Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	act_n	grace_n	habit_n	906	5	9.7429	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62632	Several discourses viz. Of the great duties of natural religion. Instituted religion not intended to undermine natural. Christianity not destructive; but perfective of the law of Moses. The nature and necessity of regeneration. The danger of all known sin. Knowledge and practice necessary in religion. The sins of men not chargeable on God. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late lord arch-bishop of Canterbury. Being the fourth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.; White, Robert, 1600-1690, engraver.	1697 (1697)	Wing T1261A; ESTC R221745	169,748	495

Metaphor this third Doctrine follows well enough from them for it is agreeable enough that that which is effected by an irresistible act of Omnipotence without any concurrence or operation on our part should be done in an instant and all at once Not that this is necessary but that it is reasonable for why should Omnipotence use delays and take time and proceed by degrees in the doing of that which with the same ease it can do at once and in an instant especially considering how well this suits with the other Metaphors of Scripture as well as with this of a new Creation viz. the Metaphor of Regeneration and Resurrection A Child is born at once and the Dead shall be raised in a moment in the twinkling of an eye But notwithstanding all this plausible appearance and Conspiracy of Metaphors I shall shew that this Doctrine of the Conversion and Regeneration of a Sinner being effected in an instant and all at once is not well grounded either upon Scripture or Experience Not but that God can do so if he pleaseth and works this Change in some much sooner and quicker than in others but there is nothing either in Scripture or Experience to perswade us that this is the usual much less the constant and unalterable Method of God's grace in the Conversion of a Sinner to bring it about in an instant without any sensible steps and degrees But for the full clearing of this Matter I shall proceed by these steps First I shall shew upon what mistaken Grounds and Principles this Doctrine relies besides the Metaphors already mention'd which I have shewn to be of no force to prove the thing Secondly I shall plainly shew what Regeneration is by which it will appear that it is not necessarily effected in an instant and at once but admits of degrees Thirdly That it is evidently so in experience of the ordinary Methods of God's grace both in those who are Regenerated by a Pious and Religious Education and in those who are reclaimed from a vitious Course of Life Fourthly That all this is very consonant and agreeable to what the Scripture plainly and constantly declares concerning it First I shall discover several Mistakes upon which this Doctrine is grounded besides the Metaphors already mention'd and which I have shewn to be of no force to prove the thing viz. That Regeneration is in an instant and admits of no degrees As 1. That Regeneration and Sanctification are not only different Expressions but do signifie two things really different But this is a gross mistake for Regeneration and Sanctification are but different expressions of the self self same thing for Regeneration is a Metaphor which the Scrip●ure useth to express our translation and change from one state to another from a state of Sin and Wickedness to a state of Grace and Holiness as if we were born over again and were the Children of another Father and from being the Children of the Devil did become the Children of God and Sanctification is our being made Holy our being purified and cleansed from Sin and impurity And hence it is that Regeneration and Sanctification are attributed to the same Causes Principal and Instrumental to the Spirit of God and to the word of God we are said to be born again of the Spirit and to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost to be begotten of the word of truth and to be sanctified by the truth which is the word of God So that the Scripture speaks of them as the same thing and they must needs be so for if Sanctification be the making of us Holy and Regeneration make us Holy then Regeneration is Sanctification 2. It is said that Regeneration only signifies our first entrance into this state and Sanctification our progress and continuance in it But this likewise is a great Mistake For tho' it be true that Regeneration doth signifie our first entrance into this state yet it is not true that it only signifies that for it is used likewise in Scripture to signifie our continuance in that state for Christians are said to be the Children of God and consequently in a regenerate state not only in the instant of this Change but during their continuance in it Besides that our first Change is as well call'd our Sanctification as our Progress and Continuance in a state of Holiness So that neither in this is there any difference between Regeneration and Sanctification They do both of them signifie both our first entrance into an Holy state and our continuance and progress in it ' tho' Regeneration do more frequently denote the making of this Change and our first entrance into it 3. It is said that one of the main Differences between Regeneration and Sanctification is this that Regeneration is incapable of degrees and all that are Regenerate are equally so and one Regenerate Person is not more or less Regenerate than another whereas Sanctification is a gradual progress from one degree of Holiness to another and of ●hem that are truly Sanctified and Holy one may be more Sanctified and more Holy than another But this likewise is a meer fancy and imagination without any real ground For as an unregenerate state does plainly admit of degrees so likewise doth the regenerate and for the same Reason That an unregenerate state admits of degrees is evident in that some unregenerate Persons are more wicked than others and thereby more the Children of wrath and the Devil than others which are the Scripture expressions concerning the degrees of Mens Wickedness and Impi●ty In like manner they that are more Holy and more like God are more the Children of God and to be more a Child of God is surely to be more regenerate that is more renewed after the Image of God which consists in Righteousness and true Holiness So that it is a meer precarious assertion and evidently false to affirm that Regeneration doth not admit of degrees and that one is not more Regenerate than another 4 thly and lastly They ground this Conceit upon the Doctrine of the Schools which teach that in Regeneration and Conversion all the habits of grace are infused simul semel together and at once I confess I have no regard much less a veneration for the Doctrine of the Schools where it differs from that of the Holy Scriptures which says not one word of infused habits which yet are much talk'd of in Divinity and to speak the truth these words serve only to obscure the thing For to say that in Conversion the habits of all graces and virtues are infused together and at once is to say that in an instant Men that were vicious before in several kinds are by an Omnipotent act of God's grace and by a new Principle infused into them endued with the habits of the contra●y Graces and Virtues and are as Chast and Temperate and Just and Meek and Humble as if by the frequent practice of these Virtues they had become so That

this may be and sometimes is I am so far from denying that I believe it to be so Some Men by an extraordinary power of God's grace upon their hearts are suddenly changed and strangely reclaimed from a very Wicked and Vicious to a very Religious and Virtuous Course of Life and that which others attain to by slower degrees and great conflicts with themselves before they can gain the upper hand of their Lusts these arrive at all on the sudden by a mighty Resolution wrought in them by the power of God's grace and as it were a new byass and inclination put● upon their Souls equal to an habit gain'd by long use and custom This God sometimes does and when he does this it may in some sense be call'd the infusion of the habits of Grace and Virtue together and at once because the Man is hereby endowed with a Principle of equal force and power with habits that are acquir'd by long use and practice A strong and vigorous Faith is the principle and root of all Graces and Virtues and may have such a powerful influence upon the Resolutions of our Minds and the government of our Actions that from this Principle all Graces and Virtues may spring and grow up by degrees into habits but then this Principle is not formally but virtually in the power and efficacy of it the infusion of the habits of every Grace and Virtue and even in those Persons in whom this Change is so suddenly and as it were at once I doubt not but that the habits of several Graces and Virtues are afterwards attained by the frequent practice of them in the virtue of this powerful Principle of the Faith of the Gospel as I shall shew in the progress of this Discourse And this I doubt not was very frequent and visible in many of the first Converts to Christianity especially of those who from the abominable Idolatry and Impiety of Heathenism were gained to the Christian Religion The Spirit of God did then work very Miraculously as well in the Cures of Spiritual as of Bodily Diseases But then to make this the Rule and Standard of God's ordinary Proceedings in the Conversion and Regeneration of Men is equally unreasonable as still to expect Miracles for the Cure of Diseases and 't is certain in experience that this is not God's ordinary Method in the Conversion of Sinners as I shall fully shew by and by Secondly I shall shew what Regeneration is by which it will plainly appear that there is no necessity that it should be effected in an instant and at once but that it will admit of degrees I do not deny that it may be in an instant and at once The Power of God is able to do this and sometimes does it very thoroughly and very suddenly But the question is whether there be a necessity it should be so and always be so Now Regeneration is the change of a Man's state from a state of Sin to a state of Holiness which because it is an entrance upon a new kind or course of Life it is fitly resembled to Regeneration or a new Birth to a new Creation the Man being as it were quite charged or made over again so as not to be as to the main purpose and design of his life the same Man he was before This is a plain sensible account of the thing which every one may easily understand Now there is nothing in Reason why a Man may not gradually be changed and arrive at this state by degrees as well as after this change is made and he arrived at this state of a Regenerate Man he may by degrees grow and improve in it But the latter no Man doubts of but that a Man that is in a state of grace may grow and improve in grace and there is as little Reason to question why a Man may not come to this state by degrees as well as leap into it at once All the difficulty I know of in this Matter is a meer nicety that there is an instant in which every thing begins and therefore Regeneration is in an instant so that the instant before the Man arrived at this state it could not be said that he was Regenerate and the instant after he is in this state it cannot be denied that he is so But this is idle subtilety just as if a Man should prove that an House was built in an instant because it could not be said to be built 'till the instant it was finish'd tho' for all this nothing is more certain than that it was built by degrees Or suppose the time of arriving at Man's estate be at one and twenty does it from hence follow that a Man does not grow to be a Man by degrees but is made a Man in an instant because just before one and twenty he was not at Man's estate and just then he was Not but that God if he please can make a Man in an instant as he did Adam but it is not necessary from this Example that all Men should be made so much less does it follow from this vain subtilety This is just the Case All the while the Man is tending towards a Regenerate state and is strugling with his Lusts 'till by the power of God's Grace and his own Resolution he get the Victory all the while he is under the sense and conviction of his sinful and miserable state and sorrowing for the folly of his past Life and coming to an effectual Purpose and Resolution of changing his Course and it may be several times thrown back by the temptations of the Devil and the power of evil habits and the weakness and instability of his own purpose 'till at last by the grace of God following and assisting him he comes to a firm Resolution of a better Life which Resolution governs him for the future I say all this while which in some Persons is longer in others shorter according to the power of evil habits and the different degrees of God's grace afforded to Men all this time the Work of Regeneration is going on and tho' a Man cannot be said to be in a Regenerate state 'till that very instant that the Principle of Grace and his good Resolution have got the upper hand of his Lusts yet it is certain for all this that the Work of Regeneration was not effected in an instant This is plainly and truly the Case as I shall shew in the Third Particular I propounded namely that it is evident from experience of the ordinary Methods of God's grace both in those who are Regenerated by a Pious and Religious Education and those who are reclaimed from a vicious Course of Life The first sort namely those who are brought to goodness by a Religious and Virtuous Education these at least so far as my Observation reacheth make up a very considerable part of the number of the Regenerate that is of good Men. And tho' it be certain considering the Universal Corruption

and degeneracy of Humane Nature that there is a real Change made in them by the operation of God's grace upon their Minds yet it is as certain in experience that this Change is made in very many by very silent and insensible degrees 'till at length the seeds of Religion which were planted in them by a good Education do visibly prevail over all the evil inclinations of corrupt Nature so as to sway and govern the Actions of their Lives and when the Principles of grace and goodness do apparently prevail we may conclude them to be in a Regenerate s●ate tho' perhaps very few of these can give any account of the particular time and occasion of this Change For things may be seen in their Effect which were never very sensible in their Cause And it is very Reasonable that such Persons who never lived in any evil course should escape those Pangs and Terrours which unavoidably happen unto others from a course of actual Sin and the guilt of a wicked Life and if there be any such Persons as I have described who are in this gradual and insensible manner Regenerated and made good this is a Demonstration that there is no necessity that this Change should be in an instant it being so frequently found to be otherwise in Experience And as for others who are visibly reclaimed from a notorious wicked Course in these we likewise frequently see this Change gradually made by strong impressions made upon their Minds most frequently by the Word of God sometimes by his Providence whereby they are convin●'d of the evil and danger of their Course and awakened to Consideration and melted into Sorrow and Repentance and perhaps exercis'd with great terrours of Conscience 'till at length by the grace of God they come to a fixt Purpose and Resolution of forsaking their Sins and turning to God and after many struglings and conflicts with their Lusts and the strong byass of evil habits this Resolution assisted by the grace of God doth effectually prevail and make a real change both in the Temper of their Minds and the Course of their Lives and when this is done and not before they are said to be Regenerate But all the while this was a doing the new Man was forming and the work of Regeneration was going on and it was perhaps a very considerable time from the first beginning of it 'till it came to a fixt and setled state And this I doubt not in experience of most Persons who are reclaim'd from a vicious course of Life is found to be the usual and ordinary Method of God's grace in their Conversion And if so it is in vain to pretend that a thing is done in an instant which by so manifold experience is found to take up a great deal of time and to be effected by degrees And whereas some Men are pleased to call all this the Preparatory work to Regeneration but not the Regeneration it self this is an idle contention about words For if these Preparations be a degree of goodness and a gradual tendency towards it then the work is begun by them and during the continuance of them is all the while a doing and tho' it be hard to fix the point or instant when a Man just arrives at this state and not before yet it is very sensible when a Man is in it and this Change when it is really made will soon discover it self by plain and sensible effects Fourthly and Lastly all this is very agreeable to the plain and constant tenour of Scripture Isa 1. 16. where the Prophet exhorts to this Change he speaks of it as a gradual thing Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well that is break off evil and vicious habits and gain the contrary habits of virtue and goodness by the exercise of it The Scripture speaks of some as farther from a state of grace than others Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil plainly declaring the great difficulty equal almost to a natural impossibility of reclaiming those to goodness who have been long habituated to an evil course And the Scripture speaks of some as nearer to a state of grace than others Our Saviour tells the young Man in the Gospel who said he had kept the Commands of God from his youth that he was not far from the Kingdom of God But now if by an irresistible act of God's power this Change be made in an instant and cannot otherwise be made how is one Man nearer to a state of Grace or farther from it than another If all that are made good must be made so in an instant or not at all then no Man is nearer being made good than another for if he were nearer to it he might sooner be made so but that cannot be if all must be made good in an instant for sooner than that no Man can be made so If the similitude of our being dead in sins and trespasses be strictly taken no Man is nearer a Resurrection to a new Life than another as he that died but a week ago is as far from being raised to life again as he that died a thousand years ago the Resurrection of both requires an Omnipotent act and to that both are equally easie The two Parables of our Saviour Matth. 13. 31 33. are by many Interpreters understood of the gradual operation of grace upon the hearts of Men. That wherein the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a grain of Mustard-seed which being sown was the least of all seeds but by degrees grew up to be the greatest of herbs and to leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of meal 'till the whole was leavened intimating the progress of God's grace which by degrees diffuseth it self over the whole temper of a Man's Mind into all the actions of his Life To be sure the Parable of the seed which fell upon good ground does represent the efficacy of the word of God accompanied by his grace upon the Minds of Men and that is said to spring up and increase and to bring forth fruit with patience which surely does express to us the gradual operation of God's word and grace iu the Renovation and Change of a Man's Heart and Life The New Testament indeed speaks of the sudden Change of many upon the first preaching of the Gospel which I have told you before is not a standard of the ordinary Method of God's grace the not considering of which hath been a great Cause of all the Mistakes in this Matter 'T is true those which were thus Converted to the belief of the Gospel their Faith was a virtual Principle of all grace and virtue tho' not formally the habit of every particular grace St. Paul himself who was a prime instance of this kind speaks as if he acquir'd

and confirmation from plain Texts such Doctrines as these three 1. That as the Creation was by an irresistible act of the Divine Power so is this new Creation or Conversion of a Sinner 2. That as Creatures were meerly passive in their being made and contributed nothing at all to it no more do we to our Conversion and Regeneration 3. That as the Creation of the several Ranks and Kinds of Creatures was in an instant and effected by the powerful word of God only saying let such and such things be and immediately they were so this new Creation or the work of Regeneration is in an ins●ant and admits of no degrees Concerning these three Doctrines of great Mom●nt and Consequence in Divinity I shall shew with all the clearness and b●evity I can that they are built sol●ly ●pon Metaphors of Scriptu●e ●or●●●'d a●d strain'd too far withou● any real ground and foundatio● from Scripture or Reason nay contrary to the tenor of the one and the dictates of the other nay indeed contrary to the general experience of the operation of God's Grace upon the Minds of Men in their Conversion First It is pretended that as the Creation was by an irresistible act of the Divine Power so is the new Creation or the Conversion of a Sinner and this is solely argued from the Metaphorical expressions of Scripture concerning Conversion such as being called out of darkness into light alluding to that powerful word of God which in the first Creation commanded the light to shine out of darkness being quicken'd and rais'd to a new Life and from this Metaphor here in the Text of a new Creation But surely it is a dangerous thing in Divinity to build Doctrines upon Metaphors especially if we strain them to all the similitudes which a quick and lively imagination can find out whereas some one obvious thing is commonly intended in the Metaphor and the meaning is absolv'd and acquitted in that and it is folly to pursue it into all those similitudes which a good fancy may suggest When our Saviour says that he will come as a Thief in the night it is plain what he means that the Day of Judgment will surprize the careless World when they least look for it that he will come at an hour when they are not aware and tho' he resemble his coming to that of a Thief in the night yet here is nothing of Robbery in the case So here when the change which Christianity makes in Men is called a new Creation this only imports the greatness of the Change which by the power of God's grace is made upon the hearts and lives of Men and the Metaphor is sufficiently absolv'd in this plain sense and meaning of it agreeable to the literal expressions of Scripture concerning this thing and there is no need that this Change should in all other respects answer the work of Creation and consequently there is no necessity that it should be effected in an irresistible manner or that we should be altogether passive in this Change and that we should no ways concur to it by any act of our own or that this work should be done in an instant and admit of no steps and degrees It is not necessary that this Change should be effected in an irresistible manner God may do so when he pleaseth without any injury to his Creatures for it is certainly no wrong to any Man to be made good and happy against his will and I do not deny but that God sometimes does so The Call of the Disciples to follow Christ seems to have been a very sudden and forcible impression upon their Minds without any appearing reason for it for it is not reasonable for any Man to leave his Calling and follow every one that bids him do so The Conversion of Saul from a Persecutor of Christianity to a Zealous Preacher of it was certainly effected if not in an irresistible yet in a very forcible and violent manner The Conversion of three thousand at one Sermon when the Holy Ghost descended in a visible manner upon the Apostles was certainly the effect of a mighty and over-powering degree of God's grace And the like may be said of the sudden Conversion of so many Persons from Heathenism and great wickedness and impiety of Life to the sincere profession of Christianity by the preaching of the Apostles afterwards But that this is not of absolute necessity nor the ordinary method of God's grace to work upon the minds of Men in so over-powering much less in an irresistible manner is as plain as any thing of that Nature can be both from Experience and the Reason of the thi●g and the constant tenour of the Scripture We find that many perhaps the greatest part of those that are good are made so by the insensible steps and degrees of a Religious Education and having been never vicious can give no great account of any sensible Change only that when they came to years of understanding they consider'd things more and the Principles that were instill'd into them in their younger years did put forth themselves more vigorously at that time as Seeds sprout out of the ground after they have a good while been buried and lain hid in the Earth And it is contrary to Reason to make an irresistible act of Divine Power necessary to our Repentance and Conversion because this necessarily involves in it two things which seem very unreasonable First That no Man Repents upon Consideration and Choice but upon meer force and violent necessity which quite takes away the Virtue of Repentance whatever virtue there may be in the consequent acts of a Regenerate State Secondly It implies that the Conversion and Repentance of those upon whom God doth not work irresistibly is impossible which is the utmost can be said to excuse the impenitency of Men by taking it off from their own choice and laying it upon the impossibility of the thing and an utter disability in them to choose and do otherwise And it is likewise contrary to the constant tenour of the Bible which supposeth that Men do very frequently resist the Grace and Holy Spirit of God It is said of the Pharisees by our Saviour Luke 7. 30. that they rejected the Counsel of God against themselves that is the merciful Design of God for their Salvation And of the Jews Acts 7. 51. that they always resisted the Holy Ghost So that some operations of God's grace and Holy Spirit are resistible and such as if Men did not resist them would be effectual to bring them to Faith and Repentance else why are the Pharisees said to reject the counsel of God against themselves that is to their own ruine implying that if they had not rejected it they might have been saved and if they had it had been without irresistible Grace for that which was offered to them was actually resisted by them Other Texts plainly shew that the Reason of Mens impenitency and unbelief is not

the grace of Contentment by great Consideration and diligent Care of himself in several Conditions not as if the habit of this grace had been infused into him at once Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learn'd in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need And thus I have done with the first thing I propounded to Consider namely the true and just Importance of this Metaphor of the new Creation The two Particulars which remain I shall by God's assistance finish in my next Discourse SERMON IX Of the Nature of Regeneration and its Necessity in order to Justification and Salvation GALAT. VI. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature THE Observation I am still upon from these Words is this viz. That in the Christian Religion nothing will avail to our Justification but the Renovation of our Hearts and Lives exprest here by a New Creature In treating of which I propos'd the doing of three things First To shew the ●rue import of this Metaphor of a new Creature Secondly To shew that this is the great Condition of o●● Justification And Thirdly That it is highly Reasonable that it should be so In treating of the first of these Particulars I have consider'd some Doctrines as founded upon this Metaphor which I have shewn at large not only to have no Foundation in Scripture or Reason or Experience but also to be very unreasonable in themselves and contrary to the plain and constant tenour of Scripture and to the ordinary Method of God's grace in the Regeneration of Men whether by a Religious and Virtuous Education or in those who are reclaim'd from a notorious wicked Course of Life And that I have so long insisted upon this Argument and handled it in a more contentious way than is usual with me did not proceed from any love to Controversie which I am less fond of every day than other but from a great desire to put an end to these Controversies and quarrellings in the dark by bringing them to a clear state and plain issue and likewise to undeceive good Men concerning some current Notions and Doctrines which I do really believe to be dishonourable to God and contrary to the plain declarations of Scripture and a cause of great perplexity and discomfort to the Minds of Men and a real discouragement to the Resolutions and Endeavours of becoming better Upon which Considerations I was strongly urgent to search these Doctrines to the bottom and to contribute what in me lay to the rescuing of good Men from the disquiet and entanglement of them I will conclude this Matter with a few Cautions not unworthy to be remembred by us That we would be careful so to ascribe all Good to God that we be sure we ascribe nothing to him that is Evil or any ways unworthy of him That we do not make him the sole Author of our Salvation in such a way as will unavoidably charge upon him the final impenitency and ruine of a great part of Mankind That we do not so magnifie the grace of God as to make his Precepts and Exhortations s●gnifie nothing Such as these Make ye new He●●ts and new Spirits strive to enter in at the strait gate Where if by the strait gate be meant the difficulty of our first entrance upon a Religious Course that is of our Conversion and Regeneration I cannot imagine how it is possible to reconcile our being meerly passive in this work and doing nothing at all in it with our Saviour's Precept of striving to enter in at the strait gate unless to be very active and to be meerly passive about the same thing be all one and an earnest contention and endeavour be the same thing with doing nothing Again that we do not make the utmost degeneracy and depravation which Men ever arrived at by the greatest abuse of themselves and the most vile and wicked practices the standard of an unregenerate state and of the common Condition of all Men by Nature And lastly that we do not make some particular instances in Scripture of the strange and sudden Conversion of some Persons as namely of St. Paul and the Jaylor in the Acts the common rule and measure of every Man's Conversion so that unless a Man be as it were struck down by a Light and Power from Heaven and taken with a fit of trembling and frighted almost out of his wits or find in himself something equal to this he can have no assurance of his Conversion whereas a much surer Judgment may be made of the sincerity of a Man's Conversion by the real Effects of this Change than by the Manner of it This our Saviour hath taught us by that apt resemblance of the operation of God's Spirit to the blowing of the wind of the Original Cause whereof and of the reason of its ceasing or continuance and why it blows stronger or gentler this way or that way we are altogether ignorant but that it is we are sensible from the sound of it John 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound of it but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit The effects of God's Holy Spirit in the Regeneration of Men are sensible tho' the manner and degrees of his operation upon the Souls of Men are so various that we can give no account of them by which one wou'd think our Saviour had sufficiently caution'd us not to reduce the Operations of God's grace and Holy Spirit in the Regeneration of Men to any certain Rule or Standard but chiefly to regard the sensible effects of this secret work upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. And after all it is in vain to contend by any Arguments against clear and certain experience If we plainly see that many are insensibly changed and made good by pious Education in the Nurture aud Admonition of the Lord and that som● who have long lived in a prophane neglect and contempt of Religion are by the secret power of God's word and Holy Spirit upon calm consideration without any great terrours and amazement visibly changed and brought to a better Mind and Course it is in vain in these Cases to pretend that this Change is not real because the Manner of it is not answerable to some Instances which are Recorded in Scripture or which we have observ'd in our Experience and because these Persons cannot give such an account of the time and manner of their Conversion as is agreeable to these instances which is just as if I should meet a Man beyond Sea whom I had known in England and would not believe that he had crost the Seas because he said he had a smooth and easie

us in broken pieces or mixt and adulterated here a Lesson of Scripture and there a Legend but whole and entire sincere and uncorrupt God hath not left us as he did the Heathen for many Ages to the imperfect and uncertain direction of Natural Light nor hath he revealed his Will to us as he did to the Jews in dark Types and Shadows but hath made a clear discovery of his Mind and Will to us The Dispensation which we are under hath no vail upon it the Darkness is past and the true Light now shineth we are of the Day and of the Light and therefore it may justly be expected that we should put off the Works of Darkness and walk as Children of the Light Every degree of knowledge which we have is an aggravation of the Sins committed against it and when our Lord comes to pass Sentence upon us will add to the number of our stripes Nay if God should inflict no positive torment upon Sinners yet their own Minds would deal most severely with them upon this account and nothing will gall their Consciences more than to remember against what Light they did offend For herein lies the very nature and sting of all guilt to be conscious to our selves that we knew what we ought to have done and did it not The Vices and Corruptions which reigned in the World before will be pardonable in comparison of ours The times of that ignorance God winked at but now he commands all Men every where to Repent Mankind had some excuse for their Errors before and God was pleased in a great measure to overlook them but if we continue still in our sins we have no cloak for them All the degrees of Light which we enjoy are so many Talents committed to us by our Lord for the improving whereof he will call us to a strict account for unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required and to whom he hath committed much of him he will ask the more And nothing is more reasonable than that Men should account for all the advantages and opportunities they have had of knowing the Will of God and that as their knowledge was increased so their sorrow and punishment should proportionably rise if they sin against it The ignorance of a great part of the World is deservedly pitied and lamented by us but the Condemnation of none is so sad as of those who having the knowledge of God's Will neglect to do it how much better had it been for them not to have kuown the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them If we had been born and brought up in ignorance of the true God and his Will we had had no sin in comparison of what now we have but now that we see our sin remains This will aggravate our Condemnation beyond measure that we had the knowledge of Salvation so clearly revealed to us Our Duty lies plainly before us we know what we ought to do and what manner of Persons we ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness We believe the coming of our Lord to Judgment and we know not how soon He may be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels not only to take vengeance on them that know not God but on them that have known him and yet obey not the Gospel of his Son And if all this will not move us to prepare our selves to do our Lord's Will we deserve to have our stripes multiplied No Condemnation can be too heavy for those who offend against the clear knowledge of God's Will and their Duty Let us then be perswaded to set upon the practice of what we know let the light which is in our Understandings descend upon our Hearts and Lives let us not dare to continue any longer in the practice of any known Sin nor in the neglect of any thing which we are convinced is our Duty and if our hearts condemn us not neither for the neglect of the means of Knowledge nor for rebelling against the Light of God's Truth shining in our Minds and glaring upon our Consciences then have we confidence towards God but if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knows all things SERMON XIV The Sins of Men not chargeable upon God but upon themselves JAMES I. 13 14. Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed NEXT to the Bel●ef of a God and his Providence there is nothing more Fundamentally necessary to the practice of a good Life than the belief of these two Principles That God is not the Author of Sin and That every Man's Sin lies at his own door and he hath reason to blame himself for all the evil that he does First That God is not the Author of Sin that he is no way accessary to our faults either by tempting or forcing us to the Commission of them For if he were they would neither properly be Sins nor could they be justly punished They would not properly be Sins for Sin is a contradiction to the Will of God but supposing Men to be either tempted or necessitated thereto that which we call Sin would either be a meer passive Obedience to the Will of God or an active Compliance with it but neither way a contradiction to it Nor could these actions be justly punished for all punishment supposeth a fault and a fault supposeth liberty and freedom from force and necessity so that no Man can be justly punished for that which he cannot help and no Man can help that which he is necessitated and compel'd to And tho' there were no force in the case but only temptation yet it would be unreasonable for the same person to tempt and punish For as nothing is more contrary to the holiness of God than to tempt Men to Sin so nothing can be more against justice and goodness than first to draw Men into a fault and then to chastize them for it So that this is a Principle which lies at the bottom of all Religion That God is not the Author of the Sins of Men. And then Secondly That every Man's fault lies at his own door and he has reason enough to blame himself for all the evil that he does And this is that which makes Men properly guilty that when they have done amiss they are conscious to themselves it was their own act and they might have done otherwise and guilt is that which makes Men liable to punishment and fear of punishment is the great restraint from Sin and one of the principal Arguments for Virtue and Obedience And both these Principles our Apostle St. James does here fully assert in the words which I have read unto you L●t no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for