King 't is true he is and hath a Kingdome which his Enemies shall find to their everlasting Confusion when he sitteth upon the Throne of his Glory to judge them that have said Nolumus hunc regnare we will not have this Man to Reign over us for thus he makes a Protestation of his Faith with a confident Resignation of himself unto Christ as his leige Lord and King Lord saith he Remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom O admirable Faith O incomparable Faith never was the like heard of neither indeed could be since the World began This was the last Confessor that Christ had while he was living in this World but he outstripped all those that were before him fulfilling that Word which was spoken by Christ viz. The last shall be fust he was able we see by his Faith to remove Mountains of Opposition which lay in his way that he might cleave unto Christ It was a Faith I say again that surpassed all other that we read of in Scripture a great Word but by that time it be duly weighed it will appear to be most true One of good Note in the Church makes the Comparison in this manner what is more worthy of Wonder and Amazement than that a Theif should have a better knowledge of Christ upon the Cross than some of his Disciples had when they sate with him at Supper that a Theif should have a more eminent Degree of Faith than the Patriarch Abraham the Father of the Faithful than Moses the Servant of God than the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah than his own Domestick Attendants to whom it was given by aspecial Grace of Dispensation to know Christ and the Mysteries of his Kingdom Abraham beleived in the Lord but it was when he was so much honoured as to have God himself to be his own Messenger and to parley with him from Heaven Moses beleived in the Lord but it was when he appeared to him in the midst of a Fiery Bush wonderfully Esay beleived in the Lord but it was when he saw him sitting upon a high Throne The Apostles beleived in the Lord but they were Eye-witnesses how his Miracles posed Nature and all the Creatures did their Homage to him as to their Creatour These were easie Taskes of Faith but this noble Confessor beleived in the Lord when which way soever he looked about him his Eyes could meet with nothing but Horrour and Misery He doth not supplicate Jesus sitting at the right Hand of the Father so he is crowned with Majesty nor unto Jesus judging the Quick and Dead so he is attended with Angells c. But when he saw his Sides Hands Feet all bleeding his Face Ghastly his Head drooping and his Soul heavy to the Death even then he said to Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome as if he had been lifted upon the Cross to overlook Christs Debasements and to make a shew openly that his Faith should outvy his Sense But now it may well be demanded from whence hath this man this great Power where did he learn all these things not surely upon the Highway not under Hedges not in his Dens of Thievery no but it was given him from above by the immediate Work of Gods Spirit which breatheth where it listeth not discernable by men Joh. 3 8. And verily whatsoever hath been otherwise thought of this man the things here premised being well considered his Example alone may satisfie us that Gods Mercy is not limited either to time or means for the Salvation of those whom he hath ordeined to eternal Life Which being so how can any man I say again be so peremptory as to conclude and that against the very Nature of the Almighty and Merciful God so often and so fully made known to the Church in the Holy Scripture that the greatest Part of Mankind shall perish eternally in the Torments of Hell without any Remedy Sed Obiter let all men beware that they be not so unwise as to lose themselves in this Comfortable Doctrine which though it be in Truth most Evangelical yet I fear as Grace can Work good out of Evil so may the corrupt Heart of man by a Satanical Chimistry draw Evil out of Good as many wretched People have done by making an ill use of this Example of Gods Mercy to the Thief upon the Cross I do therefore desire all that shall read or hear of this Doctrine of Salvation thus enlarged to forbear their hasty and pernicious Misconstructions of it till they have informed themselves better by the Cautions that shall be here added unto it Now then to summ up this whole matter Since the Holy Scripture being rightly understood doth clearly speak of a great Multitude which no man can number of all Nations and Kindreds and People and Tongues that shall be saved but speaketh no where so largely of those that shall be Damned in Hell for ever only faith they shall be many If none of all the Churches of Christ in the Primitive times and since to this very day have in any of their publick Confessions Creeds and Attestations of Faith applyed any part of the Scripture to such a Sense in the least Tittle and Iota of them so as to condemn the major part of mankind to everlasting Fire Since God hath accepted of that full Satisfaction which hath been given to his Justice for the Sin of the World by the Blood of the Cross it being the Godhead of Christ which did put an infinite worth upon all that he did and upon all that he suffered the Obedience of God to the Rule of the Law sufficing to justifie all sorts of Sinners of what quality soever they be upon the Face of the Earth if they Repent and Believe and the Blood of God given up to the Sentence of the Law being as much as Divine Justice did expect for a full Satisfaction for the universal Breach of Gods Law throughtout the World from the beginning to the end If Faith and Repentance may be suddenly wrought by the secret Work of the Holy Ghost in the Hearts of men who are destitute of the ordinary means of Salvation If Divine Grace and Mercy be not limited during mans Life in this World to time or means for the Conversion of those whom God hath chosen to eternal life If God Governs the World not according to the Model of our Imaginations but according to the good Pleasure of his Will and this Government be managed for the Glory of his great Name and for the general Good of those that are in Subjection to him and that certainly God will at last be Justified in his Government against the Malice of Hell however the Sequel of it prove and be clear when he is Judged If God takes no Pleasure in the Death and Damnation of Sinners but delighteth in shewing Mercy to the Children of men and where there is but some Goodness 1. Reg. 14.13 as there may be in many that
That therefore the number of those that shall be saved at the last Day is but small very small in comparison of those that shall be damned in Hell for ever But let us now inquire into this matter For though I say not but that this Warning may have a Measure in it Reaching to all who are the true Disciples of Christ to the end of the World yet will it not afford any Warrant for such an Opinion that is here derived from it Neither can the said Opinion be Justified upon any Terms Having thus in short declared freely my Judgment and Resolution I may possibly have an Imputation put upon me of a bold Singularity And some will be ready to say Tu autem who are you that pretend to have more Understanding than others and will venture thus to Correct your Elders and Superiours But O Benedicite I do not howsoever take upon me to Correct Magnificat neither will I though I be In Artibus Magister Quinquagenarius Censure magisterially all those that maintain the said Opinion but only offer to consideration my Conceptions upon it Wherein if I err I shall be willing and glad to be better Instructed And since the Church of England which is a cheif Pillar and Ground of Truth and which under God is my Oracle to guide me in my way to Heaven hath in her Articles the Summary of her Christian Profession lest this Point undetermined we may have a Latitude in this case every man to propound his Judgment with Humility First then as for this premised Scripture on which the aforesaid Opinion seems to be Grounded Dr. Hammond whom I mention not as if he were to be accounted Infallible but as one approved for Learning and Holiness He I say doth not stretch it to such a Sense but in his Paraphrase upon it rendereth it thus First upon the thirteenth Verse where Christ speaking to his Disciples in effect saith Let all your Care be to set your selves upon the Christian Course and to go thorough with it be it never so strict for it is easie to enter upon a vitious Course and to go thorough that Multitudes there are great Store both of Jews and Heathens as the said Author renders it in another place which pass that way to Eternal Destruction His Prac. catechis And upon the fourteenth Verse he addeth to the same purpose There will be likewise all need of your Care because the Entrance and whole Course of a Christian Life is made of perfect strictness in opposition to the looseness of the World and that makes so many to choose it And the Lesson which I for my part would learn herehence shall be through Gods Grace to teach me who will be a Disciple of Christ to be very watchful over my self that I may be a Christian indeed by a strict and straight Conformity to the Rules of our Lawgiver lest if I follow a Multitude in doing that which is Evil I may in the end fall into Perdition Such or the like use it would become us all to make of these Words rather than by an unwarrantable Interpretation of them to intrude our selves into the Justice-Seat of the great and Omnipotent God taking upon us the boldness to Judge before the time as if a liberty were allowed thereto from this Scripture which upon a due Search into it we shall find yet further that it intendeth no such matter for let it be considered Seeing we are not now under the severe Tutoring of that Rigid Schoolemaster the Law but under the calme and gentle Dispensations of Grace or as my aforesaid excellent Doctor renders it in his Paraphrase upon Rom. 6.14 not under the weak unefficacious Pedagogy of the Law which could only forbid Sin and denounce Judgment but never yeild any man hope of Mercy or amendment but under a Kingdom of Grace where there is Pardon for Sin upon Repentance Seing I say it is so we may be well assured that the way of teaching the Doctrine of Salvation is to be by the sweet and peaceable Suada of the Gospel Which certainly is most prevailing to lead men to Repentance Unlikely therefore is it that Christ himself now at his first entrance upon his Work which the Father had appointed him to do for the Salvation of the World would begin with such Terror as to preach Damnation to the greatest part of mankind which certainly he did if he said that few shall be saved by him and that it was so decreed by the eternal Counsel of Heaven as it is likewise pretended by those that are for this destructive Opinion we have heard otherwise out of the Gospel that when Christ began to Preach he said repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Thus he began and so he continued giving it in charge also to his Disciples that they should preach the same Doctrine which without doubt signified that in all places and among all People where they were to come the World should know there is a possibility of Salvation upon Repentance for them all For let me ask what is this Gate and what is this way that leadeth to Life but Christ himself I am the Door saith he John 10.9 By me if any man enter in he shall be saved And again John 14.6 I am the Way no man can come to the Father but by me And is this Gate so strait and this way so narrow that few can go in the one or enter in at the other It cannot enter into my Heart to imagine let all the World say the contrary but that the Righteousness of Christ is sufficient to Justifie all mankind yea that the major part of mankind shall be saved by him It is a saying worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners And doth he now say that few shall be saved by him What a Dishonour must this be both to him and to his Father that sent him Yea did he come to destroy the Works of the Devil as became the Captain of our Salvation and can the Devil Immure himself still in his Works and strong Holds so as to be able to draw yea to drive the greatest part of the World under his Power for ever This unavoidably must be granted if that Opinion be true viz. Because Christ hath said strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life c. Few therefore shall be saved These things considered we must necessarily render some other account of these Words than hath been wont to be given of them For certain it is the Usual Sense carryeth with it such a Sound of Horrour as is utterly inconsistent with the Nature of God the Merits of Christ and the glad Tidings of the Gospel as may be here seen at large in the pursuance of this Discourse First then this caution of Christian Strictness and Difficulty seems to be a Branch of that great Law of Equity written by the Evangelist in the
of it True it is the Preaching of Jonas though it was very short did as 't were sound an Alarm to these Ninivites which did awaken them out of their sinful Security it being the means which God ordaineth to bring men to Repentance and he will not digress from his own order unless it be where time of Life is near upon the last Period and those means do fail for in such cases where there is no open Vision and the Days of mans appointed time are at an end there doth free Mercy appear in her Eminency as it did to the Theif upon the Cross God giving first the Grace of Repentance and then Vouchsafing his favourable Acceptance of that Grace which he himself hath freely wrought in the Hearts of his poor Creatures though it be by them but weakly exerted and performed We alass unprofitable Servants that we are the best of us all when we buckle to our Business and with all diligence endeavour to work out our own Salvation as we are warned we must being conscious to our selves of our many failings in it do it with fear and trembling ever confessing it to be of the Lords Mercies if we find any acceptance and that we and our Works together be not at the last burnt in that Fire which shall never be quenched Hear how St. Paul determines the Case Rom. 9.16 It is not saith he of him that willeth who hath only an inward desire to please God by his Obedience but doth not or cannot produce it into act nor of him that runneth who doth the best he can in pressing toward the mark to obtain the Prize of eternal Happiness but of God that sheweth Mercy it is Mercy Mercy only that is all in all from first to last in the Work of mans Salvation and this hath ever been acknowledged by all the Pelagian Hereticks only excepted What else is the reason that when we see men among us live dissolutely and die it may be desperately especially if they be of our neerest Relations or such for whom we have had a more than ordinary kindness we do not presently account of them as cursed castaways but are willing to suspend our Judgment of them as to their final Estate though possibly we may have some fear of them and be greived that they had no more care of their Souls before they died what else I say is the reason hereof but that in the multitude of our Thoughts within us at such times our Minds are overruled by the remembrance of Gods infinite Mercies and I beseech you should we not impartially have the same consideration in us when we reflect upon others that are Strangers unto us in what place of the World soever they are whom howsoever we slight yet hath God a special regard unto them for when he at first had selected his Israel to be a peculiar People unto him even then he gave them a charge not to vex or oppress the Strangers but to love them as themselves Ex. 22.21 And very often doth God in the following Generations renew the same charge unto that his antient People now we cannot but think this Charge hath a measure in it reaching to us under the Gospel which if it hath and that we will not be partial as is said before in judging Strangers more than those desperate ones among our selves how can we so Positively determine of the major part of mankind as we do that they shall inevitably be thrown into Hell to be there Tormented for ever and ever If any who are yet tenaciously set upon this destructive Opinion shall accuse me of Prolixity as I think none else will I hope my endeavour to refute this Errour will sufficiently excuse me among those that follow the conduct of reason who will be ready to say in my behalf seeing so great an Errour hath prevailed so long among us it is but necessary that much be said in the Conviction of it Sure I am St. Austin will be my advocate herein Non est multiloquium saith he quando necessaria dicuntur quantâ libet Sermonum multitudine ac Prolixitate Dicantur I shall therefore take the liberty to proceed yet further in shewing the Irrationality I may say the Impiety of this Soul-murdering Doctrine High time it is for us all to forbear judging the World at the rate as we have been wont for we do not only condemn to Hell and everlasting Death those whom we may or should have good hope to beleive God hath ordained to eternal Life but we do in effect spend our hasty and audacious Censures upon God himself if he shall contrary to our decision in this case save those whom we have marked out to Destruction wherein we are somewhat like unto that Insolent and Peremptory Alphonsus in Spain who like a bold and Atheistical Fool spake of the Creation in this manner If saith he I had stood by God when he had created the World I could have directed him how to have ordered it better than he hath done So shall we in our precipitant judging the World before the time according to the common fancy that hath been among us seem to prescribe unto God what Course he should take in his Judgment to come and that he take care our Orders be punctually observed in it An Indignitie and contempt so hainous to be put upon the Wisdom of the most high God that it will be adjudged by the whole Creation an Impudency most Inexcusable And this we shall certainly find to our eternal Shame and Sorrow unless we repent of it betimes and learn to be wiser when we shall mourn at the last and say we Fools counted them miserable but now are they comforted and we are tormented Two Examples shall be here taken out of holy Scripture seeing that it is expected of such Persons the one a Heathen the other probably a Jew but extraordinarily wicked who had they been brought into our usurping Phrontisteries before we heard they were acquitted by their own lawful Judge we should have passed a Damnatory Sentence of Death upon them when notwithstanding the Holy Ghost himself would have been their Compurgator The first is that Syrophenician Woman whose Praise is in the Gospel she was of the Canaanitish Extraction and upon that account to be reckoned as a Dog an Idolatour among the Phenicians from whom many heathenish Abominations were spread into several parts of the World and her Habitation there was In Finibus in the remote Borders of that Countrey where unavoidably she must be deeply sowst in the Dreggs of Ignorance and Infidelity Yet even this Woman so unlikely as she was during this her deplorable Condition had her Name we may well presume written in the Book of Life and had also somewhat written in her Heart and Soul well pleasing unto God which did not outwardly appear until Christ to make her a publick Example of Gods abundant Mercy among the Heathen was pleased to draw it out of
it thus as all the Stars shining together in the Firmament do not make Day it is the Light of the Sun only can do it so all the Sweetness that can be found in corrupt Nature and all the Virtues that have been famous in the Heathen are of themselves defective in point of eternal Salvation it is an Honour peculiar to Christ alone to bring it to pass True it is the Mettle of these Virtues and Sweetness is very good but if they totally want the Image and Superscription of Christ upon them they will never pass for currant before almighty God Only I say still the way and manner and time and measure of this Signature is in the Hand of God neither are we to be so bold as to set Bounds thereunto or to border out the Kingdom of God and the many Mansions in it to a few particular Favourites of our own according to our Fancies The Lord knoweth them that are his saith the Apostle 2. Tim. 2.19 we know them not this is his Seal whereby at all times and in all places far and near he marketh them he hath appointed to Salvation their Names are written in the Lambes Book of Life which is laid up in Archivis that is in his own Custody far beyond our Reach Only this we know Faith and Repentance as it hath been here often said must be wrought in the Hearts of Men before they can be capable of Gods Mercy in the saving of their Souls but how they are wrought there at all times is a Mistery unknown to us Clouds and thick Darkness are about the Pavillion of God let not silly man then dare to Remove them To conclude this particular Bishop Mountague whom I mentioned before hath written at large very learnedly concerning this Subject proving even against Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Epiphanius St. Chrysostome and others the good Servants of God who had it seems imbibed this Erroneous Opinion of the Salvation of the Heathen that the Heathen who excelled in Moral Virtues did not could not attain Eternal Salvation without Christ neither was he alone in maintaining this fundamental Truth but had as it appears St. Austin to joyn with him in several places of his Workes At length he shuts up that his elaborate Discourse in this manner Since Pelagius and his Sectaries undertook against the Grace of God in Christ the Value Force and extent thereof it hath been more exactly canvassed and more perspicuously cleered and so more generally received than formerly viz. that the Knowledge of Christ to be sent and to come into the World as a Mediator Redeemer Saviour of Mankind was of absolute necessity to Salvation in some Degree or other more or less in all Ages and times since Adam recovered after his Fall and had that Promise of Grace made unto him viz. the Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents Head A third Caution which even plain necessity requires should be here also inserted though somewhat of it is given before is to warn all those whom God hath Chosen to be a People like his Israel of old near unto him and among whom he vouchsafeth to record his name I mean such as have been by the Sacrament of Baptism solemnly admitted into the Household of Faith which is his Church that they beware how they take occasion here hence of slacking their Zeal in his Service which he hath required of them and to which they have devoted themselves For as Moses tells Aaron Lev. 10.3 God will be sanctified in them that come nigh unto him and before all the People he will be glorified So let us also consider it is no small Privilege that is granted to us to be culled and called out of the Wilderness of this World where we were desolate and forlorn to come and dwell in the House of God to see his goings in the Sanctuary to hear the joyful Sound the Sound of his Gospel his Holy Name and Praises in our Assemblies and Congregations to be under his continual Care of Instructing us of protecting us of providing for us a mighty engagement therefore lieth upon us to walk worthy of his Grace to be Holy as he is Holy in all manner of Conversation and to give all Diligence that the more manifestations we have of Gods Presence with us we encrease the more in Holiness in Knowledge and in Zeal for Gods Glory Otherwise if we prophane the Holy Name of our God by a negligent and perfunctory discharge of our Duty in any kind we shall certainly provoke his Displeasure against us But if any among us calling upon the Name of the Lord shall upon this account of Gods insinite Mercies towards the major part of mankind presume instead of departing from Iniquity to take the more Liberty to themselves in fulsilling their own ungodly Lusts hoping that they may notwithstanding at the last get into Heaven in the Through as the usual Word is they shall without a speedy Repentance undoubtedly find to their everlasting Woo and Sorrow that it shall be more tolerable in the Day of Judgment for the Heathen than for them For then as we read in the Gospel which may have a Reference hereto many shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Children of the Kingdom observe it such as have been so degenerate as to make themselves by their unnatural Rebellions against their good King and reiterated Disobediences to his Law unworthy of this Honour and Happiness shall be cast into outer Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth It is a Resemblance which the Holy Ghost useth in Scripture viz. as the Ground which is well manured should according to expectation pay for the Pains and Cost which is bestowed upon it by yeilding somewhat a proportionable return to them by whom it is dressed and it shall thereupon receive blessing from God to make it more Fruitful but if it beareth Briars and Thornes it is rejected accounted a reprobate Piece and is nigh unto Cursing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 Right so will it be with that People who are Gods Husbandry such whom he hath in his abundant Goodness severed from the wild and waste Desart of the World and made as a Garden enclosed for his Delight and Solace planting and watering and fencing it about with a Wall reaching up unto Heaven that is protecting it from Forein Incursions and casting out the Stones that is freeing it from annoyances within If now it bear Fruit well the end shall be everlasting Life it shall be a Paradise of Pleasure unto God for ever But if after all is done it will in stead of sweet Hearbs which are the Fruits of the Spirit such as the Apostle writeth of Gal. 5. 20. bring forth nothing but rotten filthy noisom Weeds of Sin and Wickedness the
Fruits of the Flesh odious and abominable in the Sight of God disappointing his Expectation and frustrating all the Labour and Charge that hath been spent upon it what remaineth for such but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation burning to Hell yea more Fewel shall be added to their Tophet to make their Torments greater in that bottomless Pit than shall be to theirs who never had the Dewes of Heaven nor the Fatness of Gods Earth that is neither the Influences of Gods Spirit upon their Hearts nor the fertile Operations of his Word in their Ears to make them fruitful This will be the woeful lot of all careless and presumptuous Wretches who having the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God shining round about them yet will love Darkness rather than Light This is and shall be the Condemnation the damning Sin above all other which will sink men deepest into Hell Joh. 3.19 for the Mouth of the most righteous Judge hath spoken it Yea once and twice hath it been pronounced by him He that knew his Lords Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many Stripes but he that knew it not and did commit things worthy of Stripes shall be beaten with few Stripes Luk. 12.47.48 And who will not now say good Reason it should be so for when by the Preaching of the Gospel men have heard of the cruel and numberless multitude of Stripes which Christ endured for them and have been sufficiently convinced that with his Stripes they may if they will among other poor Sinners be healed as the Prophets word is find spiritual Health everlasting Life and Salvation yet these Stripes and Wounds and Bruises too of the most tender Virgin-Body of the Son of God are made of no account with them Is it not just and meet they should more than other who never heard of Christ fall under the Lash of Gods Wrath and be made to feel the Stripes of his incensed Justice among Devils with whom they shall have according to their Deserts Stripes above measure for unto whomsoever saith Christ again much is given of them shall be much required meaning according to that Degree of Knowledge God hath afforded to any so shall their Crimes receive aggravation of Guilt and increase of Punishment and the more Light and Grace God vouchsafeth to any People the greater Diligence in his Service will be expected Which manner of dealing is commonly to be seen among our selves for so it followeth in our Saviours Words viz. to whom men have committed much of them will they expect and ask the more But if they fail in their Trust do we not account them worse Enemies unto us than those in whom we have put the less Confidence yea or than those that deal injuriously with us whom we never trusted The holy Prophet in the Psalm makes his Complaint to some such Purpose saying it was not an Enemy that reproached me then I could have borne it meaning I could have borne it more patiently neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me then I would have hid myself from him I could have prevented it more easily but it was one whom I had obliged one that pretended much Kindness likewise unto me one who had made a shew of Piety and who joyned with me in going to the House of God one to whom I had opened my whole Heart and Soul made him my Guide and my Counsellour this was it it seems that most grieved him And as the well known Story reporteth of Julius Caesar this was it that struck him to the Heart more than all the Stabs that were given him in the Senate-House when he saw Marcus Brutus to be his Enemy Etiam tu Brute A cold Wind from the South whence refreshing and pleasant Gales are expected is intollerable so where a kind requital for Love is due there to meet with Ingratitude is a thing most odious in the hearing of all men and he that shall so offend though in other things he may be excusable Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris yet for this alone he will be judged as one unworthy of the Sight and Presence of all mankind Is this then the manner of men to be more sensible of Injuries done by Persons endeared and obliged than of those that are done by Enemies or Strangers do we expect from one another Love for Love abhorring those that are Ungrateful and can we think for a Comparison in this case may hold very well that the Jealous and Righteous God when he vouchsafeth his gracious Presence to those that are in Covenant with him daily loading them with his Benefits to the end they may serve him without Fear in Righteousness and true Holiness that he will endure to be sleighted by them whom he hath so much obliged that he will suffer with Impunity his Royal Law to be made Void his Ordinances which are the Glory of his Kingdom and the most clear demonstrations of his Grace and Goodness to the Children of men in this World to be despised Will he be partial in Judgment by giving a connivance to us in our Sins because we are in Covenant with him no doubtless he will never do it it will be too great a Dishonour to him in the Face of the World yea he should annihilate his very Nature and Essence for take away his Justice and his Being is ipso facto dissolved Neither would the Merits of his Son be a Salvò herein unto him unless Faith and Repentance do both together in due time enter their Plea for us against the Accusations of the Law which Plea 't is true will according to what is before said be received without a Demurrer but it is very rare in such presumptuous Desperadoes who have in their Jollity made Mercy it self a Mockery and wickedly abused that Goodness which would have led them to Repentance It concerns us then to look well about us that we be not deluded with this Satanical Sophistry so as to say in our Hearts because we are in Covenant with God we shall have Peace though we walk on in the Imaginations of our Hearts adding Iniquity unto Iniquity for dreadful are the Threatnings that are gone out of the Mouth of the Lord against this bold Presumption And we cannot but know it hath been Gods usual wont when he entreth into Judgment to be so far from partiality that he commonly begins with those of his own House 1. Pet. 4.17 Jer. 25.18.29 Amos 3.2 You only saith God have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore will I punish you first for your Iniquities In short upon the whole matter let it be considered how horrid a Presumption it is and how near to that great Sin which is unpardonable for such as we who are the Baptised of the Lord who have tasted the good Word of God and
to put the Fatherless to Death It is an Example which God himself hath given of his Pitie towards a multitude of his poor Creatures in sparing them when the slaming Sword of his Justice was ready to consume them such a wicked Crew they were whose wickedness was so great that as it is written of them it came up before the Lord I mean the City of Niniveh of which we read in the Book of Jonas wherein were many hundred thousand Persons My Argument intended from thence being this which is as we say Aminori ad majus hath God shewed Mercy to a People because they were many so as to save them from a Temporal Destruction Certo certius he will then upon the same account much more manifest his goodness to a greater number in delivering them from everlasting Condemnation This Mercy will the more appear by a due Reflexion upon the Place and People to whom it came a People as much separated from Gods Church as any Jewes Turkes or Pagans are now it was Niniveh which was as it is dissected to my hand Niniveh of the Gentiles Uncircumcised Niniveh Niniveh of the Assyrians Imperious Insolent Intolerable Niniveh Niniveh setled upon her Lees not less than thirteen hundred years Niniveh Infamous for Idolatry with Nisroch her Abomination Niniveh with Idleness so esseminated and her Joynts dissolved under Sardamapalus as some conceive their thirty eighth Monarch who sate and span amongst Women that as it was the wonder and by-word of the Earth so the Heavens above could not but abhor it Yet is this Niniveh become the famous Subject of Gods Mercy though the Prophet Jonas being it seems possessed with the same blustring Spirit which now haunteth us against those that are Strangers unto us was Offended Vexed Angry to the Death that it was so But God rich in Mercy continues to be the same still his Compassions fail not his Mercy appears in her full Lustre and due Magnitude when this merciless and angry Man was about to Eclipse the Glory of it for even then which is a thing to be admired and adored by all the World did God plead for it and by Irrefragable demonstration justify it against the perverse disputings of that Techy Opponent for the saving of a numerous multitude old and young who must otherwise have been utterly destroyed It will be said what 's all this to the purpose what much every very way whether we consider God himself or those sinful People whom he spared First we see here how God delighteth in Mercy Anger pleaseth him not and as he hath elsewhere not only said it but sworn it that he will not the Death of a Sinner much less it may well be thought of a numberless Multitude to throw them Headlong out of his Sight promiscuously into the Pit of Perdition Now evident it is there were in that great City because God hath been pleased to give the number of them more than sixscore thousand Persons that were young and harmeless young in respect of their Age innocent in respect of their Lives who knew not their right Hand from their left not able to distinguish between good and Evil and it may easily be guessed how great the number of other Ages was when there were so many Infants These things considered we may here argue as is before said from the less to the greater if God will have Compassion upon such a multitude of wretched Sinners whom he at first created after his own Image and likeness partly because of their great number to save them from a bodily Destruction yea and to plead so earnestly against their Adversary who would gladly have seen the City flaming about their Ears can we think but that he will much more shew Mercy to the Souls of a much greater Multitude viz. of the greatest part of the Children of men to save them from the Vengeance of eternal Fire Unless we will say which God forbid any should say that after this Life is ended his Mercy is quite spent clean gone from an innumerable company of precious Souls for ever and that he will contrary to his former wont take delight in executing his Wrath upon them to the uttermost Oh! far be it from us to judge so hardly of the God and Father of Mercies or to think that he is like unto us mutable and inconstant one while kind and pitiful another while cruel and unmerciful The good Prophet will tell us in the Psalm †136 not once but many times for our greater Assurance that his Mercy endureth for ever and again and again that his Mercy endureth for ever meaning that his Mercy in the full Latitude of it which non Obstante is without any Limits according to his own nature endureth for ever It will I know be objected wheresoever there is a true Repentance there shall most certainly be a Remission of all manner of Sin But who can say that the Idolatrous Heathen c. wholly Ignorant of the way of Salvation could or can possibly repent them of their Idolatries and other their Abominations the answer hereto is ready who among us can say the contrary true it is if we look no further than our own common Experience will lead us who must be limited to sense in this case as we are in all things that come within the Ken of our observation we shall then be apt to make such Conclusions But as the Apostle argues 1. Cor. 2.11 What man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man bi tt the Spirit of God Now the true and real Conversions of men are things beyond our reach they are known only to him who searcheth the Heart and the Reines and it is not for us to take our Measure of the great God according to the scantling of our narrow Nature in this or any other of the Works of his Grace God doth not I say again deal with men in their Conversion all after one sort look but upon these Ninivites which is the thing we are here secondly to take into our Consideration We see their Repentance was very sudden for as soon as Jonas had begun the first day to enter into the City and had made his Proclamation which God appointed him publickly in the Streets of it the People will not put him to the Toile of the other two days Journey but generally believed in God and repented of their Wickedness whereupon even assoon did God repent of the Evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not So for ought we know may there be between God and the Souls of men who for the present are without God in the World when they are to depart out of the World such an Intercourse of Grace on Gods part and of Repentance on theirs which may open Heaven unto them as much as our daily Conversation with God may entitle us to a Participation
and Holy Bishop Sanderson hath written in his third Sermon ad Aulam against this Pharisaical Arrogancy viz. these assume to themselves the Terms of Brotherhood of Professors or Christianity the Communion of Saints the Godly party as if none but they were to be owned either as Brethren or Professours or Christians or Saints or Godly Men. Such an abhorrency hath this destructive Opinion wrought in the Minds of pious men that have been before us And as it is destructive to the eternal Estate of many precious Souls so may it especially by keeping up these separating Distinctions tend to the overthrow of Nations and Kingdomes we here in this Nation have reason so to account of it Sure I am the said good Bishop did so long agone being about fourty Years past foretel in a manner the dismal Breaches which have since arisen among us thereby his Words are these viz. Who knoweth of what ill Consequence the Usage of such Appropriating and distinctive Titles may prove and what evil Effects they may produce in future Times But such hath been our Misery we may now say who knoweth it not the Experience that we have had hath taught us sufficiently to know it And we cannot but know that the same dividing Spirit still haunteth us in this Nation as if we had known nothing or at least as if we had forgotten the woful effects which this Spirit of Division and Delusion hath produced But that I may not doe them wrong these are not the only chief upholders of this Opinion there is another sort also that joyn with them that is the Romanishs both which as the same Reverend Bishop hath compared them are like Sampsons Foxes tied together by the Tailes to set all on Fire though their Faces look quite contrary wayes and albeit the former sort be too Phantastical and selfconceited yet may these latter likewise well be adjudged as they have been too Fanatical Do not these make their Church the only Suburbs of Heaven maintaining expresly that none can enter therein but only those that will pass through their Gates which in truth are too narrow for any yea for themselves to enter They contrary to all Truth and Reason make the Roman and the Catholick Church Termes convertible exacting eternal Communion with them and Subjection to their Bishop as a condition so essentially requisite for the qualifying any Person to be a Member of that Church of Christ out of which there is no Salvation as that they have inserted a Clause to that purpose into the very definition of a Church viz. Ecclesia est coetus hominum sub regimine Legitimoâ—um Pastorum ac praecipue unius christi Vicarii Romani pontificis Whereby they do in effect adjudge all that are not under the Popes Jurisdiction and Government to everlasting Perdition And now I beseech you are not both these sorts of People miserably deluded by Satan that whereas they speak of the Strait Gate and narrow Way that leadeth unto Life and that they have found it yea that they are the only Guides to all others that desire to find it they themselves both one and the other are extreamly mistaken in their way which without Repentance they will undoubtedly find in the end to their everlasting Confusion This Opinion therefore having such Authors and Abettors and producing such pernicious Effects to the overthrow not only of Christian Charity but of Humanity also yea to the lessening if not utter annulling of Gods infinite Goodness for besides what Papists foolishly boast of the Church of Rome that there can be no Salvation out of it I have heard a prime Leader among our Nonconformists Preaching in his Pulpit before a great Congregation in this manner what cares God if he throwes the greatest part of the World into Hell and being as it appears without any express Warrant from Holy Writ it should to speak modestly be the less regarded by us though it hath been and still is countenanced by those that have been and are at this day of good esteem among us A second Caution shall be this let no man mistake so far as to imagine that this preceding Discourse doth aim at any wider way that leadeth to Life than the Holy Scripture and the Church following the Rule of it will allow The way is plain which is set before us viz. Jesus Christ and he whosoever he be Christian or Heathen that will with Faith and Repentance keep stedfastly in this way looking upon Jesus to the last Gasp he shall undoubtedly be saved but no other of what Nation Rank or Condition or Perswasion soever he be shall ever be interessed in this Mercy Should I here maintain as an eminent Author of late hath Pablished in a Book called Theologia Veterum that the Heathen by the light of Nature without Christ may attain to such a Knowledge of God as is enough for their Salvation or as some of the Antients even in the primitive Times of the Church as our Bishop Mountague reports of them in his Acts and Monuments of the Church before Christs Incarnation Cap. 1. Sâ—ct 86. have held that the Heathen by following only the Rules of Philosophy may be saved or by Ethica Justitia and that Philosophy was necessary to Justification not alone antecedently by way of Allistance in promoting or furthering saving Knowledge but properly Primarily and of it self these are the Words of my Author the said Bishop or should I say Dr. Montague as others in these times that the sweet Disposition of good humoured men worthy indeed of all to be beloved is enough to commend and approve them unto God and bring them to Heaven I may justly fall under the premised Censure though my adherence to such Opinions would have added some Strength to my premised Position But for my part the Sense of my good Mother the Holy Church of England shall next to the Holy Scripture be my Guide herein and she in the eighteenth Article of our Confession entitled to eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ thus beleiveth They are to be held as Cursed who presume to say every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature for the Holy Scripture doth set out unto us onely the Name of Jesus Christ whereby men must be saved Thus hath the Church given Judgment in this case and thus do I hereupon affirm that where there is nothing of Christ no Interest in him by Faith nor no Influence from him by his Spirit there can be no Salvation St. Austin is very punctual herein Serm. de verb. dom cap. 4. Qui cuiquam promittit salutem sine Christo nescio utrum ipse salutem habere possit in Christum i e whosoever he be that promiseth Salvation to any without Christ I question whether he himself may ever be saved by Christ A modern Divine renders