execution of Judgment till after Death and not dispensing the final rewards and punishments of Men in this Life It is appointed unto Men once to die but after that and not before the Judgment The continual Infirmities and Temptations incident to Mankind the daily Sins committed by us and the fatal Example of our first Parent Adam not able to retain his Primitive Innocence under so many and so great advantages evidently cause us to perceive that few or rather none would ever attain to Happiness if that were bestowed in reward to unsinning Obedience only That therefore to make any considerable part of Mankind partakers of this Reward it was necessary that God should proclaim an Universal Pardon to penitent sinners and forego the punishment due to former sins if an earnest abhorrencâ—… of them and true reformation of Life did succeed If notwithstanding all the highest demonstrations of repeated Mercy and frequent Pardon of sins our Saviour still assureth us that strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way which leadeth unto Life and few there be which find it How unaccessible would it be if every single Act of Disobedience defeated the hopes of it and laid us open to the utmost Execution of the Divine Wrath If therefore we desire that this merciful dealing should be continued to us if a Covenant of this nature be Established it is impossible that the final rewards and punishments of Men should be dispensed in this Life For if a proportionate punishment should immediately follow the Commission of every sin in this Life how can God be said to pardon our offences and await our amendment Or if it should not attend it how can exemplary Justice be executed here since we suppose it not to be executed hereafter Or if God should presently crown every good Action with as great a degree of Happiness as the present State of Human Nature will receive what shall be done when such a Person shall exchange his Piety for Vice or wickedness Or if the reward of Temporal Happiness should not be inseparably annexed to a vertuous course of Life how can God be said to reward Vertue in this Life Must God as often change the Scenes of Human Life as Man changeth the inclinations of his Will Assuredly such an inconstant proceeding would derogate as much from the Honour of God as the Quiet of the World Or must God await the last Scene of every Mans Life wherein to display either his Favour or Anger to him when the shortness of the remaining time defeats the possession of any great reward and rescues the Delinquent from the misery of his punishment So that it is impossible to dispense the rewards and inflict the punishments of Men in this Life but where Rewards and Happiness are annexed to unsinning Obedience only Again such a manner of proceeding is not only unpracticable but unuseful even for those ends for which it is commonly proposed namely to manifest the Justice of God to vindicate the Innocence of Men to deterr them from Sin and Wickedness and to allure them to Piety and Holiness For such is the dissimulation of Men so secret are many of the most enormous Sins so usual is it to palliate the most horrid Crimes and not only to conceal them from the knowledge of the World but to create a contrary Opinion of Holiness and Integrity that no discrimination could be made by Rewards and Punishments in this Life which might conduce to any of the ends before mentioned Hypocrites are no less odious to God than the most prophane and debauched Sinners and are perhaps in no less number Now as it would be unreasonable to bestow any Reward upon these least the Justice of God should be called in question for suffering appearant vertue to pass unrewarded so it would be impossible to hinder Men from censuring the Divine Dispensations in relation to them while they retained a false Opinion of their supposed merits How many Innocent and Worthy Persons are oppressed calumniated and generally esteemed the worst of Men whom if God should therefore refuse to reward his Justice would be destroyed if he Rewarded them while labouring under these false suspicions the opinion of his Justice would perish If then Piety and Wickedness may be hid from the eyes of Men if contrary Judgments may be so easily and so often framed of their merits and demerits the Justice of God can in no wise appear in dispensing Rewards or Punishments to them no Argument can be thence framed in favour of Vertue or diminution of Vice until the Secrets of all Hearts be disclosed and laid open which the present Circumstances of this Life will not permit Not only is the Execution of Judgment in this Life incongruous to the Mercy and Justice of God but also the Nature of the Rewards and Punishments to be bestowed or inflicted And first it is impossible that Punishments should be imposed upon the wicked in this Life proportionate to the Greatness of their Demerits Every single Sin committed against the infinite Majesty of God by a Creature and Dependant of his own is of an infinite Guilt and therefore in Justice requires a not inferiour Degree of Punishment Whereas an infinite Punishment cannot be suffered in this Life and then how shall a Sinner answer for Ten thousâ—…nd Sins of equal guilt If we place the Execution of Punishment in destroying the Existence of a Sinner this is so far from being terrible that many have placed the utmost Degree of Happiness in Indolence or an insensible State which is a necessary consequence of such a Destruction And then since good Men are not reprieved from an immature Death being no less subject to Sickness Dangers and Violence what an horrible Confusion of Justice would it be that both good and bad should undergo the same Punishment and not be diâ—…tinguished in their End Or if the Punishment of the wicked should be placed in insupportable Torments continual Crosses and dreadful Pains what a slight matter would this be to an infinite Guilt which deservedly calls for eternal Torments The greatest Aggravation of the Pains in Hell will be that the wicked will be assured they shall have no end and will be thereby cast into the most extreme Despair whereas in this Case the Sinners would comfort themselves with the hopes of approaching Death which may end their Torments and their Life together Nay they will be able to rescue themselves from Punishment and escape the Divine Anger by laying violent hands upon themselves which they will not fear to do when not awed with the terrour of any ensuing Punishment after Death And after all Punishments in this Life can only respect precedent Sins how then shall a Sinner satisfie for those more dreadful Sins which will escape him in the midst of his Pains such as Blasphemy Malice and Unrepentance Shall God suffer these to go unpunished or not rather reserve them to Judgment in another World But if Judgment cannot
and withal acknowledge that there is no other method whereby to obtain the one or escape the other but a hearty and sincere Repentance and yet with this Belief and Confession should continue in a state of Unrepentance Or if perhaps it may be possible that two such contrary things should consist together yet it cannot be denied but that by his Actions he proclaims his Unbelief to the World who neglects this necessary Duty of Repentance or which is all one deferrs to perform it This was the Second Head proposed namely the time prefixed by God to our Repentance To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Or as the Apostle expresseth it Hebr. III. 13. While it is called to day Which may either import the term of our natural Life for that Repentance will take no place after Death agreeably to that of our Saviour John IX 4. The night cometh wherein no man can work So that Repentance being necessarily to be performed in this Life and no more of this Life being certain to us than that moment which we now enjoy it ought to commence from this very moment Or else which seems most natural and agreeable to the Design of the Psalmist and the Apostle in the III. of the Hebrews Repent to day That is immediately while God continueth his offers of Mercy before it be too late for that he will not await our Repentance till we please nor suffer his Goodness to be willfully slighted This term of Repentance fixed by God to every Man may be easily discovered as being no other than the first moment of his Conviction of the necessity of Repentance When that Conviction is once throughly formed when Men are fully satisfied that it is their indispensable Duty to conform themselves to the Will of God when they know withal that this Conformity consists in practising all the Divine Precepts of Holiness Justice and Sobriety and that all habitual Sins are an open Opposition to it when they are asâ—…ured that God hath proclaimed his Pardon to Penitent and denounced his Wrath to Impenitent Sinners Then is Life and Death truely set before them Then is it committed to their Choice which they will preferr An easie Choice one would imagine had not the deplorable Experience of so many obstinate Sinners taught us the unhappiness of Mankind in choosing the worse even under Convictions of their Interest and Obligation to the contrary If we enquire after the Cause of this miserable Perverseness we find indeed the Temptations to which Mankind is exposed to be very violent the Lusts of the World and the Flesh to be very powerful and the Pleasures of sin of a bewitching Nature Yet all this would not be sufficient to Master the Dictates of Reason and natural desire of true Happiness which is found in all did not an unhappy mistake misguide the practice of Men and render all the present Convictions of Conscience ineffectual Men are apt to raise false Notions from the Divine Attribute of infinite Mercy and flatter themselves with vain Hopes that the term prefixed by God to their Repentance is not yet expired that it will never be too late to begin their Repentance and in Vertue of it take out their Pardon This is that Deceitfulness of sin of which the Apostle warns us in the afore-mentioned place least any of us be hardened through it after the Example of the Jews of whom some when they had heard did provoke Verse 16. That is after a full Conviction of the Power and Veracity of God refused to obey his Commands or rely on his Pomises as in the Case of their refusal to go up and take possession of the Land which God had given to them related in the XIV of Numbers to which this Psalm particularly relates They immediately indeed repented of their Folly and resolved forthwith to take up Arms and enter upon the Design but then it was too late they had slipt their time and God refused to be among them or to give them Success It is frivolous therefore to plead the Hopes of continual offers of Pardon for deferring of Repentance and to pretend that if they exactly knew the time beyond which the Patience of God would not await they would immediately begin to form a sincere Repentance Such Resolutions may possibly be true and indeed unless a monstrous stupidity intervenes it cannot be otherwise But then the term is manifest and cannot be unknown to any being the moment from which we are convinced that it is our Duty to obey God and know what are the Rules and Measures of Obedience We must believe that God can do nothing irrational now the reasonableness of Pardon to sinful Man is founded either in the invincible ignorance of his Duty or in the Infirmity of his Nature prone to yield to powerful Temptations The latter supposeth an endeavour of Obedience and Piety and cannot consist with a fixed and resolved unrepentance for then every Sin will be the effect not of humane Infirmity but of Resolution The former Cause vanisheth when the Ignorance of Men is removed by a clear Revelation of the Will of God And therefore the Apostle tells the Athenians That God winked indeed at the times of ignorance but now after the Manifestation of the Gospel Willeth all men every where to repent As for us Christians we cannot pretend an Ignorance of our Duty much less those who have the Happiness to be Members of a Church so excellently Constituted We have the Scriptures open to us are admonished and incited to the Practice of our Duty by weekly Exhortations and disown all little Arts so usual in other Churches of procuring Salvation without a strict and real Obedience There remains then to us only the Plea of Infirmity whereby to excuse our Sins and not wholly to despair of the Divine Mercy This supposeth our sincere Endeavours of performing our Duty and a settled Course of Vertue and Piety in which Course we may be overtaken with Temptations and being unawares insuared by them may be betrayed into Sin while the Soul is clouded with a Passion and by violent impressions from the Body or outward Objects hath scarce the Liberty of directing her thoughts aright But if when this Tempest is allayed this Cloud removed when the Mind regains its perfect Freedom and enters into a serious thought of its Condition it entertains any Complacency with the Sin performed or is willing to permit a continuance of it this is no longer a Sin of Infirmity but of deliberate and resolved Choice much more when any Man resolves wholly to stand out against the Divine Command and Convictions of his own Conscience and to proceed in his unrepentance although but for a certain time This is a Sin of so heinous a Nature that no Pardon is promised to it under the Gospel nor indeed can it consist with the Justice and Holiness of God to give it And then even for Sins of Infirmity it is
we are warned by Examples to Repentance and still continue unmoved We hear the voice of our Lord calling to Repentance the Exhortations of his Apostles preaching to the World whose Message was Repent and be baptized We read the dreadful Examples of Punishments inflicted in this World upon notorious Sinners And yet reflect not that we are the Creatures of God as well as they that we are subject to the Laws of Government that the Duty is not remitted but made more severe and that the hand of God is not shortned that he cannot punish us but that his Power always continueth the same and that the Rules of Conduct given to Men are no more changed than is the Nature of them It is somewhat surprizng indeed that Men should know and confess all this and yet not attend to it that it should be possible to form an habit of Acting constantly in opposition to the clearest and no less constant Conviction of mind For can we hear with what Detestation the Scripture speaketh of the hardness of Pharaohs Heart and what a sudden Destruction followed and not reflect that in continuing deaf to so many Admonitions of Repentance we are guilty of the same Crime and that in one respect in a higher Degree inasmuch as he knew not at first that that God who commanded him to let the Captive Jews depart was the true God until he was convinced by many Miracles whereas we are convinced from the beginning of the Divine Authority of him who imposeth this Duty on us Or can we call to mind the severe Judgments which God exercised upon the Jews for sudden and rash Resolutions taken up in heat and as soon repented of such as their frequent Rebellions against Moses their refusing to march to the promised Land after having râ—…ceived a false account from the timorous Spies and many such other occasions Do we remember all this and imagine that God will pass-by unregarded our deliberate and obstinate Rebellions such as is the Continuation of every habit of Sin These things were written for our Example that by them we might receive Instruction being terrified by the knowledge of their Sufferings from following the Example of their Sins It is absurd to think that God hath remitted his Justice herein and will oversee those Sins in us which he so eminently revenged in elder times His Attributes always continue the same his Justice his Holiness and his hatred of Sin The Reasons of his Favour are eternal and unchangeable being Piety and Obedience Although he hath been pleased in ancient times to demonstrate his Justice by more visible Examples than in after Ages which was no more than was necessary at the first Delivery of any general Revelation partly to attest the Authority of those Revelations and partly to deterr Men by such severe Examples from the Prosecution of sin who ought thence to conclude That if God exercised not the same Severity toward them in this Life he reserved it for another it being impossible that God who is no respecter of persons should be so inexorable to some Sinners and unaccountably indulgent to others involved in the same Guilt To be farther convinced of the impossibility of Salvation without Repentance we may consider the Mystery of our Lords Incarnation Death and Passion who having taken upon himself the Sins of Mankind bore our Infirmities upon the Cross and became answerable to God for them Surely if ever God would Pardon the sins of Men without any Satisfaction whether of Punishment or Repentance he would have remitted his Methods of Justice to his only begotten Son and not required him to take upon himself the Shame and Bitterness of the Cross. Yet such was the Divine Hatred of Sin that although earnestly and passionately intreated by Christ in his Prayer in the Garden to remit his Decree therein and receive Mankind to Mercy without requiring so severe a Satisfaction he would not condescend to do it nor would give Pardon to Man upon any other terms than that that ever Blessed Person who had taken the Sins of Mankind upon him should suffer all the Marks of Divine Displeasure which Man in this Life can undergo and expiate it by the shedding of his own Blood Could the Justice of God permit him to Pardon the sins of Man without any satisfaction he would never have put such an hard Condition upon his own Son as that either the World whose Redemption he had undertaken must be for ever lost or himself must lay down his Life in exchange for it When therefore a Life of such inestimable value must be Sacrificed to appease the Anger of God to sinful Men how terrible must that Anger have been how vehement his Hatred of sin the occasion of it Nor did his Hatred of sin expire with the offering up of that inestimable Sacrifice that continueth yet fixed and constant Only now he may remit to men the full and just Punishment of their sins without any prejudice to his Attributes of Holiness and Justice which without that Satisfaction of the Cross he would not do least Man should conclude that he took delight in or winked at their sin which he pardoned so easily or that Sin was not of so deep a Guilt since Man with all his sins was capable of the Divine Favour without any Compensation for it whereas now Man cannot reflect upon the means of Pardon offered by God without conceiving at the same time his hatred of Sin God indeed required ne the Life of every particular Man in Punishment of his Sins which in strict Justice would seem agreeable but he required the Life of his own Son more valuable than the Lives of all sinful Men put together He receiveth to Mercy the most enormous Sinners but condemned to Punishment that Divine Person who took the Sins of them all upon him And even after so much done and suffered by Christ for the Expiation of the sins of Men God distributeth not the Benefits of that Sacrifice indifferently to all who lay any Claim to it Hereby the sins of Men are not actually pardoned nor Man immediately acquitted of the Guilt of them but only made capable of Pardon and the grant of Pardon in God made possible without any Diminution to his Justice This Pardon he distributeth to Men upon those Conditions which himself hath pleased to appoint and those such which farther declare his Hatred of sin being Repentance and Reformation a Confession of the guilt of sin and a forsaking of it such means as may produce in the Soul of Man a like Detestation of Sin Upon no other account can Man claim any Benefit from the Merits of that Sacrifice the sum of the Conditions required being included in that comprehensive form of Speech so often mentioned in the New Testament Repent and be baptized Acknowledge the Guilt of your former sins conceive a Sorrow for them and form a Hatred of them Renounce any farther Exercise of them testifie your Resolutions
to the Actions and Concerns of this Life God neither promised nor exercised any such constant visible Justice which might distinguish the Good from the Bad and sensibly teach Men the necessity of Repentance much less can it be expected that in the more spiritual Religion of Christ and more abstracted from the Interests of the World any such discrimination of Good and Bad by External Circumstances of prosperity should take place that God should constantly awaken the negligence of slothful Christians by severe and visible Judgments or if he doth not should be thought to approve their Conduct Yet is this Error almost as frequent among Christians as it was formerly among the Jews While Men enjoy the satisfactions of this Life securely and find themselves at ease they fondly imagine that Heaven also hath declared it self in Favour of them and are not willing to entertain a thought of the displeasure of God towards their vicious Courses least the thoughts of it should abridge their present Happiness They are told indeed of the pleasures and punishments of another Life but conceiving no greater pleasure than what they now enjoy nor fearing any greater punishment than the deprivation of that enjoyment because they find the possession of it continued to them they â—…magine themselves secure and think that they either have escaped the Divine Punishment or not deserved it To be convinced of the unreasonableness of this conclusion we need only reflect upon the example of our Blessed Saviour who notwithstanding he was most dear to God publickly declared to be his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased and even in respect of his Humane Nature taken separately said to increase in favour with God and Man yet in the Opinion of the World led a miserable and afflicted Life underwent all those things which the sensual appetite of Man most dreadeth as Poverty Hunger Pain and a Violent Death yet all this while continued to be the most beloved Son of God In conformity to his Example his Apostles to whom he so often professed an extraordinary Love suffered all the sensible inconveniencies of this Life and were yet the peculiar Favourites of their Lord and Master now Exalted into Heaven So that Temporal affliction is by no means any Indication of the displeasure of God nor the contrary of his Favour So then in vain do Men reject or deferr Repentance because they see not the constant execution of his displeasure upon Notorious Sinners in this World For how should that displeasure exert it self Not in Poverty Afflictions or in Temporal Calamities For these we find in our Lord himself and his dearest Servants and therefore can never be any Argument of the dis-favour of God Yet from these Characters alone Man would take his measures who fondly imagineth nothing to be more dreadful than such Disasters and knoweth no greater misery than what ariseth from them while he consulteth his Sense alone But God seeth not as Man seeth he knoweth what will be real Happiness and Misery to Man and therein placeth his Rewards and Punishments As his Rewards are not adapted to the sensual imaginations of Men so neither are his Punishments to their Fears and Passions What they suppose to be a severe Punishment may possibly be a Benefit but certainly is so small a Punishment as does not at all compensate the guilt of having offended an Infinite Majesty To revenge therefore the Wickedness of Men wholly in this Life could not but come far short of the demerit of their Actions and after all would but little contribute to manifest the Divine Justice of God or excite the Repentance of Men since what God would in that case inflict would be far different from what Men esteem the greatest misery which renders the constant execution of Divine Justice in this Life unpracticable Other considerations make it unreasonable And first the Wisdom of God hath appointed some time wherein Man should give a trial of his Obedience and live in a State of Probation during which time neither Rewards nor Punishments of his Actions should ordinarily be distributed but both reserved till that Probation should expire and the last resolutions of Man were known This time can be no other than that of Life on Earth in which Man at his first entrance hath proposed to him the Arguments of Obedience to God the Rewards of that Obedience and all other Motives to his Duty On the other side the pleasures of Sin allure him the suggestions of evil Spirits tempt him the want of consideration fits him to follow the directions of sense alone and not to trouble himself with any other Interest than that of this Life His Will and the freedom of choice is still reserved intire to him Life and Death is set before him as it was by Moses before the Jews he is at liberty to choose which he pleaseth still remembring that upon his conduct in this Life depends the Happiness or Misery of his future State In the mean time God ordinarily affrights him not into his Duty by a certain Execution of Punishment consequent in this Life to the Commission of his sins neither doth he draw him to Obedience by the sensible experience of Rewards For that would destroy all the merit of Faith or Obedience since the Actions of Men would then proceed from the dictates of their own sense not upon the principle of believing this because God hath said it or doing that because God hath Commanded it I say that ordinarily God doth not dispose Men to Obedience by the sensible experience of Justice executed in this Life although often in mercy to Mankind he doth extraordinarily in this Life Reward the eminent good Actions of his Obedient Servants and Punish the more notorious Sins of wicked Men. This he doth for the Vindication of his Justice and for the Instruction of other Men to whom beside the ordinary Light of Revelation he doth sometime indulge these extraordinary admonitions But this is not to be drawn into any Rule by us we may not hence conclude that Prosperity is an Argument of the Favour of God or the not inflicting of exemplary Revenge a sign of Reconciliation with him Rather we ought to judge that the time of this Life God hath given us for a Trial of Obedience during which he patiently awaits our Resolution All this our Lord manifests to us in the parable of the Tares which the Housholder would not suffer to be plucked up till the time of Harvest but till then be mixed securely among the Corn plainly insinuating that the ordinary providence of God should in this Life make no discrimination between the Good and Bad but suffer both alike to live secure without any denunciation of his Judgment till the time of Harvest which himself explains to be the time of the last Judgment when the Tares and the Wheat should be severed from each other This proceeding indeed doth shock the common understanding of Men but that ariseth from
this prejudice that Men forming Rules from like Cases of this World fondly imagine that Men have escaped all possibility of punishment when they have put off the Body as the Tyrant said of his Adversary who had killed himself that he had escaped his Hands In that case Men see not the punishment inflicted on them and then those who are wont to consult the report of sense alone will not believe it little considering that it is impossible the Soul of Man should perish that after the dissolution of the Body it is no less capable of Reward or Punishment since by that alone it is that Man even in this Life is sensible of either that after Death it ceaseth not to be the Creature of God subject to his Dominion and responsible for all its Actions done in this Life which was the time of Probation allowed to it All this is illustrated by the Parable following in this Chapter which our Lord purposely delivered in confirmation of what he had spoken in the Text. There God is represented in the Person of the Possessor of a Vineyard wherein was an unfruitful Vine the ordinary apprehensions of Men are represented in the Dresser of that Vineyard who perceiving the unfruitfulness of the Vine presently crieth out that it ought to be cut down that it cumbreth the Ground that it should be rooted up and cast out of the Vineyard The Owner of the Vineyard on the contrary commandeth it should be let alone for some while longer that it may fully appear if perhaps it will ever bear Fruit during which he willeth the Dresser of his Vineyard to dig about it and dung it to promote the fertility of it by all means possible and if after all it continueth unfruitful then giveth sentence that it shall be cut down During the time of this Life God executeth not his final sentence upon Men he doth not immediately deliver them up to the Tormenter upon the first Act of disobedience for then alas who could be saved But with an admirable patience awaits their Repentance till the end of Life when there is no more place of Repentance left and in the mean time promotes it by the solicitations of his Spirit by the admonitions of his Pastors by all imaginable methods which may incline the Will of Man without putting any force upon it If then in this Life we find not the just recompence of our evil Actions it is not because they have escaped the knowledge of God or pass unregarded by him it is not because they deserve not the Divine Vengeance or that we continue in his Favour but because he will not alter the method of his most prudent Government of the World nor violate the ordinary Rules of it by which he hath determined this World to be the Stage of Action for Mankind and the next to be the Seat of Judgment Yet may not this forbearance of God encourage Men to deferr their Repentance till the end of their Life That St. Paul tells us Rom. 2. Is to despise the riches of the goodness forbearance and long-suffering of God and thereby to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Our Lord throughout all his Gospel warns Men concerning the suddenness and unexpected time of his coming to Judgment in prevention of this fatal errour What his second coming was to the Jews and what his last coming in Judgment will be to all Mankind that Death is to us which if it finds us unprepared all the miseries which Christ denounced should befall them will fall on us Nor if Life were assured to us could we at all times form such a true Repentance as would qualifie us for the Mercy of God which consists not in a transient sorrow for past Sins but in a total change of all the vicious habits and inclinations of the Will Nor lastly is there any pardon promised to presumptuous sins deliberately committed in prospect of the pardon offered to all truly penitent sinners But of the Nature Necessity and Benefits of Repentance I shall speak more largely in the further prosecution of these words in my next Discourse The Eleventh SERMON PREACH'D March 23d 16889 90. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Luk. XIII 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish IN my last Discourse I described to you the Reason and the Excellency of the Institution of this Holy Season To improve which I proposed to treat of Repentance from these words and therein observed the occasion of them which was a pernicious mistake of the Jews that the Divine Justice not punishing the Sins of men in this Life did thereby warrant them and that the Defect of such a visible Execution was an Argument of the little necessity of Repentance In opposition to which I shew you that however the Jewish Revelation might give some Countenance to such an Opinion yet that they had therein mistaken their Law That under Christianity there is yet much less Pretence to entertain such a perswasion which is contrary to the Constitution of humane Nature to the Wisdom of God and to the present Order of the world settled by him the Author of it Lastly That however God doth ordinarily bear with the Sins of men in this Life and deferr the Punishment of them to another world yet that this giveth no reasonable Encouragement to men to put off their Repentance till the end of their Lives After having removed these obstacles of Repentance I proceed to enforce the Duty and direct you in the use of it The Motive to Repentance is taken from the plain words of the Text being the certainty of Destruction without Repentance pronounced by our Lord Except ye repent ye shall perish And the Usefulness of it is insinuated in the same words that by Repentance if true sincere and rightly applied Destruction may be avoided These two then shall be the Heads of my present Discourse And first I will improve the Argument of Repentance drawn from the inevitable consequence of Destruction attending the want of it and endeavour to convince you of the certainty of that Consequence The Evidence of the Argument when once a full Conviction is formed of the truth of it is manifest being taken from that which most affects Mankind their own Interest It were indeed more noble to pay our just Obedience to God rather from a Sense of Duty than that of Interest rather out of Gratitude to God for the many Benefits received from him and a Conviction of the entire Subjection due to that Almighty Being than from the fear of Punishment or the hope of Reward But such is the weakness of humane Nature so corrupted is his Will and so much darkened his Understanding that this Argument hath been ever found insufficient God therefore of his infinite Mercy hath been pleased to employ that more sensible Argument of Profit and Interest by propofing Rewards to his obedient Servants and denouncing Punishments to obstinate Sinners An Argument which cannot fail if Man
Gratitude by their direct Tendency to the benefit of Mankind For among all the Miracles of Christ not above three or four can be found which do not immediately respect the Cure of the Infirmities the relief of the Wants or in general the good of Mankind And thus it appears both from the Nature of the thing and the Example of the Divine Oeconomy that a right Sense of the Divine Beneficence is the most effectual Motive of Obedience to the Laws of God But then Secondly This will appear more manifestly if we consider the Nature of the Divine Benefits how much greater influence they deservedly Challenge than any others Benefits so truly infinite and exceeding our comprehension that God might justly make that appeal to the whole world which he doth in the Prophet Isaiah Chap. V. Ver. 3 4. And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it So studiously hathGod endeavoured to procure the Happiness os Mankind by all thoseObligations which are wont to make impression on it Every one of the Divine Benefits may Challenge the most exalted Gratitude of our Soul and affords us Entertainment for Admiration as well as Love For to omit the common Benefits of Creation Preservation and the ordinary Acts of Providence and the peculiar ones of Redemption and Sanctification The means of grace and the hopes of gloâ—…y I will consider only that mentioned in the words immediately preceding my Text which the Apostle expresseth by the riches of his Goodness forbearance and long suffering whereby he winks at the sins of Mankind while there are any hopes or possiblity of Reformation left prolongeth the Execution of his Judgment giveth â—…s space for Repentance and gently leads us to it A Mercy which might justly alone incline us to conquer the Temptations of the world and depraved Inclinations of our mind and henceforward devote our Lives to the Service of God which having been so often forfeited to his Justice have been as often remitted by his Mercy A Vertue which hath been always wont beyond others to win the hearts of Men and hath antiently procured to the most admired Princes the Titles of Fathers of their Countrey and the delight of Mankind In them it was esteemed the highest degree of Perfection and to deserve from Posterity the most grateful Acknowledgements to pardon their conquered Enemies remit the offences of their Subjects and deferr the execution of Justice until the Criminal should appear incorrigible But alas how mean and inconsiderable are these Acts of Clemency if compared to the Divine Forbearance and Long-suffering where the Person offended is of infinite Worth and Dignity and Author of the most illustrious Benefits who is able to strike the Sinner dead in a moment and vindicate the Honour of his Name by a single nod where the offence is repeated not once or twice but very often perhaps every day and moment and that by inconsiderable Creatures who are the work of his hands the dependants of his Power and unable to render any Service to him which may tend to his Interest or augment his Greatness We are not ignorant with what transports of Joy and Resolutions of extreme gratitude a condemned Person would receive his Princes Pardon And if the same affection doth not seize us as often as we view the sins of our Life and consider the offers of Pardon made to us upon condition of Repentance if we do not with equal Gratitude resent the remission of every single sin we must acknowledge it to be no other than the product of a brutish stupidity which can be convinced by Sense that hainous Offences may forfeit their Lives to the Laws of their Countrey but will not be convinced by Reason that more hainous sins do forfeit them to the Divine Justice But I speak to those who are convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion who believe they were created for no other end than to honour God by Obedience to his Laws that even by the Law of Nature the Commission of sin renders us obnoxious to undergo the Divine Vengeance in whatsoever way that may be inflicted on us but that by the revealed Law of Christianity every single sin in its own Nature subjects us to the Divine Wrath and in that to eternal Punishment How infinitely therefore are we bound to celebrate the Mercy of God in that he doth not immâ—…diately pour out his Wrath upon us but patiently awaits our Repentance and is not only ready to re-admit us to his Favour but by an extraordinary Act of loving kindness not to be parallelled in the Actions of Mankind passionately wisheth that by our Repentance we would capacitate our selves to receive his Favour For thus Psalm LXXXI 14 15. he testifieth how delightful it would have been to him to continue his Favours to the Children of Israel if their obstinate perseverance in sin had not rendred it incongruous to the Holiness of his Nature to do it O that my people would have hearkened unto me for if Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have put down their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries And in like manner Esai XLVIII 17 18. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go O that thou hadst hearkned to my commandments then peace had been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea To name no more Passages of this Nature how passionate is that Protestation of God Ezek. XXXIII 11. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O ye house of Israel This carnest desire of God that by Repentance we would qualifie our selves to receive his Mercy can proceed from no other Principle than the utmost perfection of Clemency and Goodness to Mankind and beyond all other Arguments demonstrates to us the Greatness of it since the execution of Justice tendeth no less to manifest the Divine Glory than Acts of Mercy do And thus it again appears that a right Sense of our Obligation arising srom the Divine Benefits is the most effectual Motive of Obedience since his Benefits being infinite and transcendent may reasonably be expected to produce a sutable and not inferiour degree of Gratitude But then farther in Relation to the Divine Benefits it is to be considered that they are not only great in their own Nature but also wholly undeserved by us which contributeth very much to raise the esteem of their Excellency in our Minds and amplifie the riches of the Divine Beneficence The Psalmist made excellent use of this Consideration when comparing the unworthiness of Man to the
Nature and Religion to perform our Duty to God rather out of the Sense of our Obligations to him than the fear of Punishment or the hope of Reward In the first Case the chief Principle of all our Actions will be the Love of God in the latter the Love of our selves By this we may become the Clients but by that the Friends of God Lastly Let us remember that this Forbearance and Long-suffering of God will not endure for ever that if despised it shall be withdrawn from us and that God hath set a time for Repentance beyond which he will not a wait nor suffer his Goodness to be abused For we must not ascribe to God such an unlimited Exercise of Mercy as may destroy his Justice and include the highest Contradictions of Sinners and pardon Offences committed against plain Conviction of Conscience and in open Contempt of all means of Repentance afforded to them To pass by such enormous Sins would favour of a Childish Fondness debase the Majesty of God and by making him irrational destroy his Nature How shall I pardon thee for this saith God in the Prophet Jeremy V. 7 9. Shall not I visit for these things and shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this God hath appointed his Mercy as a refuge to Mankind for Sins of ignorance Passion and Inadvertency not as a Sanctuary to prophane and incorrigible Sinners He winked indeed at the times of ignorance but now commandeth all men every where to repent If a man will not turn he will whet his sword Psal. VII 13. And then the dreadful consequence of his anger himself tells us Deut. XXXII 40 41. For I lift up my hand to heaven and say I live for ever If I wheâ—… my glittering sword and mine hand take hold of judgment I will render vengeaâ—…te to mine enemies and will reward them that hatâ—… me Let us therefore perfect our Repentance while a space is yet open for us before Mercy return to Judgment and the Door be shut upon us that so we also may partake of the goodness forbearance and long-suffering of God and not fall into their Condemnation who despise the riches of them Wâ—…oso is wise will pâ—…nder these things and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. The Sixth SERMON PREACH'D December 30. 1688. At LAMBETH CHAPEL 1 Cor. I. 23. We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness THE coming of the Messias into the world and therewith the Manifestation of the Divine Mercy to lost Mankind which we at this time Commemorate was so signal a Benefit and in all respects so infinite that it cannot but administer Matter of Admiration to us to see it rejected derided and opposed by the greatest part of Mankind It may justly seem strange to us that that which was proposed by God to rescue Men from that fatal Ignorance wherein they were involved should be treated with Scorn become a Stumbling-block and be accounted Folly That the glad tidings of great joy to Men should be made a Matter of Derision and be received not with Thankfulness as it deserved but with Scofts and Contumelies But such is the unhappiness of Mankind ever since the Fall of Adam that their Understandings being darkned with Ignorance as well as their Wills corrupted with Passions and inordinate Desires it hath been equally difficult without the Assistance of Revelation to find out the Truth as to pursue the Dictates of it when once discovered Such is the natural consequence of that unhappy Fall and such have been the Effects of it in all Ages But then whereas the Corruptions of the Will could not be denied or dissembled the Sense of which induced Men to seek Remedies for them the failings of the Understanding were so far from being perceived and acknowledged that a great part of Mankind had flattered themselves into an Opinion of a perfect knowledge and believed the Truth not only to be possessed by them but their own Understandings to be the rule and measure of it They had framed to themselves a System of Religion either from their own vain Imaginations or some precedent mistaken Revelation and being pre-possessed with Notions derived from thence refused to hearken to any Doctrine different from them They falsely imagined their own Conceptions to be infallible and thereby treated the Christian Religion which opposed them as an erroneous and ridiculous Doctrine especially being proposed with that unaffected Simplicity to which themselves were so much strangers as believing every Opinion to be so much Divine by how much more it was more refined and placed beyond the common Apprehensions of Men. Whereas the Christian Doctrine was more humane and easie lay level with the Capacity of the meanest Persons and excluded not the most illiterate from a perfect knowledge of it being an Enemy to Pride and Ostentation devoid of Subtilties and unuseful Niceties and resembling the Nakedness as well as the Purity of Paradise withal teaching such Mysteries as might directly contribute to destroy the Pride of such men not only by opposing their Opinions but also teaching the Mystery of God incarnate therein humbling himself to take upon him an humane State living a mean and obscure Life and at last undergoing the shame of the Cross a Mystery which at once intirely ruined both the carnal and spiritual Pride of the World The Simplicity of the Christian Religion its want of all those external pompous Arguments of Subtilty and mistaken Learning which recommended other Systems together with its opposition to the received false Opinions of men had induced some Christians at Corinth who lived among the learned Philosophers of the Heathens and Doctors of the Jewish Law to doubt of the Truth of it others to refine it into a System of mysterious and subtil Niceties and so hindred many from becoming Christians The Apostle therefore in this Chapter argueth against all these Men and in the 17th Verse opposeth to these new Refiners of Christianity his own Example who had preached the Gospel among them without any affected shew of Eloquence with a Simplicity becoming the Majesty and agreeable to the intention of the Lawgiver Not with Wisdom of words least the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect and fail of its Design as it would most certainly do if proposed according to the Fancies of those men who turned it into a System of difficult and elaborate Contemplation For hereby it would exceed the reach and capacity of the greater part of Mankind whereas it was indifferently intended for the benefit of all And it would want that powerful Confirmation of the truth of it that being proposed in a plain and familiar way by mean and unlearned Persons It notwithstanding surmounted the pompous Learning of the Schools and Synagogue and gained a more universal Reception in the world That therefore as God had chose to contrive the Redemption of Mankind in a way very different
be scandalized at the Dissent and Opposition of the Jews and Greeks Much less ought we to suffer our selves to be led away by the same Prejudices with them Men perhaps professing Christianity may imagine this to be impossible while they continue in the open Profession of it and so take no Care to prevent it But if we examine our selves I fear we shall find our selves obnoxious to the same Prejudices and to have been often seduced by them if not to a Desertion of our Religion yet to a Violation of it Was the Christian Faith a Stumling-block to the Jews because defeating their hopes of a temporal Messias and worldly Happiness And are not we often tempted by the Pleasures of this World to withdraw our Obedience from the Laws of God and thereby in effect to deny him As often as Men preferr their worldly Interest to the least Duty of Religion as often as by too anxious a Diligence about the Affairs of this Life they neglect the care of another they give just Reason to others to suspect them Guilty of the same Errour of placing all their Happiness on this side Heaven and dis-believing the Joys of Paradise Did the Jews often unseasonably and importunately require a Sign And are not we often induced to distrust Providence and murmur against the Divine Goodness as often as God deferrs to rescue us from imminent Dangers and Calamities and immediately ingageth not his miraculous Power in our Assistance Do not Men call in question the Justice of the Divine Dispensation because God refuseth to violate the established Laws of his Government and sometimes permitteth the good to pass unrewarded and the wicked to escape unpunished in this life Was the Christian Religion Foolishness to the Greeks because proposed by mean and unlearned Persons And have not the Effects of spiritual Pride been deplored in all Ages of the Church and continue to this day while Men puffed up with a vain Opinion of their own extraordinary Knowledge in Divine Matters refuse to hear the Voice of their ordinary Pastor Scorn to be instructed by him and rudely turn their backs upon him Did the Greek Philosophers despise Christianity because plain and simple easie to be understood and not difficult to be performed And are not we often betrayed by a like Pre judice to neglect our Duty and lay aside the Study of Divine Things How many Christians are at this day displeased with a sober and rational Form of Worship either because it is not fraught with pompous and unuseful Ceremonies or because it is devoid of Enthusiastick Raptures and unintelligible Impertinencies So that we must acknowledge our selves to be no less concerned in the words and meaning of my Text than were formerly either Jews or Greeks To conclude if the most certain Truths and most Holy Religion be notwithstanding liable to the contradiction of foolish and unreasonable Men if the Prejudices against Christianity be found to be unjust and false let us neither be offended at the Opposition of her Enemies nor drawn into like Mistakes with them either by Passion or Inadvertency Let us give most humble and hearty Thanks to God for sending his Son as at this time into the World to redeem us and reveal to us his Will and Pleasure Let us adore his Wisdom and Goodness who hath contrived such excellent Methods whereby the knowledge of this Mystery and Revelation may with sufficient certainty be transmitted to all Ages improving the Happiness of our Knowledge by securing to our selves the Rewards of it in a careful Practice of our Duty that so we may here with Comfort hold fast and hereafter with Glory obtain the Promises of everlasting Life To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Seventh SERMON PREACH'D January 20th 1689. At LAMBETH CHAPEL Hebr. IX 27. It is appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment I Intend not from these words to prove the Mortality of Mankind or shew that all the Members of it are subject to that fatal Doom The experience of almost Six Thousand Years may abundantly convince us of this And least we should imagin our selves to be particularly exempted from the common calamity of Mankind that decay which we find in our Bodies and those frequent Infirmities to which we are all subject permits us not to entertain any hopes of such an extraordinary priviledge The necessity of ending this Life is so apparent that it would be trifling to endeavour to demonstrate it however the consideration of that necessity is a matter of the greatest Moment and which may justly require the most serious reflections of our Mind But that is not my present purpose nor the design of the Apostle in these words wherein is expressed the divine Determination in relation to the Mortality and future Judgment of Men and the Order of them namely that God hath decreed that all Men shall once Die and that after Death they shall receive either the reward or punishment of their Actions Now however the secret Decrees of God be unsearchable and his ways past finding out however a curious desire of knowing the Nature and Reasons of them may be rash and fruitless yet in these which so immediately and universally concern Mankind and are in effect the great object of our Religion no enquiry can be unnecessary or unuseful the reasons of them are obvious and satisfactory such as may not only be discovered by us but even ought not to be unknown to us and surely not without reason For nothing tends more effectually to secure the Honour of God and induce us to acquiesce in his Decrees than an intire satisfaction of the Justice and Wisdom of them And if this be necessary in relation to all the divine Decrees which respect us how much more will it concern us to have a perfect knowledge of the reasons of those grand Decrees of Death and Judgment which the Apostle hath comprehended in the words of my Text And from whence I shall take occasion to Discourse upon these two Heads I. The Justice of the Divine Decreâ—… of Death to all Men. It is appointed unto Men once to die II. The Justice and Wisdom of the Divine Decree of Judgment to be executed after Death and not in this Life But after this the Judgment First then if we consider only the light of Reason nothing can appear more just than the Divine Decree which imposeth a necessity of Dying upon all Men. God being the Author of our existence and the Lord of Life and Death might justly dispose of or dispense either according to his Good Pleasure It was a sufficient obligation to Man to have received the benefit of Existence without expecting a perpetual and invariable conservation of that Existence The very Nature and Constitution of Man declares him to be Mortal and then surely it could neither be unjust or unreasonable in God to permit
the natural course of Nature to be observed Thus far the Divine Decree is unquestionable and secure from all objections But then the revealed History of the Creation of Man and the Divine Dispensations in relation to him include some apparent shew of injustice which may induce inconsidering Persons to accuse God of overmuch Rigour and even Tyranny in condemning the whole Race of Mankind to the Sentence of Death for the single fault of the First Man and extending the punishment of that to all his posterity which was yet unborn and therefore wholly innocent of it A proceeding and manner of Judicature which would appear harsh and even cruel among Men especially as it hath been erroneously represented by many Writers and Divines who endeavouring to amplifie the unlimited Power of God and meanness of Man would perswade us that herein God had no respect to the merits or demerits of Men that he created the far greater part of Mankind for no other end than to make them miserable and to shew forth in their punishments the effects of his Almighty Power and that in punishing the fall of Adam he subjected his whole posterity not only to Temporal but Eternal Death This would indeed effectually declare the power of God but such a Power as would be Odious and Intolerable Unjust and Tyrannical far unbecoming the purity of a most perfect Being It becomes us to entertain more noble conceptions of God and not fancy him to be the Author of such arbitrary Punishments as are inconsistent with his Holiness and Justice To vindicate therefore these Divine attributes in taking occasion from the fall of Adam to form an Universal Decree of Death to all his Posterity it will not be unseasonable to reflect a little upon it before I pass any further To clear this matter therefore we may observe that the Nature of Man as compounded of Soul and Body is Mortal and subject to Dissolution as all compounded Bodies are It is our Soul alone which being immaterial and void of all Composition can promise to it self an immortal State and that no longer than while it pleaseth God that the ordinary course of Nature shall be observed Death then was the natural effect and consequence of our Constitution even in the State of Innocence from which Man could not be rescued but by a Miraculous and extraordinary assistance of God constantly preserving the Union of Soul and Body removing Diseases repairing the defects of Nature and renewing the vigour of it This extraordinary assistance therefore and means of preservation was a superadded favour of God which he might conferr upon Man upon whatsoever condition himself pleased Subjection Adoration and Gratitude was owing to God the Author and Preserver of our Being even without the Obligation of this supernatural Benefit The Dictates of Reason and Natural Religion were wholly independent of it and although performed exactly and without any intervenient sin could not justly claim any other reward from God than the continuation of Existence as long as the ordinary course of Nature should permit it The gift of Immortality was extraordinary and as such might be annexed to whatsoever conditions or persons God should please to do it God therefore made a Covenant with Adam and promised to him That if besides the observation of the Law of Nature to which he was obliged from the consideration of his ordinary State and condition he would more particularly manifest his Obedience and Subjection to him by abstaining from the seemingly pleasant Fruit of a Tree in the Garden called the Tree of knowledge of good and evil he would in recompence entail upon himself and his posterity performing the same condition a perpetual fruition of the same State of Life which he then enjoyed and continue his Existence beyond the ordinary course of Nature even for ever which because it could not be effected without some extraordinary remedies and assistance God Created for that purpose the Tree of Life by the powerful vertue of whose Fruit the decaying Nature of Man might from time to time be restored and preserved without corruption Whereas if he should neglect to perform this small condition and be tempted to violate the Divine prohibition of Tasting the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he should forfeit this superadded promise of Immortality not only to himself but to all his posterity descending from him not to be immediately destroyed or put to Death but to be deprived of that extraordinary assistance and so left to the ordinary course of Nature When Adam therefore really broke the condition and violated the Command of God God might justly withdraw as he in effect did the supernatural benefit of Immortality and thenceforward deny it to Mankind The Mystery of the Fall of Adam being thus explained nothing can be more unexceptionable or more agreeable to the strictest Rules of Justice and Reason Hereby no Man is punished for the fault of another For the loss or rather not obtaining a Favour to which we have naturally no right or claim can in nowise be called a punishment Hereby the Justice of God is cleared beyond all contradiction seeing that no wrong or injury is done unto any His Goodness is made evident in entailing so wonderful a Reward as Immortality upon the observation of so easie a condition and enforcing the observation of it by an Argument drawn from the happiness or unhappiness of all Mankind ensuing to it which in all reason might be supposed to make Adam infinitely more careful and concerned in it Lastly the Wisdom of God is most manifest herein whereby this Mystery becomes not only just but rational For by this fatal example Mankind cannot but be made sensible how subject they are to Temptations and how prone to Sin That therefore if what they naturally desire an extraordinary reward of their Obedience be expected the hopes of which must be founded in a revealed Covenant it can be obtained no otherwise than in vertue of a Covenant wherein frequent remission of Sin and Disobedience may be bestowed upon Repentance and Reformation and Mercy allowed to Sinners until they should appear absolutely incorrigible That therefore neither plenary rewards nor punishments could be dispensed in this Life and if either were desired they must necessarily be deferred till after Death A Truth which Mankind would very hardly have been convinced of had not the Example and Fall of Adam taught it to us So naturally are Men led to imagine their Supreme Happiness to consist in the perpetual fruition of those worldly pleasures and enjoyments which they now so much value and to suspect the truth of those promises the performance of which they cannot receive till after Death Whereas now neither the Wisdom of God nor the Reason of things can permit it to be otherwise which I will endeavour to shew in discoursing upon the Second Head proposed namely in manifesting II. The Justice and Wisdom of the Divine Decree of deferring the
to the Church into which you are received by taking such a visible Mark upon you as may be both a fit Emblem of your designed Purity and a Seal of the Covenant made there with God These are the Conditions upon which alone Mercy is offer'd to Mankind even after the great Expiation of the Cross. Nor may it be hoped that God will dispense with these Conditions in any Man God proposed to his own Son undertaking the Salvation of the World as the only Condition to effect it the laying down his Life for it He proposeth to Man seeking Delivery from the Sentence of Damnation due to his Sins as the only Condition of Pardon sincere Repentance He would not remit to his own Son the determined Condition of the Salvation of the World much less therefore will he remit to sinful Men the Condition of Pardon which he hath once fixed If he spared not his eternal Son herein much less will he spare Man the work of his own hands especially while continuing in Rebellion against him It neither becomes us nor will it be of any use to us to enquire whether God could not have pardoned the Sins of men without exacting so great a Satisfaction or whether he cannot yet Pardon the sins of particular Men without requiring from them the ordinary Condition of Pardon which is Repentance It is sufficient to us that he hath declared that he will not do it and that he hath also said of himself that he cannot lie He hath done all which is wont to create a Belief in Man to perswade him of the certainty of his Resolution in this Matter he hath affirmed that he will not justifie the Sinner unless he turns from the evil of his way He hath often repeated his Asseverations he hath confirmed them by an Oath he hath given frequent Examples of it in visible Punishments of more notorious Sinners he hath Sacrificed his own Son because he would not change his Resolution and yet he cannot perswade us that in all this he deals in earnest We willingly believe all other Points of Revelation but this we will not believe that God will judge us according to the strict Rules of his Gospel nor grant us any more Mercy than what he hath there promised We presently lay hold of all such Passages as declare the infinity of his Mercy little considering that it is joyned with no less infinite Justice We remember what passionate Concern he often expresseth for the good of Mankind forgetting his unchangeable Hatred of sin Whereas if we fairly considered those very places where God expresseth the greatest Tenderness and whence Men chiefly raise their hopes we shall find that even in them he giveth manifest Indications of the impossibility of receiving his Mercy without their own precedent Repentance He representeth himself as stretching forth his Hands to them all day long but adds that if they will not hear he giveth them up to their own hearts Lusts. He describeth his Concern for them by the similitude of a Housholder cultivating his Vine Dressing Digging about it and watering it but subjoyns his command of cutting it down if it still remains unfruitful He breaks out into passionate Exclamations in sorrow for their obdurate Impenitence As in Ezek. XXXIII 11. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye Turn ye fâ—…om your evil way for why will ye die O ye house of Isaael And Psal. LXXXI 14. O that my people would have hearkned unto me for if Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have put down their enemies c. and Matt. XXIII 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets c. how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not In all the Scripture there are not more vehement Protestations of kindness to Mankind and yet all these carry along with them a certain Denunciation of Destruction without Repentance In the first place it is plainly insinuated that if Israel will not turn from their evil way there is no Remedy but they must die The second Passage carrieth this Sense in other words O that my People would put themselves into a capacity of receiving my Favour which while they continue Disobedient to me I cannot bestow upon them Which because they would not do it is adjoyned in the 13. Verse But my people would not hearken unto me and Israel would have none of me Therefore I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and let them follow their own imaginations or in other words I would have none of them And in the last place where to the passionate Commiseration of Jerusalem it is added that our Lord even wept over it yet it immediately follows that because they would not obey his command of Repentance and put themselves under his Protection Behold your house is left unto you desolate However then we dare â—…not affirm that God could not have pardoned Man without the Expiation of the Cross or that he cannot communicate the Benefits of the Cross to an unrepenting Sinner because we presume not to measure the Power of God yet this we may affirm and this is most evident that Man continuing in a state of Unrepentance cannot receive the Mercy and the Pardon of God For the distribution of Mercy or Pardon supposeth a Reconciliation between God and Man and therefore St. Paul saith of his Exhortations to Repentance We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God While Man continueth in Sin he is in a state of Enmity with God in as much as every Sin is a violation of the Divine Authority and a Rebellion against him in its own Nature and every willful Sin is an absolute disclaiming of his Government and renouncing Subjection to him Resolvedly to deferr Repentance is such a willful Sin and therefore cuts off all Communication of Favour between God and Man it being absurd to say That he is reconciled to God who continueth in Rebellion to him and fears not to Affront him with his sins who defieth his Threats of Punishment against impenitent Sinners or at least slights his Commands of universal Repentance These things are so inconsistent that the least Attention will manifest the impossibility of a Pardon without Repentance This also follows from all those earnest Exclamations of God before recited which are so many Affirmations that while Men continue in disobedience to him he cannot bestow any Act of Favour on them cannot I say not by reason of any defect of his Power but by reason of the incapacity of Man to receive in that state of Unrepentance any such Favour and in complyance to his most just Determinations of the contrary Upon which account he plainly makes it impossible for himself to Pardon unrepenting Sinners Jeremy V. 9. Their transgressions are many and their backslidings