this was affirmed of some part of Brasil by some of the first Discoverers who yet at the same time owned that these very People did most expresly believe the immortality of the Soul and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life Opinions which no Man can well reconcile with the denial and disbelief of a Deity But to put an end to this Argument later and more perfect discoveries have found this not to be true and do assure us upon better acquaintance with those barbarous People that they are deeply possest with the belief of One supream God who made and governs the World Having thus given a particular Answer to Socinus his Arguments against the Natural knowledge of a God I will now briefly offer some Arguments for it And to prove that the knowledge and belief of a God is natural to Mankind my First Argument shall be from the Universal Consent in this matter of all Nations in all Ages And this is an Argument of great force there being no better way to prove any thing to be natural to any kind of Being than if it be generally found in the whole Kind Omnium consensus naturae vox est the Consent of all is the voice of Nature saith Tully And indeed by what other Argument can we prove that Reason and Speech and an Inclination to Society are Natural to Men but that these belong to the whole Kind Secondly Unless the Knowledge of God and his Essential Perfections be Natural I do not see what sufficient and certain foundation there can be of Revealed Religion For unless we naturally know God to be a Being of all perfection and consequently that whatever he says is true I cannot see what Divine Revelation can signifie For God's revealing or declaring such a thing to us is no necessary Argument that it is so unless antecedently to this Revelation we be possest firmly with this Principle that whatever God says is true And whatever is known antecedently to Revelation must be known by Natural Light and by Reasonings and Deductions from Natural Principles I might further add to this Argument that the only standard and measure to judge of Divine Revelations and to distinguish between what are true and what are counterfeit are the Natural Notions which Men have of God and of his Essential Perfections Thirdly If the Notion of a God be not Natural I do not see how Men can have any Natural Notion of the difference of Moral Good and Evil Just and Unjust For if I do not naturally know there is a God how can I naturally know that there is any Law obliging to the one and forbidding the other all Law and Obligation to Obedience necessarily supposing the Authority of a Superiour Being But the Apostle expresly asserts that the Gentiles who were destitute of a Revealed Law were a Law unto themselves but there cannot be a Natural Law obliging Mankind unless God be Naturally known to them And this Socinus himself in his Discourse upon this very Argument is forced to acknowledge In all Men says he there is Naturally a difference of Just and Unjust or at least there is planted in all Men an acknowledgment that Just ought to be preferr'd beâ—ore Unjust and that which is honest before the contrary and this is nothing else but the Word of God witâ—in a Man which whosoever obeys in so doing obeys God tho' otherwise he neither know nor think there is a God and there is no doubt but he that thus obeys God is accepted of him So that here is an acknowledgement of a Natural Obligation to a Law without any Natural Knowledge of a Superior Authority which I think cannot be and which is worse that a Man may obey God acceptably without knowing and believing there is a God which direcâ—ly thwarts the ground of his first Argument from those words of the Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God that is he that will be Religious and please God must believe that he is so hard is it for any Man to contradict Nature without contradicting himself Fourthly My last Argument I ground upon the words of the Apostle in my Text That which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Is manifest in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among them God hath sufficiently manifested it to Mankind And which way hath God done this by Revelation or by the Natural Light of Reason He tells us at the 20 th ver For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen that is God who in himself is invisible ever since he hath Created the World hath given a visible Demonstration of himself that is of his Eternal Power and Godhead being understood by the things which are made The plain sense of the whole is that this wise and wonderful frame of the World which cannot Reasonably be ascribed to any other Cause but God is a sensible Demonstration to all Mankind of an Eternal and Powerful Being that was the Author and Framer of it The only Question now is Whether this Text speak of the Knowledge of God by particular Revelation or by Natural Light and Reason from the contemplation of the Works of God Socinus having no other way to avoid the force of this Text will needs understand it of the Knowledge of God by the Revelation of the Gospel His words are these The Apostle therefore says in this place that the Eternal Godhead of God that is that which God would always have us to do for the Godhead is sometimes taken in this sense and his Eternal Power that is his Promise which never fails in which sense he said a little before that the Gospel is the Power of God these I say which were never seen by Men that is were never known to them since the Creation of the World are known by his Works that is by the wonderful Operation of God and Divine Men especially of Christ and his Apostles These are his very words and now I refer it to any indifferent Judgment whether this be not a very forced and constrained Interpretation of this Text and whether that which I have before given be not infinitely more free and natural and every way more agreeable to the obvious sense of the words and the scope of the Apostle's Argument For he plainly speaks of the Heathen and proves them to be inexcusable because they held the truth in unrighteousness and having a Natural Knowledge of God from the contemplation of his Works and the things which are made they did not glorifie him as God And therefore I shall not trouble my self to give any other Answer to it for by the absurd violence of it in every part it confutes it self more effectually than any Discourse about it can do I have been the larger upon this because it is a Matter of so great Consequence and lies at the bottom of all Religion For
the Lord thy God require of thee c. The First being a meer question there needs no more to be said of it only that it is a question of great importance What is the most effectual way to appease God when we have offended him For who can bear his indignation and who who can stand before him when once he is angry Let us consider then in the Second place the way that Men are apt to take to pacifie God and that is by some external piece of Religion and Devotion such as were Sacrifices among the Jews and Heathen Shall I come before him with Burnt-offerings This is the way which Men are most apt to chuse The Jews you seâ— pitched upon the external parts of their Religion those which were most pompous and solemn the richest and most costly Sacrifices so they might but keep their Sins they were well enough content to offer up any thing else to God they thought nothing too good for him provided he would not oblige them to become better And thus it is among our selves when we apprehend God is displeased with us and his Judgments abroad in the Earth we are content to do any thing but to learn Righteousness we are willing to submit to any kind of external Devotion and Humiliation to Fast and Pray to afflict our selves and to cry mightily unto God things some of them good in themselves but the least part of that which God requires of us And as for the Church of Rome in case of publick Judgments and Calamities they are the inquisitive and as they pretend the most skilful People in the world to pacifie God and they have a thousand solemn devices to this purpose I do not wrong them by representing them enquiring after this manner Shall I go before a Crucifix and bow my self to it as to the high God And because the Lord is a great King and it is perhaps too much boldness and arrogance to make immediate Addresses always to him to which of the Saints or Angels shall I go to mediate for me and intercede on my behalf Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Pater-Nosters or with ten thousands of Ave-Marys Shall the Host travel in procession or my self undâ—rtake a tedious Pilgrimage Or shall I list my self a Souldier for the Holy War or for the Extirpation of Hereticks Shall I give half my Estate to a Convent for my Transgression or chastise and punish my Body for the Sin of my Soul Thus Men deceive themselves and will submit to all the extravagant Severities that the Petulancy and Folly of Men can devise and impose upon them And indeed it is not to be imagined when Men are once under the Power of Superstition how ridiculous they may be and yet think themselves religious how prodigiously they may play the Fool and yet believe they please God what cruel and barbarous things they may do to themselves and others and yet be verily perswaded they do God good Service And what is the Mystery of all this but that Men are loath to do that without which nothing else that we do is acceptable to God They hate to be reformed and for this Reason they will be content to do any Thing rather than be put to the Trouble of Mending themselves every thing is easie in comparison of this Task and God may have any Terms of them so he will let them be quiet in their Sins and excuse them from the real Virtues of a Good Life And this brings me to the Third Thing which I principally intended to speak to The Course which God himself directs to and which will effectually pacifie him He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God In the handling of which I shall First Consider those several Duties which God here requires of us and upon the Performance of which he will be pacified towards us Secondly By what Ways and Means God hath discovered these Duties to us and the Goodness of them He hath shewed thee O Man what is good c. I. We will briefly consider the several Duties which God here requires of us and upon the Performance of which he will be pacified towards us What doth the Lord require of thee but to do Justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God It was usual among the Jews to reduce all the Duties of Religion to these three Heads Justice Mercy and Piety under the first two comprehending the Duties which we owe to one another and under the third the Duties which we owe to God 1. Justice And I was going to tell you what it is but I considered that every Man knows it as well as any Definition can explain it to him I shall only put you in mind of some of the principal Instances of it and the several Virtues comprehended under it And First Justice is concerned in the making of Laws that they be such as are equal and reasonable useful and beneficial for the Honour of God and Religion and for the publick good of Humane Society This is a great Trust in the discharge of which if Men be byassed by Favour or Interest and drawn aside from the Consideration and Regard of the publick Good it is a far greater Crime and of worse Consequence than any private Act of Injustice between Man and Man And then Justice is also concerned in the due Execution of Laws which are the Guard of private Property the Security of Publick Peace and of Religion and Good Manners And Lastly In the Observance of Laws and Obedience to them which is a Debt that every Man owes to Humane Society But more especially Justice is concerned in the Observance of those Laws whether of God or Man which respect the Rights of Men and their mutual Commerce and Intercourse with one another That we use Honesty and Integrity in all our Dealings in Opposition to Fraud and Deceit Truth and Fidelity in Opposition to Falshood and Breach of Trust Equity and good Conscience in Opposition to all kind of Oppression and Exaction These are the principal Branches and Instances of this great and comprehensive Duty of Justice the Violation whereof is so much the greater Sin because this Virtue is the firmest Bond of Humane Society upon the Observation whereof the Peace and Happiness of Mankind does so much depend 2. Mercy which does not only signifie the inward Affection of Pity and Compassion towards those that are in Misery and Necessity but the Effects of it in the actual Relief of those whose Condition calls for our Charitable Help and Assistance By feeding the Hungry and cloathing the Naked and visiting the Sick and vindicating the Oppressed and comforting the afflicted and ministring Ease and Relief to them if it be in our Power And this is a very lovely Virtue and argues more Goodness in Men than mere Justice
will I think be very plain from these following Considerations First That the Judicial or Ceremonial Laws of the Jews were to pass away and did so not long after but this Law which our Saviour speaks of was to be perpetual and immutable for he tells us that Heaven and Earth should pass away but one jot or one title of this Law should not pass Secondly The observation of the Law our Saviour speaks of consisted in such things as the Scribes and Pharisees neglected for he tells his Disciples upon this occasion that except their righteousness did exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But now the Scribes and Pharisees were the most accurate and punctual People in the World in observing the Precepts of the Judicial and Ceremonial Law they were so far from taking away any thing from these observances that they had added to them and enlarged them by innumerable Traditions of their own so exact were they that they would pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin as our Saviour observes but then they were extreamly defective in Moral Duties they were unnatural to their Parents and would pretend that their Estates were consecrated to God that under this pretence of positive Religion they might excuse themselves from a Natural Duty and let their Parents starve for God's sake they were Covetous and Unjust and devoured Widows houses in a word our Saviour tells us they neglected the weightier Matters of the Law Mercy Judgment and the love of God and keeping faith with Men so that it is in these things that our Saviour means that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees viz. in the practice of Moral Duties which were neglected by them and consequently 't is the Moral Law which our Saviour came to confirm and establish Thirdly If we consider the instances which our Saviour gives in his following discourse by which we may best judge what he means He instances in Murder and Adultery and Perjury which are undoubtedly forbidden by the natural Law and then he iâ—stances in several Permissions which were indulged to them for the Hardness of their Hearts but yet did intrench upon the Dictates of right Reason and the first and original Constitution of things as the permission of Divorce upon every slight occasion and of Revenge and Retaliation of Injuries Fourthly If we consider that by the Law and the Prophets our Saviour means that which was principally designed and ultimately intended by them which was the Observation of moral Duties which as they were written in the two Tables by the immediate Finger of God himself so are chiefly inculcated by the Propheâ—s And so we find this Phrase of the Law and the Prophets elsewhere used by our Saviour when he mentions that great Rule of Equity that we should do to others as we would have them do to us Matth. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets But how was this the Law and the Prophets when this Rule was never so much as mentioned in either Our Saviour means that this is the Foundation of all those Duties of Justice and Mercy which are so much inculcated in the Law and the Prophets So that our Saviour makes the Observation of moral Duties to be the principal Design of the Jewish Law and as it were the Foundation of it and therefore he calls moral Duties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier matters of the Law Matth. 23. 23. But ye says he to the Scribes and Pharisees have neglected the weightier things of the Law judgment and mercy and fidelity The Scribes and Pharisees busied themselves chiefly about ritual Observances but our Saviour tells them that those other were the most considerable and important Duties of the Law and lay at the bottom of the Jewish Religion And much the same enumeration the Prophet makes where he compares Sacrifices and these moral Duties together Mic. 6. 6 7 8. Wherewith â—hall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God He had required Sacrifices but had no regard to them in comparison with these II. No Instituted Service of God no positive part of Religion whatsoever was ever acceptable to God when moral Duties were neglected nay so far from being acceptable to him that he rejects them with Disdain and Abhorrence To this purpose there are almost innumerable Passages in the Prophets Isa 1. 11. c. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations incense is an Abomination to me the new moons and sabbaths the calling of assemblies I cannot away with it is Iniquity even the solemn meeting and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you when ye make many prayers I will not hear What is the reason of all this Because they were defective in the moral Duties of Religion so it follows your hands are full of Blood wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the Widow come now and let us reason together saith the Lord implying that till they had respect to moral Duties all their external Worship and Sacrifices signified nothing And so likewise Isa 66. 3. He tells them that nothing could be more abomible than their Sacrifices so long as they allowed themselves in wicked Practises He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dog's neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swine's Blood and he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol yea they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations And to mention but one Text more out of the Old Testament Jer. 7. 4 5. Trust ye not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord are these Throughly amend your ways and your doings throughly execute Judgment between a man and his neighbour oppress â—ot the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent blood If they did not practise these Duties and forbear those Sins all the reverence for the temple and the
the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins I should now have proceeded to the Third Particular namely that the Christian Religion hath supplied all the defects and weakness and imperfection of the Jewish dispensation but that I shall not now enter upon but make one plain inference from the substance of what I have already discoursed upon this Argument If our Saviour came not to dissolve and loosen the obligation of Moral Duties but to confirm and establish it and to enforce and bind the practice of these Duties more strongly upon us then they do widely and wilfully mistake the design of Christianity who teach that it dischargeth Men from the obligation of the Moral Law which is the Fundamental and avowed Principle of the Antinomian Doctrine but directly contrary to this Declaration of our Saviour in the Text that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to perfect and fulfill them for to take away the obligation of a Law is plainly to destroy and make it void and contrary to the Apostle's solemn resolution of this matter Rom. 3. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith That is does the Gospel destroy and take away the obligation of the Law God forbid yea we establish the Law the Christian Religion is so far from designing or doing any such thing that it gives new strength and force to it But surely they that teach this Doctrine did never duly consider that terrible threatning of our Saviour after the Text which seems to be so directly level'd at them whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven for how can Men more effectually teach the violation not only of the least but of the greatest of Gods Commandments than by declaring that the Gospel hath set Men free from the obligation of the Moral Law which is in effect to say that Christians may act contrary to all the Duties of Morality that is do the most impious things in the World without any offence against God and notwithstanding this continue to be his Children and highly in the favour of God And all the security they have against this impious Consequence is that weak and slender pretence that gratitude and love to God will preserve them from making this ill use of the grace of the Gospel and oblige them to abstain from Sin and to endeavour to please God as much as any Law could do But then they do not consider the nonsense of this for there can be no such thing as Sin if the obligation of the Law be taken away for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression as the Apostle and common Reason likewise tells us so that the Law being removed and taken away all Actions become indifferent and one thing is not more a sin or offence against God than another And what then is it they mean that gratitude will oblige Men to or preserve them from When there can be no such thing as sin or duty as pleasing or offending God if there be no Law to oblige us to the one or restrain us from the other And what is if this be not to turn the grace of God into wantonness and to make Christian Liberty a Cloke for all sorts of Sins A Man cannot do a greater despite to the Christian Religion nor take a more effectual course to bring it into contempt and to make it to be hiss'd out of the World than to represent it as a lewd and licentious Doctrine which gives Men a perfect discharge from all the Duties of Morality and obligeth them only to believe confidently that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will and that upon these terms and no other they are secure of the favour of God in this World and Eternal Salvation in the other This is the sum and the plain result of the Antinomian Doctrine the most pernicious Heresie and most directly destructive of the great End and Design of Christianity that ever yet was broached in the World But ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning your former conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful Lusts and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness SERMON IV. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTHEW V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil I Have consider'd this Saying of our Saviour's with respect to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual force and that our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or loosen the obligation of them for the illustration of which I propounded to clear these three Points First That the main and ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial goodness Secondly That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make Men truly good and ineffectual to promote inward and real Righteousness These two points I have spoken to I shall now proceed to the Third Namely that the Christian Religion doth supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of the Jewish dispensation The Jewish Religion had very considerable advantages above the meer light of Nature which was all that the Heathen World had to conduct them towards Eternal Happiness the Jews had the knowledge of the one true God and very signal and particular Testimonies of the Divine Providence which did naturally tend to beget in them good hopes of a future Life and the rewards of another World they had the Natural Law revealed and the main Precepts of it written with God's own hand and by Moses delivered to them by which means they had a more certain and distinct knowledge of their duty they had Prophets frequently sent to them to admonish them of their Duty and to exhort them to Repentance and to warn them of approaching judgments They had good encouragement given to hope for the pardon of Sin by God's appointment of several ways of expiation which how unlikely soever they were to be available to the effectual expiation of Sin yet they did signifie that the Divine Nature was placable and did seem to figure some more effectual way designed by God for that purpose that should be exhibited in due time And finally they had most express promises and threatnings of Temporal Blessings and judgements to encourage them in their obedience and to deter them from the transgression of God's Laws These Advantages the Jews plainly had above the rest of the World God did not deal
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that is whereas the Law left Sinners as to those Sins which stood most in need of pardon under a Curse having provided no expiation for them Christ hath redeemed them from that Curse by making a general expiation for Sin and in this sense it is that the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 9. 15. that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant that is for those Sins for which the Covenant of the Law had provided no way of forgiveness and therefore St. John says emphatically 1 Joh. 1. 7. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Thirdly The Law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain Rules and Directions for a good Life As the corruption and degeneracy of Mankind grew worse so the light of Nature waxed dimmer and dimmer and the Rule of Good and Evil was more doubtful and uncertain and that in very considerable instances of our Duty The Law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews and even to them who only had the benefit and advantage of it it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to Moral Duties and those things which are of an Eternal and Immutable Reason and Goodness And therefore our Saviour in this Sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews or the letter of it seemed to intend and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that Law as Divorce and Retaliation of Injuries but hath heightned our Duty in several instances of it requiring us to love our Enemies and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations tho' never so often repeated and not only not to revenge them but to requite them with good turns which were not understood by Mankind to be Laws before but yet when duly consider'd are very agreeable to right Reason and the sense of the wisest and bâ—st Men. So that the Christian Religion â—ath not only fixt and determined our Duty and brought it to a greater certainty but hath raised it to a greater perfection and rendered it every way fit to bring the Minds of Men to a more Divine temper and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God than ever the World was instructed in before Fourthly The Promises and Threatnings of the Law were only of temporal good and evil things which are in comparison of the endless Rewards and Punishments of another World but very languid and faint Motives to obedience Not but that the Jews under the Law had such apprehensions of their own Immortality and of a future state of Happiness and Misery after this Life as Natural Light suggested to them which was in most but a wavering and uncertain perswasion and consequently of small efficacy to engage Men to their Duty but the Law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those Natural Notions concerning a future state and the strengthning of this perswasion in the Minds of Men it did rather suppose it than give any new force and life to it And for this Reason more particularly the Apostle tells us that the Law was but weak to make Men good because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of Men by the weight of its Promises and the terrour of its Threatnings and that for this weakness and imperfection of it it was removed and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in in the place of it Heb. 7. 18 19. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment that was before that is of the Jewish Law for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did that is the Covenant of the Gospel which promiseth Eternal Life And Ch. 8. 6. for this Reason more especially the Apostle says that Christ had obtained a more excellent Ministry being the Mediator of a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises And Rom. 1. 16 18. St. Paul tell us that for this Reason the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation because therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The clear Revelation of a Future Judgment was that which made the Gospel so proper and so powerful an Instrument for the Salvation of Men. The great impiety of Mankind and their impenitency in it was not so much to be wondred at before while the World was in a great measure ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked Life and therefore God is said in some sort to overlook it but now he commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future Judgment calls loudly upon all Men to leave their Sins and turn to God Fifthly The Covenant of the Law had no spiritual Promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit for the mortifying of Sin and enabling Men to their Duty and supporting them under Sufferings but the Gospel is full of clear and express Promises to this purpose Our Saviour hath assured us that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and this the Apostle tells us is actually confer'd upon all true Christians those who do sincerely embrace and believe the Gospel Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Hence the Gospel is call'd by the same Apostle the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus v. 2d of that Chap. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and in the next words he tells us that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the Law that it left Men destitute of this mighty help and advantage at least as to any special promise of it What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by making him a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is that that Righteousness which the Law aimed at and signified but was too weak to effect might be really accomplisht in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who are acted and assisted by a higher and better Principle than Men either have in Nature or the carnal dispesnation of the Law did endow Men withall And because of this great defect the Law is said to be a state of Bondage and Servitude and on the contrary
and confirmation from plain Texts such Doctrines as these three 1. That as the Creation was by an irresistible act of the Divine Power so is this new Creation or Conversion of a Sinner 2. That as Creatures were meerly passive in their being made and contributed nothing at all to it no more do we to our Conversion and Regeneration 3. That as the Creation of the several Ranks and Kinds of Creatures was in an instant and effected by the powerful word of God only saying let such and such things be and immediately they were so this new Creation or the work of Regeneration is in an insâ—ant and admits of no degrees Concerning these three Doctrines of great Momâ—nt and Consequence in Divinity I shall shew with all the clearness and bâ—evity I can that they are built solâ—ly â—pon Metaphors of Scriptuâ—e â—orâ—â—â—'d aâ—d strain'd too far withouâ— any real ground and foundatioâ— from Scripture or Reason nay contrary to the tenor of the one and the dictates of the other nay indeed contrary to the general experience of the operation of God's Grace upon the Minds of Men in their Conversion First It is pretended that as the Creation was by an irresistible act of the Divine Power so is the new Creation or the Conversion of a Sinner and this is solely argued from the Metaphorical expressions of Scripture concerning Conversion such as being called out of darkness into light alluding to that powerful word of God which in the first Creation commanded the light to shine out of darkness being quicken'd and rais'd to a new Life and from this Metaphor here in the Text of a new Creation But surely it is a dangerous thing in Divinity to build Doctrines upon Metaphors especially if we strain them to all the similitudes which a quick and lively imagination can find out whereas some one obvious thing is commonly intended in the Metaphor and the meaning is absolv'd and acquitted in that and it is folly to pursue it into all those similitudes which a good fancy may suggest When our Saviour says that he will come as a Thief in the night it is plain what he means that the Day of Judgment will surprize the careless World when they least look for it that he will come at an hour when they are not aware and tho' he resemble his coming to that of a Thief in the night yet here is nothing of Robbery in the case So here when the change which Christianity makes in Men is called a new Creation this only imports the greatness of the Change which by the power of God's grace is made upon the hearts and lives of Men and the Metaphor is sufficiently absolv'd in this plain sense and meaning of it agreeable to the literal expressions of Scripture concerning this thing and there is no need that this Change should in all other respects answer the work of Creation and consequently there is no necessity that it should be effected in an irresistible manner or that we should be altogether passive in this Change and that we should no ways concur to it by any act of our own or that this work should be done in an instant and admit of no steps and degrees It is not necessary that this Change should be effected in an irresistible manner God may do so when he pleaseth without any injury to his Creatures for it is certainly no wrong to any Man to be made good and happy against his will and I do not deny but that God sometimes does so The Call of the Disciples to follow Christ seems to have been a very sudden and forcible impression upon their Minds without any appearing reason for it for it is not reasonable for any Man to leave his Calling and follow every one that bids him do so The Conversion of Saul from a Persecutor of Christianity to a Zealous Preacher of it was certainly effected if not in an irresistible yet in a very forcible and violent manner The Conversion of three thousand at one Sermon when the Holy Ghost descended in a visible manner upon the Apostles was certainly the effect of a mighty and over-powering degree of God's grace And the like may be said of the sudden Conversion of so many Persons from Heathenism and great wickedness and impiety of Life to the sincere profession of Christianity by the preaching of the Apostles afterwards But that this is not of absolute necessity nor the ordinary method of God's grace to work upon the minds of Men in so over-powering much less in an irresistible manner is as plain as any thing of that Nature can be both from Experience and the Reason of the thiâ—g and the constant tenour of the Scripture We find that many perhaps the greatest part of those that are good are made so by the insensible steps and degrees of a Religious Education and having been never vicious can give no great account of any sensible Change only that when they came to years of understanding they consider'd things more and the Principles that were instill'd into them in their younger years did put forth themselves more vigorously at that time as Seeds sprout out of the ground after they have a good while been buried and lain hid in the Earth And it is contrary to Reason to make an irresistible act of Divine Power necessary to our Repentance and Conversion because this necessarily involves in it two things which seem very unreasonable First That no Man Repents upon Consideration and Choice but upon meer force and violent necessity which quite takes away the Virtue of Repentance whatever virtue there may be in the consequent acts of a Regenerate State Secondly It implies that the Conversion and Repentance of those upon whom God doth not work irresistibly is impossible which is the utmost can be said to excuse the impenitency of Men by taking it off from their own choice and laying it upon the impossibility of the thing and an utter disability in them to choose and do otherwise And it is likewise contrary to the constant tenour of the Bible which supposeth that Men do very frequently resist the Grace and Holy Spirit of God It is said of the Pharisees by our Saviour Luke 7. 30. that they rejected the Counsel of God against themselves that is the merciful Design of God for their Salvation And of the Jews Acts 7. 51. that they always resisted the Holy Ghost So that some operations of God's grace and Holy Spirit are resistible and such as if Men did not resist them would be effectual to bring them to Faith and Repentance else why are the Pharisees said to reject the counsel of God against themselves that is to their own ruine implying that if they had not rejected it they might have been saved and if they had it had been without irresistible Grace for that which was offered to them was actually resisted by them Other Texts plainly shew that the Reason of Mens impenitency and unbelief is not
Not but that Mankind had always apprehensions and jealousies of the danger of a wicked Life and Sinners were always afraid of the vengeance of God pursuing their evil Deeds not only in this Life but after it too and tho' they had turned the Punishments of another World into ridiculous Fables yet the wiser sort of Mankind could not get it out of their Minds that there was something real under them and that Ixion's Wheel which by a perpetual motion carried him about and Sisyphus his Stone which he was perpetually rolling up the Hill and when he had got it near the top tumbled down and still created him a new labour and Tantalus his continual hunger and thirst aggravated by a perpetual nearness of enjoyment and a perpetual disappointment and Prometheus his being chained to a Rock with an Eagle or Vulture perpetually preying upon his Liver which grew as fast as it was gnawed I say even the wiser among the Heathens lookt upon these as fantastical Representations of something that was Real viz. the grievous and endless Punishment of Sinners the not to be endured and yet perpetually renewed Torments of another World for in the midst of all the ignorance and degeneracy of the Heathen World Mens Consciences did accuse them when they did amiss and they had secret fears and misgivings of some mighty danger hanging over them from the displeasure of a superior Being and the apprehension of some great mischiefs likely to follow their wicked actions which some time or other would overtake them which because they did not always in this World they dreaded them in the next And this was the foundation of all those Superstitions whereby the Ancient Pagans endeavoured so carefully to appease their offended Deities and to avert the Calamities which they feared they would send down upon them But all this while they had no certain assurance by any clear and express Revelation from God to that purpose but only the jealousies and suspicions of their own Minds naturally consequent upon those Notions which Men generally had of God but so obscured and depraved by the Lusts and Vices of Men and by the gross and false conceptions which they had of God that they only serv'd to make them superstitious but were not clear and strong enough to make them wisely and seriously Religious And to speak the truth the more knowing and inquisitive part of the Heathen World had brought all these things into great doubt and uncertainty by the nicety and subtilty of Disputes about them so that it was no great wonder that these Principles had no greater effect upon the Lives of Men when their apprehensions of them were so dark and doubtful But the Gospel hath made a most clear and certain Revelation of these things to Mankind It was written before upon Men's Hearts as the great Sanction of the Law of Nature but the impressions of this were in a great measure blurred and worn out so that it had no great power and efficacy upon the Minds and Manners of Men but now it is clearly discovered to us the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven which expression may well imply in it these three things First The Clearness of the Discovery the wrath of God is said to be revealed Secondly The extraordinary Manner of it it is said to be revealed from Heaven Thirdly The Certainty of it not being the result of subtle and doubtful Reasonings but having a Divine Testimony and Confirmation given to it which is the proper meaning of being revealed from Heaven First It imports the Clearness of the Discovery The Punishment of Sinners in another World is not so obscure a Matter as it was before it is now expresly declared in the Gospel together with the particular Circumstances of it namely that there is another Life after this wherein Men shall receive the just recompence of Reward for all the actions done by them in this Life that there is a particular time appointed wherein God will call all the World to a solemn account and those who are in their graves shall by a powerful voice be raised to Life and those who shall then be found alive shall be suddenly changed when our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal and only begotten Son of God who once came in great humility to save us shall come again in Power and great Glory attended with his Mighty Angels and all Nations shall be gathered before him and all Mankind shall be separated into two Companies the Righteous and the Wicked who after a full Hearing and fair Tryal shall be sentenced according to their Actions the one to Eternal Life and Happiness the other to Everlasting Misery and Torment So that the Gospel hath not only declared the thing to us that there shall be a future Judgment but for our farther assurance and satisfaction in this Matter and that these things might make a deep impression and strike a great awe upon our Minds God hath been pleased to reveal it to us with a great many particular Circumstances such as are very worthy of God and apt to fill the Minds of Men with dread and astonishment as often as they think of them For the Circumstances of this Judgment revealed to us in the Gospel are very solemn and awful not such as the wild fancies and imaginations of Men would have been apt to have drest it up withal such as are the Fictions of the Heathen Poets and the extravagancies of Mahomet which tho' they be terrible enough yet they are withal ridiculous but such as are every way becoming the Majesty of the great God and the Solemnity of that great Day and such as do not in the least â—avour of the vanity and lightness of humane imagination For what more fair and equal than that Men should be tried by a Man like themselves one of the same Rank and Condition that had experience of the Infirmities and Temptations of Humane Nature So our Lord tells us that the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son because he is the Son of Man and therefore cannot be excepted against as not being a fit and equal Judge And this St. Paul offers as a clear proof of the equitable proceedings of that Day God says he hath appointed a Day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained And then what more congruous than that the Son of God who had taken so much pains for the Salvation of Men and came into the World for that purpose and had used all imaginable means for the Reformation of Mankind I say what more congruous than that this very Person should be honoured by God to sit in Judgment upon the World and to Condemn those who after all the means that had been tried for their Recovery would not Repent and be Saved And what more proper than that Men who are to be judged for things done in the Body should be judged in the Body and consequently
that the Resurrection of the Dead should precede the general Judgment And what more Magnificent and suitable to this glorious Solemnity than the awful Circumstances which the Scripture mentions of the appearance of this great Judge that he shall descend from Heaven in great Majesty and Glory attended with his mighty Angels and that every eye shall see him that upon his appearance the frame of Nature shall be in an agony and the whole World in Flame and Confusion that those great and Glorious Bodies of Light shall be obscured and by degrees extinguish'd the Sun shall be darkned and the Moon turned into Blood and all the Powers of Heaven shaken yea the Heavens themselves shall pass away with a great noiseâ— and the Elements dissolve with â—ervent heat the Earth also and all the Works that are therein shall be burnt up I appeal to any Man whether this be not a Representation of things very proper and suitable to that Great Dayâ— wherein he who made the World shall come to Judge it and whether the wit of Man ever devised any thing so awful and so agreeable to the Majesty of God and the solemn Judgement of the whole World The description which Virgil makes of the Judgment of another World of the Elisian Fields and the Infernal Regions how infinitely do they fall short of the Majesty of the Holy Scripture and the description there made of Heaven and Hell and of the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord so that in Comparison they are Childish and trifling and yet perhaps he had the most regular and most govern'd imagination of any Man that ever lived and observed the gâ—eatest decorum in his Characters and Descriptions But who can declare the great things of God but he to whom God shall reveal them Secondly This Expression of the â—â—ath of God being Revealed from Heaven doth not only imply the clear discovery of the thing but likewise something extraordinary in the manner of the Discovery It is not only a Natural impression upon the Minds of Men that God will severely punish â—inners but he hath taken care that Mankind should be instructed in this Matter in a very particular and extraordinary manner He hath not left it to the Reason of Men to Collect it from the Consideration of his Attributes and Perfections his Holiness and Justice and from the Consideration of the promiscuous administration of his Providence towards good and bad Men in this World but he hath been pleased to send an extraordinaâ—y Person from Heaven on purpose to declare this thing plainly to the World the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven that is God sent his own Son from Heaven on purpose to declare his wrath against all obstinate and impenitent Sinners that he might effectually awaken the drouzie World to Repentance he hath sent an extraordinary Ambassador into the World to give warning to all those who continue in their Sins of the Judgment of the great Day and to summon them before his dreadful Tribunal So the Apostle tells the Athenians Acts 17. 30 31. Now he commandeth all Men â—very where to Repent because he hath appointed a Day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead Thirdly This Expression implies likewise the certainty of this Discovery If the wrath of God had only been declared in the Discourses of Wise Men tho' grounded upon very probable Reason yet it might have been brought into doubt by the contrary Reasonings of Subtle and Disputing Men but to put the Matter out of all question we have a Divine Testimony for it and God hath confirmed it from Heaven by Signs and Wonders and Miracles especially by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead for by this he hath given assurance unto all Men that it is he who is ordained of God to judge the quick and dead Thus you see in what respect the wrath of God is said to be reveal'd from Heaven in that the Gospel hath made a more clear and particular and certain discovery of the Judgment of the great Day than ever was made to the World before I proceed to the Third Observation which I shall speak but briefly to namely that every Wicked and Vicious Practice doth expose Men to this dreadful danger The Apostle instanceth in the two chief Heads to which the Sins of Men may be reduced Impiety towards God and Unrighteousness towards Menâ— and therefore he is to be understood to denounce the wrath of God against every particular kind of Sin comprehended under these general Heads so that no Man that allows himself in any impiety and wickedness of Life can hope to escape the wrath of God Therefore it concerns us to be entirely Religious and to have respect to all God's Commandments and to take heed that we do not allow our selves in the practice of any kind of Sin whatsoever because the living in any one known Sin is enough to expose us to the dreadful wrath of God Tho' a Man be Just and Righteous in his Dealingâ— with Men yet if he neglect the Worship and Service of God this will certainly bring him under Condemnation and on the other hand tho' a Man may serve God never so diligently and devoutly yet if he be defective in Righteousness toward Men if he deal falsly and fraudulently with his Neighbour he shall not escape the wrath of God tho' a Man pretend to never so much Piety and Devotion yet if he be unrighteous he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God if any Man over-reach and defraud his Brother in any matter the Lord is the avenger of such saith St. Paul 1 Thes 4. 6. So that here is a very powerful Argument to take Men off from all Sin and to engage them to a constant and careful discharge of their whole Duty toward God and Men and to Reform whatever is amiss either in the frame and temper of their Minds or in the Actions and Course of their Lives because any kind of wickedness any one sort of vicious Course lays Men open to the vengeance of God and the punishments of another World the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men there is no exception in the Case we must forsake all Sin subdue every Lust be holy in all manner of Conversation otherwise we can have no reasonable hopes of escaping the wrath of God and the damnation of Hell But I proceed to the Fourth Observation namely that it is a very great aggravation of Sin for Men to offend against the light of their own Minds The Apostle here aggravates the wickedness of the Heathen World that they did not live up to that Knowledge which they had of God but contradicted it in their Lives holding the truth of God in unrighteousness And that he speaks here of the Heathen is
declarations of the wrath of God against Sinners that there is a Day of Judgment appointed and a Judge constituted to take cognisance of the Actions of Men to pass a severe Sentence and to inflict a terrible Punishment upon the workers of Iniquity More particularly our Lord and his Apostles have denounced the wrath of God against particular Sinâ— and Vices In several places of the New Testament there are Catalogues given of particular Sins the practice whereof will certainly shut Men out of the Kingdom of Heaven and expose them to the wrath and vengeance of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know ye not that the Unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God So likewise Gal. 5. 19 20 21. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of which I tell you before as I have likewise told you in times past that they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Col. 3. 5 6. Mortiâ—ie therefore your Members upon Earth Fornication Uncleanness Inordinate Affection Evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience Rev. 21. 8. The fearful and unbelieving that is those who rejected the Christian Religion notwithstanding the clear Evidence that was offer'd for it and those who out of fear should Apostatize from it The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable that is those who were guilty of unnatural Lusts not fit to be named and Murderers and Whoremongers and Sorâ—erers and Idolaters and all Liars that is all sorts of false and deceitful and perfidious Persons shall have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone whiâ—h is the second death And not only these gross and notorious Sins which are such plain violations of the Law and Light of Nature but those wherein Mankind have been apt to take more liberty as if they were not sufficiently convinced of the evil of them as the resisting of Civil Authority which the Apostle tells us they that are guilty of shall receive to themselves damnation Rom. 13. 2. Profane Swearing in common Conversation which St. James tells us brings Men under the danger of damnation Ch. 5. 12. Above all things my Brethren swear not lest ye fall under Condemnation Nay our Saviour hath told us plainly that not only for wicked actions but for every evil and sinful word Men are obnoxious to the Judgment of God So our Lord assures us Mat. 12. 36 37. I say unto you that every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the Day of Judgment For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned He had spoken before of that great and unpardonable Sin of Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and because this might be thought great severity for evil words he declares the Reason more fully because words shew the Mind and Temper of the Man ver 34. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The Character of the Man is shewn by his words saith Menander Profert enim mores plerumque oratio saith Quintilian animi secreta detegit A Man's Speech discovers his Manners and the secrets of his heart ut vivit etiam quemque dicere Men commonly speak as they live and therefore our Saviour adds A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil Man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things but I say unto you that every idle word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which I do not think our Saviour means that Men shall be call'd to a solemn account at the Day of Judgment for every trifling and impertinent and unprofitable word but every wicked and sinful word of any kind as if he had said do you think this severe to maâ—e words an unpardonable fault I say unto you that Men shall not only be condemned for their maliâ—ious and blasphemous speeches against the Holy Ghost but they shall likewise give a strict account for all other wicked and sinful speeches in any kind tho' much inferiour to this And this is not only most agreeable to the scope of our Saviour but is confirmed by some Greek Copies in which it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every wicked word which Men shall speak they shall be accountable for it at the Day of Judgment But this by the by Our Saviour likewise tells us that Men shall not only be proceeded against for Sins of Commission but for the bare Omission and Neglect of their Duty especially in Works of Mercy and Charity for not feeding the hungry and the like as we see Mat. 25. and that for the omission of these he will pass that terrible Sentence Depart ye Cursed c. So that it nearly concerns us to be careful of our whole Life of all our Words and Actions since the Gospel hath so plainly and expresly declared that for all these things God will bring us into Judgment And if the threatnings of the Gospel be true What manner of Persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly As the threatnings of the Gospel are very plain and express so are they likewise very dreadful and terrible I want words to express the least part of the terrour of them and yet the expressions of Scripture concerning the misery and punishment of Sinners in another World are such as may justly raise amazement and horror in those that hear them Sometimes it is exprest by a departing from God and a perpetual banishment from his presence who is the Fountain of all Comfort and Joy and Happiness sometimes by the loss of our Souls or our selves What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or as it is in another Evangelist to lose himself Not that our Being shall be destroyed that would be a happy loss indeed to him that is Sentenced to be for ever miserable but the Man shall still remain and his Body and Soul continue to be the Foundation of his misery and a Scene of perpetual woe and discontent which our Saviour calls the destroying of Body and Soul in Hell or going into everlasting punishment where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched Could I represent to you the horror of that dismal Prison into which Wicked and Impure Souls are to be thrust and the misery they must there endure without the least spark of Comfort or glimering of Hope how they wail and groan under the intolerable wrath of God the insolent scorn and
cruelty of Devils the severe lashes and stings the raging anguish and horrible despair of their own minds without intermission without pity and without hope of ever seeing an end of that misery which yet is unsupportable for one moment could I represent these things to you according to the terror of them what effect must they have upon us and with what patience could any Man bear to think of plunging himself into this misery and by his own wilful fault and folly to endanger his coming into this place and state of torments Especially if we consider in the Third place that the Gospel hath likewise declared that there is no avoiding of this misery no hopes of impunity if Men go on and continue in their Sins The terms of the Gospel in this are peremptory that except we Repent we shall perish that without holiness no Man shall see the Lord that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And this is a very pressing Consideration and brings the Matter to a short and plain issue Either we must leave our Sins or die in them either we must Repent of them or be Judged for them either we must â—orsake our Sins and break off that wicked Course which we have lived in or we must quit all hopes of Heaven and Happiness nay we cannot escape the damnation of Hell The clear revelation of a future Judgment is so pressing an Argument to Repentance as no Man can in Reason resist that hath not a mind to be miserable Now saith St. Paul to the Athenians he straightly chargeth all Men every where to Repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness Men may cheat themselves or suffer themselves to be deluded by others about several means and devices of reconciling a wicked Life with the hopes of Heaven and Eternal Salvation as by mingling some pangs of sorrow for Sin and some hot Fits of Devotion with a sinful Life which is only the interruption of a wicked Course without Reformation and amendment of Life but let no Man deceive you with vain words for our Blessed Saviour hath provided no other ways to save Men but upon the terms of Repentance and Obedience Fourthly This Argument takes hold of the most desperate and profligate Sinners and still retains its force upon the Minds of Men when almost all other Considerations fail and have lost their efficacy upon us Many Men are gone so far in an Evil Course that neither shame of their Vices nor the love of God and Virtue nor the hopes of Heaven are of any force with them to reclaim them and bring them to a better Mind but there is one handle yet left whereby to lay hold of them and that is their Fear This is a Passion that lies deep in our Nature being founded in self-preservation and sticks so close to us that we cannot quit our selves of it nor shake it off 〈…〉 may put off ingenuity and 〈…〉 all Obligations of gratitude Men may harden their Foreheads and Conquer all sense of shame but they can never perfectly stiâ—le and subdue their Fears they can hardly so extinguish the fear of Hell but that some sparks of that Fire will ever and anon be flying about in their Consciences especially when they are made sober and brought to themselves by affliction and by the present apprehensions of Death have a nearer sight of another World And if it was so hard for the Heathen to Conquer these apprehensions how much harder must it be to Christians who have so much greater assurance of these things and to whom the wrath of God is so clearly revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. Fifthly No Religion in the World ever urged this Argument upon Men with that force and advantage which Christianity does The Philosophy of the Heathen gave Men no steady assurance of the thing the most knowing Persons among them were not agreed about a Future State the greatest part of them spake but doubtfully concerning another Life And besides the natural jealousies and suspicions of Mankind concerning these things they had only some fair probabilities of Reason and the Authority of their Poets who talkt they knew not what about the Elizian Fields and the Infernal Regions and the three Judges of Hell so that the Wisest among them had hardly assurance enough in themselves of the truth of the thing to press it upon others with any great confidence and therefore it was not likely to have any great efficacy upon the generality of Mankind As for the Jewish Religion tho' that supposed and took for granted the Rewards of another World as a Principle of Natural Religion yet in the Law of Moses there was no particular and express Revelation of the Life of the World to come and what was deduced from it was by remote and obscure Consequence Temporal Promises and Threatnings it had many and clear and their Eyes were so dazled with these that it is probable that the generality of them did but little consider a Future State 'till they fell into great temporal Calamities under the Grecian and Roman Empires whereby they were almost necessarily awakened to the Consideration and hopes of a better Life to relieve them under their present Evils and Sufferings and yet even in that time they were divided into two great Factions about this Matter the one affirming and the other as considently denying any Life after this But the Gospel hath brought Life and Immortality â—o light and we are assured from Heaven of the truth and reality of another State and a Future Judgment The Son of God was sent into the World to preach this Doctrine and rose again from the Dead and was taken up into Heaven for a visible demonstration to all Mankind of another Life after this and consequently of a Future Judgment which no Man ever doubted of that did firmly believe a Future State The Sum of all that I have said is this the Gospel hath plainly declared to us that the only way to Salvation is by forsaking our Sins and living a Holy and Virtuous Life and the most effectual Argument in the World to perswade Men to this is the consideration of the infinite danger that a sinful Course exposeth Men to since the wrath of God continually hangs over Sinners and if they continue in their Sins will certainly fall upon them and overwhelm them with Misery and he that is not moved by this Argument is lost to all intents and purposes All that now remains is to urge this Argument upon Men and from the serious Consideration of it to perswade them to Repent and reform their wicked Lives And was there ever Age wherein this was more needful when Iniquity doth not only abound but even rage among us when Infidelity and Profaneness and all manner of Lewdness and Vice appears so boldly and openly and Men commit the greatest Abominations without blushing at them
when Vice hath got such head that it can hardly bear to be â—keckt and controll'd and when as the Roman Historian complains of his times Ad ea tempora quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus perventum est things are come to that pass that we can neither bear ouâ— Vices noâ— the Remedies of them Our Vices are grown to a prodigious and intolerable height and yet Men hardly have the patience to hear of them and surely a Disease is then dangerous indeed when it cannot bear the severity that is necessary to a Cure But yet notwithstanding this we who are the Messengers of God to Men to warn them of their sin and danger must not keep silence and spare to tell them both of their sins and of the Judgment of God which hangs over them that God will visit for these things and that his Soul will be avenged on such a Nation as this At least we may have leave to warn others who are not yet run to the same excess of riot to save themselves from this untoward generation God's Judgments are abroad in the Earth and call aloud upon us to learn Righteousness But this is but a small Consideration in Comparison of the Judgment of another World which we who call our selves Christians do profess to believe as one of the Chief Articles of our Faith The Consideration of this should check and cool us in the heat of all our sinful Pleasures and that bitter Irony of Solomon should cut us to the heart Rejoyce O young Man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment Think often and seriously on that time wherein the wrath of God which is now revealed against sin shall be executed upon Sinners and if we believe this we are strangely stupid and obstinate if we be not moved by it The assurance of this made St Paul extreamly importunate in exhorting Men to avoid so great a danger 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or evil Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. And if this ought to move us to take so great a care of others much more of our selves The Judgment to come is a very amazing Consideration it is a fearful thing to hear of it but it will be much more terrible to see it especially to those whose guilt must needs make them so heartily concern'd in the dismal Consequences of it and yet as sure as I stand and you sit here this great and terrible Day of the Lord will come and who may abide his coming What will we do when that Day shall surprize us careless and unprepared what unspeakable horror and amazement will then take hold of us when lifting up our eyes to Heaven we shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of it with Power and great Glory when that powerful voice which shall pierce the ears of the Dead shall ring through the World Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment when the mighty Trumpet shall sound and wake the Sleepers of a thousand years and summon the dispersed parts of the Bodies of all Men that ever lived to rally together and take their place and the Souls and Bodies of Men which have been so long strangers to one another shall meet and be united again to receive the doom due to their deeds what fear shall then surprize Sinners and how will they tremble at the presence of the great Judge and for the glory of his Majesty How will their Consciences flye in their faces and their own hearts condemn them for their wicked and ungodly Lives and even prevent that Sentence which yet shall certainly be past and executed upon them But I will proceed no further in this Argument which hath so much of terror in it I will conclude my Sermon as Solomon doth his Ecclesiaâ—tes Ch. 12. 13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man for God shall bring every work into Judgment and every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil To which I will only add that serious and merciful Admonition of a greater than Solomon I mean the great Judge of the whole World our blessed Lord and Saviour Luke 21. 34 35 36. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you at unawares for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole Earth Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accouuted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost c. SERMON XII Knowledge and Practice Necessary in Religion JOHN XIII 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them TWO Things make up Religion the Knowledge and the Practice of it and the First is wholly in order to the Second and God hath not revealed to us the Knowledge of Himself and his Will meerly for the improvement of our Understanding but for the bettering of our Hearts and Lives not to entertain our Minds with the speculations of Religion and Virtue but to form and govern our Actions If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them In which words our blessed Saviour does from a particular instance take occasion to settle a general Conclusion namely that Religion doth mainly consist in Practice and that the knowledge of his Doctrine without the real effects of it upon our Lives will bring no Man to Heaven In the beginning of this Chapter our great Lord and Master to testifie his Love to his Disciples and to give them a lively Instance and Example of that great Virtue of Humility is pleased to condescend to a very low and mean Office such as was used to be performed by Servants to their Masters and not by the Master to his Servants namely to wash their feet and when he had done this he asks them if they did understand the meaning of this strange Action Know ye what I have done unto you ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am if I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet for I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you Verily verily I say unto you the Servant is not greater than the Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him if ye know these things