Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that is whereas the Law left Sinners as to those Sins which stood most in need of pardon under a Curse having provided no expiation for them Christ hath redeemed them from that Curse by making a general expiation for Sin and in this sense it is that the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 9. 15. that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant that is for those Sins for which the Covenant of the Law had provided no way of forgiveness and therefore St. John says emphatically 1 Joh. 1. 7. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Thirdly The Law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain Rules and Directions for a good Life As the corruption and degeneracy of Mankind grew worse so the light of Nature waxed dimmer and dimmer and the Rule of Good and Evil was more doubtful and uncertain and that in very considerable instances of our Duty The Law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews and even to them who only had the benefit and advantage of it it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to Moral Duties and those things which are of an Eternal and Immutable Reason and Goodness And therefore our Saviour in this Sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews or the letter of it seemed to intend and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that Law as Divorce and Retaliation of Injuries but hath heightned our Duty in several instances of it requiring us to love our Enemies and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations tho' never so often repeated and not only not to revenge them but to requite them with good turns which were not understood by Mankind to be Laws before but yet when duly consider'd are very agreeable to right Reason and the sense of the wisest and bâ—st Men. So that the Christian Religion â—ath not only fixt and determined our Duty and brought it to a greater certainty but hath raised it to a greater perfection and rendered it every way fit to bring the Minds of Men to a more Divine temper and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God than ever the World was instructed in before Fourthly The Promises and Threatnings of the Law were only of temporal good and evil things which are in comparison of the endless Rewards and Punishments of another World but very languid and faint Motives to obedience Not but that the Jews under the Law had such apprehensions of their own Immortality and of a future state of Happiness and Misery after this Life as Natural Light suggested to them which was in most but a wavering and uncertain perswasion and consequently of small efficacy to engage Men to their Duty but the Law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those Natural Notions concerning a future state and the strengthning of this perswasion in the Minds of Men it did rather suppose it than give any new force and life to it And for this Reason more particularly the Apostle tells us that the Law was but weak to make Men good because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of Men by the weight of its Promises and the terrour of its Threatnings and that for this weakness and imperfection of it it was removed and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in in the place of it Heb. 7. 18 19. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment that was before that is of the Jewish Law for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did that is the Covenant of the Gospel which promiseth Eternal Life And Ch. 8. 6. for this Reason more especially the Apostle says that Christ had obtained a more excellent Ministry being the Mediator of a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises And Rom. 1. 16 18. St. Paul tell us that for this Reason the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation because therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The clear Revelation of a Future Judgment was that which made the Gospel so proper and so powerful an Instrument for the Salvation of Men. The great impiety of Mankind and their impenitency in it was not so much to be wondred at before while the World was in a great measure ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked Life and therefore God is said in some sort to overlook it but now he commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future Judgment calls loudly upon all Men to leave their Sins and turn to God Fifthly The Covenant of the Law had no spiritual Promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit for the mortifying of Sin and enabling Men to their Duty and supporting them under Sufferings but the Gospel is full of clear and express Promises to this purpose Our Saviour hath assured us that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and this the Apostle tells us is actually confer'd upon all true Christians those who do sincerely embrace and believe the Gospel Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Hence the Gospel is call'd by the same Apostle the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus v. 2d of that Chap. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and in the next words he tells us that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the Law that it left Men destitute of this mighty help and advantage at least as to any special promise of it What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by making him a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is that that Righteousness which the Law aimed at and signified but was too weak to effect might be really accomplisht in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who are acted and assisted by a higher and better Principle than Men either have in Nature or the carnal dispesnation of the Law did endow Men withall And because of this great defect the Law is said to be a state of Bondage and Servitude and on the contrary
Not but that Mankind had always apprehensions and jealousies of the danger of a wicked Life and Sinners were always afraid of the vengeance of God pursuing their evil Deeds not only in this Life but after it too and tho' they had turned the Punishments of another World into ridiculous Fables yet the wiser sort of Mankind could not get it out of their Minds that there was something real under them and that Ixion's Wheel which by a perpetual motion carried him about and Sisyphus his Stone which he was perpetually rolling up the Hill and when he had got it near the top tumbled down and still created him a new labour and Tantalus his continual hunger and thirst aggravated by a perpetual nearness of enjoyment and a perpetual disappointment and Prometheus his being chained to a Rock with an Eagle or Vulture perpetually preying upon his Liver which grew as fast as it was gnawed I say even the wiser among the Heathens lookt upon these as fantastical Representations of something that was Real viz. the grievous and endless Punishment of Sinners the not to be endured and yet perpetually renewed Torments of another World for in the midst of all the ignorance and degeneracy of the Heathen World Mens Consciences did accuse them when they did amiss and they had secret fears and misgivings of some mighty danger hanging over them from the displeasure of a superior Being and the apprehension of some great mischiefs likely to follow their wicked actions which some time or other would overtake them which because they did not always in this World they dreaded them in the next And this was the foundation of all those Superstitions whereby the Ancient Pagans endeavoured so carefully to appease their offended Deities and to avert the Calamities which they feared they would send down upon them But all this while they had no certain assurance by any clear and express Revelation from God to that purpose but only the jealousies and suspicions of their own Minds naturally consequent upon those Notions which Men generally had of God but so obscured and depraved by the Lusts and Vices of Men and by the gross and false conceptions which they had of God that they only serv'd to make them superstitious but were not clear and strong enough to make them wisely and seriously Religious And to speak the truth the more knowing and inquisitive part of the Heathen World had brought all these things into great doubt and uncertainty by the nicety and subtilty of Disputes about them so that it was no great wonder that these Principles had no greater effect upon the Lives of Men when their apprehensions of them were so dark and doubtful But the Gospel hath made a most clear and certain Revelation of these things to Mankind It was written before upon Men's Hearts as the great Sanction of the Law of Nature but the impressions of this were in a great measure blurred and worn out so that it had no great power and efficacy upon the Minds and Manners of Men but now it is clearly discovered to us the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven which expression may well imply in it these three things First The Clearness of the Discovery the wrath of God is said to be revealed Secondly The extraordinary Manner of it it is said to be revealed from Heaven Thirdly The Certainty of it not being the result of subtle and doubtful Reasonings but having a Divine Testimony and Confirmation given to it which is the proper meaning of being revealed from Heaven First It imports the Clearness of the Discovery The Punishment of Sinners in another World is not so obscure a Matter as it was before it is now expresly declared in the Gospel together with the particular Circumstances of it namely that there is another Life after this wherein Men shall receive the just recompence of Reward for all the actions done by them in this Life that there is a particular time appointed wherein God will call all the World to a solemn account and those who are in their graves shall by a powerful voice be raised to Life and those who shall then be found alive shall be suddenly changed when our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal and only begotten Son of God who once came in great humility to save us shall come again in Power and great Glory attended with his Mighty Angels and all Nations shall be gathered before him and all Mankind shall be separated into two Companies the Righteous and the Wicked who after a full Hearing and fair Tryal shall be sentenced according to their Actions the one to Eternal Life and Happiness the other to Everlasting Misery and Torment So that the Gospel hath not only declared the thing to us that there shall be a future Judgment but for our farther assurance and satisfaction in this Matter and that these things might make a deep impression and strike a great awe upon our Minds God hath been pleased to reveal it to us with a great many particular Circumstances such as are very worthy of God and apt to fill the Minds of Men with dread and astonishment as often as they think of them For the Circumstances of this Judgment revealed to us in the Gospel are very solemn and awful not such as the wild fancies and imaginations of Men would have been apt to have drest it up withal such as are the Fictions of the Heathen Poets and the extravagancies of Mahomet which tho' they be terrible enough yet they are withal ridiculous but such as are every way becoming the Majesty of the great God and the Solemnity of that great Day and such as do not in the least â—avour of the vanity and lightness of humane imagination For what more fair and equal than that Men should be tried by a Man like themselves one of the same Rank and Condition that had experience of the Infirmities and Temptations of Humane Nature So our Lord tells us that the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son because he is the Son of Man and therefore cannot be excepted against as not being a fit and equal Judge And this St. Paul offers as a clear proof of the equitable proceedings of that Day God says he hath appointed a Day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained And then what more congruous than that the Son of God who had taken so much pains for the Salvation of Men and came into the World for that purpose and had used all imaginable means for the Reformation of Mankind I say what more congruous than that this very Person should be honoured by God to sit in Judgment upon the World and to Condemn those who after all the means that had been tried for their Recovery would not Repent and be Saved And what more proper than that Men who are to be judged for things done in the Body should be judged in the Body and consequently
the Lord thy God require of thee c. The First being a meer question there needs no more to be said of it only that it is a question of great importance What is the most effectual way to appease God when we have offended him For who can bear his indignation and who who can stand before him when once he is angry Let us consider then in the Second place the way that Men are apt to take to pacifie God and that is by some external piece of Religion and Devotion such as were Sacrifices among the Jews and Heathen Shall I come before him with Burnt-offerings This is the way which Men are most apt to chuse The Jews you seâ— pitched upon the external parts of their Religion those which were most pompous and solemn the richest and most costly Sacrifices so they might but keep their Sins they were well enough content to offer up any thing else to God they thought nothing too good for him provided he would not oblige them to become better And thus it is among our selves when we apprehend God is displeased with us and his Judgments abroad in the Earth we are content to do any thing but to learn Righteousness we are willing to submit to any kind of external Devotion and Humiliation to Fast and Pray to afflict our selves and to cry mightily unto God things some of them good in themselves but the least part of that which God requires of us And as for the Church of Rome in case of publick Judgments and Calamities they are the inquisitive and as they pretend the most skilful People in the world to pacifie God and they have a thousand solemn devices to this purpose I do not wrong them by representing them enquiring after this manner Shall I go before a Crucifix and bow my self to it as to the high God And because the Lord is a great King and it is perhaps too much boldness and arrogance to make immediate Addresses always to him to which of the Saints or Angels shall I go to mediate for me and intercede on my behalf Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Pater-Nosters or with ten thousands of Ave-Marys Shall the Host travel in procession or my self undâ—rtake a tedious Pilgrimage Or shall I list my self a Souldier for the Holy War or for the Extirpation of Hereticks Shall I give half my Estate to a Convent for my Transgression or chastise and punish my Body for the Sin of my Soul Thus Men deceive themselves and will submit to all the extravagant Severities that the Petulancy and Folly of Men can devise and impose upon them And indeed it is not to be imagined when Men are once under the Power of Superstition how ridiculous they may be and yet think themselves religious how prodigiously they may play the Fool and yet believe they please God what cruel and barbarous things they may do to themselves and others and yet be verily perswaded they do God good Service And what is the Mystery of all this but that Men are loath to do that without which nothing else that we do is acceptable to God They hate to be reformed and for this Reason they will be content to do any Thing rather than be put to the Trouble of Mending themselves every thing is easie in comparison of this Task and God may have any Terms of them so he will let them be quiet in their Sins and excuse them from the real Virtues of a Good Life And this brings me to the Third Thing which I principally intended to speak to The Course which God himself directs to and which will effectually pacifie him He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God In the handling of which I shall First Consider those several Duties which God here requires of us and upon the Performance of which he will be pacified towards us Secondly By what Ways and Means God hath discovered these Duties to us and the Goodness of them He hath shewed thee O Man what is good c. I. We will briefly consider the several Duties which God here requires of us and upon the Performance of which he will be pacified towards us What doth the Lord require of thee but to do Justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God It was usual among the Jews to reduce all the Duties of Religion to these three Heads Justice Mercy and Piety under the first two comprehending the Duties which we owe to one another and under the third the Duties which we owe to God 1. Justice And I was going to tell you what it is but I considered that every Man knows it as well as any Definition can explain it to him I shall only put you in mind of some of the principal Instances of it and the several Virtues comprehended under it And First Justice is concerned in the making of Laws that they be such as are equal and reasonable useful and beneficial for the Honour of God and Religion and for the publick good of Humane Society This is a great Trust in the discharge of which if Men be byassed by Favour or Interest and drawn aside from the Consideration and Regard of the publick Good it is a far greater Crime and of worse Consequence than any private Act of Injustice between Man and Man And then Justice is also concerned in the due Execution of Laws which are the Guard of private Property the Security of Publick Peace and of Religion and Good Manners And Lastly In the Observance of Laws and Obedience to them which is a Debt that every Man owes to Humane Society But more especially Justice is concerned in the Observance of those Laws whether of God or Man which respect the Rights of Men and their mutual Commerce and Intercourse with one another That we use Honesty and Integrity in all our Dealings in Opposition to Fraud and Deceit Truth and Fidelity in Opposition to Falshood and Breach of Trust Equity and good Conscience in Opposition to all kind of Oppression and Exaction These are the principal Branches and Instances of this great and comprehensive Duty of Justice the Violation whereof is so much the greater Sin because this Virtue is the firmest Bond of Humane Society upon the Observation whereof the Peace and Happiness of Mankind does so much depend 2. Mercy which does not only signifie the inward Affection of Pity and Compassion towards those that are in Misery and Necessity but the Effects of it in the actual Relief of those whose Condition calls for our Charitable Help and Assistance By feeding the Hungry and cloathing the Naked and visiting the Sick and vindicating the Oppressed and comforting the afflicted and ministring Ease and Relief to them if it be in our Power And this is a very lovely Virtue and argues more Goodness in Men than mere Justice
Religion by the restless Adversaries of it And now surely after all this is come upon us for our Sins it is time for us to look up to him that smites us and to think of taking up this quarrel 'T is time to enquire as they do in the Text Werewith shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the high God And we are apt to take the same course they did to endeavour to appease God by some external Devotion We have now betaken our selves to Prayer and Fasting and 't was very fit nay necessary we should do so but let us not think this is all God expects from us These are but the Means to a further End to oblige us for the future to the practice of a good Life The outward profession of Religion is not lost amongst us there appears still in Men a great and commendable zeal for the Reformed Religion and there hath been too much occasion for it but that which God chiefly expects from us is Reformed Lives Piety and Virtue are in a great measure gone from among us the Manners of Men are strangely corrupted the great and weighty things of the Law are neglected Justice and Mercy Temperance and Chastity Truth and Fidelity so that we may take up David's Complaint Help Lord for the Righteous man ceaseth for the faithful faâ—l from among the Children of Men. And 'till the Nation be brought back to a sober sense of Religion from an airy and phantastical Piety to real and unaffected Devotion and from a factious contention about things indifferent to the serious practice of what is necessary from our violent heats and animosities to a more peaceable temper and by a mutual condescension on all sides to a nearer and stâ—onger union among our selves 'till we recover in some measure our ancient Virtue and Integrity of manners we have reason to fear that God will still have a Controversie with us notwithstanding all our noise and zeal about Religion This is the true this is the only course to appease the indignation of God and to draw down his Favour and Blessing upon a poor distracted and gasping Nation He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God I have but one word more and that is to put you presently upon the practice of one of these Duties that I have been perswading you to and that is Mercy and Alms to the Poor If what I have already said have had its effect upon you I need not use any other Arguments if it have not I have hardly the heart to use any I shall only put you in mind again that God values this above all our external Devotion he will have mercy rather than sacrifice that this is the way to find mercy with God and to have our Prayers speed in Heaven and without this all our Fasting and Humiliation signifies nothing And to this purpose I will only read to you those plain and perswasive words of the Prophet which do so fully declare unto us the whole Duty of this Day and particularly urge us to this of Charity Isa 58. 5 6 7 8 9. Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a day for a Man to afflict his Soul Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day unto the Lord Is not this the Fast that I have â—hosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undoe the heavy burthens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own Flesh Then shall thy light break forth as the Morning and thy Salvation shall spring forth speedily and thy Righteousness shall go before thee and the Glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward Then thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am SERMON II. Instituted Religion not intended to undermine Natural MATTH IX 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice ONE of the most successful Attempts that have been made upon Religion by the Devil and his Instruments hath been by setting the Laws of God at variance with themselves and by dashing the several parts of Religion and the two Tables of the Law against one another to break all in pieces and under a pretence of advancing that part of Religion which is Instituted and Revealed to undermine and destroy that which is Natural and of primary obligation To manifest and lay open the mischievous Consequences of this Design I shall at this time by God's assistance endeavour to make ouâ—â—â—ese two Things First That Natural Religion is the foundation of all Instituted and Revealed Religion Secondly That no Revealed or Instituted Religion was ever designed to take away the obligation of Natural Duties but to confirm and establish them And to this purpose I have chosen these words of our Saviour for the foundation of my following Discourse But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice The occasion of which words was briefly this The Pharisees found fault with him for keeping Company and eating with Publicans and Sinners He owns the thing which they objected to him and endeavours to vindicate himself from any crime ot fault in so doing and that these two ways 1. By telling them that it was allowed to a Physician and proper for his Office and Profession to converse with the sick in order to their Cure and Recovery He may abstain if he pleaseth from the conversation of others but the sick have need of him and are his proper Care and his Business and Employment lies among them he said unto them they that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance they who were already good needed not to be call'd upon to amend and reform their lives and they that were so conceited of their own Righteousness as the Pharisees were and so confident that they were sound and whole would not admit of a Physician and thereby rendred themselves incapable of Cure and therefore he did not apply himself to them but to the Publicans and Sinners who were acknowledged on all hands both by themselves and others to be bad Men so that it could not be denyed to be the proper work of a Spiritual Physician to converse with such Persons 2. By endeavouring to convince them of their Ignorance of the true nature of Religion and of the Rank and Order of the several Duties thereby required but go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy
this may be and sometimes is I am so far from denying that I believe it to be so Some Men by an extraordinary power of God's grace upon their hearts are suddenly changed and strangely reclaimed from a very Wicked and Vicious to a very Religious and Virtuous Course of Life and that which others attain to by slower degrees and great conflicts with themselves before they can gain the upper hand of their Lusts these arrive at all on the sudden by a mighty Resolution wrought in them by the power of God's grace and as it were a new byass and inclination putâ— upon their Souls equal to an habit gain'd by long use and custom This God sometimes does and when he does this it may in some sense be call'd the infusion of the habits of Grace and Virtue together and at once because the Man is hereby endowed with a Principle of equal force and power with habits that are acquir'd by long use and practice A strong and vigorous Faith is the principle and root of all Graces and Virtues and may have such a powerful influence upon the Resolutions of our Minds and the government of our Actions that from this Principle all Graces and Virtues may spring and grow up by degrees into habits but then this Principle is not formally but virtually in the power and efficacy of it the infusion of the habits of every Grace and Virtue and even in those Persons in whom this Change is so suddenly and as it were at once I doubt not but that the habits of several Graces and Virtues are afterwards attained by the frequent practice of them in the virtue of this powerful Principle of the Faith of the Gospel as I shall shew in the progress of this Discourse And this I doubt not was very frequent and visible in many of the first Converts to Christianity especially of those who from the abominable Idolatry and Impiety of Heathenism were gained to the Christian Religion The Spirit of God did then work very Miraculously as well in the Cures of Spiritual as of Bodily Diseases But then to make this the Rule and Standard of God's ordinary Proceedings in the Conversion and Regeneration of Men is equally unreasonable as still to expect Miracles for the Cure of Diseases and 't is certain in experience that this is not God's ordinary Method in the Conversion of Sinners as I shall fully shew by and by Secondly I shall shew what Regeneration is by which it will plainly appear that there is no necessity that it should be effected in an instant and at once but that it will admit of degrees I do not deny that it may be in an instant and at once The Power of God is able to do this and sometimes does it very thoroughly and very suddenly But the question is whether there be a necessity it should be so and always be so Now Regeneration is the change of a Man's state from a state of Sin to a state of Holiness which because it is an entrance upon a new kind or course of Life it is fitly resembled to Regeneration or a new Birth to a new Creation the Man being as it were quite charged or made over again so as not to be as to the main purpose and design of his life the same Man he was before This is a plain sensible account of the thing which every one may easily understand Now there is nothing in Reason why a Man may not gradually be changed and arrive at this state by degrees as well as after this change is made and he arrived at this state of a Regenerate Man he may by degrees grow and improve in it But the latter no Man doubts of but that a Man that is in a state of grace may grow and improve in grace and there is as little Reason to question why a Man may not come to this state by degrees as well as leap into it at once All the difficulty I know of in this Matter is a meer nicety that there is an instant in which every thing begins and therefore Regeneration is in an instant so that the instant before the Man arrived at this state it could not be said that he was Regenerate and the instant after he is in this state it cannot be denied that he is so But this is idle subtilety just as if a Man should prove that an House was built in an instant because it could not be said to be built 'till the instant it was finish'd tho' for all this nothing is more certain than that it was built by degrees Or suppose the time of arriving at Man's estate be at one and twenty does it from hence follow that a Man does not grow to be a Man by degrees but is made a Man in an instant because just before one and twenty he was not at Man's estate and just then he was Not but that God if he please can make a Man in an instant as he did Adam but it is not necessary from this Example that all Men should be made so much less does it follow from this vain subtilety This is just the Case All the while the Man is tending towards a Regenerate state and is strugling with his Lusts 'till by the power of God's Grace and his own Resolution he get the Victory all the while he is under the sense and conviction of his sinful and miserable state and sorrowing for the folly of his past Life and coming to an effectual Purpose and Resolution of changing his Course and it may be several times thrown back by the temptations of the Devil and the power of evil habits and the weakness and instability of his own purpose 'till at last by the grace of God following and assisting him he comes to a firm Resolution of a better Life which Resolution governs him for the future I say all this while which in some Persons is longer in others shorter according to the power of evil habits and the different degrees of God's grace afforded to Men all this time the Work of Regeneration is going on and tho' a Man cannot be said to be in a Regenerate state 'till that very instant that the Principle of Grace and his good Resolution have got the upper hand of his Lusts yet it is certain for all this that the Work of Regeneration was not effected in an instant This is plainly and truly the Case as I shall shew in the Third Particular I propounded namely that it is evident from experience of the ordinary Methods of God's grace both in those who are Regenerated by a Pious and Religious Education and those who are reclaimed from a vicious Course of Life The first sort namely those who are brought to goodness by a Religious and Virtuous Education these at least so far as my Observation reacheth make up a very considerable part of the number of the Regenerate that is of good Men. And tho' it be certain considering the Universal Corruption
the grace of Contentment by great Consideration and diligent Care of himself in several Conditions not as if the habit of this grace had been infused into him at once Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learn'd in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need And thus I have done with the first thing I propounded to Consider namely the true and just Importance of this Metaphor of the new Creation The two Particulars which remain I shall by God's assistance finish in my next Discourse SERMON IX Of the Nature of Regeneration and its Necessity in order to Justification and Salvation GALAT. VI. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature THE Observation I am still upon from these Words is this viz. That in the Christian Religion nothing will avail to our Justification but the Renovation of our Hearts and Lives exprest here by a New Creature In treating of which I propos'd the doing of three things First To shew the â—rue import of this Metaphor of a new Creature Secondly To shew that this is the great Condition of oâ—â— Justification And Thirdly That it is highly Reasonable that it should be so In treating of the first of these Particulars I have consider'd some Doctrines as founded upon this Metaphor which I have shewn at large not only to have no Foundation in Scripture or Reason or Experience but also to be very unreasonable in themselves and contrary to the plain and constant tenour of Scripture and to the ordinary Method of God's grace in the Regeneration of Men whether by a Religious and Virtuous Education or in those who are reclaim'd from a notorious wicked Course of Life And that I have so long insisted upon this Argument and handled it in a more contentious way than is usual with me did not proceed from any love to Controversie which I am less fond of every day than other but from a great desire to put an end to these Controversies and quarrellings in the dark by bringing them to a clear state and plain issue and likewise to undeceive good Men concerning some current Notions and Doctrines which I do really believe to be dishonourable to God and contrary to the plain declarations of Scripture and a cause of great perplexity and discomfort to the Minds of Men and a real discouragement to the Resolutions and Endeavours of becoming better Upon which Considerations I was strongly urgent to search these Doctrines to the bottom and to contribute what in me lay to the rescuing of good Men from the disquiet and entanglement of them I will conclude this Matter with a few Cautions not unworthy to be remembred by us That we would be careful so to ascribe all Good to God that we be sure we ascribe nothing to him that is Evil or any ways unworthy of him That we do not make him the sole Author of our Salvation in such a way as will unavoidably charge upon him the final impenitency and ruine of a great part of Mankind That we do not so magnifie the grace of God as to make his Precepts and Exhortations sâ—gnifie nothing Such as these Make ye new Heâ—â—ts and new Spirits strive to enter in at the strait gate Where if by the strait gate be meant the difficulty of our first entrance upon a Religious Course that is of our Conversion and Regeneration I cannot imagine how it is possible to reconcile our being meerly passive in this work and doing nothing at all in it with our Saviour's Precept of striving to enter in at the strait gate unless to be very active and to be meerly passive about the same thing be all one and an earnest contention and endeavour be the same thing with doing nothing Again that we do not make the utmost degeneracy and depravation which Men ever arrived at by the greatest abuse of themselves and the most vile and wicked practices the standard of an unregenerate state and of the common Condition of all Men by Nature And lastly that we do not make some particular instances in Scripture of the strange and sudden Conversion of some Persons as namely of St. Paul and the Jaylor in the Acts the common rule and measure of every Man's Conversion so that unless a Man be as it were struck down by a Light and Power from Heaven and taken with a fit of trembling and frighted almost out of his wits or find in himself something equal to this he can have no assurance of his Conversion whereas a much surer Judgment may be made of the sincerity of a Man's Conversion by the real Effects of this Change than by the Manner of it This our Saviour hath taught us by that apt resemblance of the operation of God's Spirit to the blowing of the wind of the Original Cause whereof and of the reason of its ceasing or continuance and why it blows stronger or gentler this way or that way we are altogether ignorant but that it is we are sensible from the sound of it John 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound of it but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit The effects of God's Holy Spirit in the Regeneration of Men are sensible tho' the manner and degrees of his operation upon the Souls of Men are so various that we can give no account of them by which one wou'd think our Saviour had sufficiently caution'd us not to reduce the Operations of God's grace and Holy Spirit in the Regeneration of Men to any certain Rule or Standard but chiefly to regard the sensible effects of this secret work upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. And after all it is in vain to contend by any Arguments against clear and certain experience If we plainly see that many are insensibly changed and made good by pious Education in the Nurture aud Admonition of the Lord and that somâ— who have long lived in a prophane neglect and contempt of Religion are by the secret power of God's word and Holy Spirit upon calm consideration without any great terrours and amazement visibly changed and brought to a better Mind and Course it is in vain in these Cases to pretend that this Change is not real because the Manner of it is not answerable to some Instances which are Recorded in Scripture or which we have observ'd in our Experience and because these Persons cannot give such an account of the time and manner of their Conversion as is agreeable to these instances which is just as if I should meet a Man beyond Sea whom I had known in England and would not believe that he had crost the Seas because he said he had a smooth and easie
plain from his following Discourse and the Character he gives of those Persons of whom he was speaking who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewn it unto them and this he proves because those who were destitute of Divine Revelation were not without all knowledge of God being led by the sight of this visible World to the knowledge of an invisible Being and Power that was the Author of it ver 20 21. For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God Haec est summa delicti nolle agnoscere quem ignorare non possis saith Tertullian to the Heathen This is the height of thy fault not to acknowledge him whom thou canst not but know not to own him of whom thou canst not be ignorant if thou wouldst neither were thankful they did not pay those acknowledgments to him which of right were due to the Author of their Being and of all good things but became vain in their imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were fool'd with their own Reasonings This he speaks of the Philosophers who in those great Arguments of the Bâ—ing and Providence of God the Immoâ—allity of the Soul and the Rewards of another World had lost the truth by too much subtlety about it and had disputed themselves into doubt and uncertainty about those things which were naturally known for nimium alterâ—ando veritas amittitur Truth is many times â—lost by too much Contention and Dispute about it and by too eager a pursuit of it Men many times out-run it and leave it behind ver 22. and professing themselves to be Wise they became Fools Men never play the fools more than by endeavouring to be over subtle and wise ver 23. and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds four footed Beasts and creeping things here he speaks of the sottishness of their Idolatry whereby they provoked God to give them up to all manner of lewdness and impurity ver 24. wherefore God also gave them up unto uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts and again ver 26. for this Cause God gave them up to vile affections and then he innumerates the abominable Lusts and Vices they were guilty of notwithstanding their Natural acknowledgment of the Divine Justice ver 32. who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them By all which it appears that he speaks of the Heathen who offended against the Natural Light of their own Minds and therefore were without excuse Quam sibâ— veniam sperare possunâ— impieâ—atis suae qui non agnoscunt cultum ejus quem prorsùs ignorari ab hominibus fas non est saith Lactantius How can they hope for pardon of their impiety who deny to worship that God of whom it is not possible Mankind should be wholly ignorant So that this is To hold the truth in unrighteousness injuriously to suppress it and to hinder the power and efficacy of it upon our Minds and Actions for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies as well as to hold fast and this every Man does who acts contrary to what he believes and knows he offers violence to the lighâ— of his own Mind and does injury to the truth and keeps that a Prisoner which would set him free ye shall know the truth says our Lord and the truth shall make you free And this is one of the highest aggravations of the Sins of Men to offend against Knowledge and that light which God hath set up in every Man's Mind If Men wander and stumble in the dark it is not to be wondred at many times it is unavoidable and no care can prevent it but in the light it is expected Men should look before them and discern their way That Natural Light which the Heathens had tho' it was but comparatively dim and imperfect yet the Apostle takes notice of it as a great aggravation of their Idolatrous and Abominable Practices Those natural Notions which all Men have of God if they had in any measure attended to them and govern'd themselves by them might have been sufficient to have preserved them from dishonouring the Deity by worshiping Creatures instead of God the common light of Nature was enough to have discovered to them the evil of those lewd and unnatural practices which many of them were guilty of but they detained and supprest the truth most injuriously and would not suffer it to have its natural and proper influence upon them and this is that which left them without excuse that from the light of Nature they had knowledge enough to have done better and to have preserved them from those great Crimes which were so common among them And if this was so great an aggravation of the impiety and wickedness of the Heathen and left them without excuse what Apology can be made for the impiety and unrighteousness of Christians who have so strong and clear a light to discover to them their duty and the danger of neglecting it to whom the wrath of God is plainly revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men The Truths of the Gospel are so very clear and powerful and such an improvement of Natural light that Men must use great force and violence to suppress them and to hinder the efficacy of them upon their lives And this is a certain Rule by how much the greater our Knowledge by so much the less is our Excuse and so much the greater Punishment is due to our faults So our Lord hath told us Luke 12. 47. That Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes And John 9. 41. If ye were blind says our Saviour to the Jews ye should have no sin So much ignorance as there is of our Duty so much abatement of the wilfulness of our faults but if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more Sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of Judgment and fiery indignation says the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 10. 26 27. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth implying that Men cannot pretend ignorance for their faults after so clear a revelation of the will of God as is made to Mankind by the Gospel And upon this Consideration it is that our Saviour doth so aggravate the impenitency and unbelief of the Jews because it was in opposition to all the advantages of Knowledge which can be imagined to be afforded to
this was affirmed of some part of Brasil by some of the first Discoverers who yet at the same time owned that these very People did most expresly believe the immortality of the Soul and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life Opinions which no Man can well reconcile with the denial and disbelief of a Deity But to put an end to this Argument later and more perfect discoveries have found this not to be true and do assure us upon better acquaintance with those barbarous People that they are deeply possest with the belief of One supream God who made and governs the World Having thus given a particular Answer to Socinus his Arguments against the Natural knowledge of a God I will now briefly offer some Arguments for it And to prove that the knowledge and belief of a God is natural to Mankind my First Argument shall be from the Universal Consent in this matter of all Nations in all Ages And this is an Argument of great force there being no better way to prove any thing to be natural to any kind of Being than if it be generally found in the whole Kind Omnium consensus naturae vox est the Consent of all is the voice of Nature saith Tully And indeed by what other Argument can we prove that Reason and Speech and an Inclination to Society are Natural to Men but that these belong to the whole Kind Secondly Unless the Knowledge of God and his Essential Perfections be Natural I do not see what sufficient and certain foundation there can be of Revealed Religion For unless we naturally know God to be a Being of all perfection and consequently that whatever he says is true I cannot see what Divine Revelation can signifie For God's revealing or declaring such a thing to us is no necessary Argument that it is so unless antecedently to this Revelation we be possest firmly with this Principle that whatever God says is true And whatever is known antecedently to Revelation must be known by Natural Light and by Reasonings and Deductions from Natural Principles I might further add to this Argument that the only standard and measure to judge of Divine Revelations and to distinguish between what are true and what are counterfeit are the Natural Notions which Men have of God and of his Essential Perfections Thirdly If the Notion of a God be not Natural I do not see how Men can have any Natural Notion of the difference of Moral Good and Evil Just and Unjust For if I do not naturally know there is a God how can I naturally know that there is any Law obliging to the one and forbidding the other all Law and Obligation to Obedience necessarily supposing the Authority of a Superiour Being But the Apostle expresly asserts that the Gentiles who were destitute of a Revealed Law were a Law unto themselves but there cannot be a Natural Law obliging Mankind unless God be Naturally known to them And this Socinus himself in his Discourse upon this very Argument is forced to acknowledge In all Men says he there is Naturally a difference of Just and Unjust or at least there is planted in all Men an acknowledgment that Just ought to be preferr'd beâ—ore Unjust and that which is honest before the contrary and this is nothing else but the Word of God witâ—in a Man which whosoever obeys in so doing obeys God tho' otherwise he neither know nor think there is a God and there is no doubt but he that thus obeys God is accepted of him So that here is an acknowledgement of a Natural Obligation to a Law without any Natural Knowledge of a Superior Authority which I think cannot be and which is worse that a Man may obey God acceptably without knowing and believing there is a God which direcâ—ly thwarts the ground of his first Argument from those words of the Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God that is he that will be Religious and please God must believe that he is so hard is it for any Man to contradict Nature without contradicting himself Fourthly My last Argument I ground upon the words of the Apostle in my Text That which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Is manifest in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among them God hath sufficiently manifested it to Mankind And which way hath God done this by Revelation or by the Natural Light of Reason He tells us at the 20 th ver For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen that is God who in himself is invisible ever since he hath Created the World hath given a visible Demonstration of himself that is of his Eternal Power and Godhead being understood by the things which are made The plain sense of the whole is that this wise and wonderful frame of the World which cannot Reasonably be ascribed to any other Cause but God is a sensible Demonstration to all Mankind of an Eternal and Powerful Being that was the Author and Framer of it The only Question now is Whether this Text speak of the Knowledge of God by particular Revelation or by Natural Light and Reason from the contemplation of the Works of God Socinus having no other way to avoid the force of this Text will needs understand it of the Knowledge of God by the Revelation of the Gospel His words are these The Apostle therefore says in this place that the Eternal Godhead of God that is that which God would always have us to do for the Godhead is sometimes taken in this sense and his Eternal Power that is his Promise which never fails in which sense he said a little before that the Gospel is the Power of God these I say which were never seen by Men that is were never known to them since the Creation of the World are known by his Works that is by the wonderful Operation of God and Divine Men especially of Christ and his Apostles These are his very words and now I refer it to any indifferent Judgment whether this be not a very forced and constrained Interpretation of this Text and whether that which I have before given be not infinitely more free and natural and every way more agreeable to the obvious sense of the words and the scope of the Apostle's Argument For he plainly speaks of the Heathen and proves them to be inexcusable because they held the truth in unrighteousness and having a Natural Knowledge of God from the contemplation of his Works and the things which are made they did not glorifie him as God And therefore I shall not trouble my self to give any other Answer to it for by the absurd violence of it in every part it confutes it self more effectually than any Discourse about it can do I have been the larger upon this because it is a Matter of so great Consequence and lies at the bottom of all Religion For
cruelty of Devils the severe lashes and stings the raging anguish and horrible despair of their own minds without intermission without pity and without hope of ever seeing an end of that misery which yet is unsupportable for one moment could I represent these things to you according to the terror of them what effect must they have upon us and with what patience could any Man bear to think of plunging himself into this misery and by his own wilful fault and folly to endanger his coming into this place and state of torments Especially if we consider in the Third place that the Gospel hath likewise declared that there is no avoiding of this misery no hopes of impunity if Men go on and continue in their Sins The terms of the Gospel in this are peremptory that except we Repent we shall perish that without holiness no Man shall see the Lord that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And this is a very pressing Consideration and brings the Matter to a short and plain issue Either we must leave our Sins or die in them either we must Repent of them or be Judged for them either we must â—orsake our Sins and break off that wicked Course which we have lived in or we must quit all hopes of Heaven and Happiness nay we cannot escape the damnation of Hell The clear revelation of a future Judgment is so pressing an Argument to Repentance as no Man can in Reason resist that hath not a mind to be miserable Now saith St. Paul to the Athenians he straightly chargeth all Men every where to Repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness Men may cheat themselves or suffer themselves to be deluded by others about several means and devices of reconciling a wicked Life with the hopes of Heaven and Eternal Salvation as by mingling some pangs of sorrow for Sin and some hot Fits of Devotion with a sinful Life which is only the interruption of a wicked Course without Reformation and amendment of Life but let no Man deceive you with vain words for our Blessed Saviour hath provided no other ways to save Men but upon the terms of Repentance and Obedience Fourthly This Argument takes hold of the most desperate and profligate Sinners and still retains its force upon the Minds of Men when almost all other Considerations fail and have lost their efficacy upon us Many Men are gone so far in an Evil Course that neither shame of their Vices nor the love of God and Virtue nor the hopes of Heaven are of any force with them to reclaim them and bring them to a better Mind but there is one handle yet left whereby to lay hold of them and that is their Fear This is a Passion that lies deep in our Nature being founded in self-preservation and sticks so close to us that we cannot quit our selves of it nor shake it off 〈…〉 may put off ingenuity and 〈…〉 all Obligations of gratitude Men may harden their Foreheads and Conquer all sense of shame but they can never perfectly stiâ—le and subdue their Fears they can hardly so extinguish the fear of Hell but that some sparks of that Fire will ever and anon be flying about in their Consciences especially when they are made sober and brought to themselves by affliction and by the present apprehensions of Death have a nearer sight of another World And if it was so hard for the Heathen to Conquer these apprehensions how much harder must it be to Christians who have so much greater assurance of these things and to whom the wrath of God is so clearly revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. Fifthly No Religion in the World ever urged this Argument upon Men with that force and advantage which Christianity does The Philosophy of the Heathen gave Men no steady assurance of the thing the most knowing Persons among them were not agreed about a Future State the greatest part of them spake but doubtfully concerning another Life And besides the natural jealousies and suspicions of Mankind concerning these things they had only some fair probabilities of Reason and the Authority of their Poets who talkt they knew not what about the Elizian Fields and the Infernal Regions and the three Judges of Hell so that the Wisest among them had hardly assurance enough in themselves of the truth of the thing to press it upon others with any great confidence and therefore it was not likely to have any great efficacy upon the generality of Mankind As for the Jewish Religion tho' that supposed and took for granted the Rewards of another World as a Principle of Natural Religion yet in the Law of Moses there was no particular and express Revelation of the Life of the World to come and what was deduced from it was by remote and obscure Consequence Temporal Promises and Threatnings it had many and clear and their Eyes were so dazled with these that it is probable that the generality of them did but little consider a Future State 'till they fell into great temporal Calamities under the Grecian and Roman Empires whereby they were almost necessarily awakened to the Consideration and hopes of a better Life to relieve them under their present Evils and Sufferings and yet even in that time they were divided into two great Factions about this Matter the one affirming and the other as considently denying any Life after this But the Gospel hath brought Life and Immortality â—o light and we are assured from Heaven of the truth and reality of another State and a Future Judgment The Son of God was sent into the World to preach this Doctrine and rose again from the Dead and was taken up into Heaven for a visible demonstration to all Mankind of another Life after this and consequently of a Future Judgment which no Man ever doubted of that did firmly believe a Future State The Sum of all that I have said is this the Gospel hath plainly declared to us that the only way to Salvation is by forsaking our Sins and living a Holy and Virtuous Life and the most effectual Argument in the World to perswade Men to this is the consideration of the infinite danger that a sinful Course exposeth Men to since the wrath of God continually hangs over Sinners and if they continue in their Sins will certainly fall upon them and overwhelm them with Misery and he that is not moved by this Argument is lost to all intents and purposes All that now remains is to urge this Argument upon Men and from the serious Consideration of it to perswade them to Repent and reform their wicked Lives And was there ever Age wherein this was more needful when Iniquity doth not only abound but even rage among us when Infidelity and Profaneness and all manner of Lewdness and Vice appears so boldly and openly and Men commit the greatest Abominations without blushing at them
when Vice hath got such head that it can hardly bear to be â—keckt and controll'd and when as the Roman Historian complains of his times Ad ea tempora quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus perventum est things are come to that pass that we can neither bear ouâ— Vices noâ— the Remedies of them Our Vices are grown to a prodigious and intolerable height and yet Men hardly have the patience to hear of them and surely a Disease is then dangerous indeed when it cannot bear the severity that is necessary to a Cure But yet notwithstanding this we who are the Messengers of God to Men to warn them of their sin and danger must not keep silence and spare to tell them both of their sins and of the Judgment of God which hangs over them that God will visit for these things and that his Soul will be avenged on such a Nation as this At least we may have leave to warn others who are not yet run to the same excess of riot to save themselves from this untoward generation God's Judgments are abroad in the Earth and call aloud upon us to learn Righteousness But this is but a small Consideration in Comparison of the Judgment of another World which we who call our selves Christians do profess to believe as one of the Chief Articles of our Faith The Consideration of this should check and cool us in the heat of all our sinful Pleasures and that bitter Irony of Solomon should cut us to the heart Rejoyce O young Man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment Think often and seriously on that time wherein the wrath of God which is now revealed against sin shall be executed upon Sinners and if we believe this we are strangely stupid and obstinate if we be not moved by it The assurance of this made St Paul extreamly importunate in exhorting Men to avoid so great a danger 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or evil Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. And if this ought to move us to take so great a care of others much more of our selves The Judgment to come is a very amazing Consideration it is a fearful thing to hear of it but it will be much more terrible to see it especially to those whose guilt must needs make them so heartily concern'd in the dismal Consequences of it and yet as sure as I stand and you sit here this great and terrible Day of the Lord will come and who may abide his coming What will we do when that Day shall surprize us careless and unprepared what unspeakable horror and amazement will then take hold of us when lifting up our eyes to Heaven we shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of it with Power and great Glory when that powerful voice which shall pierce the ears of the Dead shall ring through the World Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment when the mighty Trumpet shall sound and wake the Sleepers of a thousand years and summon the dispersed parts of the Bodies of all Men that ever lived to rally together and take their place and the Souls and Bodies of Men which have been so long strangers to one another shall meet and be united again to receive the doom due to their deeds what fear shall then surprize Sinners and how will they tremble at the presence of the great Judge and for the glory of his Majesty How will their Consciences flye in their faces and their own hearts condemn them for their wicked and ungodly Lives and even prevent that Sentence which yet shall certainly be past and executed upon them But I will proceed no further in this Argument which hath so much of terror in it I will conclude my Sermon as Solomon doth his Ecclesiaâ—tes Ch. 12. 13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man for God shall bring every work into Judgment and every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil To which I will only add that serious and merciful Admonition of a greater than Solomon I mean the great Judge of the whole World our blessed Lord and Saviour Luke 21. 34 35 36. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you at unawares for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole Earth Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accouuted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost c. SERMON XII Knowledge and Practice Necessary in Religion JOHN XIII 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them TWO Things make up Religion the Knowledge and the Practice of it and the First is wholly in order to the Second and God hath not revealed to us the Knowledge of Himself and his Will meerly for the improvement of our Understanding but for the bettering of our Hearts and Lives not to entertain our Minds with the speculations of Religion and Virtue but to form and govern our Actions If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them In which words our blessed Saviour does from a particular instance take occasion to settle a general Conclusion namely that Religion doth mainly consist in Practice and that the knowledge of his Doctrine without the real effects of it upon our Lives will bring no Man to Heaven In the beginning of this Chapter our great Lord and Master to testifie his Love to his Disciples and to give them a lively Instance and Example of that great Virtue of Humility is pleased to condescend to a very low and mean Office such as was used to be performed by Servants to their Masters and not by the Master to his Servants namely to wash their feet and when he had done this he asks them if they did understand the meaning of this strange Action Know ye what I have done unto you ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am if I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet for I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you Verily verily I say unto you the Servant is not greater than the Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him if ye know these things
if ye know and do them Now to convince Men of so important a Truth I shall endeavour to make out these two things First That the Gospel makes the Practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness Secondly That the Nature and Reason of the thing makes it a necessary Qualification for it First The Gospel makes the Practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness Our Saviour in his first Sermon where he repeats the Promise of Blessedness so often he makes no promise of it to the meer knowledge of Religion but to the Habit and Practice of Christian Graces and Virtues of Meekness and Humility and Mercifulnâ—sâ— and Righteousness and Peaceableness and Pâ—râ—ty and Patience under Suffâ—rings and Persecutions for Righteousness sake And Matth. 7. 2. our Saviour doth most fully declare that the happinesâ— which he promises did not belong to those who made profession of his Name and were so well acquainted with his Doctrine as to be able to instruct others if themselves in the mean time did not practise it Not every one that â—aith 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 cast out Devils and done many wondrous works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of Iniquity Tho' they profess to know him yet because their Lives were not answerable to the Knowledge which they had of him and his Doctrine he declares that he will not know them but bid them depart from him And then he goes on to shew that tho' a Man attend to the Doctrine of Christ and gain the knowledge of it yet if it do not descend into his Life and govern his Actions all that Man's hopes of Heaven are fond and groundless and only that Man's hopes of Heaven are well grounded who knows the Doctrine of Christ and does it Ver. 24. whosoever heareth these Sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him to a Wise Man who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rocâ— and every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be liken'd to a foolish Man who built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it Tho' a Man had a knowledge of Religion as great and perfect as that which Solomon had of Natural Things large as the sand upon the sea shore yet all thâ—s Knowledge separated from Practice would be like the sand also in another respect a weak Foundation for any Man to build his hopes â—f Happiness upon To the same purpose St. Paul speaks Rom. 2. 13. Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the dâ—ers of the Law shall be justified So likewise St. James Chap. 1. 22. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves and ver 25. Who 's looketh into the perfect Law of Libert that is the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this Man shall be blessed in his deed and therefore he adds that the truth and reality of Religion is to be measured by the effects of it in the government of our words and ordering of our Lives Ver. 26. If any Man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this Man's Religion is vain Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widow in their affâ—iction and to keep himself unspotted from the World Men talk of Religion and keep a great stir about it but nothing will pass for true Religion before God but the Virtuous and Charitable Actions of a good Life and God will accept no Man to Eternal Life upon any other Condition So the Apostle tells us most expresly Heb. 12. 14. Follow peace with all Men and holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. Secondly As God hath made the Practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness so the very Nature and Reason of the thing makes it a necessary Qualification for it It is necessary that we become like to God in order to the enjoyment of him and nothing makes us like to God but the Practice of Holiness and Goodness Knowledge indeed is a Divine Perfection but that alone as it doth not render a Man like God so neither doth it dispose him for the enjoyment of him If a Man had the understanding of an Angel he might for all that be a Devil he that committeth sin is of the Devil and whatever Knowledge such a Man may have he is of a devilish temper and disposition but every one that doth righteousness is born of God By this we are like God and only by our likeness to him do we become capable of the â—ight and enjoyment of him therefore every Man that hopes to be Happy by the blessed â—ight of God in the next Life must endeavour after Holiness in this Life So the same Apostle tells us 1 John 3. 3. Every Man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure A wicked temper and disposition of Mind is in the very Nature of the thing utterly inconsistent with all reasonable hopes of Heaven Thus I have shewn that the Practice of Religion and the doing of what we know to be our Duty is the only way to Happiness And now the proper Inference from all this is to put Men upon the careful Practice of Religion Let no Man content himself with the Knowledge of his Duty unless he do it and to this purpose I shall briefly urge these three Considerations First This is the great End of all our Knowledge in Religion to practise what we know The knowledge of God and of our Duty hath so essential a respect to Practice that the Scripture will hardly allow it to be properly called Knowledge unless it have an influence upon our Lives 1 John 2. 3 4. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his Commandmentâ— He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Lyar and the truth is not in him Secondly Practice is the best way to increase and perfect our Knowledge Knowledge directs us in our Practice but Practice confirms and increaseth our Knowledge John 7. 17. If any Man will do the will of God he shall know of the Doctrine The best way to know God is to be like him our selves and to have the lively image of his Perfections imprinted upon our Souls and the best way to understand
the Christian Religion is seriously to set about the Practice of it this will give a Man a better Notion of Christianity than any Speculation can Thirdly without the Practice of Religion our Knowledge will be so far from being any furtherance and advantage to our Happiness that it will be one of the unhappiest aggravations of our misery He that is ignorant of his Duty hath some excuse to pretend for himself but he that understands the Christian Religion and does not live according to it hath no cloak for his sin The defects of our Knowledge unless they be gross and wilful will find an easie Pardon with God but the faults of our Lives shall be severely punisht when we knew our Duty and would not do it I will conclude with that of our Saviour Luke 12. 47 48. That Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required When we come into the other World no Consideration will sting us more and add more to the rage of our Torments than this that we did wickedly when we understood to have done better and chose to make our selves Miserable when we knew so well the way to have been Happy SERMON XIII Practice in Religion necessary in proportion to our Knowledge LUKE XII 47 48. And that Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more IN prosecution of the Argument which I handled in my last Discourse namely that the Knowledge of our Duty without the Practice of it will not bring us to Happiness I shall proceed to shew that if our Practice be not answerable to our Knowledge this will be a great aggravation both of our Sin and Punishment And to this purpose I have pitched upon these words of our Lord which are the application of two Parables which he had delivered before to stir up Men to a diligent and careful Practice of their Duty that so they may be in a continual readiness and preparatioâ— for the coming of their Lord. The first Parable is more general and concerns all Men who are represented as so many Servants in a great Family from which the Lord is absent and they being uncertain of the time of his return should always be in a condition and posture to receive him Upon the hearing of this Parable Peter enquires of our Saviour whether he intended this only for his Disciples or for all To which Question our Saviour returns an Answer in another Parable which more particularly concerned them who because they were to be the Chief Rulers and Governours of his Church are represented by the Stewards of a great Family Ver. 42. Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season If he discharge his Duty blessed is he but if he shall take occasion in his Lord's absence to domineer over his fellow Servants and riotously to waste his Lords goods his Lord when he comes will punish him after a more severe and exemplary manner And then follows the application of the whole in the words of the Text And that Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes As if he had said and well may such a Servant deserve so severe a Punishment who having such a trust committed to him and knowing his Lord's will so much better yet does contrary to it upon which our Saviour takes occasion to compare the Fault and Punishment of those who have greater advantages and opportunitiâ—s of knowing their Duty with those whâ— are ignorant of it That Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to it shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not but did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes And then he adds the Reason and the Equity of this proceeding For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more The Words in general do allude to that Law of the Jews mentioned Deut. 25. 2. where the Judge is required to seâ— the Malefactor punish'd according to his Fault by a certain number of Stripes in relation to which known Law among the Jews our Saviour here says that those who knew their Lord's will and did it not should be beaten with many stripes but those who knew it not should be beaten with few stripes So that there are two Observations lie plainly before us in the words First That the greater Advantages and Opportunities and Man hath of knowing his Duty if he do it not the greater will be his Condemnation The Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to it shall be beaten with many stripes Secondly That ignorance is a great excuse of Mens faults and will lessen their Punishment But he that knew not but did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes I shall begin with the latter of these first because it will make way for the other Viz. That ignorance is a great excuse of Men's faults and will lessen their Punishment He that knew not but did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes For the clearing of this it will be requisite to consider what ignorance it is which our Saviour here speaks of and this is necessary to be enquired into because it is certain that there is some sort of ignorance which doth wholly excuse and clear from all manner of guilt and there is another sort which doth either not at all or very little extenuate the faults of Men so that it must be a third sort different from both these which our Saviour here means First There is an ignorance which doth wholly excuse and clear from all manner of guilt and that is an absolute and invincible ignorance when a Person is wholly ignorant of the thing which if he knew he should be bound to do but neither can nor could have helpt it that he is ignorant of it that is he either had not the Capacity or wanted the Means and Opportunity of knowing it In this Case a Person is in no fault if he did not do what he never knew nor could know to be his Duty For God measures the faults of Men by their Wills and if there be no defect there there can be no guilt for no Man is guilty but he that is conscious to himself
Kingdom of God St. Paul likewise very fully declares unto us the great danger of this Condition 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. But they that will be Rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown Men in destruction and perdition for the love of mony is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows But the greatest Bait of all to Flesh and Blood is sensual Pleasures the very presence and opportunity of these are apt to kindle the Desires and to inflame the Lusts of Men especially where these temptations meet with suitable tempers where every spark that falls catcheth And on the other hand the Evils and Calamities of this World especially if they threaten or fall upon Men in any degree of extremity are strong temptations to Human Nature Poverty and Want Pain and Suffering and the fear of any great Evil especially of Death these are great straits to Humane Nature and apt to tempt Men to great Sins to impatience and discontent to unjust and dishonest shifts to the forsaking of God and Apostacy from his Truth and Religion Agur was sensible of the dangerous temptation of Poverty and therefore he prays against that as well as against Riches Give me not Poverty lest being Poor I steal and take the name of the Lord my God in vain that is lest I be tempted to Theft and Perjury The Devil whose Trade it is to tempt Men to Sin knew very well the force of these sorts of Temptations when he desired God first to touch Job in his Estate and to see what effect that would have Job 1. 11. But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face And when he found himself deceived in this surely he thought that were he but afflicted with great bodily pains that would put him out of all patience and flesh and blood would not be able to withstand this Temptation Chap. 2. ver 5. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face And this was the great Temptation that the Primitive Christians were assaulted withal they were tempted to forsake Christ and his Religion by a most violent Persecution by the spoiling of their goods by Imprisonment and Torture and Death And this is that kind of Temptation which the Apostle particularly speaks of before the Text Blessed is the Man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him and then it follows Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God And thus I have given an account of the several sorts of temptations comprehended under this second Head namely when Men are tempted by being brought into such Circumstances as do greatly endanger their falling into Sin by the Allurements of this World and by the Evils and Calamities of it Now the Question is how far God hath an hand in these kind of temptations that so we may know how to limit this Proposition which the Apostle here rejects that Men are tempted of God Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God That the Providence of God does order or at least permit Men to be brought into these Circumstances I have spoken of which are such dangerous temptations to Sin no Man can doubt that believes his Providence to be concern'd in the affairs of the World All the difficulty is how far the Apostle does here intend to exempt God from an hand in these temptations Now for the clearer understanding of this it will be requisite to consider the several Ends and Reasons which those who tempt others may have in tempting them and all temptation is for one of these three Ends or Reasons either for the trial and improvement of Men's Virtues or by way of Judgment and Punishment for some former great Sins and Provocations or with a direct purpose and design to seduce Men to Sin these I think are the chief Ends and Reasons that can be imagined of exercising Men with dangerous temptations First For the exercise and improvement of Men's Graces and Virtues And this is the End which God always aims at in bringing good Men or permitting them to be brought into dangerous temptations And therefore St. James speaks of it as a matter of joy when good Men are exercised with afflictions not because afflictions are desirable for themselves but because of the happy consequences of them Ver. 2 3. of this Chap. My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience And to the same purpose St. Paul Rom. 5. 3 4 5. We glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patience trieth a Man and this trial worketh hope and hope maketh not ashamed These are happy effects and consequences of affliction and suffering when they improve the Virtues of Men and increase their Graces and thereby make way for the increase of their Glory Upon this account St. James pronounceth those Blessed who are thus tempted Blessed is the Man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this certainly is no disparagement to the Providence of God to permit Men to be thus tempted when he permits it for no other end but to make them better Men and thereby to prepare them for a greater Reward And so the Apostle assures us Rom. 8. 17 18. If so be we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us And ver 28. For we know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God And this happy end and issue of temptations to good Men the Providence of God secures to them if they be not wanting to themselves one of these two ways either by proportioning the temptation to their strength or if it exceed that by ministring new strength and support to them by the secret and extraordinary aids of his Holy Spirit First By proportioning the temptation to their strength ordering things so by his secret and wise Providence that they shall not be assaulted by any temptation which is beyond their strength to resist and overcome And herein the security of good Men doth ordinarily consist and the very best of us those who have the firmest and most resolute virtue were in infinite danger if the Providence of God did not take this care of us For a temptation may set upon the best Men with so much violence or surprize them at such an advantage as no ordinary degree of grace