their Commission if they do sincerely endeavour to gain Men to the Belief and Practice of Christianity Christ hath promised to be with them The performance of this Condition doth primarily concern the chief Governours of the Church and next to them the Ministers of the Gospel in general that they would be diligent and faithful in their respective Stations teaching Men to observe all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded And if we would make this our great Work to instruct our respective Charges in the necessary Doctrines of Faith and the indispensable Duties of a good Life we should have far less trouble with them about other matters And that we may do this Work effectually we must be serious in our Instructions and exemplary in our Lives Serious in our Instructions this certainly the Apostle requires in the highest degree when he chargeth Ministers so to speak as the Oracles of God to which nothing can be more contrary than to trifle with the Word of God and to speak of the weightiest matters in the World the great and everlasting Concernments of the Souls of Men in so slight and indecent a manner as is not only beneath the Gravity of the Pulpit but even of a well regulated Stage Can any thing be more unsuitable than to hear a Minister of God from this solemn place to break Jests upon Sin and to quibble upon the Vices of the Age This is to shoot without a Bullet and as if we had no mind to do Execution but only to make Men smile at the mention of their Faults this is so nauseous a Folly and of so pernicious consequence to Religion that hardly any thing too severe can be said of it And then if we would have our Instructions effectual we must be exemplary in our Lives Aristotle tells us that the manners of the Speaker have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most soveraign power of Perswasion And therefore Cato puts it into the definition of an Orator that he is vir bonus dicendi peritus a good Man and an eloquent Speaker This is true as to all kinds of Perswasion the good Opinion which Men have of the Speaker gives great weight to his Words and does strangely dispose the Minds of Men to entertain his Counsels But the Reputation of Goodness is more especially necessary and useful to those whose proper Work it is to perswade Men to be good and therefore the Apostle when he had charged Titus to put Men in mind of their Duty he immediately adds in all things shewing thy self a Patern of good Works None so fit to teach others their Duty and none so likely to gain Men to it as those who practise it themselves because hereby we convince Men that we are in earnest when they see that we perswade them to nothing but what we chuse to do our selves This is the way to stop the Mouths of Men and to confute their Malice by an exemplary piety and Virtue So St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the will of God that by well doing ye put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. SERMON IX The Difficulties of a Christian Life consider'd LUKE XIII 24. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able THERE are two great Mistakes about the Nature of Religion equally false and equally pernicious to the Souls of Men and the Devil whose great design it is to keep Men off from Religion by any Means makes use of both these Mistakes to serve his own Purpose and Design upon the several Tempers of Men. Those who are melancholy and serious he disheartens and discourageth from attempting it by the extream trouble and difficulty of it representing it in so horrid and frightful a Shape encumber'd with such Difficulties and attended with such Troubles and Sufferings as are insuperable and intolerable to Human Nature whereby he perswades Men that they had better never attempt it since they may despair to go through with it On the other hand those who are sanguine and full of hopes he possesses with a quite contrary Apprehension that the business of Religion is so short and easie a Work that it may be done at any time and if need be at the last Moment of our Lives tho' it is not so well to put it upon the last hazard and by this means a great part of Mankind are lull'd in security and adjourn the business of Religion from time to time and because it is so easie and so much in their Power they satisfie themselves with an indeterminate Resolution to set about that business some time or other before they die and so to repent and make their Peace with God once for all These Pretences contradict one another and therefore cannot be both true but they may both be false as indeed they are and Truth lies between them Religion being neither so slight and easie a Work as some would have it nor so extreamly difficult and intolerable as others would represent it To confute the false apprehensions which some have of the easiness of it our Saviour tells us there must be some striving and to satisfie us that the difficulties of Religion are not so great and insuperable as some would make them our Saviour tells us that those who strive shall succeed and enter in but those who only seek that is do not vigorously set about the business of Religion but only make some faint Attempts to get to Heaven shall not be able to enter in Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in but shall not be able The occasion of which words of our Blessed Saviour was a Question that was put to him by one of his Disciples concerning the number of those that should be Saved v. 23. One said unto him Lord are there few that be Saved To which curious Question our Saviour according to his manner when such kind of Questions were put to him does not give a direct Answer because it was neither Necessary nor Useful for his Hearers to be Resolved in it it did not concern them to know what Number of Persons should be Saved but what course they should take that they might be of that Number and therefore instead of satisfying their Curiosities he puts them upon their Duty admonishing them instead of concerning themselves what should become of others to take care of themselves And he said unto them Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able He does not say that but few shall be saved as some have presumptuously ventur'd to determine but only few in comparison of those many that shall seek to enter in and shall not be able In these Words we may consider these Two Things First The Duty enjoined Strive to enter in at the strait gate Secondly The Reason or
with their Reputation and Authority and to become less in the esteem of men than they were before Few are so impartial as to quit those things which they have once laid great weight upon and kept a great stir about because this is to acknowledge that they were in an Error and mistaken in their Zeal which few have the ingenuity to own tho' it be never so plain to others and therefore it is no wonder that our Saviour's Doctrine met with so much resistance from those who were so much concern'd in point of Honour and reputation to make head against it And this account our Saviour himself gives us of their Infidelity John 5. 44. How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour which cometh of God only And Chap. 12. 43. For they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God And besides the point of Reputation those that were Rich were concerned in point of Interest to oppose our Saviour and his Doctrine because he call'd upon Men to deny themselves and to part with Houses and Lands yea and life it self for his sake and for the Gospel's which must needs be a very hard and unpleasant Doctrine to Rich Men who had great Estates and had set their Hearts upon them Upon this Account it is that our Saviour pronounceth it so hard for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God and compares it with those Things that are most difficult and Humanly impossible I say unto you it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God But now the Poor were free from these Incumbrances and Temptations they had nothing to lose and therefore our Saviour's Doctrine went down more easily with them because it did not contradict their Interest as it did the Interest of those who had great Estates and Possessions Secondly Another Reason of this is that those that are Poor and enjoy little of the good things of this Life are willing to entertain good News of Happiness in another Those who are in a state of present Misery and Suffering are glad to hear that it shall be well with them hereafter and are willing to listen to the good News of a future Happiness and therefore our Saviour when he had pronounced the Poor Blessed Luke 6. 20. He adds by way of Opposition v. 24. But wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your Consolation They were in so comfortable a Condition at present that they were not much concerned what should become of them hereafter whereas all the Comfort that Poor Men have is the hopes of a better Condition non si male nunc olim sic erit that if it be bad now it will not be so always and therefore no wonder if the Promises and Assurance of a future Happiness be very welcome to them Thirdly If by the Poor we do not only understand those who were in a low and mean Condition as to the Things of this World but such likewise as had a Temper and Disposition of Mind suitable to the Poverty of their outward Condition which our Saviour calls Poverty of Spirit by which he means Meekness and Humility there is no doubt but that such a Frame and Temper of Spirit is a great Disposition to the receiving of Truth And that this is included in the Notion of Poverty is very plain both from the Words of the Prophecy I cited before Isa 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good Tidings to the meek and to bind up the the broken-hearted and likewise from our Saviour's Description of these Persons in one of the Evangelists Matth. 5. 3. Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God So that by the Poor who are so nearly disposed to receive the Gospel our Saviour intended those who being in a poor and low Condition in Respect of outward Things were likewise meek and humble in their Spirits Now Meekness and Humility are great Dispositions to the entertaining of Truth These Graces and Vertues do prepare the Minds of Men for Learning and Instruction Meekness and Modesty and Humility are the proper Dispositions of a Scholar He that hath a mean Opinion of himself is ready to learn of others he who is not blinded by Pride or Passion is more apt to consider things impartially and to pass a truer Judgment upon them than the Proud and the Passionate Passion and Pride are great Obstacles to the receiving of Truth and to our Improvement in Knowledge Passion does not only darken the Minds of Men but puts a false Biass upon our Judgments which draws them off many times from Truth and sways them that way which our Passion enclines them A Man of a calm and meek Temper stands always indifferent for the receiving of Truth and holds the Ballance of his Judgment even but Passion sways and enclines it one way and that commonly against Truth and Reason So likewise Pride is a great Impediment to Knowledge and the very worst Quality that a Learner can have it obstructs all the Passages whereby Knowledge should enter into us it makes Men refuse Instruction out of a Conceit they need it not Many Men might have known more had it not been for the vain Opinion which they have entertained of the sufficiency of their Knowledge This is true in all kinds of Learning but more especially as to the Knowledge of Divine things For God loves to communicate himself and bestow his Grace and Wisdom upon meek and humble Minds So the Scripture tells us Psa 25. 9. The Meek will he guide in Judgment and the Meek will he teach his Ways And 1 Pet. 5. 5. Be clothed with Humility for God resisteth the proud and giveth Grace to the humble And thus I have shewn in what Respects the Poor were more disposed for the receiving the Gospel than others I proceed now to the Second Thing namely What those Prejudices and Objections are which the World had against our Saviour and his Religion at their first Appearance as also to enquire into those which Men have at this Day against the Christian Religion and to shew the Weakness and Unreasonableness of them I begin First With those Prejudices which the World had against our Saviour and his Religion at their first Appearance Both Jews and Gentiles were offended at him and his Doctrine but not both upon the same account They both took Exceptions at him especially at his low and suffering Condition but not both upon the same Reason I shall begin with the Exceptions which the Jews took against our blessed Saviour and his Religion and I shall reduce them all or at least the most considerable of them as I find them dispersed in the History of the Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles to these Six Heads First The Exceptions
own Books and Writers but even of the Adversaries of our Religion What Reformation Christianity at first wrought in the Manners of Men we have clear and full Testimony from what the Apostles wrote concerning the several Churches which they planted in several Parts of the World What hearty Unity and Affection there was among Christians even to that Degree as to make Men bring in their private Estates and Possessions for the common Support of their Brethren we may read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles The City of Corinth by the Account which Strabo gives of it was a very vicious and luxurious place as most in the World and yet we see by St. Paul what a strange Reformation the Christian Religion made in the Lives and Manners of many of them 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor adulterers nor idolaters nor effeminate nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And surely it is no small matter to reclaim Men from such a profligate course of Life The Apostle instanceth in Crimes and Vices of the first Rate from which yet he tells us many were cleansed and purified by the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God that is by the Power and Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine together with the Co-operation of Gods Holy Spirit After the Apostles the Ancient Fathers in their Apologies for Christianity give us a large Account of the great Power and Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine upon the Lives and Manners of Men. Tertullian tells the Roman Governours that their Prisons were full of Malefactors committed for several Crimes but they were all Heathens De vestris semper aestuat carcer Their Prisons were thronged with Criminals of their own Religion But there were no Christians to be found committed there for such Crimes Nemo illic Christianus nisi hoc tantùm c. There were no Christians in their Prisons but only upon account of their Religion Or if there were any Malefactors that had been Christians they left their Religion when they fell into those Enormities And afterwards he adds that if Christians were irregular in their Lives they were no longer accounted Christians but were banisht from their Communion as unworthy of it And they appealed to the Heathens what a sudden and strange change Christianity had made in several of the most lewd and vicious and debauched Persons and what a visible Reformation there presently appeared in the Lives of the worst Men after they had once entertained the Christian Doctrine And these Testimonies are so much the stronger because they are Publick Appeals to our Adversaries which it is not likely they who were so persecuted and hated as the Christians were would have had the Confidence to have made if they had not been notoriously true even their Enemies themselves being Judges And that they were so we have the Confession of the Heathen themselves I shall produce two remarkable Testimonies to this Purpose and one of them from the Pen of one of the bitterest Enemies that the Christian Religion ever had Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan the Emperour gives him an Account That having examined the Christians setting aside the Superstition of their way he could find no Fault and that this was the Sum of their Errour that they were wont to meet before Day and sing a Hymn to Christ and to bind themselves by a Solemn Oath or Sacrament not to any wicked Purpose but not to steal nor rob nor commit Adultery nor break their Faith nor detain the Pledge So that it seems the Sum of their Errour was to oblige themselves in the strictest manner against the greatest Vices and Crimes Which methinks is a great Testimony from an Enemy and a Judge one who would have been ready to discover their Faults and had Opportunity of enquiring into them My other Witness is Julian the Emperour and Apostate who in one of his Epistles tells us The Christians did severely punish Sedition and Impiety And afterwards exhorting the Heathen Priests to all Offices of Humanity and especially Alms towards the Poor he tells them they ought to be more careful in this particular and to mend this Fault Because says he the Galileans taking advantage of our Neglect in this kind have very much strengthned their Impiety for so he calls their Religion by being very intent upon these Offices and exemplary in their Charity to the Poor whereby they gained many over to them And in his 49th Epist to Arsacius the High-Priest of Galatia he recommends to him among other Means for the Advancement of Paganism the building of Hospitals and great Liberality to the Poor not only of their own Religion but others For says he it is a Shame that the impious Galileans should not only maintain their own poor but ours also wherefore let us not suffer them to out-do us in this Virtue Nothing but the force of Truth could have extorted so full an Acknowledgment of the great Humanity and Charity of the Christians from so bitter an Enemy of our Religion as Julian was If he owned it we may be sure it was very great and exemplary So that you see that the Christian Religion had a very great Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men when it first appeared in the World And the true Spirit and Genius of any Religion the Force of any Institution is best seen in the primitive Effects of it before it be weakned and dispirited by those Corruptions which in time are apt to insinuate themselves into the best things For all Laws and Institutions are commonly more vigorous and have greater Effects at first than afterwards and the best things are apt in time to degenerate and to contract Soil and Rust And it cannot in Reason be expected otherwise So that though it be a thing to be bewailed and by the greatest Care and Diligence to be resisted yet it is not so extremely to be wonder'd at if Christianity in the space of Sixteen Hundred Years hath abated much of its first Strength and Vigour Especially considering that there were several Circumstances that gave Christianity mighty Advantages at first especially the miraculous Powers which did accompany the first Publication of the Gospel which must needs be full of Conviction to those who saw the wonderful Effects of it The extraordinary Operation of the Spirit of God upon the Minds of Men to dispose them to the receiving of it The persecuted and suffering State that Christians were generally in which made those who embraced the Profession to be generally serious and in good earnest in it and kept up a continual Heat and Zeal in the Minds of Men for that Religion which cost them so dear and for which they suffer'd
the World and conclude from the Inconveniencies of abused Liberty that the best State of things would be that the generality of Mankind should be all Slaves to a few and be perpetually chained to the Oar or condemned to the Mines There are many times as bad Consequences of good things as of bad but yet there is a great difference between good and bad for all that As Knowledge and Liberty so likewise the Christian Religion is a great Happiness to the World in general though some are so unhappy as to be the worse for it not because Religion is bad but because they are so 4. If Religion be a matter of Mens free Choice it is not to be expected that it should necessarily and constantly have its Effect upon Men for it works upon us not by way of Force or natural Necessity but of Moral Perswasion If Religion and the Grace of God which goes along with it did force Men to be good and virtuous and no Man could be so unless he were thus violently forc'd then it would be no Virtue in any Man to be good nor any Crime and Fault to be otherwise For then the Reason why some Men were good would be because they could not help it and others bad because the Grace of God did not make them so whether they would or not But Religion does not thus work upon Men. It directs Men to their Duty by the shortest and plainest Precepts of a good Life it perswades Men to the Obedience of these Precepts by the Promises of Eternal Happiness and the Threatnings of Eternal Misery in case of obstinate Disobedience it offers us the Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit to help our Weakness and enable us to that for which we are not sufficient of our selves But there is nothing of Violence or Necessity in all this After all Men may disobey these Precepts and not be perswaded by these Arguments may not make use of this Grace which God offers may quench and resist the Holy Ghost and reject the Counsel of God against themselves And the Case being thus it is no wonder if the Temptations of this present World prevail upon the vicious Inclinations of Men against their Duty and their true Interest and consequently if the Motiyes and Arguments of the Christiane Religion have not a constant and certain Effect upon a great part of Mankind Not but that Christianity is apt to bring Men to Goodness but some are so obstinately bad as not to be wrought upon by the most powerful Considerations it can offer to them 5. It cannot be denyed but that Christianity is as well framed to make Men good as any Religion can be imagined to be and therefore where-ever the Fault be it cannot be in the Christian Religion that we are not good So that the bad Lives of Christians are no sufficient Objection either against the Truth or Goodness of the Christian Doctrine Besides the Confirmation that was given to it by Miracles the Excellency of the Doctrine and its proper Tendency to make Men holy and virtuous are a plain Evidence of its Divine and Heavenly Original And surely the Goodness of any Religion consists in the sufficiency of its Precepts to direct Men to their Duty in the force of its Arguments to perswade Men to it and the suitableness of its Aids and Helps to enable us to the Discharge and Performance of it And all these Advantages the Christian Religion hath above any Religion or Institution that ever was in the World The reasonable and plain Rules of a good Life are no where so perfectly collected as in the Discourses of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles No Religion ever gave Men so full Assurance of the mighty Rewards and Punishments of another World nor such gracious Promises of Divine Assistance and such Evidence of it especially in the Piety and Virtue and Patience and Self-denyal of the Primitive Christians as the Doctrine of God our Saviour hath done which teacheth Men to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World in contemplation of the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to hiwself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 6. and lastly After all that hath or can be said it must be acknowledged and ought sadly to be lamented by us that the wicked Lives of Christians are a marvellous Scandal and Reproach to our Holy Religion and a great Obstacle to the spreading of it in the World and a real Objection against it to prejudiced Persons with whom it doth justly bring into doubt the Goodness and Efficacy of the Institution it self to see how little Effect it hath upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. It is hard for a Man to maintain the Reputation of an excellent Master in any kind when all the World sees that most of his Scholars prove Dunces Whatever Commendation may be given to any Art or Science Men will question the Truth and Reality of it when they see the greatest part of those who profess it not able to do any thing answerable to it The Christian Religion pretends to be an Art of serving God more decently and devoutly and of living better than other Men but if it be so why do not the Professors of this excellent Religion shew the Force and Virtue of it in their Lives And though I have sufficiently shewn that this is not enough to overthrow the Truth and disparage the Excellency of the Christian Doctrine yet it will certainly go a great way with prejudiced Persons and it cannot be expected otherwise So that we have infinite Reason to be ashamed that there is so plain a contrariety between the Laws of Christianity and the Lives of the greatest part of Christians so notorious and palpable a difference between the Religion that is in the Bible and that which is to be seen and read in the Conversations of Men. Who that looks upon the Manners of the present Age could believe if he did not know it that the holy and pure Doctrine of the Christian Religion had ever been so much as heard much less pretended to be entertained and believed among us Nay among those who seem to make a more serious Profession of Religion when we consider how strangely they allow themselves in Malice and Envy in Passion and Anger and Uncharitable Censures and evil Speaking in fierce Contentions and Animosities who would believe that the great Instrument of these Mens Religion I mean the Holy Bible by which they profess to regulate and govern their Lives were full of plain and strict Precepts of Love and Kindness of Charity and Peace and did a hundred times with all imaginable Severity and under pain of forfeiting the Kingdom of God forbid Malice and Envy and Revenge and evil speaking and rash and uncharitable Censures and
laid the main stress as being a thing that would condemn him by their Law They charged him with this in his life-time as appears by those Words of our Saviour John 10. 36. 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 And when he was arraigned before the Chief Priests they accused him of this and he owning this Charge that he call'd himself the Son of God upon this they judge him guilty of Death Matth. 26. 65 66. Then the High-Priest rent his Cloaths and said He hath spoken Blasphemy what further need have we of witness Behold now ye have heard his Blasphemy What think ye They answered He is guilty of Death And when Pilate told them that he found no Fault in him they still instance in this as his Crime John 19. 7. We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God Now this being the Crime which was charged upon him and for which he was crucified and put to Death God by raising him up from the dead and taking him up into Heaven gave Testimony to him that he was no Impostor and that he did not vainly arrogate to himself to be the Messias and the Son of God God by raising him from the dead by the Power of the Holy Ghost gave a mighty Demonstration to him that he was the Son of God For which Reason he is said by the Apostle 1 Tim. 3. 16. to be justified by the Spirit The Spirit gave Testimony to him at his Baptism and by the mighty Works that appeared in him in his Life time but he was most eminently and remarkably justified by the Holy Ghost by his Resurrection from the Dead God hereby bearing him Witness that he was unjustly condemned and that he assumed nothing to himself but what of right did belong to him when he said he was the Messias and the Son of God For how could a Man that was condemned to die for calling himself the Son of God be more remarkably vindicated and more clearly proved to be so than by being raised from the dead by the Power of God And 2dly God did consequently hereby give Testimony to the Truth and Divinity of our Saviour's Doctrine Being proved by his Resurrection to be the Son of God this proved him to be a Teacher sent by him and that what he declared to the World was the Mind and Will of God For this none was more likely to know and to report truly to Mankind than the Son of God who came from the Bosom of his Father And because the Resurrection of Christ is so great a Testimony to the Truth of his Doctrine hence it is that St. Paul tells us that the belief of this one Article of Christ's Resurrection is sufficient to a Man's Salvation Rom. 10. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The Reason is plain because the Resurrection of Christ confirmed the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine so that the belief of our Saviour's Resurrection does by necessary Consequence infer the belief of his whole Doctrine That God raised him from the dead after he was condemned and put to Death for calling himself the Son of God is a demonstration that he really was the Son of God and if he was the Son of God the Doctrine which he taught was true and from God And thus I have shewn you how the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is a powerful Demonstration that he was the Son of God All that remains is briefly to draw some practical Inferences from the Consideration of our Saviour's Resurrection 1st To confirm and establish our Minds in the belief of the Christian Religion of which the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is so great a Confirmation And therefore I told you that this one Article is mentioned by St. Paul as the Sum and Abridgment of the Christian Faith If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved The belief of our Saviour's Resurrection doth by necessary consequence infer the belief of his whole Doctrine for he who believes that God raised him from the Dead after he was put to death for calling himself the Son of God cannot but believe him to be the Son of God and consequently that the Doctrine which he delivered was from God 2dly The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead assures us of a future Judgment and of the Recompences and Rewards of another World That Christ was raised from the Dead is a demonstration of another Life after this and no man that believes the immortality of our Souls and another Life after this ever doubted of a future Judgment so that by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead God hath given assurance unto all men of a future Judgment and consequently of the Recompences and Rewards of another World The consideration whereof ought to have a mighty influence upon us more especially to these three purposes 1st To raise our minds above the present Enjoyments of this Life Were but men convinced of this great and obvious Truth that there is an infinite difference between Time and Eternity between a few days and everlasting Ages would we but sometimes represent to our selves what thoughts and apprehensions dying Men have of this World how vain and empty a thing it appears to them how like a Pageant and Shadow it looks as it passeth away from them methinks none of these things could be a sufficient temptation to any Man to forget God and his Soul but notwithstanding all the present delights and allurements of Sense we should be strongly intent upon the concernments of another World and almost wholly taken up with the thoughts of the vast Eternity which we are ready to enter into For what is there in this World this vast and howling Wilderness this rude and barbarous Country which we are but to pass through which should detain and entangle our Affections and take off our Thoughts from our Everlasting Habitation from that better and that heavenly Country where we hope to live and to be happy for ever 2dly The Consideration of the Rewards of another World should comfort and support us under the troubles and afflictions of this World The hopes of a blessed Resurrection are a very proper Consideration to bear us up under the evils and pressures of this Life If we hope for so great a Happiness hereafter we may be contented to bear some Afflictions in this World because the Blessedness which we expect will so abundantly recompence and outweigh our present Sufferings So the Apostle assures us Rom. 8. 18. We know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that
Lives remembring that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God I will conclude with the words of the Apostle immediately after the Text The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned And how gladly would I add the next words But beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak SERMON VI. Christ the Author and Obedience the Condition of Salvation HEB. V. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him THIS is spoken of Christ our great High Priest under the Gospel upon the Excellency of whose Person and the Efficacy of his Sacrifice for the Eternal Benefit and Salvation of Mankind the Apostle insists so largely in this and the following Chapters but the Summ of all is briefly comprehended in the Text that our High Priest being made perfect became the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him In which words we have these four things considerable 1st The great Blessing and Benefit here spoken of and that is Eternal Salvation and this implies in it not only our Deliverance from Hell and Redemption from Eternal Misery but the obtaining of Eternal Life and Happiness for us 2dly The Author of this great Blessing and Benefit to Mankind and that is Jesus Christ the Son of God who is here represented to us under the notion of our High Priest who by making Atonement for us and reconciling us to God is said to be the Author of Eternal Salvation to Mankind 3dly The Way and Means whereby he became the Author of our Salvation being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having consummated his work and finish'd his Course and receiv'd the Reward of it For this word hath an allusion to those that run in a Race where he that wins receives the Crown And to this the Apostle plainly alludes Phil. 3. 12. where he says not as though I had already attained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as if I had already taken hold of the Prize but I am pressing or reaching forward towards it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or were already perfect that is not as if I had finish'd my Course or had the Prize or Crown in my hand but I am pressing forward towards it In like manner our blessed Saviour when he had finish'd the Course of his Humiliation and Obedience which was accomplish'd in his Sufferings and had receiv'd the Reward of them being risen from the Dead and exalted to the Right Hand of God and crown'd with Glory and Honour he is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made perfect and therefore when he was giving up the Ghost upon the Cross he said John 19. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finish'd or perfected that is he had done all that was necessary to be done by way of suffering for our Redemption And the same word is likewise used Luke 13. 32. concerning our Saviour's Sufferings I do cures to day and to morrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the third day I shall be perfected this he spake concerning his own death And therefore Chap. 2. 10. God is said to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through Sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus our High Priest being made perfect in this Sense that is having finish'd his Course which was accomplished in his Sufferings and having received the Reward of them in being exalted at the Right Hand of God he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to us 4thly You have here the qualification of the Persons who are made Partakers of this great Benefit or the Condition upon which it is suspended and that is Obedience He became the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him These are the main things contained in the Text. For the fuller Explication whereof I shall take into consideration these five things 1st How and by what means Christ is the Author of our Salvation 2dly What Obedience the Gospel requires as a Condition and is pleased to accept as a Qualification in those who hope for eternal Salvation 3dly We will consider the possibility of performing this Condition by that Grace and Assistance which is offer'd and ready to be afforded to us by the Gospel 4thly The necessity of this Obedience in order to Eternal Life and Happiness And 5thly I shall shew that this is no prejudice to the Law of Faith and the free Grace and Mercy of God declared in the Gospel 1st We will consider how and by what means Christ is the Author of our Salvation and this is contain'd in these words Being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation that is as I told you before having finish'd his Course which was accomplish'd in his last Sufferings and having received the Reward of them being exalted at the right hand of God he became the Author of eternal Salvation to us so that by all that he did and suffer'd for us in the days of his Flesh and in the state of his Humiliation and by all that he still continues to do for us now that he is in Heaven at the right hand of God he hath effected and brought about the great Work of our Salvation His Doctrine and his Life his Death and Sufferings his Resurrection from the Dead and his powerful Intercession for us at the Right Hand of God have all a great influence upon the reforming and saving of Mankind and by all these Ways and Means he is the Author and Cause of our Salvation as a Rule and as a Pattern as a Price and Propitiation and as a Patron and Advocate that is continually pleading our Cause and interceding with God on our behalf for mercy and grace to help in time of need And indeed our condition requir'd an High Priest who was qualified in all these respects for the recovery of Mankind out of that corrupt and degenerate state into which it was sunk an High Priest whose lips should preserve knowledge and from whose mouth we might learn the Law of God whose life should be a perfect Pattern of Holiness to us and his Death a propitiation for the sins of the whole World and by whose Grace and Assistance we should be endowed with Power and Strength to mortifie our Lusts and to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and therefore such an High Priest became us who was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners who might have compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way and being himself compast with infirmities might have the feeling of ours being in all points tempted as we are only without sin and in a word might be able to
save to the utmost all those that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us By these Qualifications our High Priest is described in this Epistle and by these he is every way suited to all our Defects and Infirmities all our Wants and Necessities to instruct our Ignorance by his Doctrine and to lead us in the Path of Righteousness by his most Holy and most Exemplary Life to expiate the guilt of our Sins by his Death and to procure Grace and Assistance for us by his prevalent Intercession on our behalf By all these ways and in all these respects he is said to be the Author of Eternal Salvation 1st By the Holiness and Purity of his Doctrine whereby we are perfectly instructed in the Will of God and our Duty and powerfully excited and perswaded to the Practice of it The Rules and Directions of a holy Life were very obscure before and the Motives and Encouragements to Virtue but weak and ineffectual in comparison of what they are now render'd by the Revelation of the Gospel The general corruption of Mankind and the vicious Practice of the World had in a great measure blurr'd and defac'd the Natural Law so that the Heathen World for many Ages had but a very dark and doubtful knowledge of their Duty especially as to several instances of it The Custom of several Vices had so prevail'd among Mankind as almost quite to extinguish the natural Sense of their Evil and Deformity And the Jews who enjoy'd a considerable degree of Divine Revelation had no strict regard to the Morality of their Actions and contenting themselves with some kind of outward Conformity to the bare Letter of the Ten Commandments were almost wholly taken up with little Ceremonies and Observances in which they placed the main of their Religion almost wholly neglecting the greater Duties and weightier matters of the Law And therefore our Blessed Saviour to free Mankind from these wandrings and uncertainties about the Will of God revealed the Moral Law and explained the full force and meaning of it clearing all doubts and supplying all the defects of it by a more particular and explicite Declaration of the several parts of our Duty and by Precepts of greater Perfection than the World was sufficiently acquainted withal before of greater Humility and more Universal Charity of abstaining from Revenge and forgiving Injuries and returning to our Enemies Good for Evil and Love for ill-will and Blessings and Prayers for Curses and Persecutions These Virtues indeed were sometimes and yet but very rarely recommended before in the Counsels of wise Men but either not in that degree of Perfection or not under that degree of Necessity and as having the force of Laws and laying an universal obligation of indispensable Duty upon all Mankind And as our blessed Saviour hath given a greater clearness and Certainty and Perfection to the rule of our Duty so he hath reveal'd and brought into a clearer Light more powerful Motives and Encouragements to the constant and careful Practice of it for Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead being a plain and convincing Demonstration of the Immortality of our Souls and another Life after this and an Evidence to us both of his Power and of the fidelity of his promise to raise us from the Dead Not but that Mankind had some obscure Apprehensions of these things before Good Men had always good hopes of another Life and future Rewards in another World and the worst of Men were not without some fears of the Judgment and Vengeance of another World but Men had disputed themselves into great doubts and uncertainties about these things and as Men that are in doubt are almost indifferent which way they go so the uncertain apprehensions which Men had of a future State and of the Rewards and Punishments of another World had but a very faint influence upon the minds of Men and wanted that pressing and determining force to Virtue and a good Life which a firm Belief and clear Conviction of these things would have infused into them But now the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ hath scatter'd all these Clouds and chased away that gross Darkness which hid the other World from our sight and hath removed all doubts concerning the Immortality of Mens Souls and their future State and now the Kingdom of Heaven with all its Treasures of Life and Happiness and Glory lies open to our view and Hell is also naked before us and Destruction hath no covering So that the hopes and fears of Men are now perfectly awakened and all sorts of Considerations that may serve to quicken and encourage our Obedience and to deter and affright Men from a wicked Life are exposed to the view of all Men and do stare every Man's Conscience in the face And this is that which renders the Gospel so admirable and powerful an Instrument for the reforming of Mankind and as the Apostle calls it the mighty power of God unto Salvation because therein Life and Immortality are set before us as the certain and glorious Reward of our Obedience and therein also the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men So that considering the perfection of our Rule and the powerful enforcements of it upon the Consciences of Men by the clear discovery and firm assurance of the Eternal Recompence of another World nothing can be imagined better suited to its end than the Doctrine of the Gospel is to make Men wise and holy and good unto Salvation both by instructing them perfectly in their Duty and urging them powerfully to the practice of it 2dly The Example of our Saviour's life is likewise another excellent Means to this End The Law lays an Obligation upon us but a pattern gives life and encouragement and renders our Duty more easie and practicable and familiar to us for here we see obedience to the Divine Law practised in our own Nature and performed by a Man like our selves in all things like unto us Sin only excepted 'T is true indeed this exception makes a great difference and seems to take off very much from the encouraging Force and Virtue of this Example No wonder if he that was without Sin and was God as well as Man performed all Righteousness and therefore where is the encouragement of this example That our Nature pure and uncorrupted supported and assisted by the Divinity to which it was united should be perfectly conformed to the Law of God as it is no strange thing so neither doth it seem to have that force and encouragement in it which an Example more suited to our weakness might have had But then this cannot be deny'd that it hath the advantage of perfection which a Pattern ought to have and to which though we can never attain yet we may always be aspiring towards it and certainly we cannot better learn
for the blessed sight and enjoyment of God who is the Cause and Fountain of Happiness I come in the Fifth and last place To shew that this Method and Means of our Salvation is no prejudice to the Law of Faith and to the free Grace and Mercy of God declared in the Gospel The Gospel is called the Law of Faith and the Law of Grace in opposition to the Jewish Dispensation which is called the Law or Covenant of Works because it consisted so much in external Rites and Observances which were but types and shadows of good things to come as the Apostle calls them in this Epistle and which when they were come that Law did expire of it self and was out of date the obligation and observance of it was no longer necessary but a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises came in the place of it and Men were justified by Faith that is by sincerely embracing the Christian Religion and were no longer under an obligation to that external and servile and imperfect Dispensation which consisted in Circumcision and in almost an endless number of external Ceremonies These are the works of the Law so often spoken of by St. Paul concerning which the Jews had not only an opinion of the necessity of them to a Man's Justification and Salvation but likewise of the Merit of them in opposition to both which opinions St. Paul calls the Covenant of the Gospel the Law of Faith and the Law of Grace But there is no where the least intimation given either by our Saviour or his Apostles that Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel which are in substance the Moral Law cleared and perfected is not necessary to our acceptance with God and the obtaining of Eternal Life but on the contrary 't is our Saviour's express Direction to the young Man who ask'd what good thing he should do that he might obtain Eternal Life If thou wilt says he enter into Life keep the Commandments and that he might understand what Commandments he meant he instanceth in the Precepts of the Moral Law And indeed the whole tenour of our Saviour's Sermons and the Precepts and Writings of the Apostles are full and express to this purpose 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 Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine that is these Precepts which I have delivered and doth them not I will liken him 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 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them In every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith that is acted and inspired by Charity And that the Apostle here means that Charity or Love which is the fulfilling of the Law is evident from what he says elsewhere that neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but the keeping of the Commandments of God In which Text it is plain that the Apostle speaks of the terms of our Justification and what is available with God to that purpose And St. James to the same purpose tells us that by the works of Obedience our Faith is made perfect and that Faith without Works is dead and surely a dead Faith will neither justifie nor save any Man St. John likewise very earnestly cautions us to take heed of any such Doctrine as would take away the necessity of Righteousness and Obedience Little Children says he let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous as he is righteous To all which I shall only add the plain words of my Text that Christ became the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him So that no Man hath reason to fear that this Doctrine of the necessity of Obedience to our Acceptance with God and the obtaining of eternal life should be any ways prejudicial to the Law of Faith and the Law of Grace For so long as these three things are but asserted and secured 1st That Faith is the Root and Principle of Obedience and a holy Life and that without it it is impossible to please God 2dly That we stand continually in need of the Divine Grace and Assistance to enable us to perform that Obedience which the Gospel requires of us and is pleased to accept in order to eternal life And 3dly That the forgiveness of our Sins and the Reward of eternal Life are founded in the free Grace and Mercy of God conferring these Blessings upon us not for the merit of our Obedience but only for the merit and satisfaction of the Obedience and Sufferings of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer I say so long as we assert these three things we give all that the Gospel any where ascribes to Faith and to the Grace of God revealed in the Gospel I have been careful to express these things more fully and distinctly that no Man may imagine that whilst we assert the Necessity of Obedience and a Holy Life we have any design to derogate in the least from the Faith and the Grace of God but only to engage and encourage Men to Holiness and a good Life by convincing them of the absolute and indispensable necessity of it in order to eternal Salvation For all that I have said is in plain English no more but this that it is necessary for a Man to be a good Man that he may get to Heaven and whoever finds fault with this Doctrine finds fault with the Gospel it self and the main end and design of the Grace of God therein revealed to Mankind which offers Salvation to Men upon no other terms than these which I have mentioned and to preach and press this Doctrine is certainly if any thing in the World can be so to pursue the great End and Design of the Christian Religion so plainly and expresly declared by St. Paul Tit. 2. 11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World And if the Grace of God declared in the Gospel have this effect upon us then we may with Confidence wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good works and then he adds these things teach and exhort and rebuke with all Authority that is declare and inculcate this Doctrine and rebuke severely those who teach or practise contrary to it And he repeats it again with a more vehement Charge to Titus to press upon Men the necessity of
in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost is meant the initiating of Men by this solemn Rite or Ceremony into the Christian Religion upon their profession of the necessary Doctrines of it concerning the Father Son and holy Ghost and a solemn Stipulation and Engagement to live according to those Doctrines Which promise of a suitable Life and Practice was likewise made at the same time as Justin Martyr and other of the ancient Fathers do testifie But before I leave this Head it is very fit to take particular notice what use the Anabaptists make of this Text so as in effect to lay the whole stress of their Cause upon it as if by virtue of this Command of our Saviour's and the manner wherein it is exprest all Infants even those of Christian Parents who are themselves already admitted into the new Covenant of the Gospel were excluded from Baptism because it is here said by our Saviour Go ye and disciple all Nations baptizing them from whence they infer and very clearly and strongly as they think that none are to be baptized but such as are first throughly instructed in the Christian Religion and made Disciples which Infants are not but only those who are grown to some Maturity of Years and Understanding But the Opinion and Practice of the ancient Church in this matter is a sufficient Bar to this Inference at least to the clearness of it And indeed it cannot reasonably be imagined that the Apostles who had all of them been bred up in the Jewish Religion which constantly and by virtue of a divine Precept and Institution admitted Infants into that Church and to the benefits of that Covenant by the Rite of Circumcision and likewise the Infants of Proselytes by Baptism as I observed before I say no Man can reasonably imagine that the Apostles could understand our Saviour as intending by any consequence from this Text to exclude the Children of Christians out of the Christian Church and to debar them of the benefits of the New Covenant of the Gospel The Children of Christians being every whit as capable of being taken into this new Covenant and of partaking of the Benefits of it as Children of the Jews were of being admitted into the old Unless we will suppose which at first sight seems very harsh and unreasonable that by the terms of the Christian Religion Children are in a much worse condition than the Children of the Jews were under the Law So that the parity of Reason being so plain nothing less than an express Prohibition from our Saviour and an exception of Children from Baptism can be thought sufficient to deprive the Children of Christians of any Priviledge of which the Jewish were capable For the plain meaning of this Commission to the Apostles is to go and proselyte all Nations to the Christian Religion and to admit them solemnly into it by Baptism as the Jews were wont to proselyte Men to their Religion by Circumcision and Baptism by which Rites also they took in the Children of the Proselytes upon promise that when they came to Years they should continue in that Religion And if this was our Saviour's meaning the Apostles had no reason from the Tenour of their Commission to understand that the Children of Christian Proselytes were any more excluded than the Children of Proselytes to the Jewish Religion unless our Saviour had expresly excepted them for it is a favourable Case and in a matter of Priviledge and therefore ought not to be determined to debar Children of it upon any obscure consequence from a Text which it is certain was never so understood by the Christian Church for 1500 Years together I have done with the first part of their Commission which was to disciple or proselyte all Nations to the Christian Religion and to admit them into the Christian Church by the Rite or Sacrament of Baptism I proceed to consider the Second part of their Commission which was to instruct Men in the Precepts and Duties of a Christian Life teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you You see how their Commission bounds and limits them they were to teach others those Precepts which Christ had taught and deliver'd to them they had no Power by virtue of this Commission to make new Laws which should be of universal and perpetual Obligation and consequently necessary to the Salvation of all Christians they were only to be the Publishers but not the Authors of this new Religion And therefore St. Paul when the Corinthians consulted him about several things relating to Marriage and Virginity he only gives his advice but would not take upon him to make a Law in those cases that should be binding to all Christians And for the same Reason Christians do generally at this day think themselves absolved from the Obligation of that Canon which was made even in a Council of the Apostles as to all those Branches of it the reason whereof is now ceased But notwithstanding this the Authority which our Saviour conferred upon his Apostles to teach his Doctrine does in the nature of it necessarily imply a Power of governing the Societies of Christians under such Officers and by such Rules as are most suitable to the nature of such a Society and most fit to promote the great Ends of the Christian Religion For without this power of governing they cannot be suppos'd to be endowed with sufficient Authority to teach and therefore in pursuance of this Commission we find that the Apostles did govern the Societies of Christians by such Rules and Constitutions as were fitted to the then present circumstances of Christianity And as they did appoint temporary Officers upon emergent Occasions so they constituted others that were of perpetual use in the Church for the instructing and governing of Christians and that in such a subordination to one another as would be most effectual to the attaining of the end of Government which subordination of Governours hath not only been used in all Religions but in all the well regulated Civil Societies that ever were in the World And this may suffice to have spoken of the second part of their Commission The Third and last thing in the Text is the Promise which our Saviour here makes for the encouragement of the Apostles in this Work Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World that is tho' I be going from you in person yet I will still be present with you by my Power and Spirit And surely this must needs be a great Encouragement to have him engaged for their Assistance who had all Power in Heaven and Earth committed to him as he tells them at the 18th verse I shall endeavour therefore as far as the time will permit to explain to you the true meaning and extent of this Promise That it is primarily made to the Apostles no Man can doubt that considers that it was spoken to them immediately by our Saviour and in
to persevere in a Holy Course and to bear up against the Opposition of the World and to withstand its Temptations to be harmless and blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation not to be infected with the eminent and frequent Examples of Vice and carryed down with the stream of a corrupt and degenerare Age. So that tho' our Difficulties be not always the same and equal to those which the Primitive Christians encountred yet there is enough to exercise our best Resolution and Care tho' the main Body of the Enemies of Christianity be broken and the Sons of Anak be destroyed out of the Land yet some of the old Inhabitants are still left to be Thorns in our Sides and Pricks in our Eyes that true Religion may always have something to exercise its Force and Vigour upon I have done with the first Point the Difficulties of a Christian Course I proceed to the Second The earnest Endeavour that is to be used on our Part for the conquering of these Difficulties And to the business of Religion if we will set upon it in good earnest these three things are required 1st A mighty Resolution to engage us in a Holy and Christian Course 2dly Great Diligence and Industry to carry us on in it 3dly An invincible Constancy to carry us through it and make us persevere in it to the end 1st A mighty Resolution to engage us in a Holy and Good Course For want of this most Men miscarry and stumble at the very Threshold and never get through the strait Gate never master the Difficulties of the first Entrance Many are well disposed toward Religion and have fits of good Inclination that way especially in their young and tender Years but they want firmness of Resolution to conquer the Difficulties of the first entrance upon a religious and virtuous Life like the young Man that came to our Saviour well inclined to do some good thing that be might inherit eternal Life but when it came to the point he gave back he was divided betwixt Christ and the World and had not Resolution enough to part with all for him Many Men I doubt not have frequent Thoughts and Deliberations about a better Course of Life and are in a good Mind to take up and break off that lewd and riotous Course they are in but they cannot bring themselves to a fixt Purpose and Resolution and yet without this nothing is to be done the double minded Man is unstable in all his ways There must be no Indifferency and Irresoluteness in our Minds if we will be Christians we must not stop at the Gate but resolve to press in We see that Men can take up peremptory Resolutions in other matters to be rich and great in the World and they can be true and stedfast to these Resolutions and why should not Men resolve to be Wise and Happy and stand to these Resolutions and make them good God is more ready to assist and strengthen these kind of resolutions than any other and I am sure no man hath so much reason to resolve upon any thing as to live a Holy and Virtuous Life no other resolution can do a man that good and bring him that comfort and happiness that this will 2dly The business of Religion as it requires a mighty Resolution to engage us in a holy and good course so likewise a great Diligence to carry us on in it When we are got through the strait gate we must account to meet with many difficulties in our way there are in the course of a Christian's Life many Duties to be performed which require great pains and care many Temptations to be resisted which will keep us continually upon our guard a great part of the Way is up Hill and not to be climb'd without Labour and the Scripture frequently calls upon us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling that is with great Care and Industry to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure to follow Holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pursue it with great earnestness Nothing of this World that is of value is to be had upon other terms and we have low thoughts of Heaven if we think any pains too much to get thither 3dly The business of Religion requires an invincible Constancy to carry us through it and to make us persevere in it to the End Resolution may make a good entrance but it requires great Constancy and Firmness of Mind to hold out in a good Course A good Resolution may be taken up upon a present heat and may cool again but nothing but a constant and steady temper of Mind will make a man persevere and yet without this no Man shall ever reach Heaven He that continueth to the end shall be saved but if any Man draw back God's Soul will have no pleasure in him God puts this Case by the Prophet and determines it Ezekiel 18. 24. When the righteous Man turneth away from his Righteousness shall he live all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them he shall die nay so far will his Righteousness be from availing him if he do not persevere in it that it will render his Condition much worse to have gone so far towards Heaven and at last to turn his Back upon it So St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them I proceed to the Third Point namely That the Difficulties of a Holy and a Christian Life are not so great and insuperable as to be a just ground of discouragement to our Endeavours All that I have said concerning the Difficulties of Religion was with no design to damp but rather to quicken our Industry for upon the whole matter when all things are duly considered it will appear that Christ's yoke is easie and his burthen light that the Commandments of God are not grievous no not this Commandment of striving to enter in at the strait gate which I shall endeavour to make manifest by taking these Four things into consideration 1. The Assistance which the Gospel offers to us God hath there promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him and by the assistance of God's Holy Spirit we may be able to conquer all those difficulties Indeed if we were left to our selves to the impotency and weakness of our own Nature we should never be able to cope with these Difficulties every Temptation would be too hard for us every little Opposition would discourage us
that nothing less than this will bring us thither So our Saviour tells us 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 Prophesyed 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 Men 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 Priviledges 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 signifie 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 1st Some trust to the external Profession of the true Religion 2dly Others have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they rely much upon that 3dly There are others that find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Doctrines contained in it 4thly Others are very strict and devout in the external Worship of God 5thly Others confide much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Priviledges and Advantages which therein they have above others of getting to Heaven 6thly Others think their great Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them 7thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion 8thly Others rely much upon
probability hinder Men from being convinced by an Apparition from the Dead It is not generally for want of Evidence that Men do not yield a full and effectual Assent to the Truth of God's Word I mean that they do not Believe it so as to Obey it but from the Interest of some Lust The true cause is not in Mens Understandings and because there is not Reason enough to satisfie them that the Scriptures are the Word of God but in the obstinacy of their Wills which are enslaved to their Lusts And the Disease being there it is not to be Cured by more Evidence but by more Consideration and by the Grace of God and better Resolutions The Man is addicted to some Vice or other and that makes him unwilling to entertain those Truths which would check and control him in his Course The light of God's word is offensive to him and therefore he would shut it out This Account our blessed Saviour gives of the Enmity of the Jews against him and his Doctrine John 3. 19. Light is come into the World and Men love darkness rather than light because their Deeds are evil for every one that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Upon the same account it is that Men resist the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures not because they have sufficient Reason to doubt of their Divine Authority but because they are unwilling to be govern'd by them and to conform their Lives to the Laws and Precepts of that Holy Book For the Wills of Men have a great Influence upon their Undestandings to make assent easie or difficult and as Men are apt to assent to what they have a mind to so they are slow to believe any thing which crosseth their Humours and Inclinations so that tho' greater Evidence were offer'd it is likely it would not prevail with them because the mater does not stick there Their Wills are distemper'd Men hate to be reform'd and this makes them cast the Laws of God behind their Backs and if God himself should speak to them from Heaven as he did to the People of Israel yet for all that they might continue a stiff-necked and rebellious People Tho' the Evidence were such as their Understandings could not resist yet their Wills might still hold out and the present condition of their Minds might have no lasting influence upon their Hearts and Lives â—uch a violent Conviction might affect them for the present but the Sense of it might perhaps wear off by degrees and then they would return to their former hardness Men by a long and obstinate continuance in sin may bring themselves to the Temper and Disposition of Devils who tho' they believe and tremble at the thoughts of God and his Threatnings yet they are wicked still for so long as Men retain a strong affection for their Lusts they will break through all Conviction and what Evidence soever be offer'd to them they will find some way or other to avoid it and to delude themselves The plain truth of the case is this if Men will honestly speak their Consciences they cannot deny it they do not call for more Evidence either because they want it or are willing to be convinced by it but that they may seem to have some Excuse for themselves for not being convinced by that Evidence which is afforded to them 4thly Experience does abundantly testifie how ineffectual extraordinary ways are to convince and reclaim men of depraved Minds and such as are obstinately addicted to their Lusts We find many remarkable Experiments of this in the History of the Bible What Wonders were wrought in the sight of Pharaoh and the Egyptians yet they were harden'd under all these Plagues Balaam who greedily follow'd the wages of unrighteousness was not to be stopt by the admonition of an Angel The Jews after so many Miracles which their Eyes had seen continued to be a stiff neck'd and gain-saying People so that it is hard to say which was more prodigious the Wonders which God wrought for them or their Rebellions against him and when in the fulness of time the Son of God came and did among them the works which never man did such as one would have thought might have brought the worst People in the World to Repentance those of Tyre and Sydon of Sodom and Gomorrah yet they Repented not Yea the very thing which the rich man here in my Text requested of Abraham for his Brethren was done among them Lazarus did rise from the dead and testified unto them and they were not perswaded And which is yet more our Saviour himself according to his own Prediction while he was alive rose again from the dead the third day and was visibly taken up into Heaven and yet how few among them did believe and give glory to God! So that we see the very thing here spoken of in the Text made good in a famous instance they who believed not Moses and the Prophets which testified of the Messias were not perswaded when he rose from the dead And does not our own Experience tell us how little effect the extraordinary Providences of God have had upon those who were not reclaimed by his Word It is not long since God shewed himself among us by terrible things in Righteousness and visited us with three of his sorest Judgments War and Pestilence and Fire and yet how does all manner of Wickedness and Impiety still reign and rage among us It is a very sad Consideration to see how little those who have outlived these Plagues have been reformed by them we have not return'd to the Lord nor sought him for all this I may appeal to the experience of particular Persons How frequently do we see Men after great Afflictions and tedious Sufferings and dangerous sicknesses return to their former Evil Courses and tho' they have been upon the brink of Eternity and the ternors of Death have compass'd them about and the pains of Hell have almost taken hold of them tho' they have had as lively and sensible Convictions of another World as if they had spoken with those that had come from thence or even been there themselves yet they have taken no warning but upon their Deliverance and Recovery have been as mad as furious Sinners as they were before so that it ought to be no such wonder to us which the Text tells us that if Men hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead Especially if we consider in the 5th and last place That an effectual perswasion that is such a Belief as produceth Repentance and a good Life is the gift of God and depends upon the operation and concurrence of his Grace which is not to be expected in an extraordinary way where Men have obstinately rejected the ordinary means appointed by God for that end To be effectually perswaded to change our Lives and become new