Mens Constancy and Perseverance What Christian Sorrow expressed at the Defection of any What tender-heartedness shewed towards those who after a Fall are repentant And in them all what Attractives are there for our Love I have somtimes thought that should a Person to whom the True God is unknown read or hear the earnest Exhortations the many taking Suggestions which in Holy Scripture are used for the engaging Men to Obedience he would judge that surely God is much advantaged thereby or otherwise he would not be so very desirous of it This I am sure we may with Truth say that were it possible our Obedience could add to the Blessedness of the Almighty he could not use more winning Speeches for the obtaining of it than now he doth But therefore because we can no way profit Him by the Observance of his Laws and because it is our own very great advantage if we do observe them how sweetly prevalent may so many persuasives seem unto us And how with an holy Gratitude may we say Lord what is Man that thou hast such regard unto him That thou givest him Line upon Line Exhortation upon Exhortation and continuest an uncessant care over him for the securing him unto Happiness Theoph. It is fit indeed that such Exhortations should be followed with Devotions Praises unto God who is so Gracious unto Men and Prayers that we may never suffer such persuasives to be fruitless upon us And it may fairly lead you Eubulus to the Devotional Part of Holy Scripture in the last place to be spoken unto Eubul This we shall find to be truly excellent also For it consisted of such Services as in their intent were fit for Men to pay unto their God. None of their Holy Feasts was there but was in Memory of some Signal Favour And as it was their pleasure to rejoyce thus before their Lord and Holy Benefactor so it may likewise be our pleasure to read of their Religious doing it Had the Creation of the World been understood by the Heathens Juvenal would not have derided the Jews as such Queîs Septima quaeque fuit Lux Ignava vitae partem non attigit ullam Who lost the Seventh part of their Time and improved it to no End of Life And if Plutarch had known the design of their carrying Boughs of Trees in their Feast of Tabernacles he would not in a Scoffing Manner have called it the Jewish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an Odious comparing it with that intemperate Feast of Bacchus in which the Bacchides ran about with Javelins wrapped round with Ivy termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Sacrifices were Visible Prayers or Praises or Expiations in all of them the End was truly Excellent and no one of them had such Rites as required Secresie for a Shelter from an honest and Chast Eye And hence possibly it was that God forbad Groves to be near his Altar as having by their Shades and Recesses given occasion to those Uncleannesses which too frequently attended the Worship of the Heathens Neither ever did or durst any tacita libare acerra inaperto vivere voto ask those things which it were a shame Men should hear But the Scope of their Petitions was Gods Blessing in the way of Righteousness And as in these things their Religious Services were quite of a different Colour from those of the Nations and in every thing might have worn this Impress Holiness to the Lord so it is very remarkable what Humility and Submission of Spirit attended their Devotions when God laid Afflictions upon them It is the Lord let him do what pleaseth him saith Eli. I was Dumb I opened not my Mouth because Thou didst it saith David Though he kill yet will I put my Trust in Him saith Job Herein likewise very different from the Heathen who in their Sufferings were forward to accuse their Gods venting their Griefs in undecent Invectives against them But when we read of those sacred Heights of Devotion which some of their Holy Men rose unto how must we be affected how divided betwixt Love and Delight Our Souls are embruted if we be not almost transformed into the same Seraphick Temper with them who to use the words of one of them have thought One day in Gods Courts better than a Thousand Desiring nothing in Heaven but God nor any thing on Earth in Comparison of Him. And such Devotion how yet further is it improved by our Blessed Lord who hath continued all Night therein who hath Consecrated himself by Prayer a Sacrifice for the whole World and hath offered up upon his Cross Supplications with strong Cries and Tears hoth for Himself and Vs Who is it can avoid the being wholly possest with Love who contemplateth our Saviour at the Right Hand of God in a mighty way Mediating for us Though at a distance from us yet openly on our behalf urging his Merits Passion and Death and presenting our Prayers unto his Father Which that they may be the more acceptable he himself while on Earth hath given us a most perfect Prayer as a Patte n for our Imitation and a Form for our Use suitable to the greatest Ardour of Piety that Mortality is capable of Hath sent likewise from Heaven the Holy Spirit to make Intercessions for us with Groans that cannot be uttered joyning with us from within and giving our Prayers such a Fervour and Powerfulness as is not to be equall'd by Words Devotion raised to such Perfection as the having our Blessed Lord and the Holy Spirit so nearly concerned in it is so highly amiable that it requires only the being truly known for the being sincerely loved You have Theophilus in short measures an account of the Divine Law as the word Law may be taken in the wider sense Theoph. How acceptable the account you have given me is I cannot more truly say than by telling you I could have very willingly heard it much longer Yea so delightful are these other parts of Holy Writ that they afford a great pleasure even to some who are less Observers of the Preceptive Part than they ought to be I have known who have been very well versed in the Bible and could reherse if need were the chief things contain'd therein when yet their Practice hath been as lame as if they knew not a Letter there Eubul These Persons quite mistake what they read while they find a Pleasure therein without a respect to the Divine Law properly as such All the other parts of Scripture are as before was said some way or other in order to the Preceptive Part and if there be who understand them otherwise they go contrary to the Mind and Will of their Author But yet how can any one enjoy a Pleasure from that History which God hath caused to be written as an Encouragement to Obedience and not be encouraged at the same time to be Obedient himself Or how acknowledge the Divine Justice in the Punishment of Disobedience and
himself afterwards with respect to his Adultery and Murther to say Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it Psal 51. There not being any Sacrifices provided for such Sins And hereupon the Law is called The Ministration of Death when yet to those that were Obedient the Priviledges it gave were many and so for those as for the Excellency which in itself it had might be loved That other Scripture to wit I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died We if we take it as spoken in the Person of the Apostle and not rather by a Figure for others are not so to understand it as if he were the worse for the Law and might date his Death from it But thus While he look'd upon himself and his own Actions without a due Examination of them according to the exactness of the Law he might think himself to be in very good plight and free from danger But when he compared his Actions and Performances with the exceeding Accurateness of the Law the Actions which before look'd well appear'd sinful and he saw his Danger and Demerits to be very great Whereas the Law in itself was holy and the Commandment holy and just and good and so for its own worth might be loved Your last Scripture is this viz. That the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which neither We nor our Fathers were able to bear To this it may be replyed That we are not to take these words in a strict sense as if the Apostles and Jews could not bear that Yoke but thus They could not bear it without difficulty For we know that they had born it for many Generations from the time of Moses to that day Besides Neither was it a Yoke absolutely consider'd For God in the giving of these Laws did as a great Man interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13.18 bear with some of their Manners which the use of those Times had taught them and made his Sanctions suitable in many things to their being under-age as it were and too weak as yet for more perfect Institutions But it is therefore term'd A Yoke with reference to that Freedom and those very great Priviledges which are brought unto us by Christ In Comparison of These it is little better than a Bondage When yet before it was a great Honour to the Jews and such as They only had a share in The Heathens as they were Heathens having nothing to do in it You have Theophilus what at present I think may be replyed to the Scriptures you brought Yourself could possibly to your own Satisfaction better have answered them But if you are any way pleased with what I have said and can reap though but the least of that Spiritual Advantage you in the beginning of our Discourse spake of I shall be the less solicitous for the excusing of my Failures DISCOURSE the Second The Contents THE Inducements that Christians have to Love the Divine Law. Love was the moving cause of our Lords becoming our Law-giver The Greatness of our Lawgivers Person All the troublesome Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away by the Laws of our Lord and this not by his Will alone but by the admirable manifestation of his Goodness and Wisdom How the Jews urging the Everlastingness of their Law is from hence answered and how their way of Speaking is Corrected when they say our Lawgiver hath vilified and destroy'd their Laws Only such Laws are enjoyn'd by our Lord as have in them an Intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely Good and such as are discernable by every one Though the Jews had some Inferiour Laws suted to their Temper and Climate which did the better fit them for the observance of those Laws which were Moral yet we have not the less reason to Love the Laws of our Lord because they are all Good without any mixture of such Inferiour Laws Laws which may be agreeable to different Climates where Christians Live and which may promote the Precepts of our Lord are not by those Precepts excluded Christian Laws are such also as will in our Obedience much comply with our particular Way and Temper The Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given The Laws that respect ourselves are properly belonging to the New Testament At least are there only directly and openly injoyn'd The Objection answer'd that so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith which no one living can conceive how they should be The Reasonableness of making our Vnderstandings to yield to our Faith. THEOPHILVS I Am very glad Eubulus I have once more your good Company and from the privacy of the place the calmness of the Weather and the leisure you at present have you will I hope go on where Yesterday you left off For I have a great desire to hear the Inducements which Christians have to Love the Divine Law. EVBVLVS YOur desire shall be complied with not because I think I can so much inform you but because those things which we already know are made more Active upon us when we hear they are the Sentiments of others as well as our own Theoph. You will make whatever Truths after this manner shall be quickned in me to belong to yourself as being Watered at least if not Planted by you Besides since the things that lie only in our thoughts do not usually so much affect us as they do when we bring them out into Words it is to be imagined that yourself will not be wholly destitute of benefit while you are kind unto me Eubul Well then with Prayers that it may be for the Ghostly Health of us both we will proceed The Inducements that Christians have for the Loving the Divine Law which are far greater than what the Jews had may I presume be collected from the consideration of these things viz. The Lawgiver The Laws themselves and those Motives which are annexed unto them for the securing of our Obedience As to what concerns the Lawgiver it may very much contribute to the Love of the Christian Law That Love was the moving Cause of his becoming our Lawgiver The Punishment which Mankind for the breach of the Command in Paradise was from Gods Justice to suffer the Son of God was willing in our Nature to undergo himself And though God the Father if he had so pleased might have refus'd that any should bear the Punishment besides those who had deserv'd it for the Law when it is Trangress'd doth require that the Offenders should suffer in their own Persons The Soul that Sinneth it shall dye yet he was pleased to accept of his Son in our stead Accounting the Reverence of his Laws which by the Sins of Mankind had been Violated to be sufficiently maintain'd by his Death But on this condition only would God accept of his
preserve our Lives by no means to lose them However let not this Command of our Lord which requires us to part with Estates and Lives rather than deny him be faulted as too rigid and hard while the Rewards are so much beyond the Pains and while so many of Those who have thus suffered have had such Assistances and Joys afforded them even in the midst of their Sufferings that a Man would almost wish for their Sorrows could he but have their Joys together with them From all which it may appear Theophilus that the Air as was objected is not too pure to be breath'd in and that they are not unreasonable Heights of Duty which are required of us Neither may it disturb us that this our Work is not without difficulty to be begun and in like manner for some time to be carried on by us For it is in a sort a Priviledge which Angels have not to testifie unto Pains yea even unto Death itself the Sincerity of Obedience Which Testification of Sincerity although it ariseth from an Imperfection of Human Nature will yet be very acceptable unto God possibly no less than that of the Holy Ones Above which is wholly free from all such Conflicts And while the chief Intent of our Lawgiver is to make us Pious towards God Composed in our own Breasts Loving unto others and Loved again by them Perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect who makes his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and meting only the same measure to others which hath first been meted by the Love and Compassion of our Lord unto us we must one would think use very much Violence to the better Inclinations of our Souls if we do not entirely love these Laws As for mine own part Theophilus will you give me leave to speak my Heart freely to you my Love is so great to them that methinks I would obey them all not so much because I am commanded to do it as because they are every way in themselves so worthy to be loved I could wish that they were even one with my Soul and that all my Thoughts and Actions might proceed not more from Life than from Them. And so far would I be from questioning the goodness of them that I would as soon doubt whether it were good to Live and be Happy So dear are they unto me yea so much better than Life itself Theoph. I am much prevail'd upon by the Reasons you have given and your last Affectionate Words add so much a further weight to those Reasons that they appear to me not to be more the Issues of your Brain than of your Heart And therefore you may on good Grounds presume that they will be convincing to others when they have first been so to yourself But though I acknowledge the Laws of our Lord to require most reasonable things of us and do find that they truly have an high place in my Esteem and Love yet I 'll confess to you Eubulus much dejected I am somtimes when I reflect upon my many Failures Resolve indeed I do for the greatest Care and Circumspection but yet my Sins do daily increase upon me and what will it boot me to love these Laws when every day I transgress them To own them so admirably fitted for the perfecting of our Nature and the refining of our Practise when I see mine own Nature so imperfect under them and my Practcie so impure in Comparison of them Eubul What you now say Theophilus makes way for and will best be answer'd by the Consideration of the Fourth thing viz. That from these Laws we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins Most perfect these Laws are as you have heard but by reason of that weakness which is within us and those many strong Temptations which are without they are not like to be perfectly obeyed All that we can do is as it were a great way off to behold and admire that perfection which we cannot of ourselves attain unto and to grieve that we daily and hourly some way or other have Sinn'd against it But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Our Blessed Lord knowing our frame and make and seeing that our strength and abilities are but small hath added two other Laws of Faith and Repentance in which we may find some cheering in respect of those many Breaches of the Divine Laws which lie as a weight upon our Souls That of Faith requires thus much of us That we believe in Christ as a Saviour who by his precious Blood for us Shed hath appeased Gods Wrath and obtain'd Remission for all the Sins of Men and for ours in that number And from the mighty importance of this Law and the infinite benefits it affordeth unto us the whole Gospel and all the Laws thereof are in a comprehensive Word called the Law of Faith. And in this respect it is much different from the Old Law. Perfect Obedience was required by That and because perfection of Obedience is necessarily grounded upon a perfection of Nature the Law seemeth therefore to have been the Rule not of our Works only but of our Nature also which at the Creation was committed pure into our Hands But this Law of Faith by reason of Human Natures having been perfect in Christ and having Done also without the least failure whatsoever was Incumbent on the Representative of Mankind to do and as united with the Divine Nature having suffered likewise what Punishment was Due to the Sins of Men this Law I say of Faith doth Command that we should not rely upon any Righteousness of our own not yet Despair for any Sin whether belonging to our Nature or more particularly to our own Persons but should have our Eyes upon Him who alone by his Merits hath purchased Salvation for us The Law of Repentance is this viz. That we truly be sorry for what Sins soever we commit and do heartily endeavour an amendment of Life And this shall be available through the Death of Christ for our Pardon Repentance shall not Theophilus be unto Sins after the same manner as Sacrifices in Moses Law were Not the small Sins only shall be done away but the great ones also shall no less For he who hath called us unto Repentance hath been a propitiation for all the Sins of Mankind alike for those of a deeper Dye as well as those of a lighter Stain And his Blood is against the greatest Offences and the smallest Infirmities equally Efficacious Of Old if a Man had unwillingly Kill'd his Brother and was truly sorry for it the avenger of Blood was notwithstanding allowed to Slay him if he could overtake him before he reach'd to the City of Refuge The Sin here if it were not rather an unhappiness was so far imputed as That he must dye for it if another could run faster than he which might happen to be a thing beyond his power to prevent And though this might
probable that except the Apostles had in this thing sufficiently understood the Will of their Lord they would not have been the Authors of the Change of that Day which for Reason of Equity as well as Ceremony was so strictly observed for so many Ages in the Jewish Church we may upon these accounts and others such as These and not from the Churches Example only acknowledge the setting apart of the first Day of the Week to be of great Moment And the more in that the Two great Adverse Parties to Christianity the Jews and Heathens were so rightly opposed hereby In the Observing one Day in Seven the first Christians ran counter to the Heathens by the acknowledging Him to he their God who in Six Days made the World and Rested the Seventh In the keeping Holy the First Day of the Week they profess'd openly against the Jews that they worshipp'd God not as a Redeemer out of Egypt but as the Father of Jesus Christ who on that Day Rose from the Dead and was our Redemption in so wonderful a Manner as that the Redemption from Egypt was only a Shadow of it In both your Instances Theophilus there is indeed the Practice of the Church but then there is a great deal more beside so much as sheweth that in great probability and in the best Judgment she can make they are things of more than Ordinary Consequence and to be Solemnly Observed by all who would sincerely approve themselves unto God. And not unlike possibly may be said in some other things which we have the Church's Example for but no positive Command from God For her Example is founded upon such Rational and Religious Considerations and so Consonant unto the Divine Laws as do affix very much Honour to her Practice and do Recommend it as necessary if not in the Highest Degree yet so as not to be disobey'd by Vs nor thrown off by Her. So that we may conclude that in the imitating of any Example we are to have respect to the Law and to the Testimony to Examine it whether it be Repugnant to the Rule or not If it be Repugnant thereunto how Specious soever it may seem and how much soever Cried up it be we must by no means imitate it The Perfection of the Gospel Laws forbids it Theoph. It seemeth very agreeable to Reason and Truth what you have said And would you therefrom as you well may give some particular Judgment of the Examples in Holy Writ I should account it among your kindnesses to me Eubul That Admirable Person Dr. Sanderson in his Lecture De Piorum Exemplis hath done what you desire But that our Walk may not want Discourse and that I may not seem unwilling to gratifie you so far as I am able what I can remember from Him and think of elsewhere that will be pertinent you shall have There is no need of saying any thing of those Actions which in Holy Scripture are Sentenced as Evil ones How good soever the Actors otherwise have been such their Doings have evidently been Breaches of Gods Law and so are by no means to be imitated But then for other Examples we may say 1. That Those which have no Mark of Condemnation put upon them are not thereby presently to be drawn into Imitation For Holy Penmen shewing themselves Faithful Historians in delivering Matters truly but not taking upon them the Persons of Judges in Condemning every thing that is amiss some of these Actions possibly may be against the Laws of our Lord. The Drunkenness of Noah Lot's offering his Daughters to the abuses of the Sodomites Joseph's Swearing by the Life of Pharaoh and such like are not Condemned but who will say they are to be Imitated Nor Secondly are these Examples which have Praise given to them without further search to have our Imitation Some of them were Extraordinary Actions as was Phineas's Smiting the Man of Israel and the Midianitish Woman in the Act of Whoredom through the Belly with a Javelin and so are not to be extended beyond the Time and Circumstances in which they were done Some of them were Mixed Actions only in one part of them Praiseworthy in the Other against the Laws of our Lord. Such was the Midwives Example in speaking of the Hebrew Womens Child-births Exod. 1.19 As also was that of the Vnjust Steward Luke 16.8 A Lye there was in the One as well as Piety and Injustice in the Other as well as Prudence And we are taught that even the Glory of God is not to be promoted by our Lye and that no Evil is to be done that good may come thereof Thirdly Nor yet are those Actions which have been in order to Signal Ends and by the especial Providence of God have attain'd those Ends an absolute Warrant for our imitating them I instance in the Fact of Jacob and his Mother Rebecca in the getting the Blessing from Esau the Elder Son. A Promise God had made to Rebecca that the Elder should serve the Younger And on Jacob's having the Blessing of his Father the Welfare of the whole Race which proceeded out of his Loins and was the chosen People of God might seem in a manner to depend The Blessing is sought for through deceitful Means and is obtain'd The Father when he knoweth of all doth not reverse the Blessing as seeing the Hand of God in the thing and God confirmeth the Blessing to Jacob and his Posterity The Manifest and Strong Providence of God in this Example will not Authorize our doing like unto it though in concerns if such there could be altogether as high and great as These were The Reason is The Expressions of Gods Will through Christ in the New Testament are to be preferr'd before the Instances of his Providence in the Old. His Providence can order the irregular Actions of Men unto Ends that are good and by them can bring about those things which he hath design'd But His Will cannot by reason of its Perfection command any unrighteous Deed to be done as if his End could not be obtain'd without it And His Will in the Gospel being fully and clearly reveal'd by Him who was in the Bosom of his Father and so knew his whole Mind That Will of his is now to be our Rule and esteemed by us in our Practice before any Actings of his Providence either that have been heretofore or that shall be hereafter This we may do improve so far as in us lies the evil Actions of others into the good of ourselves and them and to the Glory of God For in so doing we shall imitate the Wisdom and Providence of God which is holy But we may never do evil Actions ourselves nor encourage others to do them upon the account that God hath made them somtimes instrumental to good Ends. For they are not in themselves a jot the better for the having been thus used to those Ends. God hath indeed in his Wisdom well improved them but in his
or very heedless if our Fear of God our Trust in him and other such like Graces be not stirred up and exercised within us It is impossible a good Man should be taken with any History so much as with this Since by being Conversant in it he doth not only as it were Live in those Times with those Persons who were dear unto God but doth likewise before hand become their Friend and Intimate with whom he hopes to Live for ever in that City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God. Theoph. I would not that the pleasure though great it be which you have excited in me from the History of the Old Testament should make me forget that of the New. Dear Eubulus let not that pass without some Remarks from you also Eubul There cannot be in the whole World what may more deservedly engage our Love than That And what we have hitherto been speaking though it be very taking is yet much the more so because a great deal of it hath a more Spiritual meaning and is in Order to the History of our Redemption The Genealogies in the Old Law were of Civil use to the Jews in more respects than one But they may chiefly seem by the Providence of God to be so exactly Registred and Preserved that the Race of the Messias when he should come should not be unknown and confused And yet who can declare his Generation So surpassing all others is it how Glorious soever The Chief Matter of the Gospel Story is the Redemption of the world by the Son of God's suffering in our stead undergoing his Fathers wrath that we might be partakers of his Love. And how delightful may such History be to us From the depth of Bondage and Misery to be asserted into the liberty of the Sons of God and made capable upon most excellent Terms of everlasting Happiness how may it affect us Our Redemption in itself is a thing Divinely Great But the Method of accomplishing it Who can sufficiently admire Though the Son of God who was to work this mighty Favour for us from all Eternity was and to all Eternity will be God the Blessed as far in his Godhead from being punishable for sinful Men as Men in their sins are from being acceptable to a Just and Holy God yet there is a way found out for him to undergo Pain and Punishment in our stead God the Father hath prepared for him a Body and by his own uniting it with the Divine Nature he can both Suffer and Dye And in his being capacitated thus to do Christ is by way of Eminence the Wisdom of God as exceeding the deepest Conceptions of Men or Angels Neither may his History in other Circumstances of his Coming into Continuance in and Leaving of the World less prevail upon us for an H ol Admiration and Delight Highly wonderful was his Conception within the Womb of a Pure Virgin by the Power of the Highest overshadowing her And his Birth from the multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God from the Star's being Created on purpose for the leading the wise Men from afar to worship him Shew forth an Holy Lamp and Splendor order'd by Wisdom from above as a Peculiar to Him alone of all that ever were born into the World. One thing more is very apposite to the History of his Birth That it was in a Time of Peace over all the World. The Temple of Janus at Rome was shut And no noise of War disturb'd the Nations This was the Hand of God that He who was styled the Prince of Peace should then be born when Peace was upon Earth Especially since the Laws he was to give were not to make their way by Force and Arms but were calmly to be weigh'd and for their Reasonableness and Excellence to find entertainment in the World. Theoph. But there were some Circumstances in his Birth which were as remarkable for their Meanness as these you have mention'd were for their Greatness Such were his Mothers being of Low Degree Her bringing forth her Son in a Stable And the First Message of his Birth being made known to Shepherds All of which may seem unworthy of his Person as they are much of a different piece from what you but now spake Eubul Yet in them all Theophilus there is no less Wisdom and Love seen than in those things which were Splendid and Glorious What if the Blessed Virgin was not great in the World She yet was of a very Creditable Stock of no meaner an one than that of David She yet was of Spotless Innocence and of Great Piety which are in his Eyes who seeth not as men see of the greatest Price and far beyond outward Grandeur Such Humble ones God will exalt while the mighty shall be put down from their Seat. And this was the Matter of the Blessed Virgins Praising of God and rejoycing in him and will be the Praise and Joy of the Meek and Lowly for ever His Birth was indeed at first made known unto Shepherds and they were directed to the place where the young Child was But had the Angels in Heaven and the Great ones on Earth been his only Attendants the meaner sort of Men might have been discourag'd as thinking that the Benefit of a Saviour was only or chiefly there where State and Greatness made way for it But now Meaner Persons so they be Harmless and Industrious as these Shepherds from their Calling and their keeping Watch with their Flocks by night appear to have been are shew'd to be no less dear unto God than those of higher Rank And Lastly his being Born in a Stable and laid in a Manger doth manifest also that He was truly Man Which would not have been so throughly discerned had all things been of the more splendid sort For where there is nothing but Grandeur and State Men seem to themselves to be and are permitted by God to be called more than Men I have said ye are Gods. But the being of Human Race is never question'd where the Condition and Circumstances are Low. The things then that are meanest in our Saviour's Birth afford us as much cause of Rejoycing as those that are highest Let a Jew call our Saviour Mean we will not account it our Reproach because he thereby acknowledgeth Him to be a Man which we shall always esteem our Honour We hereby are so pleased with the low Condition of his Mother the poor place of his Birth and the inferior Attendents about him that we praise his Name for them as being great assurances of our Interest in him If in his Life we read his Infant-Obedience to the Law in being Circumcised of his sitting in the Temple with the Doctors Hearing and asking them Questions If his Baptism and Solemn Vnction after it to his Office by the Holy Ghost's descent upon him like a Dove and the Voice from Heaven If his Temptation in the Wilderness and his Conquest over the Devil therein What
such a moderate and harmless Transgression to make the Holy and Good God to favour Intemperance to look slightly on Unchasteness to be at good terms with Idleness and Sloth I remember that Plutarch in relation to Mens Evil Thoughts of the Deity saith He had rather it should be said There is no such Person as Plutarch in the World than that it should be said He is after such and such a manner Vitious And surely these who imagine God so vile as to approve of those things which in Men are shameful are no less wicked than they who deny there is any God at all For his Being cannot be conceived to be Dear to him without his Holiness If lastly they shall own him as to his Attributes to be such as he is hoping that their good Opinions shall make amends for bad Practices what a strange Contradiction is this They acknowledge him to be Just that he may not punish Unrighteousness Holy that he may favour Impureness True that he may over-look Falseness Good that Evil may not be discouraged Can there be greater Indignities offered unto the Holy One and the Just than these are Can any one be so wicked as to think that because he is not edged with a sensible spight in these things against God he therefore is a very pardonable Sinner Or can he be so foolish as to imagine that these his Sins are wholly free from Maliciousness Were it so that Malice could effect any thing against the Almighty it would quickly shew itself openly but since it cannot it lieth hid yet hath the same pernicious Tendences as if it appear'd more in view and in other Garbs doth act the very same things Theoph. But is there Eubulus the same Pollution and Defilement in all Sins I therefore enquire this because there is no one living that can say he hath not Sinned And some I am sure would by no means bring such Defilement upon themselves nor such Disorder into the World through their Sins as you have mentioned to be the effects of Disobedience Eubul I cannot say that there is the same Pollution and Deformity in all Sins There is somwhere in Scripture I think in Deut. 32.5 such an Expression as This Their Spot is not the Spot of his Children Which sheweth that there is a greater Pollution in some Men than in Others but yet that Sin wheresoever it is is a Defilement a Spot both to the One and the Other Sort. Theoph. Since there is none that is wholly free from Disobedience and Disobedience hath a different Deformity in different Sorts of Men Good and Bad pray Eubulus tell me what is the Spot of each and wherein it is that they differ Eubul I will endeavour to do it and the rather because it is of Material Consideration as to what we have been discoursing As for Those that are Good Men They are Partakers of Original Sin as much as any other Since they were no less than others in Adam's Loyns when he transgressed Gods Command And if a Clean thing cannot be brought out of an Vnclean one there is a Pollution belonging unto Them. Their Nature as they are Men is Corrupted Darkness and Error is in their Understandings Their Wills and Affections are Irregular and Prone to Evil and their Bodies joyn their Allurements to the Evil Inclinations of their Souls And as thus they are not Clean from Original Sin so they have many actual Sins springing therefrom David asketh a Question at large Who is it can tell how oft he offendeth Even He that most taketh heed to his ways can He tell how oft he sinneth Besides the Faults which he may have observed in himself there are many secret ones which he may pray to be delivered from St. Paul saith Though he knoweth nothing by himself yet is he not thereby justified and so may every good Christian say also Though he be not conscious to himself that at such a time he sinned in such a Concern he fail'd of his Duty yet he cannot certainly plead innocence before God. For his Offences reach further than his Knowledge His Understanding by reason of the first Parents Sin being so imperfect that many times he cannot discern the Failures he hath been guilty of But then the Disobedience of Good Men whether Natural or Actual is through the Grace of God the occasion of many Virtues in them whereby they become acceptable in God's sight The Imperfection of their Nature rendereth them humble They observing the many Defects that are in their Souls and the depraved Constitutions of their Bodies do see a great deal of reason for Humility of Spirit As their imperfect State in this World is a Punishment just upon them they will bear it with Patience and not be tumultuous and unquiet as if God had dealt hardly with them They will not behave themselves proudly towards others as knowing that Pity and Kindness rather become those who are in the same Condemnation Thus will they do and thus be while they consider their imperfect State in this World to be their Punishment As it is their Sin also and a Defilement upon their Natures they will be affected with Sorrow yet will not be desponding and idle nor so contented with their Sin as not to endeavour to correct it by a Religious Carefulness and Industry knowing that it is the part of Negligence to let Original Sin he unmeddled with and to rest satisfied both in that and in their other Sins as if these did necessarily flow from the Imperfection of their Nature and could not any way be helped They will make it their business to clear their Understandings to rectifie their Wills to reduce into order their untoward Appetites and to bring under their Bodies that though they cannot wholly wipe off their Original Pollution yet the ill effects of it may be as few and as small as they can possibly make them As for their Actual Sins these stir up in them an Hearty Sorrow an holy Indignation and Revenge Troubled really they are that they have offended so Good a God and so Gracious a Father Throughly angry with themselves that they have made such ill Returns to One who hath infinitely obliged them and Revenging it upon themselves by unfeigned Acts of Mortification These their Sins will also occasion their more frequent and fervent Devotion They will freely and without so much as hiding one confess their Iniquities before God Heartily acknowledging themselves less than the least of his Mercies Earnestly begging that He through Jesus Christ will forgive them They will not let him alone will give him no Rest till they have obtain'd his Favour And so by how much they heretofore have in the Commission of Sins been at a distance from God they now by seriously calling them into Remembrance and truly repenting of them will the more and the oftner draw near unto God in Prayers and other Acts of Religious Worship Their former Sins beget in them the Resolution
Pollution in them which the same Sins in others do For no Relation that a Man can stand in unto God can make Injustice to become Righteousness Falseness to become Truth Intemperance Moderation and Uncleanness Purity And the Reason is Because the Relation which they have unto God as Children lieth chiefly in an Internal Likeness unto him and a partaking of the Divine Nature in its Imitable Perfections Now These consist in a Spiritual Remoteness from Sin and an hatred of it as being themselves contrary unto it And therefore they can in no respect be thought to Extenuate much less to cast a Beauty upon That unto which they are so extreamly opposite Gods not beholding Iniquity in Jacob and his not seeing perverseness in Israel can never be rightly interpreted of their Sins being overlook'd or not taken notice of by him upon the mere account that they were his Children For how grievously hath God complain'd of them I have seen saith he to Moses this People and behold it is a Stiff-Necked People now therefore let me alone that my Wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of Thee a great Nation And how often hath he threatned and severely punish'd their Iniquities Surely Balaam himself understood not Those his own words as These Men are too forward to do For had he so done why should he have Counsell'd Balack That the Israelites by the Midianitish Woman should be allured to Trespass against the Lord that thereby they might be excluded from his Favour Iniquity therefore in Jacob and Perverseness in Israel are not to be understood of their own Sins against either God or Men but of the Iniquity and Perverseness of Others against Them. Which thing the next Verse but one doth very well shew Where the very same Preposition in which the Margin retains with Relation to the very same Words Jacob and Israel is rendred against Surely there is no Inchantments in against Jacob nor Divination in against Israel Numb 23.23 And Gods not Seeing and not Beholding denote his not approving or not enduring it to be So that the Sense of the Words is not that he will not see Iniquity and Perverseness in Them if they shall be Guilty but that he will not suffer Iniquity and Perverseness against Them if they shall be Innocent Nay so far will the Relation of being Children unto God be from less'ning the Pollution of any Heinous Sin that it will be a very great Aggravation and Heightning of it and will render it the more displeasing unto Him. That Those who have given up their Names unto Christ who have seen the Beauty of Holiness who have tasted of the good Word of God and have been washed and cleansed should commit Sin lose their first Love fall away and wallow in the Mire again how Odious in the Sight of God will it be These though they should be the Signet on his Right Hand He without their unfeigned Sorrow and Repentance would pluck them thence as he spake of Coniah Jerem 22.24 God is no Respecter of Persons But as in every Nation He that feareth Him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him so He that worketh Wickedness is rejected by him As he is Judge of all the Earth he will do right and by no means will clear the Guilty He may sooner put off the Title of Father to such or such an One than he can lay aside the Name of Holy and Just His being a Father to any Man is with Relation to his Obedience which is mutable and may be withheld And if Obedience shall be wholly withheld the Man ceaseth to be his Child and God is no longer unto him a Father in a Sense that betokeneth Love and Delight in him But He who is most contrary unto God putteth on that Relation Ye are of your Father the Devil saith our Saviour But then Holiness and Justice are Essential unto God and cannot by any Condition or Carriage of Men be parted with And so by These be Wickedness and Pollution in what Persons soever they will He rightly will discern and punish them God indeed is said to Love with an Everlasting Lvve Jer. 31.3 Which yet is not so to be understood as if he were a fond Father that could not spy the Faults of his Children or would think them lighter or less than they are but He is said to Love Everlastingly in that he will never fail Those that Obedientially seek unto and depend upon him and will always afford sufficient means for their abiding in his Love as well as at the last infinitely Reward them for Loving and Obeying him And He is pleased also to say he Loveth with an Everlasting Love in opposition to those Earthly Parents who somtimes have no natural Affection and so do not Love and somtimes may want means and abilities to express their Love. Thus when my Father and Mother forsake me i. e. either for want of Will do not love me or for want of Power cannot shew it as they would the Lord taketh me up But yet if his Child shall grow disobedient requiting his Love with Presumption and carrying it quite otherwise than a dutiful Child ought to do Gods Eyes are open to the Faults of such his Son and he will use his Rod of Correction towards him Yea if his Son shall grow stubborn and disobedient Shall not hearken unto his Voice but be a Drunkard or a Glutton as it is in Deut. 21.20 or any other way profane and dissolute He will cast him off and disinherit him and it will not be the failing of his Love but the Expression of his Justice and Holiness so to do Agreeable hereunto is that of Ezekiel Chap. 18.24 When the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations which the wicked Man doth shall he live All his Righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembred in the Trespasses that he hath trespassed and in the Sin that he hath sinned shall he die And in this his dealing God appealeth to the House of Israel if his way be not equal And thus Theophilus I have considered the Sins of good Men in Holy Scripture together with the ill Inferences which some Men are apt to make from them They look not upon them as the Sins of good Men who take not the Repentance together with the Sins And they are much mistaken who think that those Sins are there mention'd only to shew how far God's Children may fall and do not consider them rather as Punishments to their Names who thus offended God and as greater Cautions to us that we from their Falls may stand the surer Yea They deal treacherously with themselves who from the Sins of God's Children in Holy Scripture will flatter and encourage themselves in their own And they most grosly and dangerously err who thinking that God will esteem the Sins of his Children which are the same