that is made to us by Truth concerning God He is represented worthy himself and so as we may credit what is said of him III. The ingenuous Operation that Divine Truth hath upon Mens Minds IV. Its Fitness to Man's State V. The Agency of the Divine Spirit in pursuance of it As to Morals we have the full Concurrence with us of Heathen Authors all those that are any whit reform'd And for the rest we have a good Rule in Philosophy which tells us that he is incompetent to give Testimony upon account of Morality that is himself vicious For he that is vicious is himself a Moral Monster And upon a Moral Consideration every Man is vicious that either is stupidly ignorant or dissolute and profane And their Judgment in point of Truth is considerable In Morals all those of the Heathens that have attain'd to any Reformation either to the Improvement of their Intellectuals or the Refinement of their Morals they all concur with these immutable and indispensable Verities And as to those reveal'd the several Parts of History concur in all the Things that the Evangelists do declare concerning Christ. It is very true there have been in the World several Persons that have grosly neglected the Materials of Natural Knowledge so that Men have suffered their Faculties to lie asleep The Mind and Understanding have been in most Men useless and unemploy'd And there hath been invincible Ignorance as to the great Points of Reveal'd Truth in several Ages and Places of the World But this I dare assure you that there never was any considerable Opposition against the main Principles of Natural or Reveal'd Truth by those that have any knowledge of it No Man of any Competency of Knowledge or Proportion of Goodness hath risen up against any of these great Instances of Morality or the main Articles of Christian Faith But these have had as I may say Universal Acknowledgment For if any have risen up against them they have been incompetent and so of no Moral Consideration The Universal Acknowledgement of a Thing for Truth doth not lie in every individual Persons receiving it for then you have nothing that is of Universal Acknowledgement but in the due and even Proportion it bears to the Universal Reason of Mankind This Principle no Man in his Wits will deny That it is impossible that the same thing should be and not be at the same time Yet some were so perverse and cross absurd and degenerate from sober Reason that they did deny it And Plutarch saith That nothing yet was ever in the World so absurd but some have held it Therefore we may entertain that which any sober Man in the due Use of Reason hath entertain'd and proposed upon Terms of Reason for the Satisfaction of others And we may conclude that the Universal Acknowledgement of a Thing as Truth it doth not depend upon every individual Persons receiving of it but upon the even and true Proportion that things bear to the Universal Reason of Mankind This is all that can be said when Men pretend to prove any thing by Universal Reason Thus the Being of a God is proved by Universal Reason For except only Monsters those that are upon the Account of Morality very Monsters Persons that have grosly neglected their Understandings and lived like Beasts none else but have acknowledged Deity Men improved in their Intellectuals and refin'd in their Morals have received and entertain'd it on Grounds of Reason It is observable that the great Differences that have been between Men in the several Ages of the World they have not been about any necessary and indispensable Truth nor any thing that is declared plainly in any Text of Scripture But all the Differences have been either in Points of very curious and nice Speculation or in Arbitrary Modes of Worship Now notwithstanding these Differences I dare say and give assurance that God gives Men leave with a safe Conscience to live in Peace and to keep the Communion of the Church of God in the World and to submit to the Government Whosoever hath professed himself a Christian doth acknowledge Christ to be the Head The Christian World scattered into particular Ways and multiplied into Sects and Parties yet do agree in the great and bright Truths of Reason and Christianity such as are fixed and of the greatest Magnitude The Mahometans themselves did never charge Moses or Christ as being Impostors For they acknowledge Moses as we do for a true Prophet and go along with us in the History of Christ till the Fourteenth of John and Vers. 16. and there is their first Departure They acknowledge all that is related concerning Christ Only they tell us that what Christ said of sending the Spirit and another Comforter is meant of Mahomet and they tell us that our Saviour set down his Name but afterwards his Disciples put it out They acknowledge Christ to be a true Prophet and beyond Moses and out of respect to him they deny all that is said about his Death and Crucifixion Reason doth suppose two things by which we may be further confirm'd in the Truth of our Religion 1 st That if it had been a Cheat and an Imposture it would have been deprehended in length of Time being often told and in several Ages and Companies sometimes by parts sometimes together and under several Circumstances and upon several Occasions there would have been some Differences in the Relations Had there been any thing false in our Religion * or that were not solid true and substantial it having past through sixteen Ages being above Sixteen hundred Years old those Men that lived before us being inferiour to none of us for Parts they would have deprehended it as guilty and forewarn'd us of it Therefore we may take it for granted that the great Matters of Natural Knowledge and Faith that have pass'd through so many Ages and Generations are solid true and substantial and that the Book call'd the Bible which hath run done from the time of our Saviour and his Apostles to this Day may be received with double Assurance Credit and Advantage For Error and Falshood is never long-liv'd but Truth is Eternal and that which will continue for ever 2 dly I do suppose another thing with great Reason and that is considering the Goodness of God the Care he has of his Creatures his Love to Truth and the Respect that he bears to those that worship him that he would not suffer the Good Intentions of such to be abused by any Imposture nor suffer that which is false to take such place in all Times and Ages of the World without the least Check or Controul But some may object if this be so what say you to the Mahometans and the great Factions that have been in the World and prevailed Are not these Testimonies against the Truth of our Religion As for Mahomet he had only the Assistance of an Apostate Monk who taught him to compound a Religion
Notions of things in Minds in respect of their Acts and Vertues Truth received into the Mind by Knowledge is to the Soul as Leaven put into the Meal It is as natural that Will should follow as that Understanding should go first We first receive from God by mental Illumination there Judgment passes into Victory God enlightens the World by the Sun in reference to Actions of several Creatures He doth not illuminate the intellectual World of Spirits viz. Angels and Souls by the Influence and Communication of himself to less purpose Wheresoever God who is the Father of Light and God of Truth sends his Rays and Beams into the Souls of Men there he expects the Mind to be purified as well as enlightned And in case of failure he will severely challenge the Impediment The imprisoning and controuling of Truth is an Action of the highest Injury and Offence to God that a Man can commit beyond what we can easily imagine For whosoever hath received any thing from God by Mental Illumination if he doth not pursue it to the Refinement of his Spirit he doth counter-work God He who stifles or goes against his Knowledge doth in effect give a Check to God's working in him For us thus to do would be to reject God where we most find and feel him to strike at the Image of God in our selves What would not this naughty Disposition of Heart against Heart carry Man out to if he had Power and Opportunity against God For doth it not declare a Displacency and Antipathy against God for Man to run from that in himself which immediately comes from God beares his Image hath his Stamp upon it Where the Truth of God is inwardly disgusted disrelished so as not to be concocted and turned into Spiritual Nourishment is not there an exasperated and implacable Spirit against God Truth is connatural to a Man's Soul and in Conjunction with it becomes the Mind's Temper Complexion Constitution therefore must be kindly used What Health and Strength are to the Body that Truth is to the Mind and Understanding The former makes Men strong vigorous Bodily active the latter clears the Sight cures all Infirmities of the Mind What Obstructions are in the Body which are mischievous to Operations of Nature that violent Detensions of Notices and Principles of Action or Contradictions to the Reason of the Mind are in intelectual Life What we eat and drink if it be not first subdued by the power of Nature and then convey'd to the several parts of the Body for their Sustenance and Nutriment becomes matter of Disease and Sickness Knowledge is the Mind 's * Sustenance and Nutriment therefore is not ultimately to rest in Understanding but in Will and Affections should become Goodness and in Conversation and Actions of Life produce Obedience and is the same thing under several Denominations and in respect to different Habitudes and distinct Functions and Purposes as the Sea which is one and the same is one-where called the Mediterranean in another place the German Ocean and the like The Understanding is not enlightned finally for it self but * is as the Eye * which receives Light for the Use and Service Guidance and Direction of the Body In intelectual Nature first the Understanding satisfies it self in the Reason of things then the Will gives consent and the Notion forthwith becomes matter of Action Life and Practice The Understanding in the Perfection of Knowledge and the Will not in a Disposition of Goodness makes no Harmony but are vastly disproportionable As it is the most unsafe so it is the most uneasie Condition to any Person to KNOW and not to BE to know and not to do to have Judgment of Right and Conscience of Iniquity And were I to tell Men what is Hell on this side Hell I should * after that manner describe it A refractory Will exorbitant Lusts and strong Passions and Affections are unruly things under the single command of Judgment Men were as good to be exposed to the Fury of wild Horses Elihu speaks of the Notions of the Mind as things which do elevate and transport The hollow Earth inclosing Wind or Air without Vent is as easily kept from the Motion of Trepidation or Earth-quake as the guilty Conscience from Anxiety and Confusion It is as easie for a Man to carry Fire in his Breast as to offer Violence to Truth within one's self and not to be in a State of Self-condemnation I now come to make Inquiry since such a thing is so deformed and ugly so horrid and monstrous so unnatural and violent how comes it to pass that such a thing is found in the Common-wealth of Mankind who is made and constituted by God the Governour of this World whereas there is nothing of this in inferiour Nature But all inferior Nature keeps its Order * To give Account of this in Four Particulars 1 st The least that is be said in the Case is a great part of Men live in a Hurry and are seldom at leisure to consider or attend There are Avocations Distractions and other Employments that make Men * of no Ability as to the Judgment or discerning of Truth For its a true Maxim A Man's Parts and Wit is where 't is used and employ'd A neglected Faculty may shrivel up to nothing But to be nobly and generously employ'd and to use the Faculties of God's Creation in us according to the Intention for which they were given this is both conservative to our Nature and agreeable to Truth We give too little Attendance to Truth entertain it too slightly to have it at command We live in a fleshly and worldly Spirit and at the World's Call hurried on by every Lust being distemper'd and disaffected within disturbed and interrupted from without We are not at leisure to attend upon Truth to receive it to obey it Men drudge in the World debase their Faculties make their intelectual Faculties very Gibeonites employ them about base mean and worldly Employments They are not in a Disposition to receive and entertain Truth Men have abused themselves brought themselves by unnatural Practice into an unnatural State so * they disgust and disrelish Truth Men give themselves up to worldly Drudgery the mean Avocations and Distractions of the World So they are never at leisure to mind these things And no Man is valuable sufficient or competent to give a Judgment to make a Report wherein he is not exercised wherein he is not greatly considerative Man unless he sometimes take himself out of the World by Self-reflection and Retirement he will be little himself in the World and in danger of losing himself He will have very poor Enjoyment of himself and little Use of his Powers and Faculties especially as to Spiritual Acts wherein he is most concerned and most perfected This is out Temptation and hereby we come to be deceived because things severally consider'd are within the Compass of lawful Imployment therefore we little doubt
Beniamin Whichcot S. S. T. Professor Select Sermons OF D r WHICHCOT In TWO PARTS MAT. XI 15. He that hath Ears to hear let him hear LONDON Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row MDCXCVIII THE PREFACE AMongst those many Things which are made Publick it may be thought perhaps of Sermons that they are of any other the least wanted and for the future least likely to be found wanting since to that rich and inexhaustible Store with which the Learned and Orthodox Divines of England have already furnished us there is daily fresh addition from worthy and able Hands Neither have we cause to fear a Cessation in this kind or that so great a Blessing is likely to fail us for the future having such security not only from the unwearied Zeal of present Divines of whom we may always hope a worthy Succession but from the just esteem which the Publick never fails to shew for such pious Discourses Upon which account we find that many of these are every day made Publick and as it were forced into the World notwithstanding the great Modesty of their Authors whose Humble Thoughts and devoutly resigned Affections lead them not towards Eminence and Advancement in the World It may seem strange therefore that in such an Age as this any one should be so officious as to search after and publish the Sermons of a Man long since dead who himself never meant to Publish any or thought so highly of himself as that he could benefit the World by such a Publication It is certain that we must not ever imagine nor can it enter into a Mind truly Christian that because we see not an apparent Change for the better in the Lives of Christian Professors that therefore all Preaching is ineffectual or that here in England the Labours of the most Eminent Divines that perhaps the World ever afforded have been of no use at all It might be said with the same reason tho' very prophanely and wickedly that because the Christians are not reported to exceed the other Nations of the World in Probity and Good Living but are said to be rather inferior in this respect to the Civilized People whether Pagan or Mahometan lying round them that therefore the Christian Religion is of no effect at all nor any ways operative upon the Lives of its Professors But if we consider this as becomes us and not perversely as many do it will be found that we are even in this sense the most highly indebted to Christianity and should look upon It as the greatest Blessing imaginable not only for its spiritual Advantages which are Unspeakable but for its Temporal Benefits and Securities inasmuch as that Mankind being so inclinable to Ill we should have a Religion so full of all good Precepts and so enforcing with respect to all the Duties of Morality and Justice So that our Amazement ought rather to be how Men with such a Religion should lead such Lives and how Malice Hatred or Division should have place in such Societies as these which we might expect to see distinguished from all others rather by a perfect Harmony and Agreement than by the fiercest Quarrels Contentions and Animosities And indeed when we consider the Nature of Preaching how excellent an Order and Establishment it is how highly raised and magnified in the Christian World When we consider Numbers of Holy Men set apart for this great Work having all advantages given them the better to set forth those Glorious Truths of Revelation and to create a Reverence of Religion in the Minds of Men when we consider the Solemnity of a Church-Assembly and the awful Presence and Authority of the Christian Orator we may be apt to wonder perhaps why we see not greater and more happy Effects hereof in the World However we must of Necessity conclude That this Institution being undoubtedly so powerful a support of our Religion if such Assemblies as these were not upheld if such Authority as this did not subsist the consequence would be that as in a little time there would be no more Christianity left in the World so neither any Morality since notwithstanding all the Helps of Preaching and the Assistance and Support which Virtue receives from hence the Lives of Men are still so far from being Reform'd and the World so little Improved in these latter Ages But how reverently soever we have cause to think concerning this Institution and the undoubted good Effects of it upon Mankind and whatever high Opinion and Esteem we may justly have of their Performance in whose Hands this Power is placed it seems not wholly impossible but that there may be some Defect in this great Affair and that the Causes of ill Success may not lye altogether in the Depravity Perverseness or Stupidity of Mankind who are the Hearers and Readers of these Doctrines In some Countries and amongst some sorts of Christians we have seen that the Whole of this Institution has not been appropriated to Spirituals but that a great part of those Divine Exhortations have had something in common with the Policies of the World and the Affairs of Government And of whatsoever Benefit this may have been to Mankind or to the Peace of the Christian World it must be own'd that Preaching it self will be so much the less apt to make any happy Revolution in Manners as it has at any time been serviceable to Revolutions in State or to the support of any other Interest than that of Christ's Kingdom Nor do we find since the Arts of Government and Mysteries of Religion have been thus suited together that either has been much advantag'd by the Union it having never yet appear'd that Divinity has been greatly better'd by Policy or that Policy has been any where mended by Divinity Amongst those Writers who have been forward in making this Unprosperous Alliance and Building a Political Christianity there has been * one of our Nation in the Time wherein our Author liv'd who whether he may have been serviceable any way to the Civil Government or Christian Church it may be concluded at least that he has done but very ill Service in the Moral World And however other parts of Philosophy may be obliged to him Ethicks will appear to have no great share in the Obligation He has indeed with great Zeal and Learning been oppos'd by all the eminent and worthy Divines of the Church of England And had the same Industry been applied to the Correction of his Moral Principles as has been bestow'd in refuting some other of his Errours it might perhaps have been of more Service to Religion in the Main This is He who reckoning up the Passions or Affections by which Men are held together in Society live in Peace or have any Correspondence one with another forgot to mention Kindness Friendship Sociableness Love of Company and Converse Natural Affection or any thing of this kind I say Forgot because I can scarcely think so
the Margin r. Mat. 18. p. 363. in the Margin r. 1 John 4. 18. p. 366. l. 16. r. Imprudence p. 394. l. 11. r. Impetuosity p. 446. l. 10. r. Members SERMON I. JOHN VII 46. Never Man spake like this Man BEcause there are amongst us those who are bold to call into question DEITY those who dispute against the main and principal Matters of Christian Faith under pretence of Reason the Excellency of God's Creation by which I will be concluded therefore I make choice of these Words to deal with them with their own Instrument Never any Man spake as our Lord and Saviour I will not lay the Stress of my Argument upon the Credit of those who spake these Words for they were I know not whom And I will make no more Advantage than I will give to the Devil himself who is related to speak many things that are â—â—â—orted in Scripture But I will found my Argument on the Quality of the Matter Yet it is considerable that they who are engaged in the contrary * Party are declared Enemies and have a contrary Interest that even they are over-born and so far subdued as to make an Acknowledgment There are among us Persons that are Sensual and out-right Brutish that put off Human Nature and discharge themselves of Principles of Reason and Understanding I think no Man doubts of this It seems to be evident and undeniable Yea they themselves are self-condemn'd in what they do And Men that do distemper themselves and put themselves out of the Use of their Reason when they do recover they wish they could do otherwise But then there are those that pretend to dispute against Deity and under Excuse of Reason pretend to be Atheists These make a great Bluster and Noise in the World and undertake to defend themselves with Show and Colour of Reason and Argument And again There are those who will admit of Principles of Reason to the full and all the immediate necessary Results and unavoidable Deductions from it and yet they sâ—ick at Reveal'd Truth pretending Want of Evidence and a Failure in point of Assurance and of infallible Conviction and Confirmation These Men avoid Atheism But stick in Infidelity * Now with him that pretends to Atheism or * who if he doth acknowledge Deity is an Infidel and sticks at Reveal'd Truth these two last I will deal with from this Scripture For * as for the first sort they being self-condemn'd are easily convinc'd Among other Excellencies of Divine Truth this is none of the smallest Weight that when it is declared it doth recommend it self to and satisfies the Mind of Man concerning its Reality and Usefulness Men are wanting to themselves that they do not see with their own Eyes that they do not make a particular Search that they do not examine that they do not consider or in a word that they do not use the Judgment of discerning For we that are of the Reform'd Religion who deny the infallible visible Judge we do allow to every Christian a private Judgment of discerning not * only as his Priviledge that God hath granted him * but as his Charge Where People are of no Education have no Liberty or Advantage in respect of Leisure or other Opportunities we do advise them to use Modesty and Humility and to be rather Learners than forward to Teach For it is good Councel and it is that which is done in all other Affairs Whosoever he be that hath not the Opportunity to acquaint himself with the Mystery it is safer for him to make use of other Expedients than for him to be peremptory in a Resolution But this for certain Men are wanting to themselves if they do not see with their own Eyes if they do not search and use a Judgment of discerning For Men attain to no settled State in Religion no Heights or Excellency of Spirit who do not make a Discernment by their Judgments But they run away with Presumptions Suppositions with conceited Imaginations with received Dictates are Light of Faith credulous do comply with others in Sence in Judgment in Practice And it is their Necessity so to do if they will not make Matters of Knowledge their Business There cannot be receiving of Truth in the Love of it and consequently in the certain Obedience of it where there is not receiving of Truth in the particular Judgment of the certain Verity of it and the Sence of the Goodness of it This Advantage Truth hath It hath so much of Self-evidence it is so satisfactory to the Reason of an ingenuous Mind that it will prevail unless there be an Indisposition in the Receiver This I take for the certainest Matter of Experience All things are according to the Disposition of the Receiver one Man will interpret into a Courtesie that which another turns into an Injury According as Men are in Preparation and Disposition of Mind so will things be entertain'd that are offered to Consideration and proposed But Truth if it doth appear if it be represented and fairly proposed it will find Entertainment in a Man's Mind if a Man's Mind be not by contrary Indisposition made in an Incapacity Truth is the Soul's Health and Strength natural and true Perfection As increated Wisdom speaks to God Prov. 8. 30. so Truth speaks the same Language to Man's Soul I was by him as one brought up with him I was daily his Delight Truth is so near to the Soul * so much the very Image and Form of it that it may be said of Truth that as the Soul is by Derivation from God so Truth by Communication No sooner doth the Truth of God come to our Souls sight but our Soul knows her as her first and old Acquaintance Which tho' they have been by some Accident unhappily parted a great while yet having now through the Divine Providence happily met they greet one another and renew their Acquaintance as those that were first and ancient Friends Truth is of a different Emanation for I cannot distinguish Truth in it self but in way of descent to us Truth either of first Inscription or of after Revelation from God The Truth of first Inscription is Connatural to Man it is the Light of God's Creation and it flows from the Principles of which Man doth consist in his very first Make This is the Soul's Complexion And Truth of after Revelation is the Soul's Cure the Remedy for the Mind's Ease and Relief The great Expectation of Souls is the Promise of God's Messiah They wait for the Consolation of Israel For this hath been the State of the World Man in Degeneracy and Apostacy disabled himself prejudiced his Interest in God Losing his Interest by his Degeneracy and Apostacy he is in Hope and Expectation of some Revelation from God concerning Terms of Reconciliation and Recovery And when these did appear then * was it said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace Here comes Truth of after Revelation for the Recovery
says that after one whom they called Jesus came to be worshipp'd they never could receive any more Benefits by any of their Gods One of the Roman Emperors was so possess'd with what was related concerning a Kingly Race among the Jews and was so startled with the Credibleness of the Report that he set himself to destroy all of the Family Publius Lentulus gives the Senate an Account that he saw himself and was an Eye-witness of the Man Jesus among the Jews who cured all Diseases and raised from the Dead Insomuch that Tertullian bids the Heathen Emperor search their Records For your own Kalender * says he recites the Things that are done by our Saviour This in the Days of Julian who was turn'd off by the Feuds and Exasperations by the Factions and Divisions among those that were call'd Christians Insomuch that he hated Christianity but otherwise a Man of eminent Justice and Good to the Common-wealth One who was a Philosopher gives an Account of the Christian Religion The Christian Religion says he consisting in Spiritual Worship and Devotion to God Purity of Mind holy and unblameable Conversation of all things that are call'd Religion it is the most Entire most Pure but only mightily hurt by some who have fill'd it with superstitious Things So that we may resolve that the Difficulty of Faith arises from the wicked State of the Subject rather than from the Incredibility of the Object It is hard to act otherwise than the State from within doth dispose a Man It is not imaginable that any Man can believe contrary to the Life he lives in When he lives in the State of eternal Death to believe eternal Life Or to believe the Pardon of Sin when he lives in it and slights the Sin he lives in For our Saviour says You cannot believe because of your wicked Hearts It cannot stand together To live in Sin and to look for Pardon of Sin For God doth not give to any one that is impenitent the Power of Faith Be not conform'd to this wicked World but be ye transform'd by the renewing of your Mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable Will of God Intimating that if a Man lead a wicked and ungodly Life if a Man in respect of State Complexion and Constitution of Soul be in Contradiction to the Principles of Religion the Principles of God's Creation he cannot prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God They that were in a Religious Disposition did readily believe and entertain our Saviour and acknowledge him to be the Messiah that was promis'd of old But those that were perfectly obstinate in the Pharisaick Disposition they rejected him And this is clearly true that Men cannot believe while they live in Sin and are in Impenitency and are under the Commands of their Lusts. For we find that an ingenuous Mind and one that is a true Penitent he doth with more Difficulty forgive himself than God doth He that is truly affected and cordially turns to God he is truly sensible of the Deformity and Impurity of Sin Though Repentance give Heart's Ease and Satisfaction and tend to the Quiet of his Mind yet he doth more hardly excuse himself than God doth But a Man that is wedded to the World that is under the Power of his Lusts that applauds and magnifies himself in Self-will is given up to the Affectation Arrogancy and Self-assuming how can this Man give himself Satisfaction concerning Pardon of Sin when he is in a contrary Spirit in a contrary Disposition He cannot believe that God will pardon Sin because he himself doth not pardon any other Offender God's Goodness well consider'd speaks him to be propitious and inclinable to Compassion But Impenitency speaks a Man's Incapacity of being pardon'd This is the Sum. All Divine Truth is of one of these two Emanations Either it flows from God in the first Instant and Moment of God's Creation and then it is the Light of that Candle which God set up in Man to light him and that which by this Light he may discover are all the Instances of Morality of good Affection and Submission towards God the Instances of Justice and Righteousness of Men and Temperance to himself Or else it is of an after Revelation and Discovery Man being out of the Way of his Creation by his Defection from God is recover'd by this Revelation Upon this Consideration that Man was never better than finite and fallible and considering that we have given an Offence and * considering the Relation that God stands in to his Creatures and that he is the first and chiefest Goodness it is * what may be fairly supposed that God will recover his Creation one way or other Wherefore that which the New Testament doth discover is that which was in general Expectation Now the Terms of the new Covenant are possible to Sinners They are Just and Fit Reasonable and Equal They are to us who are departed from Truth Restorative They are satisfactory to our Mind and quieting to our Conscience For if I have offended against the Rule of Right I ought to repent of it confess it be sorry for it and do my endeavour to commit it no more And there is Reason to think that God can pardon For every ones Right is in his own Power Every one doth dispose of his Right in that way which he will Since therefore it is God's Right upon the Failure of Obedience to reduce the Creature by Punishment it is in his Power to abate of Punishment if he pleases or to remit it And it is most reasonable to think that God should be allow'd to do this in what way he would Therefore we conclude that all the Instances of Christian Doctrine either they are fairly knowable if we use our Faculties and Understanding * and these are the great Instances of Morality and Principles of Reason or else if we do consider those Things that are considerable in the Case the Things of Reveal'd Truth are of fair and easie Belief The former of these the great Principles of Reason they are * by awakened Minds easily and readily found out The latter are * by prepar'd Minds fairly admitted and entertained This I say against the Atheism of the prophane World and those that do affect to be Infidels because they pretend they have not the Assurance of former Times * nor of powerful Miracles I will now instance in those Assurances that we have to settle us in the Entertainment of Divine Truth And they are these Five I. They are concurrent with the Sence of the Heathens and Strangers who do agree with us in all the Instances of Morality in these we cannot speak beyond them they speak and act so as to shame us For how many of us do act below them in these Particulars and as to many Things of the New Testament concerning Christ we have great Testimony from them as was shew'd II. The Representation
out of Gentilism and Judaism and in the Composition that he hath made so far as he hath added any thing of his own it is so contemptible to sober Reason and so contrary to those things that he hath taken out of the Old Testament that it is not hard to detect him for a Cheat and an Imposter For devest him but of those things which he stole out of the Bible and that which is his own will appear base vile and contemptible to the Reason of Mankind and most ridiculous Now if God had given Testimony to his Religion it would have been in a way of Reason and most agreeable to the Understandings of Men and not in a way of stupid Ignorance but in such a way as might challenge the greatest Opposers to find any thing contrary to those Prinples of Reason and Understanding which he hath planted in Man's Mind But as to Mahomet History doth declare him to be a Person of a Debauch'd Life and one that had not Credit in the time of his Life As to the great Factions that have been in the several Ages though they have been many Persons yet they have been but one Party and one Party is to be consider'd but as one Opinion for if there be a thousand Men in a Party it is but one Opinion and one single Person is as much as a whole Party All those of a Party are bound up to one Opinion * and to believe as their Party believes Therefore I except against those that have blindly gone on without Consideration For these have not acted by the Guidance of Humane Reason Now I shall give you some Intrinsick Arguments by which I shall convince those of their Wickedness and Folly that affect either Atheism or Infidelity The first is this which is the second Assurance we have of Divine Truth The Representation that Religion makes to the Mind of Man concerning God even such a Representation as the Mind of Man if duly used and well informed would conceive concerning him For God is represented Lovely Amiable and Beautiful in the Eyes of Men and what is said of God is worthy of Him and is consistent with what Man is made to think or know concerning him For this is truly Divine and God-like to do Good to relieve to compassionate and on the contrary it is Diabolical and most opposite to the Divine Nature to destroy to grieve to oppress And what a relation doth the Bible make of God to be Merciful Gracious Long-suffering Full of Compassion So * on the other side how is the Devilish Nature describ'd and represented to us The Devilish Nature is hurtful given to Malice Hatred and Revenge but the Divine Nature is placable and reconcileable ready to forgive full of Compassion and of great Goodness and Kindness This for the Representation that both Old and New Testament make of God and this is agreeable to the Sense of every awaken'd Mind All that the Gospel requires is Repentance from Dead Works and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the Sum of all that is declared and super-added and nothing in all the World can be declared or required upon Terms of greater Justice Reason and Equity For will not any one acknowledge that if an Inferiour give Offence to a Superiour he ought to humble himself and ask Forgiveness Can any Man's Reason in the World be unsatisfied in this Then for Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is it not very equal and fit that if God will pardon Sin he should do it in what way he thinks fitting that if we go to him for Cure he should take that way to recover us which he thinks best So that these * Terms which are super-added to the Principles of God's Creation are such that there were never more equal fit and reasonable proposed to Men neither is this all but they are satisfactory to the Reason of our Mind For this is found to be true upon experience that the Mind of an Impenitent cannot receive Satisfaction nor Consolation in any other way Should all the Men in the World or an Angel from Heaven speak * Pardon to an Impenitent the Sense of Repentance would be better Satisfaction to his Mind beyond any Foreign Testimony whatsoever Though God should tell me my Sins were pardon'd I could not believe it unless I repent and deprecate God's Displeasure For Repentance is satisfactory to the Reason of my Mind is necessary to quiet my Conscience and I should not be rational or intelligent in Religion unless I satisfied my Mind which is to do what I can to revoke what I have done amiss and to deprecate God's Displeasure and then apply to him for his Grace in that way which he has declared Therefore these * Terms are not only just and equal in themselves but tend to the Quiet and Satisfaction of a Man's Mind * and are Restorative to our Natures Now the Representation that is made to us by Divine Truth either natural or reveal'd is that which is satisfactory and consonant to the Reason of our Mind it is that which doth justly represent God as he stands in opposition to the Cruel Devilish and Apostate Nature as being Placable Compassionate and Reconciling and so in the use of true Reason a Man would have thought and imagin'd concerning him that he would not be wanting to afford unto Men fitting Aid and Assistance for their Recovery And thus is God represented Lovely Beautiful and Amiable in the Eyes of the whole Creation * Another Intrinsick Argument which is the Third Assurance of Divine Truth is the ingenuous Operation that Divine Truth both Natural and Reveal'd hath upon the Mind and Understanding of Man For these Truths call Creatures to Self-resignation to commit themselves to God to depend upon him And how doth this tend to the Heart's Ease * and to the Quiet and Satisfaction of a Man's Soul For we know by Experience that even the best and wisest of us are oft times transcended by our Occasions and at a loss The Affairs of the World do transcend the Capacities of our Mind and Understanding Now Religion both Natural and Reveal'd doth teach us that in respect of God we are but Instruments assumed determin'd and limitted and it is no Disparagement to an Instrument if it fail that we are but Creatures and have our Dependence upon him And how doth this tend to the Satisfaction of our Minds because we know that God is wiser than we and that he is greater and every way better than we * So that if any thing succeed ill which either the Honour of God or the Good of his Creatures * seem'd to require then we being but God's Instruments and subservient to him * may know that we should not have failed unless God would Thus our Religion teaches us Submission to God Acknowledgment of him Dependence upon him It assignes to Man his proper place respectively to his true Center and so lays a Foundation of
Constitution in the State of Innocency And for Reveal'd Truth that fits and supplies Man in his lapsed State Every Man that knows his State feels want in himself of Health and Strength And Reveal'd Truth is that which doth supply this Want And is that which he would have wish'd for from God In this he hath Terms proposed to him of Pardon and Reconciliation upon Repentance and returning to God Never did Patient and Physician meet more happily Disease and Physick than Man in a lapsed Condition and the Proposals that are through the Grace of God in the Gospel In the one there is Man full of Misery in the other the Grace of God for Mercy and Forgiveness Man's Language in that State is O wretched Man who shall deliver me from this Body of Death The Grace of the Gospel puts these Words into his Mouth I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord that he hath deliver'd me And he is bid to have no evil Heart of unbelief There is a State of Guilt on the one side a State of Justification on the other A State of Sin and a State of Holiness Fear of eternal Death And a Promise of eternal Life So that the Grace of the Gospel is fitted to Man in his lapsed State and Condition in order to his Restoration and Recovery The fifth and last Argument is the Agency of the Divine Spirit in pursuance of what God hath done in the Way of Divine Truth For God sends not his Truth into the World alone But having done one thing will also do another to make the former effectual Now they that have not the Divine Spirit want the great Commentator upon Divine Truth in the World And therefore let such Men look after it For this is a great and a certain Truth that God in his Grace and Goodness will give his Spirit to guide and teach and assure the Minds of good Men Tho' none know it but those that feel him But they who have the Spirit of God know nothing more certain For they have Satisfaction and inward Peace and Joy in believing They perceive such Operations of God in themselves whereof the World cannot receive any Account The Divine Spirit doth open their Understandings as it did the Apostles brings Things to their Remembrance mekes them consider the Inwards of Things and calls them to Advertency and Consideration The great Work of the Divine Spirit is to lead Men into right Apprehensions and stay a Man's Thoughts in Consideration till the Principles do receive Admittance and become a Temper and Constitution till they infuse and instil themselves and make a lasting Impression Tho' for my part I do believe that the Scripture is clear and full of Light as to all Matters of Conscience as to all Rules of Life as to all necessary Matters of Faith So that any well-minded Man that takes up the Bible and reads may come to Understanding and Satisfaction And hence it is that we have Sufficiency from God to preserve us from Cheats of all sorts So that a well-minded Man that hath this Instrument of God need not be mistaken in any necessary Matters of Faith For the Bible is sufficient and intelligible in the Way of Religion and for all the Purposes thereof as any other Book for the Learning of any other Art or Science And upon this Account God hath done that which will justifie him and at our Peril be it if we be found ignorant or have been deceived For we needed not ever have been ignorant or mistaken in any thing that is vital in Religion and to this Purpose there is also the Divine Spirit still to attend upon this Instrument of God So that they who do acknowledge God and pray unto him for his Help and Assistance have the Advantage of being taught by the Spirit and by Means thereof are in a sure Way of Knowledge with the consequent Effects of Holiness and Goodness By these Five Arguments a Man may be resolved against the Atheism Infidelity and Prophaneness of the World And from this Discourse about which I have been long I do infer That Atheism and Infidelity are the most unaccountable Things in the World and inexcusable The Athiest must be every where self-condemned And the Infidel within the Pale of the Church There is nothing that God hath done more in any way whatsoever than he hath done for the Security of Men against Atheism For I dare say if any Man do but think and use Reason he may know all Natural Truth And what can a Man do less How is he a Man if he do not either of these Doth any Man know any thing but by Thinking and Considering Yea perhaps this is all that we pretend to For we are born to nothing else All Habits and Dispositions all actual Knowledge is our own Acquisition with respect to the Grace of God No Man is born to any actual Knowledge in the World or to speak a Word or understand a Notion But all Habits and Dispositions are acquired And therefore an Atheist shall be self-condemned as one that never used his Reason nor so much as exercised his own Thoughts And for the Infidel within the Pale of the Church If he will but search and consider he may find that which will beget Faith and Belief And therefore the Athiest and the Infidel are the most unaccountable and unexcusable Persons in the World For they have done nothing themselves They have not so much as thought or consider'd they have not seen with their own Eyes If a Man living in the World or in the Church be either an Atheist or an Infidel he hath been an idle Person in the World and a Sluggard His Understanding hath received no Culture or Care he hath made no Improvement of himself nor done any thing worthy of a Man SERMON II. ROMANS I. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ For it is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek I Have declared several Assurances we have of Divine Truth Natural and Reveal'd in Scripture against Atheists Infidels and the Prophane As 1. The great Acknowledgement it hath met with in the several Ages of the World 2. The Representation that is hereby made of God * which is agreeable to what Man is made to know The Proposals made to us by God the Invitations made by him the Prohibitions Commands and Promises all these testifie of God and declare worthily concerning him 3. The ingenuous Effects and Operations of Divine Truth upon Mens Spirits and in their Lives 4. The Suitableness of Natural Truth to Man in his State of Institution and of Reveal'd Truth to Man in his lapsed State in order to his Restitution and Recovery 5. The Agency of the Divine Spirit in pursuance Now if * this be so we may concur in Sence and Resolution with the Apostle I am not ashamed of the Gospel c. I
eldest and first Acquaintance So Gen. 39. 9. How can I do this Wickedness We see that the Mind of a good Man takes Offence at Evil is grieved at it not at all fitted to it There arises a Displacency as in all Force and Contra-natural Impression Iniquity and Sin in the Conscience are of * the most mischievous Nature and Quality Should all the World agree and concur to sink a Man into a State of Lowness Beggary and Misery it would not be brought about so effectually by any other Means as by Sin and Guilt Where there is a pure Mind and an upright Conscience Innocency and Integrity there consequently are internal Peace Satisfaction Composure But on the other side if a Man have Sence of Guilt on his Mind where a Man knows himself faulty he fears uncertainly infinitely He fears every thing that appears yea that which doth not appear as the Poet expresses it for Guilt is always Prophetical of what is mischievous A Man may better apply here in this Case the Words of Ahab Kings 22. ver 8. than he did to the Prophet He always prophesies Evil concerning me 3 dly In respect of our selves As we consist of two Parts of Spirit and of Body so we shall fall under a double Obligation as to our selves And if we do our selves right we are under Obligation to our Minds doubly To inform our Understandings and to refine our Spirits by moral Principles The Mind is to be inform'd with Knowledge and refin'd with moral Vertue Ignorance and Improbity are mental Diseases And it is worse for a Man to have an ill affected Mind than an ill dispos'd Body It is so much the worse as the Mind of Man is better than his Body We find that Nature hath given Faculties And Industry and Study acquires Habits A neglected Mind is according to Solomon's Observation A Sluggard's Field grown over with Thistles and Thorns We may say of such a Man that he hath his Mind only for Salt But can any Man that is rational or sober think that God gave him an immortal Spirit but as Salt to keep his Body from Stench and Putrifaction The Mind being Superiour is not to be subjected to the Body nor to the things of the Body neither ought there to be an unequal Distribution of Attendance but according to the Proportion of the Worth and Value We ought to improve our Minds so far as much over and above as our Minds do transcend the Body Whosoever is proud and conceited whosoever is intemperate lascivious or wanton he doth hold the Truth in Unrighteousness For these things have Foundation and are grounded in Man * viz. Sobriety Modesty and an humble Sense the Desires of Nature are moderate and do keep within bounds So that in whatsoever Miscarriages Men do fall in all these they do go against their Light and hold the Truth in Unrighteousness Therefore Vertue in every kind is according to the Sense of Humane Nature the Dictates of Reason and Understanding and the Sense of Man's Mind And Vice in every kind is grievous monstrous and unnatural A Man forces himself when he is vicious and a Man kindly uses himself when he acts according to the Rules of Vertue And this is so true that all those that have abused themselves all but habituated Sinners understand that Vertue is conservative to the Nature of Man and that all Evil Practices destroy it Vertue is conservative to the Reason of Man's Mind by Sobriety and Modesty for these keep Men in their Wits And then it preserves the Health and the Strength of our Bodies by Chastity and by Temperance Thus have I shewn you the three Fundamentals of Religion the three great Materials of Conscience which are immutable unalterable and indispensible that are settled in the very Foundation of God's Creation I have also shew'd you that Vertue is connatural and well-founded and * that Vice is unnatural and destructive to the Nature of Man So that there is no Man hath internal Peace that is either neglective of his Duty to God or that is unrighteous or that is intemperate as to the use of the things of the Body or intoxicated by fond Conceits in the Sense of his Mind For as it is requisite and comely that Sobriety be the Mind's Temper so * it is that there be a moderate and sober use of the things of the Body For Nature is content with a few things That which is violent is unnatural That Excess which is unhealthy for the Body doth also stupifie the Mind So that upon this account also Vice is unnatural * What is contrary to the Order of Reason is contrary to the State of Nature in Intellectuals Those that are ungodly or unrighteous in these three great Instances that bear no Reverence to God that do not act towards their fellow-Creatures according to the Rules of Justice that abuse their Bodies do not govern their Minds * neither improve them in Knowledge nor refine them by Vertue All these do controul their Natural Light and are self-condemn'd Now if the Unrighteous and Ungodly are self-condemn'd can it be imputed to God as Severity to condemn them That Judge will be excused from all Severity who passes Sentence of Execution upon a Malefactor * whom his own Conscience accuses This will be the World's Condemnation that where Men either did know or might know they go against their Light that Men put out the Candle of God in them that they may do Evil without Check or Controul that Men take upon them to controul the settled and immutable Laws of Everlasting Righteousness Goodness and Truth which is the Law of Heaven that Men are bold to confound Order and Government in God's Family for so the World is that Men do Evil knowingly in the use of their Liberty and Freedom whereas God himself in whom there is the Fulness of all Liberty doth declare of himself that all his Ways are Ways of Goodness Righteousness and Truth And can God by Power or Priviledge do that which is not just Is there any Unrighteousness in God God forbid Yet those that have Liberty but by Participation pretending the Use of Liberty do that which is not fit to be done This will be the World's Condemnation In the case of Sin there is internal Guilt a Man doth wrong the Principles of his Mind he breaks his Internal Peace and will rue it to Eternity The Judgment of God at the last day will be easie for there will be none to be condemn'd but what were condemn'd before For Man's Misery arises out of himself and is not by Positive Infliction Men run upon Mistakes the Wicked and Prophane think that if God would they may please themselves and no harm done and that it is the Will of God only that limits and restrains them and they think that they were out of Danger if God would forbear a Positive Infliction This is the Grand Mistake Hell is not a Positive Infliction
but the Fewel of it is the Guiltiness of Mens Consciences and God's withdrawing because the Person is uncapable of his Communication Sin is an Act of Violence in it self The Sinner doth force himself and stirs up Strife within himself and in a Sinner there is that within which doth reluctate and condemn him in the inward Court of his own Conscience For if our Hearts did not condemn us all without might be avoided all else would fail if this Internal Guilt and Self-Condemnation might be removed But this Naughtiness of Disposition and Incapacity of Repentance is that which continues the Subject in Misery Hell * therefore is not a Positive Infliction but doth naturally follow upon Guiltiness and a spightful devilish naughty Disposition unto God and Goodness There is something in every Man upon which we may work to which we may apply to wit the Light of Reason and Conscience to which the Difference of Good and Evil may be made appear If we therefore declare Godliness Righteousness and Truth Men have a Voice to give Testimony and Conscience in Men will yield notwithstanding the power Lust hath over them If Reason may not command it will condemn Lastly Here you may have an account what it is that gives a Check and a Stop to the Motion of the Divine Spirit There is an Error in the first Concoction which is hardly remedied which is want of Advertency and Consideration Men do not awaken their Principles but give themselves leave to do what they cannot justifie themselves in Now there is no place for the further Motion of the Divine Grace where the former Grace is neglected and * render'd ineffectual It is self-neglect and voluntary allowing of our selves in Evil which brings us to Misery For there is no Invincible Ignorance in respect of things good in themselves and necessary No Ignorance excuses Immorality in any Instance whatsoever but invincible Ignorance doth excuse Infidelity in the chiefest Point The Reason is because the high Points of Sobriety Righteousness and Temperance God hath made every Man to know but for the Resolutions of his Will Man must be perswaded of God and if God do not make Application to him where he doth not give he doth not require Take notice then of the Boldness and Presumption of these obstinate rebellious and contumacious Sinners who having this Proclamation from the Majesty of Heaven that the Wrath of God c. yet will dare to continue in Practices of Unrighteousness and assume to themselves power to controul the establish'd Laws of everlasting Goodness Righteousness and Truth and to vary from tâ—e Reason of things to gratifie their own Sence and to please their own Humours and to serve their own Ends and take upon them to over-rule all things that are holy settled and establish'd from Eternity What shall a Man say to such Persons Yet the Atheistical and Prophane are guilty of this Contumacy But as the Apostle says Their Condemnation is just and their Judgment lingers not We seem agriev'd at God's Plagues and Judgments which do so much disturb our Peace and Settlement in the World but we do greater Acts of Violence For we imprison Truth and give God true cause of Offence and take upon us to controul the Establish'd Laws of Heaven and to do other things than the reason of things dictates to us and directs us to do For the Text tells us that those that are obnoxious to God's Wrath are Persons of ungodly Practice so that they are of themselves condemn'd They cannot give an account to the reason of their own Minds nor satisfie their own Consciences but are hurried on and transported by furious and violent Lusts holding the Truth in Unrighteousness they are self-condemn'd before they be condemn'd of God BECAUSE THAT WHICH MAY BE KNOWN OF GOD IS MANIFEST IN THEM FOR GOD HATH SHEWED IT Uâ—TO THEM The Apostle doth here take upon him and thinks fit in this great Affair of Life and Death to shew and prove by Reason From hence we may learn three things 1 st That here is a Check and Controul to the forward and presumptuous Imposers that take upon them to dectate and determine and are angry with all Persons that are not concluded by their Sence These Persons take upon them more than the Apostle did 2 dly That Religion stands upon the Grounds of truest Reason for the Apostle here after he hath asserted proves by Reason 3 dly God's Ways and Dealings with his Creatures are accountable in a way of Reason But some think that God uses Arbitrary Power and that they might escape without Punishment if he would and that it is nothing but his Will and Pleasure In the 17th Verse he hath declared the way of Life and Salvation and in the 18th the way of Misery and Death Therefore the Ways of God are accountable in Reason If this were not the Way of God a Way worthy of Truth we might ask why this Apostle may not refer us to his publick Authority who might if any * one because of his extraordinary Conversion and Commission from Heaven but he declines that and proves by Reason But this great Truth is hereby hinted that the way of Reason is the way most accomodate to Humane Nature Therefore let us lay aside imposing one upon another or to use any canting in Religion Let us talk Sense and Reason for the Apostle doth here shew and prove by Reason And God himself who hath all Priviledge he says he will draw them with the Cords of Men and what is that but Arguments satisfactory to the Mind of Men and in the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah shew your selves to be Men that is awaken your rational and intelectual Faculties and take things into serious and impartial Consideration and I will convince you It is an Apology for any finite fallible Creature when he is mistaken if he had some Reason for his Mistake and if he can but shew why he did so think you have him excused 'T is a high Advantage and Double Security to any Teacher or Instructer to have in readiness to shew that what he saith is not his private Imagination but is in Conjunction with the Reason of Things or the Principles of God's Creation and of Divine Revelation if it be a Matter of Faith This but by way of Observation Because the Apostle doth decline his Commission of Apostleship and doth prove by common Reason That which is the Apostle's Argument is that all those who in the Language of Scripture are Sinners all that are ungodly impious towards God and unrighteous in his Family they sin against their Light go against the Principles of natural Conscience imprison Truth and sin against their Knowledge The Argument is because God made Men to know that he himself IS and his natural Perfections This is here plainly attested in this Verse It is shortly spoken to But because it is a Matter of great Weight it is spoken more fully
who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity cannot be pleas'd with any thing that may pretend by way of recompence for any impure filthy immoral Acts. So Isaiah 1. 11 12 13 c. these things were instituted by God and required under great Penalties What work doth this Prophet make to cry down all Religion among them If he lived in our days he would cry down a great deal of Formality yea things really Good if in Conjunction with Immorality If Men be immoral in any way whatsoever if they consent to any Iniquity if they allow themselves in any evil Practice if they admit any such thing it doth spoil all their Religion We may conclude concerning all our Devotions and all those things that are but the Ministries and Instruments of Piety which are good in their right use if they are performed to be glorified in to be boasted of it is but as magnifying the Name of God and not departing from Iniquity If there be any Act of Unrighteousness it doth not only blemish but marr and spoil all And is it not plainly said the Sacrifice of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord as also Mich. 6. 6 7 8. Wherefore Thankfulness and Obedience that is the true Sacrifice that is what is worthy of the Creature to the Creator and that which God will certainly accept But it is most certain that the Zeal of any Institution tho' it be Divine Institution is to God unacceptable if in Conjunction with Immorality THANKSGIVING is an eminent piece of that Worship we call Invocation of God Three things are proper Prayer-Matter * and if Men confine themselves to these keep to proper Prayer-Matter and avoid unnecessary Repetitions none can be too long but if Men take liberty in Prayer to declare and to tell God Stories then I do not know when or where it will end 1 st Confession of Sin with desire of Pardon And as for that if Men live Christian Lives they will not have the same Sins to confess the second time For Christian Religion is not to Sin and Pray and Pray and Sin You may indeed acknowledge you have done it before but to confess it as practised again and again this doth declare that you are not Religious but Prophane 2 dly Acknowledgment of the Perfections of the Divine Being of his Superiority and of our Dependance upon God with a sence of our Insufficiency and Weakness and Desire of Divine Grace Influence and Assistance This is always to be in Prayer and this is a great Matter of Prayer Because tho' we are in a growing Condition yet we may say in this State that we have not attained Therefore to come to God in sence of our Insufficiency and of the Necessity of God's Influencing and Co-operating Grace this is work for us every day 3 dly Resentments of God's Goodness and Faithfulness to us and thankful Apprehensions and Expressions * of this And whatsoever is not comprehended in or referred to in these is Heterogenial to Prayer is Exorbitant and is not Prayer By the two former we daily fetch from God we obtain Pardon of Sin through Christ we obtain Guidance Aid and Assistance By the last we bring to him and this is our only Return Grateful Resentments and Apprehensions of the various Effects of the Divine Providence over us for averting of Evils from us and conferring of Good as they express our Ingenuity of Spirit towards God so they are the best things in our hands for God * the best Returns to God Galen the famous Physician having occasion to observe the Curiosity that is in the Make of Man's Body doth make a Hymn to God This * says he is the truest Worship of God the Creator and this is far more acceptable and better in it self than if I were able to bring a thousand Sacrifices or should offer the choicest Incense and Perfumes if I my self be sensible acknowledge and upon occasion exhibit and represent the Power of the Creator the Wisdom of the Creator and his Goodness His Power * and Wisdom for that he hath contrived in Mode and Figure so many Fitnesses and his Goodness in that he hath so fully communicated himself For what are Creatures but Divine Communications and this do I understand to be the best Worship of God and transcendent of that Sacrifice which may consist of Hecatombs of Beasts and of the purest Incense One thing we have and but one thing which we may call our own I mean the Consent of our Minds and that must be ours or else it is not our Consent it is not what it is unless it be our own And yet we must acknowledge the Grace of God that it is our own by Divine Concurrence Now let us by our own voluntary Act addict and determine our selves to God Let us afford him the Consent of our Minds i. e. make him our Delight and our Choice take Pleasure Content and Satisfaction in him This is the fullest way of Thankfulness to God out of sence of his Excellency and Goodness to reckon all our Happiness to consist in our Enjoyment of him our being and living in Communion and Acquaintance with him So that we have where-withal to sacrifice to God We have the Consent of our Minds We have this from God to be our own Act. We may make him our Choice breath after Interest in him and Communion with * him This is the best Expression of Thankfulness and this is the Christian 's Free-will Offering * Thus I * have made Explication of Unthankfulness We owe Thankfulness to God because we live by his Influence It is most natural to make Acknowledgment and to make thankful Returns to God Their Accusation is that they did not glorifie him as God and were unthankful The Argument of Conviction and the Aggravation of the Fault is because God made them capable of knowing that God is and that willingly and knowingly they were thus wanting and so did transgress That Person is altogether unexcusable * and self-condemned who knowing that he hath a Creator that is of infinite Power Goodness and Wisdom and having Sense and Knowledge that there is a God as God hath made Man to have doth not adore him fulfil his Will is not observant of him not affected toward him doth not rejoyce and delight in him * So that Irreligion is the most unnatural thing in the World Truth is a seminal Principle with which the Mind of Man being impregnated ought to bring forth and in this case * there should be neither Barrenness nor Abortions For Rational Nature is as sufficient and proportionable to its Effects as any vital Principle besides in the World If hurting a Woman with Child so as Mischief followeth be so punishable Exod. 21. 23. what is this case of Destroying the Seed of God in Man's Minds For so it is called 1 John 3. 9. Seed is accounted lost when * being sown in the Ground it never comes up So are
or fear Whereas altogether they rob us of our selves and snatch us from what is Main and Principal We are apt to be troubled about many things while we omit the one thing necessary Men of any * sort of Religion think it necessary to observe the Difference of Good and Evil and therefore they will not be employ'd in that which is not Honest But there is something further Let Men consider that things of lawful Employment if too many may snatch a Man away from himself and keep him from attending upon God by which he may be happy Therefore we should not too much charge our selves nor be over busie in the World 2 dly Men are apt in the first place to save themselves harmless in this hurtful and dangerous World * It was St. Peter's Advice Master save thy self this Evil shall not befal thee who might have undone himself and all the World besides if his Councel had been followed A great Man of our Nation hath observ'd in History and it is so in this Case he that follows Truth close at the Heels may chance to have his Teeth struck out As the World may go to hold forth Truth impartially and severely to keep to the Practice of it may prove the difficultest and costliest Service Truth may carry us into Contests where other Mens Principles clash and interfere with ours Truth allows not base Compliance with Fancy Lust Will Humour but requires us to keep in the Way and to walk in it with all Simplicity Integrity Sincerity Plainness and Open-heartedness We must neither desert nor betray Truth to expedite our selves out of Difficulties or to open a Way to escape Man must walk in his Integrity through the World and must maintain his Truth and Uprightness as Job did his Righteousness So that By-standers may rectifie themselves by comparing with him and so find out how much they have departed from Rectitude Plutarch distinguisheth between a Friend and a Flatterer The former stands as steady as an Oak and he doth not at all yield to humour Will or Fancy so that the other when he returns from his Exorbitancy by comparing himself and finding where he left him may know how far he hath departed from his Integrity Whereas the Flatterer accomodates himself to Humour and Fancy applauds all Deeds and Sayings will do every thing to gratifie and will admire whatever is said But a true Friend hath Truth for a Rule to his Life and Spirit But as the World goes a Man of impartial Truth and Uprightness shall be laid aside as not conversible but as Morose and Cynical But here I superadd for Explication that all that I have said of adhering to Truth is to be understood of the undoubted Principles of Piety Sobriety and Righteousness For saving in these Cases to please every Body to give every one Satisfaction to go as far as you can with Men to live in a Universal Reconciliation if it be possible with the whole Creation of God this is Evangelical and Divine This is not to be limited but with Conscience to the great Rights of Sobriety Temperance and Justice 3 dly Men gratifie their Sences steep themselves in Worldly Delights and Pleasures Sensuality makes the Pallate of the Soul so dull and gross that it cannot perceive that which is sincere and true Wisdom is not in the Way of Epicurism but in the Way of Sobriety Righteousness and Temperance For Knowledge will not be relished till the Soul be purified by Abstinence by Mortification by Abstraction from gross Matter and by Separation from Sense 1 Tim. 5. 6. Jam. 5. 5. 2 Pet. 2. 13. 2 Tim. 3. 4. Titus 3. 3. Heb. 11. 25. These places represent the State when Men become brutish and sottish and fail in the Species of intelligent Agents go downward grow less by steeping themselves in worldly brutish and carnal Pleasures The Sensualist is no capable Recipient nor meet Discerner of Divine and Spiritual Truth 4 thly By long abuse of themselves Men come into a Temper that is wholly unnatural to Truth He that doth Evil hates the Light comes not to it least his Deeds be reproved This is most certain universally We have our selves as we use our selves He that doth accustom himself to Divine Meditation and Contemplation and to Thoughts of God raises his Soul and doth daily more and more ennoble his Faculties But he that lives wickedly the longer he lives the more limited and confined his Soul will be Every Man is for his Intelectuals and for his Principles according as he doth accustom himself according as he is in use Sui cuique mores fingunt fortunam This is most true of internal Endowments as well as of other things No Man knows what he may be brought unto by ill Use Custom and Practice Innocence is a Safe-guard and gives Protection The first base Act is against the Hair And as Saul forced himself to offer Sacrifice so the Sinner at first forces himself he doth it at first with Dissatisfaction he apprehends he doth himself Wrong A Man that hath been brought up vertuously ingenuously and hath maintain'd the Tenderness of his Soul and his Innocency he will stick at a base Proposal and abhor it Had many Men imagined when they began how far they should have gone on where Sin would have carried them they would have consider'd better of it But the breaking in of Sin is like a Torrent of Water which is easily stopt before the Way over the Banks be found But if once it hath found the Way over it bears all before it There is a Modesty belongs to our Nature till a Man hath prostituted it But when once a Man hath done a base Act he hath lost that which would restrain him Therefore we observe that no Man comes to be outragiously bad all on the suddain But he brings himself to it by havocking Conscience by confounding his Principles and putting away the Ingenuity of his Nature Thus have I shewn you how it comes to pass that Men do live so unanswerably to their Knowledge * Now to make some Observations from the whole We see the Course of this World and in it we may foresee the State of Men in the other World Can they look God in the Face hereafter with any Comfort who here like not to retain God in their Minds Will not the Issue of holding Truth in Unrighteousness of contradicting the Reason of our Minds of forcing our own Judgments of making Havock of Conscience be Confusion and Astonishmont What can a Man look for when he is not true to himself when he hath every thing rising up against him his Conscience condemning him This cannot but end in Confusion and Astonishment For things hold a Proportion one to another Force in one way brings on Force in another Consequents answer foregoing Principles So that the Business of the Day of Judgment may be plainly foreseen * It may be here accounted for by the Things of this State
is Darkness Confusion and inward Torture All proves contrary to God's Design Justin in his History reports concerning the ancient Scythians That they had neither Houses nor Enclosure of Ground yet Justice had Honour among them not from Positive Laws but the GOOD NATURE of the People A thing to be admired that Nature should bestow that on the Scythians which the Grecians long instructed by Precepts of Philosophers had not attain'd that formed Manners should be transcended by uneducated Barbarity Hence it appears that the Condition of Humane Nature is not so very rude as some report since so much is found in the uncivilized parts of the World Nature is Sovereign to them that use it well in respect of that Modesty and Averseness to that which is not fair and handsom till Men pervert and abuse Nature's Temper by ill Use Custom and Practice Goodness and Vertue are more suitable to Nature's Sence than Wickedness and Vice Vice is contrary to the Nature of Man because contrary to the Order of Reason which is Man's highest Perfection Vice is grievous to Nature witness Irreverence to Deity Intemperance Fury and Cruelty every one feels it so in himself and judges so in others Man forces himself at first before he can at all satisfie himself in any of these In this Sense I understand Heb. 10. 16. I will put my Laws into their Hearts I will write them in their Minds * This is to be understood in respect of Spiritual Precepts founded in Reason and in the Law of the Creation concerning which we need not that one should teach another as in the carnal Institutions of the Law which being foreign to Nature and so many we have need to ask what next what in such a case Men may work themselves out of Nature's Sence out of Judgment of Truth by ill Use Custom and Practice They will not long continue to think * well after once they are come to affect and to do otherwise These two in Conjunction viz. the Affection of the Mind and Practice will bear up with too great a force against Judgment alone Wherefore unless Persons love Goodness and live well we have no hold of them tho' now they seem to think and speak well See the case of Hasael his present Sence and Words Am I a Dog c. but he did so Single Judgment and Understanding will not long hold out against habitual Inclination and Disposition Men unduly practice upon their own Judgments that they may not be disturbed and disquieted in pursuit of their Lusts but if Judgment be once corrupted there is nothing left to make any resistance Evil comes on a main Men go on with full sail Hence Men are Shipwrackt in their Fortunes within themselves broken and come to naught Wherefore in the state of Religion Two things are indispensibly necessary indivisible inseparable Care that Judgment be informed by Truth * and that Heart and Life be reformed by Tincture of it and by Practice And this is Religion PROFESSING THEMSELVES WISE THEY BECOME FOOLS This is said of Persons out of the way of true Reason and Religion These Words may be considered absolutely or in relation to their Conjunction with words which go before or follow after In the former way they afford this Observation That these that think themselves wise are least so for they know not themselves to fail in many things It is the Direction of Wisdom to acknowledge God in all thy ways and not to lean to thy own Understanding For he who trusteth to his own Heart is a Fool. SELF-CONCEIT intoxicates Men and makes them neglective of the Means of Knowledge They who are conceited are Self-Flatterers and towards others Importune grievous troublesom Whosoever falls into the hands of a Self-conceited Person who always is a Dictator and an Imposer upon others to him the Beauty and Excellency of the Divine Vertues Modesty and Sobriety are abundantly testified and recommended The Conceited have lightly considered the Uncertainty of things Variety of Temptations the Representations which are made to Man and our Disparity and Insufficiency to act or determine wisely in several Occasions of Life These are full of themselves but indeed are empty and shallow He knows not himself who thinks himself able enough for his own defence Wise enough to direct himself or who is Good enough to his own Satisfaction The Words taken in a Conjunction with what follows afford this Observation That it is not the Wisdom of Men but their Headiness Presumption and Folly to do in Religion without Reason or otherwise than as they have Direction from God There is no grosser Folly in the World no greater Wrong to one's self than upon account of Religion to come under Obligation to any thing in point of Judgment and Conscience which is not materially true as verified in Reason or Scripture All such is the Persons Superstition which tho' it be not imputed as a Crime to the Person who means well yet is not a Foundation of reward Builders with Hay Stubble suffer loss so far forth tho' themselves stand on the Foundation Man enslaves himself parts with his Liberty which is a dear and choice thing * when he subjects himself to that which made him not to that which is not soveraign to him as Reason is which is his natural Perfection his Home-informer and Monitor within his Breast neither is restorative to him in his Lapsed State as the Principles of Religion are He lays stress upon that which will bear no weight therefore will deceive him As the Superstitious imagines so things are to him but things attain not Effects according to our Fancies but their own Existencies and what they are in Truth and Vertue This other where is accounted Weakness * and Shallowness Nothing betrays Men more than lying Refuges and false Confidencies Religion is that which attains real Effects worthy what we mean by Religion viz. it makes Men humble not conceited Mild gentle not revengeful Good-natured not all for Self Loving not hard-hearted Kind not harsh or cruel Patient not furious not wrathful Courteous affable and sociable not morose soure or dogged Governable not turbulent ready to forgive not implacable favourable in making best Interpretations fair Constructions of Words and Actions not making Men Offenders for a Word ready to commiserate tender-hearted like the Samaritan not as the Jews who would not converse with them If this be in Men then shall the World be sensible of the Good of Religion and find themselves the better for it Lastly let us not run on in a Mistake We see how the Apostle goes on He begins at the Gospel of Christ See how he pursues it He treats of * the Natural Knowledge of God and Fatal Issue of ineffectual Entertainment of it They do preach Christ tho' they do not name him in every Sentence or Period who contend for all Effects of real Goodness and decry Wickedness For
and Man All our Expressions must answer our Intentions when we treat one with another We are not in the Truth unless we speak what we mean It is necessary to the Truth of a Treaty that the Materials which make the Case be fully declared For it is no Agreement if any part of the Matter be unknown For a Case is made up of all Circumstances Do but diversify one Circumstance and it is another thing They that treat together are to take care that they understand and mean the same Things and not * make it a Practice for one who is more comprehensive than another to make use of his Wit to over-reach And if they find they did not mean the same things they are to release one another For no Man is obliged further than he did mean What is meant in the Treaty is after to be stood to No After-shifts Men must not after use Wit or practise upon the Doubtfulness and Uncertainty of Words and Phrases thereby to make an escape What we have engaged we must perform unless we can obtain a release from the Party with whom we engage though it prove inconvenient and worse to us than is imagined This is Truth between Man and Man And whosoever faileth in these forfeiteth his Truth And thus I have shewed you wherein a Man may put a Lye upon God upon Himself upon his Neighbour and by this you may understand this Charge of the Apostle Whatsoever Things are True Upon the whole Matter now let us take up a Lamentation For if that which I have said be true how miserable and deform'd is the World That that is the principal Thing Wit Reason and Understanding is made ill use of to serve particular Interests Ends and Purposes How much counterfeit Ware every-where is to be found How much over-reaching in Bargains and Treaties So that now a Man had need to be universally skill'd to have Right in the World Things are generally done for the Vender's Gain only and not for the Buyer's Service Whereas every Profession doth imply a Trust for the Service of the Publick And every Man in the Way of his Profession ought to do things Truly For a Man to be false in his own Trade is a double Iniquity For the Artist's Skill ought to be the Buyer's Security Every Man ought to be ready to render a Reason to any Man as in Christianity so every-where else He that is ignorant may demand the Help of another's Skill And if he makes use of his Skill to his Prejudice he deals falsly It is not competent to any Person to be universally knowing Wherefore are sundry Trades and several Professions but for the Good of Mankind because no Man is more than particularly skill'd This Departure from Simplicity and Sincerity in Profession is a thing unaccountable But this is nothing in Comparison with the Cheats Frauds and Cozenage in Religion What think ye now of Divinity methodized to sink the People down and gain Pomp to the Clergy Religion accommodate to Ends and Purposes The infinite Gain that comes from one Doctrine The Pope's Power to pardon Sin the Priest's Power to absolve Sinners Now these Cheats these Cozenages are of greater Importance because the Consequences are greater * To conclude Truth hath always God to maintain it Truth hath Defence in it self For Great is Truth and it will prevail It may be overborn for a while but it will recover Truth hath Goodness to accompany it Therefore none need fear Shame or Cause to repent Truth hath Liberty consequent to it The Truth shall make you free He that is in the Truth is not thoughtful But a Lyar had need carry about him a good Memory Truth is Con-natural to our Principles For a Man forceth himself when he departs from it Truth is the Foundation of all Order All things will be in Confusion if not order'd united and govern'd by Truth For Falshood puts every thing out of its place Truth is the Ground of Human Converse No Man is sure of another neither knows where to have him if he abide not in the Truth It is the Bond of Union Where Men agree in the Truth they are Friendly meet and harmonize one with another and great Sympathy is between them But out of the Ways of Truth Men run counter cross and contradict one another every-where This we are to know that God's Super-intendency over Human Affairs aims at this that Truth and Righteousness may obtain an universal Empire in the World And this is an Explication of that great Phrase God's doing all for his own Glory For it is an unexplicable Form of Words to say That God doth all for himself particularly as if God were a particular Agent and sought his own particular Interest But * the Sense is that God super-intends the World for this That Truth Righteousness and Goodness might take place every-where in the World And for the Advancement of this every Man in his Sphere of Activity and within his Compass ought to endeavour And this is for us to do to the Glory of God Whatsoever Things are Honest. So the Translation But I rather keep to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever things are VENERABLE Which Word is put in the Margin Neither do I forsake the Word in the Text without very good Reason because the Word Honest doth not import the Emphasis of the Greek And the very Notion of Honest you have afterwards therefore you are not take it here Now the Greek imports whatsoever things are Honourable Grave Venerable Seemly Comely Things that may raise the Esteem of the Person and gain Reverence and Value to a Man * In this Sense there are Two Things requisite Grave Behaviour and Composure of Spirit Light Carriage and an ungovern'd Spirit render any Man mean vile and contemptible A Man lays himself low in the Esteem of others by Misbehaviour And a Man lays himself open by falling into Passion or running out into immoderate Desires Gallantly doth the Poet tell us Remember to reverence thy self There is much of God in every Man If a Man do justly value himself he will not do that that is base though it be in the Dark though no Body sees him A Man ought not to abuse himself or make himself mean or low since he bears the Image of God But if a Man will neither regard God within nor the Workmanship of God without neither have Reverence for himself he will have Cause to find that he hath been wanting to himself when he falls under other Mens and his own Contempt Sin and Wickedness doth equalize those that are therein engaged There is no Man in the Sense of his Mind or in his Judgment hath a Value or Esteem for any one that is naught No Man reverenceth a wicked Man no not a wicked Man himself He is low and base in Esteem And there is no Remedy But some * there are of so comely and grave Behaviour that they awe
Thing For when we our selves consider what we owe to God how much we are beholden to him and how much we depend upon his Grace and when we think upon our selves as Christians as reliev'd by Christ and what we are thereby enjoin'd by our Saviour towards our Brethren we shall find it necessary to abate of that that we call our due It is this that the Apostle chargeth upon us in the Fifth Verse of this Chapter Where the Word that is translated Moderation Let your Moderation be known to all Men is let your Equity your Candour your Ingenuity your fair Dealing your giving Allowance to all Things considerable in a Case let this be known And I am sure if we do not thus use this Fairness and Candour but stand upon strict Right and upon the utmost Terms that possible we may demand we do not only part with the Nobleness and Ingenuity of a Gospel-Spirit But we take a Course that a cancell'd Obligation may return upon us JUST is determined Two Ways Either by the Proportion of Things one to another or by positive Constitution of Persons who have Right and Power First Just or Right is determined by the Proportion of Things one to another Not by particular Fancy or Arbitrary Will But by the Nature and Reason of the Things These Things that are determined by their Relation each to other are what we call the great Rights of the World that govern above and below and are never to be controul'd never to yield or give place For they are a Law with God and according to the Nature of God They are as unchangeable and as unalterable as God himself Secondly Right is determin'd by positive Constitution And that is in Two Cases By the Right of Property and by the Right of Authority By the Right of Property every Man may do with his own as he will He may keep it or dispose of it as himself pleases By the Right of Authority he that hath Power makes Laws as he finds Cause and so he doth determine Right And a Man is wanting to his Duty that doth not observe those Laws For it is to be supposed that the Law of the Place is not the Institution of a particular Will but that it is in Conjunction with Right and agreeable with universal Reason So according to Law in this Case is according to Right Now for EQUAL That is determined to be Equal which gives Allowance where the Case doth require and where Abatement is made upon reasonable Consideration But then there is that that is beyond all this that that we call Mercifulness Graciousness Compassion Benignity when a Person out of his own good Nature or in a Resentment of God's Goodness unto him or in the Consideration of the Fallibility and Frailty of Human Nature will do more than reasonably can be demanded or expected There are such Men in the World tho the World hath been blest but with few of them I am sure God deals thus with Men though Men with Men deal thus but seldom If a Man will observe the Rule of Equity he must take the Case into Consideration and cloath it with all Circumstances that belong to it and give all Allowance to the Person concern'd for sudden Surprizal for invincible Ignorance for contracted Necessity for unavoidable Accident For something which might befal him that he cou'd not foresee And if you will extend your Goodness to the utmost give something to the Frailty of Human Nature where there is no other Consideration Nothing * is deeper imprinted in Human Nature than Righteousness Fairness Benevolence And that Universal Benevolence which God by his own Right-hand did sow in the Nature of Man and did plant when he made Man upon Earth that Universal Benevolence which spirits the Intelectual World doth require of each Man towards another Faith and Truth Now in Resemblance thereof and in Participation of this Universal Benevolence which is in the Superior World the Intelectual World of Soul and Spirit you have the Resemblance of this in the inferior World viz. the Suitableness and Fitness that is in one thing to accommodate another As you see the whole Creation of God is mutually beneficial There is nothing that is in being tho' devoid of the Perfection of Reason and Understanding but hath as it Dowry a Disposition and Fitness to accommodate the Universe to some necessary Use and Purpose And this likewise is agreeable to the Light of Nature There has not been any Noble or Generous amongst the Heathen but they have deeply charged themselves in this Particular To instance Regulus a Famous Roman being in the Wars taken Prisoner he had his Liberty given him upon his Parole to seek an Exchange He goes Home he cannot effect it And tho' it cost him his Life he wou'd return The Justice of Aristides is so eminent that his Name is convertible with Justice He wou'd not consent to an Act of Treachery to save his Life to save his Nation This a good Author says of him When he sate in Council and was in the Exercise of Authority and Government he wou'd do nothing in Consideration of or with Respect to his private Advantage Also the Barbarians as they were call'd in Scythia This was a Religion amongst them They were call'd Barbarians because they had no Culture But they were famous for Moderation and the Love of Justice To conclude Since Equity and Fairness have such a Foundation in Human Nature since so much in Reason since so much may be alledged against the contrary since we our selves meet with such Usage from God particularly and since the Terms of the Gospel are such as they are * Let us take up this Resolution That it shall be the better for every one with whom we shall have to do in the World Whatsoever Things are PURE Holy Sincere Uncorrupt Unmixt Immaculate Clear Sacred I find in Scripture Six several Things comprehended under the Notion of Purity First by Purity and Holiness is only intended the bare simple Lawfulness of Things And it doth only declare in the Thing it self Indifferency Sometimes it is taken for Uprightness Innocency Integrity and Harmlessness Sometimes for Sincerity True Intention Honest Meaning and Simplicity of Heart in Opposition to Hypocrisie Cozenage Dissimulation Sometimes it denotes Separation from Iniquity and Moral Filthiness Sometimes it denotes a distinct Use. When a Thing is set apart from a common and ordinary Use then it is said to be Holy So in the Time of the Mosaical Dispensation there were Persons Places Sacrifices Offerings Holy that is they were separate from common Use and had a Peculiarity God-ward Israel was holy unto the Lord. And Lastly This is particularly and remarkably attributed to that peculiar Vertue of Chastity And this is call'd Purity and the contrary Impurity I shall now give you an Account of the great Distinction of Holiness REAL Holiness and RELATIVE The Subjects of REAL