heartily wish it may never be said of us what the Orator once said of the Greeks Quibus jusjurandum jocus testimonium ludus they made it a matter of jest and drollery to forswear themselves and give false testimonies But supposing men keep within the bounds of justice and common honesty yet how unsatiable are the desires of men they are for adding house to house and land to land never contented with what either their Ancestors have left them or the bountiful hand of Heaven hath bestowed upon them Till at last it may be in the Prophets expression for their covetousness the stone cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber answer it i. e. provoke God to give a severe check to the exorbitant and boundless desire of men as he hath done by this days calamity Thus while the City thought with Babylon to sit as a Lady for ever while she dwelt carelesly and said I am and there is none else beside me evil is come upon her and she knows not from whence it comes and mischief is â—allen upon her and she hath not been able to put it off and desolation is come upon her suddenly which she did not foresee 3. Contempt of God and his Laws That we read of v. 4. where the Prophet speaks by an Irony to them Come to Bethel and transgress c. he knew well enough they were resolved to do it let God or the Prophet say what they pleased For these Kine of Bashan were all â—or the Calves of Dan and Bethel and some think that is the reason of the title that is given them These great men of Samaria thought it beneath them to oâ—n Religion any further than it was subservient to their civil interests They were all of Ieroboams Religion who looked on it as a mear politick thing and sit to advance his own designs by I am afraid there are too many at this day who are secretly of his mind and think it a piece of wisdom to be so Blessed God that men should be so wise to deceive themselves and go down with so much discretion to Hell These are the grave and retired Atheists who though they secretly love not Religion yet their caution hinders them from talking much against it But there is a sort of men much more common than the other the faculties of whose minds are so thin and aiery that they will not bear the consideration of any thing much less of Religion these throw out their bitter scoâ—fs and prophane jests against it A thing never permitted that I know of in any civilized Nation in the world whatsoever their Religion was the reputation of Religion was always preserved sacred God himself saith Iosephus would not suffer the Iews to speak evil of other Gods though they were to destroy all those who tempted them to the worship of them And shall we suffer the most excellent and reasonable Religion in the world viz. the Christian to be prophaned by the unhallowed mouths of any who will venture to be damned to be accounted witty if their enquiries were deeper their reason stronger or their arguments more perswasive than of those who have made it their utmost care and business to search into these things they ought to be allowed a fair hearing buâ— for men who pretend to none of these things yet still to make Religion the object of their scoâ—fs and raillery doth not become the gravity of a Nation professing wisdom to permit it much less the sobriety of a people professing Christianity In the mean time such persons may know that wise men may be argued out of a Religion they own but none but Fools and madmen will be droll'd out of it Let them first try whether they can laugh men out of their Estates before they attempt to do it out of their hopes of an Eternal happiness And I am sure it will be no comfort to them in another world that they were accounted Wits for deriding those miseries which they then feel and smart under the severity of it will be no mitigation of their flames that they go laughing into them nor will they endure them the better because they would not believe them But while this is so prevailing a humour among the vain men of this Age and Nation what can we expect but that God should be remarkable and severe judgements seek to make men more serious in Religion or else make their hearts to ake and theâ—r joints to tremble as he did Belshazzars when he could find nothing else to carouse in but the Vessels of the Temple And when men said in the Prophet Zephany chap. 1.12 that God neither did good nor evil presently it follows therefore their goods shall become a booty and their houses a desolation the day of the Lord is near a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation as it is with us at this time Thus we see how sad the parallel hath been not only in the judgments of Isreal but in the sins likewise which have made those judgments so severe 4. The severity of the Judgment appears not only from the Causes but â—rom the Author of it I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah God challenges the execution of his Justice to himself not only in the great day but in his judgment here in the world Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it When God is pleased to punish men for their sins the excution of his justice is agreeable to his nature now as it will be at the end of the world We all know that he may do it if he please and he hath told us that he doth and will do it and we know withal that without such remarkable severities the world will hardly be kept in any awe of him We do not â—ind that love doth so much in the World as Fear doth there being so very few persons of tractable and ingenuous spirits It is true of too many what Lactantius obâ—erves of the Romans Nunquam Dei meminerunt nisi dum in malis sunt they seldom think of God but when they are afraid of him And there is not only this reason as to particular persons why God should punish them but there is a greater as to Communities and Bodies of men for although God suffers wicked men to escape punishment here as he often doth yet he is sure not to do it in the life to come but Communities of men can never be punished but in this World and therefore the Justice oâ— God doth often discover it self in these common calamities to keep the World in subjection to him and to let men see that neither the multitude of their Associates nor the depth of their Designs nor the subtilty of their Councils can secure them from the omnipotent arm of Divine Justice when he hath determined to visit their
hopes but such as these the greatest part of the world will fall into when that terrible day of the Lord shall come For as it was in the days of Noe so shall it be also in the day of the Son of Man they did eat they drank they married wives they were given in marriage until the day that Noe entred into the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole Earth If some of these expressions seem to relate to the unexpected coming of Christ to judgment upon Hierusalem we are to consider that was not only a fore-runner but a figure of Christ's coming to judge the World And that may be the great reason why our Saviour mixeth his discourses of both these so much together as he doth for not only the judgment upon that nation was a draught as it were in little of the great day but the symptoms and fore-runners of the one were to bear a proportion with the other among which the strange security of that people before their destruction was none of the least And the surprise shall be so much the more astonishing when the day of the Lord shall come upon the whole World as the terrour and consequents of that universal judgment shall exceed the overthrow of the Jewish Polity But supposing men were aware of its approach and prepared for it the burning of the Temple and City of Hierusalem though so frightful a spectacle to the beholders of it was but a mean representation of the terrour that shall be at the conflagration of the whole World When the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise or with a mighty force as some interpret it and the Elements shall melt with fervent beat i. e. when all the fiery bodies in the upper regions of this World which have been kept so long in an even and regular course within their several limits shall then be let loose again and by a more rapid and violent motion shall put the World into confusion and a flame together For then the present frame of things shall be dissolved and the bounds set to the more subtile and active parts of matter shall be taken away which mixing with the more gross and earthy shall sever them from each other and by their whirling and agitation set them all on fire And if the Stars falling to the Earth were to be understood in a literal sense none seems so probable as this That those aethereal fires shall then be scattered and dispersed throughout the Universe so that the Earth and all the works that are therein shall be turned into one funeral Pile Then the foundations of the Earth shall be shaken and all the combustible matter which lies hid in the bowels of it shall break forth into prodigious flames which while it rouls up and down within making it self a passage out will cause an universal quaking in all parts of the Earth and make the Sea to roar with a mighty noise which will either by the violent heat spend it self in vapour and smoak or be swallowed up in the hollow places of the deep Neither are we to imagine that only the sulphureous matter within the Earth shall by its kindling produce so general a conflagration although some Philosophers of old thought that sufficient for so great an effect but as it was in the deluge of water the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of Heaven were opened so shall it be in this deluge of fire as one of the ancients calls it not only mighty streams and rivers of Fire shall issue out of the bowels of the earth but the cataracts above shall discharge such abundance of thunder and lightning wherein God will rain down fire and brimstone from Heaven that nothing shall be able to withstand the force of it Then the Craters or breaches made in the earth by horrible earthquakes caused by the violent eruptions of Fire shall be wide enough to swallow up not only Cities but whole Countries too And what shall remain of the spoils of this devouring enemy within shall be consumed by the merciless fury of the thunder and lightning above What will then become of all the glories of the world which are now so much admired and courted by foolish men What will then become of the most magnificent piles the most curious structures the most stately palaces the most lasting monuments the most pleasant gardens and the most delightful countries they shall be all buried in one common heap of ruines when the whole face of the earth shall be like the top of mount Aetna nothing but rubbish and stones and ashes which unskilful travellers have at a distance mistaken for Snow What will then become of the pride and gallantry of the vain persons the large possessions of the great or the vast treasures of the rich the more they have had of these things only the more fuel they have made for this destroying fire which will have no respect to the honours the greatness or the riches of Men. Nay what will then become of the wicked and ungodly who have scoffed at all these things and walked after their own lusts saying Where is this promise of his coming because all things yet continue as they were from the beginning of the creation When this great day of his wrath is come how shall they be able to stand or escape his fury Will they fly to the tops of the mountains that were only to stand more ready to be destroyed from Heaven Will they hide themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains but there they fall into the burning furnaces of the earth and the mountains may fall upon them but can never hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Will they go down into the deep and convey themselves to the uttermost parts of the Sea but even there the storms and tempests of these shours of fire shall overtake them and the vengeance of God shall pursue them to everlasting flames Consider now whether so dreadful a preparation for Christ's coming to judgment be not one great reason why it should be called the terrour of the Lord For can any thing be imagined more full of horror and amazement than to see the whole world in a flame about us We may remember and I hope we yet do so when the flames of one City filled the minds of all the beholders with astonishment and fear but what then would it do not only to see the earth vomit and cast forth fire every where about us
all who committed it and for a sin at so great a distance of time from the commission of it But I forbear I know not whether there be such another instance of God's severity in Scripture but it is such as may justly make us cry out with the Psalmist If thou Lord shouldst thus mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But although God in this world so seldom shews his severity and tempers it with so much kindness we have no reason to expect he should do so in another For here he hath declared that mercy rejoyceth against judgment This being the time of Gods patience and forbearance and goodness towards sinners being not willing that any should â—erish but that all should come to repentance but if men will despise the riches of his goodness if they will still abuse his patience if they will trample under â—oot the means of â—heir own salvation then they shall to their unspeakable sorrow find that there is a day of wrath to come wherein their own dreadful experience will tell them That it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God For that will be a day of justice without mercy a day of vengeance without pity a day of execution without any further patience Thâ—n no vain excuses will be taken whereby men seek to palliate their sins and give ease to â—heir minds now It will be to no purpose to charge thy wilful sins upon â—he infirmity of thy nature the power of temptation the subtilty of the Devâ—l the allurement of company the common practice of the world the corruption of the age the badness of education the folly of youth all these and such like excuses will be too weak to be made then when it shall appear to thy eternal confusion that thy own vicious inclination swayed thee beyond them all Then there will be as little place for intreaties as for vain excuses God shews his great pity and indulgence to mankind now that he is so ready to hear the prayers and grant the desires of all penitent sinners but for those who stop their ears to all his instructions and will not hearken to the reproofs of his word or the rebukes of their own consciences but contemn all sober Counsels and scoff at Religion what can they expect from him but that when they shall call upon him he will not answer and when they seek him earnestly they shall not find him bâ—t he will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh O blessed Jesus didst thou weep over an incorrigible people in the days of thy flesh and wilt thou laugh at their miseries when thou comest to judge the world didst thou shed thy precious blood to save them and wilt thou mock at their destruction didst thou woo and intreat and beseech sinners to be reconciled and wilt thou not hear them when in the anguish of their souls they cry unto thee See then the mighty difference between Christ's coming as a Saviour and as a Judge between the day of our salvation and the day of his wrath between the joy in Heaven at the conversion of penitent sinners and at the confusion of the impenitent and unreclaimable How terrible is the representation of Gods wrath in the style of the Prophets when he punisheth a people in this world for their sins It is called the day of the Lord cruel with wrath and fierce anger the day of the Lord's vengeance The great and dreadful day of the Lord. If it were thus when his wrath was kindled but a little when mercy was mixed with his severity what will it be when he shall stir up all his wrath and the heavens and the earth shall shake that never did offend him what shall they then do that shall to their sorrow know how much they have displeased him Then neither power nor wit nor eloquence nor craft shall stand men in any stead for the great Judge of that day can neither be over-awed by power nor over-reached by wit nor moved by eloquence nor betrayed by craft but every man shall receive according to his deeds The mighty disturbers of mankind who have been called Conquerours shall not then be attended with their great armies but must stand alone to receive their sentence the greatest wits of the world will then find that a sincere honest heart will avail them more than the deepest reach or the greatest subtilty the most eloquent persons without true goodness will be like the man in the parable without the wedding garment speechless the most crafty and politick will then see that though they may deceive men and themselves too yet God will not be mocked for whatsoever a man sows that shall he reap and they who have spread snares for others and been hugely pleased to see them caught by them shall then be convinced that they have laid the greatest of all for themselves for God will then be fully known by the judgment which he shall execute and the wicked shall be snared in the work of their own hands for the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the nations that forget God 4. The terror of the sentence which shall then be passed That the Judge himself hath told us before hand what it shall be to make us more apprehensive of it in this State wherein we are capable to prevent it by sincere repentance and a holy liâ—e The tenour of it is expressed in those dreadful words depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels It is impossible to conceive words fuller of horrour and amazement than those are to such as duâ—y consider the importance of them It is true indeed wicked men in this world are so little apprehensive of the misery of departing from God that they are ready to bid God depart from them and place no mean part of their felicity in keeping themselves at a distance from him The true reason of which is that while they pursue their lusts the thâ—ughts of God are disquieting to them as no man that robs his neighbour loves to think of the Judge while he does it not as though his condition were securer by it but when men are not wise enough to prevent a danger they are so great fools to count it their wisdom not to think of it But therein lies a great part of the misery of another world that men shall not be able to cheat and abuse themselves with false notions and shews of happiness The clouds they have embraced for Deities shall then vanish into smoke all the satisfaction they ever imagined in their lusts shall be wholly gone and nothing but the sad remembrance of them left behind to torment them All the Philosophy in the world will never make men understand their true happiness so much as one hours experience of another State will do all men shall know better but some
this was so great a part of the Apostles doctrine to preach of this judgment to come and that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead No wonder the Apostle speaks here with so great assurance of it knowing therefore c. And no persons can have the least ground to question it but such who wholly reject the Christian doctrine upon the pretences of infidelity which are so vain and trifling that were not their lusts strongeâ— than their arguments men of wit would be ashamed to produce them and did not mens pasâ—ions oversway their judgments it would be too much honour to them to confute them But every Sermon is not intended for the conversion of Turks and Infidels my design is to speak to those who acknowledge themselves to be Christians and to believe the truth of this doctrine upon the Authority of those divine persons who were particularly sent by God to reveal it to the world And so I come to the last particular by way of application of the former viz. 3. The efficacy of this argument for the perswading men to a reformation of heart and life knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men For as another Apostle reasons from the same argument Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness There is great variety of arguments in the Christian Religion to perswade men to holiness but none more sensible and moving to the generality of mankind than this Especially considering these two things 1. That if this argument doth not perswade men there is no reason to expect any other should 2. That the condition of such persons is desperate who cannot by any arguments be perswaded to leave off their sins 1. There is no reason to expect any other argument should perswade men if this of the terror of the Lord do it not If an almighty power cannot awaken us if infinite justice cannot affright us if a judgment to come cannot make us tremble and eternal misery leave no impression upon us what other arguments or methods can we imagine would reclaim us from our sins We have been too sad an instance our selves of the ineffectualness of other means of amendment by the mercies and judgments of this present life have ever any people had a greater mixture of both these than we have had in the compass of a few years If the wisest persons in the world had been to have set down beforehand the method of reforming a sinful nation they câ—uld have pitched upon none more effectual than what we have shewed not to be so Firâ—â— they would have imagined that after enduring many miseries and hardships when they were almost quite sunk under despair if God â—hould give them a sudden and unexpected deliverance meer ingenuity and thankfulness would make them afraid to displease a God of so much kindness But if so great a flash of joy and prosperity instead of that should make them grow wanton and extravagant what course then so likely to reclaim them as a series of smart and severe judgments one upon another which might sufficiently warn yet not totally destroy These we have had experience of and of worse than all these viz. that we are not amended by them For are the Laws of God less broken or the duties of Religion less contemned and despised after all these What vices have been forsaken what lusts have men been reclaimed from nay what one sort of sin hath been less in fashion than before Nay have not their number as well as their aggravation increased among us Is our zeal for our established Religion greater Is our faith more firm and settled our devotion more constant our Church less in danger of either of the opposite factions than ever it was Nay is it not rather like a neck of land between two rough and boisterous seas which rise and swell and by the breaches they make in upon us threaten an inundation By all which we see what necessity there is that God should govern this world by the considerations of another that when neither judgments nor mercies can make men better in this life judgment without mercy should be their portion in another O the infatuating power of â—in when neither the pity of an indulgent Father nor the frowns of a severe Judge can draw us from it when neither the bitter passion of the Son of God for our sins nor his threatning to come again to take vengeance upon us for them can make us hate and abhor them when neither the shame nor contempt the diseases and reproaches which follow sin in this world nor the intolerable anguish and misery of another can make men sensible of the folly of them so as to forsake them Could we but represent to our minds that State wherein we must all shortly be when the bustle and hurry the pleasures and diversions the courtships and entertainments of this world shall be quite at an end with us and every one must give an account of himself to God what another opinion of these things should we have in our minds with what abhorrency should we look upon every temptation to sin how should we loath the sight of those who either betrayed us into sin or flattered us when we had committed it Could men but ask themselves that reasonable question why they will defie God by violating his known Laws unless they be sure he either cannot or will not punish them for it they would be more afraid of doing it than they are for supposing both to do it is perfect madness to question his power who is Almighty or his will who hath declared it and is immutable is the height of folly 2. The condition of such is desperate whom no arguments can perswade to leave their sins For there can be no breaking prison in that other State no escaping tryal no corrupting the Judge no reversing the sentence no pardon after judgment no reprieve from punishment no abatement or end of misery How canst thou then hope O impenitent sinner either to fly from or to endure that wrath of God that is coming swiftly upon thee to arrest thee by death and convey thee to thy tormenting prison canst thou hope that God will discharge thee before that dreadful day comes when he hath confined thee thither in order to it Canst thou hope that day will never come which the vindication of God's Justice the honour of Christ the happiness of the blessed as well as the punishment of the wicked make so necessary that it should come or canst thou hope to defend thy self against an all-seeing eye a most righteous Judge and an accusing conscience when that day doth come when all the mercies thou hast abused the judgements thou hast slighted
divine Assistance which is promised to those who embrace it 1. In confirmation of the Truth of it For the World was grown so uncertain as to the grand foundations of Religion that the same power was requisite now to settle the World which was at first for the framing of it For though the Precepts of Christian Religion be pure and easie holy and suitable to the sense of Mankind though the Promises be great and excellent proportionable to our wants and the weight of our business though the reward be such that it is easier to desire than comprehend it yet all these would but seem to baffle the more the expectations of men unless they were built on some extraordinary evidence of divine power And such we assert there was in the confirmation of these things to us not only in the miraculous birth of our Saviour and that continual series of unparallel'd miracles in his life not only in the most obliging circumstances of his death not only in the large effusion of divine gifts upon his Apostles and the strange propagation of Christian Religion by them against all humane power but that which I shall particularly instance in as the great effect of divine power and confirmation of our Religion was his Resurrection from the dead For as our Apostle saith Rom. 1.4 Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead No way of evidence could be more suitable to the capacities of all than this it being a plain matter of fact none ever better attested than this was not only by the unanimous consent of all the witnesses but by their constant adhering to the truth of it though it cost almost all of them their lives and no greater evidence could be given to the World of a divine power since both Iews and Gentiles agreed in this that such a thing could not be effected but by an immediate hand of God So far were they then from thinking a resurrection possible by the juice of herbs or an infusion of warm blood into the veins or by the breath of living Creatures as the great Martyr for Atheism would seem from Pliny to perswade us when yet certainly nothing can be oâ— higher concernment to those who believe not another life than to have tried this experiment long ere now and since nothing of that nature hath ever happened since our Saviour's resurrection it only lets us know what credulous men in other things the greatest infidels as to Religion are But so far were they at that time from so fond an imagination that they readily yielded that none but God could do it tho' they seem'd to question whether God himself could do it or no. As appears by the Apostle's Interrogation Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Act. 26.8 This was therefore judged on both sides to be a matter of so great importance that all the disputes concerning Christian Religion were resolved into this Whether Christ were risen from the dead And this the Apoâ—tles urge and insist on upon all occasions as the great evidence of the truth of his Doctrine and this was the main part of their Commission for they were sent abroad to be witnesses of his Resurrection Which was not designed by God as a thing strange and incredible to puzzle Mankind with but to give the highest assurance imaginable to the World of the truth and importance of Christianity Since God was pleased to imploy his power in so high a manner to confirm the certainty of it 2. God's power was seen in the admirable effects of Christian Religion upon the minds of men which was most discernable by the strange alteration it soon made in the state of the world In Iudoea soon after the death of Christ some of his Crucifiers become Christians 3000 Converts made at one Sermon of St. Peter's and great accessions made afterwards both in Hierusalem and other places Yea in all parts of the Roman Empire where the Christians came they so increased and multiplied that thereby it appeared that God had given a Benediction to his new Creation suitable to what he gave to the first So that within the compass of not a hundred years after our Saviour's death the World might admire to see it self so strangely changed from what it was The Temple at Hierusalem destroy'd and the Iews under a sadder dispersion than ever and rendred uncapable of continuing their former Worship of God there the Heathen Temples unfrequented the Gods derided the Oracles ceased the Philosophers puzzled the Magistrates disheartned by their fruitless cruelties and all this done by a few Christians who came and preached to the World Righteousness Temperance and a Iudgment to come whereof God had given assurance to the World by raising one Iesus from the dead And all this effected not by the power of Wit and Eloquence not by the force and violence of rebellious subjects not by men of hot and giddy brains but by men sober just humble and meek in all their carriages but withal such as might never have been heard of in the world had not this Doctrine made them famous What could this then be imputed to less than a Divine Power which by effectual and secret ways carries on its own design against all the force and wit of men So that the wise Gamaliel at whose feet St. Paul was bred seem'd to have the truest apprehensions of these things at that time when he told the Sanhedrin If this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest haply ye be found to fight against God Act. 5.38 39. 3. In the Divine Assistance which is promised to those who embrace it in which respect it is properly the power of God to salvation and therein far beyond what the Philosophers could promise to any who embraced their opinions For the Gospel doth not only discover the necessity of a Principle superiour to Nature which we call Grace in order to the fitting our souls for their future happiness but likewise shews on what terms God is pleased to bestow it on men viz. on the consideration of the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Christ our Saviour Titus 3.5 There being nothing in humane nature which could oblige God to give to Mankind that assistance of his grace whereby they are enabled to work out this salvation the Gospel is designed for with fear and trembling The whole tenor of the Gospel importing a divine power which doth accompany the preaching of it which is designed on purpose to heal the wounds and help the weakness of our depraved and degenerate nature Through which we
salvation they live in a neglect of that holy obedience which the Gospel requires and so believe themselves into eternal misery But as long as men make their obedience necessary though but as the fruit and effect of Faith it shall not want its reward for those whose hearts are purified by Faith shall never be condemned for mistaking the notion of it and they who live as those that are to be judged according to their works shall not miss their reward though they do not think they shall receive it for them But such who make no other condition of the Gospel but Believing and will scarce allow that to be called a Condition ought to have a great care to keep their hearts sounder than their heads for their only security will lie in this that they are good though they see no necessity of being so And such of all others I grant have reason to acknowledge the irresistable power of Divine Grace which enables them to obey the will of God against the dictates of their own judgments But thanks be to God who hath so abundantly provided for all the infirmities of humane Nature by the large offers of his Grace and assistance of his Spirit that though we meet with so much opposition without and so much weakness within and so many discouragements on every side of us yet if we sincerely apply our selves to do the will of God we have as great assurance as may be that we shall be kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation SERMON V. Preached at WHITE-HALL Hebrews II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation WHen the wise and eternal Counsels of Heaven concerning the salvation of Mankind by the death of the Son of God were first declared to the World by his own appearance and preaching in it nothing could be more reasonably expected than that the dignity of his Person the authority of his Doctrine and the excellency of his Life should have perswaded those whom he appeared among to such an admiration of his Person and belief of his Doctrine as might have led them to an imitation of him in the holiness of his life and conversation For if either the worth of the Person or the Importance of the Message might prevail any thing towards a kind and honourable reception among men there was never any person appeared in any degree comparable to him never any Message declared which might challenge so welcome an entertainment â—rom men as that was which he came upon If to give Mankind the highest assurance of a state of life and immortality if to offer the pardon of sin and reconciliation with God upon the most easie and reasonable terms if to purge the degenerate World from all its impurities by a Doctrine as holy as the Author of it were things as becoming the Son of God to reveal as the Sons of men to receive nothing can be more unaccountable than that his Person should be despised his Authority slighted and his Doctrine contemned And that by those whose interest was more concerned in the consequence of these things than himself could be in all the affronts and injuries he underwent from men For the more the indignities the greater the shame the sharper the suâ—ferings which he did undergo the higher was the honour and glory which he was advanced to but the more obliging the instances of his kindness were the greater the salvation that was tendred by him the more prevailing the motives were for the entertainment of his Doctrine the more exemplary and severe will the punishment be of all those who reject it For it is very agreeable to those eternal Laws of Justice by which God governs the world that the punishment should arise proportionably to the greatness of the mercies despised and therefore although the Scripture be very sparing in telling us what the state of those persons shall be in another life who never heard of the Gospel yet for those who do and despise it it tells us plainly that an eternal misery is the just desert of those to whom an eternal happiness was offered and yet neglected by them And we are the rather told of it that men may not think it a surprize in the life to come or that if they had known the danger they would have escaped it and therefore our Blessed Saviour who never mention'd punishment but with a design to keep men from it declares it frequently that the punishment of those persons and places would be most intolerable who have received but not improved the light of the Gospel and that it would be more tolerable for the persons who had offered violence to Nature and had Hell-fire burning in their hearts by their horrid impurities than for those who heard the Doctrine and saw the Miracles of Christ and were much the worse rather than any thing the better for it But lest we should think that all this black scene of misery was only designed for those who were the Actors in that dolefull Tragedy of our Saviour's sufferings we are told by those who were best able to assure us of it that the same dismal consequences will attend all the affronts of his Doctrine as if they had been offered to his own person For it is nothing but the common flattery and self-deceit of humane nature which makes any imagine that though they do not now either believe or obey the Gospel they should have done both if they had heard our Saviour speak as never man spake and seen him do what never man did For the same disposition of mind which makes them now slight that Doctrine which is delivered to them by them that heard him would have made them slight the Person as well as the Doctrine if they had heard it from himself And therefore it is but reasonable that the same punishment should belong to both especially since God hath provided so abundantly for the assurance of our Faith by the miraculous and powerfull demonstration of that divine spirit which did accompany those who were the first publishers of this Doctrine to the world And therefore the Author of this Epistle after he hath in the words of the Text declared that it is impossible to escape if we neglect the great salvation offered us by the Gospel in the following words he gives us that account of it that at first it began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will So that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost falling upon the Apostles and the many signs and wonders which were wrought by them were the great testimony of God to the world that these were the persons imployed by himself to declaâ—e that Doctrine whereon the eternal salvation of Mankind did depend And since we have so lately acknowledged the truth of
to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the minds of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankind and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerful arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As tho' we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a moâ—t signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonâ—â—rations of a divine power which accompanied the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel ofâ—ers the anâ—wer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor woulâ— deceive us if it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankind which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deter men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it do Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joys shall be full and constant the perception clear and undisturbed the fruition with continual delight and continual desire Where there shall be no fears to disquiet no enemies to allarm no dangers to conquer nothing shall then be but an uninterrupted peace an unexpressible Joy and pleasures for evermore And what could be ever imagined more satisfactory to minds tired out with the vanities of this world than such a repose as that is What more agreeable to the minds and desires of good men than to be eased of this clog of flesh and to spend eternity with the fountain of all
goodness and the spirits of just men made perfect What more ravishing delight to the souls that are purged and made glorious by the blood of the Lamb than to be singing Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever How poor and low things are those which men hope for in this world compared with that great salvation which the Gospel makes so free a tender of What a mean thing is it to be great in this world to be honourable and rich i. e. to be made the object of the envy of some the malice of others and at last it may be an instance of this world's vanity and after all this to be for ever miserable But O the wisdom of a well-chosen happiness that carries a man with contentment and peace through this life and at last rewards him with a Crown of everlasting felicity Thus we see the Gospel proposes the most excellent means to make men happy if they be not guilty of a gross neglect of it and if they be that is their own act and they must thank none but themselves if they be miserable 2. But I pray what reason can be given since God is so tender of our happiness that we should neglect it our selves which is the next thing to be spoken to There are three sorts of things we think we have reason to neglect Such as are too mean and unworthy our care such as are so uncertain that they will not recompence it such as our own Interest is not at all concerned in but I hope there are none who have an immortal soul and the use of their understandings can ever reckon their salvation under one of these 1. Is it too mean an employment for you to mind the matters of your eternal welfare Is Religion a beggarly and contemptible thing that it doth not become the greatness of your minds to stoop to take any notice of it Hath God lost his honour so much with you that his service should be the object of mens scorn and contempt But what is it which these brave spirits think a fit emploâ—ment for themselves while they despise God and his Worship Is it to be curiously dressed and make a fine shew to think the time better spent at the Glass than at their Devotions These indeed are weighty imployments and fit in the first place to be minded if we were made only to be gazed upon Is it meerly to see Plays and read Romances and to be great admirers of that vain and frothy discourse which all persons account wit but those which have it This is such an end of man's life which no Philosopher ever thought of Or is it to spend time in excesses and debaucheries and to be slaves to as many lusts as will command them This were something indeed if we had any other name given us but that of Men. Or lastly is it to have their minds taken up with the great affairs of the World to be wise in considering carefull in managing the publick interest of a Nation This is an employment I grant fit for the greatest minds but not such which need at all to take them off from minding their eternal salvation For the greatest wisdom is consistent with that else Religion would be accounted folly and I take it for granted that it is never the truly wise man but the pretender that entertains any mean thoughts of Religion And such a one uses the publick Interest no better than he doth Religion only for a shew to the world that he may carry on his own designs the better And is this really such a valuable thing for a man to be contented to cheat himself of his eternal happiness that he may be able to cheat the world and abuse his trust I appeal then to the Consciences of all such who have any sense of humanity and the common interest of Mankind setting aside the considerations of a life to come whether to be just and sober vertuous and good be not more suitable to the design of humane Nature than all the vanities and excesses all the little arts and designs which men art apt to please themselves with And if so shall the eternal happiness which follows upon being good make it less desirable to be so No surely but if God had required any thing to make us happy which had been as contrary to our present Interest as the Precepts of Christianity are agreeable to it yet the end would have made the severest commands easie and those things pleasant which tend to make us happy 2. Are these things so uncertain that they are not fit for a wise man to be solicitous about them if they will come with â— little care they will say they are desirable but too much will unfit them for greater busâ—ness But do men believe these things to be true or not when they say thus if they be true why need they fear their uncertainty if they be certain what painâ— and care can be too great about them since a little will never serve to obtaiâ— them Let but the care and diligence be proportionable to the greatness of the end and the weight of the things and you never need fear the want of a recompence for all your labour But suppose you say if you were fully convinced of theiâ— certainty you would look more after them What hinders you from being so convinced Is it not a bad disposition of mind which makes you unwilling to enquire into them examine things with a mind as free as you would have it judge seriously according to the reason of things and you will easily find the interests of a life to come are far more certain as well as more desirable than those of this present life And yet the great uncertainty of all the honours and riches of this world never hinder the covetous or ambitious person from their great earnestness in pursuit of them And shall not then all the mighty arguments which God himself hath made use of to confirm to us the certainty of a life to come prevail upon us to look more seriously after it Shall the unexpressible love of the Father the unconceivable sufferings of the Son of God and the miraculous descent and powerful assistance of the Holy Ghost have no more impression on our minds than to leave us uncertain of a future state What mighty doubts and suspicions of God what distrusts of humane Nature what unspeakable ingratitude and unaccountable folly lies at the bottom of all this uncertainty O fools and slow of heart to believe not only what the Prophets have spoken but what our Lord hath declared God himself hath given testimony to and the Holy Ghost hath confirmed 3. But is not your Interest concerned in these things Is it all one to you whether your souls be immortal or no whether they live in eternal felicity or unchangeable misery Is it no more to you than to know what kind
did dominando dominari as some render it exercise an arbitrary and tyrannical power over the people that he was guilty of breach of the trust committed to him for he promised to bring them into a Land flowing with Milk and Honey or give them inheritance of fields and vineyards but he had not done it and instead of that only deceives the people still with fair promâ—ses and so puts out their eyes that they cannot see into the depth of his designs So that now by the ill management of his Trust the power was again devolved into the hands of the people and they ought to take account of his actions By which we see the design was under very fair and popular pretences to divest Moses of his Government and then they doubted not but such zealous Patriots as they had shewed themselves should come to have the greatest share in it but this which they most aimed at must appear least in view and only Necessity and Providence must seem to cast that upon them which was the first true motive they had to rebel against Moses and Aaron 2. The Persons who were engaged in it At first they were only some discontented Levites who murmured against Moses and Aaron because they were not preferred to the Priesthood and of these Corah was the chief R. Solomon observes That the reason of Corahs discontent was That Elizaphan the Son of Vzziel of the younger house to Izhar from whom Corah descended was preferred before him by Moses to be Prince over the Sons of Kohath Corah being active and busie in his discontents had the opportunity of drawing in some of the Sons of Reuben for they pitched their tents near each other both on the South side of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and these were discontentented on the account of their Tribe having lost the priviledge of Primogeniture Thus what ever the pretences are how fair and popular soever in the opposition men make to Authority ambition and private discontents are the true beginners of them but these must be covered over with the deepest dissimulation with most vehement Protestations to the contrary nothing must be talked of but a mighty zeal for Religion and the publick interest So Iosephus tells us concerning Corah that while he carried on his own ambitious designs with all the arts of sedition and a popular eloquence insinuating into the peoples minds strange suggestions against Moses his Government as being a meer politick design of his to enslave the people of God and advance his own family and interest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would seem to regard nothing but the publick good If fair pretences and glorious Titles will serve to cheat the people into their own miseries and â—he sad effects of Rebellion they shall never want those who will enslave them â—or the sake of Liberty undo them for â—he publick good and destroy them with designs of Reformation For nothing is â—ore popular than Rebellion in the beginning nothing less in the issue of it And the only true reason that it is ever 〈◊〉 is from the want of wisdom and judgment in the generality of mankind who seldom see to the end of things and hardly distinguish between the names and nature of them till their own deaâ— bought experience hath taught them the difference Sedition is of the nature and hath the inseparable properties oâ— Sin for it is conceived with pleasure brought forth with pain and ends in death and misery Nothing enters upon the stage with a braver shew and appearance but however prosperous for a time it may continue it commonly meets with a fatal end But it is with this sin as to this world as it is with others as to the next Men when they are betrayed into them are carried away and transported with the pleasing temptations not considering the unspeakable misery that follows after them So that what the Devils advantage is in order to the ruin oâ— mens souls is the advantage of seditious persons over the less understanding people they both tempt with an appearance of good and equally deceive theâ— which hearken to them But as we stâ—â— find that notwithstanding all the gravâ— admonitions the sober councels the rational discourses the perswasive argâ—ments which are used to deter men froâ— the practice of sin they will still be such Fools to yield to the Devils temptations against their own welfare So neither the blessings of a continued Peace nor the miseries of an intestine War neither the security of a setled Government nor the constant danger of Innovations will hinder men of fiery and restless spirits from raising combustions in a Nation though themselves perish in the Flames of them This we find here was the case of Corah and his company they had forgotten the groans of their captivity in Egypt and the Miracles of their deliverance out of it and all the faithful services of Moses and Aaron they considered not the difficulties of Government nor the impossibilities of satisfying the ambitious desires of all pretenders they regarded not that God from whom their power was derived nor the account they mâ—st give to him for their resistance of it nothing but a full Revenge upon the Government can satisfie them by leaving no means unattempted for its overthrow though themselves be consumed by the fall of it It were happy for Government if these turbulent spirits could be singled out from the rest in their first attempts but that is the usual subtilty of such men when they find themselves aimed at they run into the common herd and perswade the people that they are equally concerned with themselves in the present danger that though the pretence be only against faction and sedition the design is the slavery and oppression of the People This they manage at first by grave nods and secret whispers by deep sighs and extatick motions by far fetched discourses and tragical stories till they find the people capable of receiving their impressions and then seem most unwilling to mention that which it was at first their design to discover By such arts as these Corah had prepared as Iosephus tells us almost the whole Camp of Israel for a popular tumult so that they were like to have stoned Moses before he was aware of it and it seems the Faction had gained a mighty interest among the people when although God so severely and remarkably punished the heads of it yet the very next day all the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the people of the Lord. What a mark of God's people was sedition grown among them When these men were accounted Saints in spight of Heaven and Martyrs though God himself destroyed them They were men who were only sanctified by Rebellion and shewed no other fruits of their piety but disobedience to Authority But the danger had not been so great how loud soever the complaints had been
than the Peoples holding a Rod over them which the best Princes are like to suffer the most by and bad will but grow desperate by it Good Princes will never need such a curb because their oaths and promises their love and tenderness towards their people the sense they have of a Power infinitely greater than theirs to which they must give an account of all their actions will make them govern as the Fathers of their Country and bad Princes will never value it but will endeavour by all possible means to secure themselves against it So that no inconveniency can be possibly so great on the supposition of this unaccountable Power in Soveraign Princes taking it in the general and meerly on the account of reason as the unavoidable mischiefs of that Hypotheses which places all power originally in the people and notwithstanding all oaths and bonds whatsoever to obedience gives them the liberty to resume it when they please which will always be when that Spirit of Faction and Sedition shall prevail among them which ruled here in Corah and his company 2. Another pretence of this Rebellion of Corah was the freeing themselves from the encroachments upon their spiritual priviledges which were made by the usurpations of Aaron and the Priesthood This served â—or a very popular pretence for they knew no reason that one Tribe should engross so much of the wealth of the Nation to themselves and have nothing to do but to attend the service of God for it What say they are not all the Lord's people holy Why may not then all they offer up incense to the Lord as well as the Sons of Aaron How many publick uses might those Revenues serve for which are now to maintain Aaron and all the Sons of Levi But if there must be some to attend the service of God why may not the meanest of the people serve for that purpose those who can be serviceable for nothing else Why must there be an order of Priesthood distinct from that of Levites why a High Priest above all the Priests what is there in all their office which one of the common people may not do as well as they cannot they slay the sacrifices and offer incense and dâ— all other parts of the Priestly Office So that at last they make all this to be a Politick design of Moses only to advance his own Family by making his Brother High-Priest and to have all the Priests and Levites at his devotion to keep the people the better in awe This hath always beeâ— the quarrel at Religion by those who seldom pretend to it but with a design tâ— destroy it For who would ever have minded the constant attendance at the Temple if no encouragements had been given to those who were imployed in it Or is not Religion apt enough to be despised of it self by Men of prophane minds unless it be rendred more mean and contemptible by the Poverty of those who are devoted to it Shall not God be allowed the priviledge of every Master of a Family to appoint the ranks and orders of his own servants and to take care they be provided for as becomes those who wait upon him What a dishonour had this been to the true God when those who worshipped false Gods thought nothing too great for those who were imployed in the service of them But never any yet cryed but he that had a mind to betray his Master to what purpose is all this waste Let God be honoured as he ought to be let Religion come in for its share among all the things which deserve encouragement and those who are employed in the offices of it enjoy but what God and Reason and the Laws of their Country give them and then we shall see it was nothing but the discontent and faction of Corah and his company which made any encroachment of Aaron and the Priesthood any pretence for Rebellion But all these pretences would not serve to make them escape the severe hand of divine justice for in an extraordinary and remarkable manner he made them suffer the just desert of their sin for they perished in their contradiction which is the next thing to be considered viz. 2. The Iudgment which was inflicted upon them for it They had provoked Heaven by their sin and disturbed the earth by their Faction and the earth as if it were moved with indignation against them trembled and shook as Iosephus saith like waves that are tossed with a mighty wind and then with a horrid noise it rends asunder and opens its mouth to swallow those in its bowels who were unfit to live upon the face of it They had been dividing the people and the earth to their amazement and ruine divides it self under their feet as though it had been design'd on purpose that in their punishment themselves might feel and others see the mischief of their sin Their seditious principles seemed to have infected the ground they stood upon the earth of a sudden proves as unquiet and troublesome as they but to rebuke their madness it was only in obedience to him who made it the executioner of his wrath against them and when it had done its office it is said that the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation Thus the earth having revenged it self against the disturbers of its peace Heaven presently appears with a flaming fire taking vengeance upon the 250 Men who in opposition to Aaron had usurped the Priestly office in offering incense before the Lord. Such a Fire if we believe the same Historian which far outwent the most dreadful eruptions of Aetna or Vesuvius which neither the art of Man nor the power of the wind could raise which neither the burning of Woods nor Cities could parallel but such a Fire which the wrath of God alone could kindle whose light could be outdone by nothing but the heat of it Thus Heaven and Earth agree in the punishment of such disturbers of Government and God by this remarkable judgment upon them hath left it upon record to all ages that all the world may be convinced how displeasing to him the sin of faction and sedition is For God takes all this that was done against Moses and Aaron as done against himself For they are said to be gathered together against the Lord v. 11. to provoke the Lord v. 30. And the fire is said to come out from the Lord v. 35. And aâ—terwards it is said of them This is that Moses and Dathan and Abiram who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Corah when they strove against the Lord. By which we see God interprets striving against the Authority appointed by him to be a striving against himself God looks upon himself as immediately concerned in the Government of the world for by him Princes raign and they are his Vicegerents upon earth and they who resist resist not a meer appointment of the people
madness or that which is the next to it a great heat of brain would make men the most learned If this were true there would be a much easier way of attaining to speak in the languages of all nations than that which many take to gain a very few of them for the heightening of Phancy either by Wine or a degree of madness would inspire men with skill in tongues to a miracle 2. But supposing such a thing possible which is far from being so yet it is very remote from our present case for the Apostles made it manifest to all persons that they were far enough from being inspired with the vapours of wine or touched with any Enthusiastick madness They spake with strange tongues but in such a manner as convinced great numbers of their hearers of the excellency of that doctrine which was delivered by them As St. Paul answered Festus I am not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the words of truth and soberness so they did not speak incoherent and insignificant words which madness makes men do nor any mean and trivial things meerly for ostentation of their gifts but they spake though with divers tongues the great or wonderful things of God So their Auditors confessed with admiration These are not the eâ—â—ects of Wine or Madness as St. Peter at large proves against the unreasonable cavils of some who mocked and said they were full of new wine Which he doth with so great success that the same day 3000 persons disowned their former course of life and embraced Christianity Surely madness was never more infectious never made men more wise and sober than this did if the Apostlâ—s were acted only by that When was there ever better and more weighty sense spoken by any than by the Apostles after the day of Pentecost With what reason do they argue with what strength do they discourse with what a sedate and manly courage do they withstand the opposition of the Sanhedrin against them they never fly out into any extravagant passion never betray any weakness or fear but speak the truth with boldness and rejoyce when they suffer for it It could be no sudden heat which acted them on the day of Pentecost for the same Spirit and power continued with them afterwards they lived and acted by vertue of it so that their life was as great a miracle as any that was wrought by them Their zeal was great but regular their devotion fervent and constant their conversation honest and prudent their discourses inflaming and convincing and the whole course of their lives breathed nothing but glory to God and good-will towards Men. If they are called to suffer for their Religion with what constancy do they own the truth with what submission do they yield to their persecutors with what meekness and patience do they bear their sufferings If differences arise among Christians with what care do they advise with what caution do they direct with what gentleness do they instruct with what tenderness do they bear with dissenters with what earnestness do they endeavour to preserve the peace of the Christian Church When they are to plant Churches how ready to go about it how diligent in attending it how watchful to prevent all miscarriages among them When they write Epistles to those already planted with what Authority do they teach with what Majesty do they command with what severity do they rebuke with what pity do they chastise with what vehemency do they exhort and with what weighty arguments do they perswade all Christians to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things So that such persons who after all these things can believe that the Apostles were acted only by some extravagant heats may as easily perswade themselves that men may be drunk with sobriety and mad with reason and debauched with goodness But such are fit only to be treated in a dark room if any can be found darker than their understandings are 2. But yet there may be imagined a higher sort of madness than these men are guilty of viz. That when men are convinced that these things could not be done by meer Mechanical causes then they attribute them to the assistance of Spirits but not to the holy and divine but such as are evil and impure A madness so great and extravagant that we could hardly imagine that it were incident to humane nature unless the Scripture had told us that some had thus blasphemed the son of man and either had or were in danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost too And this is properly blaspheming the Holy Ghost which was not given as our text tells us till after Christ's ascension when men attribute all those miraculous gifts which were poured out upon the Apostles in confirmation of the Christian doctrine to the power of an unclean Spirit For so the Evangelist St. Luke when he mentions the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven immediately subjoyns their bringing in the Apostles to the Synagogues and Magistrates and Powers and adds that the Holy Ghost even that which they so blasphemed in them should teach them in that same hour what they ought to say I deny not but the attributing the miraculous works of Christ who had the Holy Spirit without measure to an evil Spirit was the same kind of sin but it received a greater aggravation aâ—ter the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles For now the great confirmation was given to the truth of all that Christ had said before he had sometimes concealed his miracles and forbid the publishing of them and to such he appeared but as the son of man of whom it is said that had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory and St. Peter more expresly and now Brethren I wrote that through ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers But now since his resurrection and ascension when God by the effusion of the Holy Ghost hath given the largest and fullest Testimony to the doctrine of the Gospel if men after all this shall go on to blaspheme the Holy Ghost by attributing all these miracles to a Diabolical power then there is no forgiveness to be expected either in this world or the world to come because this argues the greatest obstinacy of mind the highest contempt of God and the greatest affront that can be put upon the Testimony of the Holy Spirit for it is charging the Spirit of truth to be an evil and a lying Spirit By which we see what great weight and moment the Scripture lays upon this pouring out of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and what care men ought to have how they undervalue and despise it and much more how they do reproach and blaspheme it They might as well imagine that light and darkness may meet and embrace each other as that the infernal Spirits should
hear them No arguments can be more proper to mankind than those which work upon their reason and consideration no motives can stir up more to the exercise of this than their own happiness and misery no happiness and misery can deserve to be so much considered as that which is eternal And this eternal state is that which above all other things the Christian Religion delivers with the greatest plainness confirms with the strongest evidence and enforces upon the consciences of men with the most powerful and perswasive Rhetorick I need not go beyond my text for the proof of this wherein we see that the Apostles design was to perswade men i.e. to convince their judgments to gain their affections to reform their lives that the argument they used for this end was no less than the terrour of the Lord not the frowns of the World nor the fear of Men nor the malice of Devils but the terrour of the Almighty whose Majesty makes even the Devils tremble whose Power is irresistible and whose Wrath is insupportable But it is not the terrour of the Lord in this world which he here speaks of although that be great enough to make us as miserable as we can be in this State but the terrour of the Lord which shall appear at the dreadful day of judgment of which he speaks in the verse before the text For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad This is the terrour here meant which relates to our final and eternal State in another world when we must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ c. And of this he speaks not out of Poetical Fables ancient Traditions uncertain Conjectures or probable Arguments but from full assurance of the truth of what he delivers Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men In which words we shall consider these particulars 1. The argument which the Apostle makes choice of to perswade men which is the terrour of the Lord. 2. The great assurance he expresseth of the truth of it Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord. 3. The efficacy of it in order to the convincing and reforming mankind Knowing therefore c. we perswade men 1. The argument the Apostle makes choice of to perswade men by viz. the terrour of the Lord. In the Gospel we find a mixture of the highest clemency and the greatest severity the richest mercy and the strictest justice the most glorious rewards and intollerable punishments accordingly we find God therein described as a tender Father and as a terrible Judge as a God of peace and as a God of vengeance as an everlasting happiness and a consuming fire and the Son of God as coming once with great humility and again with Majesty and great glory once with all the infirmities of humane nature and again with all the demonstrations of a Divine power and presence once as the Son of God to take away the sins of the world by his death and passion and again as Judge of the world with flaming fire to execute vengeance on all impenitent sinners The intermixing of these in the doctrine of the Gospel was necessary in order to the benefit of mankind by it that such whom the condescension of his first appearance could not oblige to leave off their sins the terrour of his second may astonish when they foresee the account that will be taken of their ingratitude and disobedience that such who are apt to despise the meanness of his birth the poverty of his life and the shame of his death may be filled with horrour and amazement when they consider the Majesty of his second coming in the clouds to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly not only of their ungodly deeds but of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And we shall easily see what great reason there is that this second coming of Christ to judgment should be called the terrour of the Lord if we consider 1. The terrour of the preparation for it 2. The terrour of the appearance in it 3. The terrour of the proceedings upon it 4. The terrour of the sentence which shall then be passed 1. The terrour of the preparation for it which is particularly described by St. Peter in these words But the day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up This day will come as a Thief in the night by way of surprise when it is not looked for and that makes it so much the more dreadful A lesser calamity coming suddenly doth astonish more than a far greater which hath been long expected for surprisals conâ—ound men's thoughts daunt their spirits and betray all the succours which reason offers But when the surprise shall be one of the least astonishing circumstances of the misery men fall into what unconceivable horrour will possess their minds at the apprehension of it what confusion and amazement may we imagine the soul of that man in whom our Saviour speaks of in his parable who being pleased with the fulness of his condition said to his soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry but God said to him Thou fool this night thy soul shall be repaired of thee then whose shall those things be that thou hast provided Had God only said This night shall thy barns be burnt and thy substance consumed to ashes which thou hast laid up for so many years that would have caused a strange consternation in him for the present but he might have comforted himself with the hopes of living and getting more But this night shall thy soul be required of thee O dreadful words O the tremblings of body the anguish of mind the pangs and convulsions of conscience which such a one is tormented with at the hearing of them What sad reflections doth he presently make upon his own folly And must all the mirth and case I promised my self for so many years be at an end now in a very few hours Nay must my mirth be so suddenly turned into bitter howlings and my ease into a bed of flames Must my soul be thus torn away from the things it loved and go where it will hate to live and can never die O miserable creature to be thus deceived by my own folly to be surprised after so many warnings to betray my self into everlasting misery Fear horrour and despair have already taken hold on me and are carrying me where they will never leave me These are the Agonies but of one single person whom death snatches away in the midst of his years his pleasures and his