to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the minds of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankind and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerful arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As tho' we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a moâ—t signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonâ—â—rations of a divine power which accompanied the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel ofâ—ers the anâ—wer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor woulâ— deceive us if it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankind which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deter men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it do Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joys shall be full and constant the perception clear and undisturbed the fruition with continual delight and continual desire Where there shall be no fears to disquiet no enemies to allarm no dangers to conquer nothing shall then be but an uninterrupted peace an unexpressible Joy and pleasures for evermore And what could be ever imagined more satisfactory to minds tired out with the vanities of this world than such a repose as that is What more agreeable to the minds and desires of good men than to be eased of this clog of flesh and to spend eternity with the fountain of all
heartily wish it may never be said of us what the Orator once said of the Greeks Quibus jusjurandum jocus testimonium ludus they made it a matter of jest and drollery to forswear themselves and give false testimonies But supposing men keep within the bounds of justice and common honesty yet how unsatiable are the desires of men they are for adding house to house and land to land never contented with what either their Ancestors have left them or the bountiful hand of Heaven hath bestowed upon them Till at last it may be in the Prophets expression for their covetousness the stone cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber answer it i. e. provoke God to give a severe check to the exorbitant and boundless desire of men as he hath done by this days calamity Thus while the City thought with Babylon to sit as a Lady for ever while she dwelt carelesly and said I am and there is none else beside me evil is come upon her and she knows not from whence it comes and mischief is â—allen upon her and she hath not been able to put it off and desolation is come upon her suddenly which she did not foresee 3. Contempt of God and his Laws That we read of v. 4. where the Prophet speaks by an Irony to them Come to Bethel and transgress c. he knew well enough they were resolved to do it let God or the Prophet say what they pleased For these Kine of Bashan were all â—or the Calves of Dan and Bethel and some think that is the reason of the title that is given them These great men of Samaria thought it beneath them to oâ—n Religion any further than it was subservient to their civil interests They were all of Ieroboams Religion who looked on it as a mear politick thing and sit to advance his own designs by I am afraid there are too many at this day who are secretly of his mind and think it a piece of wisdom to be so Blessed God that men should be so wise to deceive themselves and go down with so much discretion to Hell These are the grave and retired Atheists who though they secretly love not Religion yet their caution hinders them from talking much against it But there is a sort of men much more common than the other the faculties of whose minds are so thin and aiery that they will not bear the consideration of any thing much less of Religion these throw out their bitter scoâ—fs and prophane jests against it A thing never permitted that I know of in any civilized Nation in the world whatsoever their Religion was the reputation of Religion was always preserved sacred God himself saith Iosephus would not suffer the Iews to speak evil of other Gods though they were to destroy all those who tempted them to the worship of them And shall we suffer the most excellent and reasonable Religion in the world viz. the Christian to be prophaned by the unhallowed mouths of any who will venture to be damned to be accounted witty if their enquiries were deeper their reason stronger or their arguments more perswasive than of those who have made it their utmost care and business to search into these things they ought to be allowed a fair hearing buâ— for men who pretend to none of these things yet still to make Religion the object of their scoâ—fs and raillery doth not become the gravity of a Nation professing wisdom to permit it much less the sobriety of a people professing Christianity In the mean time such persons may know that wise men may be argued out of a Religion they own but none but Fools and madmen will be droll'd out of it Let them first try whether they can laugh men out of their Estates before they attempt to do it out of their hopes of an Eternal happiness And I am sure it will be no comfort to them in another world that they were accounted Wits for deriding those miseries which they then feel and smart under the severity of it will be no mitigation of their flames that they go laughing into them nor will they endure them the better because they would not believe them But while this is so prevailing a humour among the vain men of this Age and Nation what can we expect but that God should be remarkable and severe judgements seek to make men more serious in Religion or else make their hearts to ake and theâ—r joints to tremble as he did Belshazzars when he could find nothing else to carouse in but the Vessels of the Temple And when men said in the Prophet Zephany chap. 1.12 that God neither did good nor evil presently it follows therefore their goods shall become a booty and their houses a desolation the day of the Lord is near a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation as it is with us at this time Thus we see how sad the parallel hath been not only in the judgments of Isreal but in the sins likewise which have made those judgments so severe 4. The severity of the Judgment appears not only from the Causes but â—rom the Author of it I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah God challenges the execution of his Justice to himself not only in the great day but in his judgment here in the world Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it When God is pleased to punish men for their sins the excution of his justice is agreeable to his nature now as it will be at the end of the world We all know that he may do it if he please and he hath told us that he doth and will do it and we know withal that without such remarkable severities the world will hardly be kept in any awe of him We do not â—ind that love doth so much in the World as Fear doth there being so very few persons of tractable and ingenuous spirits It is true of too many what Lactantius obâ—erves of the Romans Nunquam Dei meminerunt nisi dum in malis sunt they seldom think of God but when they are afraid of him And there is not only this reason as to particular persons why God should punish them but there is a greater as to Communities and Bodies of men for although God suffers wicked men to escape punishment here as he often doth yet he is sure not to do it in the life to come but Communities of men can never be punished but in this World and therefore the Justice oâ— God doth often discover it self in these common calamities to keep the World in subjection to him and to let men see that neither the multitude of their Associates nor the depth of their Designs nor the subtilty of their Councils can secure them from the omnipotent arm of Divine Justice when he hath determined to visit their
if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Surely this Cup must needs have a great deal of bitterness in it which the Son of God was so earnest to be freed from If there had been nothing in it but what is commonly incident to humane Nature as to the apprehensions of death or pain it seems strange that he who had the greatest innocency the most perfect charity the freest resignation of himself the fullest assurance of the reward to come should express a greater sense of the horror of his sufferings than thousands did who suffer'd for his sake But now was the hour come wherein the Son of God was to be made a Sacrifice for the sins of men wherein he was to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows when he was to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities now his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death for now the hour of his enemies was come and the power of darkness And accordingly they improve it they came out against him as a Malefactor with swords and staves and having seized his Person being betray'd into their hands by one of his Disciples they carry him to the High Priests house where his professed enemies presently condemn him of Blasphemy and not content with this they express the greatest contempt of him for they spit in his face they buffet him and smite him with the Palms of their hands they mock him and bid him prophesie who it was that smote him so insolent was their malice grown and so spightful was their indignation against him And so fearful were they lest he should escape their hands that the very next morning early they send him bound to the Roman Governour to have the sentence pronounced against him to whom they accuse him of Seditition and Treason but Pilate upon examination of him declares he found no fault in him which made them heap more unreasonable calumnies upon him being resolved by what means soever to take away his life Nay the price of the Blood of the Son of God was fallen so low with them that they preferred the life of a known seditious person and a Murtherer before him And when Pilate being unsatisfied asked stiâ—l what evil hath he done they continue their importunity without any other answer but Crucifie him and making up what wanted in Justice and Reason in the loudness of their clamours And at last seeing the fury and madness of the people with the protestation of his own innocency as to his blood he delivers him up to the people and now he is stripped and scourged and mock'd with a Crown of Thorns a Scarlet Robe and a Reed in his hand all the indignities they could think of they put upon him But though it pleased them to have him exposed to all the ignominies imaginable yet nothing would satisfie them but his blood and therefore he is led forth to be crucified and though so lately scourged and weakened by his sorrows yet he is made to carry his own Cross at least through the City for no other death could satisfie them but the most ignominious and painful And when he was brought to the place of Crucifixion they nail hâ—s hands and feet to the Cross and while he was hanging there they deride and mock him still they divide his garments before his face give him Gall and Vinegar to drink and the last act of violence committed upon him was the piercing of his side so that out of his Pericardium issued both water and blood Thus did the Son of God suffer at the hands of unreasonable men thus was the blood of that immaculate Lamb spilt by the hands of violence and he who left the bosom of his Father to bring us to glory was here treated as if he had been unworthy to live upon the Earth 2. But that which yet heightens these sufferings of Christ is to consider from whom he suffer'd these things it was from sinners which is as much as to say from men if the word were taken in the largest sense of it for all have sinned but being taken by us in opposition to other men so it implies a greater height of wickedness in these thâ—n in other persons But this is not hâ—re to be consider'd absolutely as denoting what kind of persons he suâ—fer'd from but with a particular respect to the nature of their proceedings with him and the obligations that lay uâ—on them to the contrary So that the first shews the injustice and unreasonableness of them the second their great ingratitude considering the kindness and good will which he expressed towards them 1. The injustice and unreasonableness of their proceedings against him It is true indeed what Socrates said to his wife when she complained that he sufferâ—d unjustly What saith he and would you have me suffer justly it is much greater comfort to the person who does suffer when he does it unjustly but it is a far greater reflection on those who were the causes of it And that our Blessed Saviour did suffer with the greatest injustice from these men is apparent from the falseness and weakness of all the accusations which were brought against him To accuse the Son of God for Blasphemy in saying he was so is as unjust as to condemn a King for treason because he saith he is a King they ought to have examined the grounds on which he call'd himself so and if he had not given pregnant evidences of it then to have passed sentence upon him as an Impostor and Blasphemer If the thing were true that he was what he said the Son of God what horrible guilt was it in them to imbrue their hands in his blood and they found he always attested it and now was willing to lay down his life to confirm the truth of what he said This surely ought at least to have made them more inquisitive into what he had affirmed but they allow him not the liberty of a fair tryal they hasten and precipitate the sentence that they might do so the execution If he were condemned as a false Prophet for that seems to be the occasion of the Sanhedrim meeting to do it to whom the cognisance of that did particularly belong why do they not mention what it was he had foretold which had not come to pass or what reason do they give why he had usurped such an Office to himself If no liberty were allowed under pain of death for any to say that they were sent from God how was it possible for the Messias ever to appear and not be condemned for the expectation of him was that he should be a great person immediately sent from God for the delivery of his people And should he be sent from God and not say that he was so for how then could men know that he was So that their way of proceeding with him discovers it self to
destroyed meerly because all men are not agreed what things are good and what evil We call goodness the beauty of the soul and do men question whether there be such a thing as beauty at all because there are so many different opinions in the world about it Or is deformity ever the less real because the several nations of the world represent it in a colour different from their own Those arguments then against the natural differences of good and evil must needs appear ridiculous which will be granted to hold in nothing else but only the thing in question And yet in the midst of all the ruines and decays of humane nature we find such evident footsteps and impressions of the differences of good and evil in the minds of men which no force could extinguish no time could deface no customs could alter Let us search the records of ancient times and enquire into the later discoveries of nations we shall find none so barbarous and bruitish as not to allow the differences of good and evil so far as to acknowledge that there are some things which naturally deserve to be praised and others which deserve to be punished Whereas if good and evil were meerly names of things there can be no reason assigned why praise and honour should necessarily belong to some things and infamy and disgrace to follow others If the things themselves be arbitrary the consequences of them would be so too But is it possible to imagine that any man should deserve to be punished as much for being true to his trust as for betraying it for honouring his Parents as for destroying them for giving to every one their due as for all the arts of injustice and oppression Is it possible for men to suffer as much in their esteem for their fidelity temperance and chastity as they always do for their falseness intemperance and lasciviousness How comes the very name of a lie to be a matter of so much reproach and dishonour that the giving of it is thought an injury so great as cannot be expiated without the satisfaction of the giver's blood if it be in it selâ— so indifferent a thing Nay I dare appeal to the consciences of the most wicked persons whether they are so well pleased with themselves when they come reeking from the satisfaction oâ— their lusts and sodden with the continuance of their debaucheries as when they have been paying their devotions to God or their duties to their Parents or their respects to their Country or Friends Is there not whether they will or no an inward shame and secret regret and disquiet following the one and nothing but ease and contentment the other What should make this difference in those persons who love their vices far more than they do the other and if it were possible for them would bring vertue more out of countenance than sin is yet after all their endeavours though vice hath the stronger Interest vertue hath the greater Reveâ—ence Thus considering humane nature as it is we find indelible characters remaâ—ning upon it of the natural differences of good and evil but then if we consider it with a respect to the Maker of it that will cast a clearer light upon them and make those characters appear more discernible For nothing can be more absurd than to imagine a creature owing its being and all it hath to the bounty of a Being infinite in all Perfectâ—ons and yet not to be obliged to give all honour worship and service to it To rip up the bowels of a Mother to whom a man owes his coming into the world to assassinate a Prince to whom he owes all the honours and riches he hath in it are crimes of so black a nature that the worst of Men can hardly be supposed to commit them nor the worst of Devils to defend them But to blaspheme God and to deride his service seems to have a much greater malignity in it in as much as our obligations to his honour and service are much greater than they can be to any created Being But if there be no natural differences of good and evil even this must be accounted an indâ—fferent thing as well as the former and what safety can there be in conversing with those men whom no bonds of Religion Nature or Gratitude can tye Let us if it were possible suppose a Society of men constituted of such who make all things equally good and evil in their own nature what a monstrous Leviathan would they make among them no Religion no Law no Kindness no Promises no Trust no Contracts could ever oblige them not to do any thing which they thought might be done with safety By which it appears that these principles are so inconsistent with humane Nature and all the bonds of Religion and Duty that whoever owns them must suppose mankind more savage than the beasts of prey he must renounce his Reason destroy all Religion and disown a Deity For if there be a God we must be inviolably bound to observe and obey him and the very notion of a God implies a Being infinitely perfect and if there be such perfections in God they cannot but be so in their own nature and if they be so in their own nature they must in their degree be so in us as well as in him so that if Goodness Holiness and Righteousness be absolute perfections as they are in God they must be perfections so far as they are in us and the contrary must be imperfections which makes the differences of good and evil so far from being arbitrary that those things which agree to the perfections of God as well as his will must needs be good and those which are repugnant to them must needs be evil The result of all is that if a wicked man can have no peace in his mind without overthrowing the differences of good and evil he can have no peace without the greatest violence offered to God to nature and himself and if this be the way to Peace let his Reason judge 2. The second foundation which a wicked man must build his peace upon is that supposing there be such a thing as sin yet that men have no cause to disturb themselves with the fears of so great a punishment to follow after as that which sinners are afrighted with But what security can a sinner have against the fears of punishment when his conscience condemns him for the guilt of his sins Is it that God takes no notice at all of the actions of men that he will not disturb his own eternal peace and happiness by observing all their follies So some of old imagined who pretended that out of meer kindness to the Deity they gave him his Quietus est and took from him as much as in them lay the care and government of the world but it was really a greater kindness to their lusts which made them do it and makes many now-a-days so willing upon the same frivolous
are infinitely beyond the racks and torments of the body It hath sometimes happened that the horrour of despair hath seized upon mens minds for some notorious crimes in this life which hath given no rest either to body or mind but the violence of the inward pains have forced them to put an end to this miserable life as in the case of Iudas But if the expectation of future misery be so dreadful what must the enduring of it be Of all the ways of dying we can hardly imagine any more painful or full of horrour than that of sacrificing their Children to Molock was among the Canaanites and Children of Amon where the Children were put into the body of a Brass Image and a fire made under it which by degrees with lamentable shrieks and cryings roasted them to death yet this above all others in the New Testament is chosen as the fittest representation of the miseries of another world and thence the very name of Gehenna is taken But as the joys of heaven will far surpass all the pleasure which the mind of a good man hath in this life so will the torments of Hell as much exceed the greatest miseries of this world But in the most exquisite pains of the body there is that satisfaction still left that death will at last put an end to them but that is a farther discovery of the unspeakable folly of losing the soul for the sake of this world that 3. The happiness of this world can last but for a little time but the misery of the soul will have no end Suppose a man had all the world at his command and enjoyed as much satisfaction in it as it was possible for humane nature to have yet the very thoughts of dying and leaving all in a short time must needs make his happiness seem much less considerable to him And every wise man would provide most for that State wherein he is sure to continue longest The shortness of life makes the pleasures of it less desireable and the miseries less dreadful but an endless State makes every thing of moment which belongs to it Where there is variety and liberty of change there is no necessity of any long deliberation before-hand but for that which is to continue always the same the greatest consideration is needful because the very continuance of some things is apt to bring weariness and satiety with it If a man were bound for his whole life-time to converse only with one person without so much as seeing any other he would desire time and use his best judgment in the choice of him If one were bound to lie in the same posture without any motion but for a month together how would he imploy his wits before-hand to make it as easie and tolerable as might be Thus solicitous and careful would men be for any thing that was to continue the same although but for a short time here But what are those things to the endless duration of a soul in a misery that is a perpetual destruction and everlasting death always intolerable and yet must always be endured A misery that must last when time it self shall be no more and the utmost periods we can imagine fall infinitely short of the continuance of it O the unfathomable Abyss of Eternity how are our imaginations lost in the conceptions of it But what will it then be to be swallowed up in an Abyss of misery and eternity together And I do not know how such an eternal State of misery could have been represented in Scripture in words more Emphatical than it is not only by everlasting fire and everlasting destruction but by a worm that never dies and a fire that never goes out and the very same expressions are used concerning the eternal State of the blessed and the damned so that if there were any reason to question the one there would be the same to question the other also 4. The loss of this world may be abundantly recompenced but the loss of the Soul can never be For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul If a man runs the hazard of losing all that is valuable or desirable in this world for the sake of his Soul heaven and eternal happiness will make him infinite amends for it He will have no cause to repent of his bargain that parts with his share in this evil world for the joys and glories that are above They who have done this in the resolution of their minds have before-hand had so great satisfaction in it that they have gloried in tribulations and rejoyced in hopes of the glory of God they have upon casting up their accounts found that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed because the afflictions they meet with here are but light and momentany but that which they expected in recompence for them was an exceeding and an eternal weight of Glory O blessed change what life can be so desirable as the parting with it is on such terms as these It was the hopes of this glorious recompence which inspired so many Martyrs to adventure for Heaven with so much courage patience and constancy in the primitive times of the Christian Church How do they look down from Heaven and despise all the vanities of this World in comparison with what they enjoy And if they are sensible of what is done on earth with what pity do they behold us miserable creatures that for the sake of the honours pleasures or riches of this World venture the loss of all which they enjoy and thereby of their Souls too Which is a loss so great that no recompence can ever be made for it no price of redemption can ever be accepted for the delivery of it For even the Son of God himself who laid down his life for the redemption of Souls shall then come from heaven with flaming fire to take vengeance on all those who so much despise the blood he hath shed for them the warnings he hath given to them the Spirit he hath promised them the reward he is ready to bestow upon them as in spight of all to cast away those precious and immortal Souls which he hath so dearly bought with his own blood Methinks the consideration of these things might serve to awaken our security to cure our stupidity to check our immoderate love of this world and inflame our desires of a better Wherein can we shew our selves men more than by having the greatest regard to that which makes us men which is our souls Wherein can we shew our selves Christians better than by abstaining from all those hurtful lusts which war against our souls and doing those things which tend to make them happy We are all walking upon the shore of eternity and for all that we know the next tide may sweep us away shall we only sport and play or gather cockle-shells and lay them in
neither eating bread nor drinking wine and ye say he hath a Devil A very severe Devil surely and one of the strictest order among them that was so far from being cast out by fasting and prayer that these were his continual imployment But what could we have sooner thought than that those persons who made the Devil the author of so much mortification and severity of life should presently have entertained Religion in a more free and pleasing humour but this would not take neither for the Son of Man comes eating and drinking i. e. was remarkable for none of those rigours and austerities which they condemned in Iohn and applauded in the Pharisees and then presently they censure him as a gluttonous man and a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners v. 34. i. e. the utmost excess that any course of life was capable of they presently apply to those who had no other design in all their actions than to recommend true piety and goodness to them So impossible it was by any means which the wisdom of Heaven thought fit to use to perswade them into any good opinion of the persons who brought the glad tidings of Salvation to them and therefore our Saviour when he sees how refractory and perverse they were in interpreting every thing to the worse and censuring the ways which infinite Wisdom thought fittest to reclaim them by he tells them that it was nothing but malice and obstinacy which was the cause of it but if they were men of teachable spirits who by an usual Hebraism are called the Children of Wisdom they would see reason enough to admire approve and justifie all the methods of divine Providence for the good of Mankind For Wisdom is justified of all her Children That which I mainly design to speak to from hence is That although the wisest Contrivances of Heaven for the good of Mankind are liable to the unjust cavils and exceptions of unreasonable men yet there is enough to satisfie any teachable and ingenuous Minds concerning the wisdom of them Before I come more particularly to examine those which concern our present subject viz. the life and appearance of our Lord and Saviour it will take very much off from the force of them if we consider that thus it hath always been and supposing humane nature to be as it is it is scarce conceivable that it should be otherwise Not that it is necessary or reasonable it should be so at all any more than it is necessary that men should act foolishly or inconsiderately but as long as we must never expect to see all men either wise or pious either to have a true judgment of things or a love of Religion so long we shall always find there will be some who will be quarrelling with Religion when they have no mind to practise it I speak not now of those who make a meer jest and scoff at Religion of which our Age hath so many Instances but of a sort of men who are of a degree above the other though far enough short of any true and solid wisdom who yet are the more to be considered because they seem to make a slender offer at reason in what they say Some pretend they are not only unsatisfied with the particular ways of instituted Religion any further than they are subservient to their present interest which is the only God they worship but to make all sure the foundations even of Natural Religion it self cannot escape their cavils and exceptions They have found out an Index Expurgatorius for those impressions of a Deity which are in the hearts of men and use their utmost arts to obscure since they cannot extinguish those lively characters of the power wisdom and goodness of God which are every where to be seen in the large volume of the Creation Religion is no more to them but an unaccountable fear and the very notion of a spiritual substance even of that without which we could never know what a contradiction meant is said to imply one But if for quietness sake and it may be to content their own minds as well as the World they are willing to admit of a Deity which is a mighty concession from those who have so much cause to be afraid of him then to ease their minds of such troublesom companions as their fears are they seek by all means to dispossess him of his Government of the World by denying his Providence and care of humane affairs They are contented he should be called an excellent Being that should do nothing and therefore signifie nothing in the World or rather then he might be styled an Almighty Sardanapalus that is so fond of ease and pleasure that the least thought of business would quite spoil his happiness Or if the activity of their own spirits may make them think that such an excellent Being may sometimes draw the Curtains and look abroad into the World then every advantage which another hath got above them and every cross accident which befalls themselves which by the power of self-flattery most men have learnt to call the Prosperity of the wicked and the Sufferings of good men serve them for mighty charges against the justice of Divine Providence Thus either God shall not govern the World at all or if he do it must be upon such terms as they please and approve of or else they will erect an High Court of Justice upon him and condemn the Sovereign of the World because he could not please his discontented Subjects And as if he were indeed arraigned at such a bar every weak and peevish exception shall be cryed up for evidence when the fullest and clearest vindications of him shall be scorned and contemned But this doth not in the least argue the obnoxiousness of him who is so accused but the great injustice of those who dare pass sentence where it is neither in their power to understand the reason of his actions nor if it were to call him in question for his proceedings with men But so great is the pride and arrogance of humane Nature that it loves to be condemning what it cannot comprehend and there needs be no greater reason given concerning the many disputes in the world about Divine Providence than that God is wise and we are not but would fain seem to be so While men are in the dark they will be always quarrelling and those who contend the most do it that they might seem to others to see when they know themselves they do not Nay there is nothing so plain and evident but the reason of some men is more apt to be imposed upon in it than their senses are as it appeared in him who could not otherwise confute the Philosophers argument against motion but by moving before him So that we see the most certain things in the world are liable to the cavils of men who imploy their wits to do it and certainly those ought not to stagger mens faith in matters of
that their deformities being discovered their ways as well as their persons might be the better understood and avoided And when he saw by the mighty opinion they had of themselves and their uncharitableness towards all others how little good was to be done upon them he seldom vouchsafes them his presence but rather converses with those who being more openly wicked were more easily convinced of their wickedness and perswaded to reform For which end alone it was that he so freely conversed with them to let them see there were none so bad but his kindness was so great to them that he was willing to do them all the good he could And therefore this could be no more a just reproach to Christ that he kept company sometimes with these than it is to a Chyrurgion to visit Hospitals or to a Physician to converse with the sick 2. But when they saw that his Greatness did appear in another way by the authority of his Doctrine and the power of his Miracles then these wise and subtile men apprehend a further reach and design in all his actions Viz. That his low condition was a piece of Popularity and a meer disguise to ensnare the people the better to make them in love with his Doctrine and so by degrees to season them with Principles of Rebellion and Disobedience Hence came all the clamours of his being an Enemy to Caesar and calling himself the King of the Iews and of his design to erect a Kingdom of his own all which they interpret in the most malicious though most unreasonable sense For nothing is so politick as malice and ill-will for that finds designs in every thing and the more contrary they are to all the Protestations of the persons concerned the deeper that suggests presently they are laid and that there is the more cause to be afraid of them Thus it was in our Blessed Saviour's case it was not the greatest care used by him to shew his obedience to the Authority he lived under it was not his most solemn disavowing having any thing to do with their civil Interests not the severe checks he gave his own Disciples for any ambitious thoughts among them not the recommending the doctrine of Obedience to them nor the rebuke he gave one of his most forward Disciples for offering to draw his sword in the rescue of himself could abate the fury and rage of his enemies but at last they condemn the greatest Teacher of the duty of Obedience as a Traytor and the most unparallel'd example of innocency as a Malefactor But though there could be nothing objected against the life and actions of our Blessed Saviour as tending to sedition and disturbance of the Civil Peace yet that these men who were inspir'd by malice and prophesied according to their own interest would say was because he was taken away in time before his designs could be ripe for action but if his doctrine tended that way it was enough to justifie their proceedings against him So then it was not what he did but what he might have done not Treason but Convenience which made them take away the life of the most innocent person but if there had been any tainâ— in his doctrine that way there had been reason enough in such an Age of faction and sedition to have used the utmost care to prevent the spreading it But so far is this from the least ground of probability that it is not possible to imagine a Religion which aims less at the present particular interests of the embracers of it and more at the publick interests of Princes than Christianity doth as it was both preached and practised by our Saviour and his Apostles And here we have cause to lament the unhappy fate of Religion when it falls under the censure of such who think themselves the Masters of all the little arts whereby this world is governed If it teaches the duty of Subjects and the authority of Princes if it requires obedience to Laws and makes mens happiness or misery in another life in any measure to depend upon it then Religion is suspected to be a meer trick of Staâ—e and an invention to keep the world in awe whereby men might the better be moulded into Societies and preserved in them But if it appear to inforce any thing indispensably on the Consciences of men though humane Laws require the contrary if they must not â—orswear their Religion and deny him whom they hope to be saved by when the Magistrate calls them to it then such half-witted men think that Religion is nothing but a pretence to Rebellion and Conscience only an obsâ—inate plea for Disobedience But this is to take it for granted that there is no such thing as Religion in the World for if there be there must be some inviolable Rights of Divine Soveraignty acknowledged which must not vary according to the diversity of the Edicts and Laws of men But supposing the profession and practice of the Christian Religion to be allowed inviolable there was never any Religion nay never any inventions of the greatest Politicians which might compare with that for the preservation of civil Societies For this in plain and express words tells all the owners of it that they muâ—t live in subjection and obedience not only for wrath but for Conscience sake that they who do resist receive unto themselves damnation and that because whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God Than which it is impossible to conceive arguments of greater force to keep men in obedience to Authority for he that only obeys because it is his interâ—st to do so will have the same reason to disobey when there is an apprehension that may make more for his advantage But when the reason of obedience is derived from the concernments of another life no hopes of interest in this world can be thought to ballance the loss which may come by such a breach of duty in that to come So that no persons do so dangerously undermine the foundations of civil Government as those who magnifie that to the contempt of Religion none so effectually secure them as those who give to God the things that are Gods and by doing so are obliged to give to Caesar the things that are Caesars This was the Doctrine of Christianity as it was delivered by the first author of it and the practice was agreeable as long as Christianity preserved its primitive honour in the world For so far were men then from making their zeal for Religion a pretence to Rebellion that though Christianity were directly contrary to the Religions then in vogue in the world yet they knew of no other way of promoting it but by patience humility meekness prayers â—or their persecutors and tears when they saw them obstinate So far were they then from fomenting suspicions and jealousies concerning the Princes and Governours they lived under that though they were generally known to be some of the worst of
spirit was fermented with the leaven of the Pharisees and inraged with fury against all who owned the name of Christ is of a sudden turned quite into another temper to the confusion of those who employed him and the amazement of them whom he designed to persecute Nay so great was the change which was wrought in him that from a Bigot of the Iewish Religion he becomes an Apostle of the Christian and from breathing flames against the Christians none more ready than he to undergo them for Christ. If he had only given over his persecution it might have been thought that he had meerly run himself out of breath and grown weary of his former fury as greater persons than he did afterwards but to retain the same fervor of spirit in preaching Christ which he had before in opposing him to have as great zeal for making Christians as he had for destroying them must needs proceed from some great and unusual cause Whilst the Iews thought he had too much learning and interest to become their enemy and the Christians found he had too much rage and fury to be their friend even then when they least expected it instead of continuing an Instrument of the Sanhedrin for punishing the Christians he declared himself an Apostle and Servant of Jesus Christ. And that no ordinary one neither for such was the efficacy of those divine words Saul Saul why persecutest thou me that they not only presently allay his former heat but quicken and animate him to a greater zeal for the honour of him whom he had persecuted before And the faster he had run when he was out of his way the greater diligence he used when he found it there being none of all the followers of Christ who out-strip him in his constant endeavours to advance the Christian Religion in the World And if an unwearied diligence to promote it an uncessant care for preserving it an universal concern for all who owned it and an undaunted spirit in bearing the affronts and injuries he underwent for it be any perswasive arguments of the love a man bears to his Religion there was never any person who made a clearer demonstration than St. Paul did of the truth of his Religion and his sincerity in embracing it For his endeavours were suitable to the greatness of his spirit his care as large as the Horizon of the Sun of righteousness his courage as great as the malice of his enemies For he was neither afraid of the Malice of the Iews or of the Wisdom of the Greeks or of the Power of the Romans but he goes up and down preaching the Gospel in a sphere as large as his mind was and with a zeal only parallel with his former fury He encountred the Iews in their Synagogues he disputed with the Greeks in their most famous Cities at Athens Corinth Ephesus and elsewhere and every-where raising some Trophies to the honour of the Gospel nothing now remained but that he should do the same at Rome also And for this he wants not spirit and resolution for he even longed to be there vers 11. nay he had often purposed to go thither but waited for a convenient opportunity v. 13. But while God was pleased otherwise to dispose of him he could not conceal the joy which he had for the ready entertainment of the Christian Religion by those to whom he writes and that their faith was grown as famous as the City wherein they dwelt v. 8. First I thank my God through Iesus Christ for you all that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole world and he further manifests the greatness of his affection to them that without ceasing he made mention of them always in his Prayers v. 9. And among the rest of the blessings he prayed for for himself and them he was sure not to forget his coming to them v. 10. Not out of an ambitious and vain-glorious humour that he might be taken notice of in that great and imperial City but that he might be â—nstrumental in doing them service as he had done others v. 11.13 And to this end he tells them what an obligation lay upon him to spread the Doctrine of Christ in all places and to all persons v. 14. I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians to the wise and to the unwise So that neither the wisdom of the Greeks nor the ignorance of the Barbarians could hinder St. Paul from discovering to them the contrivances of infinite wisdom and the excellent methods of divine Goodness in order to mens eternal welfare And although Rome now thought it self to be the seat of Wisdom as well as Empire and Power yet our Apostle declares his readiness to preach the Gospel there too v. 15. for which he gives a sufficient reason in the words of the Text for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to Salvation c. Wherein we have considerable these two things 1. The Apostle's boldness and freeness in declaring the Doctrine of Christ For I am not ashamed c. 2. The ground of it in the following words for it is the power of God to Salvation c. 1. The Apostles boldness and freeness in declaring the Doctrine of Christ. It was neither the gallantry of the Roman Court nor the splendor of the City not the greatness of her Power or wisdom of her Statesmen could make St. Paul entertain the meaner opinion of the doctrine he hoped to preach among them Had Christ come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a great deal of pomp and state into the World subduing Kingdoms and Nations under him had St. Paul been a General for the Gospel instead of being an Apostle of it the great men of the World would then allow he had no cause to be ashamed either of his Master or of his employment But to preach a crucified Saviour among the glories and triumphs of Rome and a Doctrine of so much simplicity and contempt of the world among those who were the Masters of it and managed it with so much art and cunning to perswade them to be followers of Christ in a holy life who could not be like the gods they worshipped unless they were guilty of the greatest debaucheries seems to be an employment so liable to the greatest scorn and contempt that none but a great and resolved spirit would ever undertake it For when we consider after so many hundred years profession of Christianity how apt the greatness of the world is to make men ashamed of the practice of it and that men aim at a reputation for wit by being able to abuse the Religion they own what entertainment might we then think our Religion met with among the great men of the Age it was first preached in when it not only encountered those weaker weapons of scoffs and raillery but the strong holds of interest and education If our Religion now can hardly escape the bitter scoffs
be manifestly unjust and contrary to their own avowed expectations Neither were they more successfâ—l in the accusation of him before Pilate why did not the witness appear to make good the charge of sedition and treason against him where were the prooâ—s of any thing tending that way Nay that which aâ—undantly testified the innocency of our Saviour as to all the matters he was accused of was that the Roman Governour after a full examination of the cause declares him innocent and that not only once but several times and was fully satisfied in the Vindication he made of himself so that nothing but the fear of what the Iews threatned viz accusing him to Caesar a thing he had cause enough otherwise to be afraid of which made him at last yield to their importunity But there was one circumstance more which did highly discover the innocâ—ncy of Christ and the injustice of his sufferings which was Iudas's confession and end the man who had betray'd his Lord and had receiv'd the wages of his iniquity but was so unquiet with it that in the time when his other Disciples durst not own him he with a great impetus returns to them with his Money throws it among them with that sad farewel to them all I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood What could have been said more for his Vindication at this time than this was by such a person as Iudas one who had known our Saviour long and had been the fittest instrument if any guilt could have been â—asten'd upon him to have managed the accusation against him but the anxiety of his mind was too great for what he had done already to live to do them any longer service for either his grief suffocated him or his guilt made him hang himself for the words will signifie either Neither can it be said by any modern Iews that all the testimony we have of these things is from his own Disciples but that certainly they had some greater matter to accuse him of which we now have lost For how is it â—ossible to conceive that a matter so important as that was should be lost by those of their own Nation who were to highly concerned to vindicate themselves in all places as soon as the Gospel was spread abroad in the World For the guilt of thâ—s blood was every where by the Christians charged upon them and their prâ—digious sufferings aferwards were imputed whoâ—ly by them to the shedding of that blood of Christ which by a most solemn imprecation they had said should be upon them and their Children Besides how comes Celsus who personates a Iew opposing Christianity to mention no other accusations against him but those recorded in the Gospel and Origen â— challenges him or any other person to charge him with any action which might deserve punishment And which is very observable Porphyrie one of the most inveterate enemies of Christianity and that took as much pains to write against it as any and had more learning to do it with yet in his Book of the Philosophy of Oracles as St. Augustin tells us quotes an Oracle wherein were these words concerning Christ And what became of him after his death it saith that his Soul was immortal Viri pietate proestantissimi est illa anima and that it was the soul of a most excellent person for piety and being then asked why he was condemned the answer only is that the Body of the best is exposed to weakning torments but the Soul rests in heavenly habitations So that on no account can this contradiction appear to be otherwise than an act of great injustice and cruelty and therefore must needs be the contradiction of sinners 2. This contradiction of theirs to Christ was an act of high Ingratitude It was a sharp but very just rebuke which the Iews received from our Saviour when they were once ready to stone him Many good works have I shewed you from my Father for which of those works do you stone me The very same might have been applyed to his Judges and accusers when they were about to crucifie him For what was his whole Life after he appeared publickly but a constant design of doing good His presence had far more vertue for the curing all bodily distempers than the Pool of Bethesda among the Iews or the Temples of Aesculapius among the Gentiles What wonders were made of very small things done by other persons as the cure of a blind Man by Vespasian when such multitudes of far more certain and câ—nsiderable cures can hardly keep up the reputation of any thing extraordinary in him But though his kindness was great to the bodies of men where they were fit objects of pity and compassion yet it was far greater to their souls that being more agreeable to the design of his coming into the World for the other tended to raise such an esteem of him as might make him the more successful in the cure of their Souls And to shew that this was his great business where-ever he comes he discourses about these things takes every oportunity that might be improved for that end refuses no company he might do good upon and converses not with them with the pride and arrogance of either the Pharisees or Philosophers but with the greatest meekness humility and patience How admirable are his more solemn discourses especially that upon the Mount and that wherein he takes leave of his Disciples How dry and insipid are the most sublime discourses of the Philosophers compared with these how clearly doth he state our Duties and what mighty encouragements does he give to practise them how forcibly does he perswade men to self-denyal and contempt of the world how excellent and holy are all his Precepts how serviceable to the best interest of men in this life and that to come how suitable and desirable to the souls of good men are the rewards he promises what exact rule of Righteousness hath he prescribed to men in doing as they would be done by with what vehemency doth he rebuke all hypocrisie and Pharisaism with what tenderness and kindness does he treat those that have any real inclinations to true goodness with what earnestness does he invite and with what love doth he embrace all repenting sinners with what care doth he instruct with what mildness doth he reprove with what patience doth he bear with his own disciples Lastly with what authority did he both speak and live such as commanded a reverence where it did not beget a love And yet after a life thus spent all the requital he met with was to be reproached despised and at last crucified O the dreadful effects of malice and hyprocrisie for these were the two great enemies which he always proclaimed open war with and these at first contrived and at last effected his cruel death What baseness ingratitude cruelty and injustice and what not will those two sins betray men to
opened not his mouth but only in Prayer for them who were his bitter enemies and though nothing had been more easie than for him to have cleared himself from all their accusations who had so often baffled them before yet he would not now give them that suspicion of his innocency as to make any Apology for himself but committed himself to God that judges righteously and was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers was dumb so he opened not his mouth And the reason thereof was he knew what further design for the good of mankind was carrying on by the bitterness of his passion and that all the cruel usage he underwent was that he might be a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the World Which leads to the last thing propounded to our consideration 4. Which is the causes why God was plâ—ased to suffer his Son to endure such contradiction of sinners against himself I know it is an easie answer to say that God had determin'd it should be so and that we ought to enquire no further but sure such an answer can satisfie none who consider how much our salvation depends upon the knowledge of it and how clear and express the Scripture is in assigning the causes of the Sufferings of Christ. Which though as far as the instruments were concerned in it we have given an account of already yet considering the particular management of this grand affair by the care of divine Providence a higher account must be given of it why so divine and excellent a Person should be exposed to all the contempt and reproach imaginable and after being made a Sacrifice to the tongues and rods of the people then to dye a painfull and ignominious death So that allowing but that common care of divine Providence which all sober Heathens acknowledged so transcendent Sufferings as these were of so holy and innocent a person ought to be accounted for in a more than ordinary manner when they thought themselves concerned to vindicate the Justice of God's Providence in the common calamities of those who are reputed to be better than the generality of Mankind But the reasons assigned in that common case will not hold here since this was a person immediately sent from God upon a particular message to the World and therefore might plead an exemption by virtue of his Ambassage from the common arrests and troubles of humane nature But it was so far otherwise as tho' God had designed him on purpose to let us see how much miâ—ery humane nature can undergo Some think themselves to go as far as their reason will permit them when they tell us that he suffer'd all these things to confirm the truth of what he had said and particularly the Promise of Remission of sins and that he might be an example to others who should go to Heaven by suffering afterwards and that he might being touched with the feeling of our infirmities here have the greater pity upon us now he is in Heaven All these I grant to have been true and weighty reasons of the Sufferings of Christ in subordination to greater ends but if there had been nothing beyond all this I can neither understand why he should suffer so deeply as he did nor why the Scripture should insist upon a far greater reason more than upon any of these I grant the death of Christ did confirm the truth of his Doctrine as far as it is unreasonable to believe that any one who knew his Doctrine to be false would make himself miserable to make others believe it but if this had been all intended why would not an easier and less ignominious death have served since he who would be willing to dye to confirm a falshood would not be thought to confirm a truth by his death because it was painful and shameful Why if all his Sufferings were designed as a testimony to others of the truth of what he spake were the greatest of his Sufferings such as none could know the anguish of them but himself I mean his Agony in the Garden and that which made him cry out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why were not his Miracles enough to confirm the truth of his Doctrine since the Law of Moses was received without his death by the evidence his Miracles gave that he was sent from God since the Doctrine of remission of sins had been already deliver'd by the Prophets and received by the People of the Iews since those who would not believe for his Miracles sake neither would they believe though they should have seen him riâ—e from the Grave and therefore not surely because they saw him put into it But of all things the manner of our Saviour's sufferings seems least designed to bring the World to the belief of his Doctrine which was the main obstacle to the entertainment of it among the men of greatest reputation for wisdom and knowledge For it was Christ crucified which was to the Iews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness Had the Apostles only preached that the Son of God had appeared from Heaven and discovered the only way to bring men thither that he assumed our Nature for a time to render himself capable of conversing with us and therein had wrought many strange and stupendious miracles but after he had sufficiently acquainted the World with the nature of his Doctrine he was again assumed up into Heaven in all probability the Doctrine might have been so easily received by the World as might have saved the lives of many thousand persons who dyed as Martyrs for it And if it had been necessary that some must have dyed to confirm it why must the Son of God himself do it when he had so many Disciples who willingly sacrificed their lives for him and whose death would on that account have been as great a confirmation of the truth of it as his own But if it be alledged further that God now entring into a Covenant with man for the pardon of sin the shedding of the blood of Christ was necessary as a federal rite to confirm it I answer if only as a federal rite why no cheaper blood would serve to confirm it but that of the Son God We never read that any Covenant was confirmed by the death of one of the contracting parties and we cannot think that God was so prodigal of the blood of his Son to have it shed only in allusion to some ancient customs But if there were such a necessity of alluding to them why might not the blood of any other person have done it when yet all that custom was no more but that a sacrifice should be offer'd and upon the parts of the sacrifice divided they did solemnly swear and and ratifie their Covenant And if this be yielded them it then follows from this custom that Christ must be consider'd as a sacrifice in his death and
his company 2. As implying as great displeasure of God under the Gospel against the same kind of sin as he discovered in the immediate destruction of those persons who were then guilty of it 1. As relating to the fact of Corah and his company and so the words lead us to the handling 1. The nature of the Faction which was raised by them 2. The Judgment that was inflicted upon them for it 1. For understanding the nature of the Faction we must enquire into the design that was laid the persons that were engaged in it the pretences that were made use of for it 1. The design that was laid for that and all other circumstances of the story we must have resort to the account that is given of it Numb 16. where we shall find that the bottom of the design was the sharing of the Government among themselves which it was impossible for them to hope for as long as Moses continued as a King in Iesurun for so he is called Deut. 33.5 Him therefore they intend to lay aside but this they knew to be a very difficult task considering what wonders God had wrought by him in their deliverance out of Egypt what wisdom he had hitherto shewed in the conduct of them what care for their preservation what integrity in the management of his power what reverence the people did bear towards him and what solemn vows and promises they had made of obedience to him But ambitious and factious Men are never discouraged by such an appearance of difficulties for they know they must address themselves to the people and in the first place perswade them that they manage their interest against the usurpation of their Governours For by that means they gain upon the peoples affections who are ready to cry them up presently as the true Patriots and Defenders of their Liberties against the encroachment of Princes and when they have thus insinuated themselves into the good opinion of the people groundless suspicions and unreasonable fears and jealousies will pass for arguments and demonstrations Then they who can invent the most popular lies against the Government are accounted the Men of integrity and they who most diligently spread the most infamous reports are the Men of honesty because they are farthest from being Flatterers of the Court The people take a strange pride as well as pleasure in hearing and telling all the â—aults of their Governours for in doing so they flatter themselves in thinking they deserve to rule much better than those which do it And the willingness they have to think so of themselves makes them misconstrue all the actions of their Superiours to the worse sense and then they find out plots in every thing upon the people Whatever is done for the necessary maintenance of Government is suspected to be a design meerly to exhaust the people to make them more unable to resist If good Laws be made these are said by factious men to be only intended for snares for the good people but others may break them and go unpunished If Government be strict and severe then it is cruel and tyrannical if mild and indulgent then it is remiss and negligent If Laws be executed then the peoples Liberties be oppressed if not then it were better not to make Laws than not to see them executed If there be Wars the people are undone by Taxes if there be Peace they are undone by Plenty If extraordinary Judgments befall them then they lament the sins of their Governours and of the Times and scarce think of their own If miscarriages happen as it is impossible always to prevent them they charge the form of Government with them which all sorts are subject to Nay it is seldom that Governours escape with their own faults the peoples are often laid upon them too So here Numb 16.14 Moses is charged with not carrying them into Canaan when it was their own sins which kept them thence Yea so partial have the people generally been against their Rulers when swayed by the power of Faction that this hath made Government very difficult and unpleasing for what ever the actions of Princes are they are liable to the censures of the people Their bad actions being more publick and their good therefore suspected of design and the wiser Governours are the more jealous the people are of them For always the weakest part of mankind are the most suspicious the less they understand things the more designs they imagine are laid for them and the best counsels are the soonest rejected by them So that the wisest Government can never be secure from the jealousies of the people and they that will raise a Faction against it will never want a party to side with them For when could we ever have imagined a Government more likely to be free from this than that which Moses had over the people of Israel He being an extraordinary person for all the abilities of Government one bred up in the Egyptian Court and in no mean degree of honour being called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter one of great experience in the management of affairs of great zeal for the good of his Country as appeared by the tenderness of his peoples interest in their deliverance out of Egypt one of great temper and meekness ☞ above all men of the earth one who took all imaginable care for the good establishment of Laws among them but above all these one particularly chosen by God for this end and therefore furnished with all the requisites of a good man and an excellent Prince yet for all these things a dangerous sedition is here raised against him and that upon the common grounds of such things viz. usurpation upon the peoples rights arbitrary Government and ill management of affairs Usurpation upon the peoples rights v. 4. the Faction makes a Remonstrance asserting the Priviledges of the people against Moses and Aaron Ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them Wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord. As though they had said we appear only in behalf of the Fundamental Liberties of the people both Civil and Spiritual we only seek to retrench the exorbitances of power and some late innovations which have been among us if you are content to lay aside your power which is so dangerous and offensive to Gods holy people we shall then sit down in quietness for alas it is not for our selves that we seek these things what are we but the cause of Gods people is dearer to us than our lives and we shall willingly sacrifice them in so good a Cause And when Moses afterwards sends for the Sons of Eliab to come to him they peremptorily refuse all Messages of Peace and with their men of the sword mentioned v. 2. They make votes of non-Addresses and break off all Treaties with him and declare these for their reasons that he
of the Spirit was reserved for which was after the glorious ascension of Christ to Heaven This was reserved as the great Donative after his Triumph over Principalities and Powers when he was ascended up on high he sends down the greatest gift that ever was bestowed upon mankind viz. this gift of his Holy Spirit Hereby Christ discovered the greatness of his Purchase the height of his Glory the exercise of his Power the assurance of his Resurrection and Ascension and the care he took of his Church and People by letting them see that he made good his last promise to them of sending them another Comforter who should be with them to assist them in all their undertakings to direct them in their doubts to plead their cause for them against all the vain oppoâ—itions of men And he should not continue with them for a little time as Christ had done but he should abide with them for ever i. e. so as not to be taken from them as himself was but should remain with them as a pledge of his love as a testimony of his truth as an earnest of God's favour to them now and their future inheritance in heaven for he should comfort them by his presence guide them by his counsel and at last bring them to glory Nothing now remains but that as the occasion of our rejoycing on this day doth so much exceed that of the Jews at their ceremony of pouring out the â—ater so our joy should as much exceed in the nature and kind of it the mirth and jollity which was then used by them With what joy did the Israelites when they were almost burnt up with thirst in the Wilderness tast of the pleasant streams which issued out of the rock that rock saith the Apostle was Christ and the gifts of the Spirit are that stream of living water which flows from him and shall not we express our thankfulness for so great and unvaluable a mercy Ouâ— joy cannot be too great for such a gift as this so it be of the nature of it i. e. a spiritual joy The Holy Ghost ought to be the Fountain of that joy which we express for God's giving him to his Church Let us not then affront that good Spirit while we pretend to bless God for him let us not grieve him by our presumptuous sins nor resist his motions in our hearts by our wilful continuance in them The best way we can express our thankfulness is by yielding up our selves to be guided by him in a holy life and then we may be sure our joy shall never end with our lives but shall be continued with a greater fulness for ever more SERMON X. Preached at WHITE-HALL MARCH 2. 1669. ISAIAH LVII 21. There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked IF we were bound to judge of things only by appearance and to esteem all persons happy who are made the object of the envy of some and the flattery of others this text would seem to be a strange Paradox and inconsistent with what daily happens in the world For what complaint hath been more frequent among men almost in all Ages than that peace and prosperity hath been the portion of the wicked that their troubles have not been like other mens that none seem to enjoy greater pleasures in this world than they who live as if there were no other The consideration of which hath been a matter of great offence to the weak and of surprise to the wisest till they have searched more deeply into the nature of these things which the more men have done the better esteem they have always had of divine providence and from thence have understood that the true felicity of a man's life lies in the contentment of his own mind which can never arise from any thing without himself nor be enjoyed till all be well within For when we compare the state of humane nature with that of the beings inferiour to it we shall easily find that as man was designed for a greater happiness than they are capable of so that cannot lie in any thing which he enjoys in common with them such as the pleasures of our senses are but must consist in some peculiar excellencies of his being And as the capacity of misery is always proportionable to that of happiness so the measure and the kind of that must be taken in the same manner that we do the other Where there is no sense of pleasure there can be none of pain where all pleasure is confined to sense the pain must be so too but where the greatest pleasures are intellectual the greatest torments must be those of the mind From whence it follows that nothing doth so much conduce to the proper happiness of man as that which doth the most promote the peace and serenity of his mind nothing can make him more miserable than that which causeth the greatest disturbance in it If we can then make it appear that the highest honours the greatest riches and the softest pleasures can never satisfie the desires conquer the fears nor allay the passions of an ungoverned mind we must search beyond these things for the foundations of its peace And if notwithstanding them there may be such a sting in the conscience of a wicked man that may inflame his mind to so great a height of rage and fury which the diversions of the World cannot prevent nor all its pleasures cure we are especially concerned to fix such motion of man's happiness which either supposes a sound mind or else makes it so without which all the other things â—o much admired can no more contribute towards any true contentment than a magnificent Palace or a curiously wrought bed to the cure of the Gout or Stone All which I speak not as though I imagined any state of perfect tranquility or compleat happiness were attainable by any man in this present life for as long as the causes are imperfect the effect must be so too and those Philosophers who discoursed so much of a happy state of life did but frame Ideas in Morals as they did in Politicks not as though it were possible for any to reach to the exactness of them but those were to be accounted best which came the nearest to them but I therefore speak concerning a happy state of life for these two reasons 1. That though none can be perfectly happy yet that some may be much more so than others are i. e. they may enjoy far greater contentment of mind in any condition than others can do they can bear crosses and suffer injuries with a more equal temper and when they meet with vicissitudes in the world they wonder no more at it than to see that the Wind changes its quarter or thaâ— the Sea proves rough and tempestuous which but a little before was very eveâ— and calm They who understand humane nature have few things left tâ— wonder at and they who do the least wonder are the