Divine worship which must have continued still in force so long as those shadows were not done away by the more perfect Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross Secondly By this means God gave the world the strongest assurance that it could possibly receive of his Veracity or of his fixt and unalterable resolution to perform on his part the Conditions of that new Covenant which he had entered into with Mankind whose sanction was founded in the Blood of his only Son it being not only unreasonable but impious and highly derogatory to the Honour and Majesty of God to suppose that the Divinity it self should condescend to appear in the form and likeness of a Servant should take our Flesh and our Nature upon him should stoop to those mean Indignities which were offered him by the vilest of men and should suffer such a shameful and ignominious Death upon the Cross by the hands of Sinners and in the scandalous Company of two notorious Malefactors and all this to no purpose in the world Thirdly A third reason why this Method was taken seems to me to have been not only that by faith in a crucified God we might have sufficient assurance of the remission of Sins but also that by his Resurrection and Ascension which were consequent upon that Crucifixion we might have the most sensible Demonstration that could be given us of the certainty of our own Resurrection and of those Eternal Joys that expect us in Heavenly places there being no way so proper to bring life and immortality to light as for him who first made so clear and perfect a discovery of them to rise himself from the Dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept and if to these three you will add likewise a fourth Consideration it may be this that if God had bestowed a gratuitous remission upon the world that is for I would not be mistaken in the use of that word a remission without any satisfaction made for Sin either by our selves or our Proxy it would have argued such an easiness in the Divine nature in the opinion of many men that it would rather have proved an encouragement to continue in Sin than an obligation as it ought to be in point of Gratitude to greater strictness and Holiness of Conversation as on the Contrary if for this reason without shedding of Blood there could be no forgiveness it follows plainly that nothing less than the Sacrifice of God himself upon the Cross would serve the turn because nothing short of this could possibly be a compleat Expiation and Atonement for the Sins of the whole world but it would be so far from it that all the Sacrifice that could be offered would fall infinitely short of the value of this and God might as well pardon us without any Atonement at all as by that which would be so infinitely disproportionate to the guilt of the offending Parties Further Though it be certain that God could not possibly give the world a more signal Demonstration of his love than by sending his only begotten and his entirely beloved Son to die for it for he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32 Yet this will but enhance and aggravate the Condemnation of our Disobedience if after so dear a purchase paid for our Redemption we shall still notwithstanding continue in an obstinate and wilful course of Sin for how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation And now having thus clearly explained what is meant by Justification namely the pardon of our Sins or the remission of that right of Punishment which is devolved upon God by them and having likewise seen by what means this Justification is to be procured that it cannot be obtained by any thing in our selves but that it is wholly oweing to the Grace and Mercy of God in and through the meritorious Death and passion of his Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ the Righteous who knew no Sin neither was guile found in his Mouth and who by the Sacrifice of himself once offered upon the Cross made a full perfect and compleat Satisfaction Propitiation and Redemption for the Sins of all Mankind We may now from hence give such a clear and solid Exposition of many places in the writings of St. Paul which are so miserably abused and stretched beyond their true extent by the Calvinistical Doctors as to make them for ever hereafter utterly useless to that cause and party which without that method which I have used cannot so convincingly be done by any other way of proceedure St. Paul tells us Rom. 11. v. 6. if we are saved by Grace then is it no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace But if it be of Works then is it no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work and Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law For by the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Lastly Eph. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved And again v. 8 9. For by Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Which places together with several others of a like purport and signification are so far strained beyond their true sence and meaning by Calvinistical Interpreters as if God in the justification of a Sinner had no regard to any previous Conditions of Repentance or good Works but that he proceeded perfectly by an arbitrary Goodness and had not the least respect to any other Consideration whatsoever which it is plain does not only destroy the necessity of Obedience and a good Life but renders all the exhortations and Encouragements to it which are so plentifully and so pathetically interspersed up and down the Scriptures both of the old and the new Testament and all the arguments or menaces made use of to deter us from sinful gratifications or desires not only useless but ridiculous and consequently very unbecoming the Majesty of that God in whose name and Authority they are delivered and St. Paul would be very inconsistent with himself if this opinion were true when in the 12th of his Epistle to the Romans v. 1 2. he exhorts them with so much passion as he does I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good that
other went out and hanged himself For the instance of St. Peter the circumstances with which that story is related in St. Matthews Gospel will sufficiently evince what I have affirmed to be true Matth. 26. from the thirty first to the thirty sixth verse we have these words Then saith Jesus unto them the Disciples all ye shall be offended because of me this Night For it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep of the Flock shall be scattered abroad Peter answered and said unto him though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee that this Night before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice Peter said unto him though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee here we may see how firm and zealous a resolution Peter had made and we have all the reason in the world to believe he was in very good earnest Likewise also said all the Disciples v. 35. But none as it seems with so much heat and asseveration as he yet they all forsook him when the Trial came and Peter denied with the most horrid Oaths and Execrations that ever he knew such a man and all this the very same Night in which they entered into so solemn an engagement to adhere and stick to their Master to the last It will be worth our while to set down all the Circumstances of this Transaction as they are related by St. Matthew c. 26. v. 37. He took with him Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy The two Sons of Zebedee were James and John the Disciple whom Jesus loved and his taking these three asunder from the rest of the Disciples at that time was an argument of a particular favour and esteem for them above the rest and being done immediately after they had all obliged themselves in so solemn a manner to stick by him it is an infallible Sign that he thought their intentions real and that their love to him was every whit as passionate and cordial in it self as it seemed to outward appearance for there can be nothing more unacceptable to the searcher of Hearts than a dissembled Profession of faithfulness and obedience to him Accordingly we find one of them so mindful of his promise and inspired with so affectionate a Zeal for the safety and defence of his Master v. 47. that when Judas one of the Twelve came with a great Multitude with Swords and Staves from the chief Priests and Elders of the people to apprehend him behold one of the Disciples which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his Sword and stroke a Servant of the high Priests and smote off his Ear and who should this Disciple be but Peter himself who seems to have done this in pursuance of that Resolution which he had so lately made John 18. 10. Then Simon Peter having a Sword drew it and smote the high Priest's Servant and cut off his right Ear the Servant's name was Malchus Neither was this all but when all the Disciples forsook him and fled Mat. 26. 8. yet Peter still followed him afar off unto the high Priest's Palace and went in and sate with the Servants to see the end Thus far therefore his Resolution continued vigorous and warm and he was still mindful of his promise not to forsake or to deny his Master But now all of a sudden as if he had never dreamt of any such promise or thought of any such resolution though he had but newly made it it came to pass v. 69. ad 74. That as Peter sate without in the Palace a Damsel came to him saying thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee but he denied before them all saying I know not what thou sayest And when he was gone out into the Porch another Maid saw him and said unto them that were there This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth and he again denied with an Oath I do not know the Man And after a while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter Surely thou also art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee then began he to curse and to swear saying I know not the Man A wonderful alteration for so small a time What Shall we think that he had the courage but just now to wound the high Priest's own Servant in the midst of so great a number of armed Men as might be sufficient to justifie and excuse his fear or rather prudence if he had not done it should now be so wretchedly possest with fear as not to dare to own his Master to one of the weaker Sex but on the contrary rather than confess him should with such horrid Oaths and Imprecations impiously perjure and forswear himself Or is it not more likely that he had indeed forgot his promise to that degree that he knew not the Man and had lost all memory of his having been once his Disciple This is both more pious to believe and more agreeable to what follows v. 74 75. And immediately the Cock crew and Peter remembred the words of Jesus which said unto him Before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and he went out and wept bitterly But if he did not remember this 'till then 't is manifest he had forgot it before and consequently had forgot also that vow and resolution of which those words of Christ were the occasion and if you grant thus much it will be no hard matter to conceive that he might speak truth also when he said I know not what thou sayest and I know not the Man But when the Cock crew then God was pleased to restore him the use of his Memory and the exercise of his rational and discoursive Faculties he began to perceive then what he was doing and found himself denying his Master wherefore his Heart smote him as David's did when he had numbred the people And he went out and wept bitterly which is another very strange and sudden alteration from the cutting of Malchus his Ear to such an obstinate denial of his Lord and from such an obstinate and stiff denial to such a degree of sorrow and remorse All which things as they cannot with any shew of reason be supposed to be the natural turns of a Man 's own Mind or the ordinary result of humane Passions left perfectly to themselves that a Man should be so constant and so false and so penitent all in a breath so I think it is sufficiently clear from v. 75. that Peter in his denial had lost all sense and memory of him whom he denied and that this forgetfulness of his was the effect of a Divine Judgment If you ask me for what reason such a Judgment should be inflicted I answer It was a punishment to him and to the rest for their presumption they leaned too much upon their own strength and thought themselves
him that Tribute which he may so justly challenge of our Praise and Thanks and the utmost submission of our most humble and prostrate Adorations The Heavens declare the glory of God saith the Psalmist and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Day unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge There is no Speech nor Language where their Voice is not heard Their Crie is gone out through all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World And to the same purpose the Apostle to the Romans tells us The invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead It is impossible for a considerate Man either to look into himself or to look abroad into the World and see the admirable Order Variety Usefulness and Beauty of those parts of which it Consists and shall at the same time reflect that he does not owe his Being to himself that he cannot look back upon any long period of time that he is subject to a thousand Casualties and Diseases that he grows every Day more Crazy and Infirm with Age that by the experience which he may daily make both in Men and other Animals that they are perpetually lyable and obnoxious to Death he may very reasonably conclude that himself is by no means exempted from it that he finds in himself every Moment many Frailties and Imperfections which are very inconsistent with a Self-originated and Self-existent Being Lastly When in the World without him he shall consider that so much Harmony and contrivance could not be owing to an agreement or Conspiracy of the insensible and inanimate parts of it between themselves they being by their Nature incapable of entering into any such Confederation when he shall be convinced as he will be by a very little attention that motion does not necessarily belong to the Essence or constituent Idea of Matter otherwise all Matter would be equally moved and that it must therefore be the effect or activity of some immaterial Substance which must of necessity be coextended to its own Energy and Power when he shall think that the particles of Aire or Water or Fire have nothing in themselves by which they are made capable of continuing in such a State and such a degree of Fluidity without which notwithstanding it is manifest the world must run into a Chaos and all the Animals in it be deprived of Health Respiration and Life when he shall discern that any of those fluid Bodies which I have just newly mentioned if they should overflow their Banks transgress their due Bounds and exceed that Barrier which is determined them by Nature that is if they were not Govern'd by more steady Laws than they are Capable of prescribing to themselves the whole Universe must needs run into Disorder and Confusion When he shall Contemplate the regular and wellpois'd Motions of the Heavenly Bodies the wonderful Structure and accurate Organization of Plants and Animals in this Lower World the Formation of Mettalls and Minerals in the teeming Womb of the Earth the Provision which is every where made round about us for the Necessities and for the Pleasures of Life all which it is Impossible it should be oweing or indeed any part of it to nothing but meer Matter which is both a similar and a passive thing He cannot chuse from all this but lay it down as a proposition of certain and undoubted Truth that there is an immaterial and immortal Nature infinitely wise powerful and good by which this Universe and every part of it is after a wonderful and hidden manner maintained Supported Governed and Directed and when he is Convinced of the Existence of such a being he can as little help paying it his utmost Love Reverence Praise Thankfulness and Adoration For this is the nature of Power that it is productive of Fear of Goodness that it excites our Love of Wisdom that it fills us with Wonder and Admiration and therefore where all these three are met together not only in a transcendent but in an infinite manner as they are in God it must needs be when ever we Consider it that it must fill our Hearts with Fear and Reverence and Thankfulness towards him and must by Consequence render him the most compleat Object of the utmost Worship and Honour For of whose Power have we more reason to be affraid when we provoke it by any act of impiety or Injustice than of his who made all things out of nothing and can immediately by one single act of his will reduce them into their first nothing again What goodness can excite in us a deeper or more affectionate Sence of Love than his who when he was indued with such a Power did notwithstanding use it after a manner so infinitely obliging to the unspeakable Benefit and advantage of all his Creatures and especially of Man to whom all the rest are or may be some way or other subservient and useful Lastly What VVisdom ought to fill us with greater Admiration than his whose VVisdom as well as Mercy is over all his works and who in every part of the Creation and much more in the whole contrivance and contexture of it presents us with so amazing an Idea of his incomprehensible knowledge and skill How is it possible for us to be more happy then by employing our thoughts upon the contemplation of so much Excellence and Beauty by calling off our minds from the rough and perishing Enjoyments of this Life and by uniting them as much as may be to his pure and peaceable and Eternal Nature VVhom can we thank so properly for all our Enjoyments Or whom can we rely upon so safely in all our wants or of whose forgiveness have we so much need for all our Offences Or what greater Obligation can there be to all the instances of Virtue in our selves or of Justice and mutual Goodness to one another then to consider that he is always present to all our thoughts and actions who has provided with so much tenderness and Mercy for all the sensible Creation and therefore that it must needs be a very great offence to his Goodness and Provocation to his Power when ever we are either unkind to our selves or go about to annoy and hurt one another This is the great Flaw in Mr. Hobs his Politicks who by not taking in the Existence of a God and the Consideration of that influence which the belief of it ought in reason and Interest to have upon our Actions has destroy'd the main cement of Obligation and remov'd the Top stone by which the whole Arch of Virtue is preserv'd He has by this means opened a fair passage for secret Sin to enter in Nay and has made the most open and barefaced Villanies very lawful things if they have but Power sufficient to Justifie and defend themselves Whereas though it may be and it is as I conceive very