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
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
of Heathen Philosophers tended to no other End than to foment their Pride and create in them a vain Opinion of their own Wisdom and Merits They referred it not to God nor employed it as a Principle of obedience to him It abated not their Passions reformed not their Lusts and had no visible influence upon their Lives save in making them haughty and supercilious the constant Character of those Philosophers In opposition to this the Apostle Wills that we express the Divinity of our Reâ—…igion in the Holiness of our Lives that we be not puft up with Pride nor imagine it to be the product either of our own merit or understanding that we acknowledge to have received it from God and profess that we expect either to be saved or damned by our obedience to the Rules of it that we perpetually maintain an awful regard of the Commands of our Almighty Lawgiver and set our selves to the performance of them with the most profound Humility and Submission that we be not affrighted from the profession of our Faith by the greatest threats or Terrours nor be betrayed to the Omission of our Duty by supine Negligence and want of Consideration But this in a word That we be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear In Discoursing of these words I shall insist upon these two Heads which naturally offer themselves to our Consideration I. That the Christian Religion is agreeable to the Principles of Reason and carrieth sufficient Evidence along with it II. That it is the Duty of every Christian not wanting the means of sufficient Instruction to enable himself to give a Reason of his Faith I. That the Christian Religion c. For the Apostle commanding us To be always ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us plainly intimates that a Reason may be given of it For that by this term of the hope that is in us is to be understood the whole System of our Faith appears as well from the Context as from the frequent Acceptation of those words in the same Sense in divers places of the New Testament This Religion as it carrieth eminent Marks of its Divinity on many other Accounts so chiefly in the reasonableness and evidence of it and that either 1. In respect of the Nature of it and the Rules prescribed by it Or 2. In respect of the undoubted certainty of its having been revealed by God I. If we respect the Nature and Constitution of the Christian Religion and the Rules of Life and Worship proposed by it we shall find it exactly rational and attended with the greatest Evidence This might be proved by many Considerations But at present I shall insist on no more than two As I. Christianity proposeth a Divine Worship most consentaneous to the Nature of God and tendeth most effectually to secure his Honour among men The Brimary end of all Religion is the Worship of God and is intended cither to pay to God that tribute of Adoration and Thanks which his infinite Majesty and right of Creation Redemption and other benefits require or to implore his Favour in pardoning our sins supplying our Necessities or conferring his Graces on us All these Actions ought to be directed in that way which is most sutable to his Nature and may best express the perfection of it God is a Spirit and therefore requireth to be worshipped in spirit and truth Our Soul alone is truly capable of Religon can alone entertain the Idea of God and form an Act of Worship All outward Ceremonies and corporeal Modes of Worship are no otherwise Holy or to be accounted of than as they tend to shew the inward Devotion of the Soul which is wont to declare its Thoughts and Motions when vehement and intense by external Indications All other voluntary external Acts of Worship which are not the natural Effects and Signs of an inward Zeal and warmth of Devotion serve only to gratifie a foolish Superstition and relate no more to the Worship of God than any other irregular Motions of the Body If we really imploy the Faculties of our Soul as we ought to do in admiring the perfections of the Divine Nature in adoring his Majesty loving his Goodness and fearing his Justice these affections of the Mind will naturally discover themselves in outward Acts and Gestures and cannot be suppressed These external Actions declare to others the inward Sense of our Minds and thereby tend to manifest the Honour of God and publish his Glory but deserve no otherwise to be regarded either by God or Man than as they are the Signs and Effects of an inward Piety And hence we may judge of the Excellency of our Religion without considering the Evidence of its Revelation If it be chiefly employed in external Shews and Ceremonies and makes the performance of them without any inward Motion of the Soul an Act of Worship if it represents the Divine Attributes and Perfections by corporeal Symbols rather than noble Conceptions of the Soul and desires God to accept of that mean and imperfect Service instead of a near Conformity to himself by the Exercise of Holiness and Vertue Such a Religion may perhaps be true but neither agrceable to the Excellency of God nor answering to the Dignity of our own Nature God may accept it or even Command it for a time in Compassion to the Blindness and infirmity of Mankind not capable under some Circumstances of a more noble and spiritual Religion but could never intend to continue it any longer than till he should please to make a more full and open Revelation of himself And this was the Case of the Jewish Religion For the Heathens deserve not here to be considered among whom religious Worship consisted wholly in external Rites and Actions and those oft-times such as were in their own Nature unlawful The Religion of the Jews however instituted by God was chiefly employed in outward Rites and Observances in Washings and Abstinence from certain Meats in Observation of times and tedious Ceremonies which although they served to typefie the coming of the Messias and with him the Revelation of a more perfect Religion Yet did not directly signifie any inward Acts of Reverence Piety or Devotion nor were necessarily accompanied by them The perpetual offering of carnal Sacrifices alone argued the imperfection of their Worship Since therein the Sacrificers desired of God to accept the Lives of Beasts instead of a more holy and reasonable Sacrifice the devoting their own Wills and Affections to his Service 'T is the peculiar Honour of the Christian Religion to worship God in a manner agreeable to the simplicity of his Nature in Spirit and Truth In this the Affections of the Soul are alone respected no Ceremonial Observances imposed on us nor indeed any external Acts of Worship save only those Foederal Rites I mean the two Sacraments of Baptism and the
of the Messias They had formed to themselves mighty expectations of an external pomp and secular greatness wherewith their Messias should enter upon his Office and which he should communicate to the whole Nation They thought not of spiritual Blessings reformation of Manners removal of Errors proposal of a pure and rational Religion and assurance of a spiritual Happiness in another Life but mighty Armies and continual Triumphs wide Conquests and inesâ—…imable Spoils They expected to be freed from the Roman Yoke by the Victorious Arms of the Messias and by an uninterrupted success at last be inabled to give Laws to the whole World These fond conceits were now entertained by the whole Jewish Nation and tenaciously maintained by the Apostles who all along believed indeed their Master to be the true and great Messias but withal even to his Ascension continued to believe that he had not yet entered upon the execution of this glorious Office Not all the premonitions of his future Sufferings not the experience of his present Poverty and Disgrace or the sight of his Crucifixion and Burial could remove this inveterate Error from their minds or create in them a right apprehension of our Saviours Doctrine and Office But after all when he was ready to Ascend up into Heaven they asked him by common consent Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Wilt thou now commence that glorious Reign which we have so long expected The want of this external Pomp and appearance in a State of such extraordinary humility totally hindred his Brethren that is his Kindred from believing on him as is expressed St. John VII 5. and could not divert the Apostles who believed him to be the Messias from nourishing vain hopes of a future greatness in this World Insomuch as immediately after Christ had foretold them in the X. of St. Mark that he should be betrayed delivered to the Gentiles Buffeted Scourged and Crucified the two Sons of Zebedee not discouraged by all these calamities which they imagined to be the entrance into a greater Temporal glory requested of him That One might fit on his right hand the other on his left in his Kingdom And the Disciples of Emmaus far from considering the past sufferings of Christ and reflecting on the circumstances of his Passion and precedent admonitions of it which might justly have refuted and defeated their foolish expectations began to suspect this was not the true Messias since he had not brought the hoped for external redemption to the Jews We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel but those hopes are vanished and he yet continues in his Grave Since then the Apostles continued to retain these prejudices preconceived Errors and were thereby hindred from conceiving the spirituality of Christs Kingdom which is the first and greatest principle of the Christian Religion it was impossible they should rightly understand the Doctrine of Christ until these prejudices were removed and true Notions of the nature of his Kingdom introduced Till then they could not but grosly mistake the meaning of all those many Revelations which he imparted to them and constantly wrested them to their own false notions and apprehensions This not only disabled them from understanding the true sense of what Christ was pleased to reveal to them but also hindred them while continuing in that State from receiving any more clear and express Revelation This our Saviour plainly tells them John XVI 12 13. I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth I have yet greater Mysteries to reveal to you and which will seem more astonishing to you but the indisposition of your understanding at present clouded with Prejudices and Errours would defeat the benefit of them These therefore I leave to be revealed by the Holy Ghost whom I shall send unto you who by an extraordinary operation assisting your understanding will prepare it for a ready reception of all those Truths A Third reason of this Ignorance of the Apostles at that time when our Saviour spoke these words of my Text to them may be that the greatest and most Illustrious Actions of our Saviours Life the Mysteries of which created in them the greatest perplexity remained yet to be performed I mean his Crucifixion Resurrection and Ascension Before they saw these things effected they could not imagine that he whom they had represented to themselves as a Triumphant Messias and Earthly King should undergo them and therefore all our Saviours premonitions concerning them were no less dark and obscure than surprizing to them but afterwards the real performance of them awakened their attention and gave them occasion to reflect more seriously upon the reasons of these things They then plainly perceived the true meaning of every prediction of Christ when they saw the event of the thing foretold and viewing the circumstances of all these Actions could not but discover that they were all manifestly foretold of the Messias by the Prophets and were consequently to be necessarily perform'd by him Not to say that the Resurrection being the far greatest and most Illustrious Miracle might reasonably be supposed to have produced a greater effect upon their minds than any precedent Action And how the subsequent performance of Actions and Mysteries foretold by Christ contributed in the Apostles to a right understanding of the predictions and Mysteries themselves appears from the whole History of the Gospel more especially from those two passages which I before produced John II. 22. When therefore he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them and they believed the Scriptures and again John XII 16. These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they that these things â—…ere written of him Nay so much did Christ himself attribute to the cogency of the proof which might be drawn from the Miracle of his Resurrection that to the Jews desiring a convictive proof of his divine Mission he assigned no other than that as Jonas was in the Whales Belly three Days and three Nights so the Son of Man should continue no longer a space of time in the Heart of the Earth And however his other Miracles and the Testimony of the Prophets abundantly demonstrated the Divinity of his Mission to unprejudiced Persons yet in some places he seems willing to pardon their suspension of assent till they should see this grand and final Miracle performed Thus in the words preceding my Text assuring his Apostles that though he departed for a while he should Live again He tells them that at that Day the Day of his Resurrection ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And John VIII 28. Disputing with the incredulous Jews and not being able to convince their obstinate stupidity he saith unto
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
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
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
suffer our Reason to take place if we willfully shut not our eyes against the Truth and embolden our Minds against the influence of it when discovered we cannot but repent To harden the heart is to Act against the Conviction of a Man 's own Conscience and against the Dictates of Truth clearly and fully manifested Thus Pharaoh is often in Scripture said To have hardned his heart when he refused to let the children of Israel go He was abundantly convinced that the Dismission of them was commanded by God he knew very well that Moses was a true Prophet he experienced the Power of God in the dreadful Plagues inflicted upon his Kingdom and acknowledged him to be the true God by recurring to him and imploring his Mercy and Pardon as often as he desired the Plagues to be removed Yet for all this he perversely refused to obey the Command of God and was therefore made an Example of the terrible Justice of God even in this World We have yet a nearer instance of this kind in the People of the Jews whom the Psalmist in these words particularly reflects on Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works They were a People peculiarly chosen by God and obliged by the most amazing temporal Benefits that ever were conferred on any fed with a constant Miracle led by a Prophet and confirmed by continual Miracles wrought in Favour of them Here was sufficient Conviction of the Truth and Power of that God they worshipped of the Greatness of the Obligation laid upon them and the Reasons they had to yield an intire Obedience to his Commands Yet we find frequent Defections in them contempt of his Precepts vilifying of his Benefits and disbelief of his Promifes which enforced God in Indignation to say of them How long will this people provoke me and how long will it be e're they believe on me for all the signs which I have shewed among them I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them c. Numb XIV 11 12. So then To harden the heart is to Act against the Convictions and impulse of our own Consciences a Sin of the highest Enormity against which God expresseth the greatest Indignation and on which he inflicteth the most severe Punishments This we cannot but acknowledge this we willingly confess We wonder at the impudence and obstinacy of Pharaoh we are apt to conceive Indignation and pronounce Sentence against him when we read or hear his History We abhor the ingratitude and baseness of the Jews and are astonished to think that they should after so many signal Miracles wrought in Favour of them rebel against God slight his Favours and endeavour to stone his Prophet and their own Deliverer We condemn the Folly and unreasonable Conduct of both and are prone to conclude with our selves had we then been in the place of Pharaoh or in the number of the Jews far be it from us that we should have imitated his obstinacy or their Perverseness But let us not deceive our selves or flatter our selves with a vain Opinion of behaving our selves better in such Circumstances Let us reflect upon our own Behaviour in relation to the Duty of Repentance and we shall find the Omission of it to be in no less a Degree a hardening of the heart than was the Crime either of Pharaoh or of the Jews For our Conviction is no less than was that of Pharaoh our Obligation greater than was that of the Jews We are without doubt fully satisfied that our God is the true God that he hath a just Right to lay his Commands upon us and to require our Obedience We know very well that he hath commanded us to observe the Rules of Holiness Temperance and Justice and that although he hath reserved Mercy and Pardon for Sinners yet that this is dispensed upon no otherCondition than that of Repentance Without the Practice therefore of this no Obedience to God can consist or be preserved And then may not he justly be said to have hardned his heart and defied the Divine Majesty who acknowledgeth all this and yet cannot be prevailed on to manifest his Obedience by forsaking bewailing and amending his former Disobedience Who confesseth himself to be his Creature and to owe to his Liberality both his Life and all the consequences of it and yet continueth to profess Enmity to him by retaining his sinful Habits Who believeth all his Attributes of Almighty Power Wisdom and Omnipresence and yet neither dreads his Anger nor reveres his All-seeing eye So that if Men considered but the natural Obligations which they have to God they could not disobey him or continue in Disobedience by unrepentance without either the constant Accusation of their Consciences or a studious stifling of them by a profligate hardness of heart But then who can reflect upon the wonderful Benefits of God revealed in the Redemption of Mankind without concluding impenitent Christians to be guilty of unparallel'd Obstinacy When the Dictates of Reason and natural light of Mankind by an universal decay of Piety wanted their effect and failed in promoting among Men obedience to their Sovereign Lord and Maker God contrived such a method to reduce them to their Duty as if an inexcusable ingratitude did not oppose could not miscarry He invited them by the Blood of his only begotten Son proclaimed Pardon to all penitent Sinners proposed infinite Rewards to sincere Repentance and settled a Succession of Pastors in the Church who might renew these Promises and promote Repentance by constant Exhortations After all this it is impossible to corroborate or add to the Obligation of what is required of us And if we inquire what that is we shall find it to be briefly comprehended in Repentance This was the Message of John the Baptist sent to prepare the way to our Saviour this was the subject of theApostles Sermons Repent and be baptized So necessary is it to the Profession of Christianity that it is pre-required to it The main design of that most Holy Religion is to promote the Honour of God by procuring a just Esteem and Adoration of himself an universal Obedience to his Laws and Devotion to his Will None of which can take place until the love of Sin be first renounced and changed into a steady Resolution of Submission to the Divine Precepts If then neither the offers of Pardon can perswade us nor the love of Christ constrain us if the frequent Exhortations of faithful Monitors cannot move us nor the necessity of the thing it self engage us if these Arguments contrived by the most Wise Providence of God become fruitless and ineffectual it must be imputed to an Obduration greater than any other because opposing Reasons stronger than any other If to slight and over-look all these Obligations be so enormous an obduration much more Criminal will it be to despise the glorious