which shall be to all People Unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord Luke ii But to be more particular This was done to declare and demonstrate the infinite Love and Mercy of God who rather than that Mankind should perish would suffer his own Son and his only Son to be thus abased and humbled God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son unto it that the world through him might not perish but that those who believe might have eternal life John iii. 16. and Rom. v. 8. It is said That God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Mankind is but one part of the Creation And though he make a considerable Figure in this lower World yet if we knew all the other parts of the Creation and their Inhabitants perhaps we should find him contemptible and inconsiderable he is certainly inferiour to the Angels what a Demonstration therefore is it of the Mercy of God to his Creatures that he would not suffer such inconsiderable ones to perish But to prevent their eternal Ruin was pleased to give his Son to do and suffer so many things for us And how doth it heighten his Love to us the Sons of Men that he has shewed more Kindness to us than to the Angels who by Nature are so much better than we He passed by the Angels and has had pity on us he has left them to perish in their Apostacy and Disobedience but has sent his Son to save us Secondly Hereby God hath declared his Justice his uncontroulable Authority the Vigour of his Laws and the Certainty of his Threatnings By this it appears that God is just and will not clear the guilty that he will not suffer his Authority to be contemned nor his Laws to be broken and that what he peremptorily threatens to the breakers of them shall come to pass Heaven and Earth may pass away but one Jot or Title of the Law shall not fall and rather than the Transgression of it escape unpunished he will make his own Son an Example Like that King who having threatned the Loss of both Eyes to such as should be guilty of Adultery And his Son having committed that Crime he to keep his Royal Word to maintain the Vigour of his Laws and to strike Terrour into his Subjects but withal to shew some Mercy to his Son pulled out one of his Son's Eyes and gave another of his own God would not remit the Punishment of Sin but to save Sinners he laid the Weight of the Punishment on his own Son Thirdly Hereby is declared the heinous Nature of Sin how odious it is in the Sight of God how impossible it is to be reconciled to him or to expect his Favour unless it be expiated Let Fools now make a mock of Sin if they dare Let Men consider what the Son of God hath done and suffered to take away the Sins of the World let them call to mind what Obedience what Agony what Shame and Pain the Holy and Innocent Jesus hath been put to what it hath cost him to take away the Guilt of it and to free Men from the Punishment of it And when they have seriously considered all this let them say if they can whether Sin be to be sported with whether it may be safely cherished and indulged Fourthly This setteth forth the Dignity of the Humane Nature How highly is that to be esteemed which God has thought worthy of so strict an Alliance with himself and to save which the Eternal Son of God the Second Person of the blessed Trinity he who thought it not Robbery to be equal with God even he was pleased to make himself of no Reputation to take upon him the Form of a Servant to humble himself and to become obedient unto Death This is Immortal Honour unto Mankind which the Devils envy and which the highest Angels admire and therefore it is said that even they desire to look into it This is the Glory of Man and that which sets him farthest above all his Fellow Creatures in this World The Bodies of other Animals are not much inferiour to ours for they are all of almost the same Nature Composition and curious Contrivance and whatever be the inward Principle of their Life and Actions whatever it be that guides them their Actions are more regular than ours and certainly the Effects of greater Reason Knowledge and Wisdom than what we can by Speculation Study or Experience arrive at But neither Cherubim nor Seraphim nor any of the Celestial Order of Intelligent Beings can boast a Privilege above or even equal to what Man hath by the Incarnation of the Son of God and what followed upon it He took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham God has espoused our Nature and thereby made us more honourable than other Creatures and as we have by this the highest Honour so all the Happiness that can be desired For what greater Happiness What can we desire more than what the Love and Friendship and Favour of God can bestow Fifthly As this shews the Dignity of the humane Nature so wherein the Perfection of it consists even in a perfect Obedience unto God such as we shewed that Jesus Christ did pay unto him Adam ruined the humane Nature by his Disobedience Jesus Christ has repaired it by being entirely obedient even unto Death and no Man can arrive at Perfection but by the Imitation of Jesus in a perfect Subjection to the Will of God To make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof is never to aim higher than Beasts and inferiour Animals to walk by Sense will stifle our Reason to follow the Imaginations and Devices of our own Hearts or only what our own Reason suggests we shall never surmount a natural imperfect State nor have any other Perfection than what cometh from our selves But if we give our selves up to the Conduct of God if we will follow his Will and Providence and never dispute or cavil at his Pleasure we shall far out-grow our natural State our minds shall receive the Light of Divine Illumination our Spirits shall be fortified by the Almighty Spirit of God and we shall at last become Partakers of the Divine Nature which is as high as any can aspire Sixthly I will only give one Instance more which is that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ his Obedience and Sufferings were appointed to the end that he might merit the Glory Honour and sovereign Power which God had design'd for him before the Foundation of the World Wherefore as it follows our Text God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus
Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the father And for this Cause let us not with some rebellious Spirits quarrel at this Divine Oeconomy let us not dispute the Reasonableness of his eternal Purposes nor abdicate him to whom God has given sovereign Power let us not speak against his Person Merits or the Acts of his supreme Authority But as Interest and Duty oblige us let us be subject unto him let us love fear worship and obey him This is the way to work out your Salvation and if you follow this Method God will work in you to will and to do of his good Pleasure Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting Consolation and good Hope through Grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work Amen SERMON V. Preach'd at EDINBURGH ON GOOD-FRIDAY March 25. 1692. LUKE XXIII 27 28 29 30 31. And there followed him a great company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented him But Iesus turning unto them said Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children For behold the days are coming in the which they shall say Blessed are the barren and the wombs which never bare and the paps which never gave suck Then shall they begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us For if they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in the dry THERE is in many too great an Inclination after such Shews and Sights and such kind of Conversation as may divert them with Mirth and Laughter Whereas the Contemplation of that which doth affect the Heart with Grief and Sadness is more profitable For saith the Wise Man it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better And from hence he observes That the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth The Spirit of Fools is Light and Frothy and only fond of Airy things whence it is that they are in love with the House of Feasting where ordinarily there is more Noise than good Sence more of foolish Jesting and ridiculous Mirth than of solid Instruction But the Wise preferr the House of Mourning because it adds to their Wisdom rendring them serious and giving them a right sense both of themselves and other things Now to make us thus Wise the Reasonable Custom of the Ancient Church appointed this Season to be a time of Mourning and Sorrowing and the Practice of the Catholick Church at present proposeth to our Consideration this Day that which may and will if any thing can affect our Hearts and move the Passions of Sorrow and Grief for that Soul must certainly be stupid and senseless and incapable of Grief who doth not shew it upon the representation of the Cross of Christ his sad Death and Sufferings of which this Day is the Anniversary It is indeed long since this was done but yet it is never to be forgotten The Death and Sufferings of Jesus should carefully be kept in Memory for tho' these things happen'd many Ages ago yet we shall find that we our selves were Accessory to them and therefore if not upon Jesus's account yet at least upon our own we ought to lament and bewail his Death and Passion that the shedding of innocent Blood may be remitted and not charged upon us Some can look upon the Calamities and Disasters of others and never be concern'd they are only mov'd when Trouble and Misery draw near themselves Now even Persons of this temper may see it their Interest to mourn on this occasion for sad and heavy Judgments are ready to fall down upon those who are guilty of the Blood of Jesus and who do not repent of it So that if there be any who have such hard Hearts that they cannot be affected with the Cross and Sufferings of Jesus Christ if his Shame and Sorrow and Pangs will not pierce them yet sure they must not only be hard but lifeless without all sense and feeling if they be Proof against their own Doom and unmov'd at the sight of their own Calamities who will not commiserate the Sufferings of the Holy and Innocent Jesus may yet take Compassion on themselves if we will not shed Tears for his Sake Let us do it for our own as he advis'd the Women who follow'd him to the place of his Crucifixion Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children The Cross of Christ has too large Dimensions to be commensurated all at once his Sufferings were so many and so great that we cannot take them up at one view nor is it possible to Discourse in one Hour the History of our Lord's Passion wherefore I have fix'd on one particular Passage for our present Meditation which hath this Advantage that it contains Instructions how to moderate our Grief and Passions on this occasion For the more profitable handling of this Passage and to make it work the better upon our Affections these particulars are to be observ'd First The Womens Behaviour and the Reason or occasion of it Secondly Our Lord's Check to their Grief upon his Account And Thirdly His requiring it and making it necessary for themselves and for their Children As to the First It is said of the Women that they bewailed and lamented him And it doth not appear that any other did so or if any besides them were affected with Grief they either conceal'd it or made no such Publick and Remarkable Expressions of it The City was full of People at this time because of the approaching Feast and as is usual on such occasions a very great Multitude followed our Saviour to the place of Execution some out of Curiosity merely to see what was done others to glutt and satisfie their Malice and Revenge But only these Women went out of Compassion His Disciples had forsaken him Nicodemus and other Persons of Quality who believed in Jesus absconded themselves at this time they dissembled their Sentiments and would not appear for him being over-aw'd by the fear of the Priests and Scribes and the giddy furious Multitude who were now gathered into Tumultuary Mobbs demanding him to be Crucified and who in this their Rage were ready to fall upon any that seemed to oppose it as Enemies to the Publick Good of the Nation None offer'd to Plead for him nor did there remain any to commiserate him save these Women in the Text who by their Weeping and Lamentation did Remonstrate against the Madness of the People and the Injustice of the Scribes Pharisees and Priests None of the Circumstances of either our Lord's Birth or Death are accidental but were ordained before-hand by the Infinite Wisdom
of those Sublunary and perishing things How much should we despise and undervalue those empty and fading Vanities seeing we have such infinitely better things prepared for us and waiting upon us Doth he who is called to a Kingdom mind Sticks and Straws Trifles and petty inconsiderable things Remember O Christian what thou art and what thou art called to keep up the Decorum that is suitable to the dignity of thy Person and walk worthy of the Vocation whereunto thou art called Do not creep upon thy Belly and lie groveling upon the Ground lift up thy Head and let thy Heart be where thou seest thy Treasure is Be not like the foolish Indians who sell their Gold and their Pearls and other precious things for Brass and Iron and Glass Beads Do not seek to fill thy Belly with Husks when thou mayst have fulness of Bread in thy Father's House Do not grasp so fast but let go those painted Vanities those mere shadows of Delight and make sure to thy self that fulness of Joy and those Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's Right hand for ever and ever Secondly Consider those things that thou mayst have Comfort in thy Afflictions that thou mayst bear up with a chearful Spirit under all the Crosses that are laid on thee The hopes of Heaven do lighten the burthen of Affliction they take away the heavy pressure thereof How light should we consider our Affliction which is but for a moment seeing it is followed by a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory Look unto Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God Now if we suffer with him we shall be also glorified together with him And I reckon saith St. Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Thirdly Consider what a mighty Encouragement this Blessed life is and what a powerful inducement it should be to Prayer Meditation to all Holy Duties and in a word to a hearty compliance with the whole Gospel We are not commanded those things in vain for naught all the pains we are at this way shall be well rewarded Do we toil and sweat for the Bread which perisheth And shall we not labour for that which endureth to Eternal Life Do Men venture upon Merciless Seas Do they throw themselves upon the Points of Swords and before the mouths of Cannons for a little Gain or some small piece of Honour And shall we refuse to walk Circumspectly to live Soberly Righteously and Godly for Heaven and Eternal Life Be ashamed O Christian of thy Sloth and Laziness blush to see some taking more Pains for Earth than thou art for Heaven for Perishing thant hou art for Eternal Riches You see your Labour is not in vain be stedfast therefore and immoveable and always abounding in the Work of the Lord run with Patience the Race that is set before you and run so that you may obtain Do not faint and weary in well-doing but persevere therein to the very End Be thou faithful unto the death saith Christ and I will give thee a Crown of life Finally Let what hath been said raise your Appetite and stir up in you a Holy and Sincere Desire of this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which strengthens your Faith cherishes your Hope gives you the Encrease of Grace here and is to you a sure Pawn and Pledge of Glory hereafter For this Holy Sacrament is the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus not the Sacred Symbols and Representations thereof only but the conveyance of the Merits of his Death and Sufferings also Now Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Eat therefore O Friends Drink yea Drink abundantly O Beloved that your Souls may be satisfied and live for evermore Now unto him who hath loved us and given himself unto the Death for us and who hath opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers even unto Iesus Christ with the Father and Blessed Spirit the Glorious and Incomprehensible Trinity be all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON VIII ON EASTER-DAY 1689. 1 COR. XV. 19. If in this Life only we have Hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable WHAT the Church Commemorates in this great Festival of Easter solemnly celebrated by all Antiquity St. Paul evidently proves in this Chapter viz. That important Article of our Creed the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ. And from this necessarily he deduceth another most material Point which is the Certainty of our own Resurrection The firm Belief of both these Points are not only absolutely Necessary but also the serious and frequent Consideration of them is most useful that we may be strengthened and encouraged in our Temptations comforted in our Troubles and animated to a chearful Labouring in every work of the Lord. The certainty of an after state as well as the Quality thereof is only known by the Gospel it is Iesus Christ only who hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel The Heathens had some knowledge thereof but it was very faint It was only as a Dream and Imagination for when our Apostle taught it at Athens he was counted a Babler and was mocked there even by the Philosophers themselves And among the Iews there was the Sect of the Sadducees who believed neither Resurrection nor Spirit St. Paul attacks these Epicurean and Sadducean Principles in this Chapter for it would seem that some of the Church of Corinth were corrupted with them and said That there is no Resurrection of the Dead though the belief of this point be so essential to a Christian that he ceases to be one who denies it The words of our Text are one of those Arguments St. Paul makes use of for evincing the Truth and certainty of our Resurrection and it is an Argument taken ex absurdo which is accounted a demonstration even in the strictest Science for there be many Propositions of the Mathematicks which cannot be otherwise demonstrated than by shewing the absurd Consequences of their being false I shall endeavour to demonstrate the strength and force of this Argument of St. Paul for another Life But first let us consider the Truth of his Assertion here that we that is Good and Sincere Christians would be of all others the most miserable if there were no more expected than what this Life doth afford St. Paul saith here that if Christians had no hope but in this Life they would be of all Men most miserable He doth not say they would be the only miserable Persons whereby he clearly insinuates that others as well as they are liable to Misery in this World As some Ignorant and Unjust Men charge
Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure The absolute necessity of Holiness will I suppose be acknowledged by all but I fear many mistake what it is and wherein it consists Some think that it lies in varnishing a little the outside the putting on a form of Godliness like the Pharisees whom our Saviour resembled to whited Sepulchers which covered rottenness and filth Some think they are holy enough if their Opinions be sound and that they are in Communion with an Orthodox Party and a Zeal to promote that Party which they think so is all the Sanctity which others aim at I heard of one who said of a certain Person That she was a Saint indeed because she had the Vocabula Artis What he meant thereby I do not well know except it was That she spake the Dialect and used the Phrases peculiar to some People Indeed he that is Holy will take heed to his words but I know no kind of Language sufficient to sanctifie one and if there were then there needed not great violence in taking the Kingdom of Heaven But not to pursue these manifold sad Mistakes of Men true Holiness regardeth God our neighbours and our selves As it regards God it consists in loving him sincerely above all things being ready to part with any thing rather than offend him In being zealously concerned for his Glory and Interest according to Knowledge and Equity For evil must not be done that good may come who doth so saith St. Paul their damnation is just to drive on things per fas nefas is so far from honouring God that it occasions him to be Blasphemed Finally he truly loves God and is holy towards him who makes Conscience of keeping his Commandments O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Psal. cxix 5 6. But Secondly He that is holy towards God will be holy also in all manner of Conversation towards Men these two God hath joined together by his Word and Men must not put them asunder Now Holiness towards Men is to honour all men and to love the brotherhood to deal with others as we would be dealt with to be unjust to none but to render all their due according to their several Places and Relations And if I have not quite mistaken the Moral of the Christian Religion it takes in Subjection and Obedience to our Superiours and lawful Governours in things lawful Moreover Holiness towards our Neighbour comprehends Mercy and Charity We ought to have Compassion upon him to relieve his Wants according to our Ability to forgive his Faults and to cover his Infirmities as much as possible A holy Man will not be hard-hearted and severe towards his Neighbour in his Transactions with him nor will he Treat him with the utmost Rigour especially when it cannot be done without his ruin And St. Iames tells us He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy James ii 13. Lastly To compleat our Holiness we must look well to our selves and carefully preserve our selves unspotted from this World we must walk honestly as in the day not in chambering and wantonness not in gluttony and drunkenness not in strife and envy nor making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Frequent or habitual Excess and Rioting Whoredom and Uncleanness Lascivious Looks and Speeches not only spoil the Beauty of Holiness but quite deface it As to our selves Holiness is Chastity and Purity Modesty and Humility Temperance and Sobriety the taking care to suppress the Corruption of our Nature and to improve our selves in the exercise of every Grace Thus I have given you a true Scheme of that Holiness to which Eternal Life is promised And having such a Promise let us therefore Cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. vii 1. By these things we must study to qualifie our selves for that other better life otherwise we do in vain expect it Whether it be fit and proper to imploy Wicked and Unhallowed hands in rearing up the Temple of God in this World I shall not now determine but sure I am such shall never inherit the Kingdom of God in the other Let Men be never so active and zealous for Christ's Kingdom upon Earth tho' they Prophesie in his Name and in his Name cast out Devils and do many wondrous Works yet if they be workers of Iniquity he will say unto them Depart from me I never knew you As the certainty of an after happy state is clearly demonstrated in Scripture so there is nothing more plain and evident than that holiness thorough Iesus Christ is the only way that leads to it What a strange thing then is it and how unaccountable that those who profess a Desire and Hope of this Life do not walk in this Way thereto We have at present a great deal of talk about Religion but there was never less of the Practice thereof There was never more Profession nor was there ever so little of the fruit of Godliness to be seen Religion and Truth are in every Bodies Mouth but very few endeavour a conformity to them Some are altogether careless of Holiness as if they knew some By-path or nearer or easier Way to Heaven Others as if they had no hope but in this Life are only concerned for a present Temporal Interest as if Christ's Kingdom were only in this World they only lay themselves out for advancing and establishing the external Policy of the Church And this too Quovis modo by any means whatsoever they will do ill that good may come and do think that the end will hallow the means tho' never so unlawful But my Friends be not deceived suffer not your selves to be cheated and deluded out of the hope of Heaven and Eternal Life And that you may not fall short hereof and lose this comfortable Expectation let me intreat you to talk less and do more be less anxious about the outward Forms of Godliness and be more careful to shew the power thereof in your Life and Actions trust God a little more with the Care of his Church and Truth and be somewhat more concerned to set up the Kingdom of Christ within you without which you shall both forfeit your part in that glorious Kingdom above and also the honour and privilege of his Kingdom here on Earth Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof This Judgment we have deserved and we have great cause to fear it Nothing will prevent it but our timely and unfeigned Repentance a serious turning to the Lord and bringing forth the fruits of Holiness and Righteousness If we do this God will yet have mercy upon our Nation settle the State preserve the Church and render her illustrious in
which is above upon those who do not obey him so none but those who keep his Commandments are capable of them The Dignities and Enjoyments of this present World may be possessed by any Both good and bad we see can be invested with them but as for the Heavenly Glory none can enjoy it but such as are worthy thereof As the Eye is required to Seeing and the Ear to Hearing and the Palate to Tasting so the previous Dispositions of Holiness and Righteousness are requisite and absolutely necessary to the Enjoyment of Heaven and Eternal Life Without holiness saith the Apostle no man can see God Seeing it is certain that we keep in the other World the same Temper and Inclinations which we have in this therefore he who is not prepared and disposed before-hand by the Exercise of Vertue and the leading a Life according to the Commandments of God is no more capable of Heaven and the Pleasures thereof than a Beast is of the intellectual and rational Enjoyments of Men. Heaven is not to be considered so much under the Notion of some glorious Place as of a State which brings us near to God and makes us Partakers of his Divine Nature It is a Life of perfect Holiness and Purity Wherefore they who seek for Heaven without the Desires and Endeavours to be truly holy are wholly ignorant of and do quite mistake the thing and do not know what they would be at Let any Object or Enjoyment be in it self never so good or excellent yet if it be not agreeable to the Faculties and suitable to the Inclinations of him who hath it it affords no Satisfaction or Delight And if he hath any Aversion thereunto it disgusts and procures Trouble and Pain The covetous Worlding the lascivious and intemperate Person relish no Pleasure in the Church in the Exercises of Devotion and in the Company of pious and devout Souls who are wholly mortified to the World and the things thereof these are irksome painful and wearisome things unto them And we may be sure Heaven would be yet far more troublesome because it would be a greater Violence to their Inclinations Therefore could we suppose a wicked Man translated into Heaven he yet would find no Heaven of it I mean he would not look upon himself as happy there because he would find nothing agreeable to his mind or grateful to his Inclinations he would taste as little Pleasure in all that that place could afford him as a Swine would do to be wrapped in Odours and fine Linen and decked with all manner of precious Ornaments As that Beast would still count the Mire and Puddle more delicious so a wicked and ungodly Person would esteem the lowest the most brutish and sensual Pleasures here to be preferable to the Joys of Heaven it self Heaven certainly is as much the natural Consequence of a holy and good Life as it is the Reward obtained for our Obedience And Hell is no more the determined Punishment of Sin than it is the necessary result and effect of it As a Weight naturally presseth towards the Earth so Sin sinketh a Man necessarily into Hell that is the outmost Misery Whereas true Goodness and Righteousness put him without the Reach of it in that they elevate and raise him towards God who is the Fountain of all Happiness Holiness therefore and Obedience to Christ is the true and only way to Heaven he that treads not this Path shall never come there Thus we have considered the Text as it seems the Proposal of a Question or interrogatory asking the Reason and Cause why those who own and acknowledge Christ to be their Lord and Master do not sincerely obey Him and keep his Commandments From which Occasion hath been taken to shew the unreasonableness and Absurdity of disjoining these which should be conjoined together I mean the Profession and Practice of Christianity seeing that which moveth and exciteth to the one doth also call for the other Now before I leave this Point allow me to ask you a few Questions and to reason the matter a little with you What is it that perswadeth you to call Christ Lord Is it that you may please God by receiving him whom he hath so highly exalted If this be the reason do you not see that by the same reason you are obliged to serve and obey him For this also is the Will of God Is it Love to Christ which makes you adhere to him You see Love and Obedience are inseparable and that Love cannot be ingenuously professed if Obedience be denied Finally do you embrace Christ on the account of that rich Reward which he hath promised But do you not see that this cannot be expected without keeping his Commandments and performing that Work which he requireth and hath intrusted to you What Reason can be given for refusing an entire Subjection to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Is there any Motive or Inducement to believe which doth not equally perswade to obey It is evident then that if the matter be laid home to Men they can answer nothing but must stand speechless Out of thine own Mouth thou shalt be condemned O wicked and slothful Servant for thou oughtest to have obeyed him whom thou knowest and believest to be thy Lord Shouldest thou not study to please him whom thou professest so much to Love And oughtest thou not to have done thy Work if thou wouldest have had thy Wages What a shameful and unworthy a thing is it for Men to act so unlike Men To shew so little Reason nay to walk so contrary to all Reason in these matters of the greatest Moment and Concernment The Practice of Heathens and Infidels is not so absurd as this comes to they do not obey Christ because they do not believe in him or they will not profess him because they have no mind to obey him So one tells us of the Men of Congo That at first they were easily perswaded by the Portugueze to embrace Christianity and were baptized in great abundance But afterwards when they found it did require some Strictness which they had no mind to bear that they must leave their Heathen Practices particularly their Multitude of Women they came back to the Church renounc'd what they had done and return'd back to their indulgent Heathenism For they knew not how to reconcile the Christian Vow with living in the open Breach of it being too honest for such Practices And certainly it is far more reasonable to declare that we do not believe in Christ nor yet own him than to profess both and in the mean time continue disobedient to him if we lay aside our Obedience let us lay aside our Faith and Profession too for that but makes us the more guilty and liable to a greater Condemnation And thus we are brought from considering the Text Question-wise to consider it as an Expostulation or sharp Reproof made to all empty and barren Professors and such as rest
are now ashamed is not the end of these things death for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Let not therefore sin reign any more in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but your members as instruments of righteousness unto God Be not afraid or discouraged at his Laws for there is none of them grievous saith the Apostle St. John The law of the Lord is perfect saith David Converting the soul his statutes are right rejoicing the heart they are more to be desired than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey or the honey-comb And in keeping them there is great reward For if being made free from Sin we become Servants to God and have our fruit unto Holiness our end shall be everlasting Life to the which God bring us all in his good time Amen SERMON XI A PREPARATION TO THE Holy Communion HEBREWS X. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water THese Words are an Inference or Conclusion drawn from a Doctrine formerly delivered as appears from the illative Particle Therefore in the 19th Verse And there you have also the Summ of the Doctrine it self viz. That there is now free access unto God through Iesus Christ which the Apostle declareth in figurative Expressions with an Allusion to the Jewish Temple not only because he was writing to Hebrews but also because that Temple and the way of entering thereinto was a Type of this great Truth which is revealed by the Gospel That Iesus Christ is a true and the only Mediator betwixt God and Man that by him Men may confidently draw near to God and hope for Acceptance St. Paul has asserted and endeavoured to make out in the former part of this Epistle and indeed he hath proved and made it most evident so that there can remain no doubt thereof except in those who obstruct their own Conviction not desiring to be convinc'd Now the proper and practical Improvement of this certain important and most desireable Truth is what you have in the Words of our Text For they contain an Exhortation to lay hold on this gracious Privilege and with all they shew us how and after what manner we should do it so as to obtain it I shall first speak to the Exhortation it self next of the Qualities here required of such as design to comply with the Exhortation and lastly make Application of all to the present business of the Sacrament To begin then with the Exhortation which is in these words Let us draw near To what or whom we should draw near is not here express'd but is to be gathered from what goeth before whereby we understand that it is God to whom we are here desired to draw near And seeing it is so by drawing near here cannot be meant any Motion of our Body towards God for as to his Glorious and Majestick Presence in the Heavens we cannot approach it though we would and as for his other Essential Presence neither can we avoid it though we would too for he fills both Heaven and Earth Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy presence said David If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there To draw near to God therefore is a metaphorical Speech and must be understood not of any natural Action of the Body but of some moral Action of the Soul viz. The Desires and Endeavours after Peace and Reconciliation with God For because those who are Enemies and at variance together use to keep a Distance and shun each other's Company therefore in Scripture they who never think of God take no Care to please him and those who make no Difficulty to offend him are said to be far from God and to go a whoring from him And on the other hand because those who lay aside their Enmity and are desirous to be made Friends usually meet and resort to one anothers Company therefore drawing near to God in the Scripture Language is put for the Inclination of our Souls toward him the seeking to have all manner of Enmity betwixt God and us quite removed and that a true firm Peace be made up with him Sin is the Cause and Occasion of that Enmity which is fallen out betwixt God and Man And one would have thought that all the Difficulties of Reconciliation with God should have been on his part That his Justice his Honour his Authority should have interposed and not only not suffered him to accept of Peace but also to have obliged him utterly to destroy those despicable silly Creatures who had the foolish Insolency to rebel against him and to counteract his Will and Pleasure But behold Jesus Christ hath removed all Difficulties on God's Part he hath found out means to satisfie the Justice and to salve the Honour and Authority of God though Man be not destroyed though his Sin be passed over and pardoned God's Wrath is pacified he now looks favourably upon Man and is willing to receive him into Favour and to renew a Covenant of Grace and Peace with him whereby he obligeth himself to deal with Man as if he had not sinned as if he had never rebelled against his Maker Now could it have been expected that such a gracious Offer should not have been readily embraced But which is unaccountable Man stands out and will not be reconciled to God God hath made great Condescension and Man will make none God wooes and intreats and Man draws back and runs away God calls and sends Message after Message and the other will not hear he stretcheth forth his Hands but no Man regardeth he waits but they will not come or draw near Thus each acts as 't were not his own part but what in all Appearance doth more properly belong to the other God acts as if he were in Man's stead and Man behaves himself as if he were in the Place of God for as if God were the poor the needy the inferiour and miserable Party he sues and humbles himself first and as if Man were an independent Sovereign and All-sufficient Being who needed no Aid from any he rejects all the Treaty and disdains this proffered Friendship O! Wonderful Condescension of God And O the Stupidity and Foolishness and Madness of Man What Words are sufficient to hold out either of these And how hard is it to determine which of the two is most astonishing Whether God's Behaviour towards Man in seeking him offering Pardon and Peace or Man's Behaviour towards God in refusing and slighting the same Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory
it is your Father's will to give you a Kingdom A Kingdom of more Glory than all the Kingdoms of the World and it is a Kingdom which shall never end This is the Reward which God will certainly bestow on his righteous Servants and Children of which Reward some make the raining Righteousness in the Text a Promise for they take Righteousness to be the Reward of it as in the following Verse Iniquity is taken for the Punishment thereof But whether that be the main intent of the Words certainly it may be comprehended in them for the Fruits and Effects of Righteousness are always given where it self is given Holiness and the glorious Reward of it cannot be disjoined so that he who has the one is sure of the other The Wicked cannot inherit Glory nor can the Righteous be excluded Instead therefore of perplexing our selves what shall come of us whether we shall go to Heaven let us chearfully do our Duty and heartily endeavour to be righteous in the sight of God for hereby we may be assured of eternal Life The one is the Earnest and Pledge of the other Hitherto I have handled and applied the Text with a respect to Mens private and personal state But as was said in the beginning the Prophet delivered this Advice with a regard to the publick state of his People both Civil and Ecclesiastick And so it proposes the true Way and Method of preventing and removing publick Calamities and Disasters from Church and State which is to put away Sin and Wickedness and to encourage and promote Piety and Godliness As the Prophet forewarns them of very sad and heavy Judgments so all along he plainly inculcates the cause thereof viz. Their Pride and Wantonness the neglect of God and of his Worship and a gross contempt of and disobedience to his Righteous Laws For this cause he told them they were to be so exemplarily punished and that nothing could save them from utter Ruin or procure the lengthning of their Tranquillity but the ceasing from Sin and the doing that which is right in the sight of God Both the Preservation and Ruin of Kingdoms and publick States is of God and he is moved to the one or the other according as they are righteous or wicked For as Solomon saith Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people which Maxim of the Wise Man is clearly exemplified in Sacred History and was wisely observed in relation to the Iews in the person of Achior the Captain of the Sons of Ammon for in the Speech which he is said to have made to Olofernes he told him That whilest they sinned not before their God they prospered because the God that hateth iniquity was with them but when they departed from the way which he appointed them they were destroyed in many sore Battels and were led Captives into a Land that was not theirs and the Temple of their God was cast to the Ground and their Cities were taken by the Enemies From which wise Observation he concluded as wisely his Advice to the same Olofernes Now therefore my Lord and Governour if there be any Errour in this People and they sin against their God let us consider that this shall be their ruin and let us go up and we shall overcome them But if there be no iniquity in their Nation let my Lord pass by lest their Lord defend them and their God be for them and we become a reproach before all the world Righteousness is the greatest Security of a People it is the strongest Bond of Union amongst themselves and will defend the Frontiers better than Garisons or Armies can do For it secureth the Protection of the Almighty who can defeat the strongest and most numerous Forces and who when a man's ways please the Lord maketh his enemies to be at peace with him If therefore we have any concernment for the Church and State whereof we are Members if we would have God to do good to our Zion and to build up the walls of our Ierusalem if we would have him to settle Peace within their Walls and Prosperity within their Palaces let every one of us return from the Evil of our ways let us seek God with all our heart retrieve true Piety and true Religion and by the works of real Righteousness study to please God If we do this then his Heart will be towards us and his Delight will be in us then we shall become his Pleasant Vineyard which he will fence and plant out of which he will gather the Stones and in which he will build a Tower for himself he will cherish our Church and State and do all that can be desired for their Beauty Order and Peace But if instead of the pleasant Grapes of Righteousness we yield the sowre Grapes of Iniquity if instead of Judgment God see Oppression if instead of Righteousness he hear a cry if instead of the sweet smelling savour of a Christian Conversation we send forth the noisom and stinking scent of Sin and Impiety Ungodliness and worldly Lusts then he will utterly abandon us I will tell you what he will then do to his Vineyard I will saith the Lord take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down And I will lay it waste It shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it Isa. v. 5. Our Land will always be made to mourn so long as Sin and Iniquity abound in it Publick Peace and Prosperity cannot be expected till there be a return of Righteousness of true and solid Piety Till that appear we need not look for good Let us therefore seek the Lord and by fervent and effectual Prayers beseech him to give Repentance unto all People and to Rain down true Righteousness upon all Ranks and Orders of Men that it may be well with every one of us and with the Land we live in For then our case should be happy and then both Sion and Ierusalem would have reason to rejoice for the Lord then would strengthen the bars of their gates he would bless the people within them make peace in their borders and fill them with the finest of the wheat Now unto him that is able to do this for us unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON XIII Preach'd at St. Giles Church in EDINBURGH On October 16. 1687. HOSEA V. 13 14 15. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Iudah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Iareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound For I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Iudah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall
rescue him I will go and return unto my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early EPHRAIM is put here for the whole Ten Tribes who revolted from the House of David and embodied themselves into a distinct Kingdom Under Iudah is here comprehended also the Tribe of Benjamin which two Tribes as they kept close in Allegiance and Expressions of Loyalty to their lawful King so they made Profession of Serving the One true God in that way and after that manner prescribed by his Word By the Sickness of Ephraim and the Wounds of Iudah is meant those Afflictions and Calamities which God sent upon the several States because of their Sins and Transgressions And by considering this Prophesie and the History of these several Nations we find the Judgments they were visited with and which are here especially pointed at to have been a withdrawing the Necessaries and Comforts of Life Factions and Divisions within and Oppressions from Neighbours without By Ephraim going to the Assyrian and Iudah sending to King Iareb The same thing is understood by all Interpreters for they make Iareb either the proper Name of the King of Assyria then reigning or an Appellative title given to all the Kings of that Nation as Pharaoh was the title of the Kings of Egypt and Coesar or Augustus of the Roman Emperours or it is thought to be the Name of a City in Assyria where the Kings resided and that he is called King Iareb because he lived there or finally considering the Etymology of the word some will have the King of Assyria so called because the Iews and Israelites expected he should have vindicated and defended them wherefore the Translators of the Bible have put into the Margin Or to the King that should Plead But which soever of these ways be taken all conclude that Assyria is meant and that respect is had to what we read 2 Kings xv 19. xvi 17. 2 Chron. xxviii 16. Where we see how both Iudah and Israel entered into a League with Assyria and studied by Money and Presents both to procure his own Peace and also Assistance to curb and restrain others who infested them And when it is said he could not heal you nor cure you thereby it is represented how ineffectual this Method was for their relief for they were not put in a better state by his means so far from that that even he from whom they expected Ease became an Instrument of more Mischief and Trouble unto them as the Sacred History plainly shews The reason hereof is given in the 14th Verse to wit because God was angry with them and resolved to punish them he was determined to be as a Lion to Ephraim and as a young Lion to Iudah to tear them and take them away That is as these Beasts are strong to catch their prey and when they have set upon it do devour it and it is in vain to think to get it safe out of their clutches so God being incensed he will shew himself able and strong to punish those who had done it And it was a most foolish thing to think by Men or any other Means to prevent the Mischief he certainly determined It was like the offering to take back a prey from the Jaws of a hungry and raging Lion Who can rescue out of his Hands When he declares War who can make Peace Men may fight with Men but it is in vain to strive against God or to think that any Means or Projects will prosper where he is the Enemy And as these Savage Beasts when they have catch'd their prey and eaten it up use to retire to their Dens and Coverts and lurk there so in allusion to this God saith in the last Verse he will return to his place that is as it were shut himself up in Heaven that the Earth should no more feel his gracious Presence or the comfortable Effects thereof He would so leave them and forsake them by withdrawing the favourable Expressions of his Providence as that they should be tempted to think he had confined himself to Heaven and would no more visit the Earth nor the Children of Men. But all this God did not so much out of Wrath and for Destruction as out of Love that he might at last save them and make them Partakers of his great goodness They were so perverse as to resist his gentle Methods so stubborn as not to be wrought upon by his former Acts of Kindness that he was provoked and if it were proper to speak so of the Almighty constrained to take up the Rod and to deal with them thus roughly and severely But still his intent was not to cut them off utterly from him but rather to bring them into a stricter Union with him afterwards He let his anger out now upon them that they might afterwards be made capable of his Love to wit when they became sensible of their Sin and Folly in forsaking the Commands of God and resolved to seek him seriously in all time coming This saith he I will do till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face And as God had this end before him in their Punishment so there is here a gracious intimation that the Punishments laid upon them should be effectual for this purpose In their afflictions they will seek me early which words are not so much a Prediction of what probably they would do as a Promise what he would then by his Grace make them do Afflictions have indeed some natural tendency to soften Men to render them tractable and obedient but then only this is truly effectuated when God sanctifieth Afflictions and giveth his Grace with them And when Afflictions produce this when People are so happy as to be converted by them then God layeth aside all Quarrels he putteth off his anger and putteth on Bowels of Love and Compassion he hideth his Face while Men continue in their Sins and Transgressions All the time they are going astray from God he retires within his Place as is here said But when they begin to acknowledge their Offences and in all sincerity seek his Face then he comes forth of his Place and lifts the light of his Countenance upon them and speaks comfortably unto them his going forth is prepared as the Morning and then he cometh unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the Earth which both refresheth it and maketh it fruitful Thus I have explained the words and given you the genuine Scope and Purport of them In the next place I intend to propose plainly such Instructions as they afford and as I judge them both useful and seasonable so I pray God they may be candidly heard meekly received seriously considered and carefully observed First then We may read and discern here the Cause and Occasion of all the Evils and Mischief which come either upon private Persons or on publick States viz. SIN This