because it is no fault of theirs that we do not know them no their Wants may be real notwithstanding that especially when their Extremity seems great we ought not to stand upon too rigorous a Proof and Evidence of it but should accept of a fair probability Seventhly Those who suffer for the Cause of Religion and are stript of all for the sake of it ought to have a great Precedence in our Charity to most other cases And this of late hath been and still is the case of many among us who have fled hither for Refuge from the Tyranny and Cruelty of their Persecutors and have been by a most extraordinary Charity of the whole Nation more than once extended to them most seasonably reliev'd but especially by the Bounty of this great City whose Liberality upon these Occasions hath been beyond all Example and even all belief And I have often thought that this very thing next to the Mercy and Goodness of Almighty God hath had a particular Influence upon our Preservation and Deliverance from those terrible Calamities which were just ready to break in upon us and were we not so stupidly insensible of this great Deliverance which God hath wrought for us and so horribly unthankful to him and to the happy Instruments of it might still be a means to continue the Favour of God to us And what cause have we to thank God who hath allotted to us this more blessed and more merciful part to give and not to receive to be free from Persecution our selves that we might give Refuge and Relief to those that are persecuted III. We must consider the Measure of our Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translation renders as we have Opportunity others as we have Ability So that this Expression may refer either to the Occasions of our Charity or to the Season of it or to the Proportion and Degree of it 1. It may refer to the Occasions of our Charity as we have Opportunity let us do good that is according as the Occasions of doing good shall present themselves to us so often as an Opportunity is offer'd And this is an Argument of a very good and charitable Disposition gladly to lay hold of the occasions of doing good as it were to meet Opportunities when they are a coming towards us This forwardness of Mind in the work of Charity the Apostle commends in the Corinthians 2 Cor. 9.2 I know the forwardness of your minds for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia And this he requires of all Christians Tit. 3.10 That they should be ready to every good work And 1 Tim. 6.18 That we be ready to distribute willing to communicate Some are very ready to decline these Opportunities and to get out of the way of them and when they thrust themselves upon them and they cannot avoid them they do what they do grudgingly and not with a willing mind 2. It may refer to the Season of this Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 while we have time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst this Life lasts so Grotius does understand and interpret this Phrase and then the Apostle does hereby intimate to them the uncertainty of their Lives especially in those times of Persecution And this Consideration holds in all times in some degree that our Lives are short and uncertain that it is but a little while that we can serve God in this kind namely while we are in this World in this Vale of Misery and Wants In the next World there will be no occasion no Opportunity for it we shall then have nothing to do but to reap the Reward of the good we have done in this Life and to receive that blessed Sentence from the Mouth of the great Judge of the World Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me to eat c. And Euge bone serve Well done good and faithfull Servant thou hast been faithfull in a little and I will make thee Ruler over much God wil then declare his Bounty and Goodness to us and open those inexhaustible Treasures of Glory and Happiness which all good Men shall partake of in proportion to the good which they have done in this World Or else 3. Which I take to be the most probable meaning of this Phrase It may refer to the Degree of this Duty in proportion to our Ability and Estate as we have Ability let us do good unto all Men. And this the Phrase will bear as Learned Men have observ'd and it is very reasonable to take in this Sense at least as part of the meaning of it either exprest or imply'd For without this we cannot exercise Charity tho' there were never so many Occasions for it and then this Precept will be of the same Importance with that of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 35.10 Give unto the most high according as he hath enriched thee and with that Counsel Tob. 4.7 Give Alms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to thy Substance and 8. v. If thou hast abundance give Alms accordingly And this may be reasonably expected from us for where-ever his Providence gives a Man an Estate it is but in Trust for certain Uses and Purposes among which Charity and Alms is the chief And we must be accountable to him whether we have disposed it faithfully to the Ends for which it was committed to us It is an easie thing with him to level Mens Estates and to give every Man a Competency but he does on purpose suffer things to be distributed so unequally to try and exercise the Virtues of Men in several ways the Faith and Patience of the Poor the Contentedness of those in a middle Condition the Charity and Bounty of the Rich. And in truth Wealth and Riches that is an Estate above what sufficeth our real Occasions and Necessities is in no other sense a Blessing than as it is an Opportunity put into our Hands by the Providence of God of doing more good and if we do not faithfully employ it to this end it is but a Temptation and a Snare and the rust of our Silver and our Gold will be a witness against us and we do but heap up Treasures together against the last Day But what Proportion our Charity ought to bear to our Estates I shall not undertake to determine The Circumstances of Men have too much variety in them to admit of any certain Rule some may do well and others may do better every Man as God hath put into his Heart and according to his Belief of the recompence which shall be made at the resurrection of the just I shall only say in general that if there be first a free and willing Mind that will make a Man charitable to his Power For the liberal Man will devise liberal things And we cannot propose a better Pattern to our selves in
be utterly impossible Now these being the most easie and intelligible Perfections of God by which he is said in Scripture to declare his Name that is to make himself known to us we should govern all our Reasonings about God as concerning his Decrees and his concurrence with the Free Actions of Men and his particular Providence which are things more dark and obscure by what is more clear and we shall find in Scripture that in all these points holy Men do constantly appeal to these unquestionable and intelligible Perfections of God Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked saith Abraham That be far from thee Shall not the Judge of all the world do right We may be mistaken but God certainly knows who are wicked and who are righteous and he knows how to punish the wicked and save the righteous But we cannot be mistaken in this Principle that the Judge of all the world will do right Thus Moses satisfies himself and others concerning the particular Providences of God towards the People of Israel Deut. 32.3 4. I will publish the name of the Lord All his ways are judgement a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is He. This we certainly know of God So St. Paul Rom. 2.2 Thou art inexcusable O Man Whatsoever Excuse men may pretend for their faults he lays down this for a Principle We are sure the Judgment of God is according to truth Secondly Let us always consider the Perfections of God in conjunction and so as to reconcile them with one another Do not consider God as meer Power and Soveraignty as meer Mercy and Goodness as meer Justice and Severity but as all these together and in such a measure and degree as may make them consistent with one another The greatest mistakes in Religion are certainly sprung from this root from separating the Perfections of God and considering them singly and framing such wide and large notions of one as to exclude another whereas the Perfections of God agree together and that is not a Divine Perfection which contradicts any other Perfection Among men indeed an eminent degree of any one Excellency does usually shut out some other and therefore it is observ'd that Power and Moderation Love and Discretion do not often meet together that a great Memory and a small Judgment a good Wit and an ill Nature are many times found in conjunction But in infinite Perfection all Perfections do eminently meet and consist together and it is not necessary that one Excellency should be raised upon the ruines of another And if this had been well consider'd Men would not by being too intent upon God's Soveraignty with neglect of his other Perfections have spoken those hard things about Predestination for the Soveraignty of God doth by no means set him above the Eternal Laws of Goodness and Truth and Righteousness And if this were considered men would not by poring upon the Justice and Severity of God be so swallowed up in despair for God is not so severe but he is merciful to the penitent and hath left a retreat for the returning Sinner If this were well consider'd it would check the presumption of those who incourage themselves in sin by fancying to themselves a God all of Mercy and Goodness and because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed therefore their heart is fully set in them to do evil For it is not Goodness and Mercy finally to bear with and forgive obstinate Offenders but want of Prudence and good Government Thirdly Among different Opinions concerning God as there always have been and will be in the world chuse those which are farthest from extremity because Truth as well as Virtue usually lyes between the Extreams And here I will instance in that Controversie which has much disquieted the Church almost in all Ages concerning the Decrees of God about which there are two Extreams the one that God peremptorily decrees the final condition of every particular person that is their everlasting happiness or misery without any regard or consideration of the good or bad Actions of Men. The other that God decrees nothing concerning any particular person but only in general that men found under such and such Qualifications shall be happy or miserable and puts it into their own power to qualifie themselves Now he that is doubtful in this matter as every man must be that understands the difficulties on both sides had best take up in the middle Opinion that God decrees the final condition of particular persons with respect to certain Qualifications which speaking absolutely are not in every Man's power but yet under the influence of God's grace which is never wanting to the sincere endeavours of men may be said to be in our power in the same sense as St. Paul says I am able to do all things through Christ strengthning me For besides that this in all probability is the Truth there will be this advantage in it that he that stands in the middle is like to be more moderate towards the Dissenters on both sides than either of them will be to one onother because the middle is not so far from either Extream as the Extreams are from one another At the worst he stands fairest for an impartial enquiry after Truth and when he has satisfied himself where the Truth lyes he may more silently pass over to it without any great imputation of inconstancy which cannot but be remarkable in him who passeth from one Extream to another Fourthly and lastly Entertain no Opinion concerning God that doth evidently contradict the Practice of Religion and a good Life though never so specious and subtile Arguments may be used to perswade it Truth is most easily seen and discern'd in those Reasonings and Opinions which tend to practice because the absurdity and inconvenience of them is soonest discovered whereas we cannot so certainly find out the truth or falshood of those Opinions which speculative Men devise in their Studies without any consideration whether they serve any real purpose of Life or not Men indeed are very apt to form those notions which are most remote from common sense and use because more pains and wit are required to make them plausible but there needs no other Argument to make a wise man despise them than that they are unprofitable and signifie nothing to our practice and to make men truly better This is universally true in all kind of knowledge but most considerable in the knowledge of God and Religion because that knowledge is of the greatest consideration We need not scruple to admit some things not so evident to Natural Reason if we be satisfied of the truth of them from an higher and more cogent Reason As that God has revealed it and said it this general Reason may perswade us of a thing that is above and beyond Natural Reason But we may not admit any thing for a Divine Revelation which evidently contradicts and weakens the practice of
an holy Life because this is the main end of all Divine Revelation and we know God only in order to the service and imitation of him Let us then look upon all knowledge that contradicts practice as vain and false because it destroys its end There are many things that seem probable enough in Speculation which yet we most pertinaciously deny because they are not practicable and there are many things which seem doubtful in Speculation and would admit of great dispute which yet because they are found true in practice and experience are to be taken for certain and unquestionable The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the idle Reasoning of the Stoicks was a thing contemned by the wiser Philosophers as a vain and useless subtilty Zeno pretends to demonstrate there is no Motion and what is the consequence of this Speculation but that Men must stand still But so long as a man finds he can walk all the Sophistry in the world will not perswade him that Motion is impossible In like manner they that would perswade us that men can do nothing nor contribute any more to their own Sanctification than Stocks or Stones and upon Scripture Metaphors misunderstood as our being dead in trespasses and sins and created to good works graft Notions which are impossible and absurd in practice do not consider that the natural consequence of this is that men must do nothing at all in Religion never think of God nor pray to him nor read his Word nor go to Church but sit still and be wholly passive to the operations of God's grace but however this may seem plausible and men may think they add much to the glory of God's grace while they deny any power in the Creature yet every considerate Man will presently apprehend that this is by no means to be admitted because it contradicts Practice and makes all the Commands and Exhortations of God's Word vain and to no purpose because it destroys Religion and discourages the endeavours of Men makes them sloathful and careless of working out their own Salvation than which nothing can set a man farther from God's grace and assistance and more immediately dispose him for ruine and upon some such false Reasoning as this the sloathful Servant in the Parable hid his talent in a napkin and buried it in the earth but when he was called to account his excuse was not admitted but he was cast into utter darkness The two other Particulars namely how far we are to imitate the Divine Perfections and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation and likewise to clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here injoyned Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect is not impossible to us Both these I shall refer to another Opportunity SERMON II. Concerning our imitation of the Divine Perfections MATTH V. 48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect IN these words we have First The absolute Perfection of the Divine Nature supposed not only in those before mentioned of Goodness and Mercy and Patience but in all other Excellencies whatsoever Secondly The Perfection of God is propounded as a Pattern for our Imitation In the handling of these two Particulars I propounded to proceed in this method I. To shew how we are to conceive of the Divine Perfection II. To lay down some Rules by which we may rectifie and govern our Opinions concerning the Attributes and Perfections of God III. To shew how far we are to imitate the Perfections of God and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation IV. To clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here intended by our Saviour is not impossible to us and then to draw some useful Inferences from the whole The two first I have already spoken to I now proceed to the third particular which is to shew how far we are to imitate the Perfections of God and particularly what those Divine Qualities are which our Saviour doth here more especially propound to our imitation For though these words do suppose the absolute Perfection of the Divine Nature yet because there are several Perfections of God which are incommunicable and a Creature as such is utterly incapable of them these cannot be suppos'd to be intended for a Pattern to us As the necessity and independency of the Divine Nature and the Self-sufficiency of it to his own happiness to be the Original Cause of all things and consequently supream Lord and Governour the Immensity and Eternity of his Being these and perhaps several other Perfections are incommunicable to a Creature and it would be an unsufferable pride and a kind of High Treason against the Divine Majesty and a sottish Ignorance of the necessary bounds and limits of our own State as we are Creatures to think to resemble God in these Excellencies of which the condition of a Creature is utterly incapable This was the Sin of Lucifer an ambition to step into the Throne of God and to be like the most high So that in our imitation of the Divine Perfection we are to keep within the station of Creatures not affecting an Independency and Soveraignty like the most high and to be Omnipotent as he is to have an arm like God and to thunder with a voice like him as the expression is in Job But to endeavour to resemble him pro modulo creaturae according to the rate and capacity of a Creature in those Divine Qualities and in such measures and degrees as our finite and dependent Nature is capable of More especially and chiefly in the moral Perfections of the Divine Nature such as are his Goodness and Mercy and Patience his Justice and Truth and Faithfulness these and only these the Scripture seems to comprehend under the name of Holiness not all the Excellencies of the Divine Nature in general but those which we call moral Excellencies and Perfections such as those which I have named for with these and hardly with any other is the Holiness of God joyn'd in Scripture as holy and righteous holy and true c. And therefore when God says be ye holy for I am holy it signifies that we are to imitate God in his Goodness and Mercy and Patience and Righteousness and Faithfulness and Truth for these are the Holiness of the Divine Nature which set him at the greatest distance from that which we call Moral Impurity and Sin For that which our Saviour here in the Text more peculiarly recommends to our imitation is the Goodness of God of which his Mercy and Patience are two eminent Branches The Mercy of God is his Goodness to those that are in Misery or are liable to it The Patience of God is his Mercy in sparing those who have deserved Punishment and are liable to it And the
of it that we be perpetually ascending and climbing up higher still advancing from one degree of Goodness to another and continually aspiring after a nearer resemblance to God And this certainly is possible to us to endeavour to be as like God as we can in this weak and imperfect state Whereas any Equality with God even in the communicable Attributes of his Goodness and Mercy and Patience is not only impossible to us in this state of Sin and Imperfection but above the condition of a Creature even of the Spirits of just Men made Perfect and of the highest Angels in Glory for their Perfection is not absolute but in comparison with our present state And I think there is no great Reason to doubt but that the blessed Spirits above who continually behold the Face of their Father are still writing after this Copy which is here propounded to us and endeavouring to be perfect as their Father which is in Heaven is perfect still aspiring after a nearer and more perfect resemblance of God whose Goodness and Mercy is so far beyond and before that of any Creature that they may be for ever approaching nearer to it and yet never overtake it And this seems to be no inconsiderable ingredient and enhancement of the happiness of Heaven that the Holiness of good men which is the similitude of God is never at a stand nor at it's full growth and period but that the glorified Saints yea and blessed Angels too may be continually growing and improving and they themselves still become better and happier to all eternity And this in my apprehension is no undervaluing the happiness of Heaven that it is not so perfect at first as it shall be afterwards because it is granted on all hands that the happiness of those good Souls who are already in bliss shall be more perfect and compleat at the Resurrection And why may it not then be continually increasing and be augmented still more and more without any stint or final period of it's perfection In this world we are apt to faint in a long course of goodness and to be weary of well doing But in the other state when men shall be strongly byassed to goodness and have nothing to pull them back it will then be so far from being a trouble that methinks it should be a mighty pleasure to the blessed to find that there is no end of their doing good and becoming better For if conformity to God be the ground and foundation of all Happiness then our Blessedness will advance proportionably as we grow more and more like to him This I confess were a dismal Consideration to think that in Heaven we should be liable to relapse to go backward or fall from that holy and happy state But this is a comfortable Consideration that our holiness and happiness shall never be at a stand that it is secure so far as it goes and that we cannot lose what we have once attain'd as we may do in this world This methinks should be a trouble to no man that as good and happy as he is at first he shall still be better and better more and more happy without end But be that as it will and as God pleaseth for we do but talk in the dark about our future state this is certain that an equality with God in any of his Perfections is not to be attained by any Creature and therefore cannot be thought to be the meaning of this Precept But that which our Saviour requires is a vigorous imitation of this Pattern that we have this Example of the Divine Perfection always before us and that we be continually endeavouring as much as in us lies to bring our selves to the nearest resemblance of God that possibly we can And if this be our sincere care and study we need not doubt but that it will find acceptance with God and that he will be graciously pleased to esteem us for his Children and if there need a pardon for it that God will forgive wherein we fall short of the Perfection of that Pattern which we can never imitate to Perfection And happy were it for us if this were all the ground of our fear and trouble that when we had done all we could we must still fall much short of the perfection of God's Law and the Duty therein laid upon us alas which of us does near so much as we can and is not conscious to himself that it is through his own fault and neglect that he is so unlike his heavenly Father in Goodness and Mercy in Righteousness and true Holiness and that he still partakes in so great a measure of those not only unreasonable and brutish but even devilish Passions of Malice and Hatred of Rage and Cruelty of Impatience and implacable Revenge and that these ungodlike Qualities do so frequently prevail upon us and have so much dominion over us We are so far from being what we ought in these and many other respects that we are far from what we might be if we would mind our Duty with care and conscience and make it our sincere endeavour to subdue our selves to a conformity to God and to a perfect holiness in his fear Would we but often set God before our eyes and represent to our selves those excellent and amiable Perfections of the Divine Nature which are so comfortable and beneficial to us and to which we stand so infinitely oblig'd his Goodness and Mercy and Patience upon which all our hopes of Happiness do depend and to which we are indebted that we are not miserable past recovery that Goodness and Patience which he continually exerciseth towards us for we provoke him every day and exerciseth towards us on purpose to endear those Perfections to us from which we reap so much comfort and advantage that by the Pattern of Perfection it self and the Example of him who is so much above us so no ways obliged to us nor tyed by any interest to be concerned for us and who being happy in himself neither hopes nor fears any thing from us I say by an Example that has all these advantages we might be provok'd to be so affected towards one another who have mutual Obligations one to another and mutual Expectations of Good or Evil one from another as we have always found God to be towards us and as we desire he should still continue and miserable Creatures are we when ever he ceaseth to be so And we have reason to fear he will cease to be so if this Example of his Goodness and Patience towards us do not transform us into the Image of the Divine Perfections and prevail upon us to imitate those Excellencies which we have so much reason to approve and admire and be in love withal These Considerations taken both from ingenuity and interest should awaken our sloath and stir up our most resolute and vigorous endeavours after that Perfection which our Saviour here requires and make us ashamed of
our lazy complaints that our Duty is set so high that the endeavours of our whole life cannot reach it when yet we have hardly made one step towards it and are so remiss and unconcern'd about it as if we could do it at any time with the greatest ease and at an hours warning before we leave the world could fulfil this Precept of our Lord of being perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect And yet let me tell you so far as any of us are from resembling our heavenly Father in some good degree and measure so far are we distant from Heaven and the temper of the blessed so far are we utterly unqualified for the blissful sight and enjoyment of God for unless we be first like him we cannot see him as he is Only the pure in heart shall see God and therefore every man that has this hope in him should purifie himself even as he is pure And thus I have as briefly as I could dispatcht the four things I propounded for the Explication of this Text namely how we are to conceive of the Divine Perfections and to give some Rules to regulate and govern our Opinions concerning the Attributes and Perfections of God to explain the extent of this Duty and vindicate the possibility of it All that now remains is to draw some useful Inferences from this Discourse which I have made and they shall be these two I. That the strongest and surest Reasonings in Religion are grounded upon the Essential Perfections of God II. That the truest and most substantial Practice of Religion consists in the imitation of God I. That the strongest and surest Reasonings in Religion are grounded upon the Essential Perfections of God so that even Divine Revelation it self doth suppose these for its Foundation and can signifie nothing to us unless these be first known and believed Unless we be first perswaded of the Providence of God and his particular Care of Mankind why should we believe that he would make any Revelation of himself to Men Unless it be naturally known to us that God is true what foundation is there for the belief of his Word And what signifie the Laws and Promises of God unless natural Light do first assure us of his Soveraign Authority and Faithfulness So that the Principles of Natural Religion are the foundation of that which is Revealed and therefore in Reason nothing can be admitted to be a Revelation from God which plainly contradicts his Essential Perfection and consequently if any pretends Divine Revelation for this Doctrine That God hath from all Eternity absolutely decreed the eternal ruine of the greatest part of Mankind without any respect to the Sins and Demerits of Men I am as certain that this Doctrine cannot be of God as I am sure that God is Good and Just because this grates upon the Notion that Mankind have of Goodness and Justice This is that which no good man would do and therefore cannot be believed of infinite Goodness and therefore if an Apostle or Angel from Heaven teach any Doctrine which plainly overthrows the Goodness and Justice of God let him be accursed For every man hath greater assurance that God is Good and Just than he can have of any subtile Speculations about Predestination and the Decrees of God And for the same Reason I cannot believe upon the pretended Authority or Infallibility of any Man or Church in the world that God would not have Men understand their Publick Prayers and the Lessons of Scripture which are read to them A Lesson not to be understood is nonsense a Lesson is something to be learn'd which how it can be without being understood is hard to comprehend And as little can I believe upon the Authority of any Person or Church whatsoever that God should reveal his Will to Men in the holy Scriptures with a design to have it hid and lock't up from the generality of Mankind in an unknown Tongue And much less can I believe which yet is the express Doctrine of the Council of Trent that the saving Efficacy of the Sacrament depends upon the Intention of the Priest Which is to say that though people believe and live never so well they may be damned by Sholes and whole Parishes together at the pleasure of the Priest and for no other reason but because he is so wicked as not to intend to save them Can any man believe this that hath any tolerable notion of God's Goodness May we not in this case appeal as Abraham did to the Goodness and Justice of God and expostulate with greater Reason than he did much after the same manner wilt thou destroy the righteous for the wicked That be far from Thee to do after this manner to damn the righteous for the wicked and that righteous people should lye at the mercy of a wicked Priest to be damned or saved at his pleasure that be far from Thee Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right And can there be a greater affront to the Goodness and Justice of God than to imagin he should deal with men after this manner If this be to do right there is no possibility of doing wrong And to give but one instance more I can never believe upon the Authority of any Man or Church whatsoever that our Saviour in the Celebration of his last Supper did with his own hands give away his own Natural Body into the hands of his Disciples and give his Blood shed before it was shed That the whole Doctrine of Christianity should mainly rely upon the Evidence of Miracles the assurance of which depends upon the certainty of Sense and yet that an Essential part of that Doctrine should overthrow the certainty of Sense I can never while I live believe these two things that the last thing our Saviour did before his death should be to teach his Disciples not to believe their own Senses as he must do if he taught them Transubstantiation and that the very first thing he did after he was risen from the dead should be to teach them the quite contrary by appealing to the certainty of Sense for the proof of his Resurrection for when they doubted of his Resurrection Luke 24.38 He said unto them why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have If this be a good Argument that it was a real Body which they saw because they saw and felt Flesh and Bones is it not as good an Argument on the other side that what they saw in the Sacrament was not his real and natural Body because they could neither see nor handle Flesh and Bones So that I cannot believe Transubstantiation unless I can believe that Truth it self can contradict and destroy it self You see of what use it is to have right and steady Apprehensions of the
Divine Perfections that these being laid for a foundation we may upon all occasions have recourse to them and govern our Opinions and Reasonings in Religion about all doubtful matters by such Principles as are clear and unquestionable The II. Inference is That the truest and most substantial Practice of Religion consists in the imitation of the Divine Perfections especially the Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature which the Scripture is wont to comprehend under the name of Holiness and such are the Goodness and Mercy and Patience of God his Justice and Truth and Faithfulness To imitate God in these is true Religion or as St. James expresses it pure Religion and undefiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any flaw or blemish alluding to precious Stones the greatest commendation of which is to be clear and without flaw Religio est imitari quem colis this is Religion to imitate him whom we worship This the Heathens by the light of Nature did discover to be the great End of Religion and the best Worship of the Deity to be like God Pythagoras was wont to say that we honour God most when we are most like him in the temper and disposition of our Minds and Plato to the same purpose that the height and Perfection of Goodness is to resemble God as near as is possible and that we resemble God in being just and holy and wise So likewise Hierocles that a good man imitates God in the measures of Love and Friendship who hates no man and extends his benignity to all Mankind Plutarch hath an excellent Discourse about the Patience of God towards Sinners and gives this as one Reason why God doth not presently punish Offenders that he might give an Example to us of Gentleness and Patience and check the fury and violence of men in revenging Injuries upon one another which nothing will do more effectually than to consider that Gentleness and Forbearance are an imitation of the Divine Perfection And then he cites an excellent saying of Plato that God manifested himself and display'd his Perfections in the World for our imitation true Virtue being nothing else but an imitation of the Divine Nature For there is no greater Benefit man can receive from God's hand than to become virtuous by the imitation and pursuit of those Excellencies and Perfections which are in God Seneca likewise hath many passages to this purpose inter viros bonos ac Deum amicitia est imo etiam necessitudo similitudo between God and good men there is a friendship yea and an intimacy and likeness and that a virtuous man is discipulus aemulatorque vera progenies Dei a disciple and imitator and the very genuine off-spring of God So that the light of Nature and the Reason of Mankind have always placed the perfection of Religion in the imitation of the Divine Excellencies and Perfections And this is very agreeable to the language and sense of the holy Scriptures which every where make the Practice of Religion to consist in our Conformity to God and the Laws which he hath given us which are nothing else but a transcript of his Nature The great business of Religion is to do the Will of God and this is the will of God our sanctification and our sanctification is our conformity to the holiness of God and this is the scope of the general Exhortations of Scripture to perswade us to holiness that is to an imitation of the Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God 1 Pet. 1.15 16. As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy 2 Pet. 1.3 4. speaking of the Christian Religion which he calls the knowledge of him who hath called us to glory and virtue whereby also says he are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these we might be partakers of a divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust So that the holiness the Gospel designs to bring us to is a participation of the Divine Nature which we can no otherwise partake of but by an imitation of the Divine Perfections This is that which the Scripture expresses to us by the terms of Regeneration the New Man and the New Creature And therefore those who are converted from a wicked and sinful state and reclaimed to goodness are said to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and the holiness of truth Ephes 4.23 To be renewed after the image of him that created us Coloss 3.10 This is to be the sons and children of God to imitate and resemble God in our dispositions and manners Ephes 5.1 Be ye therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imitators of God as dear children Philip. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and sincere the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation 1 John 3.10 In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God There have been great enquiries concerning the Marks of a Child of God this is the true Character and that which in effect comprehends all others our imitation and resemblance of God in those Perfections wherein he is set forth for a Pattern to us And in this mainly consists the practice both of Natural Religion and of true Christianity But does not Religion consist very much in the Duties of God's Worship in the Exercises of Piety and Devotion in constant and frequent Prayers to God and in the celebration of his Goodness by Praise and Thanksgiving in reading and hearing and meditating upon God's Word in Fasting and Abstinence and keeping our bodies in subjection to our spirits and in frequent receiving of the holy Sacrament To this I answer That Religion doth consist very much in the due performance of these Duties and they are unquestionable and necessary parts of Religion and the Means appointed by God for the begetting and increasing in us such dispositions of mind as render us most like to God and for the production of all the fruits of Goodness and Holiness and Righteousness in our lives But then it is to be considered that these Exercises of Piety and Devotion are but the Means of Religion and not the ultimate End and Design of it All these do but serve to bring us to a nearer resemblance of God and where they fail of this End and are performed for their own sakes only and we rest in them without aiming at any thing farther they lose their nature because they are not used as Means but rested in as if they were the End of Religion And it is to be feared there are many which fall into this fatal mistake about Religion and think that if
they do but serve God in their Families and go to Church and behave themselves there with Devotion and Reverence and at certain seasons receive the Sacrament they are truly religious and very good Christians when all this while they take no care to improve themselves in real Goodness by an inward conformity of their Minds to God and the real reformation and amendment of their Lives by mortifying their Lusts and subduing their Appetites and Passions to the Laws of Reason and Religion by putting on as the elect of God bowels of kindness by being true and faithful righteous and just patient and merciful as their Father which is in heaven is so and by forbearing one another in case of provocation and forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us by purifying themselves as God is pure and endeavouring to be holy in all manner of conversation as he who hath called them is holy when all this while they are as covetous and earthly minded and to serve their covetousness will strain a point of Truth or Justice and hardly do an act of Charity in their whole lives but what is extorted from them by meer importunity or some such urgent necessity in point of decency and reputation that for shame of the World they know not how to avoid it when their Passions are as fierce and ungoverned their Hearts as full of Gall and Bitterness their Tongues of slander and evil speaking their Humours as proud and surly and censorious as theirs can be who are openly profane and seem to neglect and despise all Religion And yet because they serve God as they call it and make an external appearance of Piety and Devotion are good Church-men and attend upon the Ordinances of God they think they have discharged the whole business of Religion admirably well and are very good children of God and in a state of great grace and favour with him Whereas the performance of all these Duties and the use of all these Means separated from that which is the great End of Religion the Conformity of our selves to God in those Qualities and Dispositions which I have mention'd is so far from finding acceptance with God that it is an abomination to him So God every where declares in Scripture telling us that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord and that he disdains to be praised by men of unhallowed lips and lives and that unless with the praises we offer to him we order our conversation aright we shall not see the salvation of God With what contempt does he speak of this formal and external Religion without the power of it upon our hearts and lives To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices to me Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams and ten thousands of rivers of Oil he hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Is not this the fast which I have chosen to break the bands of wickedness and to let the oppressed go free to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thine house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Nor is it hearing of the Word that will avail us unless we be doers of it Blessed are they says our Saviour that hear the word of God and keep it He that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them shall be likened to a wise man who hath built his house upon a rock Nor will bare receiving of the Sacrament recommend us to God but performing the Obligation which thereby we take upon our selves to obstain from all sin and wickedness otherwise we tread under foot the Son of God and prophane the blood of the Covenant whereby we should be sanctified as if it were an unholy thing Can any man think that to be Religion which has no effect upon the lives of men which does not teach them to govern their words and actions who reads those plain words of St. James If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart that man's Religion is vain Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widdows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world When Religion produceth these real Effects then the Means of Religion do truly serve the End of it and we are not only hearers of the Word but doers of it and shall be blessed in our deed So that as there is an obligation upon us to use the Means of Religion which God hath instituted with great care and conscience so we should chiefly mind that which is the End of all Religion which is to make us partakers of a Divine Nature and make us like to God especially in those amiable and excellent Qualities which are the glory and beauty of the Divine Nature his Benignity and Goodness his Mercy and Patience These because they are the primary Perfections of God are the principal Duties both of Natural and Revealed Religion and of an eternal and indispensable Obligation because they have their foundation in the Nature of God which is fixt and unalterable And all positive Institutions when they come in competition with these are to stoop and vail to them Natural and Moral Duties especially those of Goodness and Mercy and Charity are so strongly bound upon us that nothing in any reveal'd Religion can cancel the Obligation of them or justifie the violation of these great and indispensable Laws Our Saviour in his Religion has declar'd nothing to the prejudice of them but on the contrary has straitned our Obligation to them as much as is possible The Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them so that they know not what manner of spirit they are of who think to please God by hating men who are made after the image of God by killing one another to do him good service who to advance his Cause and Religion in the World will break through all the Obligations of Nature and Civil Society undermine Government and disturb the Peace of Mankind Whereas our Saviour did not by any thing in his Religion design to alter the Civil Government of the World or to lessen and diminish the Rights of Princes or to set men loose from Allegiance to them or to make Treason and Rebellion bloody Wars and barbarous Massacres lawful for the propagating of his faith He had as any one would imagin as much Power as the Pope but yet he deposed no Princes nor excommunicated and discharged their Subjects from their Fidelity and Obedience to them for their opposition to his Religion he hath assumed no such Power to himself By what Authority then does his Vicar do these things and
who gave him this Authority Our Lord tells us plainly his Kingdom was not of this world and that without any distinction of in ordine ad spiritualia and therefore he wrested no Princes Kingdom out of his hands nor seized it as forfeited to himself But this Power the Pope claims to himself and hath exercised it many a time disturbing the Peace of Nations and exercising the most barbarous Cruelties in the World under a pretence of Zeal for God and Religion as if because Religion is so very good a thing in it self it would warrant men to do the very worst things for its sake which is the ready way to render Religion contemptible and odious and to make two of the best things in the World God and Religion good for nothing If we would preserve in the Minds of Men any reverence and esteem for Religion we must take heed how we destroy the Principles of Natural Religion and undermine the Peace and Happiness of Humane Society for the glory of God and under pretence of following Divine Revelation and being led by a Church that cannot err for every Church doth certainly err that teacheth any thing plainly contrary to the Principles and Dictates â—f Natural Religion and utterly inconsistent with the essential Perfections of God and with the Peace and Order of the World for God is not the God of Confusion but of Order which St. Paul appealeth to as a Principle of eternal Truth and naturally known But they that pretend that Religion prompts men to Sedition and Cruelty do represent God as the God of confusion and not of order Therefore whatever men may through an ignorant zeal or for ambitious Ends pretend to be Religion let us place it in that which is unquestionable the imitation of the Divine Perfections and let us as the Apostle exhorts put on as the elect of God bowels of mercy kindness meekness long-suffering and above all let us put on Charity which is the very bond of perfection The great Perfection of the Divine Nature or rather the very Essence of God is Love So St. John speaks God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him And 't is very remarkable that in these very qualities of Charity and Kindness and Compassion which we peculiarly call Humanity we approach nearest to the Divinity it self and that the contrary Dispositions do transform us into wild Beasts and Devils And yet as severely as I speak against these Principles and Practices I have an hearty pity and compassion for those who are under the power of so great a Delusion and upon a pretence of being made the only true Christians in the world are seduced from Humanity it self and so far from being made good Christians by these Principles that they are hardly left to be Men being blinded and led by the blind they fall into the ditch of the grossest and foulest Immoralities such as are plainly enough condemn'd by the light of Nature if there were no Bible in the World Not but that we Protestants have our Faults and our Follies too and those God knows too many and too visible we possess more Truth but there is little Peace among us and yet God is as well and as often in Scripture called the God of peace as the God of truth In this great Light and Liberty of the Reform'd Religion we are apt to be wanton and to quarrel and fall out we are full of Heats and Animosities of Schisms and Divisions and the way of peace we have not known God grant that at last in this our day when it concerns us so much we may know the things that belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes You see in what things the Practice of Religion mainly consists in our likeness to God and resemblance of him in Holiness and Goodness and without this we are utterly incapable of happiness we cannot see God unless we be like him The Presence of God can administer no Pleasure no Felicity to us till we be changed into his Image till we come to this temper to hate Sin and delight in purity and holiness we can have no delightful communion with the holy God till our Passions be subdued and our Souls dispossest of those devilish and ungodlike Qualities of Hatred and Malice of Revenge and Impatience and till we be endued with the Spirit of universal Goodness and Charity we are not fit company for our heavenly Father we are not qualified to dwell with God who is love and dwells in love So far as we are defective in these Divine Qualities and Perfections so far we fall short of the temper of Happiness There is a direct and eternal Opposition between the holy and good God and the evil dispositions of wicked men and till this Opposition be removed it is impossible we should find any felicity in the enjoyment of God Now the Nature of God is fixt and unchangeable God cannot recede from his own Perfection and therefore we must quit our sins Thou canst not change God therefore change thy self and rather think of putting off thy corrupt Nature which may be changed than of altering the Divine Nature with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning God condescended to take our Nature upon him to make us capable of Happiness but if this will not do he will not put off his own Nature to make us happy SERMON III. The Happiness of God 1 TIM 1.11 The Blessed God The whole Verse runs thus According to the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God which was committed to my trust SINCE all Men naturally desire happiness and thirst after it methinks we should all desire to know what it is and where it is to be found and how it is to be attained by us in that degree in which Creatures are capable of it What Job says of Wisdom may be said also of Happiness God understandeth the way thereof and he knoweth the place thereof He only who is perfectly possest of it himself knows wherein it consists and what are the true ingredients of it So that to direct us in our search after happiness the best way will be to Contemplate and Consider the Divine Nature which is the perfect Pattern and Idea of Happiness and the Original Spring and Fountain of all the Felicity that Creatures are capable of And to that end I have pitched upon these Words wherein the Apostle attributes this Perfection of bessedness or happiness to God The Blessed God And tho' this be as Essential a part as any other of that Notion which Mankind have of God from the Light of Nature yet I no where find in all the New Testament this Attribute of Happiness given to God but only twice in this Epistle 'T is true indeed the Title of Blessedness is frequently given both to God and Christ but in another Sense and in a quite different Notion As Mark 14.61 where the High-Priest asks our
the same and thy years fail not Mat. 3.6 I am the Lord and change not Hence it is that the Title of the living God is so frequently attributed to him and he swears by this as denoting not only his eternity but his unchangeableness As I live saith the Lord. Hither likewise we may refer those Texts where he is call'd the incorruptible God Rom. 1.23 The immortal King 1 Tim. 1.17 and is said only to have immortality 1 Tim. 1.16 And he is immutable likewise in his perfections hence it is so often said in the Psalms that his goodness and his mercy endure for ever his righteousness likewise is said to endure for ever Psal 111.3 and Psal 36.6 To be like the great Mountains not only visible and conspicuous but firm and immoveable and the same likewise is said of his truth and faithfulness Psal 117.2 His truth endureth for ever and of his power Esa· 26.4 In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength And so likewise in his Decrees and Purposes and Promises Psal 33.11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations Esa 14.24 Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass and as I have purposed so shall it stand Numb 23.19 God is not a Man that he should lie or as the Son of Man that he should repent hath he spoken and shall not he do it hath he said it and shall not he bring it to pass If he hath made any promise or entred into any Covenant with us it is firm and immutable Psal 89.33 He will not suffer his faithfulness to fail his covenant will he not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips His Covenant and his Promise are in themselves immutable but for our further assurance God hath given us his Oath the highest sign of Immutability so the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us chap. 6.18 That by two immutable things viz his Promise and his Oath in which it is impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation who are fled for refuge to the hope which is set before us I proceed to the III. Thing I proposed which is to answer an Objection which may seem to lie against what hath been said from the mention so often made in Scripture of God's repenting himself as Gen. 6.6 where it is said that it repented God that he had made Man 1 Sam. 15.11 That he repented that he had made Saul King and 2 Sam. 24.16 When the Angel had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it it is said that the Lord repented him of the evil and Psal 135.14 the Lord saith there that he will repent himself concerning his servants To all which I answer That this expression of God's repenting we are to understand as many others in Scripture after the manner of Men and as spoken by way of Condescention and Accommodation to our Weakness and Capacity and not as casting any imputation of Mutability and Inconstancy upon God as if out of levity or for want of foresight he did alter his Mind but when God is said to repent that he made Man or that he made Saul King the change was not in him but them and it signifies not that God was absolutely deceived in his expectation but that things had fallen out contrary to all reasonable Expectation and therefore the Scripture cloaths God with the Humane Passion of repenting and grieving for what he had done as Men use to do when they are greatly disappointed and fall short of their Expectation And as for the other instances wherein God is said to repent him of evils threatned the expression only signifies thus much that God doth not execute that which seemed to us to have been his peremptory purpose and resolution that is he is pleased to do otherwise than his threatning seemed openly to express because of some tacit Condition implyed in it which he did not think fit to acquaint us with And this doth not at all derogate from the constancy and immutability of God for when God did threaten he spake what he did really purpose and intend if something did not intervene to prevent the Judgment threatned upon which he was resolved at that time when he threatned to be taken off and to stay his Hand and in thus doing God doth not mutare consilium sed sententiam He doth not change his inward Counsel and Purpose but takes off the sentence which was past with reserved conditions and unknown to us on purpose to urge us the more effectually to Repentance And that God usually reserves such Conditions not only in his Threatnings but sometimes also in his Promises appears from that remarkable Text Jer. 18.7 8 9 10. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from the evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them And from this very Consideration the same Prophet encourageth the People to repenpentance Jer. 26.13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord will repent him of the evil he hath pronounced against you And we have a famous instance of this in the case of Niniveh the destruction whereof within forty days after God had openly proclaimed by his Prophet yet he stops the Execution of the Sentence upon their Repentance Jonah 3.10 The Men of Niniveh turned from their evil ways and the Lord repented of the evil he said he would do unto them and he did it not All that now remains is to apply this Doctrine of the immutability of the Divine Nature to our selves and the Consideration of it may serve to several good Purposes both in reference to bad and good Men. First In regard to sinners and wicked Men. And 1 st The unchangeableness of God is matter of great terrour to wicked Men. Let but the sinner consider what God is and the consideration of his unchangeable nature must need terrifie him He is a holy God and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Hab. 1.12 He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him the foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psal 5.4 5. He is likewise a just God and will by no means clear the guilty nor let sin go unpunisht Exod. 34.7 He is also omnipotent and able to execute the vengeance threatned against Sinners Who knoweth the power of thine anger Psal 90.11 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once
Minister of God saith he must be without House and Harbour and worldly Accommodations must be armed with such Patience for the greatest sufferings as if he were a Stone and devoid of Sense he must be a spectacle of Misery and Contempt to the World So that by the acknowledgment of these two wise Heathens there was nothing in the sufferings of Christ that was unbecoming the Wisdom of God and improper to the End and Design of Christ's coming into the World besides that they served a further end which they did not dream of the satisfying of Divine Justice Secondly His Exaltation The several parts of which his Resurrection and Ascension and sitting the right hand of God were eminently subservient to the perfecting and carrying on of this Design The Resurrection of Christ is the great confirmation of the truth of all that he deliver'd Rom. 1.4 Declared to be the son of God with power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Resurrection from the Dead This great Miracle of his Resurrection from the Dead did determine the Controversie and put it out of all Doubt and Question that he was the Son of God And then his Ascension and sitting at the right hand of God this gives us the assurance of a Blessed Immortality and is a demonstration of a life to come and a pledge of everlasting Glory and Happiness And can any thing tend more to the encouragement of Obedience and to make us Dead to the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this life than the assurance of Eternal Life and Happiness And then the Consequents of his Exaltation they do eminently conduce to our recovery The sending of the Holy Ghost to lead us into all truth to sanctifie us to assist us and to comfort us under the greatest Troubles and Afflictions and the powerful Intercession of Christ in our behalf and his return to Judgment the expectation whereof is the great Argument to Repentance and Holiness of Life Acts 17.30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all Men every where to repent Because he 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 unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead And thus I have endeavoured to prove that the Redemption of Man by Jesus Christ is a Design of admirable Wisdom The use I shall make of it is to convince us of the Uunreasonableness of unbelief and the Folly and Madness of Impenitency First The unreasonableness of Unbelief The Gospel reveals to us the wise Counsel and Dispensation of God for our Redemption and those who disbelieve the Gospel they reject the counsel of God against themselves as it is said of the unbelieving Pharisees and Lawyers Luke 7.30 The Gospel reveals to us a design so reasonable and full of Wisdom that they who can disbelieve it are desperate Persons devoted to ruin 1 Cor. 1.18 The cross of Christ is to them that perish foolishness 2 Cor. 4.3 4. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them The Gospel carries so much light and evidence in it that it cannot be hid from any but such whose Eyes are blinded by the Devil and their Lusts He that will duly weigh and consider Things and look narrowly into this wise dispensation of God shall find nothing to object against it nay shall discover in it the greatest motives and inducements to believe We are apt to believe any thing that is reasonable especially if it be for our Advantage now this wise dispensation of God is not only reasonable in it self but beneficial to us it does at once highly gratifie our Understandings and satisfie our Interest why should we not then believe and entertain it I. The design of the Gospel is reasonable and gratifies our Understandings And in this respect the Gospel hath incomparable Advantages above any other Religion The end of all Religion is to advance Piety and Holiness and real Goodness among Men and the more any Religion advanceth these the more reasonable it is Now the great Incitements and Arguments to Piety are the Excellency and Perfection of the Divine Nature fear of Punishment and hopes of Pardon and Rewards Now the Gospel represents all these to the greatest advantage 1. It represents the Perfections of God to the greatest advantage especially those which tend most to the promotion of Piety and the love of God in us his Justice and Mercy 1. His Justice The Gospel represents it inflexible in its Rights and inexorable and that will not in any case let Sin go unpunish'd The impartiality of the Divine Justice appears in this Dispensation that when God pardons the Sinner yet he will punish Sin so severely in his own Son who was the Surety Now what could more tend to discountenance Sin and convince us of the great evil of it 2. His Mercy This Dispensation is a great demonstration of the Mercy and Goodness and Love of God in sending his Son to die for Sinners and in saving us by devoting and sacrificing him John 3.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us 1 John 4.9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Now this representation of God's Mercy and Love which the Gospel makes is of great force and efficacy to melt our Hearts into love to God 2. The Second Argument to Piety is fear of Punishment The Gospel hath revealed to us the misery of those who continue in their Sin it hath made clear and terrible discoveries of those Torments which attend sinners in another World and hath open'd to us the Treasures of God's Wrath so that now under the Gospel hell is naked before us and destruction hath no covering and this is one thing which makes the Gospel so powerful an Engine to destroy sin Rom. 1.16 18. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for therein is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 3. Hopes of Pardon and Reward And this added to the former renders the Gospel the most powerful Instrument to take men off from sin and engage them to Holiness that can be imagin'd The Means to draw Men from sin when they are once awaken'd with the fear of Vengeance is hopes of Pardon and Mercy and the way to encourage Obedience for the future is hope of
Reward Now as an Argument to us to retreat and draw back from sin the Gospel promises pardon and indempnity to us and as an incitement to Holiness the Gospel opens Heaven to us and sets before us everlasting Glory and Happiness and gives us the greatest assurance of it This is the First The Design of the Gospel is reasonable in that it does eminently and directly serve the ends of Piety and Religion II. This Dispensation of God is beneficial to us and satisfies our Interest and this adds to the unreasonableness of our Unbelief this Design of God being not only reasonable in it self but desirable to us that it should be so because of the eminent Advantages that redound to us by it The Design of the Gospel is to deliver from the Guilt and Dominion of Sin and the Tyranny of Satan to restore us to the Image and Favour of God and by making us partakers of a Divine Nature to bring us to Eternal Life And is there any thing of real Advantage which is not comprehended in this Is it not desirable to every Man that there should be a way whereby our guilty Consciences may be quieted and appeased whereby we may be delivered from the fear of Death and Hell Is it not desirable to be freed from the slavery of our Lusts and rescued from the Tyranny and Power of the great Destroyer of Souls Is it not desirable to be like God and to be assured of his Love and Favour who is the best Friend and the most dangerous Enemy and to be secur'd that when we leave this World we shall be unspeakably happy for ever Now the Gospel conveys these Benefits to us and if this be the Case of the Gospel and there be nothing in this Design of our Redemption but what is Wise and Reasonable and exceedingly for our Benefit and Advantage why should any Man be so averse to the Belief of it Why should Unbelief be counted a piece of Wit Is it Wit to set our selves against Reason and to oppose our best Interest 'T is Wickedness and Prejudice and inconsiderateness which disbelieves the Gospel Those who do consider things welcome this good News and embrace these glad Tidings Wisdom is justified of her Children To them who are truly sensible of their own Interest and willing to accept of reasonable Evidence this is not only a true saying but worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the World to save sinners Secondly This doth convince Men of the madness and folly of impenitency Now the Wisdom of God hath contrived such a way of our Recovery and by the Declaration of God's Wrath and displeasure against sin hath given us such Arguments to Repentance and by discovering a way of Pardon and Mercy hath given us such encouragement to Repentance how great must the Folly of impenitency be For consider 1. That impenitency Directly sets it self against the Wisdom of God If after all this we continue in our Sins we reject the counsel of God against our selves we despise the Wisdom of God and charge that with Folly and we do it against our selves to our own injury and ruine If we live in our Sins and cherish our lusts we directly oppose the end of our Redemtion we contradict the great Design of the Gospel we contemn the admirable Contrivance of God's Wisdom who sent his Son into the World on purpose to destroy Sin for we uphold that which he came to destroy 1 John 3.5 Ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins Now shall we continue in Sin when we know the Son of God was manifested to take away Sin God cannot but take it very ill at our hands when he hath laid out the Riches of his Wisdom in this design for us to go about to defeat him in it this is at once to be unthankful to God and injurious to our selves 't is such a madness as if a condemned Man should despise a Pardon as if a Prisoner should be fond of his Fetters and refuse Deliverance as if a Man desperately sick should fight with his Physician and put away Health from him If we do not comply with the wisdom of God which hath contrived our recovery we forsake our own mercy and neglect a great Salvation we love death and hate our own Souls Prov. 8.14 15 16. 2. Consider we cannot expect the wisdom of God should do more for our recovery than hath been already done the wisdom of God will not try any further means Mat. 21.37 last of all he sent his Son If we despise this way if we tread under foot the Son of God and count the blood of the Covenant whereby we are sanctified an unholy thing there will remain no more sacrifice for sin Heb. 10.26 29. What can expiate the guilt of sin if the Blood of Christ do not What shall take us off from sin what shall sanctifie us if the blood of the Covenant be ineffectual We resist our last Remedy and make void the best Means the Wisdom of God could devise for our Recovery if after the revelation of the Gospel we continue in our Sins 3. If we frustrate this Design of God's Wisdom for our Recovery our Ruin will be the more dreadful and certain Impenitency under the Gospel will increase our Misery If Christ had not come we had had no sin in comparison of what we now have but now our sin remains and there is no cloak for our sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We shall not be able at the day of Judgment to Preface any thing by way of Excuse or Apology for our Impenitency What shall we be able to say to the Justice of God when that shall condemn us who rejected his Wisdom which would have saved us We would all be saved but we would be saved without Repentance now the Wisdom of God hath not found out any other way to save us from Hell but by saving us from our sins And thou that will not submit to this Method of Divine Wisdom take thy Course and let 's see how thou wilt escape the damnation of hell I will conclude all with those dreadful words which the wisdom of God pronounceth against those that despise her and refuse to hearken to her Voice Prov. 1.24 25 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my Hand and no man regarded But ye have set at naught my Counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh They who will not comply with the Counsel of God for their Happiness they shall inherit the Condition which they have chosen to themselves they shall eat the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices SERMON X. The Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments GEN. XVIII 25 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right IN treating of the Attributes of God I have considered those
like to it And the second is like unto it says our Saviour Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self like to it in the excellency of it and equal to it in the necessary obligation of it For this Commandment says St. John 1 Epist Chap. 4. v. 21 we have from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also The First Commandment indeed excels in the dignity of the Object because it enjoins the Love of God but the second seems to have the advantage in the reality of its Effects for the Love of God consists in our acknowledgment and honour of him but our righteousness and goodness extends not to him we can do him no real Benefit and Advantage But our love to Men is really Useful and Beneficial to them for which reason God is contented in many cases that the external Honour and Worship which he requires of us by his positive Commands should give way to that Natural Duty of Love and Mercy which we owe to one another I will have mercy says God in the Prophet Amos and not sacrifice And to shew how great a value God puts upon this Duty he hath made it the very Testimony of our love to himself and for want of it hath declared that he will reject all our other Professions and Testimonies of love to him as false and insincere Who so hath this worlds good saith St. John 1 Epist 3.17 and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him And again Chap. 4. ver 20. If any man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen You see the Duty here recommended both in the Extent and in the Excellency of it let us do good I proceed to consider in the II. Place the Extent of this Duty in respect of its Object which is all Mankind but more especially Christians those that are of the same Faith and Religion Let us do good unto all men especially unto those that are of the houshold of Faith So that the Object about which this Duty is conversant is very large and takes in all Mankind let us do good unto all men The Jews confined their Love and Kindness to their own Kindred and Nation and because they were prohibited familiarity with Idolatrous Nations and were enjoined to maintain a perpetual Enmity with Amalek and the seven Nations of Canaan whom God had cast out before them and devoted to Ruin they looked upon themselves as perfectly discharg'd from all Obligation of Kindness to the rest of Mankind And yet it is certain that they were expresly enjoin'd by their Law to be kind to Strangers because they themselves had been Strangers in the Land of Egypt But our Saviour hath restored this Law of Love and Charity to its Natural and Original extent and hath declared every one that is of the same nature with our selves to be our Neighbour and our Brother and that he is to be treated by us accordingly when ever he stands in need of our kindness and help and to shew that none are out of the compass of our Charity he hath expresly commanded us to extend it to those who of all others can least pretend to it even our Enemies and Persecutors So that if the Question be about the extent of our Charity in general these two things are plainly enjoined by the Christian Religion 1. Negatively That we should not hate or bear ill-will to any man or do him any harm or mischief Love worketh no Evil to his Neighbour saith the Apostle Rom. 13.10 And this negative Charity every Man may exercise towards all Men without Exception and that equally because it does not signifie any positive Act but only that we abstain from Enmity and Hatred from Injury and Revenge which it is in every Man's power by the Grace of God and the due care and government of himself to do 2. Positively The Law of Charity requires that we should bear an universal good-will to all Men and wish every Man's happiness and pray for it as sincerely as we wish and pray for our own and if we be sincere in our Wishes and Prayers for the good of others we shall be so in our Endeavours to procure and promote it But the great difficulty is as to the exercise of our Charity and the real Expressions and Effects of it in doing good to others which is the Duty here meant in the Text and as I told you before does more particularly relate to the Relief of those who are in Want and Necessity And the reason of the difficulty is because no Man can do good to all in this kind if he would it not being possible for any Man to come to the knowledge of every man's Necessity and Distress and if he could no man's Ability can possibly reach to the supply and the relief of all men's Wants And indeed this limitation the Text gives to this Duty as we have opportunity says the Apostle let us do good unto all men which either signifies as occasion is offered or as we have Ability of doing or both as I shall shew afterwards So that it being impossible to exercise this Charity to all Men that stand in need of it 't is necessary to make a difference and to use Prudence and Discretion in the Choice of the most fit and proper Objects We do not know the Wants of all men and therefore the bounds of our Knowledge do of necessity limit our Charity within a certain compass and of those whom we do know we can relieve but a small part for want of Ability from whence it follows that tho' a man were never so Charitably disposed yet he must of necessity set some Rules to himself for the management of his Charity to the best advantage What those Rules are cannot minutely and nicely be determined when all is done much must be left to every man's prudence and discretion upon a full view and consideration of the Case before him and all the Circumstances of it but yet such general Rules may be given as may serve for the direction of our Practice in most Cases and for the rest every man's prudence as well as it can must determine the matter And the Rules which I shall give shall be these First Cases of Extremity ought to take the first place and do for that time challenge precedence of all other Considerations If a Person be in great and present Distress and his Necessity so urgent that if he be not immediately relieved he must perish this is so violent a Case and calls so loud for present help that there is no resisting of it whatever the Person be though a perfect Stranger to us though most unworthy though the greatest Enemy we have in the World yet the greatness of his Distress does so strongly plead
Goodness of God is then greatest when it is exercised towards the evil and unthankful those who are so far from deserving it that they have given great and just Provocations to the contrary And this affection and temper of Mind which is so remarkable in God towards the unworthy and unthankful Sons of Men our Saviour recommends to our imitation here in the Text. Be ye therefore Perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect Be ye therefore this Particle of inference therefore hath a plain relation to something spoken before and if we look back to v. 44. we shall find our Saviour there enjoyning his Disciples to love their Enemies to bless them that curse them to do good to them that hate them and to pray for those that despightfully use them and persecute them And by what other argument doth he inforce the Practice of this difficult Duty but by telling us that this is to be like God to be good to the evil and unthankful v. 45. That ye may be the Children of your Heavenly Father who maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and his Rain to fall on the just and on the unjust God is good to all and exerciseth great Mercy and Patitience even towards the evil and unjust And then he concludes that if Perfection it self be fit to be a Pattern we should labour after these Qualities Be ye therefore Perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect So that though the universal Perfection of the Divine Nature be here supposed yet the Attributes of his Goodness and Mercy and Patience are here particularly pointed at and propounded to us for our Pattern and the Precept of imitating the Divine Perfection is more especially to be understood of those Perfections which our Saviour had been discoursâ—â—â— of before viz. the Goodness and Mercy of God And that this is undoubtedly so is evident from St. Luke's rendring this Precept Ch. 6.36 Be ye therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benefici ready to do good full of kindness and benignity merciful as your Father which is in Heaven is merciful that is endeavour you to be such as I have described God to be And this St. Matthew calls Perfection because the Goodness of God is his great Perfection and the Glory of the Divine Nature that which reflects a lustre and beauty upon all his other Attributes and takes off the terrour of them From all which it is plain what those Perfections of the Divine Nature are which our Saviour doth here particularly recommend to our imitation I come now in the IV. and last place To clear the true meaning of this Precept and to shew that the Duty here required and intended by our Saviour when he says Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect is not impossible to us And to this purpose be pleased to consider these three or four things 1. That our imitation of God is certainly restrained to the communicable Perfections of God and such as Creatures are capable of as I have shewn before For it is so far from being a Duty to affect or attempt to be like God in his peculiar Perfections that it was probably the Sin of the Apostate Angels 2. Our imitation of the Divine Perfections which are communicable to Creatures is likewise to be restrain'd to such degrees of these Perfections as Creatures are capable of For no Creature can ever be so perfectly Good as God is nor partake of any other Excellency in that transcendent degree in which the Divine Nature is possest of it 3. But there is no manner of inconvenience in having a Pattern propounded to us of so great Perfection as is above our reach to attain to and there may be great Advantages in it The way to excel in any kind is optima quaeque exempla ad imitandum proponere to propose the highest and most perfect Examples to our imitation No Man can write after too perfect and good a Copy and though he can never reach the Perfection of it yet he is like to learn more than by one less perfect He that aims at the Heavens which yet he is sure to come short of is like to shoot higher than he that aims at a mark within his reach Besides that the excellency of the Pattern as it leaves room for continual improvement so it kindles Ambition and makes Men strain and contend to the utmost to do better And though he can never hope to equal the Example before him yet he will endeavour to come as near it as he can So that a perfect Pattern is no hindrance but an advantage rather to our improvement in any kind 4. If any thing can be supposed to be our Duty which is absolutely beyond our Power a Precept of this nature may with as much reason be supposed to be so as any thing that can be instanc'd in Because in such a case if we do our best and be continnually pressing forward towards the Mark though we can never reach it yet we do very commendably and whatever the law may require to try and raise our Obedience yet in all equitable Interpretation such a Will and Endeavour will be acceptable with God for the Deed. For if the Perfection of the Law do really exceed our Ability and be beyond the possibility of our Performance the assurance we have of God's Goodness will sufficiently secure us from any danger and prejudice upon on that account And we may reasonably presume that to do all we can towards the fulfilling of this Precept will be as acceptable to God and as beneficial to our selves as if our Power had been greater and we had perfectly fulfill'd it If our Heavenly Father to try the readiness and chearfulness of our Obedience bid us do that which he knows we cannot do though we can do something towards it we may be sure that he will be very well pleased when he sees that in obedience to him we have done all that we could And we may in this case reason as our Saviour does If we that are evil would deal thus with our Children how much more shall our Heavenly Father The Goodness of God signifies very little if it does not signifie this that in any instance of real and unquestionable Goodness God is much better than any Father upon Earth However at the worst that wherein we fall short of the Perfection of the Law may be supplyed on our part by an humble acknowledgment of our own Weakness and Imperfection and on God's part by Mercy and Forgiveness for the sake of the perfect Obedience of our blessed Redeemer This is the least benefit we can expect in this case from the Grace and Mercy and Equity of the Gospel 5. And lastly which will fully clear this matter this Precept doth not oblige us to come up to a perfect equality with the Pattern propounded to us but only imports a vigorous imitation