our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme God or not to worship him who really is so And here I cannot but observe how instructing our Saviour's Answer was for when the Devil tempted him to worship him Jesus might have refused it justly enough upon another score that no Honour was to be given to that Enemy of God and Man but when omitting that consideration he spoke to the point in this manner It is written Thou shalt worship c. he laid down a Rule to serve his Disciples in all like cases even where they might be called not to worship a Devil but a Saint not a bad Angel but a good one Thou shalt worship c. If it be pretended in the behalf of Saints that they have great power with God in Heaven and of Angels that they are his ministring Spirits and therefore they are to be honoured with Invocations and bodily Worship by us upon Earth we are to remember that when the Devil pretended to have the Power of the Earth delivered into his hands and promised that upon the desire of Jesus and a little prostration to him he would give it to him our Lord did not give him that answer which was peculiar to the particular case as that he was a lying and wicked Spirit and therefore no such acknowledgment was to be paid to him but such an Answer as supposed it Idolatry to pay the same respect to any other created Being Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. But because the Notion of Idolatry was of necessity the same under the Gospel that it was under the Law since without any new Notions of it the Apostles who were Jews Preached against Idolatry we cannot go a better way to work to confute this pretence That they who acknowledge one Supreme God cannot be guilty of Idolatry than by observing what was counted Idolatry under the Law. 1. Now we read 1 King. 11. that Solomon in his old age turned away his heart and worshipped other Gods viz. Ashtoreth and Milcom and Chemosh and Molech These were the Idols of the Nations round about the Israelites and all the World knows that the Service of Idols is Idolatry But now did Solomon renounce the God of Heaven and Earth the Supreme Governour of the World the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob So he must have done according to the modern Notion of Idolatry or else he could not be guilty of it But if we may believe plain Scripture so he did not for mark what is said v. 4. His Wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of David his Father It seems then that his heart was not quite turned away from the Lord his God but it was not perfectly with him and that because he did not worship the Lord his God only but served other Gods besides Again v. 5 6. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians and after Milcom the abomination of the Amonites and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord as did David his Father Now can that be said of one that utterly renounceth the Belief and worship of the Supreme Lord that his heart doth not go fully after the Lord These things are so plain that they need no illustration To be short in the old Testament these Worships were esteemed and condemned as Idolatry 1. To worship other Beings with the True God which was the case of Solomon now mentioned and of the Samaritans 2 Kings 17.41 Who feared the Lord and served their graven Images their own Gods. 2. To worship Idols only which seemed to be the case of Ahab and Manasseh who had given over the Service of the God of Israel but yet were not without all sense and apprehension of him but for all that they addicted themselves wholly to the Service of false Gods. 3. The worshipping of the True God by a material Image or Representation of him such for instance was the Idolatry of the Golden Calf which the Israelites intended for a Representation of that God which had brought them out of the Land of Egypt as it evidently appears from the Proclamation Exod. 32. These are thy Gods or this is thy God O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt and Aaron built an Altar before it and made a Proclamation and said To morrow is a Feast to Jehovah or to the Lord. In vain it is said that the Israelites fell to the Egyptian Idolatry thus much I am willing to grant that the Israelites missing Moses took that very Representation of the Supreme God which they had seen in Egypt for it is a foolish thing to imagine that the Egyptians themselves were without any sense or apprehension of the Supreme God but that the Israelites fell to downright Egyptian Superstition and copied all that they had learnt in Egypt is undeniably false from this one argument that the Israelites offered Burnt-offerings and brought Peace-offerings unto the Image they had set up and as Jeroboam did afterwards they offered Bullocks and Rams to the Idol which Beasts being amongst the Egyptians held Sacred were never sacrificed to their Idols and for that very reason God commanded them to be offered to him so that the Israelites in their Sacrificing followed their Rule which they had received from God only but missing Moses they would have a visible Representation of the True God to go along with them and for worshipping it they were called Idolaters and punished as such The instance of the Calves of Dan and Bethel which Jeroboam did set up the worshipping of which is called Idolatry is to the same purpose for all he pretended was that it was too much for the Israelites to go up to Jerusalem to worship Behold says he thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt 1 Kings 12.28 He did not forsake the God of Israel to follow other Gods but he set up material Images or Representations of the True God and it was his Idolatry to worship them Hence the Prophets whom God raised up in Israel did not charge the Worshippers of this sort for Deserters of the God of Israel though they inveighed against their Altars But when Ahab fell to worship other Gods it was particularly noted of him that he did therein what Jeroboam did not do this latter sort of Idolatry was laid to Ahab's charge 1 Kin. 16.31 to wit That as if it had been a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he went and served Baal and worshipped him From all this it is plain that whereas in the New Testament the Apostles bid us beware of Idolatry my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry Little children keep your selves from Idols and the like They being Jews must necessarily by Idolatry mean the worshipping of the true God by Images or giving any
Divine Worship whatsoever any Honour due to God only giving that I say to any other Being how excellent soever although they that do so do believe and worship the Supreme God the Maker of Heaven and Earth all the while For by Idolatry they could understand nothing but what went for Idolatry under the Law seeing the Notion of it was not in the least altered but it continued just the same that it was before as these very words do witness Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve But as I entered upon this Argument by distinguishing between Atheism and Idolatry so I shall now close it by comparing them together Idolatry is indeed a very heinous sin because it gives away the Glory of God to another but Atheism is a worse because that is a renouncing of the Lord of Heaven and Earth the Creator of the World they who do not serve the Lord only are guilty of great impiety but they who do not serve and worship him at all are guilty of a greater impiety To worship God and to worship Angels to pray to God and to pray to Saints to adore Jesus Christ and to adore the Virgin is in part to forsake God and our Saviour but neither to worship or pray to Saints and Angels no nor to God himself this is utterly to forsake him and to live without God in the World Which I do not say to extenuate the Crime of Idolatry but to give every thing its due and to leave this impression upon our mind that by how much more we inveigh against the Idolatry of others because it is no less than giving some of God's Glory to his Creature by so much the more we oblige our selves to be constant and devout and in very good earnest in the Worship of the only true God least by degrees we fall into a Spirit of Irreligion and Atheism and be wholly estranged from God which is a worse case than Solomon's was who falling into the Idolatry of his Neighbours fell under this Character That his heart was not perfect with the Lord and he went not fully after him To conclude since through the Grace of God it is our Happiness to worship the Lord our God and to serve him only let us have a care that we go on to worship God only and to be sure let us remember that we worship him that we be not slothful in Religion but earnest and fervent least we forsake God by a Spirit of Irreligion which is every whit as damnable as Idolatry Let it appear by our whole Conversation that we do indeed worship the God that made Heaven and Earth who only hath power to bless us to protect and keep us in this Life and to reward us with the enjoyment of himself forever The Sixth Sermon GEN. XXII 12. Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me IN these words we may observe two things I. God's Testimony concerning Abraham Now I know that thou fearest God. II. The Fact upon which this Testimony of God concerning him was grounded which was his offering his Son Isaac to God Because thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me 1. The Testimony of God concerning him I know that thou fearest God this I say was God's Testimony concerning him For whereas it is said That the Angel of the Lord called to him out of Heaven it seems plain that the Angel of the Lord was no other than the Angel of the Covenant the Son of God himself who did sometimes appear to the Patriarchs for the words are Seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me i. e. from God it was God that spake to him and who said Now I know that thou fearest God. The matter God testified of him was That he feared God that is that he believed in God that he was fully perswaded of his Infinite Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness and all his Infinite Perfections and that he was affected sutably thereunto This is the meaning of the Fear of God in the Scripture which is a phrase used to comprehend all pious Affections towards him and is therefore of the same latitude with Faith the Praise whereof is ascribed to Abraham by the Author to the Hehrews The only thing to be added is this That we must remember that to fear God is to fear him as God that is before and above all other things and consequently to love him and to trust in him and to rely upon him incomparably and infinitely more than upon all the World besides inasmuch as the perfections of all others are finite God only is infinite in all perfections Now this was that which God testified of Abraham in saying of him that he feared God and in the understanding of this there is no difficulty at all But it may seem strange that God should give this testimony of him in that manner wherein we find he did Now know I that thou fearest God Now i. e. now thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me For did not God know the integrity of Abraham's heart before Is not God the searcher of hearts and doth he need our outward actions that he may judge of our tempers and intentions by them It is true we have no other way to come to the understanding of one anothers thoughts but by our words and deeds But hath God no other way Yes without all doubt he that knoweth our thoughts afar off even before they are born within us cannot be ignorant of them when they are But why then doth he say Now I know that thou fearest God I answer that this is one of those sayings of God by which he is pleas'd to condescend to the manner of our speaking and conversing with one another For we with great propriety use such expressions as these upon such extraordinary occasions If from my Friend that hath always professed great kindness to me I receive some notable benefit in my distress not without hazard to himself it is very proper for me to say Now I know that he loves me Now I know he is indeed a faithful and sincere Friend though I had great reason to make no doubt of it before yet this is so great a confirmation and strengthening of my belief that in comparison thereto I might be said to know little or nothing of it before In allusion to such expressions it is that God useth these words Now I know that thou fearest God Not in intimation of his having now gained greater assurance of Abraham's integrity than he had before Abraham had been for a long time the Servant of God and had made an open profession of worshipping and obeying him and God saw all along that he was an upright man and this no less before he was bidden to offer his Son Isaac than after he had stretched forth his hand to slay him upon the
once to be served who enticed their Brethren away to serve other Gods. Now for my own part I do not think that even these kinds of Worshippers if there are any such to be found in the World as I believe there are not ought to be thus served for it were barbarous Inhumanity to kill those who ought to be taken care for in an Hospital proper for them For what greater madness can be imagined than for a Man at the same time to worship a senseless thing as the Supreme God and to believe that it is a senseless thing as he must do if he excludes all apprehension of an invisible and spiritual Godhead For by the Supreme God all Men understand something that is able to help or to hinder and that knows when to do the one and when the other and is willing to do accordingly And therefore to worship either Sun Moon or Stars or any visible or corporeal Deity and at the same time to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead is to worship a thing because I am sure it knows something while I am as sure at the same time that it knows nothing at all for that which has nothing of a spiritual and invisible nature has no knowledge of any thing no more than a block has and if to worship such a thing knowing it to be such be all the Idolatry that ever was in the World I do believe you will all grant that there never was an Idolater in the World who might not have been easily perswaded to fall down upon his knees to a Tree to believe it to be his Father and to ask it blessing only there is this difference in the case that such a distempered Man might possibly believe that Tree capable of blessing him but it seems the Idolater must be more mad than so for he must at the same time believe that what he worships knows nothing of him and is not and cannot be concern'd about him because he excludes all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead in his corporeal Deity But if the Maker of this Notion did really think that his Idolater was a Man in his Wits then he has really made the Idolater to be the very same with the Atheist whereas they are two Persons This Rule of the Text hath two parts as I have shewn one that we are to worship God which he that doth not is an Atheist another to worship God only which he that doth not is an Idolater But now he that hath no sense and apprehension of a spiritual Godhead and yet worships for the Supreme God senseless matter does not if he be in his Wits believe that there is any God at all and if he pretends to worship the Sun or the Moon or Leeks and Onyons without any reference to any thing that can see or hear help or hinder understand or chuse any thing it is manifestly in derision of all pretence to Religion and Worship whatsoever So that the true and only Notion of Idolatry is only at last a true Notion of Atheism very odly represented and so as an ingenious Atheist would have done it much better for himself We are therefore to look upon this True and Only Notion of Idolatry to be an overstrained repetition of what has been to much better advantage pretended by those of the Roman Communion viz. That a Man cannot be an Idolater who doth firmly believe there is one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and who doth worship him as the Supreme God and Lord of all This indeed is something that is it is what we understand but then this is very false as I shall demonstrate by plain testimony of Scripture And in the first place the Text seems to give clear evidence against it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only c. For they all say that this speaks of Divine Worship and at other times they grant that to give Divine Worship to any thing that is not God is Idolatry But now the Text supposes not only that a Man ought to give Divine Worship to God but it expresly says that he should give it to him only it is therefore possible to give Divine Worship to God and to give Divine Worship to something else too which is not God and to do that they themselves confess to be Idolatry and therefore it is possible to acknowledge and to worship one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and yet to be guilty of Idolatry which is a point that I think fit to insist upon something more particularly because I perceive there are many that are very loath to have it believed And first I shall insist upon that instance which was the occasion of these words The Devil promised our Saviour That he would give him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if he would fall down and worship him Now I think there is no question but that to worship the Devil is Idolatry but the Question is Whether the Devil was so arrogant as to desire to be worshipped so as to exclude the belief and the worshipping of God who is the Supreme Lord of all But indeed it ought not to be question'd that he did not desire any such thing but that himself acknowledged the Being of God For in his very first Temptation he said If thou be the Son of God c. which was a plain acknowledgment of the Being of God and so in his second Temptation If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written he shall give his Angels charge over thee c. So that he did not only acknowledge the Being of God but he acknowledged also the Truth of the Scripture Nay when he promised to Jesus the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if he would fall down and worship him it appears by St. Luke that he did by no means pretend to be the Supreme Disposer and Governour of the World i. e. to be the Supreme God but acknowledged him that was truly so for thus it is said Luk. 4.6 And the Devil said unto him All this power will I give thee for it is delivered to me and to whomsoever I will I give it Now here the Devil plainly acknowledged that this Power was but delivered to him and not originally in him and this was as plain a signification as could possibly be given that he did not design to draw our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme Deity since he confessed a Superiour Whereas therefore our Saviour answered him Get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. It seems very evident that Divine Worship may be given to that which is not God by one that acknowledges and worships the true God for otherwise I am sure it had not been Idolatry to worship the Devil in these circumstances who did by no means require
Pretences It is true God sees the Qualities and Dispositions of our Minds with an Infallible Judgment but we not so certainly it is hard for us to tell what degree of Faith or Fear is proper to God's Children is justifying or saving But if in the hardest tryals of thy Obedience thou dost keep God's Commandments then thou art sure that thou fearest God and because God would have thee try thy self by this Rule he was pleased to testifie his own knowledge that Abraham feared him upon Abraham's ready Obedience as if he had not known it before 2. Another point of Instruction and of good use in all Ages of the World is this That God hath some Servants and Worshippers who are not hired to the Profession of serving him by the worldly ease profit and security that Religion brings and who when that expectation fails them will not turn their backs upon him to chuse another Master The Devil insinuated against Job That he served God because God had made an hedge about him and about his House and all that he had on every side because he had blessed the work of his hands and increased his substance in the land but if God would put forth his hand and touch all that he had then he would curse him to his face i. e. That then he would be as prosane as he was before godly in outward appearance But upon tryal it proved otherwise and he retained his Integrity saying shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Job 2.10 Such another instance of this kind was Abraham God had blessed him with great Encrease and Prosperity upon the leaving of his Country and there was nothing wanting to compleat his Desires but an Heir to his Blessings which God had a long time denyed him and at length gave him But it might be hitherto objected against the sincerity of Abraham's fear of God and dependance upon him that he perceiving how much for the better it was that he left his Country at the Call of God and finding now that all things went well with him did therefore make profession of serving the only true God because he found that it was the way to compass all that his heart could desire in the World How therefore should it appear that he behaved himself Religiously out of Conscience of his Duty in an absolute and entire dependance upon God's Soveraign Power Wisdom and Goodness And that was a thing very necessary to be made out for the Credit of Religion in the World and to demonstrate the ingenuity and sincerity of the Righteous There could be no other way so effectual no demonstration so clear as this that Abraham without murmuring and disputing should let go the dearest of all his Possessions in obedience to the Command of God and this was the tryal God made of his sincerity There was nothing that he held more dear to him than his only Son for whose sake it was that he did set a value upon all the rest of his Possessions well therefore might be said upon his ready compliance with this severe Command Now I know that thou fearest God This being as much as to say Now thy sincerity is put beyond all question and all Men must acknowledge that thou art in good earnest what thou hast all along pretended to be one that truly fearest God and who therefore dost that which is good not for worldly and mercinary Ends but because thou art absolutely resolved to depend upon God's Wisdom and Goodness in doing every thing that he requires And we must not think Brethren that this Testimony of Abraham's Faith and Sincerity was given him only for his own sake but for the sake of all good Men that should in any Age of the World tread in the steps of Abraham's Faith viz. That all Religious Men are what they are not for worldly Respects but for Conscience towards God. And therefore the tryal of Abraham's Faith did not only vindicate him but all God's faithful Servants to the end of the World from the charge of Hypocrisie and pretending Religion for worldly Ends Indeed he was tryed in the most extraordinary instance that could be well thought of and there was this reason for it because he was to be the Father of the Faithful the great Example of Faith and Religion And it well became him who was to have so great an Honour conferr'd upon him in all Ages to undergo such a tryal of his Faith as might not only be a standing Example of our Duty but a means to vindicate our Sincerity against the Reproaches of the World though we be not tryed as Abraham was For if Religion in the general be charged with the Hypocrisie of compassing worldly Advantages under a pretext of Conscience we desire them to look to the Example of our Father Abraham and to consider the proof that he gave of his Sincerity and God's Testimony concerning him Now I know that thou fearest God. And this is the temper and disposition of all Abraham's Children that they depend upon God's Providence not because they have a good Estate that they are righteous and just not because it is the way to thrive that they serve God not because he makes an hedge about all they have and observe the Rules of Religion not merely because they are under no unusual temptations to the contrary and the like but because believing in God and fearing and loving him in good earnest they are perswaded they ought so to demean themselves in expectation of his Favour which is better than Life and of his Rewards in a better World. In short Abraham the Father of the Faithful was therefore tryed in this manner that there might be in him an undeniable instance of the sincerity and ingenuity of true Believers to the end of the World who live in all good Conscience not expecting the profit of this World in recompence of their Piety and Justice and that Religion will secure their Bodies from Sickness their Goods from Rapine their Names from Reproach their Persons from Affronts and their course of Life from common or from unusual Troubles and Afflictions Abraham and his Children do not traffick with Heaven by their Prayers and Charity to secure or encrease their Possessions on Earth And though God hath often blessed good Men as he did Abraham with strange prosperity in this World yet this was not their end nor the reason of their dependance upon God and doing his Will but they were such as they were by Faith By faith they wrought righteousness Heb. 11.33 i. e. They did that thing which God required because they expected an heavenly Country and believed God to be a rewarder of them that diligently seek him though not always with the prosperity of this Life yet without fail with those pure and ravishing Joys of a better World which will shortly begin and never end To conclude this point it hath been very often the Charge
some one occasion at least to have said Let nothing be done without the Bishop of Rome if he had known of any such Priviledge and Power conferred on him by our Lord. But if Pergamos were justifiable in removing those Corruptions which were crept into that Church without staying for the consent of the Bishop of Rome England in removing more Corruptions and of equal danger was to proceed also without his leave if it could not be had 2. As to his Patriarchal Power over this Nation it did not anciently belong to him he had it not when the Council of Nice confined him to his own Province nor when the Council of Ephesus decreed That no Bishop should presume to invade any other Province which from the beginning had not been under his or his Predecessor's Jurisdiction or if any do and make it his own by force that he should restore it And then the Church of Britain was free acknowledging no foreign Jurisdiction the Power that the Bishop of Rome gained here in after-Ages was got by fraud and held by force and was ever and anon disputed and gainsayed and over-rul'd and surely no injury was done him when that Authority was resumed which he had usurped 3. As to the Conversion of the Saxons by Austin sent hither by Pope Gregory I say it follows not if long since the Inhabitants of this Island received any benefit from Rome therefore they should in all Ages be exposed to the Usurpations of that place afterwards nor that because we once received true Religion from Rome therefore Posterity must receive also false Doctrines from thence when it should please her to send them hither But in truth Christianity had been planted here long before by St. Paul himself in all probability and that in the Reign of Tiberius before Rome her self had received the Christian Faith. And the British Bishops whom Austin found here would by no means submit to the Authority of the Roman Legate And so much for the right that this particular Church had to reform her self I come now Thirdly To consider some of those specious Pretences and Objections by which they go about to weaken the stedfastness of our People in the Communion of our Church and to draw them to theirs 1. They say How was it possible that Errours could creep into the Church of that nature with those which we charge upon them There must have been great Opposition made to any the least design of such an alteration in the State of Religion and we meet with no such account of things in History Therefore these are not Innovations but the ancient Doctrine and Practice of the Church To omit this that concerning most of their Innovations we can very nearly shew the time when they were brought in but can plainly shew that there was a time when they were not I answer It is much more easie to conceive that in a thousand years time Errour should creep into that Church by degrees and without noise than that in a Church planted by an Apostle as Pergamos was guarded by the Angel or Bishop placed there by an Apostle as Pergamos was should so soon tolerate the Doctrines of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans even while their Apostle was alive and therefore very soon after he departed from them 2. They say that the perpetual Succession of their Bishops from St. Peter is an Argument of the Succession of true Doctrine amongst them in the purity thereof but behold an Apostolical Church in which a Bishop succeeded an Apostle yet alive corrupted in her Doctrine and Worship Can they have greater can they have as great an assurance of a perpetual uninterrupted Succession after so many Ages as the Church of Pergames had before one Age was gone or does their Infallibility grow with their Succession or the farther they are removed from the beginning of the Church are they the surer still that they teach nothing but what was taught at first 3. They say we are departed from the whole Church of Christ that was visible every-where upon the face of the Earth when the Reformation was begun seeing there was then no Communion in the World nor had been long before that professed the same Doctrine in all points which the Reformation brought in Now in great liberality to admit for once that the whole visible Church had corrupted its way as the Church of Rome has done which yet is not true but I say admitting it what will then come of it That we departed from the whole Church of Christ No but that we departed from the general Errours and Corruptions of it and by that could not be said to depart from the whole Church whereof we our selves were a part unless we departed also from our selves Nay but say they this is to fall into another damnable Errour and that is that the whole Church of Christ had failed from the Earth and so that the visible Church had perished for some Ages till the Reformation brought it to life again Not so neither For we do not say that the Errours of the Church were of that nature as to make it cease to be a Church but that they were in themselves damnable and that they made the Salvation of all that were in it extreamly hazardous but yet that we hope well of those who believing the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity maintained in the Church and wanting means to discover her Corruptions served God according to their knowledge so that we do not say the Church had perished but that her Purity had been lost even as Pergamos was a Church and so acknowledged by our Lord himself because she held fast the foundation of the Creed while yet she was corrupted with notorious Errors To this according to their usual way of arguing they would reply that the case is not the same between a Particular Church as Pergamos was and the whole Visible Church from which Luther and those that followed him separated themselves But then I would answer That the case is the same as to the matter we are upon for if a particular Church though under great Errours may yet be a part of the whole Church by like reasons if the whole Church were over-spread with foul Errours it would nevertheless still remain the whole Church and there is as great an obligation to depart from those Errors in the latter case as in the former and a particular Church by departing from such Errors does no more depart from the whole Church than she did from her self 4. They pretend Antiquity for their Errors and are often asking that shrewd Question as they deem it Where was your Religion before Luther I would answer this Question with another That after the Angel of the Church of Pergamos had purged away the Corruptions of that Church Where was the Church of Pergamos before that Reformation Every one of common sence would answer It was where it is now and where it ever was since it was first a
reasonable so it is a safe Rule upon this account that if it be followed it will secure us from the greatest Offences as those Opinions and Practices are which are evidently contrary to God's Word 2. Let us keep close to the Ancient Creeds which our Church faithfully delivers for no Man has yet been so bold as to offer the least doubt against that nay all that we are challenged for is that we do not receive those additions to the Creed which in comparison were but of Yesterday These Ancient Forms of confessing the Faith shew what Articles of meer Belief were thought by the Primitive Church necessary to be known and held by all And because the Faith was at once delivered to the Saints no more can be necessary now than was then Now if we observe that the Profession of this Faith is sufficient to make a Christian or a Member of the Church we shall be the better guarded against all erroneous Doctrines which are propounded to us by any Party under the Notion of Necessary Truths For whilst we are sure we profess all that was thought necessary at first we shall be at ease and feel no disturbance in examining what is moreover propounded and determining to receive it if it has Authority from the Scriptures and to reject it if it has none much more if it be contrary thereunto Which Rule I hope you perceive is to take place in judging what you are to believe not in judging whatsoever is to be done for even in the Worship of God there are several things of an indifferent Nature for which there is no particular Precept in the Scripture and in which we may be and ought to be concluded by the Custom of our Church and the Will of our Superiours And he cannot miscarry greatly but is in great measure secured from the mischief of Offences who in matters of Faith will be determined by nothing less than Divine Authority and who in matters of external Order which are no way determined by the Authority of the Scriptures is still ready to be concluded by the Authority of Man. But then 3. Let us keep our selves always in the proper disposition and preparation to judge and conclude aright for our selves i. e. by Sincerity which consists chiefly in a vehement desire to understand the Truth and to do our Duty We must lay our Hands upon this that we will be honest and good and then we shall use all good Rules well to be sure we shall not be a whit the more inclined to embrace Doctrines for our Belief or Practice because they make for our worldly and carnal Interests And this goes a great way to enable men to distinguish between Truth and Error Good and Evil. Offences from without would not stumble us if we were not weakned and blinded by the Offence of a vitious disposition within our selves And therefore our Saviour having given warning against the former in the words of the Text doth in the very next words proceed to direct us how to secure our selves against them and that by preventing the latter Wherefore says he if thy right hand or foot offend thee cut them off And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee That is subdue thy dearest Lusts and if there be any one that is harder to part with than the rest and is grown a part of thy self though it cost thee as much pain to divide thy self from it as it would to cut off thine hand or pull out thine eye for that very reason do thou mortifie it in the first place For when the World will be full of Offences i. e. encouragements to Sin and of deceitful Errors if thou also art an Offence to thy self for want of a sincere and honest heart and purifying thy mind from worldly and carnal Lusts thou wilt not be able to withstand the Arts and Force of outward Temptations Now the way to gain this Honest Mind is to fix our thoughts steadfastly upon the Life to come which is the means our Saviour directs to the use of in this place too And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out for it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than to be cast into Hell-fire Lastly Let all our other care be begun continued and ended in earnest Prayer to God that he would enlighten the eyes of our minds and purifie our intentions and lead us in the right way and keep us in it by his Grace For the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much for another but much more for himself and most of all when he asketh the best things when he asketh those things that please God best a Mind purified from worldly Lusts and an Understanding enlightned with the knowledge of the Truth He that doth these things shall never fall The Fourth Sermon MATTH XXVI 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak IN these words are contained an Exhortation to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation and a Reason upon which the Exhortation is made The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak In the Exhortation we may observe a Direction to the use of means watch and pray and then the end why we should do so That we enter not into temptation As to the means watching and praying the use of them both supposes a great concern for the event For if I am not only to be careful my self but to get all the help I can nay if I am to go to the God of Heaven and Earth for his help and to seek it constantly to be sure as the end I aim at ought not to be in it self trivial so neither ought I to be trivially affected with it A great concern for the end is supposed in the use of such means as Watchfulness and Prayer But more particularly as to watching That signifies such a care of our selves as supposes danger and that was the case of the Disciples to whom the Exhortation was immediately given Our Saviour was now preparing them for his approaching Passion he would therefore have them consider before-hand what a terrible Temptation it would be to see their own Master forsaken and contemned and almost every body ashamed or afraid to own him he would have them reflect upon their own Infirmities and examine their own Hearts and to consider whether they were likely to hold out against such a Temptation as was coming upon them He would have them furnish their minds with all the Powers of Faith with all the Reasons of Constancy which they might infer from the Holy Doctrine he had taught them they were now to consider the value of their Souls the vanity of the World the promise of Everlasting Life and what-ever they had learnt from Jesus which was proper to confirm them in that good mind they were in at present he would have them to
shall be encountred with some or other prophetick passages concerning Christ All which was designed of God for the confirmation of our Faith that when he should come in whom not only the plainest and most unquestionable Prophecies but all other Types and the more obscure prefigurations of the Messias would be fulfilled we might without the least doubt believe and follow him 2. This word of Prophecy is said to be a light shining in a dark place the reason of which Expression is plain enough if we consider that the Prophecies were nothing so easie to be understood by themselves as they were afterwards made by the Events which they foretold and therefore till the Events made all plain the World was very much in the dark about the meaning of them as to most particulars but yet some of them were so express and full that they had raised an Expectation not only in the Jews but amongst the Gentiles also of that extraordinary Person whom God would send into the World for their relief And therefore they might very well be compared to a light shining in a dark place For such a Light though it doth not make a particular discovery of those things that lie round about it is yet apt to draw the Eyes of all towards it that are within distance and the Predictions concerning Christ were so remarkable that they awakened the Gentiles themselves to take notice of them and were therefore a light shining in a dark place to Jews and Gentiles not indeed clearly revealing the Truth to them at present but preparing them to receive it when it should be clearly revealed in the accomplishment of all that had been foretold And whereas this light was said to shine till the day dawned and the day-star arose in their hearts The plain meaning seems to be that from the beginning of the World to the appearance of Christ the Prophecies concerning him grew still more express clear and particular as the time drew on that they were to be accomplished The whole word of Prophecy was a light shining in a dark place but the latter Prophecies such as in Isaiah Daniel and Malachi were like the dawning of the day before the Sun of Righteousness himself appeared By such degrees did God prepare mankind for the belief of the Gospel every Age contributing something before-hand to undermine the Prejudices of the Natural Man against it That God should send his Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin was a Mystery so far above the reach of worldly Wisdom and natural Reason that considering our weakness it would hardly have born being revealed all at once and therefore God chose to let mankind into the knowledge of it by degrees and by the growing Light of Types and Prophecies to prepare them for that stronger Light of the plain and clear Truth which in due time was to be revealed And by this way God also provided a sure foundation for their Faith who should afterwards believe only we must do what St. Peter commends the Christians of his time for doing we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must give heed unto and bend our Minds to consider the word of Prophecy and we must attend to it as to a light shineing in a dark place till the day dawns that is we must not content our selves to try any one single Prediction only to compare it with the History of Jesus and then if that doth not give full satisfaction to try no more But as God by every new Prediction added more Light to the word of Prophecy so we should consider what Evidence is given to the Gospel by the Prophecies of the Old Testament taken altogether from the first to the last And this was the Method which our Saviour took to instruct the two Disciples going to Emmaus They were not unacquainted with the Prophecies of the Old Testament and yet they were mightily staggered at the shameful Death of their Master We trusted say they that this had been he which should have redeem'd Israel but now they know not what to think of it Then said Jesus unto them O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his Glory But what course did he take to convince them did he take some one notable Prediction by itself and lay all the stress upon that No but beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself It was this that made the day-star arise in their hearts it was this that cleared all their doubts and enlightned their understandings so perfectly that they afterwards said one to another Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures Luke 24. 3. The word of Prophecy is said to be sure that is 't is a plain Testimony of God to make us sure that Jesus is the Christ For 1. It is absurd to ascribe the Prediction of these events to any cause less than Divine Omniscience or as St. Peter saith Prophecy came not by the will of man but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private interpretation i. e. Not as some would make us believe no Prophecy of Scripture is to be meditated upon and read by private men but the Prophets did not utter their Predictions by the private Spirit but by the Spirit of God therefore if at vast distances of time from the event it was foretold in several Ages that one in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed would come into the world of such a Nation of such a Family at such a Time and Place with several publick and notorious Characters by which he should be known Then certainly he in whom all these Predictions have been fulfilled is by the Testimony of God's Omniscience declared to be that great Prophet who was to come into the World. Or shall we say that these things were the effects of Policy or Combination or Chance Could the most politick Statesmen foresee the rise of Empires not yet begun how much less could they fix their periods as the Prophets did in their Predictions concerning Christ and his Kingdom And can we think that they could at the distance of many Ages with their utmost skill foresee so many particular events as were foretold by the Prophets and accomplished in Christ Jesus Or shall we say that there was a confederacy between Moses and Jesus between the Prophets and Jesus so many hundreds of years after they were dead and before he was born Or are these Predictions and their events to be imputed to Chance It is possible indeed that some one thing may be foretold and happen accordingly but that so vast a number of particulars should be foretold concerning one Person at all adventures and by strange luck
for a while because they have not Power to Revenge and for the most part they would not tarry if they had present means to ease their minds for this reason we magnify the patience of men most of all when they forgive whilst it seems that it is in their power without hurting themselves to punish the Person that hath done them wrong and we do in some measure commend those that frame themselves to Patience when they have no other help But this is the peculiar Character of the Patience of God That it is as easie for him to Punish at first as at last and it is never otherwise We can never say he forbears sudden Vengeance because it would be dangerous or he wants Power to take it and we must therefore resolve his Patience into other Causes which are for the Honour of his Goodness It is happy for men in their Concerns with one another when they who have most Goodness have greatest Power and the great Security of Mankind is this That he only has Almighty Power who is infinitely good and this is that which Sinners should acknowledg to the Praise of God That there is no other Being in Heaven or Earth that can absolutely and irresistably overwhelm them but he only to whose Justice they are most liable and of whose Goodness alone it is that they are not consumed If God with his Omnipotence were as Man and subject to the Passions of men or if Man with his passions were in this respect as God is and could follow his anger with effect the race of mankind had long since been extinguished and why it is not so the reason is this Because God only hath Infinite Power he who is Infinitely Good and delighteth not in Punishment and doth not willingly grieve and afflict the Children of men This is the first way of apprehending the perfect Goodness of the Divine Patience that he doth not respite and delay the punishment of Sinners at any time for want of Power to take Vengeance of them for with God all things are possible and therefore his forbearance to Punish is always because it is his Will to forbear 2. God hath always the same displeasure against Sin and hates it at one time as much as at another and this is also a Remarkable Illustration of his Patience and shews that his Forbearance to Punish is purely from his Goodness If we are grieved and offended the sense of the Injury we have received is commonly very smart at first but it lessens by degrees and if the wrong-doer escapes our anger while it is hot within us he is not in so much danger of us afterwards we are led by passion to retaliate evil and as that cools we are less forward to do it and in such cases our forbearance is not properly Patience because feeling no grief our selves we are not so desirous that he who once provoked us should feel it now But it is not so with God he is not disturbed with our uneven passions he abhors sin not as if he was a revengeful but because he is a most holy Being and because he is the same Holy God to day that ever he was time doth not lessen his Sense nor abate his Hatred of the evil Actions of men And therefore in him it is all the Goodness of Patience to forbear the deserved inflicting of those Punishments which he could inflict every moment for he bears with that baseness which he always hates Now since it is neither want of Power nor want of Holiness or hatred of Sin that withholds the Vengeance of Divine Justice from falling upon men till their provocations are grown insufferable it must be the Wise Goodness of God that causeth his Patience and Long-sufferance And there are several good effects to which it tendeth indeed many Reasons that seem to require it 1. If sentence were speedily executed against an evil work and if it seldom happened that a notorious wickedness was not forthwith made remarkable by a following vengeance there would be a little space left for Repentance But God would have all men to repent and to come to the knowledg of the truth And he is long-suffering to usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance God's forbearance is necessary that there might be room for other proper means to bring us to amendment he doth not cut us off even when we provoke him daily because he would prevent that last Sentence by other remedies by gentle Admonitions and sometimes by sharp Corrections or by making others that are grown incurable the examples of his Justice and by variety of instructing Providences if by any means we can be perswaded to our duty Should God proceed to destroy upon every grievous sin that is committed as in Justice he might then alas our Eternal Salvation which depends upon what we do in this short Life would by one single act become almost desperate and we should have but one tryal in this life in order to our Everlasting State But how many have we had and here is the Goodness of God that altho by wretched men he is provoked day after day yet he bears with them day after day not being willing that they should perish for he is the Lord the Lord God gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great compassion 2. If God were always sudden in his Justice and should crush every wickedness with his hand as soon as ever it appeared in the world this proceeding would bear something hard upon the Liberty of Human Nature and be too great a force upon us and it would not be easily seen whether we chuse to do what God commands freely and heartily or merely upon the constraint of a servile Fear God made us to serve him upon ingenuous and manly Principles and hath therefore given us a sense of his Presence and of his Providence with the Knowledg of his Will and the Expectation of being rewarded or punished hereafter But if upon every notorious offence the Malefactor was made an example of notable Vengeance the perpetual observation of this would be like a Flaming Sword hanging over every man's head and keeping him in a perpetual Apprehension of present Destruction if he should step aside which would indeed be a way to keep men from being very bad but not to make them truly Good their avoiding Vice would be like the Honesty of a Man that doth not Steal because his hands are always manacled 3. If God doth not suffer men to Degenerate exceedingly in their Principles and Practices and to grow from bad to worse but still crushed all Impostures and discountenanced all Villany and Hypocrisie at it's first setting out in the World where would be the Patience and Faith of the Saints of those that believe in God and take his Word for their Rule and their Comfort and live in the Expectation of his Promises But when Iniquity grows and thrives and can plead
sense the Coming of Christ because he did not come in Person as he will do at the last day but in some sense it might be so called because he Appeared by his Power and Providence to do the same work in part which will with incomparably greater perfection be done at the last i. e. to take Vengeance of the ungodly and to save his own People For the Incorrigibleness of the Jewish Nation and their incurable hatred of the Truth and obstinate Persecution of it was dreadfully punished in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Christians had not only all escaped out of it before the Roman Army came against it but by the destruction of it they gained also a very considerable rest from Persecution for some time after And now the reason why this wonderful Providence was called the coming of Christ seems plainly to be this That after his Ascension into Heaven he set down at the right hand of God and had all Power put into his hands and therefore because it is he that Governs the World as well as the Church such remarkable revolutions as that was for the destruction of his enemies and the saving of his Servants are called the coming of Christ God hath given him to be head over all things to the Church and therefore such passages as that was are called his coming to signify that they are the effects of his Providence and government for the good of his Church no less than if he had come in Person to order them as he will do at the end of the World to order all things then And for this reason though in the proper sense of his coming he will come but once at the end of the World yet in this improper sense of it his appeaance to destroy his enemies and to save his People that trust in him nothing hinders but that he may be said to come often before the end of World i. e. as often as his Providence doth signally and remarkably appear for this purpose And thus we are to understand the coming of the Lord in 2 Thes 2.8 where it is said of the Man of Sin that Wicked one That the Lord shall consume him with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming which being to be done before the Personal coming of Christ to Judgment the meaning must be that his destruction shall be so remarkably the work of a Divine Providence that all shall confess it was not the effect of Worldly Policy but no less the doing of the Lord than if himself had come in Person to destroy him And whenever the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of the Lord when the knowledg of God covers the earth as the waters cover the Sea when those magnificent predictions are fulfilled concerning the universal prevalence of Truth and Goodness amongst men with which the Old and New Testament are plentifully furnished and which are to be fulfilled before the coming of Christ to the last Judgment then also is it true that the Lord comes i. e. by the Power of his Spirit and Providence to renew and reform a degenerate World that was running headlong into perdition And thus much concerning the sense of these words when the Son of man cometh which I have shown do principally signifie that great and amazing revolution when he shall come by coming in his own Person at the last day to judge the World but in a secondary sense do also signifie the remarkable works of his Providence in Punishing some and saving others even in this Life Now 2. How are we to understand that other clause will he find Faith upon the earth The meaning of the question is plainly this That he will not find Faith on the earth or very little in comparison But what is here meant by Faith I answer that is easily discerned by the Parable and the Application of it that went before The design of both which was to infer the conclusion in the foregoing verse And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily That is to say God would hear the Prayers of Righteous men and in a little time take their cause into his own hand and then says our Saviour Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth i. e. notwithstanding the Promises of God to hear the Pravers of good men and to interpose for them that depend upon him there will be but little Faith in these Promises found upon the Earth even when the Son of Man comes to fulfil them The greatest part will not be found to believe any thing at all of them and so will be surprized with that day without any preparation for it or expectation of it Many will yield to the Temptations of this present World and throwing off their dependance upon God will think to secure themselves by Flattery and Hypocrisy from the Violence of Wicked men others will despair of any better state of things And very few will lay to heart the promises which God hath made to hear the Prayers of his Servants and to save them Few will strengthen themselves in God by crying to him day and night and by putting their whole trust and confidence in him and this notwithstanding the clear and strong reasons they have from his word so to do Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth And thus we may from other places of Scripture observe that immediately before the Day of judgment there will be a great falling away from Christian Piety and Charity nay and the World should begin once more to depart from the Purity of Faith many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many and because Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold But says our Saviour he that endures to the end shall be saved thereby intimating that it would be some matter of difficulty to endure to the end Thus also St. Peter tells us that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming which is plainly meant of the Day of Judgment before which according to the Revelation of St. John Satan was to be loosed for a little time and to go out and to deceive the nations and to gather them together against the City of God. And therefore it will be remarkably true at the day of Judgment that when the Son of Man cometh he will find but little Faith in the Earth The World will be in a careless Posture as it was before that the Flood came and took them all away And for the same reason there is but little Faith in the earth when God enters into Judgment with the world for the violence and iniquities of Men and asserts the cause of innocence and righteousness against them for in
all such cases the temptations to unbelief and apostacy are very great and likely to prevail upon many of those that believe so that this is the meaning That in such a wicked Age as calls for the coming of the Son of man the open enemies of God which are the greater number will be void of all regard whatsoever to his word and to his Providence or if they take any notice of it it is that of the Scoffers mentioned by St. Peter who will say Where is the promise of his coming Many of his professed Servants will be weary of depending upon him and give way to Temptations and depend more upon the arm of Flesh than upon the promise of God and the Faith of many good men will be very much weakned and abated so that when he cometh he will find but little Faith upon the Earth And thus I persuade my self to have given you a true illustration of these remarkable Words of our Blessed Saviour and that upon the two significations of the Son of man's Coming which seem to be both intended in this Text and indeed it is very hard to know which was principally intended the Day of the General Judgment or the Destruction of Jerusalem The Day of General Judgment is in it self the principal meaning of Christ's Coming and therefore ought not to be excluded but yet the Parable with the Application of it being manifestly intended to stir up that Generation to pray to God and not to faint and to give a firm Faith to the Promises of God notwithstanding the great troubles they were like to meet with from the unbelieving Jews therefore neither could the Coming of the Son of man to be avenged of these his enemies and to deliver his Servants be excluded but was as directly intended as the other And now I proceed to observe the two main Points which the Text supposes besides those which it affirms and the considering of them will not a little contribute to a more perfect understanding of this Place 1. It is supposed manifestly that after the first Coming of Christ to call the World to Repentance and to be offered up for our sins there would yet be degenerate Ages sometimes and a most corrupt state of things before his Second Personal Coming to Judg the World. 2. It is also supposed that his Providence would then appear to set all things right when there was the greatest need to interpose in behalf of his Church 1. That his first coming would not infallibly prevent the degeneracy and corruption of future Ages For notwithstanding that evidence of Truth which he taught many false Prophets would arise and deceive many and notwithstanding the Power of his Doctrine iniquity would abound and the love of many would wax cold and notwithstanding both these advantages yet his own servants would sometimes be reduced to that state that it should be needful to them to cry unto God day and night which is a matter that may cause some wonder if we do not consider the reason of it That the Principles and Manners of men were so often and so generally corrupted before the Coming of the Son of God into the World is that which might not appear strange at all to those that consider the weakness and folly of mankind That after the Creation the Earth should so abound with Luxury and Violence that God swept all mankind away with the Flood but Eight Persons That after Noah's Family had peopled the Earth again men should fall into Idolatry so universally that God called Abraham out of his own Countrey and entred into a particular Covenant with him for the maintaining of the true Worship in his Family and Posterity That Pharaoh should oppress the Israelites after his Country had been saved by them That the Israelites should fall to Worship other Gods after that the True God had wrought so many miraculous Deliverances for them That when not without much ado they were cured of Idolatry they should fall into scandalous ways of Hypocrisie and Immorality These and the like things perhaps are not so much to be wondred at because God had not as yet used the last means to instruct mankind and to oblige them to Piety and Virtue but that there should be Times as bad as the worst of those after Christ himself had appeared in the world to die for sinners and to bring the Doctrine of Salvation to mankind with the most convincing Evidence that could be desired and with the most powerful Motives that could be thought of that notwithanding all this Oppression Violence Fraud Hypocrisie Error Superstition Idolatry and scandalous Examples should for some Ages reign no less than before the Times of Christ and to that degree as to shake the Faith even of good men and if it were possible to deceive the very best of all this seems to be an amazing Consideration and tho the noble Examples of Christian Piety and Virtue that have appeared in the World and the affured expectation of a larger Progress that Christianity will make in the earth and of better effects that it will produce may answer the Objection yet that the World that the Church should be so bad under the last means is what may raise some Admiration But you are to consider That when our Lord first came into the world he came not to establish a Religion which should either by its Truth Convince or by its Power Reform Mankind whether they would or no but what was sufficient for both purposes if they would be wise and honest and suffer the concernments of Eternal Life to prevail with them above their worldly Interests and therefore there was as much reason to expect an Universal Reformation as to expect that men would not resist the evidence of Truth in matters of the greatest concern to them in the whole world but to bring them to this the Gospel was furnished with no irresistible means but left them under the natural liberty they had before with a provision of grace that might be resisted and therefore it was in it self likely that the Truth would be opposed by some and corrupted by others and by many held in unrighteousness that several to whom it was propounded would not believe it and several that believed it would not obey it and in time that it would be mixed with Errors and Superstitions and framed to the designs of Ambition and Covetousness nay the better and more Divine a Religion that of the Gospel is the more violently it would be opposed by some and the more certainly corrupted by others So that if we consider the Excellency of the Gospel with the Purpose of God not to overbear the World into the Faith and Obedience of it by forcing the natural Liberty of men it had rather been much more strange if it had escaped opposition and corruption than to have been both opposed and corrupted as it hath Thus our Blessed Saviour himself and his Apostles foretold that it
interpose in behalf of Truth and righteousness when the Faithful seem to fail from among the Children of men While God seems to let the World alone and to suffer all men to go on in their own ways as if he took no notice of them nor were at all concerned what they did he is all the while trying and proving what they are not indeed for his own Information for he knows all things but for the instruction of those that are to come after If he at every turn should interpose when we think it needful we should very seldom know who are sincere and who are Hypocrites It is very fit that it should be sometimes seen whether men are what they pretend to be whether indeed they are concerned for that Truth for which they have once pretended a mighty zeal whether they are Governed by Conscience as they say or by mere Worldly and Politick considerations for such discoveries as these are very instructing and serve for the bringing about of much good in the World and in the Church which we may reasonably presume to be one cause why when the Son of Man comes he will find but little Faith upon the Earth because while he suffers the World to go on as if he minded it not he is trying those that pretend to Faith and upon the Tryal many are discovered not to have it In short Divine Providence is so far from being regardless of the affairs of men that it then most of all shows it self when men are Tempted to think that it regards nothing i. e. when there is but little Faith to be found in the Earth and this will be abundantly demonstrated at the close of all things that is at the Day of Judgment which will be the most convincing act of Providence that ever was in the World and one forerunner of it will be that Question Where is the promise of his coming And now the use of all ought to be that which is the declared intention of our Saviour in the beginning of the Parable And he spake a parable to them to the end that men ought always to pray and not to faint For the true Ground of Prayer is Faith in the Providence and Promises of God and if there be no time when these fail then ought men always to pray and not to faint i. e. they ought always to depend upon God's Providence they ought always to believe his Promises they ought always to be certain that their Prayers are heard and will turn to good account for them that God is gracious to all and much more to them that love and serve him and if they do all this then they will always pray and not faint i. e. and not be discouraged And if they ought always to pray then also when they are most apt to be discouraged and when there is but little Faith to be found upon the Earth nay then most of all because when Temptations to unbelief are greatest we should the most of all strengthen our selves by recourse to God and dependance upon him To this Instance in Prayer there are two things must go 1. A Stedfast resolution to walk in all the ways of God and not to be diverted out of them by any Worldly Interest whatsoever For he can have no Faith to go to God who thinks of taking care for himself without regard to his Duty to God A man is not in a condition to seek the Favour of God or to commend his case to him that contrives how to shift for himself without him 2. A perfect resignation of himself to the Will of God for by this also it is that a man entitles himself to his Favour and Blessing The most effectual way to obtain the particular Blessings we pray for at any time if they are such things as may prove evil as well as good for us is to leave the matter after all to the disposal of Divine Providence for then if we obtain them we get his Blessing with them too if we do not we are sure to get his Blessing without them which is the general thing we pray for always With these dispositions we are in a fit case to present our Prayers to God for Spiritual Blessings for our selves and for the Church of Christ which will assuredly come accompanied with Temporal ones too if it be best for us and if God sees that it is better for his Church to be prosperous than to be afflicted in this world and then it is better so to be when men are sufficiently prepared for it by God's Correction and their own Repentance Men ought therefore always to pray and not to faint for their Prayers thus qualified will not fail of obtaining what they ask which our Saviour thought good to illustrate by an example in the Parable delivered before the Text viz of an unjust Judge that neither feared God nor regarded man who nevertheless upon the importunity of a Widow did what was right in her case much more shall God hear the Prayers of his faithful Servants For 1. He is the Just God and is of himself ready to right those that do at any time suffer wrong 2. He is also the Merciful God that regardeth men and when we desire things of him that are needful he is of himself ready to grant what we ask or at least that which is more needful than what we ask 3. Whereas the Judge in the Parable seem'd to contemn the Poverty and Meanness of that Person that sued to him for Justice for which reason she is represented here to be a Widow one of a destitute Condition that wanted a Patron to assert her Right God who is Just and Good to all is particularly Gracious to his servants and esteems them highly and no circumstances of meanness and distress which he suffers them to fall into can alter his favour towards them for all which Reasons if the Judge in the Parable granted the Widows suit merely because she lay upon him and was troublesome to him much more will God to whom we are never troublesome when we make our requests known to him grant what we ask because he is Righteous and Gracious and loveth and pitieth us as a father doth his children The Fourteenth Sermon AN ASSIZE-SERMON PREACHED at St. Maries in Bury 1678. LEVIT XIX 12. Ye shall not swear by my name falsly THE Religious Use of an Oath depends chiefly upon the Matter and the Discharge The Matter must be worthy of that Obligation which an Oath implies in promising it must not be unlawful that we may Swear in Righteousness it must not be impossible it must not be trivial and in affirming it must be some Fact proveable by our own Testimony that we may Swear in Judgment All which implies That we are not to swear indeliberately passionately or commonly The Discharge of an oath must be answerable to the Obligation which is to Sincerity of Intention Fidelity of Performance and the giving
that in Enoch's time who was Translated little less than a Thousnnd Years after the Creation there was a very great decay of Piety and Virtue every where that men were generally bewitched with the Pleasures of the beautiful and charming Place which the Earth was before the Flood and forgot their Creator and had lost the Sense of that infinitely better World which Adam and the Religious Patriarchs had by revelation from God given them assurance of In such an Age as this when for the reason now mentioned it is evident that the generality of Mankind were sunk into Debauchery and perhaps into Infidelity too Enoch was a steady Pattern of Piety and Virtue and whilest most Men walked after their own Lusts and the best were much to blame he walked with God and Lived above the pleasures and enjoyments of this Life having God before his eyes and another Life and a better Life in his hopes It is therefore very reasonable to conceive that God intended by this surprising Testimony of Translating Enoch alive into a better World to convince the unbelieving to awaken the inconsiderate and to call off that Voluptuous Age from these brutish debaucheries to mind better things and to prepare for a better Life especially since in the second place 2. This was a very instructing admonition That God who is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as the Epistle to the Hebrews says upon this very example of Enoch that God I say rewarded his Piety not with giving him a longer Life in that pleasant World but in another which was therefore a place more happy and desirable than the Earth was even in that delicious state and condition of it before the Flood had made as strange an alteration in that as it made in the Age of man's Life That God I say should take him alive out of this World when it abounded with all manner of delights and pleasures and this at the Age of 365 Years when he was but a young man as the World was then younger in proportion than we are now at 30 when he was in full vigour and capacity for all the entertainments of sense which the Earth afforded even to Luxury and this according to the course of Nature to last for some hundreds of Years to come That God should Translate him under these circumstances to another Life after he had served him with a constant Piety in his Younger Years and lived among men with an unreprovable Innocence and Virtue this I say was a demonstration to all that would consider it That that World to which he was Translated was a better World than that from which he was taken and that they might be sure to understand this instruction God took him not away by the common means of mortality since if he had died that Vicious Age would have imputed that change to any thing rather than to a Divine Providence rewarding so excellent a Man with so early a removal to a better Life and therefore he was taken away alive that they might not be able to question the power that did it or to mistake the reason why it was done that they might know Enoch had obtained a reward from God suitable to that Life that he had lived here and to that Faith by which he had lived and in which he had wrought righteousness being removed from hence to pleasures more pure and ravishing than all this World can afford In a word they might have seen and for some time it is like they acknowledged it though they soon fell back again That the great business of mankind here is to live in all Godliness and Honesty and that God doth not reward them that do so with the Pleasures and Glories of this World but with the enjoyments of a better And now having said thus much concerning the extraordinary character of Enoch and the singular end it pleased God to make with him in this World I have yet more to do by way of application and that 1. To propound the example of Enoch and such as he was who walked with God to our imitation And 2. To propound though not the manner yet the substance of his reward for our encouragement to walk as he walked 1. To propound his example as an example that is of it self worthy of our imitation and is withal an imitable example an example that is worthy to be followed and an example not too hard to follow that it is worthy of our imitation appears both from that Life to which his Faith led him and from the Nature of that Principle it self by which he lived As to the Life whereunto it leads it is made up of whatsoever things are Just Honest Lovely of good report if there be any Virtue Praise of Justice Faithfulness Temperance Government of Passions Wisdom and Fortitude which are the Glory of Humane Nature and things acceptable to God and approved of men These things are enough to recommend the Principle from whence they come And yet 2. it is in it self the best whether we consider 1. our concernment in those things which we believe For if there be a God what is our dependance upon this World to our dependance upon him And if we shall endure beyond this Life and that for ever what are our Fortunes till we die to our Eternal state after death It is not our mere Nature but our Relation to God that makes us considerable and we are very abject Creatures if we have nothing to do but Eat and Drink and to Live a sensual Life for a little time and then to Vanish into nothing Or 2. whether we consider Faith as a persuasion grounded upon rational evidence that is such evidence as requires a Free and Unprejudiced and clear Judgment to perceive but which not bearing upon the Senses of Men distinguisheth between the Wise and the Honest on one side and unteachable Persons on the other A Believer doth of all men make the most proper use of his reason because he assents to the Principles of Religion For instance That there is a God not upon immediate bodily Sight but upon a means of Conviction suited to a reasonable nature Or 3. Whether we consider Faith as a means to secure an happy Enjoyment of our selves in this World of which I need to say no more that it is the only true support of Man's mind under all the Afflictions and Calamities of Life and that which can make us easy under them will make us happy in every condition That the Example of these Men who have lived by Faith and walked with God is worthy of our Imitation is a Subject that might be spoken to without end But let us consider it 2. As an imitable Example For that it is so the Pattern mentioned in the Text doth abundantly prove Enoch lived in a World that was full of Temptation and those as dangerous as Temptations can possibly be the Temptations of Luxury which in their kind
are inferior to none and as to their degree when Enoch lived they were at the height and as I have shown already he had bad Examples enough and probably but very few that were good So that Piety lay under great disadvantage in the common Opinion and likely enough it was a matter of some reproach to observe Rules for that Generation of Men was now began of whom we find in the next Chapter that God saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually They set themselves at no time to do any good all their Business was to follow their brutish Appetites from one day to another without restraint the World was hastning apace to that Condition when Enoch lived and yet he lived so piously set so good an Example as if he had never seen any but good ones himself and whilst almost all Men were busy to fill themselves with the excess of sensual Pleasures his only business in comparison was to please God he looked up every day to his Maker out of whose hands so lately came that beautiful Fabrick which was made for Man and instead of surfeiting himself with those delightful entertainments of Sense that were round about him he raised his mind above them to the Contemplation of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God he offered to the Creator of all things the Sacrifices of Praise and Thankfulness he resigned himself wholly to his Will and Pleasure he believed his Promise of a better World and in that Faith he wrought righteousness And what can be said why we who cannot reasonably count our Temptations greater than those he was under why we I say should not also live as he did Why should the Government of our Passions and the ordering of our Conversation by the Rules of Religion be harder to us than it was to him What should hinder us from adoring and praising our Maker every day and from offering our Prayers and Supplications to him Why should not we consider that God is present with us every where and sees us in all that we do that we may always behave our selves as in his Presence May we not with as much advantage as he possibly could have look beyond this World and compare it with immortality in a far better state of things than this and set our affections upon things above and not upon things on the earth Especially since we have not here a continuing place I mean since we do not expect to live hardly the tenth part of that time upon Earth which the Patriarchs did before the Flood but all our days are few and evil and our Life short and troublesome and therefore doth of it self admonish us to look after another and to provide better for our selves hereafter than we can possibly do here Let no man say That the baits of Pleasure and the cares of Life and the multiplicity of his worldly Affairs that the evil manners of others and the snares of Conversation and his unavoidable Engagements in the World will not permit that Justice and Purity that Devotion and Sobriety which Religion requires nor that consideration of God and another Life which is necessary to keep us unspotted from this present world That for this purpose we must retire out of the World and live in Cells or in Houses where there is nothing else to do but to Watch and Pray where the cares of Life cannot follow them where evil Examples and where Temptations cannot find them out All this is but unreasonable and vain pretence For I beseech you what was Enoch and his Profession and Order of Life in the World Was he shut up from any part of common Conversation or eased from any part of the common Cares of this Life No by no means he in all respects of Secular Conversation and civil Relation was in the very same condition that other Men were as you will confess if you look back to verse 21. and so on till you come to the Text And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methusaleh And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh three hundred years and begat Sons and Daughters and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years And Enoch walked with God c. By which you may see that Enoch who had this Testimony was a married Man and for that Reason engaged as much in the necessary Affairs of Civil Conversation as any other and we do not find that after he begat Methusaleh his eldest Son he left his Wife and his Family and betook himself to any retirement and was from that time forward under Vows of single Life it is expresly said that Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh three hundred years and begat Sons and Daughters So that all this time viz. for three hundred years of which it is said that he walked with God Enoch was the Husband of a Wife the Father of Children the Master of a numerous Family nay he was a Prince in his Generation the Seventh from Adam in the Line of Seth the eldest Son by descent from the eldest house of Seth one therefore who in his time made no little Figure in the World and was deeply engaged in the Affairs of Government beyond all others excepting his Father and Grandfather and the Patriarchs that were yet alive Enoch then differed not from other Men in any respect of Civil Affairs he had such Relations and common Engagements as other Men had and in some respect more being descended from Seth in the Patriarchal Line which some believe was the Regal Line too in one Division of Mankind But tho in these Circumstances he differed not from other Men otherwise than that his Affairs might be more Cumbersom than those of ordinary Persons yet with respect to Religion and Virtue to Faith in God and an holy Life he differed very much from the generality of Mankind for in the midst of all that Business and Conversation which his place in the World engaged him in he walked with God he was a perfect man and grew to that height of Piety and Righteousness that God thought fit to reward so eminent a Person with translating him alive from Earth to Heaven a plain demonstration against the Pretences of the Roman Church That retirement in Monasteries and a single life are not necessary to the highest degree of Piety that the best part of Religion is not to be coop'd up in a Cloyster but to be seen in the World and in the ordinary conversation of Men That the most Excellent part of Devotion that the best and noblest degrees of Faith and Virtue may be attained and exercised and improved in a state of Worldly Relations and Engagements and that these things therefore ought not to be pretended in our excuse for not walking with God as Enoch did Let me therefore add in the 2. Place That we have the
to build and now I shall proceed to shew what those sins are which manifestly oppose and contradict these Rules and they may I think be reduced to these two Atheism and Idolatry First Atheism of which there are two sorts properly so called Either I. Not believing that there is a God Or II. Not worshipping him 1. Not believing a God that is an invisible Spiritual Being which is the cause of all things and this is that which is commonly understood by Atheism to deny the very Being of a God which as it is the highest stupidity and the greatest corruption imaginable of a Man's Understanding so it is fundamentally opposite to all pretences of Religion and Worship which supposes the Being of God of God I say that is of a spiritual and invisible Being which knows and understands which can do all things and upon which all other things depend But 2. There is another sort of Atheism truly so called which consists with a Belief of the being of God or at least doth not stand in a direct denial of his Being and that is not worshipping him He that doth not worship God before Men is an Atheist to the World and he that worships him not at all is an Atheist before the World and in the sight of God too and there is no reason to question but he that is the one is the other too Every wicked Man though he professeth Religion and worships God may indeed be called a Practical Atheist because he lives as if there were no God. But he that is grown to that degree of impiety as to make no acknowledgment of him by appearing in his Worship is much more so and doth in effect renounce his Maker before the World and it cannot be more truly said of any one than of such a Man that he lives without God in the World. And therefore although the Epicurean Sect acknowledged the Being of a God yet because they denyed his Providence and took away all the Foundations of worshipping him they were by all men of sense called Atheists This however is also directly opposite to the Rule we are upon Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. But 2. Idolatry is opposed to it likewise and this is that impiety which the Rule was chiefly designed against Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Idolatry is a Term in Religion or Divinity to which we must give that sense in which the Scripture uses it and I think all are agreed this to be the sense of it there That it is the giving of any Divine Worship to a Creature i. e. any part of that Worship which is due to God only and therefore these words are a Rule against all Idolatry whatsoever Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. Now 1. All honour which is done to any invisible Being besides God by formal Invocation of it or calling upon it must therefore necessarily be Idolatry because it ascribes in the very Nature of the Act Omnipresence to it which is a Divine Perfection 2. All the external Honours done to any such Beings which refer to that Service are also Idolatrous because they are significations of Divine Honour also and therefore Dedicating Churches and Altars to them Bowing Kneeling Prostrating burning Incense and the like Religious Rites performed to them are Idolatry 3. Any Service paid to a created Being that is either visible or invisible seen or not seen present or absent which Service doth imply that thing to be God or ascribes any Divine Attribute to it or much more that Service which in all circumstances is the very same with what is given to God himself this also must necessarily be an Idolatrous Service 4. The Worship of an Image or any visible Representation of any thing whatsoever must be Idolatrous for if it be worshipped as the Representation of a Creature it cannot ' scape being so if there were no more in it than that Religious Worship is not to be given to the Original But if it be the pretended Image of the Deity the Worship of it is Idolatrous Worship and the reason is plain because it is set there to receive that external Worship at least which is due to that invisible Being whom it is said to represent But the Worship of God is to be given to him and to none but him I pass by two material things one is That the Image-Worship of the People is known to be attended with expectation of receiving benefit from the Image itself which makes the Idolatry to be very gross in them but inasmuch as Images are made the Object of outward Acts of Divine Honour by all that worship them they give to the Image that Worship which is to be paid to God only Another is this That to pretend to make an Image of God is one of the grossest dishonours that can be possibly done to him because that supposes the Godhead to be like unto wood or to stone and the work of mens hands and tends to corrupt the Notion of God in all that are made to believe that they are his Images or Representations but I do not place Idolatry in that though it be a great aggravation of it but in the actual worshipping of it and that because we are to worship the Lord our God and serve him only but to worship Images is not to worship him for God is one thing and a pretended Image of him is another All this I make bold to lay down peremptorily being well assured that these kinds of Worship are prohibited in this Rule of serving God only and that these prohibited Worships are in the Scripture called Idolatry which I shall now more particularly prove against a certain pretence That the true and only Notion of Idolatry is this and that it is neither more nor less than this viz. The Worship of the heavenly Bodies the Sun the Moon and the Stars or any other visible and corporeal Deity as the Supreme God so as to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead The plain English of which is this That no Man can be an Idolater that is not such a Sot as to take something which he knows can neither understand any thing nor chuse one thing before another to be the Supreme God and as such to worship it as for instance he must take something which hath no more of a spiritual Nature in it than a piece of stone or a log of wood and exclude all reference that it can have to any thing that hath a spiritual nature and he must fall down upon his knees to it and speak to it and desire it to bless him and believe that it will do so and he must withal take it for his Supreme Deity and then he shall be allowed to pass for an Idolater nay more for one that is not fit to live upon the Earth but to be cut off from the People as those Israelites were