earnestly but his sweat was as it were great Drops of Blood falling to the Ground What made this Amazement and dreadfull Agony in the Mind of the most innocent Person in the World Was it merely the Fear of the Pains of Death which he was to undergo That is impossible considering the Assurance which he had of so glorious a Reward so soon following after when so many Martyrs endured such exquisite Torments for his sake without any such Disturbance or Coâ—sternation But the Apostles give us another Account of it St. Peter saith he was to bear our Sins in his own body on the tree that Christ suffer'd for Sins the just for the unjust St. Paul that God made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Hereby we understand how so innocent a Person came to suffer he stood in our stead he was made Sin for us and therefore was to be treated as a Sinner and to suffer that on our Account which he could not deserve on his own If he suffer'd on his own Account this were the way to fill our Minds with perplexity concerning the Justice of Providence with respect to his dealings with the most innocent and holy Persons in this World if he suffer'd on our Account then we have the Benefit of his Sufferings and therein we see how displeasing to God sin is when even his own Son suffer'd so much by taking the guilt of our Sins upon him And what can tend more to the begetting in us a due hatred of sin than to consider what Christ himself suffer'd on the Account of it What can make us have more dreadfull thoughts of it than that the great and mercifull God when he designed to save Sinners yet would have his own Son to become a Propitiation for the Sins of Mankind And unless we allow this we must put force upon the plainest Expressions of Scripture and make Christ to suffer meerly to shew God's Power over a most innocent Person and his Will and Pleasure to inflict the most severe Punishment without any Respect to Guilt And surely such a Notion of God cannot be worthy of all Acceptation 3. Which tends most to strengthen our Hope of Salvation by Christ Jesus If we believe that he suffer'd for our Sins then we have great Reason to hope for the Forgiveness of them although they have been many and great if we sincerely repent because the most prevailing Argument for Despair will be removed which is taken from the Justice of God and his declared Hatred of Sin and Displeasure against Sinners If God be so much in earnest displeased with the Sins of Mankind and his Justice be concerned in the Punishment of Sinners how can they ever hope to escape unless there be a way for his Displeasure to be removed and his Justice to be satisfied And this the Scripture tells us is done by Christ who died that he might be a Sacrifice of Attonement to reconcile us to God by his Death as St. Paul expresly affirms And by this means we may have strong Consolation from the Hopes of Forgiveness of our Sins Whereas if this be taken away either Men must believe that God was not in earnest displeased with the Sins of Mankind which must exceedingly lessen our Esteem of the Holiness and Justice of God or if he were so displeased that he laid aside this Displeasure without any Atonement or Sacrifice of Expiation And so as many as look on God's Justice and Holiness as necessary and essential Attributes of God will be in danger of sinking into the Depths of Despair as often as they reflect seriously on the Guilt of their Sins But on the other side if we believe that while we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son then we may have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and have Reason to believe that there will be no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus by a lively Faith and sincere Repentance then they may with Comfort look up to God as a reconciled Father through Jesus Christ our Mediatour then they may with inward Satisfaction look beyond the Grave and stedfastly hope for that Salvation which Christ purchased on Earth and will at last bestow on all such as love and obey him To which God of his Infinite Mercy bring us all through Jesus Christ. For This is a faithfull Saying and worthy of all Acceptation that he came into the World to save Sinners SERMON VII Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 1st 1690 1. S. Luke VI. 46. And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say THese few Words contain in them a smart and â—erious Expostâ—lation of our Blessed Saviour with such who proâ—essed great Kindness to him in their Worâ—s but shew'd no Regard to his Commands They owned him to be the Messias and depended upon him for their Happiness and were willing enough to be known to be his Disciples and Followers but yet his Doctrine made little Impression on their Minds and scarce any Alteration in the Course of their Lives They loved to be where Christ was to hear his Doctrine to see his Miracles to observe his Conversation to admire what he did and said but herein lay the whole of their Religion for although they named the name of Christ and it may be rejoyced and glory'd in it yet they did not depart from iniquity Now considering the Circumstances of that time this seems to have been an unaccountable kind of Hypocrisie For their calling Christ Lord Lord spoiled their Interest in this World and not doing what he said debarr'd them from the hopes of Happiness by him in another For if they own'd him to be their Lord they were bound to believe him in what he declared and there is nothing he doth more expresly warn men of than hoping to be saved by him without obeying his Commands Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Which is shorter expressed but to the same purpose here by S. Luke And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say As though he had said to them It is in vain to think to please and flatter me with your Words when your Actions are disagreeable to them To call me Lord Lord is to own my Authority in commanding you but to do this and yet wilfully to disobey me is to shew your Hypocrisie and Folly together Which Expostulation of Christ was not confined to that time no more than his Commands were but it hath always the same Force where Persons are guilty of the same Folly For although now none can plead for themselves as they did We have eaten and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets yet we
to the Divine Perfections which are all wholly Spiritual then from the same Râ—ason we must remove all Perturbations from it which are as inconsistent with the absolute Perfection of it as Eyes and Ears and Hands and Feet are although they are all mention'd in Scripture From whence we justly inferr that there is a wonderfull Condescention to the ordinary Capacities and common Apprehensions of Mankind in the Language of Scripture concerning the Divine Nature which makes deeper impressions on meaner understandings and those who are of finer thoughts will see cause to attribute only such a Sense of things relating to God as is consistent with his Infinite and Divine Perfections But what now shall we say to this Tenderness and Compassion of God towards penitent Sinners Can he be moved by our Trouble and Sorrow and Acts of Contrition for our Sins If we be righteous what doth it profit the Almighty And if we be evil how can it hurt him And if when we have sinned we repent we do no more than is fitting for us but why should we imagine the Great and Wise God should have Compassion upon us when we become sensible of our own Folly For when we sin against God wilfully deliberately knowingly habitually we do what lies in us to provoke him to Wrath and Indignation against us we reject his wise Government we slight his righteous Laws we preferr the pleasing our corrupt Inclinations and sensual Lusts before our heavenly Father And what can be more provoking to him than to be so despised by one who had his Being and all the Comforts of Life from him Suppose now such a disobedient rebellious Son as here in the Parable be made sensible of his Folly is his Father bound to receive him Was it not his own choice to go from him If he hath suffered by his Folly he may thank himself for it and if his Father lets him alone in it he hath no cause to complain But such was the Tenderness of the Father towards his repenting Son that he shew'd the greatest Compassion imaginable for he did not stay at home expecting his Son 's solemn Submission before his Family but he ran towards him and fell upon his Neck and kissed him What Conceptions now ought we to have of God's Compassion towards penitent Sinners answerable to all this This I shall endeavour to clear in these Particulars 1. That God's hatred is not primarily against Persons who are his Creatures but against that which is evil which is none of his making and against Persons only so far as they are corrupted with Evil. Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Wickedness faith the Psalmist God hates nothing for its own sake but Sin and for the sake of that he hates all Workers of Iniquity 2. There may be Good-will towards the Person of a Sinner at the same time when God discovers the hatred of his Sins I do not say God takes any Pleasure in him while he goes on in Sin for that is against the Eternal Rules of Righteousness in God but that he may have so much Good-will towards him as to design to reduce him from his evil Ways And this every Father finds in himself towards a disobedient Son while he hates his evil Courses yet he would make use of the best Methods to bring him to himself and to his Duty And upon this is grounded that Love and Kindness of God towards Mankind in sending his Son to be our Saviour and all the Promises and Invitations which are made to Sinners in the Doctrine of the Gospel 3. It is very agreeable to Infinite Wisdom and Goodness for God to shew himself full of Pity and Compassion towards penitent Sinners i. e. so as to forgive them their former Sins and to receive them into his Favour For Pity and Compassion in God is to be judged not according to the inward Motions we find in our selves but according to these two things 1. A readiness to do good to his Creatures according to their Necessities Which being in general is his Bounty and Goodness but considered with respect to the Persons of Sinners it is his Clemency or readiness to forgive and with respect to the Punishment they deserve by their Sins it is his Mercy and Pity Which in us is Aegritudo ex Miseriâ— alterius and therefore called Misericordia because the Heart is touched with the Sense of another's Misery but we are not so to apprehend it in God but that such is the Goodness of God towards repenting Sinners that he is as willing to shew Mercy as they are to repent 2. God's Pity and Compassion lies in the proper Effects of it which here in the Case of the Prodigal were passing by his former Extravagances and receiving him into as much Favour as if he had not gone astray This my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found Those who think they stand not in need of so much pardoning Mercy as others do are apt to repine at the Favour shew'd to great Sinners when they repent and therefore the Elder Brother could not bear the expressing so much kindness towards such a disobedient Son though now a Penitent But that there is nothing disagreeing to Infinite Wisdom and Goodness in such Compassion towards penitent Sinners will more fully appear if we consider 1. That God is not bound to deal with Sinners according to the utmost Rigour and Severity of his Justice Because he is under no fatal Necessity no superiour Law and therefore may act freely in the forgiving Offenders as seems best to his Infinite Wisdom The whole Race of Mankind is a perpetual Evidence that God doth not act according to the strictness of his Justice for if he had dealt with them after their Sins or rewarded them according to their Iniquities their Spirits would have failed before him and the Souls which he had made they had been long since destroy'd from the Face of the Earth and not suffer'd to continue in their Provocations But God hath not only forborn Sinners long when he might justly have punished them but he gives them many real Blessings and Comforts of Life freely and bountifully Now if God deal so mercifully with Sinners while they continue such is there not greater Reason to suppose he will be far more so when they cease to be such 2. A penitent Sinner doth what in him lies to vindicate God's Honour I do not say he can make satisfaction to Divine Justice for that is impossible for him to do and God hath provided for that by his own Son whom he hath made a Propitiation for the Sins of the World But a true Penitent takes all the Shame and Dishonour to himself he clears the Justice of God's Government and the Equity of his Laws and owns himself guilty of unspeakable Folly in his Disobedience O how justly saith he might God have taken me away in the midst of my Sins when my Conscience checked
highest Testimonies even by the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God and all the Miracles wrought in Confirmation of it and of the Truth of his Doctrine 3. There are several Degrees of Wilfulness and Obstinacy and Men's Judgments shall be according to them Some Men's Capacities Opportunities and Helps have very much exceeded others some have broken through stronger Convictions and more powerfull Assistances of Grace than others some have had more early Instructions more frequent Warnings more obliging Favours from Heaven than others And as it is reasonable that Persons suffer for their obstinate Continuance in Sin so that they should suffer according to the Degrees and Circumstances of it 4. It is no unjust Severity in God to deprive Men of that Happiness which they have wilfully refused and to condemn them to that Misery which their Sins have deserved Hath not God made the most condescending Offer of Mercy and Salvation that it is possible for Creatures to expect from him after so many and great Provocations Could Heaven stoop lower than it hath done to vile and ungratefull Sinners When the Son of God came down from Heaven on purpose to reconcile God and Man together When the Spirit of God warns and excites their Minds to the Consideration of their Eternal Welfare When the Messengers of this Reconciliation are to woo and intreat and beseech Sinners in Christ's stead as tho' God did beseech them by them that they would be reconciled to God When the Patience and Goodness and Long suffering of God is exercised so much on purpose to lead them to Repentance When God instead of perfect Obedience is willing to pardon and pass by so many Offences if they truly repent of them and to receive them still into his Favour and Mercy When after all this Men do rather preferr the present Pleasures of Sin before all that Happiness which God so freely offers is it any Injustice in him to suffer them for ever to be deprived of that which they so wilfully so ungratefully so obstinately refused And supposing the Souls of Men to subsist in another World free from all those Clouds of Errour and Mistake and the false Notions they are deceived by here as well as all the Diversions and Pleasures of this Life it is not to be imagined but they must for ever suffer an intolerable Anguish within called A Worm that never dies and a Fire that never goes out from the Reflections upon their own Folly What Vengeance beyond this God may inflict we now know not may none of us ever know it but we are sure it will never exceed the Proportion and Desert of their Sins Which is sufficient to clear the Justice of God in his Proceedings with Mankind in the Day of Judgment 2. It remains now only to shew by what means God's bringing us to Judgment may make a deeper Impression upon our Minds By considering these two things 1. That our not considering it will not make our Condition better but much worse 2. That our Considering it is the best means to prevent the evil Consequences of it 1. Our not considering it will not make our Conditon better There were great Reason indeed to walk in the way of our hearts and in the sight of our eyes and never trouble our selves with what will happen at the great Day if the putting it out of our Heads would make our Accounts the easier when it comes But alas Whether we think of it or no the Account runs on and we must answer to every particular at last and how unprovided shall we be if we spend no time here in examining stating and clearing of them as far as we are able It is a mighty Privilege we have by the Gospel that God allows us to clear our Accounts with him in this World For if we would judge our selves we shall not be judged i. e. If we call our selves to a strict Account for our Actions if we repent heartily and sincerely of our Sins if we seek earnestly to God for Mercy if we have our Consciences cleansed by the Blood of Christ from the Pollution of our Sins then we may with Joy and Peace in our Minds think of the Great Day of Recompence But if we never enter into our selves to search and examine our own Actions never look into the Habits of our own Minds nor charge our selves with the Guilt of the Sins we have committed how can we ever hope to escape the Scrutiny or avoid the Severity of that Day For our Account continually increases by our Neglect of it and the Burthen of God's Wrath must be so much heavier when we have taken no care to lessen it but after our hardness and impenitent hearts have only treasured up wrath against the day of wrath 2. Our considering that God will bring us to Judgment is the best means to prevent the evil Consequences of it For although we cannot hope to plead Innocency yet which is next in Point of Wisdom this is the most effectual Motive to bring us to Repentance And that which makes us repent makes us to grow wise in time and to lay a good Foundation for Eternal Life There are many Arguments to induce us to it in the Folly and Shame of our Sins the Wisdom of Reflection and Reformation the Instances of it and Exhortations to it recorded in Scripture but there is none more sensible and which touches Men more in Point of Interest and Concernment than this of a Judgment to come Must I then saith a penitent Sinner give a strict Account to God of all the evil Actions of my Life and suffer according to the Desert of them if I die in Impenitency How much doth it then concern me to repent betimes to repent in good earnest to repent while there is hopes of Mercy Away then all ye deceitfull Vanities of this wicked World ye have too long deceived and seduced me What will all this vain shew this busie Seducer this impertinent Outside of the World signifie when I must be stript of all and stand guilty and accused by my own Conscience before the Judgment-Seat of Christ Oh! how wretched shall I be if my Conscience condemns me before the Sentence of the Judge Therefore I am resolved to prevent the Judgment of that Day I will accuse judge and condemn my self nay I will proceed to Execution as to all the vitious Habits and corrupt Inclinations within me And although I cannot wholly mortifie them yet I will crucifie them i. e. nail them to the Cross and allow them no longer Liberty and albeit they may struggle for a time yet I will never give way to their Dominion over me any more that so Death and Judgment may find me prepared if not with unspotted Innocency yet with hearty and sincere Repentance To conclude all let the Consideration of this Day of Judgment to come enter deep into our Minds and awaken us out of our Lethargy and
forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin And the Psalmist useth the very same similitude of a Father's Pity to his Children Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him And when the Prophet speaks of God's thoughts and ways being so much above Man's it is for this end to prove thereby that God may shew more pity to Mankind than they find in their hearts to shew to one another Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For my thoughts are not your thoughts c. But setting aside all this the whole Scheme of the Gospel is drawn upon the Supposition of God's Pity and Compassion towards penitent Sinners which is the Reason our Saviour insists so much on the Proof of it in this whole Chapter Wherein we not only read of Joy in Heaven at the Repentance of a Sinner but the Compassion of God Almighty towards a penitent Sinner is set forth with all the tenderness of an indulgent Father running into the Embraces of his Son when he saw him at a distance coming towards him What now is the meaning of all this Are we to conceive of God as one like to our selves who either do not see faults in those we love or do not hate them as we should do or are too apt to pass them over or are at first it may be apt to be angry upon a slight provocation and then as easily made Friends upon as little Reason as we were made Angry But none of these things ought to enter into our Minds concerning God with respect to the Follies of Mankind And in this Case if we will form in our Minds right and true Conceptions of the Divine Nature as we ought to do we must have a great Care lest we attribute any thing to God which looks like Weakness and Imperfection as the Motions and Changes of Passions do therefore to understand his Pity and Compassion and Reconciliation to penitent Sinners we must first know what his Anger and Displeasure against Sinners mean Some think that Epicurus did in earnest believe a God but he was therefore forced to deny Providence because he could not conceive that the Government of the World could be managed without such resentments as were inconsistent with the complete Happiness of the Divine Being and therefore he rather chose to make him careless and easie than active and liable to Passion The Stoicks attributed to God all that was good and kind and obliging but would by no means endure that ever he should be said to be angry or displeased which Doctrine did in effect overthrow Providence with respect to moral Actions as much as the Epicureans For if God did not regard the difference of Men's Actions but was equally kind to them whether they did good or evil such a Providence would have as little influence on Men's Lives as if there were none at all We must then suppose if we would uphold Religion and Morality in the World not only that there is a Providence but that God hath a different regard to Men according to the Good or Evil of their Actions The Regard he hath to Men for being good and doing good is called his Love his Kindness his Good-will his Grace and Favour that which he hath to things that are Evil is called his Hatred that which he hath to Persons for doing Evil is his Anger Wrath Displeasure Indignation according to the different Nature and Circumstances of their evil Actions But in order to the preventing any false or mean Apprehensions of the Divine Nature when the Passions of Mankind are attributed to it we must consider these two things 1. That we must by no means attribute to God any thing that is unreasonable in our selves such are all irregular Motions which we call violent Passions arising from Surprize Mistake Inadvertency Weakness or corrupt Inclination But setting all these aside the original Passions of Mankind which are agreeable to Reason are no other than what arise from an Inclination to what we judge to be good and an Aversion from what we apprehend to be evil which holds as to the Divine Nature 2. That there is an observable Difference in the very Nature of some Passions which imply a Repugnancy in themselves to the Divine Perfections which others do not For Love and Kindness and Joy and inward Satisfaction have nothing in them supposing their Object good but what agrees with the Divine Nature but the Passions contrary to these as Envy â—ll-will and Revenge are not only repugnant as Passions but in their own Nature for God cannot envy the Good of his Creatures nor bear ill-will to them as such nor take pleasure in their Torments And of this Nature Anger properly taken is as it doth imply a present Disorder and Disturbance within from the Apprehension of some Injury done or intended with a Desire of Revenge on those who do it all which is inconsistent with the necessary Perfections of God for they argue Meanness Imperfection and Mutability We must therefore fix on such a Notion of Anger as becomes the Almighty Wisdom and Goodness and that lies in 1. A Displeasure against the Sinner on the account of his Sins for God cannot have any Complacency in those who displease him as all Sinners do whether they design it or not 2. A Will to punish Sinners according to their Demerits which being according to the Rules of Wisdom and Righteous Government cannot be said to argue an indecent Passion 3. The actual Execution of his Justice upon great Provocations And so God is said to be angry when he punishes especially when he doth it suddenly and severely as Men in their Passion are wont to do But whatever God doth in this kind he doth it with the Wisdom and Temper of a Judge and not with the Fury or Passion of an angry Being And there is nothing in all this unbecoming the Divine Nature but very agreeable thereto And this is all which in strictness of Reason is understood by God's being angry with Mankind For we must never imagine that God acts according to sudden Heats and Passions but whatever he doth is according to the Counsels of infinite Wisdom and Goodness I do not deny that the Scripture doth represent Anger in God as if it were a Passion raised upon great Provocation and capable of being laid by Submission and true Repentance Thence we read of God's Wrath waxing hot of his Anger kindling against his People and his turning away from his fierce Anger and many such Expressions but so we read of the Fire of his Indignation the Sword of his Wrath the Stretching forth of his Hand which all grant are not to be literally understood If then in these Expressions the Perfections of the Divine Nature are to be our Rule according to which we must interpret them because the literal sence implies an incongruity
me for my Sins and yet I had no heart to repent of them When I could not but see my danger and yet was unwilling to come out of it I can never be sufficiently thankfull for so great a Mercy as his bringing me to my self hath been I had gone on in the same secure stupid senseless Condition that others lie in if he had not throughly awaken'd me and roused me out of my impenitent State How dreadfull had my Condition for ever been if my first awakening had been in the Flames of Hell Nothing but infinite Goodness and Patience would have waited so long for the Repentance of such an Offender as I have been I have sinned so often that I am ashamed to think of the Number of my Transgressions so deeply that I am confounded at the thoughts of them so foolishly that I am unworthy to be called thy Son who have acted so unlike thy Children so the prodigal Son here speaks to his Father And if thou wouldst admit me but to the meanest Condition of thy Servants I shall ever esteem it as the greatest Privilege of my Life and endeavour to serve Thee for the future tho' in the lowest Capacity Thus the repenting Prodigal goes on v 19. And in a suitable Manner every true Penitent behaves himself towards God with great Humility and a deep Sense of his own Unworthiness and is thereby rendred more capable of Divine Favour For God reâ—steth the proud but giveth grace to the humble And therefore it is very agreeable to infinite Wisdom and Goodness to shew pity towards a truly humble and penitent Sinner For a broken and contrite heart he will not despise 3. If God were not so full of Compassion to penitent Sinners there would have been no incouragement for Sinners to repent but they must have sunk into everlasting Despair For if God should forgive none that Sin then all Mankind must be condemned to Eternal Misery for all have sinned and there is not a just Man upon Earth who sinneth not and so the best and worst and all forts of Sinners must here suffer together which would have taken away all the Notion of any such thing as Mercy and Clemency in God towards Mankind But if we set bounds to it as to some particular kinds and degrees of sinning we limit that which is infinite we determine what we know not viz. how far God's Mercy doth extend we destroy the Power of Divine Grace in changing and reforming the worst of Men. But the Scriture hath recorded some remarkable Instances of great Sinners who have been great Penitents and upon that have been pardon'd such as Manasses and some others that no penitent Sinner might be discouraged in the Work of Repentance For a true Penitent searching to the bottom and setting all his Sins before him with their several Aggravations can be kept from Despair by nothing less than the Infinite Mercy of God to those who truly repent 4. Because there is nothing so provoking in Sin as obstinate Impenitency and Continuance in it It is true God hates all Sin for its own sake but not all equally some Sins being of a higher Nature than others are being against plainer Light stronger Convictions more easie Commands stricter Obligations than others are but yet it is the Temper of a Sinner's Mind which is most provoking when Sins are committed not through Infirmity or sudden Surprize or a violent Temptation but habitually knowingly wilfully especially when they are done in Contempt of God and his Laws and with an obstinate Resolution to continue in the Practice of them This is so provoking to God that the chief Reason of the severe Punishments of Sinners in another World is taken from thence because God hates obstinate and impenitent Sinners And thus he will by no means acquit the Guilty There is a Sin unto death saith St. John and there is a Sin not unto death There is a Sin unto death which Christ hath said he will never pardon and that is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost a Sin which none who do truly own Christianity are capable of committing But is there then no Sin unto death to them Yes it is possible for Men who have clear Convictions in their minds of the Truth of the Gospel to act so plainly and wilfully and directly against it as either to provoke God to take them away by an extraordinary Judgment and so it is properly a Sin unto death or to withdraw his Grace from them and leave them to the hardness of their own Hearts and so it becomes a Sin unto a Spiritual death But besides these Cases every wilfull Sinner who adds Impenitency to his Sin commits the Sin unto death because there is no other Condition of Pardon allow'd by the Gospel without true Repentance How infinite is the Goodness of God that excludes no Sinners from the hopes of Pardon who have a heart to repent sinâ—erely of their Sins And how just is God in the final Punishment of those Sinners who still go on in their Sins and refuse to repent after all the Invitations and Incouragements which are given them to that End Can we in Reason suppose that God should stoop lower towards Sinners than to offer them pardon of former Sins if they do repent and to tell them they must expect no Mercy in another World if they do not repent But suppose we are come thus far that we are convinced we must repent what Course and Method must we take in order to it Of this briefly and so to conclude Secondly I know no better than to follow the Example of the prodigal Son here And in the first place to form a present sincere fixed and peremptory Resolution of doâ—ng it I will arise and go to my Father c. If we suffer Convictions to cool upon our Minds the force and spirit of them will soon be gone It hath been of late observed by the strictest Enquirers into Nature that the beginnings of Life are very small and hardly discernible It is but as a spark that appears and may easily be exstinguished but if it be incouraged by a continual heat a wonderfull Alteration soon follows and the distinct parts begin to be formed the first which is discerned is the Eye but the Fountain of Life is in the Heart and when the Course of the Bloud is there setled the other parts come to their due formation with greater quickness This may be a Representation of the first Beginnings of Spiritual Life that which answers to the Eye is the Conviction of the Mind where the inward Change first appears that which answers to the Heart is Resolution and when that is fixed a mighty Reformation will soon follow But Spiritual Life as well as Natural is in its first Beginnings a very nice and tender thing it may be easily stopt and very hardly recovered It is therefore of very great Concernment to keep up the Warmth of our
Assistance to sincere and humble Minds And that Assistance carries a Lumen Fidei into the Mind as Aquinas calls it 2. 2. a 3 ad 2. and by that he saith the Mind is united to Truth that its Assent is only fixed upon it and therefore there is no danger of Damnation to those who are in Christ Jesus and are thus illuminated by Faith in him Not that this is an Argument to convince others who have not that inward Sense which they have but the same Holy Spirit which did at first indite them may give such an inward and effectual Testimony as to the Truth of the Matter contained in them that from thence they may firmly conclude these Books to contain the Word of God And that Assurance which the Minds of good Men have from the Influence of Divine Grace may be more effectual and powerfull in them than all the pretended Infallibility or Demonstration in the World It is certain those cannot be deceived whom the Holy Spirit teacheth and the best and wisest of the Antient Schoolmen did make the great firmness and certainty of Faith not to depend on outward Motives but on inward Grace which so inlightned the Mind and fixed the Inclinations of the Soul that nothing is able to remove it This sort of Faith is no blind Assent but after all the Evidence which it hath to make its Assent reasonable it takes so fast a hold of Divine Truths by discerning the excellency and value of them that he that hath it is willing to let go any thing rather than that and although the Apprehension of Faith be not so clear as that of Science yet the Hypostasis as the Apostle calls it may be so firm that no Temptations may be able to shake it And he that can die for his Religion hath a stronger and better Fâ—ith than he that thinks himself never so infallible in the Grounds of it That is a true Divine Faith which purifies the Heart and thereby enlightens the Mind which works by Love and not by cavilling and wrangling about the Grounds of it which overcomes the World and not that which is overcome by the Temptations of it And such a Faith and only such a one will carry us to Heaven when if it were possible for us to have the utmost Infallibility in the Act of believing yet if it did not work effectually on our Hearts and Lives we might go infallibly to Hell And so I shall conclude this Discourse with the second Sense of the Obligation which lies on those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord so to walk in him i. e. to improve their sound Faith into the Practice of a good Life For alas What advantage will it be to us to have the most Primitive and Apostolical Faith if our Works be not answerable to it Why call ye me Lord Lord saith Christ and do not the things which I say Why do we pretend to receive Christ Jesus the Lord if we do not observe his Commands It is good saith St. Paul to be zealously affected always in a good thing And no doubt our Faith is such but then let us be zealous of good Works too that we may shew our selves to be that peculiar People who are redeemed by Jesus Christ. So that our Obligation arises every way from Christ Jesus the Lord to walk in him if we consider him as our Lord so we are to obey him if as Christ Jesus so he died for us to redeem us from all iniquity We can have no pretence to live in our sins if we have received him who commands us to forsake them for then we receive and reject him at the same time Let every one that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity saith St. Paul what should those then do that profess to receive him as their Lord who are thereby bound to yield obedience to his Laws one of the great causes of the Degeneracy of the Heathen World was the separating Religion and Morality when this was left to the Schools of Philosophers to instruct men in whereas their Religion consisted only of some Solemn Rites and Sacrifices Let us have a care of as dangerous a Separation between Faith and Works or which is all one between receiving Christ and doing his Will For those are the proper Works of the Gospel wherein we own Christ as our Lord and do them because he commands us And the Apostle hath summ'd up the whole Duty of Christians in those comprehensive words Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom c. SERMON III. Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL February the 22 d 1688 9. 1 Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear THis Epistle was written by S. Peter for the Incouragement of Christians under all their Sufferings but these Words seem to carry so much Terrour and Severity in them as though none but Martyrs and Confessors could have any Reason to hope for Salvation and all others were to be left in Despair Although Mankind be not easily satisfied concerning the Punishment denounced against the Ungodly and Sinner yet the Justice of God the Equity of his Commands the Freedom of their Choice the Contempt of Grace and their wilfull and obstinate Impenitency take away all just Cause of Complaint But that the Righteous should scarcely be saved seems hardly reconcilable with the Grace and Design and Promises of the Gospel For the Righteous here are not vain proud self-conceited Hypocrites such who think they need no Repentance but such who by the Grace of God were brought off from their former Sins and were redeemed from their vain Conversation with the precious Blood of Christ who had purified their Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit Who were a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People yet of such as these it is said if the Righteous scarcely be saved But how can this agree with the infinite Goodness and Mercy of God declared in the Gospel whereby Sinners are courted and encouraged to repent with the Hopes and Promise of Salvation Did not Christ come to save Sinners and St. Paul call this a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation and yet after all shall the Righteous scarcely be saved What Joy in Heaven can there be over one Sinner that repents if after his Repentance it be so hard to come to Heaven Doth not Christ himself invite those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him with a Promise that he will give rest to their Souls But what Rest can they have who notwithstanding their coming to him do with so much difficulty attain to Eternal Rest How can that
they have not the Heart and Courage to examine them whether they be reasonable or not but rather choose to return to their former Opiates than undergo the trouble of an effectual Cure by a hearty Repentance and coming to themselves as the prodigal Son in the Parable did when his Hardship had brought him to Consideration We do not know what had become of him if he had been wise and frugal in his Pleasures if he had taken care of a good Stock and a plentifull Subsistence but he first came to be pinched with want before he was awakened to repent But we have in Scripture a more remarkable Instance of the stupifying Nature of sensual Pleasures and that was in David after his Sins of Adultery and Murther It is a wonder how a Man of such a tender Conscience in other things should continue so long under the Guilt of these Enormities without being awakened to Repentance Did he not know these to be great Sins And did not his Conscience charge him with the Guilt of them How came he then to need a Prophet to be sent to him and to deal so plainly with him as to tell him Thou art the Man But this is a plain Evidence how much the Pleasures of Sin are apt to stupifie Men's Consciences so far that unless God by his Grace be pleased to awaken them thoroughly they never come to a sincere and hearty Repentance David saw nothing more as to the Guilt of his Sins when he penn'd his 51st Psalm than his own Reason and Natural Conscience might inform him before but he had quite another Sense of his Sins then his Heart was broken and his Soul wounded under the Apprehension of God's Displeasure and this makes him pray so earnestly and so importunately to God for the Pardon of his Sins And if it were thus in the case of a Man otherwise after God's own heart i. e. afraid of offending him and carefull to please him what may we imagine it to be in those who in the time of Youth walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes i. e. allowing themselves in all sensual Inclinations and pursuing carnal Delights so far till they have lost all Sense of God and another World and such as these nothing but the powerfull Influences of Divine Grace can awaken and recover 3. The third Reason is A General Presumption upon God's Mercy The first thing which Sinners in the Heat of their Youth and Pursuit of their Lusts aim at is to think as little as may be of what they are doing or what will be the Consequence of their Actions For every thought of themselves is very uneasie to them and every thought of God is much more so therefore they drive away all such Thoughts by one Means or other by Sleep Diversion Company and such publick Entertainments as rather heighten and inflame their Vices than correct them If all this will not do but there will be some melancholy Hours wherein Conscience begins to rouze it self and to awaken the Sinner to some Sense of his Folly then he is ready to hearken with Pleasure to any Raileries against Religion and Morality and admires the Wit of any one who dares say a bold and sharp thing against the Wisdom of all Ages and of the best Men in them And one or two such Sayings without Proof are cried up as far beyond the best Rules of Morality or the Evidence of natural and revealed Religion Any Sceptical Disputes are sufficient Demonstrations to them and the most unreasonable Cavils against Religion are embraced because against the thing they hate and even a Jest against the Day of Judgment shall signifie more with them than the strongest Arguments in the World to prove it The true Reason is they love their Vices and hate every thing which makes them uneasie to them and nothing doth more so than the thoughts of a Judgment to come But suppose after all the terrible and frequent Expressions of Scripture concerning the Day of Judgment joyned with the Reasonableness of the thing do make such Impression on their Minds that they cannot wholly shake off the Fears and Apprehensions of it then their last Endeavour is to mitigate and lessen them from a General Presumption of God's Mercifull Nature and therefore they are willing to suppose that however God to keep the World in awe hath threatned them with the dreadfull Severities of the Great Day yet as a tender Father who threatens his disobedient Son in order to reclaim him with no less than disinheriting him for ever yet when it comes to Execution he may relent not from his Son's Deserts but his own Compassion so they hope or believe or are willing to do so that God at the Great Day will not proceed according to the Rigour which he hath threatned to use And to comfort themselves in these hopes they find out all possible Extenuations of their Sins If we say they had been created purely intellectual Beings free from this load of Flesh and the Inclinations which are natural to it then it had been more reasonable to have called us to a strict Account for every Action of our Lives for then every Inclination to Evil must have come from our Minds but now our Bodies corrupt and draw them aside and the Inclinations to Evil grow faster than our Reason which should check and restrain them And when those Inclinations are strongest Men have not that Judgment which is necessary to the Government of unruly Passions So that the very Frame of humane Nature seems to plead for Sins committed in the Heat and Violence of Youth Besides such is the Strictness and Purity of the Law of God and so great the Weakness and Disability the Ignorance and Inadvertency of Mankind that if God will make no Allowance for humane Frailty who can stand before his Tribunal And if any Allowance be made for Sins of Infirmity there are so many Abatements to be made for Sins committed through sudden Passion through Mistake through the unavoidable Impotency of humane Nature in this degenerate Condition that the Severity of that Day is not much to be feared This is the utmost of the Sinner's Plea against the Severity of the Day of Judgment But to shew how faulty it is I shall offer these Considerations 1. That God will certainly Judge the World in Righteousness and therefore none shall have Cause to complain of the Harshness or Severity of his Proceedings For this Righteousness is not the Rigour of Justice but that Equity which hath a Regard to the Circumstances of Actions and the Abatement and Extenuation of Faults which arise from them 2. None shall suffer at that Day but for their wilfull Impenitency and obstinate Continuance in Sin For this is not only agreeable to the Mercifull Nature of God to forgive repenting Sinners but it is one of the great Designs of the Gospel to assure Mankind of it by the
some men and look on as wholly unconcerned They are extremely mistaken in the Temper of the Nation who think so But if Men will not be quiet when they have all they pretended to desire what can we expect but further Animosities will discourage our Friends animate our common Enemies and expose us all to Confusion if not to Ruine If Men loved this World less and another better they would be more quiet here and be more carefull to prepare for that better State If our Conversation were in Heaven as it ought to be with what Contempt should we look down upon the busie Designs the restless Cares the vain Hopes and the perplexing Fears of the greatest Part of Mankind Then we should have more Peace and Tranquillity in our Minds while we live and greater Satisfaction when we come to die For Integrity and Innocency will keep us most from giving disturbance to others and from finding any in our own Breasts Whoso hearkeneth unto Wisdom shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the Fear of Evil. 2. We are assured that we are under the constant Care of Divine Providence The Tranquillity of our Minds in this World depends very much upon the Esteem we have of Providence and the Trust we repose in God What makes Children pass their time without solicitous thoughts about themselves but the Confidence they have in the Wisdom and Care of their Parents What makes Passengers lie down at rest in a Ship at Sea but because they trust to the Conduct of their Pilot We cannot alter the Methods of Providence by all our Solicitude God will govern the World by his own Measures and not by ours The Government is his the Duty of Submission is ours Let us not then be peevish and quarrelsome at what he doth but make the best Use of any extraordinary Instance of his Providence which seems to be intended for our Good unless we turn it another Way But it is not enough to be meerly contented with Providence but we ought to be active and usefull in our own Places to promote the common Interest and not to repine and murmur at what is necessary for the Support of it Let us not torment our selves with Fears of what may and what may not happen but let us commit our selves to God in well-doing as to our Creatour and Preserver SERMON VI. Preached at St. Laurence-Jewry April the 7 th 1691. 1 Timothy I. 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief IF these Words were to be understood without any Restriction or Limitation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners they would overthrow the great Design of the Gospel and make its excellent Precepts useless and ineffectual For to what purpose should Men be put upon the severe Practice of Repentance Mortification and a continued Course of a Holy Life if the meer being Sinners did sufficiently qualifie them for Salvation This indeed would be thought a Doctrine worthy of all Acceptation by the greatest Sinners but it could not be a faithfull saying being not agreeable either to the Nature of God or Revelation of his Will by Christ Jesus But St. Paul speaks of such Sinners as himself had been i. e. such as had been great Sinners but had truly and sincerely repented Of whom I am chief What then Must we look on him as the Standard and Measure of such Sinners whom Christ Jesus came to save What will then become of all those who have been Sinners of a higher Rank than ever he was It 's true in the Verses before the Text he sets out his Sins as a humble Penitent is wont to do with the worst Colours and deepest Aggravations Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but yet he adds that he obtained Mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief How then is St. Paul the Chief of Sinners Are Sins of Ignorance and Mistake the greatest of Sins for which Christ died Is there no Expiation for any other by Jesus Christ What will become then of all such who sin against Knowledge and Conscience and not in Ignorance and Unbelief Can none of these hope for Mercy by Christ Jesus although they do truly repent But the Blood of Christ is said elsewhere to cleanse us from all Sin not while we continue in them but if we repent and forsake them And Jesus Christ is said to be a Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World And therefore this Expression of St. Paul notes his great Humility and deep Sense of his own Sins but doth not exclude others from the hopes of Pardon whose Sins have other Aggravations than his had For if we leave out the last words as peculiar to his Case yet the other contain in them a true Proposition and of the greatest Importance to Mankind This is a fà ithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners This you may say is a matter out of all doubt among all such who hope for Salvation by Christ Jesus for all are agreed that one way or other we are to be saved by him But there is great Difficulty as to the Way of saving sinners by Christ Jesus whether by the Doctrine and Example of the Man Christ Jesus by the Power he attained through his Sufferings Or by the Eternal Son of God's assuming our Nature and suffering in our stead in order to the reconciling God to us and making a Propitiation for our Sins These are two very different Hypotheses or Notions of Christ's coming to save sinners and the former seems more easie to be understood and believed and the other seems to have insuperable Difficulties in point of Reason and to run our Religion into Mysteries which expose our Faith and make Christianity appear contemptible to Men of Sense and Understanding Is it not therefore much better to embrace such a Scheme of it as will have the least Objection against it that so Men of Reason may not be tempted to Infidelity and Men of Superstition may not under the Colour of Mysteries bring in the most absurd and unreasonable Doctrines These are plausible Insinuations and would be apt to prevail on considering Men's minds if they were to form and make a Religion that might be most accommodated to the Genius and Humour of the Age they live in And truly no Men by their own Authority can pretend to a Right to impose on others any Mysteries of Faith or any such things which are above their Capacity to understand But that is not our Case for we all profess to believe and receive Christianity as a Divine Revelation and God we say may require from us the belief of what we may not be able to comprehend especially if it relates to himself or such things which are consequent upon
and in an instant to knock off their Fetters and bid them be free but he makes use of all the gentle and effectual Methods of Perswasion not only by his Words but by his own Example that they might learn by him to despise this World who had so little in it and to prepare for that from whence he came where their Happiness should be unconceivable and without End III. The third Principle is That no such particular Favour of God is to be expected as long as his Displeasure is so just against Mankind for Sin and no effectual Means used to remove it The truth is the whole Scheme of the Gospel turns upon this Point whether God be really displeased with Mankind for their Sins so as to need a Reconciliation For if all that the Scripture so often expresses concerning the Wrath and Displeasure of God against Mankind for Sin be only figurative and hyperbolical Expressions then the whole Design of the Gospel must be given up as a meer Scheme for if God be not really displeased there is no need of Reconciliation if no need of that then there can be no need of Christ's coming to reconcile us to God and if he did not come for that End we have no Reason to believe the Scripture which affirms it over and over And I do not think any stronger Argument can be brought to prove a thing than that the most emphatical Expressions are so often applied to that purpose by such Persons who used all Sincerity and Plainness So that this matter as to the Scripture is clear if any thing can be made so and if nothing can I cannot see how it is possible to have a written Rule of Faith since all Writings are capable by Ambiguity of Words and Phrases by the different Use of Particles and Transposition of Letters and Syllables of very different Interpretations But this is not my present Business which is rather to consider the Natural Sense and Reason of Mankind as to this matter We cannot in Reason suppose any such Passion in an infinitely perfect being as that which we call Wrath and Anger in Men. For that is a violent Perturbation arising from Surprise and Indignation but there can be no Disorder or Surprise in a Being of infinite Wisdom Therefore Wrath in God must suppose two Things 1. A just Cause of Displeasure given by us 2. Such a just Displeasure following upon it as will end in the severe Punishment of Offenders if it be not removed Now whether there be a just Cause of Displeasure or not must depend upon the Natural Differences of Good and Evil. And it is impossible that any one who exercises his Reason can judge amiss in this Matter Not that all the Differences of Good and Evil are equally clear for all Propositions in Mathematicks are not so but it is sufficient to our Purpose that the general Principles are so and the greater Instances so that no Man can think that he acts as much according to Reason in one as the other And can any one of common Sense imagine God to be as well pleased with him who blasphemes his Name and despises his Service and hates Religion as with one that fears and Honours him and endeavours to please him Can he be as well pleased with him that assassines his Parents as with him that obeys them With him that robs and defrauds his Neighbour as with him that relieves him in his Necessities With him who subdues his disorderly Passions as with him that gives way to them With him who is cruel inhuman and persidious as with him that is faithfull and just and compassionate These are but some of the Instances of the Differences of Good and Evil but they are so plain and notorious that a Man must renounce the common Principles of Humanity who doth not own them And to say there are no such Differences because there have been Mistakes and Disputes about some things accounted Good and Evil is as absurd as to say there is no Difference between Day and Night because in the Twilight it is hard to distinguish them But if there be such a real Difference in the Nature of Humane Actions and God be a strict observer of them he being a God of infinite Holiness and Justice cannot but be offended with Mankind's wilfull Omission of what they know to be good and Commission of what they know to be evil But here we must distinguish between God's Displeasure against the Actions and against the Persons who commit them The former is a necessary Consequent upon the Evil of Sin and can never be removed for God is irreconcileable to Sin But those who commit Sin are his Creatures and therefore capable of Mercy and Forgiveness There is always a Desert of Punishment following upon Sin but there is no inseparable Connection between the Sin and the Punishment for the great and wise Governour of the World acts not by Necessity of Nature in punishing Sinners but by the Methods of Wisdom and Justice And if the saving of Sinners upon their Repentance can be made agreeable to these such is the Mercy and Goodness of God to his Creatures that there is great Reason to hope for a Reconciliation For although God be displeased he is not implacable although he be justly provoked to punish Sinners yet there is no absolute Necessity that he should nor any irreversible Decree that he will do it and therefore notwithstanding this Displeasure of God there is a way still left open for Reconciliation which leads to the next IV. The fourth Principle is That if God be thus displeased with the Sins of Mankind and yet there is a Possibility of Reconciliation between God and them he alone is the most proper and competent Judge on what Terms this Reconciliation may be obtained For being both the offended Party and the supreme Governour he hath the sole Right on both Accounts of fixing those Terms and Conditions upon which he will forgive Sins and receive the Offenders into Favour It is a vain thing for any to argue from one Attribute of God against another Some are apt to flatter themselves that God will easily forgive Sins because he is mercifull but they ought to consider that he is just and holy as well as mercifull and there is as much ground to fear that he will not forgive because he is just as there can be to hope that he will because he is mercifull And thus it is impossible for a considering Man to satisfie his own Mind as to God's forgiving his Sins unless he be some way assured from himself that he will do it And therefore a particular Revelation in this Case must be made if God designs to bring Men to Repentance by the Hopes of Forgiveness But meer Repentance can never make any satisfaction to God for the Breach of his Laws Suppose a Sinner come to himself and is heartily sorry that he hath offended God so many ways and with
such aggravating Circumstances as he hath done and now resolves in the Anguish of his Soul never more to return to the Practice of them This no doubt is far more pleasing to God than going on to offend still but all this is no more than a Man in justice to God and to himself is bound to do for he is bound to vindicate the Honour of God's Laws and to condemn himself for his own Folly and to return no more to the Practice of it But what amends is made by all this for the infinite Dishonour which hath been done to God and his Laws by the Violation of them The Courts of Justice among Men take no Notice of the Malefactor's Repentance however he be affected the Law must be observed and Offenders punished How then can any Persons be assured from meer Natural Reason that God will not be as tender of the Honour and Justice of his Laws as Mankind are allowed to be without any Imputation of Cruelty or Injustice If God should be exact in punishing Offenders who could complain For who can plead Not Guilty before his Maker And when a Man 's own Conscience condemns him that he hath deserved Punishment what Reason can he have from himself not to expect it And if he doth justly expect to be punished what reason can he have to hope for Forgiveness Since he knows that he deserves to be punished and therefore can never deserve to be forgiven It must be therefore a free Act of Grace and Mercy in God to forgive even penitent Sinners and upon what Terms and in what Manner he will do it depends wholly upon his own Good-will He may forgive Sins if he pleases and it is agreeable to his Natute to do it if Sinners do repent and forsake their Sins but whether God hath actually made known to us the way of Reconciliation cannot be known by any Principles of Nature because it is a Matter of Fact and must have such Proof as a thing of that Nature is capable of II. Having thus shewed how strongly the Principles of Natural Religion do make way for entertaining this Point of the Christian Doctrine as to God's sending his Son into the World in order to our Reconciliation with him and our Salvation by him it remains now to shew how justly God doth require the Belief of it from us as true for the next words tells us That he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God v. 18. This some may say is very hard Doctrine for they believe as much as they can and if they can believe no more it is no fault for no Man can be bound to believe more than he can I do not question but Nicodemus to whom these words are generally supposed to be spoken by our Saviour thought he had gone a great way when he used those words to Christ v. 2. Rabbi we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no Man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him i. e. He was willing to believe him some great Prophet whom God had sent and this was a fair step for a Ruler among the Jews who were generally very unreasonable Unbelievers But Christ tells him plainly this would not do for unless he believed him to be the only begotten Son of God he could not be saved And this is the great Point That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life v. 16. Not as though meer believing this were sufficient for this carries a great many other things along with it but that since God had sent his only begotten Son into the World upon such a Message he did expect that he should be received and entertained as such upon their utmost Peril But can we believe farther than we have Reason to believe No God doâ—h not expect it from us provided that with sincere and impartial Minds we set our selves to consider and weigh the Evidence and with great Humility beg the Assistance of Divine Grace without which God may justly leave us to our Unbelief It would be too large a Subject now to lay open the several Arguments to prove that it is as evident as a Matter of Fact can be made to us that God did send his Son that the World through him might be saved Therefore I shall only mention these two things 1. That if the Matters of Fact are true concerning the History of Christ's coming as related by the Evangelists there can be no Reason to doubt his being the Son of God For he that was the most exact Pattern of Humility and Self-denial not only frequently assumes this Title to himself and his most intimate Disciples affirm it of him but God himself gave the most ample and convincing Testimony to it by his miraculous Birth and a Voice from Heaven to that Purpose at his Baptism by a long Train and Series of publick and usefull Miracles to attest the Truth of his Doctrine by his Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven and wonderfull Effusion of the Holy Ghost with the strange Effects which followed it so that no one who doth believe these things to be true can have any ground to say that he cannot believe Christ to be the Son of God 2. That if these Matters of Fact are not to be believed as true we cannot be bound to believe any thing but what we see our selves For the Distance of Time and Place are equal in this Case and no other Matters of Fact are so well attested as these are And so as the Apostle saith of Christ's Resurrection If he be not risen our Faith is vain so in this Case I say if there be not Reason to believe these things all Faith is vain For no other Matters of Fact which we should be accounted Fools for not believing have had such a sort of Testimony which these have had For these things were not conveyed by a silent Tradition for some time till the chief Parties were dead who could either prove or disprove them but they were publick and exposed to all Manner of Examination They were not deliver'd by one or two who were trusted with a Secret but openly avowed by a great Number of competent Witnesses who were present and none of them could be brought by the greatest Sufferings to deny or falsify or conceal any Part of their Evidence that when these things had been thus delivered by those who saw them who were most remarkable for their Innocency and Integrity in the next Ages they were examined and enquired into by Men of Sagacity and Learning who upon the strictest Search found no Reason to suspect their Testimony and therefore heartily embraced and defended the Christian Faith And from thence they have been conveyed down to us not by
to keep up the Life and Spirit of it that a general Design of Holiness is enough to recommend them As to positive Duties of Religion we cannot exactly fix the Time and Measure and Season of their Performance which must vary according to Circumstances but this we can say that the more Persons set themselves to the Practice of Holiness and the greater Preparation they make for another World the more they will delight in the Performance of God's Service and the more ready to embrace any Opportunities for it Those who would have all Religious Duties determined as to the Circumstances of them are like Men who would have punctual Rules set down how often two Friends should converse with each other and how long time they are to stay together True Friendship will need none of those things but will incline them to embrace the best Opportunities for mutual Conversation lest too long distance beget a Coldness first and then the Friendship dissolves It is no hard matter to pray as far as words go but to pray with Zeal and Devotion to attend upon God with that seriousness of Mind we ought to do will require our utmost Attention And it is no easie matter to keep our Minds composed and fit to converse with God in Prayer and other solemn Duties of Religion But as hard as this appears to us it is most fit and reasonable that we should do it For what an unbecoming thing it is to worship God in a careless trifling perfunctory Manner as though nothing less deserved the imploying the Vigour of our Minds about than the Service of God But how can we love him with all our Hearts if we do not serve him with all our Minds and Strength 4. Resignation of our selves to God This the Apostle calls casting all our Care upon him This is a very wise Duty if we can attain to it because it eases our Minds of many Fears and Perplexities both as to our selves and others But it is no easie thing to set our Minds free from solicitous thoughts about possible Evils We cannot mend our Condition nor prevent what is determined by our most anxious Care but we may enjoy our selves with far greater Peace and Tranquillity if we can be content to commit our selves to the best Conduct and that is of him that governs the World And whatever strugglings we may find within our selves about it yet the more we search and weigh and consider things the more we shall be satisfied that the Resignation of our selves to God as to all our Concernments in this World is the best means to calm our Passions and to abate our Fears to prevent our Impatience and so to attain to that Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is with God of great Price But if all these Duties be so necessary to our being saved and we lie under such Difficulties as to the Performance of them their appearing to be reasonable makes our Condition so much worse For to find it so hard to do what we are convinced is most reasonable to be done is one of the worst Circumstances of our Condition It 's true we do not want Faculties of Understanding and Will but what then if our Moral Indispositions make these useless to our Spiritual Advantage A Man that is like to be stifled in a large Vessel full of Downy Feathers cannoâ— complain of the hardness of what he lies upon for all things feel soft and easie about him yet he may be stifled with them our evil Habits and corrupt Inclinations have nothing that feels hard or troublesome to us but if we cannot overcome them they will certainly ruine and destroy us There is therefore a Necessity of a higher Principle of Divine Grace to enable us to break through all these Difficulties Which Grace is so abundantly promised by the Gospel to those who seek it that it comes at last to be our own fault if we be not saved II. And this helps us to reconcile the Difficulty of Salvation with the Easiness of the Terms of the Gospel For that which is not only hard but impossible to us in our own strength may by the mighty Power of Divine Grace become not only possible but easie to us And withall those things are accounted easie which bring ease and that is a light Burthen which rids one of a far harder And thus the Commands of Christ however hard in themselves to us yet being considered with the Grace of the Gospel and the blessed Effect of inward Peace which follows sincere Obedience even his Yoke which keeps us most in may be said to be easie and his Burthen which sits hardest upon us may be said to be light III. And from hence we see what Encouragement there is still for us to hope to be saved if we be righteous There is none for the Ungodly and Sinner i. e. for the profane Contemner of God and Religion or for the wicked Liver For however they may flatter themselves with vain and presumptuous hopes there is no more ground to think that the Righteous shall be saved than that the Ungodly and Sinner shall not For both are alike made known by the same Word of God But what Comfort is it may some say to hear that the Righteous are scarcely saved when we are so conscious to our selves of our own Unrighteousness If we could think our selves righteous before God there were some hopes but we are Sinners and if we should deny or excuse it we should be so much more so what hope can there be then for us To this I shall answer and conclude 1. The Righteous here spoken of were once great Sinners for St. Peter mentions their former lusts and working the Will of the Gentiles in lasciviousness lusts excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries Yet these are said to be redeemed from their vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ and to be begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible c. There is therefore not merely a Possibility of being saved but a just and grounded Hope if we renounce our former Sins and become righteous according to the Terms of the Gospel i. e. If we sincerely repent of our Sins and turn from them and live the rest of our time not to the Lusts of Men but to the Will of God But if God had declared that he expected from Mankind an entire and perfect Righteousness without any Sin it were all one as to publish a general and irreversible Decree of Damnation to all for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God From whence the Apostle well argues that Men cannot save themselves But God of his infinite Pity and Mercy towards the deplorable Condition of Mankind hath found out a way to save them by the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom he hath made a propitiation for their sins Although therefore as to our selves we
have no hopes yet herein God hath magnified his abundant Love towards Sinners that although they have sinned to a high Degree yet if they be so far wearied with the Burthen of their Sins as to take Christ's Yoke upon them then he hath promised Ease and Rest to their Souls which is the greatest Blessing in the World especially to repenting Sinners But some may again say we have repented and sinned and sinned and repented again and can hardly yet tell which will get the better at last we cannot say that we have entirely submitted our Necks to Christ's Yoke for that requires a great deal more than we can perform how then can we be thought Righteous I answer therefore 2. Where there is a sincere and honest Endeavour to please God and keep his Commandments although Persons fail in the Manner of doing it God will accept of such as righteous But where they please themselves in their Unrighteousness and go on in it hoping that God will accept some kind of Repentance in stead of it or where there hath been long struggling and many Acts of Repentance and the Interest of Sin prevails the Case of such is very dangerous but not desperate For as long as there is hopes of a true Repentance there is of Salvation and there is still hopes of Repentance where Men's hearts are not hardned by an incorrigible Stiffness For according to the best Measures we can take by the Rules of the Gospel none are effectually excluded from the Hopes of Salvation but such as exclude themselves by their own Impenitency SERMON IV. Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL March the 23 d 1689 90. Ecclesiastes XI 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment IF Solomon had said Rejoyce not O young man in thy youth neither let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth walk not in the way of thine heart nor in the sight of thine eyes for know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment the Sense had been so easie and plain that there had been no Appearance of Difficulty in reconciling one Part with the other For the whole had been look'd upon but as a necessary and seasonable Admonition to such who by the Heats of Youth and Strength of Inclination and Allurements of the World are too apt to be transported with the Love of sensual Pleasures And this had been very becoming the wise Man towards the Conclusion of his Book wherein he had not only before set forth the several Vanities of humane Life but so soon after bids Men Remember their Creatour in the days of their Youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh of which they shall say they have no pleasure in them i. e. in the days wherein they are most apt to walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes For he knew very well that nothing is so powerfull a Check and Restraint upon Men's Inclinations to Sin as the serious Consideration of that God that gave them their Beings and will bring them to an Account for their Actions But how then comes he in this Verse to seem rather to give a Permission to young Men in the time of Youth to indulge themselves in their Mirth and Vanity Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth c. Some think that the wise Man only derides and exposes them for their Folly in so doing but that seems not agreeable with the grave and serious Advice which follows And we find nothing like Irony or Sarcasm in any Part of the foregoing Book for he begins it with a Tragical Exclamation against the Vanities of humane Life Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity And he pursues his Argument by a particular Induction of the most tempting and pleasing Vanities of Life and particularly all sorts of sensual Delights as Mirth and Jollity in the first Place then Wine and Musick fine Palaces curious Vineyards Gardens and Pools a great Retinue and which was needfull to maintain all this Abundance of Silver and Gold But what a melancholy Reflection doth he make on all these Pleasures of Life Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit What incouragement then could the wise-Man after so much Experience of the World give to young Men here in the Text to rejoyce in the days of their Youth and to walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes i. e. to pursue Vanity and to lay the Foundation for greater Vexation of Spirit when they come to reflect on their own Follies What then is the meaning of these words For this we are to observe that the Preacher having declared his own main Scope and Design in the beginning and conclusion of his Book brings in sometimes the different Senses which Mankind are apt to have concerning the Happiness of Life And that is the Reason that we meet with such different Expressions concerning it In one Place it is said that there is no better thing under the Sun than to eat and drink and to be merry but in another he saith Sorrow is better than laughter and by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better In one Place he saith All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked But in another That it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the wicked How can such Passages as these be reconciled if we look on them as expressing the Sense of the same Person But if we allow them to be the different Notions of two sorts of Men in this World they are easie to be understood although not to be reconciled And the one sort is of those who place all Happiness in this Life without regard to Religion or Vertue or another World and the other of those who look on this Life only as a Passage to another and that all Persons ought to behave themselves here so as conduces most to their Happiness hereafter And according to these different Schemes we have in the words of the Text two very different sorts of Counsel and Advice to young Men. I. The first proceeds upon the Supposition that all the Happiness of Man lies in this Life and in the Enjoyment of the sensual Pleasures of it Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the way of thy heart and in the sight of thy eyes We have no other Rule