will among men a readiness to forgive our greatest enemies to doe good to them that hate us to bless them that curse us and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us And does inculcate these precepts more vehemently and forbid malice and hatred and revenge and contention more strictly and peremptorily than any Religion ever did before as will appear to any one that does but attentively read our Saviour's Sermon upon the Mount And as Christianity hath given us a more certain so likewise a more perfect Law for the government of our lives All the precepts of it are reasonable and wise requiring such duties of us as are suitable to the light of nature and do approve themselves to the best reason of mankind such as have their foundation in the nature of God and are an imitation of the Divine excellencies such as tend to the persection of humane nature and to raise the minds of men to the highest pitch of goodness and vertue The Laws of our Religion are such as are generally usefull and beneficial to the world as do tend to the outward peace and the health to the inward comfort and contentment and to the universal happiness of mankind They command nothing that is unnecessary and burdensome as were the numerous rites and ceremonies of the Jewish Religion but what is reasonable and usefull and substantial And they omit nothing that may tend to the glory of God or the welfare of men nor do they restrain us in any thing but what is contrary either to the regular inclinations of nature or to our reason and true interest They forbid us nothing but what is base and unworthy to serve our humours and passions to reproach our understandings and to make our selves fools and beasts in a word nothing but what tends either to our private harm and prejudice or to publick disorder and confusion And that this is the tenour of the Laws of the Gospel will appear to any one from our Saviour's Sermons and Discourses particularly that upon the Mount wherein he charges his Disciples and followers to be humble and meek and righteous and patient under sufferings and persecutions and good and kind to all even to those that are evil and injurious to us and to endeavour to excell in all goodness and vertue This will appear likewise from the Writings of the holy Apostles I will instance but in some few passages in them St. Paul represents to us the design of the Christian doctrine in a very few words but of admirable sense and weight Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appear'd to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world The same Apostle makes this the main and fundamental condition of the Covenant of the Gospel on our part 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity St. James describes the Christian doctrine which he calls the wisdom that is from above by these characters It is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie St. Peter calls the Gospel 2 Pet. 1.3 4. the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue whereby saith he are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of a divine nature having escap'd the corruption that is in the world through lust and upon this consideration he exhorts them to give all diligence to add to their faith the several vertues of a good life V. 5 6 7. without which he tells them they are barren and unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ I will conclude with that full and comprehensive paslage of St. Paul to the Philippians Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever things are of venerable esteem whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure or chast whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things But the perfection and the reasonableness of the Laws of Christianity will most plainly appear by taking a brief survey of them And they may all be referr'd to these two general heads They are either such as tend to the perfection of humane nature and to make men singly and personally good or such as tend to the peace and happiness of humane Society First Such as tend to the perfection of humane nature and to make men good singly and personally consider'd And the precepts of this kind may be distributed likewise into two sorts such as enjoyn piety towards God or such as require the good order and government of our selves in respect of the enjoyments and pleasures of this life 1. Such as enjoyn Piety towards God All the duties of Christian Religion which respect God are no other but what natural light prompts men to excepting the two Sacraments which are of great use and significancy in the Christian Religion and praying to God in the name and by the mediation of Jesus Christ For the sum of natural Religion as it refers more immediately to God is this That we should inwardly reverence and love God and that we should express our inward reverence and love of him by external worship and adoration and by our readiness to receive and obey all the revelations of his will And that we should testifie our dependence upon him and our confidence of his goodness by constant prayers and supplications to him for mercy and help for our selves and others And that we should acknowledge our obligations to him for the many favours and benefits which every day and every minute we receive from him by continual praises and thanksgivings And that on the contrary we should not entertain any unworthy thoughts of God nor give that honour and reverence which is due to him to any other that we should not worship him in any manner that is either unsuitable to the excellency and perfection of his nature or contrary to his revealed will that we should carefully avoid the prophane and irreverent use of his Name by cursing or customary swearing and take heed of the neglect or contempt of his Worship or any thing belonging to it This is the sum of the first part of natural Religion and these are the general heads of those duties which every man's reason tells him he owes to God And these are the very things which the Christian Religion does expresly require of us as might be evidenc'd from particular Texts in the New Testament So that there is nothing in this part of Christianity but what agrees very well with the reason of mankind 2. Such precepts as require the good order and government of our selves in respect of the pleasures and enjoyments of this life Christian Religion
ought not to pretend any thing against the plain and safe paths of Religion which will entertain us with pleasure all along in the way and crown us with happiness at the end 2 TIM 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity THe whole verse runs thus Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity In which words the Apostle declares to us the terms of the covenant between God and man For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated foundation according to the usual signification of it is likewise as learned men have observ'd sometimes used for an instrument of contract whereby two parties do oblige themselves mutually to each other And this notion of the word agrees very well with what follows concerning the seal assix'd to it which is very fuitable to a Covenant but not at all to a foundation 'T is true indeed as the learned Grotius hath observed there used anciently to be inscriptions on foundation-stones and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render seal may likewise signifie an inscription and then the sense will be very current thus The foundation of God standeth sure having this inscription But it is to be considered that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie an inscription yet it is onely an inscription upon a seal which hath no relation to a foundation but is very proper to a covenant or mutual obligation And accordingly the seal affixt to this instrument or covenant between God and man is in allusion to the custom of those countries said to have an inscription on both sides agreeable to the condition of the persons contracting On God's part there is this impress or inscription The Lord knoweth them that are his that is God will own and reward those that are faithfull to him And on our part Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Let every one that nameth the name of Christ that is that calls himself a Christian For to name the name of any one or to have his name call'd upon by us does according to the use of this Phrase among the Hebrews signifie nothing else but to be denominated from him Thus 't is frequently used in the Old Testament and sometimes in the New Jam. 2.7 Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called that is the name or title of Christians and that expression 1 Pet. 〈◊〉 14. if ye be reproached for the name of Christ is at the sixteenth verse varied if any man suffer as a Christian So that to name the name of Christ is to call our selves Christians Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken strictly for injustice or unrighteousness but sometimes used more largely for sin and wickedness in the general And so it seems to be used here in the Text because there is no reason from the context to restrain it to any particular kind of sin or vice and because Christianity lays an equal obligation upon men to abstain from all sin Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity that is every Christian obligeth himself by his prosession to renounce all sin and to live a holy life In speaking to this argument I shall do these two things 1. Shew what obligation the profession of Christianity lays upon men to live holy lives 2. Endeavour to perswade those who call themselves Christians to answer this obligation I. What obligation the profession of Christianity lays upon men to live holy lives He that calls himself a Christian professeth to entertain the Doctrine of Christ to live in the imitation of his holy example and to have solemnly engaged himself to all this I shall speak briefly to these and then come to that which I principally intend to perswade men to live accordingly 1. He that professeth himself a Christian professeth to entertain the doctrine of Christ to believe the whole Gospel to assent to all the articles of the Christian faith to all the precepts and promises and theatnings of the Gospel Now the great design the proper intention of this doctrine is to take men off from sin and to direct and encourage them to a holy life It teacheth us what we are to believe concerning God and Christ not with any design to entertain our minds with the bare speculation of those truths but to better our lives For every article of our faith is a proper argument against sin and a powerfull motive to obedience The whole history of Christ's appearance in the world all the discourses and actions of his life and the sufferings of his death do all tend to this the ultimate issue of all is the destroying of sin So St. John tells us 1 Joh. 3.8 for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil But this is most expresly and fully declar'd to us Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The precepts of the Gospel do strictly command holiness and that universal the purity of our souls and the chastity of our bodies 2 Cor. 7.1 to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 1 Thes 5.22 to abstain from all kind of evil 1 Pet. 1.15 to be holy in all manner of conversation They require us to endeavour after the highest degrees of holiness that are attainable by us in this imperfect state to be holy as he that hath called us is holy Mat. 5.48 to be perfect as our father which is in heaven is perfect And all the promises of the Gospel are so many encouragements to obedience and a holy life ◠Cor. 7. ◠having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God We are told by St. Peter that these exceeding great and precious promises are given to us that by these we might be partakers of a Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 having escaped the pollution that is in the world through lust and that we might give all diligence to add to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and patience and brotherly-kindness and charity And the threatnings of the Gospel are so many powerfull arguments against sin Therefore the Apostle calls the Gospel the power of God unto salvation
from us That the Gospel is all promises and our part is onely to believe and embrace them that is to be confident that God will perform them if we can but think so though we do nothing else which is an easie condition to fools but the hardest in the world to a wise man who if his salvation depended upon it could never perswade himself to believe that the holy God without any respect at all to his repentance and amendment would bestow upon him forgiveness of sins and eternal life onely because he was confident that God would do so As if any man could think that it were a thing so highly acceptable to God that men should believe of him that he loves to dispense his grace and mercy upon the most unfit and unreasonable terms A Covenant does necessarily imply a mutual obligation and the Scripture plainly tells us what are the terms and conditions of this Covenant both on God's part and ours namely that he will be our God and we shall be his people But he hath no-where said that though we be not his people yet he will be our God The seal of this Covenant hath two inscriptions upon it one on God's part that he will know them that are his and another on our part that we shall depart from iniquity But if we will not submit to this condition God will not know us but will bid us depart from him So our Saviour tells us Mat. 7.23 I will say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not If we deal falsly in covenant with God and break loose from all our engagements to him we release God from all the promises that he hath made to us If we neglect to perform those conditions upon which he hath suspended the performance of his promises we discharge the obligation on God's part and he remains faithfull though he deny us that happiness which he promised under those conditions which we have neglected II. I come now to the second thing proprounded and that is to perswade those who profess Christianity to answer those obligations to a holy life which their Religion lays upon them We all call our selves Christians and would be very much offended at any man that should deny us this title But let us not cheat our selves with an empty and insignificant name but if we will call our selves Christians let us fill up this great title and make good our profession by a sutitable life and practice And to perswade us hereto I will urge these three considerations 1. The indecency of the contrary 2. The great scandal of it to our blessed Saviour and his holy Religion and 3. The infinite danger of it to our own souls 1. Consider how unbecoming it is for a man to live unsuitably to his profession If we call our selves Christians we profess to entertain the doctrine of the Gospel to be taught and instructed by the best master to be the disciples of the highest and most perfect institution that ever was in the world to have embraced a Religion which contains the most exact rules for the conduct and government of our lives which lays down the plainest precepts sets before us the best patterns and examples of a holy life and offers us the greatest assistances and encouragements to this purpose We profess to be furnished with the best arguments to excite us to holiness and vertue to be awed with the greatest fears and animated with the best hopes of any men in the world Now whoever makes such a profession as this obligeth himself to live answerably to do nothing that shall grosly contradict it Nothing is more absurd than for a man to act contrary to his profession to pretend to great matters and perform nothing of what he pretends to Wise men will not be caught with pretences nor be imposed upon with an empty profession but they will enquire into our lives and actions and by these they will make a judgment of us They cannot see into our hearts nor pry into our understandings to discover what it is that we inwardly believe they cannot discern those secret and supernatural principles that we pretend to be acted by But this they can do they can examine our actions and behold our good or bad works and try whether our lives be indeed answerable to our profession and do really excell the lives of other men who do not pretend to such great things There are a great many sagacious persons who will easily find us out will look under our mask and see through all our fine pretensions and will quickly discern the absurdity of telling the world that we believe one thing when we do the contrary If we profess to believe the Christian Religion we expose our selves to the scorn and contempt of every discerning man if we do not live up to it With what face can any man continue in the practice of any known sin that professeth to believe the holy doctrine of the Gospel which forbids all sin under the highest and severest penalties If we did but believe the history of the Gospel as we do any ordinary credible story and did we but regard the Laws of Christianity as we do the laws of the Land were we but perswaded that fraud and oppression lying and perjury intemperance and uncleanness covetousness and pride malice and revenge the neglect of God and Religion will bring men to hell as certainly as treason and felony will bring a man under the sentence of the Law Had we but the same awe and regard for the threatnings and promises of the Gospel that we have for the frowns and smiles of those who are in power and authority even this would be effectual to keep us from sin And if the Gospel have not this effect upon us it is an argument that we do not believe it 'T is to no purpose to go about to perswade men that we do heartily entertain the doctrine of Christ that doctrine which hath all the characters of piety and justice of holiness and vertue upon it which obligeth men to whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are chast whatsoever things are lovely and of good report if we have no regard to these things in our lives He that would know what a man believes let him attend rather to what he does than to what he talks He that leads a wicked life makes a more credible and effectual profession of infidelity than he who in words onely denies the Gospel It is the hardest thing in the world to imagine that that man believes Christianity who by ungodliness and worldly lusts does deny and renounce it If we profess our selves Christians it may justly be expected from us that we should evidence this by our actions that we should live at another rate than the Heathens did that we who worship a holy and just God should not allow our selves the liberty to sin as those did who
perfectos Philosophos turpiter vivere that some great Philosophers led very filthy lives Celsus and Porphyry Hierocles and Julian among all their witty invectives against Christian Religion have nothing against it that reflects so much upon it as do the wicked lives of so many Christians The greatest enmity to Religion is to profess it and to live unanswerably to it This consideration ought greatly to affect us I am sure the Apostle speaks of it with great passion and vehemency For many walk of whom I have told you often Phil. 3.18 and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things A Jew or a Turk is not so great an enemy to Christianity as a lewd and vitious Christian Therefore let me beseech Christians as they tender the honour of their Saviour and the credit of their Religion that they would conform their lives to the holy precepts of Christianity And if there be any who are resolved to continue in a vitious course to the injury and disparagement of Christianity I could almost entreat of them that they would quit their profession and renounce their Baptism that they would lay aside their title of Christians and initiate themselves in Heathenish rites and superstitions or be circumcised for Jews or Turks For it were really better upon some accounts that such men should abandon their Profession than keep on a vizard which serves to no other purpose but to scare others from Religion 3. And Lastly let us consider the danger we expose our selves to by not living answerably to our Religion And this I hope may prevail upon such as are not moved by the former considerations Hypocrites are instanc'd in Scripture as a sort of sinners that shall have the sharpest torments and the fiercest damnation When our Saviour would set forth the great severity of the Lord towards the evil servant he expresseth it thus Mat. 24.51 he shall cut him in sudden and appoint him his portion with Hypocrites So that the punishment of Hypocrites seems to be made in the measure and standard of the highest punishment Thou professest to believe in Christ and to hope in him for salvation but in the mean time thou livest a wicked and unholy life thou dost not believe but presume on him and wilt find at the great day that this thy confidence will be thy confusion and he whom thou hopest will be thy Advocate and Saviour will prove thy Accuser and thy Judge What our Saviour says to the Jews There is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust may very well be applied to false Christians Joh. 5.45 there is one that accuseth you and will condemn you even Jesus in whom ye trust The profession of Christianity and mens having the name of Christ named upon them will be so far from securing them from Hell that it will sink them the deeper into it Many are apt to pity the poor Heathens who never heard of the name of Christ and sadly to condole their case but as our Saviour said upon another occasion Weep not for them weep for your selves There 's no such miserable person in the world as a degenerate Christian because he falls into the greatest misery from the greatest advantages and opportunities of being happy Dost thou lament the condition of Socrates and Cato and Aristides and doubt what shall become of them at the day of Judgment and canst thou who art an impious and prophane Christian think that thou shalt escape the damnation of Hell Dost thou believe that the moral Heathen shall be cast out and canst thou who hast led a wicked life under the profession of Christianity have the impudence to hope that thou shalt sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God No those sins which are committed by Christians under the enjoyment of the Gospel are of deeper dye and clothed with blacker aggravations than the sins of Heathens are capable of A Pagan may live without God in the world and be unjust towards men at a cheaper rate and upon easier terms than thou who art a Christian Better had it been thou hadst never known one syllable of the Gospel never heard of the name of Christ than that having taken it upon thee thou shouldst not depart from iniquity Happy had it been for thee that thou hadst been born a Jew or a Turk or a poor Indian rather than that being bred among Christians and professing thy self of that number thou shouldst lead a vitious and unholy life I have insisted the longer upon these arguments that I might if possible awaken men to a serious consideration of their lives and perswade them to a real reformation of them that I may oblige all those who call themselves Christians to live up to the essential and fundamental Laws of our Religion to love God and to love our neighbour to do to every man as we would have him to do to us to mortifie our lusts and subdue our passions and sincerely to endeavour to grow in every grace and vertue and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God This indeed would become our profession and be honourable to our Religion and would remove one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of the Gospel For how can we expect that the doctrine of God our Saviour should gain any considerable ground in the world so long as by the unworthy lives of so many Christians 't is represented to the world at so great disadvantage If ever we would have Christian Religion effectually recommended it must be by the holy and unblameable lives of those who make profession of it Then indeed it would look with so amiable a countenance as to invite many to it and carry so much majesty and authority in it as to command reverence from its greatest enemies and make men to acknowledge that God is in us of a truth and to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven The good God grant that as we have taken upon us the profession of Christianity so we may be carefull so to live that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things that the grace of God which bringeth salvation may teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost c. PHIL. III. 20. For our Conversation is in Heaven FOR the understanding of which words we need to look back no further than the 18th verse of this Chapter where the Apostle with great vehemency and passion speaks of some among the Philippians who indeed profess'd Christianity but yet would do any thing to
and activity as much above that of the most knowing persons in this world as the thoughts of the greatest Philosopher and wisest man upon earth are above the thoughts of a child or a fool No man's mind is now so well fram'd to understand any thing in this world as our understandings shall then be fitted for the knowledge of God and of the things that belong to that state In the mean time let us bless God that he hath reveal'd so much of this happiness to us as is necessary to excite and encourage us to seek after it The Second thing to be consider'd concerning our future happiness is the way and means whereby we may come to be made partakers of it And that in short is by the constant and sincere endeavours of a holy life in and through the mercies of God in our Lord Jesus Christ Christ indeed is the author of our salvation but obedience is the condition of it so the Apostle tells us Heb. 5.1 that Christ is the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him It is the grace of God in the Gospel which brings or offers this salvation to us but tâ—en it is by the denying of ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.11.12 and by living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world that we are to wait for the blessed hope Our Saviour promises this happiness to the pure in heart Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and elsewhere the Scripture doth exclude all others from any share or portion in this blessedness so the Apostle assures us that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 18.14 And holiness is not onely a condition but a necessary qualisication for the happiness of the next life This is the force of St. John's reasoning we shall be like him for we shall see him To see God is to be happy but unless we be like him we cannot see him The sight and presence of God himself would be no happiness to that man who is not like to God in the temper and disposition of his mind And from hence the Apostle insers in the next verse every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure So that if we live wicked live if we allow our selves in the practice of any known sin we interrupt our hopes of Heaven and render our selves unfit for eternal life By this means we defeat all the designs of God's grace and mercy towards us and salvation it self cannot save us if we make our selves incapable of that happiness which God offers Heaven is in Scripture call'd an inheritance among them that are sanctified and the inheritance of the Saints in light so that it is not enough that this inheritance is promis'd to us but we must be qualifi'd and prepar'd for it and be made meet to be made partakers of it And this life is the time of our preparation for our future state Our souls will continue for ever what we make them in this world Such a temper and disposition of mind as a man carries with him out of this life he shall retain in the next 'T is true indeed heaven perfects those holy and vertuous dispositions which are begun here but the other world alters no man as to his main slate he that is filthy will be filthy still and he that is unrighteous will be unrighteous still If we do not in a good degree mortifie our Iusts and passions here death will not kill them for us but we shall carry them with us into the other world And if God should admit us so qualifi'd into the place of happiness yet we shall bring that along with us which would infallibly hinder us from being happy Our sensual inclinations and desires would meet with nothing there that would be suitable to them and we should be perpetually tormented with those appetites which we brought with us out of this world because we should find nothing there to gratifie them withall For as the Apostle says in another sense The kingdom of God is not meats and drinks but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The happiness of heaven consists in such things as a wicked man hath no gust and relish for So that if a covetous or ambitious or voluptuous man were in Heaven he would be just like the rich man in Hell tormented with a continual thirst and burnt up in the flames of his own ardent desires and would not be able amidst all the plenty and treasures of that place to find so much as one drop of suitable pleasure and delight to quench and allay that heat So likewise our fierce and unruly passions if we should carry them with us into the other world how inconsistent would they be with happiness They would not onely make us miserable our selves but be a trouble to all those with whom we should converse If a man of an envious and malicious of a peevish and passionate temper were admitted into the mansions of the blessed he would not onely be unhappy himself but would disturb the quiet of others and raise storms even in those calm regions Vain man that dreamest of being happy without any disposition or preparation for it To be happy is to enjoy what we desire and to live with those whom we love But there is nothing in heaven suitable to the desires and appetites of a wicked man All the joys of that place and the delights of that state are purely spiritual and are onely to be relish'd by those who have purified themselves as God is pure But if thou be carnal and sensual what are these things to thee What happiness would it be to thee to see God and to have him always in thy view who was never in all thy thoughts to be tied to live for ever in his company who is of a quite contrary temper and disposition to thy self whose presence thou dreadest and whom whilst thou wast in this world thou couldst never endure to think upon So that the pleasures of Heaven it self could signifie no good or happiness to that man who is not so dispos'd as to take pleasure in them Heaven is too pure an air for corrupt souls to live and breath in and the whole employment and conversation of that place as it would be unsuitable so would it also be unacceptable to a sensual and vicious person From all this it appears how necessary it is for us to prepare our selves for this blessed state by the constant and sincere endeavours of a holy life and by mortifying every lust and inordinate passion in our souls For till this be done we are not meet to be made partakers of the felicities of the other world And thus I have done with the first thing imply'd in this phrase of having our conversation in heaven viz. the serious thoughts and considerations of heaven or the happiness of that state and of the way and
Doctrines and Precepts of the H. Scriptures and one great reason why men do not so generally agree in the sense of these as of the other is because the interests and lusts and passions of men are more concern'd in the one than the other But whatever uncertainty there may be in the sense of any Texts of Scripture Oral Tradition is so far from affording us any help in this case that it is a thousand times more uncertain and less to be trusted to especially if we may take that to be the Traditionary sense of Texts of Scripture which we meet with in the Decretals of their Popes and the Acts of some of their Councils than which never was any thing in the whole world more absurd and ridiculous And whence may we expect to have the infallible Traditional sense of Scripture if not from the Heads and Representatives of their Church This may abundantly suffice for the vindication of that Passage which Mr. S. makes such a rude clamor about as if I had therein deny'd the truth and certainty of all Religion but durst never trust the Reader with a view of those words of mine upon which he pretended to ground this Calumny But the world understands well enough that all this was but a shift of Mr. S' s for the satisfaction of his own Party and a pitifull Art to avoid the vindication of Sure-footing a Task he had no mind to undertake And yet the main design of this Book which he calls Faith vindicated c. is to prove that which I do not believe any man living ever denyed viz. That what is true is not possible to be false Which though it be one of the plainest Truths in the world yet he proves it so foolishly as would make any man if it were not evident of it self to doubt of it He proves it from Logick and Nature and Metaphysicks and Ethicks c. I wonder he did not do it likewise from Arithmetick and Geometry the Principles whereof he * Sure-footing p. 93. tells us are concerned in demonstrating the certainty of Oral Tradition He might also have proceeded to Astrology and Palmistry and Chymistry and have shewn how each of these lend their assistance to the evidencing of this Truth For that could not have been more ridiculous than his †Faith vindic p. 6.7 c. Argument from the nature of Subject and Praedicate and Copula in Faith-Propositions because forsooth whoever affirms any Proposition of Faith to be true affirms it impossible to be false Very true But would any man argue that what is true is impossible to be false from the nature of Subject Praedicate and Copula for be the Proposition true or false these are of the same nature in both that is they are Subject Praedicate and Copula But that the Reader may have a taste of his clear style and way of reasoning I shall for his satisfaction transcribe Mr. S's whole Argument from the nature of the Praedicate His words are these Our Argument from the Copula is particularly strengthned from the nature of the Praedicate in the Propositions we speak of I mean in such speeches as affirm such and such points of Faith to be true P. 9 10 11 12. For True means Existent in Propositions which express onely the An est of a thing as most points of Faith do which speak abstractedly and tell not wherein the nature of the subject it speaks of consists or the Quid est So that most of the Propositions Christians are bound to profess are fully exprest thus A Trinity is existent c. and the like may be said of those Points which belong to a Thing or Action past as Creation was c. For Existent is the Praedicate in these two onely affixt to another difference of time and 't is equally impossible such Subjects should neither have been nor not have been or have been and have not been at once as it is that a thing should neither be nor not be at present or both be and not be at present Regarding then stedfastly the nature of our Praedicate Existent we shall find that it expresses the utmost Actuality of a Thing and as taken in the posture it bears in those Propositions that Actually exercis'd that is the utmost Actuality in its most actual state that is as absolutely excluding all manner or least degree of Potentiality and consequently all possibility of being otherwise which is radically destroyed when all Potentiality is taken away This Discourse holding which in right to truth I shall not fear to affirm unconcern'd in the drollery of any Opposer to be more than Mathematically demonstrative it follows inevitably that whoso is bound to profess a Trinity Incarnation c. is or was existent is also bound to profess that 't is impossible they should be not Existent or which is all one that 't is impossible these points of Faith should be false The same appears out of the nature of distinction or division applyed to our Praedicate Existent as found in these Propositions For could that Praedicate bear a pertinent distinction expressing this and the other respect or thus and thus it might possibly be according to one of these respects or thus considered and not be according to another that is another way considered But this evasion is here impossible for either those distinguishing Notions must be more Potential or Antecedent to the Notion of Existent and then they neither reach Existent nor supervene to it as its Determinations or Actuations which differences ought to doe nor can any Notion be more Actual or Determinative in the line of Substance or Being than Existent is and so fit to distinguish it in that line nor lastly can any determination in the line of Accidents serve the turn for those suppose Existence already 〈◊〉 and so the whole Truth of the Proposition entire and complete antecedently to them 'T is impossible therefore that what is thus affirmed to be True should in any regard be affirmed possible to be false the impossibility of distinguishing the Praedicate pertinently excluding here all possibility of divers respects The same is demonstrated from the impossibility of distinguishing the Subjects of those Faith-propositions for those Subjects being Propositions themselves and accepted for Truths as is supposed they are incapable of Distinction as shall be particularly shewn hereafter Besides those Subjects being points of Faith and so standing in the Abstract that is not descending to subsuming respects even in that regard too they are freed from all pertinent distinguishableness The same is demonstrated from the nature of Truth which consists in an Indivisible whence there is nothing of Truth had how great soever the conceived approaches towards it may be till all may-not-bees or Potentiality to be otherwise be utterly excluded by the Actuality of Is or Existence which put or discover'd the light of Truth breaks forth and the dim twilights of may-not-bees vanish and disappear I have
II. The Second way of confirmation shall be by endeavouring to shew the ignorance and folly of irreligion Now all that are irreligious are so upon one of these two accounts Either First because they do not believe the foundations and principles of Religion as the existence of God the immortality of the soul and future rewards or else Secondly because though they do in some sort believe these things yet they live contrary to this their belief and of this kind are the far greatest part of wicked men The first sort are guilty of that which we call speculative the other of practicall Atheism I shall endeavour to shew the Ignorance and Folly of both these First Speculative Atheism is unreasonable and that upon these Five accounts 1. Because it gives no tolerable account of the existence of the world 2. Nor does it give any reasonable account of the universal consent of mankind in this apprehension That there is a God 3. It requires more evidence for things than they are capable of 4. The Atheist pretends to know that which no man can know 5. Atheism contradicts it self I. Because it gives no tolerable account of the existence of the world One of the greatest difficulties that lies in the Atheist's way is upon his own supposition that there is no God to give a likely account of the existence of the world We see this vast frame of the World and an innumerable multitude of creatures in it all which we who believe a God attribute to him as the Author of them For a being suppos'd of infinite goodness and wisedom and power is a very likely cause of these things What more likely to make this vast world to stretch forth the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and to form these and all things in them of nothing than infinite power What more likely to communicate Being and so many degrees of happiness to so many several sorts of creatures than infinite goodness What more likely to contrive this admirable frame of the Universe and all the creatures in it each of them so perfect in their kind and all of them so fitted to each other and to the whole than infinite counsel and wisedom This seems to be no unreasonable account But let us see now what account the Atheist gives of these things If there be no God there are but these two ways imaginable for the world to be Either it must be said That not onely the Matter but also the Frame of this world is eternal and that as to the main things always were as they are without any first cause of their being which is the way of the Aristotelian Atheist those I mean who proceed upon Aristotle's supposition of the eternity of the world but yet deny it to be from God which he expresly asserts Or else the matter of the world being supposed to be eternal and of it self the original of this vast and beautifull frame must be ascribed morely to chance and the casual concourse of the parts of matter which is the way of the Epicurean Atheist But neither of these ways gives a tolerable account of the existence of the world 1. I shall first consider the Hypothesis of those whom for distinction sake I call the Aristotelian Atheists which is this That not only the matter but also the frame of the world is eternal and that as to the main it was always as it is of it self and that there hath been from all eternity a succession of men and other creatures without any first cause of their being It seems to be very hard and if that would do any good might be just matter of complaint that we are fallen into so prophane and sceptical an age which takes a pleasure and a pride in unravilling almost all the received principles both of Religion and Reason So that we are put many times to prove those things which can hardly be made plainer than they are of themselves And such almost are these Principles That God is and That all things were made by him which by reason of the bold cavils of perverse and unreasonable men we are now a-days put to defend That something is of it self is evident because we see things are And the things that we see must either have had some first cause of their being or have been always and of themselves One of these two is unavoidable So that the controversie between us and this sort of Atheist comes to this Which is the more credible opinion that the world was never made nor had a beginning but always was as it is and that there hath been from all eternity a succession of men and other creatures without any first cause of their being or that there was from all eternity such a being as we conceive God to be infinite in power goodness and wisedom which made us and all other things The first of these opinions I shall shew to be altogether incredible and the latter to have all the credibility and evidence of which a thing of that nature is capable and such evidence as is sufficient to convince any impartial and considerate man Now in comparing the probabilities of things that we may know on which side the advantage lies these two considerations are of great moment What the arguments are on each side and what the difficulties For if there be fair proofs on the one side and none at all on the other and if the most pressing difficulties be on that side on which there are no proofs this is sufficient to render one opinion very credible and the other altogether incredible These two things therefore I shall endeavour to make good in the matter that is now under our consideration First That there are fair proofs on our side and as convincing as the nature of the things is capable of but that there is no pretence of proof on the other And Secondly That the side on which there is no proof is incumbred with the greatest difficulties First That there are fair proofs on our side and as convincing as the nature of the thing is capable of but that there is no pretence of proof on the other This Question Whether the world was created and had a beginning or not is a question concerning an ancient matter of fact which can onely be decided these two ways by testimony and by probabilities of reason Testimony is the principal argument in a matter of this nature and if fair probabilities of reason concur with it this argument hath all the strength it can have Now both these are clearly on the affirmative side of the question viz. That the world was created and had a beginning 1. Testimony of which there be two kinds Divine and Humane Divine testimony as such is not proper to be us'd in this cause considering the occasion of the present debate For that would be to beg the first and main question now in controversie which is Whether there be a God
were at any time endeavoured to be set on foot it is not easie to imagine how it should at first gain entertainment but much more difficult to conceive how ever it should come to be universally propagated For upon the supposition of those who hold the eternity of the world the world was always peopled and if so there could be no common head or spring from whence such a Tradition would naturally derive it self into all parts of the world So that unless all the world was sometime of one language and under one Government which it never was that we know of since it was peopled no endeavour and industry could make such a Tradition common If it be said that this Tradition began after some universal deluge out of which possibly but one family might escape and that possibly too of barbarous people from whom any fond and groundless conceit might spring and afterwards spread it self as mankind encreas'd This I shall have occasion to consider in a more proper place In the mean time I have shewn even from the acknowledgment of Aristotle himself that there was anciently such a Tradition concerning the beginning of the world Nay if we may believe him he himself was the very first asserter of the eternity of the world For he * De Coelo l. 1. c. 10. says expresly That all the Philosophers that were before him did hold that the world was made Thus much for the first kind of proof this matter is capable of namely testimony 2dly The probabilities of reason do all likewise favour the beginning of the world As 1. The want of any History or Tradition ancienter than what is consistent with the received opinion of the time of the worlds beginning nay the most ancient Histories were written long after that time This Lucretius the famous Epicurean urgeth as a strong presumption that the world had a beginning Si nulla fuit genitalis origo Terrarum Coeli semperque aeterna fuere Cur supra bellum Thebanum funera Trojae Non alias alii quoque res cecinere Poetae i. e. If the world had no beginning how is it that the Greek Poets the most ancient of their Writers mention nothing higher than the Theban war and the destruction of Troy Were there from all eternity no memorable actions done till about that time Or had mankind no way till of late to record them and propagate the memory of them to posterity It is much if men were from eternity that they should not find out the way of writing all that long duration which had past before that Time Sure he was a fortunate man indeed who after men had been eternally so dull as not to find it out had the luck at last to hit upon it But it may be the famous actions of former times were always recorded but that the memorials of them have been several times lost by universal deluges which have now and then happen'd and swept all away except it may be two or three persons that have escap'd and begun the world again upon a new score This is the onely refuge that the Atheist hath to fly to when he is prest with this and the like arguments But he cannot possibly escape this way For these universal inundations must either be natural or supernatural If they be supernatural as any man that considers well the frame of the world and how hard it is to give a natural reason of them would be enclin'd to think then indeed it is easie to conceive how a few of mankind and no more should escape Because this will depend upon the pleasure of that superiour Being which is supposed supernaturally to order these things But this is to yield what we have all this while contended for viz. That there is a God But if they be natural which the Atheist must say then there is nothing to restrain them from a total destruction not onely of mankind but of all the beasts of the earth This the Atheist cannot deny not onely to be very possible but exceeding probable because he grants it to have come so near the matter that but very few escap'd and no doubt with great difficulty Now it is the greatest wonder in the world that a thing according to their own supposition so likely to happen should never have fallen out in an infinite duration Will any man have the face to say that a thing is likely which did never yet happen from all eternity One would think that not onely whatever is probable but whatever can possibly happen should be brought about in that space So that if mankind had been from eternity it had in all probability I had almost said been destroyed from all eternity but I may confidently say long since ruin'd 2. Another probability of the worlds beginning is the account which we have of the original of Learning and the most useful Arts in several parts of the world Now if the world had been eternal these in all likelihood would have been found out and generally spread long ago and beyond the memory of all ages There are some Arts indeed that are peculiarly convenient to some particular Nations and others that are onely serviceable to the humour and fashion of one or more ages These are not likely to spread and they may come in and go out and return again as often as there is occasion But those which are generally usefull to mankind in all times and places if they were once found out and who would not think they should in an eternal duration it is not imaginable but that they should have been spread innumerable ages since Nor can any man give a good reason how they should ever be lost but by some such accident as an universal deluge which has been spoken to already But now on the contrary the beginnings of Learning and of the most useful Arts in several Nations is very well known And I add farther that where-ever Learning and Civil Arts have come this Tradition concerning the beginning of the world hath been most vigorous and asserted with the greatnesâ— clearness and confidence 3. The several parts of which the world consists being so far as by those parts of it which we know we can possibly judge of the rest in their nature corruptible it is more than probable that in an infinite duration this frame of things would long since have been dissolv'd especially if as the Atheist affirms there be no superior being no wise and intelligent principle to repair and regulate it and to prevent those innumerable disorders and calamitous accidents which must in so long a space in all probability have happen'd to it This Lucretius * L. 5. also urges as a convincing proof that the world was not eternal Quare etiam nativa necesse est confiteare Haec eadem neque enim mortali corpore quae sunt Ex infinito jam tempore adhuc potuissent Immensi validas aevi contemnere vires It
must necessarily says he be acknowledg'd that the world had a beginning otherwise wise those things which are in their own nature corruptible had never been able from all eternity to have held out against those forcible and violent assaults which in an infinite duration must have happen'd Nay thus much Aristotle himself every where grants that if the frame of the world be liable to dissolution it must of necessity be acknowledg'd to have had a beginning These are some of the chief Probabilities on our side which being taken together and in their united force have a great deal of conviction in them Especially if this be added that there is no kind of positive proof so much as pretended on the other side The utmost that Aristotle pretends to prove is That the world proceeded from God by the way of a natural and necessary effect as light does from the Sun Which if it be true as there is no tolerable ground for it the World indeed would be without beginning but not of it self And thus I have done with the first consideration I propounded to speak to viz. That there are fair proofs on our side and as convincing as the nature of the thing is capable of but that there is no pretence or proof on the other I proceed therefore to the Second Consideration That the most pressing difficulties are on that side on which there is no proof Those who deny a God and hold the world to have been eternal and of it self have onely two things to object against us The difficulties that there are in the notion of a God and in making the world of nothing To the first I answer That we attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or contradiction in it Power wisedom goodness justice and truth have no repugnancy in them to our reason because we own these Perfections to be in some degree in our selves and therefore they may be in the highest degree that is possible in another The eternity of God and his immensity and his being of himself how difficult soever they may be to be conceived yet these perfections must be granted to be somewhere and therefore they may as well nay much better be ascrib'd to God in whom we suppose all other perfections to meet than to any thing else And as for God's being a spirit whatever difficulty there may be in conceiving the notion of a spirit yet the Atheist must grant the thing that there is a being or principle really distinct from matter or else shew how meer matter which is confessed by themselves to be void of sense and understanding and to move necessarily can produce any thing that has sense understanding and liberty As to the other difficulty of making the world of nothing I shall onely say this that though it signifie an inconceivable excess of power yet there can no contradiction be shewn in it And it is every whit as easie to conceive that something should be caus'd to be that was not before as that any thing should be of it self which yet must be granted on both sides and therefore this difficulty ought not to be objected by either But then on the other side there are these two great and real difficulties First That men generally have always believed the contrary viz. That the World had a beginning and was made by God Which is a strong evidence that this account of the existence of the world is more natural and of a more easie conception to humane understanding And indeed it is very natural to conceive that every thing which is imperfect as the world and all the creatures in it must be acknowledged in many respects to be had some cause which produc'd it such as it is and determin'd the bounds and limitss of its perfection but that which is of it self and without a cause may be any thing and have any perfection which does not imply a contradiction Secondly To assert mankind to have been of it self and without a cause hath this invincible objection against it that we plainly see every man to be from another So that mankind is asserted to have no cause of its being and yet every particular man must be acknowledged to have a father which is every whit as absurd in an infinite succession of men as in any finite number of generations It is more easie indeed to conceive how a constant and permanent being suppose matter should always have been of it self and then that that should be the foundation of infinite successive changes and alterations But an infinite succession of the generations of men without any permanent foundation is utterly unimaginable If it be said that the earth was always and in time did produce men and that they ever since have produc'd one another this is to run into one great absurdity of the Epicurean way which shall be consider'd in its proper place And thus I have endeavour'd as plainly and briefly as the nature of the Argument would admit to prove that the account which the Scripture gives of the existence of the world is most credible and agreeable to the reason of mankind and that this First account which the Atheist gives of it is altogether incredible And now I expect after all this the Atheist will complain that all that hath been said does not amount to a strict demonstration of the thing It may be so And if the Atheist would undertake to demonstrate the contrary there might be some reason for this complaint In the mean time I desire to know whether when both sides are agreed that the world is and that it must either have its original from God or have been always of it self and if it have been made evident that on one side there are fair proofs both from testimony and reason and as convincing as the nature of the thing is capable of and no pretence of proof on the other and that the difficulties are most pressing on that side which is destitute of proof I say if this have been made evident I desire to know whether this be not upon the matter as satisfactory to a wise man as a demonstration For in this case there can be no doubt on which side the clear advantage of evidence lies and consequently which way a prudent man ought to determine assent I come now in the Second place to consider the other account which another sort of Atheists those whom I call the Epicurean do give of the existence of the world And 't is this They suppose the matter of which the world is constituted to be eternal and of it self and then an infinite empty space for the infinite little parts of this matter which they call Atomes to move and play in and that these being always in motion did after infinite trials and encounters without any counsel or design and without the disposal and contrivance of any wise and intelligent being at last by a lucky casualty entangle and settle themselves
be so vain as to pretend to yet it is to be hoped that no body would be so weak as to believe him V. Speculative atheism is unreasonable because it contradicts it self There is this great contradiction in the denial of a God He that denies a God says that that is impossible which yet he must grant to be possible He says it is impossible that there should be such a Being as God in saying that de facto there is no such being For eternity being essential to the notion of a God if there be not a God already it is impossible now that there should be one because such a being as is supposed to be essentially eternal and without beginning cannot now begin to be And yet he must grant it possible that there should be such a being because it is possible there should be such a being as hath all possible perfection and such a being as this is that which we call God and is that very thing which the Atheist denies and others affirm to be For he that denies a God must deny such a being as all the world describe God to be and this is the general notion which all men have of God that he is a being as perfect as is possible that is endued with all such perfections as do not imply a contradiction which none of those perfections which we attribute to God do as I have already prov'd II. Speculative atheism as it is unreasonable so is it a most imprudent and uncomfortable opinion And that upon these two accounts First because it is against the present interest and happiness of mankind Secondly because it is infinitely hazardous and unsafe in the issue I. It is against the present interest and happiness of mankind If Atheism were the general Opinion of the World it would be infinitely prejudicial to the peace and happiness of humane Society and would open a wide door to all manner of confusion and disorder But this I shall not now insist upon because I design a particular Discourse of that by it self I shall at present content my self to shew how uncomfortable an opinion this would be to particular persons For nothing can be more evident than that man is not sufficient of himself to his own happiness He is liable to many evils and miseries which he can neither prevent nor redress He is full of wants which he cannot supply and compass'd about with infirmities which he cannot remove and obnoxious to dangers which he can never sufficiently provide against Consider man without the protection and conduct of a superior Being and he is secure of nothing that he enjoys in this world and uncertain of every thing that he hopes for He is apt to grieve for what he cannot help and eagerly to desire what he is never likely to obtain Man walketh in a vain shew and disquieteth himself in vain He courts happiness in a thousand shapes and the faster he pursues it the faster it flies from him His hopes and expectations are bigger than his enjoyments and his fears and jealousies more troublesome than the evils themselves which he is so much afraid of He is liable to a great many inconveniences every moment of his life and is continually insecure not onely of the good things of this life but even of life it self And besides all this after all his endeavours to the contrary he finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs and disappoint all his hopes and make him miserable beyond all his fears He has oftentimes secret misgivings concerning another life after this and fearful apprehensions of an invisible Judge and thereupon he is full of anxiety concerning his condition in another world and sometimes plung'd into that anguish and despair that he grows weary of himself So that the Atheist deprives himself of all the comfort that the apprehensions of a God can give a man and yet is liable to all the trouble and disquiet of those apprehensions I do not say that these Inconveniences do happen to all but every one is in danger of them For man's nature is evidently so contriv'd as does plainly discover how unable he is to make himself happy So that he must necessarily look abroad and seek for happiness somewhere else And if there be no superiour Being in whose care of him he may repose his considence and quiet his mind If he have no comfortable expectations of another life to sustain him under the evils and calamities he is liable to in this world he is certainly of all creatures the most miserable There are none of us but may happen to fall into those circumstances of danger or want or pain or some other sort of calamity that we can have no hopes of relief or comfort but from God alone none in all the world to flee to but Him And what would men do in such a case if it were not for God Humane nature is most certainly liable to desperate exigencies and he is not happy that is not provided against the worst that may happen It is bad to be reduc'd to such a condition as to be destitute of all comfort And yet men are many times brought to that extremity that if it were not for God they would not know what to do with themselves or how to enjoy themselves for one hour or to entertain their thoughts with any comfortable considerations under their present anguish and sufferings All men naturally flye to God in extremity and the most atheistical person in the world when he is forsaken of all hopes of any other relief is forc'd to acknowledge him and would be glad to have such a friend Can it then be a wise and reasonable design to endeavour to banish the belief of a God out of the world Not to say how impious it is in respect of God nothing can be more malicious to men and more effectually undermine the onely foundation of our happiness For if there were no God in the world man would be in a much more wretched and disconsolate condition than the creatures below him For they are onely sensible of present pain and when it is upon them they bear it as they can But they are not at all apprehensive of evils at a distance nor tormented with the fearfull prospect of what may befall them hereafter nor are they plung'd into despair upon the consideration that the evils they lye under are like to continue and are incapable of a remedy And as they have no apprehension of these things so they need no comfort against them But Mankind is liable to all the same evils and many others which are so much the greater because they are aggravated and set on by the restless workings of our minds and exasperated by the smart reflexions and frettings of our own thoughts And if there be no God we are wholly without comfort under all these and without any other remedy than what time will give For
may be mindfull of the words which were spoken before by the holy Prophets and of the commandment of in the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers c. The prophecy here spoken of is probably that famous prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem which is in the Prophet Daniel and before the fulfilling whereof our Saviour expresly tells us false prophets should arise and deceive many Mat. 24.11 Now the scoffers here spoken of are the false teachers whom the Apostle had been describing all along in the foregoing Chapter there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you These he tells us should proceed to that height of impiety as to scoff at the principles of Religion and to deride the expectations of a future judgment In the last days shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming In speaking to these words I shall do these three things 1. Consider the nature of the sin here mentioned which is scoffing at Religion 2. The character of the persons that are charg'd with the guilt of this sin they are said to walk after their own lusts 3. I shall represent to you the heinousness and the aggravations of this vice I. First we will consider the nature of the sin here mentioned which is scoffing at Religion There shall come scoffers These it seems were a sort of people that derided our Saviour's prediction of his coming to judge the world So the Apostle tells us in the next words that they said where is the promise of his coming In those times there was a common perswasion among Christians that the day of the Lord was at hand 2 Thes 3.2 as the Apostle elsewhere tells us Now this 't is probable these scoffers twitted the Christians withall and because Christ did not come when some looked for him they concluded he would not come at all Upon this they derided the Christians as enduring persecution in a vain expectation of that which was never likely to happen They saw all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world notwithstanding the apprehensions of Christians concerning the approaching end of it For since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world Since the fathers fell asleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may either be rendred from the time or else which seems more agreeable to the atheistical discourse of these men saving or except that the fathers are fallen asleep all things continue as they were Saving that men die and one generation succeeds another they saw no change or alalteration They looked upon all things as going on in a constant course One generation of men passed away and another came in the room of it but the world remain'd still as it was And thus for ought they knew things might hold on for ever So that the principles of these men seem to be much the same with those of the Epicureans who denied the providence of God and the immortality of mens souls and consequently a future judgment which should sentence men to rewards and punishments in another world These great and fundamental principles of all Religion they derided as the fancies and dreams of a company of melancholy men who were weary of the world and pleased themselves with vain conceits of happiness and ease in another life But as for them they believed none of those things and therefore gave all manner of licence and indulgence to their lusts But this belongs to the second thing I propounded to speak to namely II. The character which is here given of these scoffers They are said to walk after their own lusts And no wonder if when they denied a future judgment they gave up themselves to all manner of sensuality St. Jude in his Epistle gives much the same character of them that St. Peter here does ver 18 19. There shall come in the last days mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts sensual not having the spirit So that we see what kind of persons they are who prophanely scoff at Religion men of sensual spirits and of licentious lives For this character which the Apostle here gives of the scoffers of that age was not an accidental thing which happened to those persons but is the constant character of them who deride Religion and flows from the very temper and disposition of those who are guilty of this impiety it is both the usual preparation to it and the natural consequent of it To deride God and Religion is the highest kind of impiety And men do not usually arrive to this degree of wickedness at first but they come to it by several steps The Psalmist very elegantly expresseth to us the several gradations by which men at last come to this horrid degree of impiety Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1 1◠nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornfull Men are usually first corrupted by bad counsel and company which is called walking in the counsel of the ungodly next they habituate themselves to their vicious practices which is standing in the way of sinners and then at last they take up and settle in a contempt of all Religion which is called sitting in the seat of the scornfull For when men once indulge themselves in wicked courses the vicious inclinations of their minds sway their understandings and make them apt to disbelieve those truths which contradict their lusts Every inordinate lust and passion is a false byass upon mens understandings which naturally draws toward Atheism And when mens judgments are once byassed they do not believe according to the evidence of things but according to their humour and their interest For when men live as if there were no God it becomes expedient for them that there should be none And then they endeavour to perswade themselves so and will be glad to find arguments to fortifie themselves in this perswasion Men of dissolute lives cry down Religion because they would not be under the restraints of it they are loth to be tied up by the strict laws and rules of it 'T is their interest more than any reason they have against it which makes them despise it they hate it because they are reproved by it So our Saviour tells us that men love darkness rather than light John 3.19 20. because their deeds are evil for every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved I remember it is the saying of one who hath done more by his Writings to debauch the Age with Atheistical principles than any man that lives in it That when reason is against a man then a man will be against reason I am sure this is the true account of such mens enmity
to the good order and more easie government of humane Society because they have a good influence both upon Magistrates and Subjects 1. Upon Magistrates Religion teacheth them to rule over men in the fear of God because though they be Gods on earth yet they are subjects of Heaven and accountable to Him who is higher than the highest in this world Religion in a Magistrate strengthens his authority because it procures veneration and gains a reputation to it And in all the affairs of this world so much reputation is really so much power We see that piety and Vertue where they are found among men of lower degree will command some reverence and respect But in persons of eminent place and dignity they are seated to a great advantage so as to cast a lustre upon their very Place and by a strong reflexion to double the beams of Majesty Whereas impiety and vice do strangely lessen greatness and do secretly and unavoidably derive some weakness upon authority it self Of this the Scripture gives us a remarkable instance in David For among other things which made the Sons of Zurviah too hard for him this probably was none of the least that they were particularly conscious to his crimes 2. Religion hath a good influence upon the People to make them obedient to Government and peaceable one towards another 1. To make them obedient to Government and conformable to Laws and that not onely for wrath and out of fear of the Magistrates power which is but a weak and loofe principle of obedience and will cease when ever men can rebel with safety and to advantage but out of Conscience which is a firm and constant and lasting principle and will hold a man fast when all other obligations will break He that hath entertain'd the true principles of Christianity is not to be tempted from his obedience and subjection by any worldly considerations because he believes that whatsoever resisteth authority resisteth the ordinance of God and that they who resist shall receive to themselves damnation 2. Religion tends to make men peaceable one towards another For it endeavours to plant all those qualities and dispositions in men which tend to peace and unity and to fill men with a spirit of universal love and good will It endeavours likewise to secure every man's interest by commanding the observation of that great rule of equity Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them by enjoyning that truth and fidelity be inviolably observed in all our words promises and contracts And in order hereunto it requires the extirpation of all those passions and vices which render men unsociable and troublesome to one another as pride covetousness and injustice hatred and revenge and cruelty and those likewise which are not so commonly reputed vices as self-conceit and peremptoriness in a man 's own opinion and all peevishness and incompliance of humour in things lawful and indifferent And that these are the proper effects of true piety the doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles every where teacheth us Now if this be the design of Religion to bring us to this temper thus to heal the natures of men and to sweeten their spirits to correct their passions and to mortifie all those lusts which are the causes of enmity and division then it is evident that in its own nature it tends to the peace and happiness of humane society and that if men would but live as Religion requires they should do the world would be a quiet habitation a most lovely and desirable place in comparison of what now it is And indeed the true reason why the societies of men are so full of tumult and disorder so troublesome and tempestuous is because there is so little of true Religion among men so that were it not for some small remainders of piety and vertue which are yet left scatter'd among mankind humane society would in a short space disband and run into confusion the earth would grow wild and become a great forest and mankind would become beasts of prey one towards another And if this discourse hold true surely then one would think that vertue should find it self a seat where-ever humane societies are and that Religion should be owned and encouraged in the world until men cease to be governed by reason II. I come to vindicate this truth from the insinuations and pretences of atheistical persons I shall mention two 1. That Government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God and a state of rewards and punishments after this life 2. That as for vertue and vice they are arbitrary things 1. That Government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God or a state of rewards and punishments after this life And this the Atheist does and must assert otherwise he is by his own confession a declared enemy to Government and unfit to live in humane society For answer to this I will not deny but that though the generality of men did not believe any superior Being nor any rewards and punishments after this life yet notwithstanding this there might be some kind of Government kept up in the world For supposing men to have reason the necessities of humane nature and the mischiefs of confusion would probably compel them into some kind of order But then I say withall that if these principles were banished out of the world Government would be far more difficult than now it is because it would want its firmest Basis and foundation there would be infinitely more disorders in the world if men were restrained from injustice and violence onely by humane laws and not by principles of conscience and the dread of another world Therefore Magistrates have always thought themselves concerned to cherish Religion and to maintain in the minds of men the belief of a God and another life Nay that common suggestion of atheistical persons that Religion was at first a politick device and is still kept up in the world as a State-engine to awe men into obedience is a clear acknowledgment of the usefulness of it to the ends of Government and does as fully contradict that pretence of theirs which I am now confuting as any thing that can be said 2. That vertue and vice are arbitrary things founded onely in the imaginations of men and in the constitutions and customs of the world but not in the nature of the things themselves and that that is vertue or vice good or evil which the Supream Authority of a Nation declares to be so And this is frequently and confidently asserted by the ingenious Author of a very bad Book I mean the Leviathan Now the proper way of answering any thing that is confidently asserted is to shew the contrary namely That there are some things that have a natural evil and deformity in them as perjury perfidiousness unrighteousness and ingratitude which are things not onely condemned by the positive laws and constitutions of
present but they leave peace and contentment behind them a peace that no outward violence can interrupt or take from us The pleasures of a holy life have moreover this peculiar advantage of all worldly joys that we shall never be weary of them we cannot be cloy'd by the frequent repetition of these pleasures nor by the long enjoyment of them I know that some vices pretend to bring great pleasure along with them and that the delights of a sensual and voluptuous life make a glorious show and are attended with much pomp and noise like the sports of children and fools which are loud and clamorous or as Solomon elegantly compares them like the crackling of thorns under a pot which makes a little noise and a sudden blaze that is presently over But the serious and the manly pleasures the solid and substantial joys are onely to be found in the ways of Religion and Vertue The most sensual man that ever was in the world never felt his heart touch'd with so delicious and lasting a pleasure as that is which springs from a clear conscience and a mind fully satisfied with its own actions 2. But the great encouragement of all is the assurance of a future reward The firm perswasion whereof is enough to raise us above any thing in this world and to animate us with courage and resolution against the greatest difficulties So the Apostle reasons His commandments are not grievous for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith The belief of a future happiness and glory was that which made the primitive Christians so victorious over the world and gave them the courage to resist all the pleasures and terrors of Sense It cannot be deny'd but that a religious course of life is liable to be incumbred with many difficulties which are naturally grievous to flesh and blood But a Christian is able to comfort himself under all these with the thoughts of his end which is everlasting life He considers the goodness of God which he believes would not deny him the free enjoyment of the things of this world were it not that he hath such joys and pleasures in store for him as will abundantly recompence his present self denial and sufferings Let us now put both these together the pleasures of Religion and the rewards of it and they cannot but appear to be a mighty encouragement With what pleasures does a man that lives a holy and a vertuous life despise the pleasures of sin and notwithstanding all the allurements of sense persist resolutely in his course And how is such a man confirm'd in his purpose and animated in his holy resolution when he finds that God and his own conscience do applaud his choice when all along in the course of Religion and a vertuous life in his conflicts with sin and resistance of temptations he hath for his present reward the two great pleasures of innocence and of victory and for his future encouragement the joyful hopes of a Crown and a Kingdom A recompence so great as is sufficient to make a lame man walk enough to make any one willing to offer violence to his strongest passions and inclinations A man would be content to strive with himself and to conflict with great difficulties in hopes of a mighty reward What poor man would not cheerfully carry a great burthen of gold and silver that were assur'd to have the greatest share of it for his pains and thereby to be made a man for ever Whatever difficulties Religion is attended withall they are all sweeten'd and made easie by the proposal of a great and eternal reward But are there no difficulties then in Religion Is every thing so plain and easie Are all the ways of vertue so smooth and even as we have here represented them Hath not our Saviour told us Mat 7.14 that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it Act. 14.22 Does not the Apostle say that through much tributation we must enter into the Kingdom of God 2 Tim 3.12 And that all that will live Godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution And does not the Scripture every where speak of striving and wrestling and running and fighting of labouring and watching and giving all diligence And is there nothing grievous in all this This is a very material objection and therefore I shall be the more carefull to give a satisfactory answer to it And that I may do it the more distinctly be pleas'd to consider these six things 1. That the suffering of persecution for Religion is an extraordinary case which did chiefly concern the first Ages of Christianity 2. That this discourse concerning the easiness of God's commands does all along suppose and acknowledge the difficulties of the entrance upon a Religious course 3. Nor is there any reason it should exclude our after care and diligence 4. All the difficulties of Religion are very much mitigated and allayed by hope and by love 5. There is incomparably more difficulty and trouble in the ways of sin and vice than in the ways of Religion and Vertue 6. If we do but put vertue and vice a religious and a wicked course of life in equal circumstances if we will but suppose a man as much accustom'd and inur'd to the one as he has been to the other then I shall not doubt to pronounce that the advantages of ease and pleasure will be found to be on the side of Religion I. The suffering of persecution for Religion is an extraordinary case and did chiefly concern the first Ages of Christianity And therefore the general sayings of our Saviour and his Apostles concerning the persecuted state of Christians are to be limited as doubtless they were intended principally to those first times and by no means to be equally extended to all Ages of the Church At first indeed whoever embrac'd the profession of Christianity did thereby expose themselves to all the sufferings which the power and malice of the world could afflict them withall But since the Kingdoms of the Earth became the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and the Governours of the world began to be Patrons of the Church 't is so far from being universally true that every Christian hath suffer'd the violence of persecution that it hath been a rare case and happen'd onely in some few ages and to some persons So that this is accidental to a state of Religion and therefore ought not to be reckon'd among the ordinary difficulties of it And when it happens God gives extraordinary supports and promises mighty rewards to make it tolerable II. This discourse concerning the easiness of God's commands does all along suppose and acknowledge the difficulties of the first entrance upon a religious course except onely in those persons who have had the happiness to be train'd up to Religion by the easie