Worship viz. all kinds of virtue and moral Goodness such as Justice and Mercy Fidelity and Truth Meekness and Patience Sobriety and Temperance and 't is true of these things as well as of Worship that without faith they cannot be performed because they are all such things as God is pleased withal and 't is said in general That without Faith we cannot please him From hence 't is plain that we are thus to understand the phrase of pleasing God when the Apostle saith Without Faith we cannot please him viz. Without Faith it is impossible a man should be a worshipper of God and a practicer of Virtue More distinctly thus Without Faith a man cannot Love God or Fear him or Trust in him or Obey him or Honour him in his Thoughts Words or Deeds Nor can he be Righteous and Charitable Meek and Humble Sober and Temperate Or in a word That without Faith 't is impossible a man should be truly Religious in his life and actions If it be enquired 2. What the Apostle means by Faith without which 't is impossible to please God let us look to the following words again and we shall find the Faith the Apostle speaks of is 1. In general a persuasion of the truth of some proposition or an assent thereunto that it is true for he saith He that cometh to God must believe that he is To believe therefore to be persuaded that this proposition is true viz. that there is a God is an instance of the Faith whereof the Apostle speaks Likewise he that cometh unto God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that seek him To believe therefore or to be persuaded of this proposition That God is a rewarder of them that seek him is an instance of that Faith of which the Apostle speaks and consequently by Faith is here meant in general a persuasion concerning any Doctrine or Proposition that it is true 2. By consequence also as to the nature of those propositions which the Apostle saith we must believe if we will please God we find more particularly that the Faith without which we cannot please God is a persuasion of the truth of those propositions which are proper arguments and motives inducing a man to do those things whereby God is pleased for the Apostle saith He that cometh unto God must believe that he is And plain it is that to believe that there is a God is a reason why men should do those things which please him He says also that he that cometh unto God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Alike plain it is that to believe God to be such a rewarder is a reason or motive inducing a man to do those things whereby God is pleased and consequently the Faith which the Apostle speaks of is a persuasion of the truth of those Propositions or Doctrines which are proper motives or inducements to the doing of those things whereby God is pleased But hence we must not conclude that there are no other Doctrines or Propositions besides those here mentioned that are proper motives to Religion because all that the Apostle intends as I noted before is to give some particular instances to shew the truth of the general proposition Although therefore there be other Doctrines which are motives to Godliness and Vertue yet if without the belief of these a man cannot be induced to do those things which please God that was sufficient for the Apostle's purpose to prove that without Faith it is impossible to please him And that there are other Doctrines of like use with these I shall shew in due place If it be enquired 3. Whether by Impossible the Author of this Epistle means properly something that is absolutely impossible or more largely something that is exceeding difficult or highly improbable as sometimes the word is used to that purpose I answer This is to be resolved by considering also the following propositions to be believed the former of which is of that nature that it is absolutely necessary to be believed in order to Worship and Virtue viz. That there is a God Without this belief it is utterly impossible it implies a contradiction that a man should be a Worshipper of God and a practicer of Virtue But the latter of these beliefs that God is a rewarder c. is not in the same degree necessary that the former is because it does not imply a contradiction That that man who does not believe that God is a rewarder of them that seek him should be a Worshipper of God because 't is barely possible he may Worship God upon a belief that there is a God and a bare hope that he is a rewarder c. But then if we consider the woful corruption and degeneracy of Mankind and the power of those Temptations we are under 't is so utterly improbable that without this belief men should set themselves to do those things which please God that according to the usual manner of speaking it may be ranked with things impossible So that I do thus understand the Apostle as to what he says concerning the impossibility of pleasing God without Faith That there are some Doctrines so necessary to be believed in order to the practice of Religion and Virtue that it is naturally impossible a man should be a Worshipper of God and a doer of Righteousness without the belief of them and of this sort he hath given us one instance viz. That there is a God That also there are some Doctrines so necessary to be believed in order to the practice of Religion that 't is morally impossible a man should be a Worshipper of God and a worker of righteousness without the belief of them And of this sort he hath also given us one instance viz. That God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Thus I have by comparing one part of the Text with another given you as I am persuaded the true sence of the whole and that as I hope with great clearness of truth and plainness of words And according to this Explanation the words of the Text may be interpreted according to this Paraphrase Without the belief of some such Doctrines as are proper and suitable motives to the worship of God and the practice of Virtue wherewith God is pleased it is impossible any man should fear God and work Righteousness For some Doctrines there are so necessary in order to that end that 't is impossible to conceive how a man should find himself obliged thereto without the belief of those Doctrines Some Doctrines also there are so necessary to be believed in order thereunto that without the belief of them no man finds himself encouraged to the practice of Religion For instance the Worship of God is a part of Religion without which he will not be pleased with us but it is plain that no man can be a worshipper of God without believing that there is a God because if
life and power of it in his heart for this reason it is that the Faith of good Christians who are not so well verst in subtle reasonings as in religious practice cannot be shaken by the objections of a Sophister because they have that inward sense of the power and excellency of Divine Truths which is above all other argument They know by experience that in the keeping of God's Commandments there is great reward and cannot therefore be entangled by any artificial objections against it but that I may not be mistaken I do not pretend that the pleasure which a man finds in believing any Doctrine is always an argument that the Doctrine is true There are some Doctrines in the World that tend to licentiousness that weaken the obligations to an holy life and therefore are sweet to the carnal man because they can put him in possession of great joy in himself before he has that good title to it which can only be founded upon repentance and holiness therefore it is neither false nor allowable always to argue from the experience a man hath of the sweetness and pleasure of his perswasions to the truth of them as many misguided Souls have done but for all that it is most certain that Religion consisting in the belief of truth and the practice of goodness a man shall understand the power of the one and the excellency of the other by experience better than he can by meer speculation for the nature of things that are to be done is never so fully understood as by doing them and the force of Truth is never so thoroughly felt as when it makes the Will and Affections as well as the Understanding submit to it now the best way to avoid arguing to our selves fallaciously from our own experience and being imposed upon by the joy and pleasure which those perswasions yield that tend to carnal security the best way I say to avoid this is to follow our Saviour's rule by laying the foundation even of experimental knowledge in doing the will of God and applying our selves with all sincerity to the keeping of his Commandments because then we shall never argue from experience but in favour of the truth i. e. of true Virtue and Holiness and of those Principles which lead to the practice of it And most certainly there is that comfort and satisfaction in believing Divine Truth there are those Joys in living according to it which can never be thoroughly understood but by the practice of Religion and Virtue which no man can have a just conception of till he hath tasted and seen how gracious God is Solomon says That the ways of wisdom are pleasantness and all her paths are peace but then we shall never thoroughly understand this till we walk in them in the keeping of God's Commandments there is great reward but how shall we find this reward but in keeping of them It may be described to us by others but as imperfectly as the Pencil doth Life and Motion the best descriptions will fall short of the subject and if we be alienated from the life of God we cannot fully conceive it Nay most commonly the delights of the righteous are things flat and insipid and the representation of them is nauseous and irksom to the carnal worldling and he is hardly in a better condition to understand it than one that is born Blind can apprehend that saying of Solomon Truly light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is to behold the Sun The sum of all is this That if sincerity towards God in doing his will is a great advantage towards the obtaining of that knowledge which is possible to the wicked man the knowledge of speculation if also that knowledge is gained by it which the insincere have nothing at all of if the righteous do not only better apprehend the weight of arguments but understand more by having their senses exercised to discern between good and evil then have we great reason to follow our Saviour's method If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God Only let us remember that this knowledge is not to be gained this blessing is not to be procured to our selves either by my discourse or by your hearing what hath been said concerning our Saviour's words no nor by granting the truth and reasonableness of what hath been offered in illustration of them but only by putting our selves seriously upon the trial of this way by doing the will of God for what hath been said of Divine Truths in the general holds good of this in particular That the excellency of our Lord's method for the gaining of good knowledge in the things of God cannot be thoroughly judged till we have applied our selves to the use of it and I doubt not but those that have made trial do acknowledge the truth of what hath been said FINIS
damnation and that when the Apostles and Evangelists wrote the New Testament in which they laid the same stress upon Faith that Christ himself had done before them that they I say should mean something else by the word than what it signified according to common use and yet that they should not tell us so The Writers and first Preachers of the Gospel did indeed treat of new Subjects viz. of those new Revelations of God's Will that had been lately made but when they made use of words that had a known meaning they did not depart from the received signification of those words But by Faith or believing men always understood being persuaded of the truth of some Proposition And thus Faith is described in the Scripture where it is described most fully In St. John 11.25 says our Saviour He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live but this is explained v. 27. I believe that thou art Christ the Son of God that should come into the world And again John 8.24 If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins Moreover that Faith by which the Church should stand wanted nothing surely that belongs to the nature of Faith and that is thus expressed We believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God and this because not flesh and blood but God had revealed it Thus Abraham's Faith which was imputed to him for righteousness was his accounting that God was able to raise up Isaac even from the dead And all the holy men mentioned in Heb. 11. are said to have died in faith being persuaded of the promises As to those that think there is more in the nature of Faith than this comes to they either return to this in other words or add something that doth not belong to the nature of it those that say there must be a particular application of the Promises where there is true Faith say well but then application is nothing else but a persuasion of or an assent unto a single Proposition For instance I am persuaded that God sent his Son into the world to save mankind is a general persuasion Christ came for my Salvation which is the Application is a particular one Without holiness no man shall see the Lord therefore without holiness I shall not This last is but persuasion and there is that in the former therefore Faith in both Again if resting and relying upon Christ is said to be Faith the meaning must be either that I am assured Christ will save me and this is being persuaded of the truth of that saying or else that I rely upon his Person but a Person cannot be believed otherwise than by believing something of him or something that he has said Some there are that think the nature of Faith doth consist in a certain degree of Persuasion and the Romanists tell us there must be Infallibility in it But now there is a weak as well as a strong Faith and though a greater degree of Assent is more working and powerful yet the nature of Faith is in the least Lastly some good men are apt to think that the goodness of the Will and Affections nay and Holiness of Life belongs to the nature of true Faith but this cannot be because although Faith where it is in that degree that it ought to be there as I shall shew it will produce holiness of Heart and Life and therefore Faith is sometimes spoken of in the Scriptures as comprehending those good Affections and those good Works which it causes yet sometimes they are distinguished from one another and therefore they are not the same so that when all is done the whole nature of Christian Faith doth consist in this That it is a persuasion of the Truth of those Doctrines which Christ hath made known to us Now for the second Point 2. Concerning the power and efficacy of Faith we are to consider that there are these two things attributed to it our Justification and our Holiness or Obedience to the Gospel And here we will first consider 1. What Efficacy Faith has as to the Justification of him that believes and this I shall shew very briefly and plainly in these following particulars 1. Faith may be said to be justifying or saving in that it puts a man into a good way of being justified and thus believing that Jesus is the Christ may be said to be justifying Faith because it is the first step towards Justification and believing his Precepts with his Promises and Threatnings is in this sense a more Justifying Faith because it brings a man nearer to that state in which he shall be justified But 2. If we speak of Actual Justification and continuance in God's favour then not any nor all the proper acts of Faith taken together but separate from Repentance and Obedience are sufficient for where God hath made more conditions than one necessary there the performance of all but one will not suffice and therefore where forgiveness and salvation is promised to one single condition there the presence of all the rest is supposed He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple shall not lose his reward but shall cold water wash away the treachery of Judas or the injustice of Pilate He that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ hath eternal life but still to be carnally minded is death He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Nevertheless it is true that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore where nothing less than Salvation is promised to Believing and Baptism all that which in reason should follow is meant though it be not expressed 3. If we speak of final and irreversible Justification this is neither to be obtained by Faith nor Obedience without perseverance in both God doth in this Life justify true Believers but not once for all till they have fought their good fight and finished their course As the Lord in the Parable forgave his Servant and yet called him to account for his Debt when he proved cruel to his Fellow for this shewed that his pardon was but conditional So likewise says our Saviour shall your heavenly Father do unto you Now I confess what hath been said in answer to the first and second Inquiries gives no sufficient account why we are said to be justified by Faith so frequently in the Scripture but rather seems to make it more unaccountable For if there be no more in the nature of Faith than assent to Truth this seems to be a very common attainment not deserving those great things that are spoken of Faith in the Scripture Can that be the Faith by which all good men have wrought righteousness which hath been held in unrighteousness by as many wicked And then as to the power of this Faith in order to Justification Can that be the faith of God's elect which the Reprobates have as
so called also and which the Scripture requires Either they want the Faith of assenting to some needful Truth which perhaps doth not often happen or they want the Faith of a distinct and particular persuasion and application to themselves which happens more often or they want the Faith of frequent assenting of a permanent persuasion fixt in their hearts by consideration which I doubt is the frequent defect But now the Scripture doth not barely require that we should once for all persuade our selves of the Truths of God's Word but moreover That the word of God should dwell richly in us and that we should be rooted and established in Faith that Christ should dwell in our hearts by Faith and the like which is plainly to require a fixed and lively sense of Divine Truths upon our souls caused by much conversation with them and thinking upon them Now this I say That every act of Meditation or Thought upon these things is a distinct Assent to them and is therefore truly and properly Faith Now because we are to interpret Scripture by Scripture therefore this Scripture That by Faith we are justified is to be interpreted by the aforesaid Exhortations and consequently by Justifying Faith we are to understand an habitual and permanent persuasion of the great Truths of Religion effected by a frequent and just consideration of them and such Faith will justify because it will sanctify it will procure the relative change of putting us into a state of Favour with God because it will procure the real or personal change of subduing our corrupt affections and making us obedient to God from the heart For suppose a man by constant consideration to have gained such a sense of Spiritual things as by assiduity men come to have in all matters they frequently think of and converse about how is it possible but he must be a good man in the rest of his life But men are but half persuaded that never think of these things but by chance or when they cannot help it So that this is the great point wherein we exercise liberty in matters of Religion viz. Whether we will consider or not i. e. Whether we will often persuade our selves of the great Truths of God and a World to come or but very rarely This is the main hinge upon which our state turns and here lies the principal power we have still under the Grace of God to help and reform our selves which seems to be suggested by the Scriptures insisting so much upon it That we are justified by Faith for this shews us where our strength lies Nay the just himself lives by his Faith and it is by Faith that he perseveres in Righteousness And where such Faith is as I have now described it will not fail to influence the mind and conversation For we are led by persuasion to evil as well as to good and when a man doth ill it cannot be that at the same time he should be persuaded to do well No wonder therefore that the Scripture concludes of all wicked men That they are not persuaded of the truth of those things which they profess to believe They profess says the Apostle to know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 But works neither deny nor affirm any thing they only shew whether we our selves do one or the other If then all that are disobedient are in a true sense unbelievers then all who fully believe are holy By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac but if the command to offer up his Son was the Trial of his Faith then had he not obeyed his belief had not been true Therefore also where the belief is true where it is a fixed and lively sense of God and Religion where it doth not come in as a sojourner but dwelleth richly in the Soul it will sanctify and cleanse it In short This permanent persuasion of the Truths of the Gospel being that without which we cannot bring forth fruit unto God in all good works he hath required of us and with which we shall it must necessarily be the faith by which the just do live Finally therefore my Brethren Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil stand having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breast plate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace But above all take the shield of faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God By all which it appears That Christian Truth is our Armour against Sin and therefore let that humble man's Prayer be ours and our care answerable Lord we believe help thou our unbelief And may the God of Truth increase our faith in us that it may be fruitful in good works to the glory of his Name and our eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The Second Sermon HEB. XI 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him THE words are the most comprehensive that I can find in all the Bible for bringing all that is necessary to be said concerning the true nature the full extent and proper use of Faith under one Text which possibly you will acknowledge if you consider with me the very deep and yet clear sense of these excellent Words The first clause of them contains a general Proposition But without faith it is impossible to please God The second contains a proof of that Proposition for he that cometh to God must c. By comparing the Proposition proved with the proof thereof we shall come to understand every phrase and word of the Text. For if we enquire 1. What is here meant by pleasing God in the general Proposition let us see what answers thereunto in the following words and we shall find by pleasing God is meant the doing of those things whereby God is pleased for saith the Apostle He that cometh to God must believe that he is Now to come to God is an obvious phrase signifying to worship God Wherefore it being supposed as the Apostle's form of arguing makes it necessary that to worship God or to come to him is to please him it must needs follow that to please God signifies the doing of those things whereby God is pleased But hence we must not conclude that the worship of God properly so called is the only thing that is pleasing to God because the Apostle's intent in the proof of his general proposition is to give some particular instance of each part thereof as I shall shew all along in the Explication of these words There are other things which please God besides
he does not believe this he cannot conceive himself bound to worship God 'T is also plain that no man is likely to worship God without believing that God is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him because if he does not believe this he cannot conceive himself encouraged to be a worshipper and this is as evident in all other instances of Religion that 't is impossible men should perform them as they ought if they believe not those Doctrines whereby they are encouraged to them In the words as they are thus explain'd several truths there be which lye couched beside those the suggesting whereof is the main scope and design of the Text. 1st Of all 'T is plainly implied that the practice of Religion i. e. of Worship and Virtue is that which pleaseth God For pleasing of God here is further explained by coming to him and diligently seeking him a very considerable instance of Religion The same thing is true of all other Religious duties and all Moral virtues whatsoever that they also are well-pleasing to God and that he liketh and approveth them in us he loveth and praiseth us for them that they are delightful and acceptable to him Were the inculcating of this matter the chief design of the Text I would here at large represent unto you why the Religious practice the holiness and virtue of a Christian is acceptable and well-pleasing to God I would make it plain to you that it must be so because his Religious Practice is an acknowledgment of the Soveraign Authority of his Maker since 't is the Christians obedience to Divine Laws because also 't is his undeniable confession of the Goodness of God a plain testimony of his love to God and a visible demonstration how excellent and profitable the Laws of God are and how good they render those persons that observe them Because 't is in like manner the Christians true and sincere acknowledgment of the Divine perfections I would likewise shew you that although God cannot be pleased with this honour done unto him by his Creatures because of any advantage he himself receives thereby yet he is pleased with it because of the advantage accruing thereby to us because he delighteth in the good of his Creatures in their happiness and well-being which 't is as impossible for them to attain without the worship of God and the practice of Virtue as to reconcile light unto darkness or to make contradictions to be true If this also were the main scope of the Text I would not leave this consideration till I had convinced you throughly what a mighty spur to Religion and Virtue this persuasion is that they are well-pleasing to God I would not let you go till you granted me that it is the noblest Ambition which can inflame the Souls of men to become the true Worshippers of God and the sincere workers of Righteousness since this is your way to gratify and please so great and excellent a Being as the Eternal God to stand high in his esteem to be greatly accounted of by him to become acceptable to him and considerable with him But this is only the insinuation not the direct aim of the Text. 2. These words do also intimate to us that the practice of Religion and Virtue is the end of Faith For the Apostle plainly speaks of those Doctrines we believe under the notion of means to arrive at Godliness and Righteousness When he says without believing God 't is impossible we should come unto him he implies that it is therefore necessary we should believe there is a God because 't is necessary we should worship him When he says without believing that God is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him 't is impossible to seek him diligently he sufficiently implies that 't is therefore necessary to believe that God is such a Rewarder because 't is necessary to seek him diligently In a word when he says without Faith 't is impossible to please God he plainly enough intimates that therefore Faith is necessary because the practice of Godliness and Virtue is so i. e. that Religious practice is necessary as the end and Faith as the means to that end I would here have shewn you what the true Notion of Fundamentals in Religion is viz. That only is Fundamental in Religion which is a Doctrine necessary to be believed in order to a Christian life and all Doctrines necessary to be believed for that end are Fundamental Doctrines That the belief of those Doctrines is laying a foundation upon which the superstructure of Religious practice of Worship and Virtue may and ought to be erected But that if it were required what is Fundamental i. e. necessary to fit a man for Heaven that then the practice of Religion and Virtue is the only thing necessary for that end but that Fundamentals in Doctrines are only those beliefs that are necessary to Righteousness and Godly living And this I should have insisted upon to confute all the vain pretences and frivolous hopes of all Orthodox believers that never yet learned to live Orthodox Lives that have laid a specious foundation of Christian Faith and Knowledge to no purpose in the world but to proclaim their own folly and madness in neglecting all thoughts of building that superstructure of Christian life and practice thereupon by which alone we can ascend to immortality of Bliss in that house of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens But this also is no more than insinuated in the words of the Text therefore I shall insist no longer upon it though so plainly hinted that I could not altogether pass it by 3. These words do expresly declare that some Doctrines there be which are fundamental to Religion i. e. the belief whereof is necessary to the worship of God and the practice of Virtue and consequently without the belief whereof we cannot conceive how a man should be induced to a Religious and Virtuous life And this is the main scope and design of the Text whereof I shall speak as fully and distinctly as I can shewing from the Text what these fundamental Doctrines be in the assent whereunto or the persuasion whereof it is most plain that the nature of Faith properly so called doth consist according to the latitude of which Doctrines the extent also of Faith as to Fundamentals is to be measured according to the influence of which Doctrines upon the wills of men to induce them to the worship of God and the practice of Virtue the right use also the true purpose and design of Faith is to be understood It remaineth therefore that we duly consider the Doctrines themselves the necessity also and sufficiency of them to induce men to Religion and Virtue And this will fully answer my design which is to shew the true nature the due extent and the right use of that Faith which is one of those Divine Qualifications and Graces whereby we are fitted for Life eternal All that
know will perish in a little time before those that will never end which indeed we do not see but which we believe and doubt as little of as if we saw them if we chuse the pleasures of sin which are but for a season and those unworthy to be chosen by us if there were no danger in them before those pleasures which remain for us at God's right hand for evermore The Fourth Sermon St. MATTH XI 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest NO kind of grief sits so heavy upon the mind of man as that which is made by the guilt of sin and a just fear of punishment And because our Lord in this promise of rest could not mean to exclude those that labour under the greatest weight but rather to invite them above all others I shall therefore at this time consider what that Rest is which he promiseth to guilty minds persuading my self that as no Argument can be more profitable so none will be more welcome and grateful to all that desire to be saved As for those who are so bewitcht with the pleasures of Sin that they feel not the stings of it who drown the cries of their Conscience in the noise of laughter and madness these as long as they are able to make this miserable shift are not in a condition to desire other relief nor do they care where it is to be had But they who apprehend how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God and that their sins have made them liable to his Justice they indeed are prepared to obey the Call of Jesus and to try if he will perform what he promises And this is the great Prerogative of the Gospel that it alone can pacify the Conscience and give ease to a mind that labours under the weighty care of being reconciled to the offended Majesty of God It gives that satisfaction I mean which in the end will not deceive And no other is to be valued For what am I the better for a false assurance that all is well which perhaps will vanish to morrow and then leave me under an amazing disappointment which the longer it lasts makes my danger the greater and if it lasts to the end of my life hath all along hindred me from using the true means of safety What is this better than a pleasant dream that holds a man fast asleep while the fire is raging in his House and there is none to wake him till the flames have cut off everry way by which he might escape Therefore when our Lord promiseth that we shall find rest unto our souls he does undoubtedly mean that repose of mind those comforts and joys that will not betray us in the end And this is not the least commendation of that Rest which he gives that it is well grounded that our Souls shall be staid upon Principles of Truth and such as we may safely rely upon Secondly The Rest which he promises is compleat and full and in that respect also is fit to quiet all those cares and fears that vex the minds of miserable Sinners For he has promised the forgiveness of all our sins and given us assurance of God's particular favour and protection nay and of eternal life and glory in another state when this life once vanisheth away He hath told us that his Death was a Sacrifice for the expiation of our sins He hath required us to be once baptised into his Name for the Remission of Sins and to repeat the Commemoration of his Death and our assurance of his second Coming to give us life and glory by repeating the Communion of his Body and Bloud and shewing forth his death till he come The Doctrine which he revealed and the Authority which he delivered to his Church is all a Ministry of Reconciliation and Forgiveness And we have reason to take his word for all this because he was by mighty proofs demonstrated to be the Son of God Now thus far all things are as we would have them and nothing as yet appears but that we may discharge every unquiet thought in the Arms of Jesus But in the third place let us also consider the Condition required on our part for the obtaining of this rest And this truly seems to be very easy since no more is required then coming to Jesus for it Come unto me all ye c. For whatever is meant by this Condition we might hope that it is no hard thing which is exprest by so easy a word and that we need not fear to go to the bottom of its meaning Elsewhere our Saviour saith I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst So that to come to Christ is to believe in him and therefore to be persuaded of the truth of his promises which must needs be a gentle Condition because there is so much reason why we should believe them and we can have no prejudice against them And I doubt most men would be glad to rest here without travelling any farther And so without question they might if it were not for this one thing that in the Doctrine of our Saviour there are not only gracious Promises but holy Precepts also and that so great a stress is laid upon keeping them that if we do not we are but where we were before our sins remains and the wrath of God abideth on us For says our Saviour Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven Now if we are to believe him in this too then coming to Christ must of necessity signify more than bare believing even doing his will also which in the following Verses is exprest by learning of him and taking his yoke upon us And here it is that we begin to fall in our opinion of the Grace of the Gospel and our Lord's Invitation because he seems to take away with one word what he promises with another On the one hand he offers rest on the other he requires labour But yet he that is Truth hath said that if we will come unto him we shall find rest and withal that we have no reason to be discouraged with the Condition Learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly in heart i. e. be not afraid to submit to my Rules for I do not impose them in pride or for my own sake but in Charity for yours Take my yoke upon you for it is easy and my burthen is light And now we are got thus far we may with this encouragement venture to the end and dare to look upon every circumstance which seems to make our duty grievous There are but two things of this kind and they are the perfection of that duty which the Christian Law requires and the penalty
of disobedience 1. The perfection of the Rule which requires a more exceeding Righteousness than either the Law of Moses or the Law of Nature And this is one reason why the Christian Baptism is the Sacrament of Regeneration whether to Jews or Gentiles Because they must become new men and as it were born again by living up to those Divine Principles and holy Rules which are peculiar to the Christian Doctrine by practising that piety and purity and charity in all their conversation which seems to be more than enough for the happiness of single persons or of Societies in this World but which is necessary for an everlasting happiness in the life to come And here are these causes of complaint 1. That there is a severe restraint laid upon our Natural Appetites and Inclinations which often carry us as violently to those Satisfactions which the Law of Christ forbids as to those which it allows There is in every man by nature the love either of pleasure or greatness or revenge c. and this Inclination for the most part stifned by custom so that he cannot be a Christian without self-denial and putting himself to pain And the duty of this kind may be so grievous that as Jesus himself hath described it it may be like cutting off a right hand and pulling out a right eye 2. His Law hath made no allowance for the prevailing Opinions and Customs of the World In common account to forgive one injury is to be exposed to another to refuse a Challenge is to be mark'd for a Coward to use plain dealing is the way to die a Beggar and to neglect several opportunities of gain or pleasure though for Conscience sake is to go for a Fool. But though it is a grievous thing to lie under contempt yet the Doctrine of Christ without consideration of this hard case has tied us up to contrary Rules and expresly required us not to be conformed to this world 3. We must guard our selves against innumerable temptations to the sins of Lust Covetousness Envy Ambition and the like inordinate Affections to which a Christian must by no means consent The very opportunities of doing ill are in some cases hard to be refused and moreover every sin hath its proper incentives which beset us in all places And these are so busy and importunate that some think it impossible to be religious without retiring from the conversation of the World But what rest can there be in perpetual circumspection and standing upon our guard And yet Jesus himself thought this necessary for us Watch and pray saith he that ye enter not into temptation 4. The Law of Christ prescribes to the Thoughts and Affections as well as to the overt Action He that does not defile his Neighbour's Bed may be an adulterer in his heart And he that hates his brother is a murtherer If it be hard to forbear the action what pains must be taken to conquer the Desire to make it an obedient Slave and not suffer it so much as to dispute And yet this is the case neither body nor mind neither deed nor thought is exempted from the obligation of this terrible Law but we must cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit 5. It is not easy to suffer yet if need were we must take up the Cross and be always in mind prepared to endure reproach the loss of Goods yea and of life it self for righteousness sake And the Scripture speaking of this does acknowledge that no chastisement for the present is joyous but grievous So that in giving up our names to Christ we seem to commit our selves to a Sea of troubles instead of making to a Haven of rest He that will be my disciple saith Jesus let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me This is enough to shew the strictness of the Rule and the perfection of Virtue and Piety which the Gospel requires but that which makes all more grievous is the second cause of Complaint 2. The penalty of Disobedience For this is no less than exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven and a more intolerable Sentence at the day of Judgment than those shall receive that never heard the Doctrine of Christ And the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation And our Saviour hath plainly told us by what Rule the Good and the Evil shall be judged The words that I have spoken the same shall judge you at the last day And now that we have heard these things we may be exceedingly amazed as our Lord's first Disciples were when they heard the like and say Who then can be saved or at least where is the truth of his Promise For the condition of his Promise is so hard and the consequence so terrible if we fail of the condition that the extream danger and the great uncertainty seems to create a new trouble not well consistent with the promised rest He is indeed true and faithful that hath promised But whilst my Soul is troubled how can I believe that 't is at rest How therefore shall we bring these things together The truth is nothing has more exercised the wits of men than to find out expedients for this purpose And for my own part I have that experience of Human Frailty on the one side and that desire to be saved on the other that I never lend my ear more willingly than to him that shews me an easy way to Salvation And I am sure he attaques my Affections to so much advantage that I can have no prejudice against his way and nothing but evident want of truth could make me afraid to trust it Some have said That Christ himself hath fulfilled all righteousness in our stead and that upon our faith his righteousness is imputed to us for justification This I confess would cut the knot which we would fain unty for if this be true the Gospel does not only release me from punishment but from duty too But where has our Lord or his Apostles said any thing to this purpose Indeed he has promised to save me from God's angry Justice and that because he was a Sacrifice for Sin offered in my stead But I find that he has imposed upon me the keeping of his Commandments as a condition of that Salvation and therefore I conclude that he did not perform them in my stead too Nor can I conceive how the holiness of Christ should be made an argument in the Scripture to follow his Example if it may be improved into a good reason why we need not follow it So that the Merit of Christ will not save me the labour of becoming a new man and if that will not I am sure no other Merit can And these men not willing to trust their own Invention
Tongue in his Head to use them as occasion serves which experience shows may be done without any natural Sagacity or Rules of Art 2. It is sometimes pretended by common Swearers though I think but rarely That men will not believe them without an Oath and what is this but to confess they have been so notoriously given to Lying that no body dares trust them upon their bear word for a man that is known to make conscience of speaking the Truth finds no difficulty of creating a belief of what he says amongst any of his Friends without making any appeal to God Besides the Oath of a common Swearer gives indeed but very little assurance of the truth of what he says if I know a man to be afraid of an Oath his Oath shall satisfy me beyond any other testimony that he can give and upon the Oath of such a man a Court of Judicature may proceed with confidence but what regard can reasonably be had to his Oath above his simple and bare word as we use to say who is known to swear upon all occasions if he does not lie 't is well but of this I have no peculiar assurance by his Oath because it is as ordinary with him to swear as to speak and therefore in Athens a Common Swearer's Oath was not allowed nor accepted of in their Courts and sometimes the testimony of a man of known Probity and Honour was admitted without it this last seems to be imitated by the wisdom of our Laws which suppose the Asseveration of a Peer to be equivalent to the Oath of another man and therefore for another man to Swear needlesly is to disparage the Reputation of his Fidelity but for a man of Honour to do so is to renounce his Priviledge and for any man to do thus is not only to bring the honesty of his Word but the truth of his Oath also into question 3. The most usual excuse framed for the extenuation of this Impiety is that of sudden Passion thus when some men are a little provoked or when they are surprized with some unexpected good Fortune or any unlook'd-for misadventure befals them either their Rage or their Joy bursts out presently into Oaths and they pretend they cannot help it for they have no other way to discharge their minds and give vent to their Passions but by Cursing and Swearing now is not this a plain confession that they have lost the government of themselves and have no rule over their own spirits So common it is for men while they are framing an excuse for one sin to betray themselves guilty of another what greater argument can lightly be given of an impotent mind than that every petty accident is able to bereave one of all consideration and make him cease to be his own man till the fit is over And the truth is though Passion be brought in to mitigate the business yet it is plain enough that any trifling occasion is able to set these men a swearing that make this excuse for themselves when provocation is alledged to mollify this Crime one would think it must arise from no less a cause than if he should find his house in flames or his friend attempting the honour of his bed but upon examination this same emotion and heat of spirit is pleaded for the begging of your pardon when a man swears upon the most trifling and inconsiderable occasions And what can excuse that childishness and impotency of mind to which these men have thus given themselves over But let never such extraordinary causes of joy or grief or anger happen it is an unmanly thing to set no bounds to these Passions and they are never less unbridled than when we make such undue expressions of them as Oaths and Curses are St. James gives us this Rule Above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth nor by any other Oath James 5.12 But the particular Case wherein he thought this Rule was useful was that of Affliction for he had before exhorted them to whom he wrote to take the Prophets for an example of suffering affliction and of patience and particularly recommended to them the meekness and patience of Job for their imitation ver 10 11. But if they could not perfectly equal such great examples as those were yet at least he strictly enjoins them not to be transported so far into Anger and Impatience as to break forth into Oaths But above all things my brethren swear not but keep your selves within the bounds of modest and Christian Language and that they might see that he allowed them to have a sense of the good and evil of this World and was far from thinking it a Virtue to be stupid and dull and unconcerned about either the Comforts or the Calamities of human Life he directs them how they may convert the Passions which are thereby excited to an excellent and profitable use Is any man among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms ver 13 15. If any man be overtaken with worldly misery let him turn himself to more devout and earnest Prayer that God would either remove his burden or give him patience under it if he be surprized with some new blessing let him break forth into the Praises of God to whose Bounty and Goodness he stands obliged for it Thus to improve the excitations of joy and grief within us is a demonstration that our Passions have not overwhelmed our Reason and Understanding but left us the free use of our selves to do what becomes us as Men and Christians but in either case to lash out into Oaths is a plain token of an impotent mind that hath no rule over it self but is hurried away by intemperate Passions which is matter of so much shame to a reasonable Creature and much more to a Disciple of Christ that we should blush to confess so much evil against our selves as to make it the excuse of any other Sin 4. If Swearing be excused under the notion of a compliance with the custom of other men who are our Friends and Companions this pretence indeed carries a shew of civility and kind nature but for all that is the silliest that can readily be thought of and the making of it argues a mean and degenerate mind for although in things of an innocent and indifferent nature 't is commendable for men to remit of their own way and humour and to suit themselves to the customs and manners of those whom they converse with yet to be complaisant in all things without exception is the way to grow as profligate and vile as the Devil would wish any man to be for what wickedness could want Authority if this pretence were once admitted What is this but to proclaim that a man hath lost all sense of difference between good and evil And that he hath left off to judge all things according to their own nature that he hath no more
indeed to convince a man of that mistake that his form of godliness will supply the want of the real power of it But alas where Truth is professed without the mixture of any Doctrinal Errors of this kind there is still too much room left for this practical Error of holding the truth in unrighteousness For whilst some men are led into sin by Error do not others who are guilty of the same sins hope that they shall be overlooked for the sake of their opposition to those Errors and the professing and maintaining the contrary Truth 'T is true that our Church according to the truth of the Scriptures and the clearest reason that there is for any thing in the world holds forth a necessity of actual reformation in order to God's Pardon and eternal Life and we disclaim all manner of ways to supply the want of effectual repentance and a thorough change of heart and life from Sin to God But my Brethren let us lay one Particular seriously to heart under this General and that is this That our very Profession of this Truth in the natural and proper sense of it That without holiness no man shall see the Lord will not serve our turn without the practice of it our profession of the necessity of an holy life is not that holy life which is necessary And if the unavoidableness of professing some Religion and the desire we have to keep our Sins too works this way upon us as to make us trust in the purity of our Profession we are guilty of one Error as pernicious if we continue in it as if a thousand more were added to it I say if we continue in it for there is this advantage of a true and pure profession of Christianity that whosoever makes it to use the words of our Saviour in a sense something different he is not far from the Kingdom of God there is less to do to recover him to repentance no false Principle being in the way to hinder it he lies open to Exhortation and Persuasion and every serious Instruction and Admonition smites his very Conscience he feels the truth that is delivered to him there is that within him which confesseth it all and will not easily let him be quiet till it hath made him a new man But to proceed 3. In some Persons a dishonourable opinion of God may be the reason of expecting his Rewards without performing the Duties of Purity and Charity I fear there are those in the world who think that God hath appointed the confession of his Name with Prayer and Thansgivings and other holy Offices of Religion that by these things men might give him the satisfaction of hearing the greatness of his Perfections and the excellency of his Works applauded by his Creatures and therefore that these things being performed they have entitled themselves to his thanks and favour But this is in truth to have but a very low and mean opinion of the Divine Majesty and seems to suppose God to be altogether such an one as our selves who perhaps are so vain as to take great delight in our own praises and love to be flattered into a great opinion of our selves If we believe worthily of the Divine Nature we must say That because God is holy and good therefore he will have men to be so and that he expects to be glorified by us to be confessed and adored not that he needeth us or is taken with our commendations of him but because it is infinitely fit and reasonable and equitable that we should thus worship him and because this is a necessary means also of forming our minds and actions into the likeness of what God is and of what he does in the World We are mistaken if we think that our Saviour is beholden to us for keeping up the profession of his Name or that some great Interest of his is served when Religion gets ground upon the World because there will be more and more to speak his Praise and to celebrate his Goodness and his Greatness as if he were like some one of those great men who if they have Flatterers enough and can make others seem to honour them though there be no such matter are very well pleased The Religion of our Saviour was not sent into the world for the ostentation of his Power and Greatness and he plainly told us that he sought not his own honour It is indeed our indispensible duty to honour him before all the World with all expressions of gratitude and humble reverence and we are most inexcusable and wretched Creatures if we do it not But the end of his Religion was to turn us from our iniquities and to make us a peculiar people zealous of good works and so far as this Design takes so far he approves of us otherwise he hath plainly told us what we are to expect from him even that Sentence Depart from me ye that work iniquity I know you not 4. The conceit and expectation of some unpromised mercy of God must necessarily be one ingredient into the presumption oâ— those men that hold the truth in unrighteousness For the Threatnings of God's Word are so undeniably plain that a man of sense who believes the truth as it is in Jesus can have no ease under a guilty Conscience but upon a supposition that God will or may at least abate something of the rigour of his threatning and accept of less perhaps a Death-bed Repentance of less I say than he hath required This seems to be at the bottom of their Confidence of whom our Lord foretold that they should say Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name c. that is to say they had been instrumental to maintain and support his Doctrine in the World and expostulate now with him as if they always had some secret hope this would at last be accepted though there was no promise of it before-hand But to prevent this presumption Our Saviour hath said before-hand Then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of iniquity which plain dealing was very necessary For though it is true that he that threatens punishment doth not delight in taking punishment but intends to prevent the fault yet when God threatens for this end and adds moreover Declaration upon the Threatning That he will not spare if the fault be not prevented 't is an affront to him to presume that he will spare for all that To conclude Let us seriously lay to heart these words of our Saviour which are an answer to the most concerning Question in the World who are they that shall be saved Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of our father which is in heaven He that can say I was by my natural temper and inclination thus and thus but the Religion of Jesus and the Worship of God according to the Gospel hath given me a new heart and a new nature and
though I was addicted to sensuality and uncleanness and to the Vices of my natural Constitution yet by the Grace of God and power of Faith I am what I am quite another man than I was by my corrupted Nature So much as there is of this in the World so much true Religion there is in it and no more and so many as there are who can thus approve themselves to God so many shall be saved and no more All other Reliefs will fail all other Foundations will ruin a man in the time of his distress they will deceive him at the hour of death or at the day of Judgement and therefore that men might not deceive themselves our Saviour concludes his Precepts and Cautions in this effectual manner Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended and the flouds came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it But let not that happen to us which St. James saith He that is an hearer of the word and not a doer thereof is like to a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass and for the time knoweth himself but then goeth away and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was Which Similitude is not so much intended to expose the nature of the folly in hearing and believing and in doing nothing as to assign the reason of it i. e. If ye would not be hearers only but doers of the word take care that the convictions of Truth and the impressions which it makes upon your minds when you hear it do not slide away just as the Image of a man's Countenance which the Glass hath made in his imagination vanishes away when he turns from the Glass and he does not so well know his own as any other man's face The Doctrine of our Saviour doth represent us to our selves and sheweth us our own Actions what they are and our Consciences witness thereto while we hear those plain and powerful words of his which are laid up in the Evangelists But if we straightway forget what we are and what we should be and take no care to make his word abide in us then as the same Apostle says we shall be hearers only but not doers of the word deceiving our own selves The Eleventh Sermon JOHN VII 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God AMongst the many Arguments in Scripture persuading to an upright Intention and honest Conversation this in the Text is fit to be propounded and considered as being not only weighty in it self as all the rest are but adapted to allure the curious temper of man and most proper for them who are most inquisitive after knowledge and likely to be effectual with the most prudent who aim at the best knowledge For 1. The knowledge spoken of in the Text is that of the Wisdom of God or his Revelations to Mankind by Jesus Christ and it is of infinite importance to us for it concerns the welfare of our immortal Souls and this should invite us to endeavour after it through the most difficult methods that could be propounded But 2. For our great encouragement the method laid down in the Text is easy to apprehend and obvious to all Capacities it is easy likewise to put in practice it requires nothing but a willing mind If any man will do the will of God if he will but walk according to his present light if he intends to learn that he may practice he shall know 3. The Promise is universal in respect of the Object being made to all If any man will do his will no man who is capable of being sincere and honest is excluded therefore every man is concerned in the Promise the Condition is not only possible to all but being performed the Promise is sure to all therefore this method will fail no man For 4. The promise is made by him who is the way the truth and the life he himself whose Doctrine it is that we would learn and best knows that method by which we may learn it hath given us this assurance That if we make Piety and Virtue our first design we shall know 5. The Promise is universal in respect of the matter of it he shall know of the doctrine i. e. of the whole Doctrine whatsoever is necessary or greatly profitable to the end of knowledge He shall not therefore only learn in general that the Doctrine of Christianity is of God but the particular Doctrines that are so so likewise he shall know the same things better than he did before this method will confirm us and give us the best assurance it will keep us from wandring and doubting afterwards and if we shall know the Truth and know the same more perfectly then the motive is proper to be used in all Ages of the Church and we have reason to think our selves concerned in it Lastly It is yet a greater encouragement to follow this method if we consider that no man can possibly miss of Happiness in that way which our Saviour here prescribes for the attainment of the best knowledge what reason have I to take that way of arriving to sound knowledge which hath not only so great a promise to secure me that I shall not miss of that end but which undoubtedly will secure a farther end and one much better and more desirable than that the love of God and the compleat happiness of Soul and Body for ever But now although a man could by other methods arrive to knowledge yet if in the mean time he neglected to do the Will of God he doth not at all provide for his Happiness for tho he had as clear an apprehension as an Angel though he received Revelations from the mouth of our Lord himself or by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost though he had an Infallible Guide to determine all Controversies for him and to clear up the darkness of every doubt yet if all this while he hath a perverse and vicious Will and is carried aside by wandring and unruly Affections and leads a wicked life he is certainly in a way of error as damnable as Heresy but he that arrives at knowledge this way doth thereby also secure his Salvation and Eternal Happiness which certainly is a most powerful recommendation of our Saviour's way especially if you add this consideration that it hath the advantage of all other methods by which we can hope to gain a fight understanding in Religion I know it will be objected That Impious and Profane men have apprehensions as capable of judging what is true and what is false as Good men and oftentimes their Abilities are greater
should commit such Crimes as these not only without regret and horrour but with a chearful Conscience and the expectation of heaven in reward of their actions Wherefore that I might not lose the use of my understanding in most plain and evident matters that I might not be weaker than a Child or an Idiot I would never engage my self with the Contentious and Factious I would not dare to trust my self with a Party and would not serve a Cause but acknowledge a mistake though it were my Friend and follow truth where-ever it led me For nothing is more evident in the experience of the world than this That when men are led aside by their worldly Interests when their Reputations are engaged and they are made fast to a Party their understandings are so disabled that in a short time they confidently put themselves upon defending things most unjustifiable and believing things that are most incredible and impossible Let us therefore allow St. Peter's direction to lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envyings and evil speakings and that for the reason by him given viz. that we may desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may desire and aim at the knowledge of the Truth for where that Assembly of Sins is got together or indeed where any one of them is it is apt to extinguish that very love of Truth the very desire of knowing it To proceed Luxury also and Voluptuousness and an impure course of Life is a very great impediment to the knowledge of the truth sometimes by introducing such Diseases as shatter the understanding and dull the apprehension they that always swim in sensual delights meet with rough and tempestuous Seas sometimes that shake their Bodies and at length Reason lik a drowning Pilot drops off and is drowned in pleasures it often happens that the Epicure grows crazy before his time and when his airy Fancy is evaporated by the heats of Youth and his Wit is grown flat and unweildly he himself becomes contemptible to the younger Debauchees that reign in his stead Temperance and Regular living have a kind influence upon the Intellectual Abilities of men to nourish and preserve them and lengthen them and all the while to make them more fit for their proper imployment but much more are they requisite to qualify us for a good understanding of Divine Truth because it requires a serious consideration diligent attention which the Epicure is a stranger to because she is spiritual and the mind cannot converse with her while it meets with the fumes of sensuality because she is of a purifying nature and not more an Enemy to uncleanness than the Voluptuary is averse from her good reason therefore had St. James when he shewed how we should receive the Word with meekness to exhort us that we lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness In a word The bent of the will and affections have such a sway over the understanding that daily experience shews how the same things appears differently to men nay to the same men according to the temper they are in for instance if persons that have lived long friendly together chance to fall out immediately former actions and speeches are remembred and commented upon and an ill construction put upon them though till that time they were taken well enough and yet the things are the same and the understandings of men were as able before as now only there is dislike now instead of the kindness that was before no wonder then if a vicious inclination and a guilty Conscience to obstruct the entrance of truth and sound knowledge into the mind since they must needs create an aversation to it discourse to a greedy worlding of Immortality and laying up treasure in heaven and he can hardly understand what you say 't is as insipid talk to him as a Lecture of Philosophy to a Child that understands nothing but play but fall upon some discourse that tends to getting drop but the hint of a good Bargain he greedily embraces every word and is as apprehensive as heart can wish and guilty men are apt to fortify themselves against all that can be said to disswade them from their beloved sins and that is reason enough why sin doth more or less bar up the understanding against Divine Truth Men love darkeness rather than light because their deeds are evil Now the conclusion from all this is evident on the one side one habitual worldly Lust is enough to hinder the true apprehensive of heavenly things and then how can they who drink iniquity like water who labour to quench the Spirit be fit to receive Divine Truths and to understand the things of the Spirit of God On the other side a sincere intention towards God removes all those impediments which obstruct the force of truth and moreover gives several advantages of its own towards the attainment of sound knowledge therefore it is in it self a fit means for that end A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not but knowledge is easy to him that understandeth 2. There are many great Promises of Knowledge both in the Old and New Testament peculiar to good men but God hath in Justice threatned and by the same Justice he doth often infatuate the understandings of the wicked Now if goodness doth of it self lead to knowledge if there be a supernatural blessing that goes along with the sincere man to prosper his endeavours after knowledge what greater advantages can we desire in order to this end than those which sincerity towards God intitles us too Thus the very Text hath the force of a Promise If any man will do his will he shall know we have our Saviour's word for it and to be sure he will make it good and it appears by other places that something more is here meant than that knowledge is naturally promoted by goodness in Psal 25.9 it is said The meek he will guide in judgment and immediately again The meek he will teach his way Now certainly here is something promised to the meek that is not common to others and the guidance and teaching which is promised denotes clearly a blessing on their understandings But now if this be promised to meekness we cannot doubt but God will more plentifully fulfil his Promise to those who add to meekness purity and temperance and to that an universal love and fear of God and charity towards man especially considering that this Promise is repeated again to such Persons ver 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant where God's Covenant explains what is meant by his secret and by his way ver 9. That way of God in ver 10. is said to be mercy and truth the Covenant of Mercy revealed by Christ which was a secret in former Ages so that the good man he that sincerely loves truth and intends obedience is here promis'd a signal blessing on his
endeavors to know the Covenant of God revealed in the Gospel whether enjoining the Duty he expects from us or promising those benefits and rewards in this or the other life which we may expect from him this very Promise we have again repeated Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous it had been enough if God had passed his but once but since he hath so often repeated it we cannot doubt but that good men shall be blessed with a better apprehension of the things of the Gospel than others In John 8. the like Promises are made and the like Conditions upon which they are made are annexed ver 12. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life shall know all things requisite to Life Eternal ver 32. Ye shall know the truth but 't is upon this condition ver 33. that ye continue in my word and John 14.21 I will love and manifest my self to every one that loveth me and keepeth my Commandments Upon the account of these and the like Promises as well as upon other grounds we may say with the Psalmist Psal 111. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom it is the best most auspicious entrance upon it and they that do thereafter have a good understanding having good security that they cannot fail of it To conclude this particular From all these Promises we may be most assured that every man following the rule of Christ shall not fail of so much knowledge as will secure his Eternal Life and even that is a mighty encouragement to observe this Rule If any of us were sure that some Angel attended us constantly observing all our actions insinuating good counsels and exciting good thoughts when our Passions grow wild and we are on the brink of sin it would infuse a great regard of all we did into us and we should reckon our selves happy men Certainly it is more happy to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God what can be more desirable than to have him who is Wisdom it self opening our ears and sealing Instruction to us blessing our searches into holy things and accompanying our meditations with a ready and prosperous apprehension And this is that we are sure of whilst we are in the way of doing God's will because we are sure he is not slack in his Promises But this advantage will appear so much the greater if we consider that God doth sometimes deliver up wicked men to darkness of understanding and hath threatned that he will do so That he has done so St. Paul shews plainly Rom. 1. by the example of the Gentiles because they detained the truth in unrighteousness ver 19. and did not glorify God with that knowledge which he had given them they first became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned ver 21. So they fell to Idolatry ver 22. and then we find that he gave them up to vile affections and a reprobate i. e. an undiscerning mind which knew no difference between good and evil and that God will deal so with us if we deny him by our works 't is but reasonable to expect tho' he had not said it but he hath given us sufficient warning in the threatning to the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2. Repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place their Candlestick is removed and now they are in Turkish darkness and so the burden of Ephesus is fulfilled But why I beseech you should that admonition be so often repeated in the second and third Chapters He that hath ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the seven Churches but to let us know that the threatnings there denounced belong to the Churches of Europe as well as of Asia and to England as well as to Ephesus And seeing every one has ears to hear and therefore ought to hear therefore every particular man is as liable to the same severity as whole Churches and therefore as by the sins of a Nation God may be provoked to deliver it up to darkness and delusion and to believe lies so for the sins of particular persons he may give them over to a Lying spirit and suffer Seducers to prevail upon them so that they shall not see the plainest truths in Religion nor discern the most gross and monstrous Errors Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they might all be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.11 It is not therefore unreasonable to conclude that the contempt of all holy things that reigns amongst many wicked men is from the Judgment of God giving them up to a reprobate mind their habitual Vices have violated their natural Instincts and raised out the sense of good and evil and moreover the vengeance of God's wrath is upon them giving them over to their own vileness permitting them to run on in wickedness without the checks and restraints of his good Spirit and to defy the goodness of God and to laugh at Counsels and Admonitions and to make haste to their own perdition thereby fulfilling that Prophecy of Daniel referring to the Times of the Gospel The wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wiched shall understand Dan. 12.10 Of what hath been said the sum is this If godliness be in it self a fit means to promote the knowledge of truth if it hath moreover a sure word of promise which the unrighteous have not That the righteous shall be assisted in the search of truth and if on the other hand ungodly men are under so many natural impediments that obstruct the knowledge of the truth and moreover lye under such severe threatnings of blindness it must needs follow that supposing the Good and the Bad to be equally endued with natural Abilities of understanding and equally enjoying the external means of knowledge that the former has vast advantages yet above the latter which was the first thing to be shown The Second is That there is some knowledge of Divine things that cannot be attained by the wicked man while he so continues though in other respects he be never so much superior to the righteous and that is the experimental knowledge of Religion which does above all other things confirm the Faith of a good Christian he that doth the will of God understands the power of good Principles to fortify him against temptations to restrain him from sin to keep him to his Duty to render it pleasant and delightful to him to moderate him in his prosperity and to support him in adversity and by all this he understands the great worth and excellency of true Religion incomparably better than any man who can talk learnedly and argue dexterously about it but never felt the