in the latter part of the Text that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I proceed now to the Second part of the Text the Reason or Argument whereby this Exhortation is enforced Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Every seeking to enter in will not gain our admission into Heaven therefore there must be striving For Men may do many things in Religion and make several faint Attempts to get to Heaven and yet at last fall short of it for want of that earnest Contention and Endeavour which is necessary to the attaining of it We must make Religion our business and set about it with all our might and persevere and hold out in it if ever we hope to be admitted to Heaven for many shall seek to enter that shall be shut out Now what this seeking is which is here opposed to striving to enter in at the strait gate our Saviour declares after the Text v. 25. When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence ye are Then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not whence ye are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity St. Matth. mentions some other Pretences which they should make upon which they should lay claim to Heaven Mat. 7.21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that Day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity After all their seeking to enter in and notwithstanding all these Pretences they shall be shut out and be for ever banisht from the Presence of God This shall be their doom which will be much the heavier because of the disappointment of their confident expectation and hope So St. Luke tells us v 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God To which St. Matthew adds Chap 8. v. 12. But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then our Saviour concludes Luke 13.30 Behold there are last that shall be first and first which shall be last From all which it appears with what Confidence many Men upon these false Pretences which our Saviour calls seeking to enter in shall lay claim to Heaven and how strangely they shall be disappointed of their expectation and hope when they shall find themselves cast out of Heaven who they thought had out done all others in Religion and were the only Members of the true Church and the Children and Heirs of the Kingdom and shall see others whom they thought to be out of the Pale of the true Church and excluded from all terms of Salvation come from all Quarters and find free Admission into Heaven and shall find themselves so grosly and widely mistaken that those very Persons whom they thought to be last and of all others farthest from Salvation shall be first and they themselves whom they took for the Children of the Kingdom and such as should be admitted into Heaven in the first place shall be rejected and cast out So that by seeking to enter we may understand all those things which Mâ—n may do in Religion upon which they shall pretend to lay claim to Heaven nay and confidently hope to obtain it and yet shall be shamefully disappointed and fall short of it Whatever Men think and believe and do in Religion what Privileges soever Men pretend what Ways and Means soever Men endeavour to appease the Deity and to recommend themselves to the Divine Favour and Acceptance all this is but seeking to enter in and is not that striving which our Saviour requires If Men do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity it will all signify nothing to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness Our Saviour here instanceth in Mens Profession of his Religion calling him Lord Lord in their personal Familiarity and Conversation with him by eating and drinking in his Presence and Company in their having heard him preach the Doctrine of Life and Salvation Thou hast taught in our streets in their having prophesied and wrought great Miracles in his Name and by his Power Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works These were great and glorious Things which they boasted of and yet nothing of all this will do if Men do not the Will of God notwithstanding all this he will say unto them I know ye not whence ye are depart from me ye workers of Iniquity And by a plain Parity of Reason whatever else Men do in Religion what Attempts soever Men may make to get to Heaven upon what Priviledges or Pretences soever they may lay claim to eternal Life they will certainly fall short of it if they do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity My business therefore at this time shall be to discover the several false Claims and Pretences which Men may make to Heaven and yet shall never enter into it And to this purpose I shall instance in several Particulars by one or more of which Men commonly delude themselves and are apt to entertain vain and ill-grounded hopes of eternal Salvation 1 st Some trust to the external Profession of the true Religion 2 dly Others have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they rely much upon that 3 dly There are others that find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Doctrines contained it it 4 thly Others are very strict and devout in the external Worship of God 5 thly Others confide much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Privileges and Advantages which therein they have above others of getting to Heaven 6 thly Others think their great Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them 7 thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion 8 thly Others rely much upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby
Angel tells the Virgin Mary that the Holy Ghost should come upon her and the Power of the Highest should overshadow her and therefore that Holy Thing which should be born of her should be call'd the Son of God And this our Saviour means by the Father's sanctifying him and sending him into the World For which Reason he says he might justly call himself the Son of God John 10.35 36. If he call them Gods unto whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God If there had been no other Reason this had been sufficient to have given him the Title of the Son of God that he was brought into the World by the Sanctification or Divine Power of the Holy Ghost 2. Christ is also said in Scripture to be the Son of God and to be declared to be so upon Account of his Resurrection from the Dead by the Power of the Holy Ghost His Resurrection from the Dead is here in the Text ascribed to the Spirit of Holiness or the Holy Ghost And so in other places of Scripture Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you And 1 Pet. 3.18 Being put to Death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit that is he suffer'd in that frail mortal Nature which he assumed but was raised again by the Power of the Holy Ghost of the Spirit of God which resided in him And upon this Account he is expresly said in Scripture to be the Son of God Psal 2.7 I will declare the decree The Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee to which perhaps the Apostle alludes here in the Text when he says that Christ was decreed to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the Dead To be sure these Words This day have I begotten thee St. Paul expresly tells us were accomplish'd in the Resurrection of Christ as if God by raising him from the Dead had begotten him and decreed him to be his Son Acts 13.32 33. And we declare unto you glad Tidings how that the Promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto their Children in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee He was the Son of God before as he was conceived by the Holy Ghost but this was secret and invisible and known only to the Mother of our Lord And therefore God thought fit to give a publick and visible demonstration of it so as to put the matter out of all question he declared him in a powerful manner to be his Son by giving him a new Life after Death by raising him from the Dead and by this new and eminent Testimony given to him declared him again to be his Son and confirmed the Title which was given him before upon a true but more secret Account of his being conceived by the Holy Ghost And as our Saviour is said to be the Son of God upon this twofold Account of his Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Resurrection to Life by the Spirit of God So the Scripture which does solicitously pursue a Resemblance and Conformity between Christ and Christians does likewise upon a twofold Account answerable to our Saviour's Birth and Resurrection call true Believers and Christians the Children of God viz. Upon Account of their Regeneration or new Birth by the Operation of the Spirit of God and upon Account of their Resurrection to Eternal Life by the Power of the same Spirit Upon account of our Regeneration and becoming Christians by the Power and Operation of the Holy Spirit of God upon our Minds we are said to be the Children of God as being regenerated and born again by the Holy Spirit of God And this is our first Adoption And for this Reason the Spirit of God conferred upon Christians at their Baptism and dwelling and residing in them afterwards is call'd the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby you cry Abba Father And Gal. 4.5 6. Believers are said to receive the Adoption of Sons God having sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their Hearts crying Abba Father That is all Christians for as much as they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God and have the Spirit of God dwelling in them may with Confidence call God Father and look upon themselves as his Children So the Apostle tells us Rom. 8.14 That as many as are led or acted by the Spirit of God are the sons of God But though we are said to be Children of God upon account of our Regeneration and the Holy Spirit of God dwelling and residing in Christians yet we are eminently so upon account of our Resurrection to Eternal Life by the mighty Power of God's Spirit This is our final Adoption and the Consummation of it and therefore Rom. 8.21 this is called the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God because by this we are for ever deliver'd from the Bondage of Corruption and by way of Eminency the Adoption viz. the Redemption of our Bodies We are indeed the Sons of God before upon account of the regenerating and sanctifying Virtue of the Holy Ghost but finally and chiefly upon account of our Resurrection by the power of the Divine Spirit So St. John tells us that then we shall be declared to be the Sons of God after another manner than we are now 1 Jo. 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God Now we are the Sons of God that is our Adoption is begun in our Regeneration and Sanctification but it doth not yet appear what we shall be we shall be much more eminently so at the Resurrection We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him But the most express and remarkable Text to this Purpose is Luke 20.36 where good Men after the Resurrection are for this Reason said to be the Children of God because they are the Children of the Resurrection But they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in Marriage neither can they die any more for they are equal to the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection For this Reason they are said to be the Children of God because they are raised by him to a new Life and to be made Partakers of that which is promised to them and reserved for them For all that are raised by the Power of God out of the Dust of the Earth are not therefore the Children of God but only they that have part in the blessed Resurrection to Eternal Life and do inherit the Kingdom prepared for
to rejoice in the hopes of the Glory of God because their Sufferings did really prepare and make way for their Glory So the same Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Our light Afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory whilst we look not at the things which are seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal 3 dly and lastly The assurance of our future Reward is a mighty Encouragement to Obedience and a Holy Life What greater Encouragement can we have than this That all the good which we do in this World will accompany us into the other That when we rest from our labours our works will follow us That when we shall be stript of other things and parted from them these will still remain with us and bear us company Our Riches and Honours our sensual Pleasures and Enjoyments will all take their leave of us when we leave this World nay many times they do not accompany us so far as the Grave but take occasion to forsake us when we have the greatest need and use of them but Piety and Virtue are that better part which cannot be taken from us All the good actions which we do in this world will go along with us into the other and through the Merits of our Redeemer procure for us at the hands of a Gracious and Merciful God a Glorious and Eternal Reward not according to the meanness of our Services but according to the Bounty of his Mind and the vastness of his Treasures and Estate Now what an encouragement is this to Holiness and Obedience to consider that it will all be our own another day to be assured that whoever serves God faithfully and does suffer for him patiently does lay up so much Treasure for himself in another World and provides lasting Comforts for himself and faithful and constant Companions that will never leave him nor forsake him Let us then do all the good we can while we have opportunity and serve God with all our might knowing that no good action that we do shall be lost and fall to the ground that every Grace and Virtue that we exercise in this life and every degree of them shall receive their full recompence at the Resurrection of the Just How should this inspire us with Resolution and Zeal and Industry in the Service of God to have such a Reward continually in our Eye how should it tempt us to our Duty to have a Crown and a Kingdom offered to us Joys unspeakable and full of Glory such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man And such are the things which God hath laid up for them who love him heartily and serve him faithfully in this World SERMON V. The danger of Apostacy from Christianity HEB. VI. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame THESE words are full of difficulties and the misunderstanding of them hath not only been an occasion of a great deal of trouble and even despair to particular persons but one of the chief Reasons why the Church of Rome did for a long time reject the Authority of this Book Vol. V. which by the way I cannot but take notice of as a demonstrative Instance both of the fallible Judgment of that Church and of the fallibility of Oral Tradition for St. Jerom more than once expresly tells us that in his time which was about 400 years after Christ the Church of Rome did not receive this Epistle for Canonical But it is plain that since that time whether moved by the Evidence of the thing or which is more probable by the Consent and Authority of other Churches they have received it and do at this day acknowledge it for Canonical from whence one of these two things will necessarily follow either that they were in an error for 400 years together while they rejected it or that they have since erred for a longer time in receiving it One of these is unavoidable for if the Book be Canonical now it was so from the beginning for Bellarmine himself confesseth and if he had not confessed it it is nevertheless true and certain that the Church cannot make a Book Canonical which was not so before Ser. 5. if it was not Canonical at first it cannot be made so afterward so that let them chuse which part they will it is evident beyond all denial that the Church of Rome hath actually erred in her Judgment concerning the Authority of this Book and one error of this kind is enough to destroy her Infallibility there being no greater Evidence that a Church is not Infallible than if it plainly appear that she hath been deceived And this also is a convincing instance of the Fallibility of Oral Tradition For if that be Infallible in delivering down to us the Canonical Books of Scripture it necessarily follows that whatever Books were delivered down to us for Canonical in one Age must have been so in all Ages and whatever was rejected in any Age must always have been rejected but we plainly see the contrary from the instance of this Epistle concerning which the Church of Rome which pretends to be the great and faithful Preserver of Tradition hath in several Ages deliver'd several things This is a peremptory instance both of the Fallibility of the Roman Church and of her Oral Tradition Having observed this by the way which I could not well pass by upon so fair an occasion I shall betake my self to the explication of these words towards which it will be no small advantage to consider the particular Phrases and Expressions in the Text. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned that is were solemnly admitted into the Church by Baptism and embraced the profession of Christianity Nothing was more frequent among the Ancients than to call Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and those who were baptized were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlightned Persons because of that Divine Illumination which was convey'd to the minds of Men by the knowledge of Christianity the Doctrine whereof they made Profession of at their Baptism And therefore Justin Martyr tells us that by calling upon God the Father and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the name of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the enlightned Person is washed and again more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Laver speaking of Baptism is called Illumination And St. Cyprian gives us the Reason because by virtue of Baptism in expiatum pectus ac
Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall which Admonition were surely to little purpose if it were impossible for them that stand to fall Lastly Others venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance and their Importunity with God to receive them to Mercy at last This indeed is only to seek and not to strive to enter in and these perhaps are they whom our Saviour represents as standing without and knocking at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us Or as St. Matthew expresseth it Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord which is most probably meant of the day of Judgment when their Case is brought to the last extremity and next to that is the day of Death when Men are entring into a state of endless Happiness or Misery And no wonder if the Sinner would then be glad when he can no longer continue in this World to be admitted into Happiness in the next but the Door is then shut to most Sinners and it is a Miracle of God's Grace and Mercy if any Repentance that Men can then exercise which at the best must needs be very confused and imperfect will then be accepted if any Importunity which Men can then use will be available For with what Face can we expect that after all the evil Actions of a long Life God should be mollified towards us by a few good Words and accept of a forc'd and constrained Repentance for all our wilful and deliberate Crimes and that he should forgive us all our Sins upon a little Importunity when we can sin no longer and would repent no sooner Let us then by all that hath been said be effectually perswaded to mind the business of Religion in good earnest and with all our might especially the Practice of it in the exercise of all the Graces and Virtues of a good Life Let us heartily repent of all the Sins of our past Life and resolve upon a better course for the future and let us not delay and put off this necessary Work to the most unfit and improper time of old Age and Sickness and Death but let us set about it presently and enter upon a good Course and make all the Speed and Progress in it we can And let us remember that whatever we do in Religion will not bring us to Heaven if we do not do the will of our Father which is in Heaven if we do not give up our selves to a constant and universal Obedience of his Laws This is to strive to enter in at the strait Gate And tho' we strive to enter in a Thousand other Ways we shall not be able and after all our Confidence and Conceit of our selves and our own Righteousness and Security of our Salvation from the Privileges of any Church it will be a strange Damp and Disappointment to us to see the sincere Christians who have done the Will of God and lived in Obedience to his Laws to come from all quarters and Churches in the World and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God when we who thought our selves the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out because we have been Workers of Iniquity I will conclude all with those plain Words of the Apostle Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and Immortality eternal Life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil in the day when God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel SERMON X. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Sermon I. LUKE XVI 19 20. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in Purple and fine Linen and fared sumptuously every day And there was a certain Beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his Gate full of Sores I Intend by God's Assistance to go over this Parable than which I think there is none in the whole Gospel which is more apt to affect Men or which is more artificially contrived and in the Circumstances whereof a greater Decorum is observed It is a great Question among Interpreters whether this Narration concerning the Rich Man and Lazarus be a Parable or a History Vol. V. or a mixture of both That it is not a History the resemblance between it and others of our Saviour's Parables will easily convince any Man that is not contentious besides that in some ancient Copies 't is usher'd in with this Preface And he spake a Parable to his Disciples A certain Rich Man c. But yet as some of the Ancients have not improbably conjectur'd it seems to be such a kind of Parable as had something of a real Foundation as namely that there was such a poor Man as Lazarus is here described and of that Name among the Jews For in a meer Parable 't is altogether unusual to name Persons nor is this done in any other of our Saviour's Parables But whether this be so or not is not worth the disputing because it alters not the case as to our Saviour's purpose and the Instructions which we may learn from it In the handling of this Parable I shall explain it as I go along and draw two sorts of Instructions or Observations from it The First sort of Observations shall be from the Circumstances which serve for the Decorum of the Parable And these I will not warrant to be all intended by our Saviour Ser. 10. but only to be true in themselves and useful and to have a probable rise from some Circumstances of the Parable and therefore I shall speak but very briefly to them The Second sort of Observations shall be such as are grounded upon the main Scope and Intent of the Parable and these I shall insist more largely upon I begin First With those Observations and Instructions which I shall gather up from the Circumstances which serve for the Decorum of the Parable and I shall take them in order as they lie in the Parable Ver. 19. There was a certain Rich Man which was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every Day Some think that our Saviour in this description reflected upon Herod because he describes this Rich Man to be cloathed in Purple But this Conjecture is without reason for besides that it was not our Saviour's Custom in his Preaching to give secret Girds to the Magistrate 't is certain that it was long after our Saviour's time that Purple was appropriated to Kings It was then and a great while after the wear of rich and powerful Men and of the Favourites and great Men of the Court who are frequently in ancient Histories call'd the Purpurati those that wore Purple That which I observe from hence is that the rich Man is not here censured for enjoying what he had for wearing rich Apparel and keeping a great Table This of it self