a religious course of life it is plain that these are most of them self-condemned and act against the conviction of their
offered us in the least degree answerable to those contumelious usages which the HOLY JESUS was exposed to Are any of our calamities comparable to those bitter pains which he endured upon the Cross Or is there any sorrow can so deeply affect our soul as that unconceivable anguish of his did which made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me but yet notwithstanding the infinite weight of his afflictions the piercing violence of his pain we find not the least syllable of complaint proceed from him against this proceeding of his Father towards him no word of reproach or resentment against his most barbarous and implacable Enemies Let us therefore look unto JESUS under these circumstances and then we cannot but be sensible how ill it becomes us who pretend to be his Disciples and call our selves by his name to be so angry and impatient under those light afflictions we are called to 2. Our Saviours Sufferings have this farther influence to engage us in imitation of his Patience because the perfect innocency of his life had merited none of those things He knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth He was holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners And therefore might justly have claimed exemption from those miseries he under-went and have withdrawn his shoulders from bearing the heavy burden which it pleased his Father to lay on him If he therefore when he might have avoided those calamities that befel him when he could have called for more than twelve Legions of Angels to rescue him from his danger chose rather to submit to all those indignities he foresaw would be heaped upon him in obedience to his heavenly Father how much rather ought we without repining quietly to sit down under the afflicting hand of God we who can suffer nothing in this World so grievous which we have not deserved we whose sins do every day provoke Gods indignation against us What rational Plea can we have why God should not use the most severe chastisements upon us And certainly if God spared not his own Son but gave him up to those calamities he had not deserved we have all the reason in the World to submit to him notwithstanding any trouble he brings upon us and to take up the confession of the penitent Thief upon the Cross We indeed suffer justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds but the HOLY JESUS had done nothing amiss 3. A further Argument which the consideration of our Saviours Sufferings suggests to us to engage us to a like patient submission to the will of God may be taken from the end and design of his Sufferings which was the greatest design of goodness and love to us that could be undertaken and therefore ought to engage us to a suitable return of obedience and love to him though it were to die for his sake as he did for ours and to suffer the most severe Trials that it shall please him to appoint us to undergo When all mankind like Sheep had gone astray when they had all sinned and come short of the glory of God and made themselves liable to the utmost severity of his anger and justice when we were dead in trespasses and sins and were in no capacity to help our selves or contrive our own recovery then it pleased the Son of God out of his tender compassion and inimitable love to mankind to come down from heaven the habitation of Glory to take upon him our flesh to submit to all the miseries and sorrows of humane life and lastly to suffer the most painful and ignominious death of the Cross to redeem us from the bondage and dominion of sin and from the dreadful effects of it and to make us capable of life and salvation Blessed Lord what was man that thou shouldst be so mindful of him what is the Son of man that thou shouldst so regard him as to debase thy self in such a manner and to submit to all the vilest indignities and most unsupportable pains to rescue him from that misery which by his own wilful and unreasonable choice he had brought upon himself O the inestimable riches of love which the HOLY JESUS expressed towards us in these his sufferings and now what shall we render for all his goodness is there any thing which we can be unwilling to do for the sake of him who hath done and suffered so much for us We see then that the obligation of our Saviours example to engage us to follow him in the patient suffering those calamities that befal us is very plain and evident because his Sufferings were undertaken for our sake and benefit and he requires this testimony of our love and gratitude for so unspeakable mercy towards us that we also should take up our Cross chearfully and follow him wheresoever we are called to it 4. The consideration of our Saviours Sufferings and Death are a further Argument to a like Patience under and submission to the will of God because they are a strong evidence of that future reward that is prepared for those who continue faithful to the end and run with patience the Christian Race set before them Our Saviour while he was yet alive promised many Blessings and Rewards to his Disciples and Followers most of which were to have their accomplishment in another life in the mean time he foretold them that in this World they should have tribulation and that they must be always ready to forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters yea and their own lives also if they would be his Disciples However that there was a certain reward laid up for them in Heaven which they should not fail to partake of if they continued stedfast in this Faith and finished their course with patience Now our Saviour could give no greater evidence of the truth of those promises he made to them and of the sincerity of his intentions in pressing this duty of Patience under Sufferings than that he himself was willing to go before them in this so painful and laborious an enterprize and to endure the worst of those evils which he foretold should befal them in prospect of the joy set before him which he promised they should partake of Had he not undoubted assurance of the truth of those things he spake to his Disciples he would not doubtless have exposed himself to so many hazards for affirming them but the assurance he had was strong and convincing such as he knew he could not be mistaken in And therefore in John xvij 2. he speaks of his own power which he was to receive upon account of his sufferings with the same assurance as though it had been already accomplished Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him This our Saviour spake before his Passion which argued a mighty confidence he had that he should receive this reward of his humiliation and
conclusion and could such an Argumentation deceive we could have little encouragement to believe any thing upon the testimony of our Faculties Again If this were the effect of some early revelation made to men when they were yet few in number and retained in the dispersion of Nations and still preserved notwithstanding the gross ignorance they fell into as to other matters This must be a great evidence of the clearness and evidence of that revelation at first and must consequently much confirm us in the belief of it And indeed it is not improbable that the rational Evidences of this Truth of a Judgment to come might have been confirmed to the first Ages of the World by some divine revelations which were communicated to all and thence derived and propagated through all the several Religions and Superstitions which afterward were entertained by the Heathen World It is not to be doubted but that Noah understood this Truth and would not fail to instruct his Family which were all humane souls that were left alive in so necessary a matter which might have so great influence upon them to keep them in obedience to God who had so lately delivered them from so universal a destruction Nay there is still extant the remainder of a Prophecy concerning a Judgment to come much ancienter than the Flood This we find cited by Saint Jude 14. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And this leads me to the last and most undeniable evidence of this truth 4. The particular revelation of it in holy Scripture but the testimonies of this Truth that there is a Judgment to come are so frequent in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles that it were altogether needless to recite them to you Every one that hath heard of the Gospel must understand that is one chief Article of our Christian Profession Nothing more plainly revealed nothing more frequently inculcated than that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ I proceed therefore to the second thing proposed The Method of proceeding at that day Every one shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad That the good or evil of mens actions in this life is the rule and measure according to which they shall be judged at the great day that they who have done good shall receive the good they have done and they who have done evil shall receive according to that likewise is a Truth so fully and plainly taught in holy Scripture that one would think men could not easily mistake or deceive themselves in this matter For 1. It is very plain that no other way of proceeding can be agreeable to the Purity and Justice of the Divine Nature The righteous God loveth righteousness and his countenance will behold the the thing that is just and he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity The righteous therefore and they onely can be capable of reward from him when he cometh to judge the Earth and the wicked and unrighteous and they only must be the objects of his wrath and vengeance To do otherwise than so and to invert this method would be a contradiction to all the divine Attributes and to all the Methods whereby God hath made himself known to the Sons of men And therefore the Author of the Book of Wisdom saith thus to the Almighty Wisd xij 15. For as much as thou art righteous thy self thou orderest all things righteously thinking it not agreeable to thy power to condemn him who hath not deserved to be punished To which we may also add That it is not agreeable to his Purity and Justice to reward the unrighteous and disobedient And therefore we may observe That in all the methods of Gods dealings with the Sons of men he hath all along declared the greatest abhorrence of sin and wickedness and the greatest severity against those that continued in the commission of it It was Sin onely that brought Misery and Death into the World For by one mans disobedience sin entered into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned And when God was pleased out of his infinite mercy and compassion to contrive the way of our recovery and to send his Son into the World for our Redemption he would not admit us to terms of Peace and Reconciliation without the greatest demonstration of his justice and severity against sin and that in the Sufferings of his onely begotten Son For he was made sin for us who know no sin he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities by his stripes we are healed Now we are not to persuade our selves that our Saviours sufferings in our stead can be available to us or free us from the punishment of our sins while we continue in them For he bare our sins in his own body on the tree for no other end but that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness that so being saved from our sins here we might be saved from the Wages of them hereafter And therefore Saint Paul tells us that the grace of God hath appeared to all men to bring salvation no otherwise than by teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously soberly and godly in this present World Thus if we consider the nature of God and his dealings with Mankind we cannot but expect that when he cometh to judge the World he will judge according to righteousness They who have done good shall be rewarded by him and they who have done evil shall receive a due recompence of their evil deeds 2. This is further evident from the several promises and threatnings in Scripture which are all along made use of as Arguments to persuade us to the practice of righteousness and true holiness and to discourage and dissuade us from sin and wickedness which it were in vain to do if the promises of the Gospel can be due to any but upon condition of their obedience or if the Wrath to come could be avoided any otherwise than by forsaking those sins to which it is threatned Thus Saint Paul argues from the promises of the Gospel 2 Cor. vij 1. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Thus again S. Peter i. 4. tells That by the Gospel there are given unto us great and pretious promises that by these ye may be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through Lust and besides this giving all
diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you effectually into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now these and the like Exhortations would be of no force at all to persuade us if these promises could be attained without the performance of these conditions In a word in all the descriptions of a Judgment to come there is nothing plainer than this that I now plead for that God will reward every one according to what he hath done I shall mention but two places more Rom. ij 6. God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentiles For there is no respect of persons with God The other place is Mat. xxv where our Saviour having given us a large description of those good Works which shall then be rewarded and having there represented the vanity of those mens excuses who had not wrought them he concludes with this sentence these shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal There remains onely to draw some inferences from what hath been said that may be of use to us for the government of our lives 1. If there be a Judgment to come wherein men shall receive rewards and punishments according to their actions whether good or bad it is easie then to understand how much those men deceive themselves who hope to be saved by vertue of any absolute and inconditionate decree For if God have from eternity fore-ordained such and such particular persons to eternal life and others to eternal damnation without any consideration of their actions whether good or bad then certainly God cannot proceed in judgment according to the method before described nor could the promises and threatnings of the Gospel have any force of persuasion to engage men in the practice of Vertue or to discourage them from Sin and Wickedness In vain would the Apostle here make use of the terrours of the Lord to persuade men if God have before determined that such a certain number of them shall not escape the wrath to come whatsoever diligence they use on their parts On the contrary the promises of the Gospel cannot have any reasonable force to engage men to obedience if once they knew and believed that their future state was from everlasting unalterably fixed so that they could not fall short of it by any neglect Nay upon this supposition all the various methods of persuasion which God uses in Scripture to bring men to repentance and a better life prove nothing else but illusion and hypocrisie For that God should so often by his holy Prophets and Apostles invite and exhort and beseech all men that they would turn from their evil ways and live when in the mean time he hath excluded many myriads of men from any possibility of salvation by an absolute and irresistible decree which no endeavour of theirs can revoke or cancel this way of proceeding cannot by any means consist with that truth and sincerity and goodness which is inseparable from the divine nature We must therefore conclude that if there be a Judgment to come when all men shall receive rewards and punishments according to what they have done then certainly no man shall ever be excluded from those rewards but by his own fault nor yet any man obtain the same but by a due diligence in working out his salvation and performing those conditions upon which they are promised 2. From what hath been said concerning the method of Gods proceeding at the Judgment of the last Day we may also observe that those men do extreamly mistake the conditions of salvation who talk of being saved by Faith as it is distinguished from good works and obedience who take so much pains to cry down the value of our good works as though they had little or no influence in the justification or salvation of a Christian For surely if we shall be judged according to what we have done Faith alone cannot be the whole condition required on our parts in order to our salvation It is true indeed glorious things are spoken of Faith in holy Scripture but these things must not be understood of a bare assent to the truth of the Gospel which is the proper importance of that word Faith but of such a Faith as is a principle of life and action such a Faith as hath influence upon the whole course of our lives and is not contradicted by our practice and conversation a Faith that worketh by love and is fruitful of good works and obedience Thus it is not to be considered as a single Vertue and separate from the rest but as being the fruitful parent of all other Christian Vertues and including them in it For if we understand Faith in a more strict sense as distinct from an holy conversation it is no more than the Devils themselves may pretend to and yet this is so far from being any relief to them that it is the great aggravation of their misery To know and be assured of the glorious things revealed in the Gospel and to know withal that they themselves are finally excluded from the benefit of them this doubtless is a mighty aggravation of their horrour and we may well conclude as S. James doth that they believe and tremble nay that this belief doth make them tremble 3. If we shall be judged according to what we have done in the body it then follows that all that is to be done by us in the great work of our Salvation must be performed in our life time whilest we are in the body Now must we give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and not leave any thing to be done after our death either by our selves or others This I observe in opposition to that Doctrine of the Church of Rome which supposes that some sins are expiated after death and purged away by the fire of Purgatory and by the Prayers and Sacrifices of those that are left alive But this is not onely a vain and groundless opinion but certainly doth much tend to the hindrance of Piety and lessening mens care of their future state As the Tree falleth so it lieth As a man goeth out of this World such will be his future state and he will be judged according to what he was when he left the body according to what he had done in the body 4. If it be thus certain that we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body this certainly ought to awaken our diligence in the business of our Salvation that to day while it is called to day we break off our sins by a sincere and hearty repentance that knowing the terrours of the Lord we pass the time of our so journing here in fear For surely did men seriously consider that there is a day coming when all the hidden works of darkness shall be made manifest when the secrets of all mens hearts shall be revealed when all the close impieties which had passed here undiscerned should be laid open before God and all the World they would not now so fondly flatter themselves with hopes of secresie or impunity Did men seriously reflect upon the terribleness of that great day when God shall appear with ten thousand of his Saints to take vengeance on them that have not feared his name did they often think upon that dreadful sentence which will then be pronounced against all impenitent sinners Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels this certainly if any thing would put a check to the bold impiety of this Age. Men would not then dare so openly to defie Heaven and blaspheme the Majesty of the great God who will at that day appear so terrible nor would they continue by their hardness and impenitent hearts to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God On the contrary as the terrours of that day ought to make us sensible of our danger if we continue in disobedience so the glorious reward which shall at that day be given to those that have lived obediently to the will of God ought to be a most effectual motive to persuade us thereunto For what greater encouragement to our duty than the consideration of those great and glorious things which God hath prepared for them that love him Who would not willingly forsake all the flattering joys and transitory pleasures of this life that he may secure to himself such an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away which God the righteous Judge shall give him at that day Or who would not despise all the sufferings of this life which may possibly attend him in the practice of his duty when he remembers that these light afflictions which endure but for a moment work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Now the great God grant us all his grace that we may have the judgment of the last day always present to our minds that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we may live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that when we come to stand before that great Tribunal we may be presented pure and unblamable in his sight and that not for any merits of our own but through the mediation of our blessed Saviour To whom with the Father and Eternal Spirit be ascribed as is most due all power praise thanksgiving and obedience for evermore FINIS