a Prison before the Tribunal of Christ and hear the just Sentence of Eternal Death more solemnly pronounc'd against them before the General Assembly of the Saints and Angels This I say is the deplorable and undone Condition of the Apostate Angels Their Fall is irrecoverable their Sin irremissible and the Decree that is gone out against them irreversible But Man tho' a Being of a much lower Class and an Apostate too finds Favour and Mercy at the hands of his God He vouchsafes him the liberty of Second Thoughts and if we will but be obedient and hearken promiseth an entire Renovation of his Corrupted Nature by the abundant and powerful Communications of his most Holy Spirit Nay so desirous is he of this happy Change that he long prostitutes his Patience as I shall instantly shew more at large to Mens wanton Humours in Expectation of it is contented to lay aside his amazing Glories and seems to divest and strip himself of all his Attributes save that of Mercy His All-seeing Eye graciously overlooks our manifold Sins and Wickednesses and as tho' he saw them not continues to shine upon us with its reviving Brightness His Justice gives way to his Forbearance and Long-suffering and when it takes place 't is so temper'd and qualify'd that in the midst of Judgment he always remembers Mercy Mercy is his Favourite his darling Excellence that lovely and amiable Attribute which is over all his Works and in which we are sure his Soul takes most Delight and Complacency 'T was by this Name he in the Presence and Assembly of his invincible Holy Ones upon Mount Sinai most solemnly proclaim'd himself to his Servant Moses The Lord Exod. 34.6 says he the Lord God merciful and gracious Nay tho' he is the God of all Truth and therefore can no more deceive than be deceived yet as though it had been a small thing thus to have proclaim'd himself before Men and Angels he has likewise in a gracious and wonderful Condescension to the Infirmities of his Creatures and that the broken and contrite Spirit might have the surest Word of Promise that could possibly be given it vouchsaf'd even to interpose his Oath and as solemnly to swear the same thing As I live saith the Lord God Ezek. 33.11 I have no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel What tender what compassionate Strains are these 'T is as if he had said Since there is no Being so great as my self by my self I have sworn that as sure as I am God that eternal and faithful Being with whom is no Variableness or Shadow of Turning I desire not the Death of any Sinner but had rather ten thousand times over that you would all from the least to the greatest hear my Voice in this Accepted Time this day of Salvation and repent and be sav'd For now do I freely offer you my Grace which I most passionately beseech and intreat you to accept and to return and live Turn ye then turn ye unto me for why will ye die Why will ye weary me out with your continued Provocations Why will ye constrain me by your unworthy and most wretched Abuses of my Grace your insufferable Grievings of my Spirit at length to depart from you and to leave you to die in your Sins Is Eternal Death so desirable a thing Is Heaven and my Glory so despicable and vile Why then let me ask you again since you have my free Grace to enable you to Return nay since 't is far easier for you to be saved than to be damned why why will ye die O house of Israel Thus does our Heavenly Father by the most solemn Protestations demonstrate his Everlasting Love and Kindness to Mankind And how exactly do all his Dispensations correspond with these his gracious Declarations With what Patience I say and Forbearance does he deal even with the greatest of Sinners How affectionately intreat them to fly into the Harbour and to secure themselves by a timely Reformation from the Wrath which is to come Such various Ways and Methods does he contrive to bring them to Repentance so earnestly beg and sollicite them to accept in time the Terms of Salvation that one would think 't was his own not their Interest that Men should be sav'd He always like a generous Enemy declares Sinners his just Anger and Displeasure and excites them before it be too late to prepare to Meet him and with Weapons which will most certainly prevail viz. Prayers and Tears to disarm his Justice Thus when within the small compass of about two thousand years his gracious and marvellous Works of Creation and Providence were so far from being prais'd and had in Honour that all Flesh had degenerated from this great End of its Creation and most shamefully corrupted its way upon the Earth tho' he was griev'd to speak after the manner of Men at the very Heart and it repented him that he had made Man yet he could not immediately withdraw his Hand and let him fall into Ruine but mercifully prolong'd the day of Vengeance and gave his sinful Creatures time and space for Repentance He resolv'd indeed that the Spirits which he had made should not Eternally remain in their Bodies as Slaves and Vassals to those Instruments of Unrighteousness but that if Men repented not he would open the Windows of Heaven and break up the Fountains of the great Deep and bring in a Flood upon them that should sweep them all away But before he can do this Noah a Preacher of Righteousness must daily assure them of their Danger and he waits their Repentance a hundred and twenty Years Thus too tho' the Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were very grievous and cryed loud and the Cry of them ascended up into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth yet could not they prevail with him to let loose his Thunder to overwhelm them with a swift and deserv'd Destruction but on the contrary to prevent if possible their Ruine he by his good Providence so order'd and dispos'd things that Lot a holy and pious Person living amongst them should first lay before them their prodigious Impieties and warn them to prevent the heavy Judgments due to them by a speedy Repentance And when notwithstanding all this they sinned yet more and forc'd his Holy Spirit to forsake them utterly by their intolerable Fornications yet would not his Goodness then give him leave to execute upon them the Fierceness of his Indignation but still stay'd his hand and engag'd him to be gracious As though 't was possible for him to be deceiv'd it induc'd him to make a further Enquiry to go down and see whether they had indeed done altogether according to the Cry of it which was come unto him Nay tho' their Sins and Provocations were so many and so great yet so much
increas'd in Wisdom and Knowledge Though as God he is from Everlasting and World without end yet that as Man he had a Beginning in the Circumscriptions of time Lastly Though as God 't was impossible for him to suffer yet that as Man he was the Subject of Torment and Misery 2. That some Virtues and Excellencies were then in the Soul of Jesus which are not consistent with a glorify'd State such as Hope Holy Desires and the like All which having their Seat in the Soul do suppose her yet in a state of Pilgrimage a Condition that is imperfect and in order to something beyond what is present it being impossible as St. Paul observes for a Man to hope for that which he already sees and enjoys 3. That this Opinion annuls and destroys the whole Merit of his Sufferings For the least glympse of Glory the minutest Ray of Beatifick Vision out-weighs the greatest Calamities and infinitely exceeds all that Spirit of Pain that can be extracted from the Infelicities of this World But the Holy Scriptures everywhere assure us that his Passion upon the Cross was a state of Merit and Work and that as a Reward of it he was crown'd with Glory and Immortality We see Jesus says the * Heb. 2.9 Apostle who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death crowned with glory and honour And ‖ Phil. 2.8 9. again Christ humbled himself and became obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name For his Sufferings you see his Name was exalted his Kingdom glorify'd and his Humanity advanc'd above all the Orders of Angels For these he was made the Lord of all the Creatures the First-fruits of the Resurrection the Exemplar of Glory the Prince and Head of the Catholick Church And therefore since all this was his Recompence the Reward of his Sufferings it could not be a necessary Consequence and natural Efflux of the Personal Union of the Godhead with the Humanity On the other hand there are who affirm that the Soul of Jesus upon the Cross suffered the Pains of Hell and all the Torments of the Damn'd and that without such Sufferings it is not imaginable he should pay the Price which God's Wrath did demand of us But the same that reproves the former does likewise reprehend these latter For the Hope which was the support of his Soul in the midst of its Agonies as it confesseth an Imperfection that is not consistent with the state of Glory so does it exclude that Despair which is the Sting and Torment of accursed Souls Our dearest Lord suffer'd indeed the whole Condition of Humanity Sin only excepted and by those sad Pains he endur'd upon the Cross merited Heaven for himself as the Head and for all his faithful Servants as the Members of his Mystical Body But yet I say we cannot conceive that he was ever under the Amazement of Hell or that upon the Cross he felt the formal Misery and Spirit of Pain which is the Portion of Damned Spirits because 't was impossible he should despair and without Despair 't is impossible there should be a Hell But though I can by no means subscribe to this Assertion yet I think 't is highly probable that in the Intention of Degrees and present Anguish the Soul of our Lord upon the Cross might feel a greater Load of Wrath than is incumbent in every instant upon perishing Souls S. Paul tells us that every Sinner as such carries no less a Load about with him than a whole Body of Death How many Death 's then and unconceivable Agonies must the Lamb of God have felt when as the Prophet speaks the Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all Certainly the lively Sense of united concentred Vengeance due to the Sins of the whole World and the vast and singular Capacity of his Soul who was the Word incarnate rendred his Sufferings most amazing and insupportable His Agony was so great that it compell'd him for a time almost to despair and sink under its weight Sure we are it extorted from him this most bitter Cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And how insupportable must those Sufferings have been which could appear even to stagger such a Faith and to eclipse his Assurance of the Presence and Love of his Heavenly Father But now again How great is the Bitterness of that Death the rescuing us from which brought so much Shame and Pain and Amazement upon the Son of God How unparalell'd and unconceivably great that Salvation in the purchasing of which the Lord of Hosts himself did even bleed and die The Waters of Bitterness you see entred his Soul and the Storms of Death and of his Father's Anger broke him all in pieces But if this was done in the Green Tree what without this would have been done in the Dry If I say the Sufferings of our Lord who was the Son of God and innocent who was all fair and had no spot in him were so sad and lamentable then how amazing and insupportable had our Portion been without this Atonement whom Sin had rendred his profess'd Enemies and as it were fitted and mark'd out as Fewel for everlasting Burnings But 3. The Greatness of our Salvation appears in that it frees us from the Bondage and Slavery of the Law This was a grievous and servile Dispensation consisting of innumerable little Rites and Ceremonies which had no intrinsick Value in themselves and are therefore said by God himself to be Statutes that were not good but were only adapted for a time to the weak Capacities and babe-like Humours of the Jews Of Rites and Ceremonies I say so heavy and burdensome that the Apostles themselves complained that 't was a Yoke upon their Necks which neither they nor their Forefathers were ever able to bear But now has Christ taken this Yoke from off our Necks and made out a way for us into the Liberty of the Sons of God He deals no longer with us as with Children in our Minority but has deliver'd us from the Tutorage and Paedagogy of the Law from the Severity of its Commands from the exact Punctilio's and Numerousness of its Imposition The new Moons and Sabbatical Years the many Washings and Purifications stand us in no stead neither are we oblig'd to long and tedious Journeys to Jerusalem to present our Oblations and Sacrifices at the Temple Christ our Passover having been sacrificed for us and the Messiah cut off all those typical Oblations and Sacrifices must for ever cease the Shadow give place to the Substance those Ritual Observances to Natural and Moral Duties those Carnal Ceremonies to the Spiritual Worship and that Temporary Dispensation to the Everlasting Covenant of the Gospel Circumcision now avails no more than Uncircumcision and 't is neither Meat nor Drink but a new Creature only that commends a Man to God In
8.5 Apostle observes that are called Gods yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Celestial and Soveraign Gods according to the ‖ Vid. Jamblich de Myst Aegypt sect 5. c. 17. M. Osyr sub finem dissertationis primae Platonists who never interest themselves in the Affairs of Mankind and Many subordinate and inferiour Lords or Daemons whose Office as you have heard is to be Agents and Mediator between the Gods and Men Yet shall no Man spoil me through this absurd Philosophy and vain Deceit which is only after the Tradition of Men after the weak and beggarly Rudiments of the World and not after Christ For to us Christians says the same * 1 Cor. 8.6 and 1 Tim. 2.5 Apostle there is but one soveraign God the Lord of Heaven and Earth and but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus This Himself confirms in that Dialogue between Him and the Angels recorded by the Prophet Who is this say they in Rapture and Amazement that cometh from Edom Isa 63. with died garments from Bozrah This that is glorious in his Apparel travelling in the Greatness of his Strength I that speak in Righteousness answers our Lord Mighty to save But wherefore they humbly ask again art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat I have trodden the wine-press alone says our Lord and of the People there was none with me I alone am mighty to save and besides me there is no Saviour Good luck then have thou with thine Honour O Lord Ride on because of the Word of Truth of Meekness and of Righteousness and thy Right-Hand shall teach thee terrible things Terrible things indeed for the Kings Enemies who would have other Lords besides Thee to rule over them But gracious and comfortable things for thy Servants the Sheep of thy Pasture who know thy Voice and therefore come to thee who alone canst give Ease to our Troubled Spirits being that Lamb of God which takest away the Sins of the whole World And so I come to the third thing observable in the Text viz. the Persons invited who are All Penitent Sinners in general All ye that labour and are heavy laden All ye that sigh and groan and are bow'd down and ready to sink under the grievous burthen of your sins 3. There is no Person no Time no Rank or Quality whatsoever that is excepted God would have all Men come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd says the * 1 Tim. 2.4 Apostle there 's the Universality of the Persons And the Time the †Ezek. 18.27 Prophet tells us is as universal 't is not now and then only but whensoever a wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Accordingly we find God in the 1st of Isa calling to all Sinners in general without any Distinction of Circumstances Ages or Conditions to come and be reconcil'd to him Wash ye make ye clean says he put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well and then tho' neither the Out-goings of the Morning nor of the Evening have prais'd me but from the Height of your Youth to the Declensions of Old Age you have been taken and led Captive by your Sins at their will I will do them all away Tho' they be as Scarlet they shall be white like Snow tho' they be red like Crimson they shall be as wool And again in the third of Jeremiah he with Infinite Tenderness and Affection courts his People to come to him tho' they had most frequently revolted and infinitely offended his Divine Majesty They say if a Man put away his Wife and she be joyn'd to another Man she shall not return to her former Husband any more But thou hast played the harlot with many Lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. Thus Absolute and Universal are the Promises and Invitations God makes to Sinners Thus solemnly and pathetically does he declare as you saw more at large in my First General Head his Good-will towards them that he desires not the death of any of them all but had rather they would every one of them from the Least to the Greatest turn from their evil ways and Live And yet we meet with some Persons in the World whose Ears are entirely stopped against this gracious and ravishing Voice of the Heavenly Charmer The Suggestions of Satan or the Unhappiness of an ill Constitution of Body or the unwarrantable Assertions of some ill-natur'd surly and melancholy Pseudo-Prophets or possibly all these three together have plung'd their tender Spirits in the profoundest Depth of Amazement and Despair They think they have committed a Sin unto Death the Sin against the Holy Ghost and therefore that Salvation belongs not to them but that tho' at present in different Mansions they are reserv'd as well as the Devils for Everlasting Chains of Darkness at the Judgment of the Great Day The Case of these Persons is sad and lamentable and such as calls for our Prayers our Sorrow and our utmost Assistance And indeed for their Sakes I first made Choice of my Text tho' the second thing observable in it hath hitherto interrupted my Prosecution of this Matter Have Patience therefore now I pray whilst for the Ease of such afflicted Souls and to prevent through God's Blessing such dangerous Mistakes in others I insist upon this Point Now the Sin against the Holy Ghost is generally thought to be irremissible and our Saviour's Words seem to assert as much All manner of Sin and Blasphemy * Matt. 12.31 32. says he shall be forgiven unto Men but Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the son of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come And again in †Chap. 3. v. 28 29. St. Mark Verily I say unto you All Sins shall be forgiven unto the Sons of Men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but is obnoxious to the Sentence of Eternal Damnation And yet S. Chrysostom among the Ancients and ‖ In Matt. 12. Maldonat ‖ In Matt. 12. Grotius ‖ In Matt. 12. Hammond and * Great Exampl pag. 201. Taylor amongst the Moderns are so charitable as to think that this Expression shall not be forgiven is to be Understood with a Qualification Impossibility in Scripture sometimes denoting no more than an extream Difficulty Thus our Lord expressly * Mark 10. declares that 't is easier for a camel to go through the Eye of a Needle which is absolutely impossible than for a rich Man to enter