There is a worse Objection than all these made by some grave Men who would be glad under a pretence of Piety to slip themselves out of this Duty and that is this that it savours of Popery to press good Works with so much earnestness upon Men as if we could merit Heaven by them So that they dare not be charitable out of a pious Fear as they pretend lest hereby they should entertain the Doctrine of Merit But if the Truth were known I doubt Covetousness lyes at the bottom of this Objection However it is fit it should be answered And 1. I say that no Man that is not prejudiced either by his Education or Interest can think that a Creature can merit any thing at the hand of God to whom all that we can possibly do is antecedently due much less that we can merit so great a Reward as that of Eternal Happiness 2. Tho we deny the merit of good Works yet we firmly believe the necessity of them to Eternal Life And that they are necessary to Eternal Life is as good an Argument to perswade a wise Man to do them as if they were meritorious unless a Man be so vain-glorious as to think Heaven not worth the having unless he purchase it himself at a valuable Consideration And now let me earnestly intreat you as you love God and your own Souls not to neglect this Duty lest you bring your selves to the same miserable state with this Rich Man to whom the least Charity that could be askt was denied Our Saviour hath purposely left this Parable on record to be a testimony and a witness to us lest we being guilty of the same sin should come into the same place of torment And if any ask me according to what proportion of his Estate he ought to be charitable I cannot determine that Only let no Man neglect his Duty because I cannot and it may be no one else can tell him the exact proportion of his Charity to his Estate There are some Duties that are strictly determined as those of Justice but God hath left our Charity to be a free will Offering In the proportion of this Duty every one must determine himself by Prudence and the Love of God God hath left this Duty undetermined to try the largeness of our Hearts towards him only to encourage us to be abundant in this Grace he hath promised that according to the proportion of our Charity shall be the degree of our Happiness 2 Cor. 9 6. He that soweth plentifully shall reap plentifully But let us be sure to do something in this kind any part of our Estate rather than none I will conclude with that excellent Counsel of the Son of Syrach Eccl. 4. My Son defraud not the Poor and make not the needy Eye to wait long make not a hungry Soul sorrowful neither provoke a Man in his distress add not more trouble to a Heart that is vexed defer not to give to him that is in need Reject not the supplication of the afflicted nor turn away thy face from a poor Man turn not away thy Eye from the needy and give him none occasion to curse thee For if he curse thee in the bitterness of his Soul his Prayer shall be heard of him that made him Let it not grieve thee to bow down thine Ear to the poor and give him a friendly answer with meekness Be as a father to the fatherless and instead of a husband to their mother so shalt thou be as the Son of the most high and he shall love thee more than thy Mother doth SERMON XI The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Sermon II. LUKE XVI 19 20. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in Purple and fine Linen and fared sumptuously every day And there was a certain Beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his Gate full of Sores I Proceed to our Second Observation that a Man may be poor and miserable in this World and yet dear to God This beggar Lazarus tho' he was so much slighted and despised in his life-time by this great Rich Man yet it appeared when he came to die that he was not neglected by God for he gave his Angels charge concerning him to convey him to Happiness v. 22. The Beggar died and was carried into Abraham's bosom But this Truth is not only represented to us in a Parable but exemplified in the Life of our blessed Saviour Never was any Man so dear to God as he was for he was his only begotten Son his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And yet how poor and mean was his Condition in this World Insomuch that the Jews were offended at him and could not own one that appeared in so much Meanness for the true Messias He was born of mean Parents and persecuted as soon as he was born he was destitute of worldly Accommodations The Foxes had holes and the Birds of the Air had nests but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head He was despised and rejected of Men a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief God could have sent his Son into the World with Majesty and great Glory and have made all the Kings of the Earth to have bowed before him and paid Homage to him but the Wisdom of God chose rather that he should appear in a poor and humble in a suffering and afflicted Condition to confound the Pride of the World who measure the Love of God by these outward things and think that God hates all those whom he permits to be afflicted Now it was not possible to give a greater and clearer Demonstration of this Truth that Goodness and Suffering may meet together in the same Person than in the Son of God who did no Sin neither was Guile found in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to Grief Afflictions in this world are so far from being a sign of God's Hatred that they are an Argument of his Love and Care whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Those he designs for great things hereafter he trains up by great Hardships in this world and by many Tribulations prepares them for a Kingdom This course God took more especially in the first planting of Christianity the poor chiefly were those that received the Gospel Not many mighty nor many noble but the base things of the world and the things that were despised did God chuse Hearken my beloved brethren saith St. James ch 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poor in this world rich in Faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him Now this Consideration should persuade to Patience under the greatest Sufferings and Afflictions in this world God may be our Father and chasten us severely nay this very thing is rather an Argument that he is so God may love us tho' the world hate us 'T is but exercising a
so afraid of the Merit of Obedience and good Works that they are loth to assert the Neeessity of them and do it with so much caution as if they were not throughly perswaded of it or did apprehend some dangerous consequence of it but this fear is perfectly groundless as if Merit could not be excluded without casting off our Duty and releasing our selves from any Necessary Obligation to be good For any Man surely may easily discern a plain difference between a worthiness of desert and a fitness of receiving a Rebel being penitent and sorry for what he hath done though he cannot deserve a pardon yet he may thereby be qualified and made meet to receive it though Repentance do not make him worthy yet it may make him capable of it which an obstinate Rebel and one that persists in his disloyalty is not This is a thing so plain of it self that it would be waste of time and words to insist longer upon the proof of it Now the Necessity of Obedience in order to eternal Life and Happiness relies upon these three grounds 1 st Upon the Constitution and Appointment of God 2 dly The general Reason of Rewards 3 dly Upon the particular Nature of that Reward which God will confer upon us for our Obedience 1 st The Constitution and Appointment of God Eternal Life is the Gift of God and he may do what he will with his own he may dispense his Gifts and Favours upon what Terms and Conditions he pleaseth and therefore if he hath plainly declared that to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality he will give eternal Life that without holiness no Man shall see the Lord but if we have our fruit unto holiness our End shall be everlasting Life who shall resist his Will or dispute his Pleasure The Right and Authority of God in this matter is so unquestionable that it admits of no contest and the Blessings and Benefits propos'd are so infinitely great and unvaluable that no condition of obtaining them which is possible to be perform'd by us can be thought hard and unequal so that we ought thankfully to receive so great a favour let the terms and conditions of it be what they will and if there were no other reason for the imposing of these Conditions upon us of Faith and Repentance and Obedience but merely the Will and Pleasure of God this were enough to silence all Objections against it But 2 dly The Necessity of Obedience in order to eternal Life is likewise founded in the Reason of Rewards in general For though the measure and degree of our Reward so infinitely beyond the proportion of our best Duty and Service as eternal Life and Happiness is I say though the measure and degree of this Reward be founded in the immense Bounty and Goodness of God yet the Reason of Reward in general is necessarily founded in our Obedience to God's Laws for according to the true nature and reason of things nothing but Obedience is capable of Reward For though Authority may pardon the breach and transgression of Laws and remit the punishment due thereto yet to reward the contempt of Laws and wilful disobedience to them is directly contrary to the design of Government and does plainly overthrow the very Reason and End of all Laws and makes Obedience and Disobedience to be all one if so be they are equally capable of Reward and therefore nothing can be more absurd and sensless than for any Man to hope to be rewarded by God who does not live in a sincere Obedience to his Laws Every Man that hath this hope in him that is in Christ Jesus to be sav'd by him purifieth himself even as he is pure that is endeavours to be like him in the purity and obedience of his life and nothing surely can be more unreasonable than to expect to be rewarded by the great Governour and Judge of the World if we be disobedient to his Laws for where Obedience to Law is refused there all reason and equity of Reward ceaseth No wise Prince can think fit to reward Disloyalty and Contempt of his Laws because to reward it would be to encourage it much less will God the great and infinitely wise Governour of the World 3 dly the Necessity of Obedience will yet more evidently appear if we consider the particular Nature of that Reward which God will confer upon us for our Obedience The happiness of Heaven which is the Reward promised in the Gospel is described to us by the sight and enjoyment of God Now to render us capable of this blessed Reward it is necessary that we be like God but nothing but Obedience and Holiness and being renewed after the Image of him who created us in righteousness can make us like to God For he that would be like God must be holy and just and good and patient and merciful as God is and this alone can make us capable of the blessed sight and enjoyment of God for unless we be like him we cannot see him as he is and if we should be admitted into Heaven we could not find any pleasure and happiness in communion with him Blessed are the pure in heart says our Saviour for they shall see God Without Holiness says the Apostle no man shall see the Lord. And indeed it is in the very nature of the thing impossible that a wicked Man whilst he remains so should ever be happy because there can be no agreeable and delightful Society between those that are of a quite contrary temper and disposition to one another between him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and a sinful and impure Creature For what fellowship saith the Apostle can righteousness have with unrighteousness what communion hath light with darkness or God with Belial that is with the wicked and disobedient Till we become like to God in the frame and temper of our minds there can be no happy Society between him and us we could neither delight our selves in God nor he take any pleasure in us for he is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him The wicked shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity It cannot be otherwise but that there must be an eternal jarring and discord between the righteous and holy God and wicked and unrighteous Men. I will behold thy face says David in righteousness There is no looking God in the face upon any other terms If we have been workers of iniquity God will cast us out of his sight and in great anger bid us to depart from him and we also shall desire him to depart from us as being unable to bear the sight of him So that there is great reason why Holiness and Obedience should be made the Conditions of Eternal Life and Happiness since in the very Nature of the thing it is so necessary a Qualification for the blessed
their Universal Expectation Thirdly As to his Miracles Fourthly His Conversation Fifthly The Prejudice that lay against him from the Opposition that was made by Persons of greatest Knowledge and Authority among them And Lastly That the Religion which he endeavour'd to introduce did abolish and supersede their ancient Religion as of no longer Use and Continuance though it was plain it was at first instituted by God First The Exceptions which they took at his Extraction and Original In relation to this they were offended at three Things 1. That his Original was known among them This you find urged against him John 7.27 We know this Man whence he is but when the Messias comes no Man knows whence he is This to be sure was no just Exception in reason against him For what if his Extraction were known might he not be from God for all that They owned Moses for the greatest Prophet that ever was and yet it was very well known from whence he was But they seem to refer to some Prophecy of the Old Testament which did seem to assert so much If they meant that his Extraction should be altogether unknown they knew very well and believed the contrary that he was to be of the Line of David and to come out of Bethlehem If they referr'd to that Prophecy that a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son and so understood that he should be without Father this was really true tho' they thought that he was the Son of Joseph And if he affirmed that he had no Father he did sufficiently justify it by his Miracles that being as easy to be believed possible by a Divine Power as the Miracles which he wrought which yet they could not deny because they saw them 2. Another Prejudice against his Extraction was the Meanness of his Parents and Breeding This you find mentioned Matth. 13.54 55. Whence hath this Man this Wisdom and these mighty Works Is not this the Carpenter's Son is not his Mother called Mary and his Brethren James and Jâ—ses and Simon and Judas And his Sisters are they not all with us Whence then hath this Man these things And they were offended in him And so likewise John 7.15 How knoweth this Man Letters having never learned A strange Prejudice and most unreasonable They could not believe him to be an extraordinary Person because his Parents and Relations his Birth and Breeding were so mean He had been brought up to a Trade and not brought up to Learning whereas in Reason this ought to have been an Argument just the other way that he was an extraordinary Person and divinely assisted who all on the sudden without the help and assistance of Education gave such Evidence of his great Wisdom and Knowledge and did such mighty Works This could not be imputed to his Breeding for that was mean therefore there must be something Extraordinary and Divine in it Thus another Man who had been free from Prejudice would have reasoned 3. The most unreasonable Prejudice of all in respect of his Extraction was grounded upon a spiteful and malicious Proverb concerning the Country where our Saviour was brought up and they supposed him to be born and that was Galilee John 1.46 Can any good thing come out of Nazareth And John 7.41 Shall the Messias come out of Galilee And v. 52. Search and look for out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet But it seems Nathanael who was a good Man was easily taken off from this common Prejudice when Philip said to him come and see He bids him come and see the Works he did and then refers it to him whether he would believe his own Eyes or an old Proverb However it seems the Jews laid great weight upon it as if this alone were enough to confute all his Miracles and after they had shot this Bolt at him the Business were concluded clearly against him But prudent and considerate Men do not use to give much Credit to ill-natur'd Proverbs the good or bad Characters which are given of Countreys are not understood to be universally true and without Exception There is no place but hath brought forth some brave Spirits and excellent Persons whatever the general Temper and Disposition of the Inhabitants may be Among the Grecians the Beotians were esteemed a dull People even to a Proverb and yet Pindar one of their chief Poets was one of them The Scythians were a barbarous Nation and one would have thought no good could have come from thence and yet that Country yielded Anacharsis an eminent Philosopher The Idumeans were Aliens and Strangers to the Covenant and yet Job one of the best Men that ever was came from thence God can raise up eminent Persons from any place Abraham from Vr of the Chaldees and an Idolatrous People Nay as our Saviour tells us he can out of Stones raise up Children unto Abraham The wise God in the Government of the World does not tie himself to our foolish Proverbs It is not necessary to make a Man a Prophet that he should be bred in a good Air. If God sends a Man it matters not from what Place he comes Secondly Another Head of Exception against our Saviour was the meanness of his outward Condition so contrary to the Universal Expectation of the Jews The Jews from the Tradition of their Fathers to which they as the Church of Rome does at this Day paid a greater Reverence than to the written word of God were possest with a strong Perswasion that the Messias whom they expected was to be a great Prince and Conqueror and to subdue all Nations to them so that nothing could be a greater defeat to their Expectations than the mean and low Condition in which our Saviour appeared so that upon this Account they were almost universally offended at him But this Prejudice was very unreasonable For neither did their Prophets foretel any such thing as the Temporal Greatness of the Messias But on the contrary most expresly that he should be despised and rejected of Men that he should be a Man of Sorrows and Sufferings and at last be put to death which was directly contrary to what they expected from their ill-grounded Tradition Thirdly Against his Miracles they made these two Exceptions 1. That he wrought them by Magical Skill and by the Power of the Devil Which was so exorbitantly unreasonable and malicious that our Saviour pronounceth it to be an unpardonable Sin and for Answer to it appeals to every Man's Reason whether it was likely that the Devil should conspire against himself and assist any Man to overthrow his own Kingdom For it was plain our Saviour's Doctrine was directly contrary to the Devil's Design and therefore to assist him to work Miracles for the Confirmation of it must have been apparently against his own Interest and to the Ruin of his own Kingdom 2. They pretended that though he did many great Works yet he gave them no Sign from Heaven Matt. 16.1 it is said They desired
that the generality of Mankind should be all Slaves to a few and be perpetually chained to the Oar or condemned to the Mines There are many times as bad Consequences of good things as of bad but yet there is a great difference between good and bad for all that As Knowledge and Liberty so likewise the Christian Religion is a great Happiness to the World in general though some are so unhappy as to be the worse for it not because Religion is bad but because they are so 4. If Religion be a matter of Mens free Choice it is not to be expected that it should necessarily and constantly have its Effect upon Men for it works upon us not by way of Force or natural Necessity but of Moral Persuasion If Religion and the Grace of God which goes along with it did force Men to be good and virtuous and no Man could be so unless he were thus violently forc'd then it would be no Virtue in any Man to be good nor any Crime and Fault to be otherwise For then the reason why some Men were good would be because they could not help it and others bad because the Grace of God did not make them so whether they would or not But Religion does not thus work upon Men. It directs Men to their Duty by the shortest and plainest Precepts of a good Life it persuades Men to the Obedience of these Precepts by the Promises of Eternal Happiness and the Threatnings of Eternal Misery in case of obstinate Disobedience it offers us the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit to help our Weakness and enable us to that for which we are not sufficient of our selves But there is nothing of Violence or Necessity in all this After all Men may disobey these Precepts and not be persuaded by these Arguments may not make use of this Grace which God offers may quench and resist the Holy Ghost and reject the Counsel of God against themselves And the Case being thus it is no wonder if the Temptations of this present World prevail upon the vicious Inclinations of Men against their Duty and their true Interest and consequently if the Motives and Arguments of the Christian Religion have not a constant and certain Effect upon a great part of Mankind Not but that Christianity is apt to bring Men to Goodness but some are so obstinately bad as not to be wrought upon by the most powerful Considerations it can offer to them 5. It cannot be denied but that Christianity is as well framed to make Men good as any Religion can be imagined to be and therefore wherever the Fault be it cannot be in the Christian Religion that we are not good So that the bad Lives of Christians are no sufficient Objection either against the Truth or Goodness of the Christian Doctrine Besides the Confirmation that was given to it by Miracles the Excellency of the Doctrine and its proper Tendency to make Men holy and virtuous are a plain Evidence of its Divine and Heavenly Original And surely the Goodness of any Religion consists in the sufficiency of its Precepts to direct Men to their Duty in the force of its Arguments to persuade Men to it and the suitableness of its Aids and Helps to enable us to the Discharge and Performance of it And all those Advantages the Christian Religion hath above any Religion or Institution that ever was in the World The reasonable and plain Rules of a good Life are no where so perfectly collected as in the Discourses of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles No Religion ever gave Men so full Assurance of the mighty Rewards and Punishments of another World nor such gracious Promises of Divine Assistance and such Evidence of it especially in the Piety and Virtue and Patience and Self-denial of the Primitive Christians as the Doctrine of God our Saviour hath done which teacheth Men to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World in contemplation of the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 6. and lastly After all that hath or can be said it must be acknowledged and ought sadly to be lamented by us that the wicked Lives of Christians are a marvellous Scandal and Reproach to our Holy Religion and a great Obstacle to the spreading of it in the World and a real Objection against it to prejudiced Persons with whom it doth justly bring into doubt the Goodness and Efficacy of the Institution it self to see how little Effect it hath upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. It is hard for a Man to maintain the Reputation of an excellent Master in any kind when all the World sees that most of his Scholars prove Dunces Whatever Commendation may be given to any Art or Science Men will question the Truth and Reality of it when they see the greatest part of those who profess it not able to do any thing answerable to it The Christian Religion pretends to be an Art of serving God more decently and devoutly and of living better than other Men but if it be so why do not the Professors of this excellent Religion shew the Force and Virtue of it in their Lives And though I have sufficiently shewn that this is not enough to overthrow the Truth and disparage the Excellency of the Christian Doctrine yet it will certainly go a great way with prejudiced Persons and it cannot be expected otherwise So that we have infinite Reason to be ashamed that there is so plain a contrariety between the Laws of Christianity and the Lives of the greatest part of Christians so notorious and palpable a difference between the Religion that is in the Bible and that which is to be seen and read in the Conversations of Men. Who that looks upon the Manners of the present Age could believe if he did not know it that the holy and pure Doctrine of the Christian Religion had ever been so much as heard much less pretended to be entertained and believed among us Nay among those who seem to make a more serious Profession of Religion when we consider how strangely they allow themselves in Malice and Envy in Passion and Anger and Uncharitable Censures and evil Speaking in fierce Contentions and Animosities who would believe that the great Instrument of these Mens Religion I mean the Holy Bible by which they profess to regulate and govern their Lives were full of plain and strict Precepts of Love and Kindness of Charity and Peace and did a hundred times with all imaginable Severity and under pain of forfeiting the Kingdom of God forbid Malice and Envy and Revenge and evil speaking and rash and uncharitable Censures and tell us so plainly that the Christian Religion obligeth Men to put off all these and that if any
to rejoice in the hopes of the Glory of God because their Sufferings did really prepare and make way for their Glory So the same Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Our light Afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal 3 dly and lastly The assurance of our future Reward is a mighty Encouragement to Obedience and a Holy Life What greater Encouragement can we have than this That all the good which we do in this World will accompany us into the other That when we rest from our labours our works will follow us That when we shall be stript of other things and parted from them these will still remain with us and bear us company Our Riches and Honours our sensual Pleasures and Enjoyments will all take their leave of us when we leave this World nay many times they do not accompany us so far as the Grave but take occasion to forsake us when we have the greatest need and use of them but Piety and Virtue are that better part which cannot be taken from us All the good actions which we do in this world will go along with us into the other and through the Merits of our Redeemer procure for us at the hands of a Gracious and Merciful God a Glorious and Eternal Reward not according to the meanness of our Services but according to the Bounty of his Mind and the vastness of his Treasures and Estate Now what an encouragement is this to Holiness and Obedience to consider that it will all be our own another day to be assured that whoever serves God faithfully and does suffer for him patiently does lay up so much Treasure for himself in another World and provides lasting Comforts for himself and faithful and constant Companions that will never leave him nor forsake him Let us then do all the good we can while we have opportunity and serve God with all our might knowing that no good action that we do shall be lost and fall to the ground that every Grace and Virtue that we exercise in this life and every degree of them shall receive their full recompence at the Resurrection of the Just How should this inspire us with Resolution and Zeal and Industry in the Service of God to have such a Reward continually in our Eye how should it tempt us to our Duty to have a Crown and a Kingdom offered to us Joys unspeakable and full of Glory such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man And such are the things which God hath laid up for them who love him heartily and serve him faithfully in this World SERMON V. The danger of Apostacy from Christianity HEB. VI. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame THESE words are full of difficulties and the misunderstanding of them hath not only been an occasion of a great deal of trouble and even despair to particular persons but one of the chief Reasons why the Church of Rome did for a long time reject the Authority of this Book Vol. V. which by the way I cannot but take notice of as a demonstrative Instance both of the fallible Judgment of that Church and of the fallibility of Oral Tradition for St. Jerom more than once expresly tells us that in his time which was about 400 years after Christ the Church of Rome did not receive this Epistle for Canonical But it is plain that since that time whether moved by the Evidence of the thing or which is more probable by the Consent and Authority of other Churches they have received it and do at this day acknowledge it for Canonical from whence one of these two things will necessarily follow either that they were in an error for 400 years together while they rejected it or that they have since erred for a longer time in receiving it One of these is unavoidable for if the Book be Canonical now it was so from the beginning for Bellarmine himself confesseth and if he had not confessed it it is nevertheless true and certain that the Church cannot make a Book Canonical which was not so before Ser. 5. if it was not Canonical at first it cannot be made so afterward so that let them chuse which part they will it is evident beyond all denial that the Church of Rome hath actually erred in her Judgment concerning the Authority of this Book and one error of this kind is enough to destroy her Infallibility there being no greater Evidence that a Church is not Infallible than if it plainly appear that she hath been deceived And this also is a convincing instance of the Fallibility of Oral Tradition For if that be Infallible in delivering down to us the Canonical Books of Scripture it necessarily follows that whatever Books were delivered down to us for Canonical in one Age must have been so in all Ages and whatever was rejected in any Age must always have been rejected but we plainly see the contrary from the instance of this Epistle concerning which the Church of Rome which pretends to be the great and faithful Preserver of Tradition hath in several Ages deliver'd several things This is a peremptory instance both of the Fallibility of the Roman Church and of her Oral Tradition Having observed this by the way which I could not well pass by upon so fair an occasion I shall betake my self to the explication of these words towards which it will be no small advantage to consider the particular Phrases and Expressions in the Text. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned that is were solemnly admitted into the Church by Baptism and embraced the profession of Christianity Nothing was more frequent among the Ancients than to call Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and those who were baptized were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlightned Persons because of that Divine Illumination which was convey'd to the minds of Men by the knowledge of Christianity the Doctrine whereof they made Profession of at their Baptism And therefore Justin Martyr tells us that by calling upon God the Father and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the name of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the enlightned Person is washed and again more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Laver speaking of Baptism is called Illumination And St. Cyprian gives us the Reason because by virtue of Baptism in expiatum pectus ac
himself lived when he was pleased to assume our Nature and to become Man And then we are to consider that the Son of God did not assume our Nature in its highest Glory and Perfection but compast with Infirmities and liable in all points to be tempted like as we are but still it was without Sin and therefore God doth not exact from us perfect Obedience and that we should fulfil all Righteousness as he did he makes allowance for the corruption of our Nature and is pleased to accept of our sincere though very imperfect Obedience But after all this his humane Nature was united to the Divinity and he had the Spirit without measure and this would indeed make a wide difference between us and our Pattern as to the purpose of Holiness and Obedience if we were destitute of that assistance which is neceessary to enable us to the discharge of our Duty But this God offers and is ready to afford to us for he hath promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him and the Spirit of him that raised up Christ Jesus from the Dead dwells in all good men who sincerely desire to do the Will of God in the working out our Salvation God worketh in us both to will and to do So that as to that Obedience which the Gospel requires of us if we be not wanting to our selves if we do not receive the Grace of God in vain and quench and resist his blessed Spirit we may be as really assisted as the Son of God himself was for in this respect all true and sincere Christians are the Sons of God so that St. Paul tells us Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God So that if all things be duly consider'd the Life of our blessed Saviour as it is the most perfect so in the main it is a very proper Pattern for our imitation and could not have come nearer to us without wanting that perfection which is necessary to a compleat and absolute Pattern The Son of God condescended to every thing that might render him the most familiar and equal Example to us excepting that which as it was impossible so had been infinitely dishonourable to him and would have spoil'd the perfection of his Example he came as near to us as was fit or possible being in all things like unto us Sin only excepted that is abating that one thing which he came to destroy and abolish and which would have destroyed the very end of his coming for if he had not been without Sin he could neither have made an expiation for Sin nor have been a perfect Pattern of Holiness and Obedience And as the Life of our blessed Saviour had all the perfection that is requisite to an absolute Pattern so that by considering his Temper and Spirit and the actions of his Life we may reform all the vicious inclinations of our Minds and the exorbitances of our Passions and the errors and irregularities of our Lives so it is a very powerful Example and of great force to oblige and provoke us to the imitation of it for it is the Example of one whom we ought to reverence and have reason to love above any Person in the World The Example of our Prince and Soveraign Lord of our best Friend and greatest Benefactor of the High Priest of our Profession and the Captain of our Salvation of the Author and Finisher of our Faith of one who came down from Heaven for our sakes and was contented to assume our Nature together with the infirmities of it and to live in a low and mean condition for no other reason but that he might have the opportunity to instruct and lead Mankind in the way to Life to deliver us from Sin and Wrath and to bring us to God and Happiness 'T is the Example of one who laid down his Life for us and sealed his Love to us in his Blood and whilst we were Enemies did and suffer'd more for us than ever any Man did for his Friend And surely these Considerations cannot but mightily recommend and endear to us this Example of our Lord and Saviour We are ambitious to imitate those whom we highly esteem and reverence and are apt to have their Examples in great veneration from whom we have received great Kindnesses and Benefits and are always endeavouring to be like those whom we love and are apt to conform our selves to the Will and Pleasure of those from whom we have received great Favours and who are continually heaping great Obligations upon us So that whether we consider the Excellency of our Pattern or the mighty Endearments of it to us by that infinite Love and Kindness which he hath exprest towards us we have all the temptation and all the provocation in the World to endeavour to be like him for who would not gladly tread in the steps of the Son of God and of the best Friend that the Sons of Men ever had Who will not follow that Example to which we stand indebted for the greatest Blessings and Benefits that ever were procured for Mankind Thus you see of what force and advantage the Example of our blessed Saviour is toward the Recovery and Salvation of Mankind 3 dly He is the Author of Eternal Salvation as he hath purchased it for us by the Merit of his Obedience and Sufferings by which he hath obtained Eternal Redemption for us not only deliverance from the wrath to come but Eternal Life and Happiness when by our Sins we had justly incurred the wrath and displeasure of Almighty God and were liable to Eternal Death and Misery He was contented to be substituted a Sacrifice for us to bear our Sins in his own Body on the Tree and to expiate the guilt of all our Offences by his own Sufferings He died for us that is not only for our Benefit and Advantage but in our place and stead so that if he had not died we had eternally perish'd and because he died we are saved from that eternal Ruin and Punishment which was due to us for our Sins And this tho' it be no where in Scripture call'd by the Name or Term of Satisfaction yet which is the same thing in effect it is call'd the prize of our Redemption for as we are Sinners we are liable and indebted to the Justice of God and our blessed Saviour by his Death and Sufferings hath discharged this Obligation which Discharge since it was obtained for us by the shedding of his precious Blood without which the Scripture expresly says there had been no Remission of Sin why it may not properly enough be called Payment and Satisfaction I confess I cannot understand Not that God was angry with his Son for he was always well pleased with him or that our Saviour suffer'd the very same which the Sinner should have done in his own Person the proper Pains and Torments of the damned but that his perfect
both There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men that is there is but one God and one Mediator But then they of the Church of Rome endeavour to avoid this plain Text by distinguishing between a Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of Intercession But now if Christ's Mediation by way of Intercession be founded in the Virtue of his Redemption then if there be but one Mediator of Redemption then there is but one Mediator of Intercession in Heaven for us There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransome for all So that the Power and Prevalency of his Intercession is founded in his Ransome that is the Price of our Redemption in virtue whereof alone he intercedes with God for us as the Apostle to the Hebrews does most plainly assert So that all other Intercessors in Heaven for us are excluded from offering and presenting our Prayers to God besides our High Priest who is at the right hand of God and lives for ever to make intercession for us and by virtue of his Intercession is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him that is who put up their Prayers to God in the alone Virtue of his Mediation So that as there is no need of any other if his Intercession be available to save to the uttermost So there is great danger in applying to any other whether Saint or Angel or even the Blessed Virgin if the benefit of his Innercession be limited to those who come to God by him And thus I have shewn by what means Christ is the Author of our Salvation which was the first thing I propos'd to be consider'd I proceed to the Second thing I proposed to enquire into namely what Obedience the Gospel requires as a Condition and is pleased to accept as a Qualification in those who hope for Eternal Salvation And this I shall explain first Negatively and then Positively 1 st Negatively It is not a mere outward profession of the Christian Religion and owning of Christ for our Lord and Law-giver that will be accepted in this case Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord saith our Saviour shall enter into the Kingdom of God By which we may very reasonably understand all that profession of Religion which falls short of Obedience and a Holy Life as the profession of Faith in Christ being baptized into his Name and Religion the mere belief of his Doctrine and the ownig of him for our Lord and Saviour no nor the external Worship of him and profession of Subjection to him by Prayer and hearing his Word and communicating in the Holy Sacrament No though this be set off in the most glorious manner by prophesying and working Miracles in his Name for so it follows in the next words Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name have done many wondrous works We have eat and drank in thy presence and have heard thee preach in our Streets But he tells us that nothing of all this without Obedience to his Laws will be sufficient to gain us admission into Heaven 2 dly Positively That which God requires as a Condition and will accept as a Qualification in those who hope for Eternal Life is Faith in Christ and a sincere and universal Obedience to the Precepts of his Holy Gospel Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of God but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven And here in the Text it is expresly said That Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them that hearken to him that is to them that do so hear and believe his Gospel as to obey it to them and no other he is the Author of Eternal Salvation And that we may the more clearly and distinctly understand what Obedience it is which the Gospel exacts as an indispensable Condition of Eternal Salvation and a necessary qualification in all those who hope to be made partakers of it we may be pleased to consider that there is a virtual and an actual Obedience to the Laws of God a perfect and a sincere Obedience to them the explication of these Terms will give us a distinct conception of the thing we are speaking of 1 st There is a virtual and there is an actual Obedience to the Laws of God By an actual Obedience I mean the Practice and Exercise of the several Graces and Virtues of Christianity and the course and tenor of a Holy Life when out of a good Conversation Men do shew forth their Works and by the outward actions of their Lives do give real Testimony of their Piety Justice Sobriety Humility Meekness and Charity and all other Christian Graces and Virtues as occasion is ministred for the Practise and Exercise of them By a virtual Obedience I mean a sincere belief of the Gospel of the Holiness and Equity of its Precepts of the Truth of its Promises and of the Terror of its Threatnings and a true Repentance for all our Sins This is Obedience in the Root and Principle for he who sincerely believes the Gospel and does truly repent of the Errors and Miscarriages of his Life is firmly resolved to obey the Commandments of God and to walk before him in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of his Life so that there is nothing that prevents or hinders this Man's actual Obedience to the Laws of God in the course of a holy and good Life but only the want of time and opportunity for it And this was the case of those who upon the hearing of the Gospel when it was first preached to them did heartily embrace it and turn from their Sins and the Worship of Idols to the true and living God but perhaps were cut off soon after as there were many who being but newly gained to Christianity were presently put to Death and suffer'd Martyrdom for that Profession There is no doubt to be made but that in this case a virtual Obedience was in such Persons a sufficient qualification for Eternal Life But where there is time and opportunity for the Exercise of our Obedience and the practice of the virtues of a holy Life there actual Obedience to the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel is necessary to qualify us for Eternal Happiness so that tho' a man do sincerely believe the Gospel and truly repent of his Sins and resolve upon a better Life yet if he do not afterwards in the course of his Life put this resolution in practice and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance and amendment of Life and persevere in a Holy Course his first Resolution of Obedience though it were sincere will not avail him to Salvation Nay if he should continue for some time in the Resolution
sight and enjoyment of God who is the Cause and Fountain of Happiness I come in the Fifth and last place To shew that this Method and Means of our Salvation is no prejudice to the Law of Faith and to the free Grace and Mercy of God declared in the Gospel The Gospel is called the Law of Faith and the Law of Grace in opposition to the Jewish Dispensation which is called the Law or Covenant of Works because it consisted so much in external Rites and Observances which were but types and shadows of good things to come as the Apostle calls them in this Epistle and which when they were come that Law did expire of it self and was out of date the obligation and observance of it was no longer necessary but a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises came in the place of it and Men were justified by Faith that is by sincerely embracing the Christian Religion and were no longer under an obligation to that external and servile and imperfect Dispensation which consisted in Circumcision and in almost an endless number of external Ceremonies These are the works of the Law so often spoken of by St. Paul concerning which the Jews had not only an opinion of the necessity of them to a Man's Justification and Salvation but likewise of the Merit of them in opposition to both which opinions St. Paul calls the Covenant of the Gospel the Law of Faith and the Law of Grace But there is no where the least intimation given either by our Saviour or his Apostles that Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel which are in substance the Moral Law cleared and perfected is not necessary to our acceptance with God and the obtaining of Eternal Life but on the contrary 't is our Saviour's express Direction to the young Man who ask'd what good thing he should do that he might obtain Eternal Life If thou wilt says he enter into Life keep the Commandments and that he might understand what Commandments he meant he instanceth in the Precepts of the Moral Law And indeed the whole tenour of our Saviour's Sermons and the Precepts and Writings of the Apostles are full and express to this purpose Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine that is these Precepts which I have delivered and doth them not I will liken him to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them In every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith that is acted and inspired by Charity And that the Apostle here means that Charity or Love which is the fulfilling of the Law is evident from what he says elsewhere that neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but the keeping of the Commandments of God In which Text it is plain that the Apostle speaks of the terms of our Justification and what is available with God to that purpose And St. James to the same purpose tells us that by the works of Obedience our Faith is made perfect and that Faith without Works is dead and surely a dead Faith will neither justifie nor save any Man St. John likewise very earnestly cautions us to take heed of any such Doctrine as would take away the necessity of Righteousness and Obedience Little Children says he let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous To all which I shall only add the plain words of my Text that Christ became the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him So that no Man hath reason to fear that this Doctrine of the necessity of Obedience to our Acceptance with God and the obtaining of eternal life should be any ways prejudicial to the Law of Faith and the Law of Grace For so long as these three things are but asserted and secured 1 st That Faith is the Root and Principle of Obedience and a holy Life and that without it it is impossible to please God 2 dly That we stand continually in need of the Divine Grace and Assistance to enable us to perform that Obedience which the Gospel requires of us and is pleased to accept in order to eternal life And 3 dly That the forgiveness of our Sins and the Reward of eternal Life are founded in the free Grace and Mercy of God conferring these Blessings upon us not for the merit of our Obedience but only for the merit and satisfaction of the Obedience and Sufferings of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer I say so long as we assert these three things we give all that the Gospel any where ascribes to Faith and to the Grace of God revealed in the Gospel I have been careful to express these things more fully and distinctly that no Man may imagine that whilst we assert the Necessity of Obedience and a Holy Life we have any design to derogate in the least from the Faith and the Grace of God but only to engage and encourage Men to Holiness and a good Life by convincing them of the absolute and indispensable necessity of it in order to eternal Salvation For all that I have said is in plain English no more but this That it is necessary for a Man to be a good Man that he may get to Heaven and whoever finds fault with this Doctrine finds fault with the Gospel it self and the main end and design of the Grace of God therein revealed to Mankind which offers Salvation to Men upon no other terms than these which I have mentioned and to preach and press this Doctrine is certainly if any thing in the World can be so to pursue the great End and Design of the Christian Religion so plainly and expresly declared by St. Paul Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appear'd to all men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World And if the Grace of God declared in the Gospel have this effect upon us then we may with Confidence wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good works and then he adds these things teach and exhort and rebuke with all Authority that is declare and inculcate this doctrine and rebuke severely those who teach or practise contrary to it And he repeats it again with a more vehement Charge to Titus to press upon Men the necessity of
Obedience and good Works Chap. 3.8 This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have belieed in God be careful to maintain good Works All that now remains is to make some useful Inferences from what hath been said upon this Argument and so to conclude this Discourse First of all To convince us that an empty Profession of the Christian Religion how specious and glorious soever it be if it be destitute of the fruits of Obedience and a holy Life will by no means avail to bring us to Heaven No profession of Faith in Christ no Subjection to him tho' we be baptized in his Name and list our selves in the number of his Disciples and Followers tho' we have made a constant Profession of all the Articles of the Christian Faith and have performed all the external parts and duties of Religion have gone constantly to Church and frequented the Service of God and have joined in publick Prayers to God with great appearance of Devotion and have heard his Word with great Reverence and Attention and received the blessed Sacrament with all imaginable expressions of Love and Gratitude to our belessed Redeemer nay tho' we had heard our blessed Saviour himself teach in our streets and had eaten and drunken in his presence yet if all this while we have not done the will of God and obeyed his Laws none of all these things will signifie any thing to bring us to Heaven and make us Partakers of that Salvation which he hath purchased for Mankind But we cannot plead so much for our selves as those did of whom our Saviour speaks None of us shall be able to alledge for our selves at the great day that we had prophesied in his Name and in his name had cast out Devils and in his name had done many wonderful Works and yet if we could alledge all this it would do us no good All that such can say for themselves is that they have call'd him Lord Lord that is they have made profession of his Religion and been call'd by his Name that they have paid an outward Honour and respect to him and declared a mighty Love and Affection for him but they have not done his will but have hated to be reformed and have cast his Commandments behind their backs they have only born the Leaves of an outward Profession but have brought forth no fruit unto Holiness and therefore can have no reasonable expectation that their End should be everlasting Life So that when these Men shall appear before the great and terrible Judge of the World they shall have nothing to say but those vain Words Lord Lord to which our Saviour will answer in that Day why call ye me Lord Lord when ye would not do the things which I said Notwithstanding all your profession of Faith in me and subjection to me ye have been workers of Iniquity therefore depart from me I know ye not whence ye are Secondly The consideration of what hath been said should stir as up to a thankful acknowledgement of what the Author of our Salvation hath done for us and there is great reason for thankfulness whether we consider the greatness of the Benefit conferred upon us or the way and manner in which it was purchased or the easie and reasonable terms upon which it may be obtained 1 st If we consider the greatness of the Benefit conferred upon us and that is Salvation eternal Salvation which comprehends in it all the Blessings and Benefits of the Gospel both the Means and the End our Happiness and the Way to it by saving us from our Sins from the guilt of them by our Justification in the Blood of Christ and from the Power and Dominion of them by the sanctifying grace and virtue of the Holy Ghost And it comprehends the End our Deliverance from Hell and the Wrath to come and the bestowing of Happiness upon us a great and lasting Happiness great as our Wishes and Immortal as our Souls all this is comprehended in eternal Salvation 2 dly If we consider the way and manner in which this great Benefit was purchased and procured for us in a way of infinite Kindness and Condescension in the lowest Humiliation and the unparallel'd Sufferings of the Son of God for never was there any sorrow like unto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce Anger in his taking upon him the form of a Servant and the person of a Sinner and his becoming obedient to death even the death of the Cross which was the Punishment of the vilest Slaves and the most hainous Malefactors The Son of God came down from Heaven from the highest pitch of Glory and Happiness into this lower World this Vale of Tears and sink of Sin and Sorrow and was contented himself to suffer to save us from eternal Ruin to be the most despicable and the most miserable Man that ever was that he might raise us to Glory and Honour and advance us to a state of the greatest Happiness that Humane Nature is capable of 3 dly If we consider the easie and reasonable Terms upon which we may be made Partakers of this unspeakable Benefit and that is by a constant and sincere and universal Obedience to the Laws of God which supposeth Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as the Root and Principle of all the Virtues of a good Life that is by doing that which best becomes us and which is most agreeable to the original Frame of our Nature and to the dictates of our Reason and which setting aside the consideration of the Reward is really best for our present Benefit and Advantage our Comfort and Happiness even in this World for God in giving Laws to us hath imposed nothing upon us but what in all reason ought to have been our choice if he had not imposed it nothing but what is for our good and is in its own nature necessary to make us capable of that Happiness which he hath promised to us And what can be more gracious than to make one Benefit the Condition of a greater Than to promise to make us happy for ever if we will but do that which upon all accounts is really best and most for our Advantage in this present Life Thirdly Here is abundant Encouragement given to our Obedience we have the divine Assistance promised to us to enable us to the performance of the most difficult parts of our Duty we have the holy Spirit of God to help our Infirmities to excite us to that which is good and to help and strengthen us in the doing of it For our further Encouragement we are assured of the divine Acceptance in case of our sincere Obedience notwithstanding the manifold Failings and Imperfections of it for the sake of the perfect Righteousness and Obedience and the meritorious Sufferings of our blessed Saviour and tho when we have done all that we can do
we are unprofitable Servants and have done nothing but what was our duty yet God is pleased to accept what we can do because it is sincere and to forgive the defects and imperfections of our Obedience for his sake who fulfilled all righteousness And besides all this we have the encouragement of a great and everlasting Reward infinitely beyond all proportion of any service and Obedience that we can perform And if God be ready to assist and strengthen us in the doing of our duty and be willing so graciously to accept and to reward at such a rate the Sincerity of our endeavours to please him notwithstanding all the failings and imperfections of our best service and Obedience what can we possibly desire more for our encouragement to patient continuance in well-doing and to be stedfast and unmoveable and abundant in the work of the Lord. Fourthly and lastly The consideration of what hath been said upon this Argument may serve severely to rebuke the groundless Presumption of those who rely with so much confidence upon Chrst for eternal Salvation without any conscience or care to keep his Commandments as if Salvation lay upon his Hands and he knew not how to dispose of it and were glad of any one that would come and take it off upon any terms No he came to save us from our Sins to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works So that the Salvation which he hath purchased for us doth necessarily imply our forsaking of our Sins and returning to God and our Duty and his Death and Sufferings are not more an argument of his great Love to Mankind than they are a demonstration of his perfect hatred of Sin So that if we continue in the Love and practice of Sin we defeat the whole design of his coming into the World and of all that he hath done and suffered for us and the redemption which Christ hath wrought for us will not avail us in the least Salvation is far from the wicked says David Psal 119.155 If we have been workers of Iniquity the Saviour of the World when he comes to judge it will bid us to depart from him From all that hath been said it is evident that it is the greatest Presumption in the World for any Man to hope to obtain eternal Salvation by any device whatsoever or in the Communion of any Church whatsoever without Obedience and a holy Life For tho' our Obedience cannot merit yet it is necessary to qualifie and dispose us for it tho' it does not make us strictly worthy yet it makes us meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light SERMON VIII The Authority of Jesus Christ with the Commission and Promise which he gave to his Apostles MAT. XXVIII 18 19 20. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World THESE Words are the last that our Blessed Saviour spake to his Apostles immediately before his Ascension into Heaven and there are these Three things contained in them Vol. V. I. A Declaration of his own Authority All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth II. A Commission to his Disciples grounded upon that Authority Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you III. A Promise to encourage them in this work And lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world I. Here 's our Saviour's Declaration of his own Authority All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Here 's an unlimited Power and Authority given him over all Creatures in Heaven and Earth This the Scripture tells us was conferred upon him as a Reward of his Sufferings Phil. 2.8 9 10. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth that is that all Creatures Angels and Men and Devils should do Homage and acknowledge Subjection to him II. Here is the Commission he gave to his Apostles by virtue of this Authority Go ye therefore and teach all Nations The Commission which he here gives is founded in the Authority he had before received Having all Power committed to him he constitutes and appoints the Apostles and their Successors to manage the Affairs of this his spiritual Kingdom upon Earth and this seems to be the same Commission which St. John mentions in other words John 20.21 As my Father hath sent me even so send I you that is as my Father commission'd me before so now having received full Authority from him I commission you Now in this Commission which our Saviour gave to his Disciples I shall take notice First Of the general Import and Design of it Secondly A more particular Declaration how they were to manage this Design First The general Import and Design of this Commission Go ye and teach all Nations The word which we translate teach is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disciple all Nations endeavour to make all the World Christians One would think here was a Power plainly enough given them to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews Which will more fully appear if we compare this passage in St. Matthew with the other Evangelists St. Mark oh 16.15 hath it Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature From which Text I suppose St. Francis thought himself bound to preach to Beasts and Birds and accordingly did it very often and with wonderful success as they tell us in the Legend of his Life But to extend our Saviour's Commission so far is want of Common sense in which St. Francis tho' they tell us he had other Gifts and Graces to an eminent degree was plainly defective But to proceed St. Luke ch 24.47 tells us our Saviour commanded that Repentance and remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem So that their Commission did plainly extend to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews only they were to begin with the Jews and to preach the Gospel first to them and when they had gone over Judea and Samaria then to pass to other Nations as St. Luke doth most expresly declare Acts 1.8 Ye shall receive power after that the holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me
preaching of the Gospel are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Powers of the World to come that is of the Gospel-Age So that this last Age of the Gospel is that which the Scripture by way of Eminency calls the Age those that went before are constantly call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ages in the plural number So we find Eph. 3.9 the Gospel is call'd the dispensation of the Mystery that was hid in God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Ages and you have the same Phrase Col. 1.26 Upon the same account the expiration of the Jewish State is in Scripture called the last times and the last days Heb. 1.2 But in these last days God hath spoken to us by his Son 1 Cor. 10.11 These things are written for our Admonition upon whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ends of the Ages are come In the same Sense the Apostle Heb. 9.26 speaking of Christ says that he appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of the Ages to take away Sin that is at the Conclusion of the Ages which had gone before in the last Age. So that if we will be governed in the Interpretation of this Text by the constant use of this Phrase in Scripture the Letter of this Promise will extend to the end of the world 2. But however this be it is certain that the Reason of this Promise does extend to all those that should succeed the Apostles in their Ministry to the end of the world I will suppose now to give our Adversaries their utmost scope that which we have no reason to grant that the Letter of this Promise reacheth only to the Apostles and their Age and that our Saviour's meaning was no more but this that he would send down the Holy Ghost upon them in miraculous Gifts to qualify and enable them for the speedy planting and propagating of the Gospel in the world and that he would be with them 'till this Work was done Now supposing there were nothing more than this intended in the letter of it this ought not much to trouble us so long as it is certain that the Reason of it does extend to the Successors of the Apostles in all Ages of the world I do not mean that the Reason of this Promise does give us sufficient Assurance that God will assist the Teachers and Governors of his Church in all Ages in the same extraordinary manner as he did the Apostles because there is not the like reason and necessity for it but that we have sufficient Assurance from the Reason of this Promise that God will not be wanting to us in such fitting and necessary Assistance as the state of Religion and the welfare of it in every Age shall require For can we imagine that God would use such extraordinary means to plant a Religion in the world and take no care of it afterwards That he who had begun so good a Work so great and glorious a Design would let it fall to the ground for want of any thing that was necessary to the Support of it This is reasonable in it self but we are not also without good ground for thus extending the general reason of particular Promises beyond the Letter of them The Apostle hath gone before us in this for Heb. 13.5 6. he there extends two particular Promises of the Old Testament to all Christians Let your Conversation says he be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And again The Lord is my helper I will not fear what Man can do unto me These Promises were made to particular Persons the first of them to Joshua and the other to David but yet the Apostle applies them to all Christians and to good Men in all Ages because the general Ground and Reason of them extended so far He who gave Joshua and David this encouragement to their Duty will certainly be as good to us if we do ours And thus I have done with the first Controversie about the Sense of these Words which concerns the Circumstance of time mentioned in this Promise always to the end of the World and have plainly shewn that both the Letter and the Reason of this Promise does extend further than the Persons of the Apostles and the continuance of that Age even to all that should succeed them in their Ministry to the end of the World I come now to consider Secondly The Substance of the Promise it self namely what is meant by our Saviour's being with them And here our Adversaries of the Church of Rome would fain perswade us that this Promise is made to the Church of Rome and that the meaning of it is that that Church should always be infallible and never err in the Faith But as there is no mention of the Church of Rome in this Promise nor any where else in Scripture upon the like Occasion whereby we might be directed to understand this Promise to be made to that Church so to any unprejudiced Person the plain and obvious Sense of this Promise can be no other than this that our Saviour having commissionated the Apostles to go and preach the Christian Religion in the World he promises to assist them in this work and those that should succeed them in it to the end of the World But how any Man can construe this Promise so as to make it signifie the perpetual Infallibility of the Roman Church I cannot for my life devise and yet this is one of the main Texts upon which they build that old and tottering Fabrick of their Infallibility Here is a general Promise of Assistance to the Pastors and Governours of the Church in all Ages to the end of the World but that this Assistance shall always be to the degree of Infallibility as it was to the Apostles can neither be concluded from the letter of this Promise nor from the Reason of it much less can it be from hence concluded that the Assistance here promised if it were to the degree of Infallibility is to be limited and confined to the supream Pastor and Governour of the Roman Church That the Assistance here promised shall always be to the degree of Infallibility can by no means be concluded from the Letter of this Promise Indeed there is no Pretence or Colour for it he must have a very peculiar Sagacity that can find out in these words I am with you always a promise of infallible Assistance Is not the Promise which God made to Joshua and which the Apostle to the Hebrews applies to all Christians and to all Good Men in all Ages I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the very same in sense with this I will be with you always and yet surely no Man did ever imagine that by virtue of this Promise every Christian and every good Man is infallible But neither can it be inferr'd from the Reason of this Promise
Christianity Christ hath promised to be with them The performance of this Condition doth primarily concern the chief Governours of the Church and next to them the Ministers of the Gospel in general that they would be diligent and faithful in their respective Stations teaching Men to observe all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded And if we would make this our great Work to instruct our respective Charges in the necessary Doctrines of Faith and the indispensable Duties of a good Life we should have far less trouble with them about other matters And that we may do this Work effectually we must be serious in our Instructions and exemplary in our Lives Serious in our Instructions this certainly the Apostle requires in the highest degree when he chargeth Ministers so to speak as the Oracles of God to which nothing can be more contrary than to trifle with the Word of God and to speak of the weightiest matters in the World the great and everlasting Concernments of the Souls of Men in so slight and indecent a manner as is not only beneath the Gravity of the Pulpit but even of a well regulated Stage Can any thing be more unsuitable than to hear a Minister of God from this solemn place to break Jests upon Sin and to quibble upon the Vices of the Age This is to shoot without a Bullet and as if we had no mind to do Execution but only to make Men smile at the mention of their Faults this is so nauseous a Folly and of so pernicious consequence to Religion that hardly any thing too severe can be said of it And then if we would have our Instructions effectual we must be exemplary in our Lives Aristotle tells that the manners of the Speaker have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most soveraign power of Perswasion And therefore Cato puts it into the definition of an Orator that he is vir bonus dicendi peritus a good Man and an eloquent Speaker This is true as to all kinds of Perswasion the good Opinion which Men have of the Speaker gives great weight to his Words and does strangely dispose the Minds of Men to entertain his Counsels But the Reputation of Goodness is more especially necessary and useful to those whose proper Work it is to perswade Men to be good and therefore the Apostle when he had charged Titus to put Men in mind of their Duty he immediately adds in all things shewing thy self a Patern of good Works None so fit to teach others their Duty and none so likely to gain Men to it as those who practise it themselves because hereby we convince Men that we are in earnest when they see that we perswade them to nothing but what we chuse to do our selves This is the way to stop the Mouths of Men and to confute their Malice by an exemplary piety and Virtue So St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 2.15 For so is the will of God that by well doing ye put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. SERMON IX The Difficulties of a Christian Life consider'd LUKE XIII 24 Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able THERE are two great Mistakes about the Nature of Religion equally false and equally pernicious to the Souls of Men and the Devil whose great design it is to keep Men off from Religion by any Means makes use of both these Mistakes to serve his own Purpose and Design upon the several Tempers of Men. Those who are melancholy and serious he disheartens and discourageth from attempting it by the extream trouble and difficulty of it representing it in so horrid and frightful a Shape encumber'd with such Difficulties and attended with such Troubles and Sufferings as are insuperable and intolerable to Human Nature whereby he perswades Men that they had better never attempt it since they may despair to go through with it On the other hand those who are sanguine and full of hopes he possesses with a quite contrary Apprehension that the business of Religion is so short and easie a Work that it may be done at any time and if need be at the last Moment of our Lives tho' it is not so well to put it upon the last hazard and by this means a great part of Mankind are lull'd in security and adjourn the business of Religion from time to time and because it is so easie and so much in their Power they satisfie themselves with an indeterminate Resolution to set about that business some time or other before they die and so to repent and make their Peace with God once for all These Pretences contradict one another and therefore cannot be both true but they may both be false as indeed they are and truth lies between them Religion being neither so slight and easie a Work as some would have it nor so extreamly difficult and intolerable as others would represent it To confute the false apprehensions which some have of the easiness of it our Saviour tells us there must be some striving and to satisfie us that the difficulties of Religion are not so great and insuperable as some would make them our Saviour tells us that those who strive shall succeed and enter in but those who only seek that is do not vigorously set about the business of Religion but only make some faint Attempts to get to Heaven shall not be able to enter in Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in but shall not be able The occasion of which words of our Blessed Saviour was a Question that was put to him by one of his Disciples concerning the number of those that should be Saved v. 23. One said unto him Lord are there few that be Saved To which curious Question our Saviour according to his manner when such kind of Questions were put to him does not give a direct Answer because it was neither Necessary nor Useful for his Hearers to be Resolved in it it did not concern them to know what Number of Persons should be Saved but what course they should take that they might be of that Number and therefore instead of satisfying their Curiosities he puts them upon their Duty admonishing them instead of concerning themselves what should become of others to take care of themselves And he said unto them Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able He does not say that but few shall be saved as some have presumptuously ventur'd to determine but only few in comparison of those many that shall seek to enter in and shall not be able In these Words we may consider these Two Things First The Duty enjoined Strive to enter in at the strait gate Secondly The Reason or Argument to enforce it for many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able First The
Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall which Admonition were surely to little purpose if it were impossible for them that stand to fall Lastly Others venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance and their Importunity with God to receive them to Mercy at last This indeed is only to seek and not to strive to enter in and these perhaps are they whom our Saviour represents as standing without and knocking at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us Or as St. Matthew expresseth it Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord which is most probably meant of the day of Judgment when their Case is brought to the last extremity and next to that is the day of Death when Men are entring into a state of endless Happiness or Misery And no wonder if the Sinner would then be glad when he can no longer continue in this World to be admitted into Happiness in the next but the Door is then shut to most Sinners and it is a Miracle of God's Grace and Mercy if any Repentance that Men can then exercise which at the best must needs be very confused and imperfect will then be accepted if any Importunity which Men can then use will be available For with what Face can we expect that after all the evil Actions of a long Life God should be mollified towards us by a few good Words and accept of a forc'd and constrained Repentance for all our wilful and deliberate Crimes and that he should forgive us all our Sins upon a little Importunity when we can sin no longer and would repent no sooner Let us then by all that hath been said be effectually perswaded to mind the business of Religion in good earnest and with all our might especially the Practice of it in the exercise of all the Graces and Virtues of a good Life Let us heartily repent of all the Sins of our past Life and resolve upon a better course for the future and let us not delay and put off this necessary Work to the most unfit and improper time of old Age and Sickness and Death but let us set about it presently and enter upon a good Course and make all the Speed and Progress in it we can And let us remember that whatever we do in Religion will not bring us to Heaven if we do not do the will of our Father which is in Heaven if we do not give up our selves to a constant and universal Obedience of his Laws This is to strive to enter in at the strait Gate And tho' we strive to enter in a Thousand other Ways we shall not be able and after all our Confidence and Conceit of our selves and our own Righteousness and Security of our Salvation from the Privileges of any Church it will be a strange Damp and Disappointment to us to see the sincere Christians who have done the Will of God and lived in Obedience to his Laws to come from all quarters and Churches in the World and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God when we who thought our selves the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out because we have been Workers of Iniquity I will conclude all with those plain Words of the Apostle Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and Immortality eternal Life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil in the day when God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel SERMON X. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Sermon I. LUKE XVI 19 20. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in Purple and fine Linen and fared sumptuously every day And there was a certain Beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his Gate full of Sores I Intend by God's Assistance to go over this Parable than which I think there is none in the whole Gospel which is more apt to affect Men or which is more artificially contrived and in the Circumstances whereof a greater Decorum is observed It is a great Question among Interpreters whether this Narration concerning the Rich Man and Lazarus be a Parable or a History Vol. V. or a mixture of both That it is not a History the resemblance between it and others of our Saviour's Parables will easily convince any Man that is not contentious besides that in some ancient Copies 't is usher'd in with this Preface And he spake a Parable to his Disciples A certain Rich Man c. But yet as some of the Ancients have not improbably conjectur'd it seems to be such a kind of Parable as had something of a real Foundation as namely that there was such a poor Man as Lazarus is here described and of that Name among the Jews For in a meer Parable 't is altogether unusual to name Persons nor is this done in any other of our Saviour's Parables But whether this be so or not is not worth the disputing because it alters not the case as to our Saviour's purpose and the Instructions which we may learn from it In the handling of this Parable I shall explain it as I go along and draw two sorts of Instructions or Observations from it The First sort of Observations shall be from the Circumstances which serve for the Decorum of the Parable And these I will not warrant to be all intended by our Saviour Ser. 10. but only to be true in themselves and useful and to have a probable rise from some Circumstances of the Parable and therefore I shall speak but very briefly to them The Second sort of Observations shall be such as are grounded upon the main Scope and Intent of the Parable and these I shall insist more largely upon I begin First With those Observations and Instructions which I shall gather up from the Circumstances which serve for the Decorum of the Parable and I shall take them in order as they lie in the Parable Ver. 19. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every Day Some think that our Saviour in this description reflected upon Herod because he describes this Rich Man to be cloathed in Purple But this Conjecture is without reason for besides that it was not our Saviour's Custom in his Preaching to give secret Girds to the Magistrate 't is certain that it was long after our Saviour's time that Purple was appropriated to Kings It was then and a great while after the wear of rich and powerful Men and of the Favourites and great Men of the Court who are frequently in ancient Histories call'd the Purpurati those that wore Purple That which I observe from hence is that the rich Man is not here censured for enjoying what he had for wearing rich Apparel and keeping a great Table This of it self
liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen This deserves to be seriously consider'd by those who make a great shew of Devotion and are at great pains in Prayer and Fasting and reading and hearing the Word of God and in all other frugal Exercises of Religion which stand them in no Money lest all their Labour be lost for want of this one necessary and essential part lest with the Young Man in the Gospel after they have kept all other Commandments they be rejected by Christ for lack of this one thing I have done with the first part of the Observation That Unmercifulness is a very great Sin I proceed to the 2 d That it is such a Sin as alone and without any other Guilt is sufficient to ruin a Man for ever The Parable lays the Rich Man's Condemnation upon this it was the guilt of this Sin that tormented him when he was in Hell The Scripture is full of severe Threatnings against this Sin Prov. 21.13 Whoso stoppeth his Ears at the cry of the Poor he also shall cry himself but shall not be heard God will have no regard or pity for the Man that regardeth not the Poor That is a terrible Text Jam. 2.13 He shall have Judgment without Mercy that hath shewed no Mercy Our Saviour hath two Parables to represent to us the Danger of this Sin this here in the Text and that in Luke 12. concerning the Covetous Man that enlarged his Barns and was still laying up but laid nothing out upon the Poor upon which our Saviour makes this Observation which is the Moral of the Parable v. 21. So is he that layeth up Treasure for himself and is not rich towards God So shall he be such an issue of his Folly may every one expect who layeth up Treasure for himself but does not lay up Riches with God How is that The Scripture tells us by Works of Mercy and Charity this our Saviour calls laying up for our selves Treasures in Heaven Matth. 6.20 And Luke 12.33 he calls giving of Alms providing for our selves Bags that wax not old a Treasure in Heaven that faileth not There is no particular Grace and Virtue to which the Promise of eternal Life is so frequently made in Scripture as to this of Mercy and Charity to the Poor Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall find Mercy Which Promise as it does not exclude a Reward in this world so it seems principally to respect the Mercy of God at the great Day Luke 14.12 13 14 When thou makest a Feast invite not the Rich for they will recompence thee again but invite the Poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind for they cannot recompense thee but thou shalt be recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just Luke 16.9 Make therefore to your selves friends of the Mammon of Vnrighteousness that when ye shall fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes used a good Treasure against the time which is to come that they may lay hold of eternal Life But the most considerable Text of all other to this purpose is in Matth. 25. where our Saviour gives us a description of the Judgment of the Great Day And if that be a true and proper representation of the process of that Day then the grand enquiry will be what Works of Charity have been done or neglected by us and accordingly Sentence shall be past upon us The proper Result from all this Discourse is to persuade Men to this necessary Duty Our eternal Happiness does not so much depend upon the exercise of any one single Grace or Virtue as this of Charity and Mercy Faith and Repentance are more general and fundamental Graces and as it were the Parents of all the rest But of all single Virtues the Scripture lays the greatest weight upon this of Charity and if we do truly believe the Precepts of the Gospel and the Promises and Threatnings of it we cannot but have a principal regard to it I know how averse Men generally are to this Duty which makes them so full of Excuses and Objections against it 1. They have Children to provide for This is not the case of all and they whose case it is may do well to consider that it will not be amiss to leave a Blessing as well as an Inheritance to their Children 2. They tell us they intend to do something when they die I doubt that very much but granting their Intention to be real why should Men chuse to spoil a good Work and to take away the Grace and Acceptableness of it by the manner of doing It shews a great backwardness to the Work when we defer it as long as we can He that will not do good till he be enforced by the last necessity diu noluit was long unwilling It is one of the worst Complements we can put upon God to give a thing to him when we can keep it no longer 3. Others say they may come to want themselves and it is Prudence to provide against that To this I answer 1. I believe that no Man ever came the sooner to want for his Charity David hath an express Observatinn to the contrary Psa 37.25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging bread And tho' he use a general word yet that by the righteous here he intended the merciful Man is evident from the next words he is ever merciful and lendeth And besides David's Observation we have express Promises of God to secure us against this Fear Psal 41.1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the Earth Pro. 28.27 He that giveth unto the Poor shall not lack 2. Thou mayest come to want tho' thou give nothing thou may'st lose that which thou hast spared in this kind as well as the rest thou may'st lose all and then thou art no better secured against want than if thou hadst been charitable Besides that when thou art brought to Poverty thou wilt want the Comfort of having done this Duty and may'st justly look upon the neglect of this Duty as one of the Causes of thy Poverty 3. After all our Care to provide for our selves we must trust the Providence of God and a Man can in no case so safely commit himself to God as in well doing If the Providence of God as we all believe be peculiarly concern'd to bless one Man more than another I dare say the charitable Man will not have the least Portion 4.