of the Apostles and from the general Sense of the Primitive Church 2. God is a Being as of infinite Purity and Holiness so also of infinite Goodness and Mercy and as he cannot possibly be reconciled to Men so long as they continue wicked so when ever they cease to be so and return again to the Obedience of Gods Commands and to the imitation of his Nature we cannot suppose but that he will again admit them to his Pardon and Favour Goodness and Mercy are our most natural Notions of God and the Discoveries which he hath made of himself by Revelation are most exactly agreeable thereto At the passing by of his Glory before Moses he proclaimed himself The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquities Transgressions and Sins Exod. 34. 6. By the Prophets he declares and swears by himself As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 1â— And above all by that stupendous Instance of Mercy the sending his only Son out of his Bosom to give himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men he has discovered such an earnest desire of our Reconciliation and Salvation as will be the everlasting subject of the Praises of Men and the Admiration of Angels If therefore God when he had made a Covenant of perfect Obedience and had not promised Pardon at all to great and presumptuous Sins did yet give Pardon and declare also to the Jews by his Prophets that he would do so And if when Men were yet Enemies to him he was so willing that not any should perish but all should come to Repentance yea so desirous to have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth that he not only spared not his own Son to deliver him up for us all but tells us even of Joy in Heaven at a Sinners accepting the gracious Terms of the Gospel and represents himself as a tender Father running to meet his returning Prodigal and falling up-his Neck and kissing him If this I say was the Compassion which God shewed to Man in his first sinful and miserable State 't is very reasonable to conclude and hope that his Mercy is not so entirely exhausted at once but that the same Pity may be yet further extended even to those also who after the knowledge of the Truth having been seduced by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to depart from God and to forsake their Duty shall again return unto him with Sincerity and Perseverance 3. The Design of the Gospel is to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And certainly whensoever it comes to have this effect upon a Man it gives him a Title to the blessed Hope and a well-grounded Assurance of Mercy at the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Foundation of the Christian Dispensation upon which the whole Summ of Affairs is now established is Faith and Repentance and whensoever a Man so truly repents as to purifie himself effectually from every evil Work and by the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the Body he shall certainly live Our Saviour himself gives express Directions when a Man's Christian Brother trespasses against him to use all possible means to reclaim him both by private and publick Reproof before he rejects him utterly as a Heathen Man and a Publican He commands us though our Brother sins never so often against us yet if he turns again and repents to forgive him and has promised upon this Condition that we also shall in like manner find forgiveness at the Hands of God And in the Epistles sent by the Apostle St. John to the Bishops of the Seven Churches of Asia he exhorts them earnestly to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and be zealous and do their first works and promises that if upon this Invitation any Man would hear his Voice and open the Door that is would be moved by these Exhortations to repent and amend he would come in to him and sup with him that is would again receive him to his Mercy and Favour 4. Accordingly the Writings of the Apostles though directed to Christians are yet full of earnest Exhortations to Repentance and their History contains many Instances of those who after great falls were thereby restored to their first state St Peter exhorts Simon Magus who thought the Gift of God could be bought with Money to repent of this his wickedness and gives him encouragement to hope that he should thereupon obtain forgiveness Acts 8. 22. St. John tells us That if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 2. 2. St. James tells us That if any one err from the Truth and one convert him he that converteth the Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Jam. 5. 20. St. Jude advises us to have compassion of some making a difference and to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire ver 23. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to instruct in meekness those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25. He advises the Galatians that if any Man be overtaken in a fault they which are spiritual should restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. He threatens the Corinthians to excommunicate those who had sinned and had not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. And even the Incestuous Person who had been guilty of such a Sin as was not so much as named among the Heathens themselves he delivers indeed to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh but it was that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. For when the punishment which was inflicted of many had been sufficient to reduce him to Repentance he writes to the Church to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. 5. And this excepting as I have said one Sect of Men was the constant Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church To those who were yet Innocent they thought indeed no Promises too great and no Threatnings too severe whereby they might make them infinitely careful to preserve their Innocence But those who had already sinned they incouraged to repent and upon their Repentance admitted them again to the Peace of the Church and
hazard their everlasting Welfare Can we think it possible I say that rational Creatures should act with so prodigious a Carelesness who yet believe not that the Scene of this World shall be shut up in everlasting Oblivion but that there will come a Day wherein they must give Account for their Works and be accordingly happy or miserable for ever No certainly whatever Pretences Men may make to deceive others and perhaps in some measure themselves too there must lurk some secret Seeds of Infidelity in the Heart of every wicked Man and the true Reason why this World has so much the Ascendant over the Lives of Christians must be their not having a firm Belief of the Glories of the other Whoever therefore will so enter into a religious course of Life as to be able to persevere in well-doing to the end whoever will so lay the Foundation as to be able to finish must before all things attain a firm and settled Belief of the great Truths of Religion And as without this Ground-work it is not possible he should ever be resolute enough to overcome the Enemies of his Religion and Happiness so with it it is not possible he should ever be overcome by them He that has a firm and steady Belief of the Greatness and Excellency of those Riches which neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and to which Thieves cannot break through to steal will never be so dazled with the glittering of Gold as to let it steal away his Heart and Affections He that has a great and noble Idea of the Glory which shall be revealed hereafter will never be enticed to squander away those Talents which God has given him only in appearing splendid and great here He that hath a strong and vigorous expectation of those Pleasures which God hath prepared for them that love him which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have they entered into the Heart of Man to conceive will never be persuaded to give himself up to the voluptuousness and sensuality of a Beast In a word he that is full of Faith and can look with assurance beyond things Temporal to those which are Eternal has left no room in himself where the Devil can enter with his Suggestions but is fortified on all sides against all Temptations 3. Now to attain such a Faith as this not slight and superficial but firm and well-grounded and immovable against all Assaults a Man ought to proceed by these steps First he must by serious Consideration work in his own Mind a full and perfect Conviction of the Being of God and of the Excellency of his Attributes From thence he must collect the certainty of God's Providence over Men and the Obligation of Mens Duty towards God From hence will follow the necessity of Religion here and the certainty of the Reward of Vertue hereafter After this he must consider the necessity of a Divine Revelation to establish true Religion and the Proofs which evidence the Christian Institution to be such a Revelation And above all he must fix these Things strongly and imprint them on his Mind by deep and constant Meditation 4. He that cometh to God must in the first place believe that he Is i. e. he must not only by a slight and careless assent go along inconsiderately with the common Opinion but he must form in his Mind a considerate and rational a strong and vigorous Persuasion of the Being of God Take a view of this great and glorious Fabrick of the World consider the stupendous Magnitude and the exquisite Order of its Parts consider the numberless Instances of Infinite Power and unfathomable Wisdom which appear in this our Spot of Earth consider the exquisite Artifice which discovers it self in the Structure of the Body of Man and the inconceivable Subtilty of the Operations of his Mind consider at the same time how frail and depending and corruptible all these things are how weak and unable even Man the noblest Part of the visible World is to be the Cause or so much as the Preserver either of himself or any thing else And this will raise in the Mind such a powerful Conviction of the Being of God as will be a lasting and immovable Foundation on which to build a rational and considerate Design of Religion 5. To one that is thus persuaded of the Being of God it will be easie to conclude That as that Supreme Being from whom all other Things received their Original must himself be Eternal as he from whom all the Powers of all Things that exist are derived must himself be All-powerful and as he by whose Establishment all Things in all Places were made to move in such wise and wonderful Order as far exceeds the Capacity of the wisest of Men to comprehend must himself be All-knowing and All-wise So it cannot be but that he who is All-knowing All-powerful and All-wise who sees through all things at one view and can effect all things with the same ease that he can will them must govern direct and manage all things by an Over-ruling Providence And because his Power is so great as not possibly to be compelled and his Wisdom so perfect as not possibly to be seduced to do any thing contrary to those Eternal Rules which the immutable Law of the Divine Nature and the unalterable Constitution and Relation of Things has fixed that therefore this his Government of the World must be Just and Equitable according to the nicest and exactest Measures of Infinite Goodness Righteousness and Truth 6. From this Notion of the Being of the Attributes and of the Providence of God most evidently follows the Necessity of Religion For if God be a Being of Infinite Power Knowledge and Wisdom 't is manifest he is to be Reverenced to be Honoured and to be Feared If he concerns himself with the Government of his Creatures and imploys these infinite Perfections in Ruling and Ordering the World 't is manifest he is to be Worshipped Prayed to and Adored And if this his Government of the World be regulated by the exactest Measures of infinite Goodness Righteousness and Truth 't is manifest he is to be Loved to be Praised and to be Imitated 7. And because it cannot be but that a just and true and good Being whose Nature and whose Happiness consists in the Perfection and in the Exercise of these Attributes must be pleased with those Creatures who love to imitate his Justice his Goodness and his Truth therefore there must of necessity be a Reward laid up in store for Vertue and those whose delight it has been to conform themselves to the likeness of the Divine Nature shall certainly be admitted to partake in some degree of the Divine Happiness Wherefore if this Reward be not given to Vertue in this present Life if the good things of this World be distributed not only promiscuously but even generally to the disadvantage of the Vertuous and to the advantage of those who
be so 4. Again That the exercise of those great Moral Virtues of Godliness Righteousness and Temperance is a thing indispensably necessary to prepare Men for that Happiness which is the Reward of Religion is evident from the Consideration of the Nature of that Happiness The Happiness which Religion promises to holy and good Men is this That they shall be received into the blessed Society of Angels and of the Spirits of just Men made perfect and that with them they shall be admitted into the immediate presence of God to enjoy that Satisfaction which must necessarily arise from the Contemplation of his Perfections and from the 〈…〉 of his Favour And if this be the Case then nothing is more evident than that the exercise of Virtue is indispensably necessary to prepare Men for the enjoyment of this Happiness For what agreement can there be between a sensual spightful or malicious Soul and the pure Society of the Spirits of just Men made perfect We see even in this Life how ungrateful the Society of good Men is unto those that are wicked and as it is in this so doubtless it will be in the other World Those Souls which have been wholly immersed in Sense and given up to the Pleasures of this present World can never be fit Company for those spiritual and refined Minds whose Desires and Enjoyments are as far exalted above every thing that is gross and sensual as Heaven is above Earth And those malicious Spirits whose delight upon Earth was in nothing but Hatred Envy and Revenge can never converse in Heaven with those Divine Souls who feed and live upon no other Pleasures but those of Goodness Holiness and Love In like manner what can be more impossible than for an earthly and wicked Soul to be made happy by the Vision and Fruition of God To see God is to behold and contemplate those glorious Perfections of infinite Goodness Purity and Truth and to enjoy God is so to love and adore those amiable Perfections as to be transformed into the likeness and resemblance of them And is it possible for a wicked Soul to be made partaker of this Happiness Tell a covetous Worldling of a Treasure laid up in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves do not break through and steal Tell him of a never-fading Inheritance in the World to come or of a City not made with Hands whose Builder and Maker is God Tell an ambitious aspiring Mind of the Glory that shall be revealed hereafter or a voluptuous Person of spiritual and refined Pleasures which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive them and will they have any relish of these things Will they not be much more inquisitive after the Glories of Earth and the Gratifications of Sense So that unless we suppose God should work a Miracle for these Men and when he removes them into another World should transform them also into new Creatures 't is no more possible for them to enjoy the Happiness of Heaven than for Body to enjoy the Pleasures of Spirit or for Darkness to have communion and agreement with Light I do not say That if God should transplant these Men into Heaven he could not make them happy there but while they are so exceedingly indisposed for it nothing is more certain than that he never will The exercise therefore of Virtue is the indispensable Condition of Happiness And in proportion as we draw nearer to the Perfection of Virtue so do we to the Fountain and Perfection of Happiness The greater degrees of Virtue any Being is indued with so much the higher Rank does it obtain in the Order of Creatures The highest Angels so much as they obey the Will of God more intirely and imitate the Divine Life more perfectly than Men do so much are they exalted above Men and have a nearer approach to the immediate presence and enjoyment of God And by how much one Man in this Life obtains a greater degree of Holiness than another so much a more excellent degree of Happi-ness is he prepared to receive in the World to come 5. And That God agreeably to this natural Order of things does truly and sincerely desire to make Men happy by the exercise of Virtue is evident both from our natural Notions of God and from the Revealed Declaration of his Will God who is a Being infinitely happy in the injoyment of himself and who created all things for no other reason but to communicate to them his Perfections and his Happiness cannot possibly but make every Man as happy as the condition of his Nature and the improvements of his Virtue make him capable to be And that he will do so he hath moreover assured us by most express and repeated declarations He declares that his Delight is in them that fear him and that he Rejoyces over them for good He invites men with all the tender promises of a compassionate Father to Repentance and Reformation and swears by himself that he hath no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked but earnestly desires that they should return and live And nothing can be more absurd than to imagine that God has secretly made any determination which may be contrary to what he has so openly and expresly revealed What sort of Men he has decreed to be happy or miserable he has clearly and fully declared to us in his Word And other Decrees than this if he has at all made any t is neither necessary nor possible for us to know Sufficient it is for us that as sure as God and his Scriptures are true so sure are we that he that believes and obeys the Gospel shall be happy and that God neither has nor can Decree any thing whereby a truly Religious Man may be excluded from Happiness or a Sincere Man from the possibility of becoming truly religious 6. Since therefore God truly and sincerely desires to make men Happy by the exercise of Virtue and since that Virtue which is the Condition of this Happiness is no other than the Practice of those great Moral Duties of Godliness Righteousness and Temperance which are the Eternal and Unchangeable Law of God as has already been shewn it follows necessarily that the great and ultimate design of all true Religion can be no other than to recommend these Virtues and to enforce their practice Other things may be Helps and Assistances of Religion many External Observances may for wise Reasons be positively commanded and may be of exceeding great use as means to promote Devotion and Piety but the Life and Substance of all true Religion the End and Scope in which all things else must terminate cannot possibly be any other than the Practice of these great and Eternal Duties 7. In Natural Religion this is very evident For the Foundation of its Obligations being nothing else but a due consideration of the Nature of