wooing again to tempt and sollicite even temptations to give gifts to all thy lovers to hire them that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms vers 33. of this Chapter This is a degree of stupidity and insolence of insatiable pride and lust that neither the iniquity of Sodom nor stubbornness of Capernaum nor the Rhetoricall'st Phrase almost in the very Scripture can express but only this in my Text which comes in the last place with a marvellous Emphasis Imperious The work c. In which one Epithet many of the highest degrees of sin are contein'd 1. Confidence and shamelesness in sinning an imperious Whore mulier impudicae libidinis one that is better acquainted with lust than to blush when she meets with it modesty and coyness are but infirmities rather than good qualities of youth effects of ignorance and tenderness and unexperience in sin a little more conversation in the world will season men to a bolder temper in time instruct them that this modesty is the only thing they ought to be asham'd of 'T is not ingenuity but cowardise a poor degenerous pusillanimous humour to go fearfully about a vice to sin tremblingly and with regrets This country disposition or soft temper when we come abroad into the world amongst men 't is quite out-dated Thus is impudence and a forehead of steel grown not the armour only but even the complexion of every man-like spirit He is not fit for the Devils war that is so poorly appointed either with courage or munition as to be discomfited by a look 't is part of his honour not to fear disgrace and his reputation not to stand upon so poor a thing as reputation 2. Imperious taking all authority into her own hands scorning to be afraid either of God or Devil quae regno posita neminem timeat having fancied her self in a throne never thinks either of enemy to endanger or of superiour to quell her but sins confidently in Cathedrâ Psal I. 1. in state in security and at ease and never doubts or fears to be removed And this is most primarily observable in the Jews depending on their carnal Prerogatives as being of Abrahams seed and yet thus also may we suspect do many among us some tying Gods decree of Election to their persons and individual entities without any reference to their qualifications or demeanors others by a premature perswasion that they are in Christ and so in such an irreversible estate that all the temptations all the Devils nay all the sins in Hell shall never dispossess them Others resolv'd That God can see no sin in his children in imitation of Marcus in Irenaeus whose Heresie or rather Fancie it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by the redemption they were become invisible Upon these I say and other grounds how true I will not now examine do many rash presumers abuse the grace of God unto wantonness never fear to sin because they need not fear to be punished never cease to provoke God because they are sure he is their friend and being resolved of him as a Saviour contemn him as a Judge Multiad sapientiam pervenissent c. saith he Many had come to learning enough had they not believed too soon they had attain'd it No such hindrance to proficiency as too timely a conceit of knowledge Thus might we ordinarily guess some men to have been in good towardly estates had they not made too much hast to conceive so and having once possest themselves of heaven on such slight grounds such as not a solemn examination of themselves but some gleams of their fancy had bestowed upon them 't is no wonder if all the effects of their assurance be spiritual security and supine confidence in sinning they have hid their heads in heaven by their vain speculation and then think their whole body must needs be safe be it never so open and naked and bare to all temptations Nay be they up to the shoulders in carnality nay earth nay hell yet seeing caput inter nubila their head is in the clouds there is no danger or fear of drowning be it never so deep or myrie This was Laodice as estate Rev. III. 17. She fancied her self great store of spiritual riches brought in an Inventory of a very fair estate I am rich and am encreased in goods and have need of nothing any more accession even of the graces of God would be but superfluousand burthensome not knowing all this while That she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked There is not a blessing upon earth that can any way hope or seem to parallel a sober wellgrounded assurance here that in time we shall be Saints in Heaven 't is such a Paradise upon Earth that Heaven it self seems but a second part of it differing from it rather in degrees and external accomplishments than in any distinct specifical kind of happiness The Lord of Heaven by his mighty working when it shall please him begin and consummate it in us But then to make use of this Patent of Heaven to engage us further in the deep to keep us not from the Devils works but from his attachments only as a protection to secure our misdemeanors not to defend our innocence for a man thus appointed to venture on a Precipice as the Turks saith Busbequius are wont to try the goodness of an horse by riding him post down the steepest hill to out-dare the Devil in his own territories as Christ is said to descend thither to triumph over him to besiege and set upon Hell presuming of our interest in Heaven as of a Magical Charm and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep us safe from death or maims in the midst of enemies nay of friends this is a piece of spiritual pride of Lucifer's own inscribing an imperious majestick garb of impiety a triumphant or processionary pomp an affected stately gate in sin that nothing but a violent rending power of the Spirit or a boisterous tempestuous judgment can force us out of Such a prophane Fiduciary as this which hath even defiled Heaven by possessing it such an Hellish Saint is like to be torn out of the third Heaven into which his speculation hath rapt him and after a long dream of Paradise find himself awake in Hell And from this degree of religious prophaneness this confidence in sinning on presumption that we are under grace from this premature resolution that no sin no Devil can endanger us from this imperious whoredom as from the danger of Hell Good Lord deliver us 3. Imperious signifies more distinctly a tyrannical Lording behaviour usurping and exercising authority over all And this the Apostate Jew and Christian Libertine doth 1. By tyrannizing over himself i. e. his faculties and estate 2. Over all that come near him Over himself by urging and driving on in a carnal course not patient of any regrets and resistances that a tender
unworthy of any more It was a shrewd though Atheistical speech of Hippocrates That sure if the Gods had any good things to bestow they would dispense them among the rich who would be able and ready to requite them by Sacrifices But all evil presents all Pandora's Box should be divided among the poor because they are still murmuring and repining and never think of making any return for favours The Eye of Nature it seems could discern thus much of God and his gifts that they are the most plentifully bestowed where the greatest return may be expected And for others from whom all the liberality in the world can extort no retribution but grumbling and complaints it is not charity or alms but prodigality and riot to bestow on them These are to be fed not with bread but stripes they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather beggars than poor like Pharaohs lean Kine after the devouring of the fat ones still lank and very ill-favoured And the judgment of these you shall find in the Gospel From them shall be taken away even that which they have And therefore all which from God at this time and for ever I shall require and beg of you is the exercise and the improvement of your talent that your learning may not be for ostentation but for traffick not to possess but negotiate withal not to complain any longer of the poverty of your stock but presently to set to work to husband it That knowledge of God which he hath allowed you as your portion to set up with is ample enough to be the Foundation of the greatest estate in the World and you need not despair through an active labouring thriving course at last to set Heaven as a Roof on that Foundation Only it will cost you some pains to get the materials together for the building of the Walls it is as yet but a Foundation and the Roof will not become it till the walls be raised And therefore every faculty of your Souls and Bodies must turn Bezaleels and Aholiabs Spiritual Artificers for the forwarding and perfecting of this work It is not enough to have gotten an abstracted Mathematical Scheme or Diagram of this Spiritual Building in our Brain it is the Mechanical labouring part of Religion that must make up the edifice the work and toil and sweat of the Soul the business not of the Designer but the Carpenter that which takes the rough unpolished though excellent materials and trims and fits them for use which cuts and polishes the rich but as yet deformed jewels of the Soul and makes them shine indeed and sparkle like stars in the Firmament That ground or sum of Pythagorean Philosophy as it is set down by Hierocles in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it were admitted into our schools or hearts would make us Scholars and Divines indeed that Virtue is the way to Truth Purity of affections a necessary precursory to depth of knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only means to prepare for the uppermost form of Wisdom the speculation of God which doth ennoble the Soul unto the condition of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an heroical nay sacred person is first to have been the person of a man aright and by the practice of vertue to have cleared the eye for that glorious Vision But the divinity and learning of these times floats and hovers too much in the brain hath not either weight or sobriety enough in it to sink down or settle it in the heart We are all for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens calls it the art of sorting out and laying in order all intellectual store in our brains tracing the Councils of God and observing his methods in his secrecies but never for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the refunding and pouring out any of that store in the alms as it were and liberality of our actions If Gerson's definition of Theology that it is scientia effectiva non speculativa were taken into our consideration at the choice of our professions we should certainly have fewer pretenders to Divinity but 't is withal hoped more Divines The Lacedaemonians and Cretians saith Josephus brought up men to the practice but not knowledg of good by their example only not by precept or law The Athenians and generally the rest of the Grecians used instructions of laws only but never brought them up by practice and discipline But of all Lawgivers saith he only Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dispensed and measured both these proportionably together And this beloved is that for which that policy of the Primitive Jews deserved to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a special name the Government of God Himself This is it the combination of your knowledg with your practice your learning with your lives which I shall in fine commend unto you to take out both for your selves and others 1. For your selves that in your study of Divinity you will not behold Gods Attributes as a sight or spectacle but as a Copy not only to be admired but to be transcribed into your hearts and lives not to gaze upon the Sun to the dazling nay destroying of your eyes but as it were in a burning-glass contract those blessed sanctifying rayes that flow from it to the enlivening and inflaming of your hearts And 2. In the behalf of others so to digest and inwardly dispense every part of sacred knowledg into each several member and vein of Body and Soul that it may transpire through hands and feet and heart and tongue and so secretly insinuate it self into all about you that both by Precept and Example they may see and follow your good works and so glorifie here your Father which is in heaven that we may all partake of that blessed Resurrection not of the learned and the great but the just and so hope and attain to be all glorified together with him hereafter Now to him c. The II. Sermon PHIL. IV. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me THose two contrary Heresies that cost S. Austin and the Fathers of his time so much pains the one all for natural strength the other for irrecoverable weakness have had such unkindly influence on succeeding ages that almost all the actions of the ordinary Christian have some tincture of one of these Scarce any sin is sent abroad into the World without either this or that inscription And therefore parallel to these we may observe the like division in the hearts and practical faculties between pride and sloth opinion of absolute power and prejudice of absolute impotence The one undertaking all upon its own credit the other suing as it were for the preferment or rather excuse of being bankrupts upon record that so they may come to an easie composition with God for their debt of obedience The one so busie in contemplation of their present fortunes
that they are not at leisure to make use of them their pride helping them to ease and if you look nearly to poverty too Revel iii. 17. the other so fastned to this Sanctuary this religious piece of prophaneness that leaving the whole business to God as the undertaker and proxy of their obedience their idleness shall be deemed devotion and their best piety sitting still These two differences of Men either sacrilegious or supine imperious or lethargical have so dichotomized this lower sphear of the Word almost into two equal parts that the practice of humble obedience and obeying humility the bemoaning our wants to God with Petition to repair them and the observing and making use of those succors which God in Christ hath dispensed to us those two foundations of all Christian duty providing between them that our Religion be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither the vertue of the Atheist nor the prayer of the Sluggard are almost quite vanished out of the World As when the Body is torn asunder the Soul is without any farther act of violence forced out of its place that it takes its flight home to Heaven being thus let out at the Scissure as at the Window and only the two fragments of carcass remain behind For the deposing of these two Tyrants that have thus usurped the Soul between them dividing the Live child with that false Mother into two dead parts For the abating this pride and enlivening this deadness of practical faculties for the scourging this stout Beggar and restoring this Cripple to his Legs the two Provisions in my Text if the order of them only be transposed and in Gods method the last set first will I may hope and pray prove sufficient I can do c. 1. Through Christ that strengthneth me You have there first The Assertion of the necessity of grace and secondly that enforced from the form of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports the minutely continual supply of aids and then thirdly we have not only positively but exclusively declared the person thus assisting in Christo confortante it is by him not otherwise we can do thus or thus Three particulars all against the natural confidence of the proud Atheist 2. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can do all things First The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and secondly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The power and 2. the extent of that power 1. The potency and 2. the omnipotency and then 3. this not only originally of Christ that strengthneth but inherently of me being strengthned by Christ Three particulars again and all against the conceived or pretended impotence either of the false spie that brought news of the Giants Anakims Cannibals in the way to Canaan Numb xiii 32. Or of the Sluggard that is alway affrighting and keeping himself at home with the Lion in the streets some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or other difficulty or impossibility whensoever any work or travel of obedience is required of us Prov. xxvi 13. It will not befit the majesty of the subject to have so many particulars by being severally handled joyntly neglected Our best contrivance will be to shorten the retail for the encreasing of the gross to make the fewer parcels that we may carry them away the better in these three Propositions I. The strength of Christ is the Original and Fountain of all ours Through Christ that c. II. The strength of a Christian from Christ derived in a kind of Omnipotency sufficient for the whole duty of a Christian Can do all things c. III. The strength and power being thus bestowed the work is the Work of a Christian of the suppositum the Man strengthned by Christ I can do c. Of these in this order for the removing only of those prejudices out of the Brain which may trash and encumber the practice of piety in the heart And first of the first The strength of Christ is the Original and Fountain of all ours The strength of Christ and that peculiarly of Christ the second Person of the Trinity who was appointed by consent to negotiate for us in the business concerning our Souls All our tenure or plea to grace or glory to depend not on any absolute respectless though free donation but conveyed to us in the hand of a Mediator That Privy Seal of his annexed to the Patent or else of no value at that Court of Pleas or that Grand Assizes of Souls Our Natural strength is the gift of God as God is considered in the first Article of our Creed and by that title of Creation we have that priviledge of all created substances to be able to perform the work of nature or else we should be inferior to the meanest creature in this for the least stone in the street is able to move downwards by its own principle of nature And therefore all that we have need of in the performing of these is only Gods concurrence whether previous or simultaneous and in acts of choice the government and direction of our will by his general providence and power However even in this Work of Creation Christ must not be excluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods in the Plural all the Persons of the Deity in the whole work peculiarly in the Faciamus hominem are adumbrated if not mentioned by Moses And therefore God is said to have made all by his Word that inward eternal Word in his bosome an articulation and as it were incarnation of which was that Fiat factum est which the Heathen Rhetorician so admired in Moses for a magnificent sublime expression Yet in this Creation and consequently this donation of natural strength peculiarly imputed to the first Person of the Trinity because no personal act of Christ either of his satisfaction or merit of his humiliation or exaltation did conduce to that though the Son were consulted about it yet was it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered to us in the hand of a Mediator Our natural strength we have of God without respect to Christ incarnate without the help of his Mediation but that utterly unsufficient to bring us to Heaven 2 Cor. iii. 5. Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing i. e. saith Parisiensis Any thing of moment or valor according to the Dialect of Scripture that calls the whole man by the name of his soul so many souls i. e. so many men and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pythagoreans word thy soul is thou counts of nothing but what tends to the salvation of that But then our supernatural strength that which is called Grace and Christian strength that is of another date of another tenure of another allay founded in the promise actually exhibited in the death and exaltation of the Messias and continually paid out to us by the continued daily exercise of his Offices 1. The Covenant sealed in his Blood after
the Lord that are fit to move or to perswade any The utmost secular fear is so much more impendent over Satan's than God's Clients the killing of the body the far more frequent effect of that which had first the honor to bring death into the world The Devil owning the title of destroyer Abaddon and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and inflicting diseases generally on those whom he possest and Christ that other of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Physitian and the Saviour that hath promises of long life annexed to some specials of his service that if it were reasonable to fear those that can kill the body and afterwards have no more that they can do i. e. Are able by the utmost of their malice and Gods permission but to land thee safe at thy fair Haven to give thee Heaven and bliss before thy time instead of the many lingring deaths that this life of ours is subject to yet there were little reason to fear or suspect the fate in Gods service far less than in those steep precipitous paths which the Devil leads us thorow And therefore to be thus low-bell'd with panick frights to be thus tremblingly dismayed where there is no place of fear and to ride on intrepid on the truest dangers as the Barbarians in America do on Guns is a mighty disproportion of mens faculties a strange superiority of phansie over judgment That may well be described by a defect in the power of numbring that discerns no difference between Ciphers and Millions but only that the noughts are a little the blacker and the more formidable And so much for the third branch of this character There is yet a fourth notion of simplicity as it is contrary to common ordinary prudence that by which the politician and thriving man of this world expects to be valued the great dexterity and managery of affairs the business of this world wherein let me not be thought to speak Paradoxes if I tell you with some confidence that the wicked man is this only impolitick fool and the Christian generally the most dextrous prudent politick person in the world and the safest Motto that of the Virtutem violenter retine the keeping vertue with the same violence that Heaven is to be taken with Not that the Spirit of Christ infuses into him the subtleties and crafts of the wicked gives him any principles or any excuse for that greater portion of the Serpentine wisdom but because honesty is the most gainful policy the mok thriving thorow prudence that will carry a man farther than any thing else That old principle in the Mathematicks That the right line comes speediliest to the journeys end being in spight of Machiavel a Maxim in Politicks also and so will prove till Christ shall resign and give up to Satan the oeconomy of the World Some examples it is possible there may be of the Prosperum Scelus the thriving of villany for a time and so of the present advantages that may come in to us by our secular contrivances but sure this is not the lasting course but only an anomaly or irregularity that cannot be thought fit to be reckoned of in comparison of the more constant promises the long life in a Canaan of Milk and Honey that the Old and New Testament both have ensured upon the meek disciple And I think a man might venture the experiment to the testimony and tryal of these times that have been deemed most unkind and unfavorable to such innocent Christian qualities that those that have been most constant to the strict stable honest principles have thrived far better by the equable figure than those that have been most dexterous in changing shapes and so are not the most unwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if there were never another state of retributions but this Whereas it is most scandalously frequent and observable that the great Politicians of this world are baffled and outwitted by the Providence of Heaven sell their most precious souls for nought and have not the luck to get any money for them the most unthrifty improvident Merchandise that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 folly Psal xlix 13. which the lxxii render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scandal the most pitious offensive folly the wretchedst simplicity in the World You would easily believe it should not stand in need of a farther aggravation and yet now you are to be presented with one in my Text by way of heightning of the Character and that was my second particular that at first I promised you made up of two farther considerations First The loving of that which is so unlovely secondly The continuing in the Passion so long How long you simple ones will you love c. First The degree and improvement of the Atheists folly consists in the loving of it that he can take a delight and complacency in his way to be patient of such a course gainless service such scandalous mean submissions had been reproach enough to any that had not divested himself of ingenuity and innocence together and become one of Aristotles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natural slaves which if it signifie any thing denotes the fools simple ones in this Text whom nature hath marked in the head for no very honorable employments But from this passivity in the Mines and Gallies to attain to a joy voluptuousness in the employment to dread nothing but Sabbatick years and Jubiles and with the crest-fallen slave to disclaim nothing but liberty manumission i. e. in effect Innocence and Paradise and Bliss to court and woo Satan for the Mansions in Hell and the several types and praeludiums of them the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the initial pangs in this life which he hath in his disposing to be such a Platonick lover of stripes and chains without intuition of any kind of reward any present or future wages for all his patience and as it follows to hate knowledge and piety hate it as the most treacherous enemy that means to undermine their Hell to force them out of their beloved Satan's embraces This is certainly a very competent aggravation of the simplicity And yet to see how perfect a character this is of the most of us that have nothing to commend or even excuse in the most of those ways on which we make no scruple to exhaust our souls but only our kindness irrational passionate kindness and love toward them then that love shall cover a multitude of sins supersede all the exceptions and quarrels that otherwise we should not chuse but have to them Could a man see any thing valuable or attractive in Oaths Curses in Drunkenness and Bestiality the sin that when a Turk resolves to be guilty of he makes a fearful noise unto his Soul to retire all into his feet or as far off as it is possible that it may not be within ken of that bestial prospect as Busbequius tell us Could any man endure
with us which all the Fathers did but see in a cloud the Angels peep'd at the Heathen world gap'd after but we beheld as in a plain at mid-day For since the veil of the Temple was rent every man that hath eyes may see Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holies God with us Fourthly To make a real use of this Doctrine to the profit of our Souls that if God have designed to be Emmanuel and Jesus an Incarnate God and Saviour to us that then we will fit and prepare and make our selves capable of this Mercy and by the help of our religious devout humble endeavours not frustrate but further and promote in our selves this end of Christs Incarnation the saving of our Souls and this use is effectually made to our hands in the twelfth to the Hebrews at the last Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved i. e. being partakers of the Presence the Reign the Salvation of the Incarnate God Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear And do thou O powerful God improve the truth of this Doctrine to the best advantage of our Souls that thy Son may not be born to us unprofitably but that he may be God not only with us but in us in us to sanctifie and adorn us here with his effectual grace and with us to sustain us here as our Emmanuel and as our Jesus to crown and perfect us hereafter with glory And so much for this point That Jesus and Emmanuel import the same thing and there was no Salvation till this presence of God with us We now come to the substance it self i. e. Christs Incarnation noted by Emmanuel which is by interpretation c. Where first we must explain the word then drive forward to the matter The Word in Isaiah in the Hebrew is not so much a name as a sentence describing unto us the mystery of the Conception of the Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with us God where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is taken in Scripture either absolutely for the nature of God as for the most part in the Old Testament or personally and so either for the Person of the Father in many places or else distinctly for the Person of the Son so Hos i. 7. And will save them by the Lord their God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their God i. e. Christ and so also most evidently in this place out of Isaiah where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Son Incarnate God man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and many the like especially those where the Targum paraphrases Jehovah or Jehovah Elohim by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of the Lord i. e. Christ Jesus Joh. i. 1. As for instance Gen. iii. 22. that Word of the Lord said and Gen. ii 6. the Word created Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies in its extent near at with or amongst Thirdly the Particle signifying us though it expresses not yet it must note our humane nature our abode our being in this our great World wherein we travel and this our little World wherein we dwell not as a mansion place to remain in but either as an Inn to lodge or a Tabernacle to be covered or a Prison to suffer in So that the words in their latitude run thus Emmanuel i. e. The second Person in Trinity is come down into this lower world amongst us for a while to travel to lodg to sojourn to be fetter'd in this Inn this Tabernacle this Prison of mans flesh or briefly at this time is conceived and born God-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same both God and Man the Man Christ Jesus And this is the cause and business the ground and theme of our present rejoycing in this were limited and fulfilled the expectation of the Fathers and in this begins and is accomplished the hope and joy of us Christians That which was old Simeons warning to death the sight and embraces of the Lords Christ Luk. ii 28. as the greatest happiness which an especial favour could bestow on him and therefore made him in a contempt of any further life sing his own funeral Nunc dimittis Lord now lettest thou c. This is to us the Prologue and first part of a Christians life either the life of the World that that may be worthy to be call'd life or that of Grace that we be not dead whilst we live For were it not for this assumption of flesh you may justly curse that ever you carried flesh about you that ever your Soul was committed to such a Prison as your Body is nay such a Dungeon such a Grave But through this Incarnation of Christ our flesh is or shall be cleansed into a Temple for the Soul to worship in and in Heaven for a robe for it to triumph in For our body shall be purified by his Body If ye will be sufficiently instructed into a just valuation of the weight of this Mystery you must resolve your selves to a pretty large task and it were a notable Christmas employment I should bless God for any one that would be so piously valiant as to undertake it you must read over the whole Book of Scripture and Nature to this purpose For when you find in the Psalmist the news of Christs coming Then said I loe I come you find your directions how to tract him In the volume of thy book it is written of me c. i. e. either in the whole book or in every folding every leaf of this Book Thou shalt not find a Story a Riddle a Prophecy a Ceremony a downright legal Constitution but hath some manner of aspect on this glass some way drives at this mystery God manifest in flesh For example perhaps you have not noted wherever you read Seth's Genealogies more insisted on than Cain's Sem's than his elder brother Ham's Abraham's than the whole World besides Jacob's than Esau's Judah's than the whole twelve Patriarchs and the like passages which directly drive down the line of Christ make that the whole business of the Scripture Whensoever I say you read any of these then are you to note that Shiloh was to come that he which was sent was on his journey that from the Creation till the fulness of time the Scripture was in travel with him and by his leaping ever now and then and as it were springing in the Womb gave manifest tokens that it had conceived and would at last bring forth the Messias So that the whole Old Testament is a Mystical Virgin Mary a kind of Mother of Christ which by the Holy Ghost conceived him in Genesis Chap. iii. 15. And throughout Moses and the Prophets carried him in the Womb and was very big of him And at last in Malachi Chap. iii. 4. was in a manner delivered of him For there you shall find mention of John Baptist who was
work so much miracle as Simon Magus is said to have done who undertook to raise the dead give motion to the head make the eyes look up or the tongue speak but the lower part of the man and that the heaviest will by no charm or spell be brought to stir but weigh sink even into Hell will still be carcass and corruption Damnation is his birth-right Ecclus xx 25. And it is impossible though not absolutely yet ex hypothesi the second Covenant being now sealed even for God himself to save him or give him life It is not David's Musick that exorcised and quieted Saul's evil spirit nor Pythagoras's Spondees that tamed a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set him right in his wits for ever that can work any effect on a fleshy heart So that Chrysostom would not wonder at the voice that cried O Altar Altar hear the voice of the Lord because Jeroboam's heart was harder than that nor will I find fault with Bonaventure that made a solemn prayer for a stony heart as if it were more likely to receive impression than that which he had already of flesh It were long to insist on the wilfulness of our fleshy hearts how they make a faction within themselves and bandy faculties for the Devil how when grace and life appear and make proffer of themselves all the carnal affections like them in the Gospel Joyn all with one consent to make excuses nothing in our whole lives we are so sollicitous for as to get off fairly to have made a cleanly Apology to the invitations of God's Spirit and yet for a need rather than go we will venture to be unmannerly We have all married a Wife espoused our selves to some amiable delight or other we cannot we will not come The Devil is wiser in his generation than we he knows the price and value of a Soul will pay any rate for it rather than lose his market he will give all the riches in the world rather than miss And we at how low a rate do we prize it it is the cheapest commodity we carry about us The beggarliest content under Heaven is fair is rich enough to be given in exchange for the Soul Spiritus non ponderat saith the Philosopher the Soul being a spirit when we put it into the balance weighs nothing nay more than so it is lighter than vanity lighter than nothing i. e. it doth not only weigh nothing but even lifts up the scale it is put into when nothing is weighed against it How many sins how many vanities how many idols i. e. in the Scripture phrase how many nothings be there in the world each of which will outweigh and preponderate the Soul It were tedious to observe and describe the several ways that our devillish sagacity hath found out to speed our selves to damnation to make quicker dispatch in that unhappy rode than ever Elias his fiery Chariot could do toward Heaven Our daily practice is too full of arguments almost every minute of our lives as it is an example so is it a proof of it Our pains will be employed to better purpose if we leave that as a worn beaten common place and betake our selves to a more necessary Theme a close of Exhortation And that shall be by way of Treaty as an Ambassador sent from God that you will lay down your arms that you will be content to be friends with God and accept of fair terms of composition which are That as you have thus long been enemies to God proclaiming hostility perpetually opposing every merciful will of his by that wilfulness so now being likely to fall into his hands you will prevent that ruine you will come in and whilst it is not too late submit your selves that you may not be forced as Rebels and outlaws but submit as Servants This perhaps may be your last parley for peace and if you stand out the battery will begin suddenly and with it the horrendum est Heb. x. 31. It is a fearful hideous thing to fall into the hands of the living God All that remains upon our wilful holding out may be the doom of Apostates from Christianity a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour the adversaries Vers 27. And methinks the very emphasis in my Text notes as much Why will you die As if we were just now falling into the pit and there were but one minute betwixt this time of our jollity and our everlasting hell Do but lay this one circumstance to your hearts do but suppose your selves on a Bed of sickness laid at with a violent burning Fever such a one as shall finally consume the whole world as it were battered with thundering and lightning and besieged with fire where the next throw or plunge of thy disease may possibly separate thy soul from thy body and the mouth of Hell just then open and yawning at thee and then suppose there were one only minute wherein a serious resigning up thy self to God might recover you to Heaven O then what power and energy what force and strong efficacy would there be in this voice from God Why will you die I am resolved that heart that were truly sensible of it that were prepared seasonably by all these circumstances to receive it would find such inward vigor and spirit from it that it would strike death dead in that one minute this ultimus conatus this last spring and plunge would do more than a thousand heartless heaves in a lingring sickness and perhaps overcome and quit the danger And therefore let me beseech you to represent this condition to your selves and not any longer be flattered or couzened in a slow security To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts If you let it alone till this day come in earnest you may then perhaps heave in vain labour and struggle and not have breath enough to send up one sigh toward Heaven The hour of our death we are wont to call Tempus improbabilitatis a very improbable inch of time to build our Heaven in as after death is impossibilitatis a time wherein it is impossible to recover us from Hell If nothing were required to make us Saints but outward performances if true repentance were but to groan and Faith but to cry Lord Lord we could not promise our selves that at our last hour we should be sufficient for that perhaps a Lethargy may be our fate and then what life or spirits even for that perhaps a Fever may send us away raving in no case to name God but only in oaths and curses and then it were hideous to tell you what a Bethlehem we should be carried to But when that which must save us must be a work of the Soul and a gift of God how can we promise our selves that God will be so merciful whom we have till then contemned or our souls then capable of any holy impression having
moral men seem to me in as good if not better case than the other term of comparison the careless negligent debauch't men For upon their grounds is it not as easie for the converting spirit to enter and subdue one Lucifer one proud Devil in the heart otherwise pretty well qualified as to deal with a whole legion of blasphemous violent riotous railing ignorant Devils I have done all with the confutation of this loose groundless opinion which if 't were true would yet prove of dangerous consequence to be preached in abating and turning our edge which is of it self blunt and dull enough toward goodness nay certainly it hath proved scandalous to those without as may appear by that boast and exultancy of Campian in his Eighth reason where he upbraids us English-men of our abominable Lutheran licentious doctriâ—e as he calls it Quanto sceleratior es tanto vicinior gratiae and therefore I do not repent that I have been somewhat large in the refuting of it as also because it doth much import to the clearing of my discourse for if the meer moral men be farthest from Heaven then have I all this while busied my self and tormented you with an unprofitable nay injurious preparation whereas I should have prescribed you a shorter easier call by being extremely sinful according to these two Aphorisms of Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The strongest bodies are in greatest danger and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and height of a disease is the fittest opportunity for a miraculous cure But beloved let us more considerately bethink our selves let us study and learn and walk a more secure probable way to Heaven and for those of us which are yet unregenerate though we obtained no grace of God but that of nature and reason and our Christianity to govern us yet let us not contemn those ordinary restraints which these will afford us let us attend in patience sobriety and humility and prayers the good time and leisures of the spirit let us not make our reasonable soul our profession of men of Christians ashamed of us let not the heathen and beasts have cause to blush at us let us remain men till it may please him to call us into Saints lest being plunged in habitual confident sinning that Hell and Tophet on Earth the very omnipotent mercy of God be in a manner foiled to hale us out again let us improve rack and stretch our natural abilities to the highest that although according to our thirteenth Article we cannot please God yet we may not mightily provoke him Let every man be in some proportion to his gifts Christs Baptist and forerunner and harbinger in himself that whensoever he shall appear or knock he may enter lodge and dwell without resistence Lastly after all thy preparations be not secure if the bridegroom will not vouchsafe to rest with you all your provision is in vain all the morality and learning and gifts and common graces unless Christ at last be born in us are but embryo's nay abortives rude imperfect horrid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Philosopher dies in his nonage in whom Christ was never born The highest reach of years and learning is but infancy without the virility and manhood of the spirit by which we are made perfect men in Christ Jesus Wherefore above all things in the world let us labour for this perfection let us melt and dissolve every faculty and spirit about us in pursuit of it and at last seal and bless and crown our endeavours with our prayers and with all the Rhetorick and means and humility and violence of our souls importune and lay hold on the sanctifying Spirit and never leave till he hath blessed and breathed on us O thou mighty controuling holy hallowing Ghost be pleased with thine effectual working to suppress in us all resistence of the pride of nature and prepare us for thy kingdom of grace here and glory hereafter Now to him which hath elected us hath created and redeemed us c. The X. Sermon JOHN vii 48. Have any of the Pharisees believed on him IT is observable from History with what difficulty Religion attempts to propagate and establish it self with the many what Countenance and encouragement it hath required from those things which are most specious and pompous in the World how it hath been fain to keep its dependencies and correspondencies and submit to the poor condition of sustaining it self by those beggarly helps which the World and the flesh will afford it Two main pillars which it relies on are Power and Learning the Camp and the Schools or in a word authority of great ones and countenance of Scholars the one to force and extort obedience the other to insinuate belief and assent the first to ravish the second to perswade One instance for all if we would plant Christianity in Turky we must first invade and conquer them and then convince them of their follies which about an hundred years ago Cleonard proposed to most Courts of Christendom and to that end himself studied Arabick that Princes would joyn their strength and Scholars their brains and all surprize them in their own land and language at once besiege the Turk and his Alcoran put him to the sword and his religion to the touchstone command him to Christianity with an high hand and then to shew him the reasonableness of our commands Thus also may we complain but not wonder that the Reformation gets ground so slow in Christendom because the forces and potent abettors of the Papacy secure them from being led captive to Christ as long as the Pope is riveted so fast in his chair and as long as the rulers take part with him there shall be no doubt of the truth of their religion unless it please God to back our arguments with steel and to raise up Kings and Emperours to be our Champions we may question but never confute his supremacy Let us come with all the power and Rhetorick of Paul and Barnabas all the demonstrations of reason and spirit yet as long as they have such Topicks against us as the authority of the Rulers and Pharisees we may dispute out our hearts and preach out our Lungs and gain no proselytes all that we shall get is but a scoffe and a curse a Sarcasm and an Anathema in the words next after my text This people which know not the law are cursed there is no heed to be taken to such poor contemptible fellows To bring all home to the business of the text Let Christ come with all the enforcement and violence and conviction of his spirit sublimity of his speech and miracles all the power of Rhetorick and Rhetorick of his power so that all that see or hear bear witness that never man spake as this man yet all this shall be accounted but a delusion but an inchantment of some seduced wretches unless the great men or deep scholars will be pleased
it For 't is no less then atheism which the scorners of the last age are to fall upon by walking after their own lusts 2 Pet. iii. 3. And thus was the Pharisees practice here who makes use of his own authority to deny Christ 't was the Pharisees that said Have any of the Pharisees believed on him There is not a more dangerous mother of heresies in the midst of piety then this one that our phansie first assures us that we have the spirit and then that every phansie of ours is Theopneust the work of the spirit There are a multitude of deceits got altogether here 1. We make every idle perswasion of our own the evidence of Gods spirit then we joyn infallibility to the person being confident of the gift then we make every breath of our nostrils and flame that can break out of our hearts an immediate effect of the spirit and fire which hath spiritually enlivened us and then we are sure it is authentical and all this while we never examine either the ground or deductions from it but take all upon trust from that everlasting deceiver our own heart which we ought to sit upon and judge of by proofs and witnesses by comparing it with other mens dictates probably as godly perhaps more learned but certainly more impartial judges of thee then thou canst be of thy self Lastly If the word of God speak distinctly and clearly enforce as here by miracles done before all men to their astonishment and redargution then will I not stay my belief to wait on or follow the learnedst man in the world when Christ himself speaks to my eyes the proudest eminentest Pharisee in earth or hell nay if any of their sect have crowded into Heaven shall not be able to charm my ear or lay any clog upon my understanding So that you see the Pharisees argument in that case was sophistical the matter being so plain to them that they needed no advicè His works bore witness of him John v. 36. yet in the general it holds probable and learning remains a good guide still though an ill Master in matters of Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first thing we undertook to demonstrate And this we should draw down yet lower to our practice and that variously but that almost every Proposition insisted on hath in part spoken to your affections and so prevented store of uses This only must not be omitted For Scholars to learn to set a value on their precious blessing which God hath vouchsafed them above all the world beside to bless God infinitely that they understand and conceive what they are commanded to believe this I am sure of there is not a greater and more blessed priviledge besides Gods spirit which our humane condition is capable of then this of learning and specially divine knowledge of which Aristotle himself witnesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none is better then it As long as we have no evidence or demonstration from that which yet it most nearly concerns us to rely upon we cannot enjoy without an immediate supernatural irradiation a tranquillity and consistency of spirit we cannot peremptorily have resolved our selves that we have built upon the rock every temptation proves a discouragement to us many horrours take hold of us and sometimes we must needs fall to that low ebb not far from despair which the Apostles were in Luke xxiv 22. We had trusted but now we know not what to think of it that this was he that should have redeemed Israel But to see all the Articles of my faith ratified and confirmed to my understanding to see the greatest treasure and inheritance in the world sealed and delivered to me in my hand written in a character and language that I am perfectly skilled in O what a comfort is this to a Christian soul O what a fulness of joy to have all the mysteries of my salvation transcribed out of the book of the Lord and written in my heart where I can turn and survey and make use of them as much and as often as I will Nay where I have them without book though there were neither Father nor Bible in the world able out of my own stock to give an account nay a reason of my faith before the perversest Papist Heathen or Devil This serves me instead of having lived and conversed and been acquainted with Christ By this I have my fingers pit into the print of the nails and my hands thrust into his side and am as sure as ever Thomas was I see him as palpably as he that handled him that he is my Lord and my God 'T was observed by the Philosopher as an act generally practised among Tyrants to prohibit all Schools and means of learning and education in the Commonwealth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to suffer neither learning nor Schools nor common meetings that men being kept blind might be sure to obey and tyrannical commands through ignorance be mistaken for fair government And thus did Julian interdict the Christians all manner of literature and chiefly Philosophy for fear saith Nazianzen they should be able to grapple with the Heathen and cut off Goliah's head with his own weapon The continuance of these arts of spiritual tyranny you may observe in the prescribed stupidity and commanded ignorance of the Laity through all Italy All which must call for a superlative measure of thanks to be exprest not in our tongues and hearts only but in our lives and actions from us I say who have obteined not only a knowledge of his laws but almost a vision of his secrets and for as much as concerns our eternal bliss do even see things as they were acted having already comprehended in our reason not only in our faith the most impossible things in nature the bredth and length and depth and height of the conceived incarnate and crucified God and if all that will not serve our turn but we must press into his cabinet-secrets invade the book of life and oversee and divulge to all men abscondita Domini Dei nostri then are Gods mercies unworthily repaid by us and those indulgences which were to bestow civility upon the world have only taught us to be more rude In sum the reallest thanks we can perform to God for this inestimable prize is modestly and softly to make use of it 1. To the confirming of others faith and 2. to the expressing of our own For 1. he is the deepest scholar saith the Philosopher who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 best able to teach other men what himself conceives and then 2. he hath the habit most radicated who hath prest it down into his heart and there sow'd a seed which shall encrease and fructify and spread and flourish laden with the fruits of a lively faith He is the truest scholar that hath fed upon learning that hath nourished and grown and walked and lived in the strength of it And till I see you thrive and
distorted and defaced it once was light in the Lord almost an Angel of light it shone as the Sun in the Firmament in majesty and full brightness but is now only as the Moon pale and dim scarce able to do us any service unless it borrows some rays from the Sun of Righteousness The fall hath done somewhat with it I know not what to call it either much impaired it and diminisht its light in its essence or else much incumbred or opprest it in its operations as a candle under a vail or lanthorn which though it burn and shine as truly as on a candlestick yet doth not so much service in enlightning the room the soul within us is much changed either is not in its essence so perfect and active and bright as once it was or else being infused in a sufficient perfection is yet terribly overcast with a gloom and cloud of corruptions that it can scarce find any passage to get through and shew it self in our actions for the corruptible body presseth down the soul c. Wisd ix 15. And from this caution grow many lower branches whence we may gather some fruit as in the second place infinitely to humble our selves before God for the first sin of Adam which brought this darkness on our souls and account it not the meanest or slightest of our miseries that our whole nature is defiled and bruised and weakned to aggravate every circumstance and effect of that sin against thy self which has so liberaâ—ly afforded fâ—el to the flames of lust of rage and wild desire and thereby without Gods gracious mercy to the flames of Hell This is a most profitable point yet little thought on and therefore would deserve a whole Sermon to discuss to you 3. To observe and acknowledge the necessity of some brighter light then this of nature can afford us and with all the care and vigilancy of our hearts all the means that Scripture will lend us and at last with all the importunities and groans and violence of our souls to petition and sollicit and urge Gods illuminating spirit to break out and shine on us To undertake to interpret any antient Author requires say the Grammarians a man of deep and various knowledge because there may be some passage or other in that book which will refer to every sort of learning in the world whence 't is observed that the old Scholiasts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were most exquisit Scholars Thus certainly will not any ordinary skill serve turn to interpret and explain many dark sayings which were at first written in the book of our hearts but are now almost past reading only that omniscient Spirit that hath no shadow of ignorance the finger that first writ must be beseeched to read and point out the riddle We must make use of that rotten staffe of nature as far as its strength will bear and that very gingerly too never daring to lean or lay our whole weight upon it lest it either wound with its splinter or else break under us our help and stay and subsistence and trust must be in the Lord our eyes must wait on his inlightning Spirit and never lose a ray that falls from it Fourthly to clear up as much as we can and reinliven this light within us And that first By stirring up and blowing and so nourishing every spark we find within us The least particle of fire left in a coal may by pains be improved into a flame 't is held possible to restore or at least preserve for a time any thing that is not quite departed If thou findest but a spark of Religion in thee which saith A God is to be worship't care and â—edulity and the breath of prayers may in time by this inflame the whole man into a bright fire of Zeal towards God In brief whatever thou dost let not any the least atome of that fire which thou once feelest within thee ever go out quench not the weakest motion or inclination even of reason towards God or goodness how unpolish't soever this Diamond be yet if it do but glissen 't is too pretious to be cast away And then 2. By removing all hindrances or incumbrances that may any way weaken or oppress it and these you have learnt to be corrupt affections That democracy and croud and press and common people of the soul raises a tumult in every street within us that no voice of law or reason can be heard If you will but disgorge and purge the stomach which hath been thus long opprest if you will but remove this cloud of crudities then will the brain be able to send some rayes down to the heart which till then are sure to be caught up by the way anticipated and devoured For the naked simplicity of the soul the absence of all disordered passions is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aphrodiseus that kindly familiar good temper of the soul by which it is able to find out and judge of truth In brief if thou canst crop thy luxuriant passions if thou canst either expel or tame all the wild beasts within thee which are born to devour any thing which is weak or innocent then will that mild voice within thee in the cave take heart and shew it self In the mean time this hurry of thy senses drowns that reason and thou canst not hope to see as long as like old Tobit the dung and white film doth remain upon thine eyes If thou canst use any means to dissolve this dung of affections which an habit of sin hath baked within thee the scales will fall off from thine eyes and the blind Tobit shall be restored to his sight In brief do but fortifie thy reasonable soul against all the undermining and faction and violence of these sensual passions do but either depose or put to the sword that Atheistical Tyrant and Usurper as Iamblichus calls the affections do but set reason in the chair and hear and observe his dictates and thou hast disburthened thy self of a great company of weights and pressures thou wilt be able to look more like a man to hold thy head more couragiously and bend thy thoughts more resolutely toward Heaven and I shall expect and hope and pray and almost be confident that if thou dost perform sincerely what thy own soul prompts thee to Gods spirit is nigh at hand to perfect and crown and seal thee up to the day of redemption In the next place thou maist see thine own guilts the clearer call thy self to an account even of those things which thou thinkest thou art freest from that which the Apostle in this chapter and part of my discourse hath charged the Heathens with and if thou lookest narrowly I am afraid thou wilt spy thine own picture in that glass and find thy self in many things as arrant a Gentile as any of them For any sincere care of God or Religion how few of us are there that ever entertained so unpleasant
lookt it over in the gross 't is time to survey it more particularly in its parts and those are two 1. The sin of Atheism and the subjects in which it shews it self There shall come in the last dayes scoffers 2. The motive and impellent to this sin a liberty which men give themselves to walk after their own lusts And first of Atheism and the subjects in whom it shews its self In the c. Where you may note that the words being in a form of a prophecy do note a sort of people which were to come in respect of St. Peter who writes it And though in its first aspect it refer to the period of the Jewish Nation and destruction of Jerusalem takes in the parallel state of things under the last age and dotage and declination of the world Accordingly we see at the 24. of St. Matthew the prophecy of both as it were interwoven and twisted into each other so that what St. Peter saith shall be we may justly suspect is fulfilled amongst us his future being now turned into a present his prophecy into a story In the Apostles times when Christianity was in the cradle and wanted years and strength to move and shew it self in the world there were but very few that would acknowledge it many sects of Philosophers who peremptorily resolved themselves against this profession joyn'd issue with the Apostles in assiduous disputation as we may find in the 17. of the Acts. Amongst those the Epicureans did plainly deny that there was any God that governed the world and laught at any proof that Moses and the Prophets could afford for their conviction And here a man might think that his prophecy was fulfilled in his own dayes and that he needed not to look beyond that present age for store of scoffers Yet so it is that the infidelity which he foresaw should in those last ages reign confidently in the world was represented to him in a larger size and uglier shape then that of the present Philosophers The Epicurean unbelief seem'd nothing to him being compared to this Christian Atheism where men under the vizard of religion and profession of piety are in heart arrant Heathens and in their fairest carriages do indeed but scoff and delude and abuse the very God they worship Whence the note is that the profession of Christianity is mixed with an infinite deal of Atheism and that in some degree above the Heathenism of the perversest Philosophers There were in St. Peters time Epicureans and all sects of scoffers at Christianity and yet the scoffers indeed the highest degree of Atheism was but yet a heaving it would not rise and shew it self till the last daie 'T is worth observing what variety of stratagems the Devil hath alwaies had to keep us in defiance with God and to nourish in us that hostility and enmity against Heaven which is so deep and predominant in himself He first set them a work to rebel and fortifie themselves against God and make themselves by building of a Tower so impregnable that God himself could not be able to disperse them Gen. xi 4. Afterwards when by the punishment and defeating of that design the world was sufficiently instructed that no arm of flesh no bodily strength could make resistance against Heaven when the body could hold out in rebellion no longer he then instructs the inward man the soul to make its approaches and challenge Heaven Now the soul of man consisting of two faculties the Understanding and the Will he first deals with the Understanding and sets that up against God in many monstrous fashions first in deluding it to all manner of Idolatrous worship in making it adore the Sun the Moon and the whole Host of Heaven which was a more generous kind of Idolatry Afterwards in making them worship Dogs and Cats Onions and Garlick for so did the Egyptians and this was a more sottish stupid affection a man would wonder how the Devil could make them such fools Afterward he wrought still upon their understanding in making them under pretence of two laudable qualities admiration and gratitude admiration of any kind of vertue and gratitude for any good turn to deifie and worship as gods any men which had ever done either their Nation or private persons any important good or favour So that every Heros or noble famous man as soon as he was dead was worshipt 'T were long to shew you the variety of shifts in this kind which the Devil used to bring in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gentiles i. e. their worshipping of many Gods In brief this plot lasted thus till Christianity came into the world and turn'd it out of doors and at Christs Resurrection all the gods of the Heathen expired However the Devil still stuck close to that faculty of the soul which he had been so long acquainted with I mean the understanding and seeing through the whole world almost the Doctrine of Christ had so possest men that he could not hope to bring in his Heathen gods again he therefore hath one design more on the understanding seeing 't is resolved to believe Christ in spight of heathenism he then puzzles it with many doubts about this very Christ it is so possest with He raises up in the first ages of the Church variety of Heresies concerning the union of his natures equality of his person with the Father and the like and rung as many changes in mens opinions as the matter of faith was capable of There was no truth almost in Christianity but had its Heretick to contradict and damn it Now since at last reason and truth and the power of Scripture having out-lived in a good degree fundamental error in opinion hath almost expuls'd the Devil out of the head or upper part of the soul the Understanding his last plot is on the heel i. e. the Will and Affections and that he hath bruised terribly according to that prophecy Gen. iii. 15. He deals mainly on our manners and strives to make them if it be possible sinful beyond capability of mercy And this design hath thrived with him wonderfully he hath wrought more opposition against God more heresie against Christ in our lives then ever he was able to do in our doctrine In a Kingdom where the custom of the Country and education hath planted purity of faith in the understanding he there labours to supplant and eradicate charity and devotion in the will and crucifies Christ more confidently in our corrupt heathenish practises then ever the Jews did in their incredulity And on this plot he hath stuck close and insisted a long while it being the last and most dangerous stratagem that the policy of Hell can furnish him with to corrupt and curse and make abominable a sincere belief by an Atheistical conversation And this doth prove in general that 't is the Devils aim and from thence probably the Christians curse to have more hostility against God in
yea sum of our belief we deny and bandy against all our lives long If the story of Christ coming to judgment set down in the xxv of Matthew after the 30. verse had ever entred through the doors of our ears to the inward closets of our hearts 't is impossible but we should observe and practise that one single duty there required of us Christ there as a Judge exacts and calls us to account for nothing in the world but only works of mercy and according to the satisfaction which we are able to give him in that one point he either entertains or repels us and therefore our care and negligence in this one business will prove us either Christians or Infidels But alas 't is too plain that in our actions we never dream either of the judgment or the arraignment our stupid neglect of this one duty argues us not only unchristian but unnatural Besides our Alms-deeds which concern only the outside of our neighbour and are but a kind of worldly mercy there are many more important but cheaper works of mercy as good counsel spiritual instructions holy education of them that are come out of our loyns or are committed to our care seasonable reproof according to that excellent place Lev xix 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart but in any wise reprove him a care of carrying our selves that we may not scandal or injure or offer violence to the soul and tender conscience of him that is flexible to follow us into any riot These and many other works of mercy in the highest degree as concerning the welfare of other mens souls and the chief thing required of us at the day of judgment are yet so out-dated in our thoughts so utterly defaced and blotted out in the whole course of our lives that it seems we never expect that Christ in his Majesty as a Judge whom we apprehend and embrace and hug in his humility as a Saviour Beloved till by some severe hand held over our lives and particularly by the daily study and exercise of some work of mercy or other we demonstrate the sincerity of our belief the Saints on Earth and Angels in Heaven will shrewdly suspect that we do only say over that part of our Creed that we believe only that which is for our turn the sufferings and satisfactions of Christ which cost us nothing but do not proceed to his office of a Judge do not either fear his judgments or desire to make our selves capable of his mercies Briefly whosoever neglects or takes no notice of this duty of exercising works of mercy whatsoever he brags of in his theory or speculation in his heart either denies or contemns Christ as Judge and so destroys the sum of his Faith and this is another kind of secret Atheism Fourthly Our Creed leads us on to a belief and acknowledgement of the Holy Ghost and 't is well we have all conn'd his name there for otherwise I should much fear that it would be said of many nominal Christians what is reported of the Ephesian Disciples Acts xix 2. They have not so much as heard whether there be an Holy Ghost or no. But not to suspect so much ignorance in any Christian we will suppose indeed men to know whatsoever they profess and enquire only whether our lives second our professions or whether indeed they are meer Infidels and Atheistical in this business concerning the Holy Ghost How many of the ignorant sort which have learnt this name in their Catechism or Creed have not yet any further use to put it to but only to make up the number of the Trinity have no special office to appoint for him no special mercy or gift or ability to beg of him in the business of their salvation but mention him only for fashion sake not that they ever think of preparing their bodies or souls to be Temples worthy to entertain him not that they ever look after the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts 2 Cor. i. 22. Further yet how many better learned amongst us do not yet in our lives acknowledge him in that Epithet annext to his title the Holy Ghost i. e. not only eminently in himself holy but causally producing the same quality in us from thence called the sanctifying and renewing Spirit How do we for the most part fly from and abandon and resist and so violently deny him when he once appears to us in this Attribute When he comes to sanctifie us we are not patient of so much sowreness so much humility so much non-conformity with the world as he begins to exact of us we shake off many blessed motions of the Spirit and keep our selves within garrison as far as we can out of his reach lest at any turn he should meet with and we should be converted Lastly the most ordinary morally qualified tame Christians amongst us who are not so violent as to profess open arms against this Spirit how do they yet reject him out of all their thoughts How seldom do many peaceable orderly men amongst us ever observe their wants or importune the assistance of this Spirit In sum 't was a shrewd speech of the Fathers which will cast many fair out-sides at the bar for Atheists That the life of an unregenerate man is but the life of an Heathen and that 't is our regeneration only that raises us up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from being still meer Gentiles He that believes in his Creed the person nay understands in the Schools the Attributes and gifts of the Holy Ghost and yet sees them only in the fountain neither finds nor seeks for any effects of them in his own soul he that is still unregenerate and continues still gaping and yawning stupid and senseless in this his condition is still for all his Creed and learning in effect an Atheist And the Lord of Heaven give him to see and endeavours to work and an heart to pray and his Spirit to draw and force him out of this condition Fifthly Not to cramp in every Article of our Creed into this Discourse we will only insist on two more We say therefore that we believe the forgiveness of sins and 't is a blessed confidence that all the treasures in the world cannot equal But do our selves keep equipage and hand in hand accompany this profession Let me catechize you a while You believe the forgiveness of sins but I hope not absolutely that the sufferings of Christ shall effectually clear every mans score at the day of judgment well then it must be meant only of those that by repentance and faith are grafted into Christ and shall appear at that great marriage in a wedding garment which shall be acknowledged the livery and colours of the Lamb. But do our lives ever stand to this explication and restriction of the Article Do they ever expect this beloved remission by performing the condition of repentance Do we ever
place But if this soul of man be left to its own nature to its own fluid wild incontinent condition it presently runs out into an Ocean never stayes or considers or consults but rushes head-long into all inordinacy having neither the reins of reason nor God to keep it in it never thinks of either of them and unless by chance or by Gods mercy it fall into their hands 't is likely to run riot for ever Being once let loose it ranges as if there were neither power on earth to quell nor in Heaven to punish it Thus do you see how fluid how inconstant the soul is of its own accord how prone it is how naturally inclined to run over like a stream over the banks and if it be not swathed and kept in if it be left to the licentious condition of it self how ready is it to contemn both Reason and God and run head-long into Atheism Nay we need not speak so mercifully of it this very licentiousness is the actual renouncing of Religion this very walking after their own lusts is not only a motive to this sin of scoffing but the very sin it self A false Conception in the womb is only a rude confused ugly Chaos a meer lump of flesh of no kind of figure or resemblance gives only disappointment danger and torment to the Mother 'T is the soul at its entrance which defines and trims and polishes into a body that gives it eyes and ears and legs and hands which before it had not distinctly and severally but only rudely altogether with that mass or lump Thus is it with the Man till Religion hath entred into him as a soul to inform and fashion him as long as he lives thus at large having no terms or bounds or limits to his actions having no form or figure or certain motion defined him he is a Mola a meer lump of man an arrant Atheist you cannot discern any features or lineaments of a Christian in him he hath neither eyes to see nor ears to hear nor hands to practise any duty that belongs to his peace Only 't is Religion must take him up must smooth and dress him over and according to its Etymon must religare swathe and bind up this loose piece of flesh must animate and inform him must reduce him to some set form of Christianity or else he is likely after a long and fruitless travel to appear a deformed monstrous Atheist But not to deal any longer upon Simile's lest we seem to confound and perplex a truth by explaining it I told you the licentious voluptuous life was it self perfect Heathenism For can you imagine a man to be any but a Gentile who hath abandoned all love all awe all fear all care of God any one of which would much contract and draw him into compass who hath utterly put off every garb of a Christian who hath enjoy'd the reins so long that now he is not sensible or at least contemns the curb or snaffâ—le if he be but check't with it gets it in his teeth and runs away with it more fiercely The Heathen are noted not so much that they worshipt no God at all but that they worshipped so many and none of them the true Every great friend they had every delight and pleasure every thing that was worth praying for straight proved their God and had its special Temple erected for its Worship So that do but imagine one of them every day worshipping every God whom he acknowledged in its several Oratory spending his whole life and that too little too in running from one Temple to another and you have described our licentious man posting on perpetually to his sensual devotions worshipping adoring and sacrificing every minute of his life to some Idol-vanity and bestowing as much pains and charges in his prophane heathenish pleasures as ever the Gentiles did on their false gods or the most supererogating Papist on their true We are wont to say in Divinity and that without an Hyperbole that every commission of sin is a kind of Idolatry an incurvation and bending down of the soul to some creature which should alwayes be erect looking up to Heaven from whence it was infused like water naturally inclined to climb and ascend as high as the fountain or head from whence it sprang And then certainly a licentious life is a perpetual Idolatry a supineness and proneness and incurvation of the soul to somewhat that deserves to be called an Idol i. e. either in St. Pauls acceptation of it nothing an Idol is nothing 1 Cor. viii 4. or else in the most honourable signification only an Image or some rude likeness or representation of God We are the Image of God our selves and whatsoever is below us is but an imperfect draught of him containing some lineaments some confused resemblances of his power which created them have no being of their own but only as shadows which the light doth cast And therefore every love every bowe every cringe which we make to any creature is the wooing and worshipping of an Image at best in plain terms of an Idol nothing What degree then of Idolatry have they attained to who every minute of their lives bow down and worship make it their trade and calling for ever to be a solliciting some pleasure or other Some exquisite piece of sensuality to bless and make them happy which have no other shrines to set up but only to their own lust to which they do so crouch and creep and crawl that they are never able to stand up right again like those trees which the Papists talk of which by bowing to our Ladies house when in walks by the wood toward Loretto have ever since stood stooping Thus do you see how the latter part of my Text hath overtook the former the walking after his own lusts becomes a scoffer the licentious man proceeded Atheist and that with ease his very voluptuous life is a kind of Atheism and the reasons of this are obvious you need not seek or search far for them For first this walking in their own lusts notes an habit gathered out of many acts he hath walked there a long while and therefore now hath the skill of it walks on confidently and carelesly without any rub or thought of stopping And contrary to this the worship of God of which Atheism is a privation is an holy religious habit of Piety and Obedience Now we know two contrary habits cannot consist or be together in the same subject An habit and its opposite privation are incompetible light and darkness at the same time though they may seem to meet sometimes as in twilight but for two opposite positive habits never any mans conceit was so bold or phantastical as to joyn them you cannot imagine one but you must remove the other You may suppose a man distempered or weak which is a privation of health and yet suppose him pretty healthy as long as his natural strength is able