standing principle of actual repentance and whereby it is both enabled and disposed to it Now this repentance being a grace of Gods Spirit and yet inherent in Man as to the habit and exercised by him as to its acts or which is the same being Gods work and yet Mans duty we are to consider what is Gods part in it and what is Mans. First Gods work is 1. To infuse the grace or principle repentance in the habit which constantly is ascribed to God in Scripture Acts 11.18 Granred repentance 2 Tim. 2.23 If God will give them repentance 2. To actuate and enliven that Principle when infused as he doth other Graces Phil. 2.13 not meerly in a moral way by suggesting such Reasons and Arguments as may excite and move the Will to the exercise of Repentance but by the powerful and efficacious Influence of his Grace drawing out the habit into that exercise or causing the Soul to act suitably to this Divine Principle infused into it Secondly Mans Duty is 1. To seek and labour after Repentance in the use of all means by which God is wont to work it in the hearts of Men such as diligent attendance on the Word Repentance no less than Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 and what external means of Grace are appointed in it Intention of the Mind in that attendance on the means Mens applying the Truths delivered to themselves comparing their Cases with it examining themselves by it considering their ways c. which are but the actings of their reasonable Faculties and as much in their power as other moral Actions are and need not the Supernatural Influence of Divine Grace but only those common assistances God affords to Man in the ordinary actions of a rational Life and in a word these are but such kind of workings as shew them to be Men not to be Saints Isa 46.8 To these means in the use of which God is wont to work repentance I refer Prayer for it which though by an unregenerate Person it cannot be performed graciously and unto acceptance yet we may say it may be thus far performed successfully as that those Prayers may be heard and answered in relation to the Grace they seek and in the Elect of God they are heard tho' not with respect to the Persons which being graceless faithless cannot be accepted of God yet with respect to his own thoughts of Love towards them and his eternal purpose of conferring that Grace upon them 2. To excite and stir up in himself the Grace of Repentance when God hath wrought it in him for the putting forth Acts agreeable to the Principle he hath received and to which by that Principle he is both empowred and inclined unto the production of which Acts he is no more to question the concurrence of God's Special Grace than his common concurrence to the ordinary actings of his Reason and Will it being God's usual method to work with his Creatures according to their Natures and those Principles of Acting he hath put into them Though God quickens Grace as well as works it yet Man is to use those means for the quickning it in himself which God hath appointed and with which he is wont to work 2. The reasons of this Concession or which prove that a Death-bed Repentance may be sincere 1. It appears by the the instance of this Thief that a late Repentance and as late as one upon a Dying Bed hath been sincere and therefore the like may be again He did truly repent and therefore it is possible others may And that his Repentance was sincere we have sufficient Proof not only from Christs gracious acceptation of it manifested by the peremptory promise he gave him of admitting him into his Kingdom To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise But by the other Graces we here find him exercising in concurrence with his repentance I. Faith which is the Principle of Evangelical Repentance and which never fails to work it where it is it self sincere He owns Christ as a King when he mentions his Kingdom and prays him to remember him when he comes into it This likewise implies his belief of and confidence in the Grace and Love as well as Power of Christ when he commits his departing Soul into his hands expecting his Salvation from him And indeed his Faith was not only sincere but strong and vigorous God had put as much of the Spirit of Faith into a poor Novice in Religion at the very first as he doth into many an old Disciple at the last It is a good argument of a strong Faith when it bears up against great discouragements as we see in Abraham's Faith Rom. 4.19 20. and that of the Woman of Canaan Matth. 15. from v. 22. to 28. Two great discouragements the Thief had which yet could not hinder his Faith 1. The heinousness of his Sins aggravated by long impenitence and perseverance in them to the last hour in a manner of his Life Well might he fear that God was so provoked by the continual rebellion of his wicked Life as totally to reject him now at his Death 2. The low and despicable condition he saw Christ in condemned as well as himself and hanging upon a Cross as well as himself slighted and mocked at by so many he might look on as better and wiser than himself no less than the Governours of the Church v. 33. The Rulers derided him This might have made him think there was little hope of help from him What was there in a crucify'd dying Man that to an eye of reason could make him look like a Saviour Meer Nature would as soon have looked for Life in Death it self nay Heaven in Hell as eternal Salvation in one who not only had formerly been so mean but now seemed so miserable II. Several other Graces we find in him as the fruits at least the concomitants of his Repentance 1. A free ingenuous and open confession of his Sins in the face of the World and thereby giving glory to God v. 41. We indeed justly c. Nor can it be said that his Confession was extorted from him by the Torments he suffer'd when we see his Companion impenitent under the like 2. He owns the Justice that had brought him to that end We receive the due reward of our deeds He neither murmurs against God nor quarrels with Men. 3. He sharply taxeth the impiety and profaneness of his fellow Thief in reviling Christ as well as his still continuing obstinate and impenitent v. 40. Dost not thou fear God c. and hereby he shews his indignation against Sin when he so heinously resents it not only in himself but in another Like David he beholds a transgressor and is grieved Ps 119.158 4. He doth what he can to bring his Companion to repentance Dost not thou fear God The Reproof implies an Exhortation as well as Instruction Now the communicativeness of Grace is a good argument of the sincerity of it
not only called the Ministers of God but because they are in so great place and set about so good work God hath been pleased to put upon them his own Name as we find in sundry places of Scripture Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor curse the Ruler of thy People Where the latter Expression the Ruler of thy People Is Exegetical and Explanative of the former the Gods and accordingly the Chaldee Translation renders it the Judges So again Psalm 82.1 God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty and judgeth among the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which some indeed understand the Angels as 1 Sam. 28.13 When the Witch had raised up the Devil a fallen Angel in the shape of Samuel she said to Saul I saw Gods ascending out of the Earth And so Psalm 86.8 Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord. Though the holy Angels are noble Creatures excellent in Wisdom and mighty in Strength yet among that innumerable company not one can be found like God But others better understand hereby Princes Judges and civil Magistrates And not only David a good man a King called them by this Name but Jehovah himself hath given it them he hath vouchsafed to honour them with this Name Psalm 82.6 I have said Ye are Gods and all of you are the Children of the most High You are my Commissioners you do Locum tenere hold my place with my leave and by my appointment Your Throne is the Throne of God and your Tribunal the Tribunal of God I have given you an inviolable Authority take heed how you use it I have made it your work to do Justice and to distribute Rewards and Punishments see that you do it Now what shall we infer from hence Certainly thus much That Magistrates being Gods Vicegerents they ought to Act like him and according to his will Having their Commission from him they should study it and conform to it bearing his Name they should be expressive of his Nature Being cloathed with his Power they ought to imploy it for his Honour and the promoting of his Interest and against his Enemies of whom Sin is the worst for men are said to be Enemies in their Minds through wicked works Are they Children of the most High And as such admitted to a part of his judiciary Power Then it becomes them to be followers of him as dear Children and as well as they can to imitate him in the discharge of that trust which they have received from him Who is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him the foolish shall not stand in his sight for he hateth all the workers of Iniquity Psalm 5.4 5. But let us pursue this a little further Secondly We have seen what is the place of Magistrates it is very high and honourable but not supreme there is one in Heaven that is higher than they great men in Authority are still as the good Centurion said under Authority Their place is a Vicegerency Now let us but specially let them consider and remember what is the work and business of their place For that they ought to do endeavouring to stand compleat in all the Will of God as Men as Christistians and as Magistrates or Men in Office It will by no means be found enough for men to hold such or such a place in Church or State but it ought to be their desire and endeavour to fill up the place they hold Which if men would seriously think upon there would not be that seeking of and hunting after places as there generally is Places then would rather seek men than men Places And as Persons in Authority and Power do and will and justly may expect and require that honour revenue and salary which doth of right belong to them upon the account of their place The Prince will not part with his Crown Scepter and Throne so long as He can hold them Nor the Lord Mayor with his Sword and Mace no nor the Constable with his Staff which is the badge of his Office So they and all others ought to fill up as I said their places with the performance of that Duty which is inseparably annexed to them A man had a great deal better never have been advanced to a place of trust than to be careless negligent and remiss in it He that so advanced is not a publick good is no better than a common nusance Honos and Onus go together Honour and Burden and He doth not deserve to meddle with the Honour who is not willing to take up the Burden Well these places carry great work along with them and that work must be done Now if the Question be What is that work to the doing whereof Magistrates are by their places obliged I answer To appear for God and to act for God As God is the Author of their Power so his Interest and Honour ought to be the matter of their designs and the end of their Government This that good King Jehoshaphat did full well understand accordingly when he had set Judges in the Land through all the fenced Cities of Judah City by City he spake thus unto them 2 Chron. 19.6 Take heed what ye do for ye rule not for men but for the Lord who is with you in the Judgment An excellent speech it was a charge fit to be given to Judges when to go their Circuits Judges yea and others too as well as they had need be very Cautious and Wary men exceeding prudent and circumspect it concerns them to ponder and weigh actions how they carry what Laws they make how they execute them what Judgments they give and what Sentences they pass But what is the reason hereof Because they Judge not for men but for the Lord and so they rule not for men but the Lord and when they meet in Parliament they should consult not for men but for the Lord. Though indeed they do manage all most prudently for men when they act most faithfully for the Lord. And it is certain it is not Officers own advancement and inrichment not their own Honour and Grandeur at which they should level and direct their Actions none of these is the end of Government or of their being called to any part or share of it but the Honour of God and his Glory as Supreme and the good of men as subordinate And let not that be forgotten which Jehoshaphat added The Lord is with you in the Judgment When you do well and act according to the Law of Righteousness God is with you to own you to justifie you to stand by you to comfort and encourage you to protect and defend you to reward and bless you as Persons that have been faithful And you may be sure He is at all times with you in the Throne and in the Senate and upon the Bench and elsewhere curiously to observe and take notice of that which you do for by
sense of misery that a man would fain be rid of and can't 't is a Yoke whereby his Neck is gall'd but he can't put it off and if he should be released from it by any undue ways or means it would be to his farther detriment and danger in the end Now from this Fear of Death the Children are said to be delivered by Christ There are many evils from which he redeems and delivers them he delivers them from the bondage of sin and Satan from the rigour and Curse of the Law from everlasting Punishment and Wrath to come and he delivers them also from the Fear of Death This is imply'd if it be not express'd in the Text for upon the mentioning of their deliverance he gives this description of the Persons that are delivered that they wâ—â—e such as were afraid of Death and lyable to continual bondage by reason thereof Hence all Expositors both ancient and modern do rationally inferr That the Fear of Death is one of those evils from whence we are deliver'd by Jesus Christ The Text thus briefly open'd administers a fair occasion of resolving this Case or Question From what Fear of Death are the Children of God deliver'd by Jesus Christ and by what means doth he deliver them from it I shall break this Question in two and enquire 1. From what Fear of Death the Children of God are delivered from by Jesus Christ And then 2. By what Means or Methods he doth deliver them from it 1. From what Fear of Death are the Children of God deliver'd by Jesus Christ That I may resolve this Question aright I must distinguish of the Fear of Death 1. There is a natural Fear of Death This is common to all Men as Men and 't is more or less in them according to their different Constitutions and other accidental Occurrences This is nothing else but Natures aversation to it 's own dissolution and in it's self it is a sinless infirmity such as sickness weariness or the like To be loth or afraid to dye is humane and inseparable from the nature of man this fear of Death is found with the best of men Nature as one says hath a share in them as well as in others and will work as Nature or like it self The Apostle Paul tells us how good godly men are unwilling to be uncloath'd and to put off the body 2 Cor. 5.4 Our blessed Saviour who was a true though not a meer Man without the least impeachment of the Holiness and Perfection of his humane Nature express'd at some times an aversion to death John 12.27 Mark 14.35 This therefore is not the fear of Death of which the Text speaks and from which the Children of God are deliver'd by Jesus Christ 2. There is a slavish Fear of Death which hath Torment in it or which torments the Souls of men which fills their hearts with terrors and distractions which discomposeth their minds and unfits them for the duties of their general or particular callings and totally disables them from prosecuting the things that belong to their Peace and Welfare This is that fear of Death of which the Text speaks and from which the Children are deliver'd such as genders unto bondage and is servile or slavish a fear of Death as poenal and drawing after it everlasting punishment This fear of Death takes hold of carnal men they are not so much afraid of Death as of that which the Scripture calls the second Death Revel 2.11 20.6 Heb. 9.26 't is that which follows after death that makes it so formidable to them after Death as that Text speaks comes Judgment when they must receive according to the things which they have done in the Body When they dye they must launch out into an endless Ocean and go the way as Job says from whence they shall never return Job 16.22 And if Death overtakes them in their unregenerate state and condition then it will be an entrance or inlet into outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth These and such-like are the considerations that make Death so dreadfull to the Children of Men that give it the denomination of the King of Terrors and of terrible things the most terrible they are not as one said afraid to dye but they are afraid to be damn'd Hence it is that though Death be terrible to all men yet it is most terrible to those whose Consciences are awakened and whose understandings are enlightned who have been instructed in the Knowledge of God and of a future State of Retribution Death as one observes is not half so terrible to a Heathen as it is to an ungodly Christian Heathen men are in the dark and see but little of that which is the true terror of Death But enlightned Christians who have been acquainted with the Scripture who know that the Wrath of God is reveal'd from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. 1.18 1 Cor. 6.9 Psal 9.17 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God that the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all Nations and people that forget God that Jesus Christ shall be reveal'd from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power That the greatest part by far of the wages of sin which is eternal damnation shall be paid in another World These are they that are surrounded with the slavish fears of Death 'T is true that many wicked Persons who live under the Gospel are under none of these terrors but then 't is because they look on Death at a great distance from them and the remoteness of any Object though in it's self never so terrible takes away the fear of it Or else it is because they are over-busied and taken up about the things of the World as the lust of the flesh or of the eyes or the pride of life and if any thoughts of Death and of the World to come arise in their minds they are presently smother'd and stifled by worldly objects and diversions Cain was a while afraid of Death he thought every one that met him would slay him but by and by he gets into the Land of Nod and there he falls a building of Cities and doth so immerse or drown himself in the affairs of the World that by little and little the slavish fear he had of Death did wear out of his mind Or else it is because of their Atheism or Infidelity there is a great deal of this amongst professed Christians All wicked men as the Apostle Paul says are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2.12 without God in the World or as it may be rendred they are Atheists in the World They are all practical Atheists and too many are
really do not believe they say they have Faith but have it not How to find out such Men and to convince them of their unbelief How to dig up this Fox that is so deeply earthed under a specious profession of Faith This requires some skill we shall find it difficult work yet I conceive it may be done they may be so narrowed up that unless they deny their sense and their reason they must own their unbelief Though we cannot by reason bring Men to believe yet we may by reason convince them of their unbelief here we offer nothing new or surprizing to them we only state the matter as it is in their own Hearts which they know to be so we do but bring them to reason to their own reason we make them Judges of themselves in a matter of fact of their own doing though they say they have Faith yet being close put to it they must needs unsay that again the evidence of the thing it self overthrows all they can say against it I would argue thus with them 1. Let them if they can produce any of those fruits and effects of Faith that are inseparable from it James 2.14 c. To pretend to such an active principle as Faith is and yet do nothing by it is very unreasonable they say they have Faith they may as well say they have Wings and can fly though they cannot bare up themselves one inch from the ground unless some part of the body rest upon it indeed if a Mans feet be upon the ground all the other parts of the body may be erect but for the whole body to carry all its weight upwards through the Air this is flying 'T is equally absurd for Men to say they have Faith are risen with Christ are in an ascending posture when they visibly rest upon the Earth nay when they lie flat upon it are sunk into it covered all over with it are as it were buried alive in their carnal affections Men may say what they will 't is apparently otherwise upwards and downwards cannot be so confounded that one should be taken for tother 't is against common sense Men may and must be convinced of this that what is contrary to Faith is not Faith Faith without works is dead were there any thing of the true Nature Life and Spirit of Faith in them they could not carry it as they do They make Faith an easie thing who make just nothing of it and do nothing by it nay they do that which they might with far more colour of reason do if they did not at all pretend to Faith but to say they believe in Christ and yet act in a direct opposition to him and to their own Faith also is that which no Man in his wits will give credit too 2. Let them try their skill in those indispensible acts of Faith that Christ requires in all his followers Mat. 16.24 25. The reading of those words is enough to convince any considering Man that 't is no easie matter to believe that which is not easie to do is not so easily believed 3. Let them consider the misterious points of Faith that are above our reason and do transcend our humane capacities as the Doctrin of the Trinity of the incarnation of Christ of the Resurrection of Justification by imputed Righteousness how have Men stumbled at these things could never come to any satisfaction in by their own reason and shall we say 't is an easie matter to believe these things they are stupidly ignorant of the misteries of Faith who say so if this be easie there is nothing hard or difficult in the World Object How comes it to pass that any do believe Answ Because God puts forth his power in some and not in others there is not a greater instance of the power of God in the whole World than this In bringing over the heart of a sinner to believe in Christ O the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe This is the undoubted experience of every true Believer You who know not how you came by your Faith but slid into it by custom education and long continuance under the means of Grace and have always counted it an easie thing to believe let me tell you you know not what it is to believe to this day 'T is true God makes it easie to believe but so that we still see it impossible to believe without his help I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me I live yet not I We may soar aloft when upon Eagles wings we may move any where as we are carried but all this while we know we are not the cause of our own motion the Spring of it is not in our selves acti agimus we act as we are acted the root bears us not we the root we feel Christ living in us We live because he lives in us What we receive from another is ours when we receive it but 't is not from our selves because we receive it from another God makes us so to work in such a dependance upon him that we see 't is He that worketh in us both to will and to do To ascribe the free acts of own will to another requires a humble mind sensible of its own weakness and of the secret ways of Gods divine communications to his creature Man exactly suted to the rational nature of so free an agent as Man is the freedom of whose will is preserved under a constant dependance upon God in every thing he do's God that gave him this freedom can cause him freely to act it as he pleases otherwise Man would not be a governable creature if the natural freedom of his will did exempt him from a due subjection to God that made him in which subjection he is as free as he could be supposed to be if left to himself to do what he list A Believer lists and wills what he do's and yet he do's not do what he lists but freely subjects his own will to the will of God whose service is perfect freedom A Saint keeps up the liberty of his will by a voluntary obedience to the will of God and this is his Grace till our stubborn Hearts are brought to this they are and will be rebellious against God What I have said may be convincing to these easie Believers that they are void of true saving Faith unless they resolve not to be convinced and though they do so resolve yet they must be convinced whether they will or no Truth and Reason plainly proposed never want a witness in the Conscience of Man that will speak sometime or other as the thing is Quest What 's the danger of a death-bed Repentance SERMON IX Luke XXIII 42. And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom WE have in this little History of the two thieves crucified with our Lord Jesus a great instance both of Man's wickedness and of Divine grace I.
any thing our Apostle tells him He knoweth nothing as he ought to know 1 Cor. 8.2 He is not sufficient as of himself for one good or true thought 2 Cor. 3.5 which cuts the top sinew of Pelagianism and the Champions of the power of Nature 2. His judgment therefore must needs be dubious or wrong whereby he is to compare things that differ or agree together If God leave him or give him up to himself the Prophet is a fool and the Spiritual Man is mad Hos 9.7 so as he will put darkness for light and light for darkness bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter call good evil and evil good Isa 5.20 Conscience the Souls taster and common sense is so vitiated and defiled Tit. 1.15 that he hath no true judgment or discretion having not his senses exercised to discern between good and evil Heb. 5.14 3. His conclusions therefore must needs be distorted from these premises and the Errors in the first and second concoction are not corrected and amended by the third he who cannot make one strait step can never take three together All the Errors and Fallacies in the World are but the products of his Ratiocinations viz. I can go to the Tavern or Exchange I find therefore I can Repent and Believe when I will whereas these are actions of another Life and Nature which he was never born to unless Regenerated by the Spirit of God To Repent and Believe are God's gift Acts 5.31 His work in us John 6.65 and Ephes 2.8 Though for this very Doctrin many of his ignoranter Disciples went back and walked no more with him John 6.66 And so Men jog on in their sensuality presumptuously as if there was something in the pleasures of sin which was sweeter and dearer to them than God or Heaven and when they have no more strength to serve their Lusts nor any thing else to do but to die they can in one quarter of an hour make their peace with God as one of that herd said to me who soon after drawing Water out of his own Well and being Drunk was by the weight of the Bucket drawn into the Well and drown'd Another saith I may sin because Grace aboundeth this is a most disingenuous and unnatural argument I may hate God and my Saviour because he hath so loved me when holy Herbert said Let me not Love thee if I love thee not love being stronger than Death or Hell in the Hearts of Gods beloved ones So without holiness none shall see God therefore we must be justified by our Evangelical Obedience and Righteousness whereas this is only a concomitant for the cause for God pronounceth and declareth none to be Righteous but such as are Righteous now there is none Righteous no not one Rom. 3.10 but in the Righteousness of Christ who of God is made Wisdom Righteousness and Redemption Dav. de Just 1 Cor. 1.36 In sound Davenant's words An Alderman sits in the Court not because he is to come in his Gown but because he is an Alderman by Election c. So you must obey the Laws of the Church if that wedge will drive if not the Laws of the State both which are inconsequent if they be not according to the Law of God the establishing perversness by a Law Psal 94.20 made neither Davids nor Christs sufferings the worse but their sin the greater who twisted such a Law So that we need a new Logick from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal Word as a directory to our Reasonings as well as the common Logick which teacheth us the regulation of the operations of our minds II. As we are lame in our Feet by our Naturals so even those who by the light of the Gospel and Grace are brought over to better understanding yet by vertue of the old crasiness they are not throughly illuminated and refined The very Apostles themselves Luke 18.34 were plainly told by our Saviour that he should suffer Death and rise again the third day yet they understood none of these things these sayings were hid from them until he opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures Luke 24.45 We have all a dark side and Paul says We know but in part 1 Cor. 13.12 we see but one side of the Globe we cannot view things round about they are above our Hemisphere These weak Jews were Zealous for their Ceremonies as being instituted by God the Gentiles as hot for theirs let no Man think himself infallible for these were all out and mistaken Form Custom and Education do wonderfully confirm Men in Error How hardly were People in our first Reformation drawn from their Prayers in Latin to English yet they understood not Latin as hardly would they still be weaned from little formalities though it were to entertain the most real and reasonable service in the World So great a Tyrant is tough custom over Phlegmatick Souls so apt are Men to heats for trifles by which Straw and Stubble they turn the Church into a Brick-kiln These Jews had Divine Right to plead and the usage and practice of all the seed of the Faithful enough to stagger a weak Christian Errors fairly set off may pass for Truths and if but weakly confuted may hang a doubt in Mens minds so Truths ill guarded may go for Errors objections not well cleared had better never have been started for they may puzzle a weak Head and Heart and make them both ake with fear of mistakes A Sophistical Disputant will prove there is no Motion the best way to confute him is in our Saviours words rise up and walk John 5.8 which is a real silent demonstration of it III. Nothing so convulseth Mens reason as interest as Hobs saith Though there is no Problem in Mathematicks more demonstrable than that all strait Lines drawn from the Center to the Circumference are equal yet if this did but cross any Mans interest it would be disputed Now 1 John 2.16 the Apostle reduceth the whole World to those three Elements the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the pride of Life a threefold cord strong enough to pull any Truth in pieces as easily as Sampson did his Wyths 1. The lust of the Flesh modo hic sit bene pleasing the Flesh goeth a great deal further than the Monks Bellies who yet have a lusty share in it as one of their own said They had all things so complacent that they wanted only a Vicar to go to Hell for them when they should die The Bishop of Romes Kitchin and Purgatory mutually support one another Disorders of Life hold up Celibacy in Men in Orders The lust of Idleness inviteth to Stage-plays the nurseries of Vanity and Vice to Cards and Dice in defiance of that Canon which pronounceth them unlawful Games A lusty Dinner makes the Veins so strut they can leap or fly to Heaven by their Free-will without the necessity of Free-grace so strong is Flesh and Blood without the
and Earth a damned Spirit the most cursed part of the Creation It is most reasonable that the baseness of the Competitour should be a foil to reinforce the lustre of Gods authority yet Men reject God and comply with the tempter O prodigious perversness 2. Sin vilifies the ruling Wisdom of God that prescrib'd the Law to Men. Altho the dominion of God over us be Supreme and Absolute yet 't is exercis'd according to the councel of his Will by the best means 1 Tim. 1.17 for the best ends he is accordingly stiled by the Apostle The eternal King and only wise God 'T is the glorious Prerogative of his Sovereignty and Deity that he can do no wrong for he necessarily acts according to the excellencies of his Nature Particularly his Wisdom is so relucent in his Laws that the serious contemplation of it will ravish the sincere minds of Men into a compliance with them They are framed with exact congruity to the Nature of God and his relation to us and to the faculties of Man before he was corrupted From hence the Divine Law being the transcript not only of Gods Will but his Wisdom binds the understanding and will our leading faculties to esteem and approve to consent and choose all his precepts as best Now sin vilifies the infinite understanding of God with respect both to the precepts of the â—â—w the rule of our duty and the sanction annext to confirm its obligâ—â—â—on It does constructively tax the precepts as unequal too rigid â—â—d severe a confinement to our wills and actions Thus the impious Rebels complain The ways of the Lord are not equal as injurious to their liberty and not worthy of observance What St. James saith to correct the uncharitable censorious Humour of some in his time James 4.11 He that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law as an imperfect and rash rule is aplicable to Sinners in any other kind As an unskillful Hand by straining too high breaks the strings of an Instrument and spoils the Musick so the Strictness and Severity of the Precepts breaks the harmonious Agreement between the Wills of Men and the Law and casts an Imputation of Imprudence upon the Law-giver This is the implicit Blasphemy in Sin Besides the Law has Rewards and Punishments to secure our Respects and Obedience to it The wise God knows the Frame of the reasonable Creature what are the inward Springs of our Actions and has accordingly propounded such Motives to our Hope and Fear the most active Passions as may engage us to perform our Duty He promises his favour that is better then life to the Obedient and threatens his wrath that is worse then death to the rebellious Now Sin makes it evident that these Motives are not effectual in the Minds of Men And this reflects upon the Wisdom of the Law-giver as if defective in not binding his Subjects firmly to their Duty for if the Advantage or Pleasure that may be gain'd by Sin be greater than the Reward that is promised to Obedience and the Punishment that is threatned against the Transgression the Law is unable to restrain from Sin and the Ends of Government are not obtained Thus Sinners in venturing upon forbidden things reproach the Understanding of the Divine Law-giver 3. Sin is a Contrariety to the unspotted Holiness of God Of all the glorious and benign Constellation of the Divine Attributes that shine in the Law of God his Holiness has the brightest Lustre God is Holy in all his Works but the most venerable and precious Monument of his Holiness is the Law For the Holiness of God consists in the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his moral Perfections Wisdom Goodness and Justice and the Law is the perfect Copy of his Nature and Will The Psalmist who had a purged Eye saw and admir'd its Purity and Perfection Psal 19. Psal 119.140 The Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the eyes The word is very pure therefore thy servant loves it 'T is the perspicuous and glorious Rule of our Duty without Blemish or Imperfection The Commandment is holy just and good It injoyns nothing but what is absolutely Good without the least Tincture of Evil. The Sum of it is set down by the Apostle to live soberly that is to abstain from any thing that may stain the Excellence of an understanding Creature To live righteously which respects the State and Scituation wherein God has disposed Men for his Glory It comprehends all the respective Duties to others to whom we are united by the Bands of Nature or of civil Society or of Spiritual Communion And to live godly which includes all the internal and outward Duties we owe to God who is the Sovereign of our Spirits whose Will must be the Rule and his Glory the End of our Actions In short The Law is so form'd that prescinding from the Authority of the Law-giver its Holiness and Goodness lays an eternal Obligation on us to obey it Now Sin is not only by Interpretation a Reproach to the Wisdom and other Perfections of God but directly and formally a Contrariety to his infinite Sanctity and Purity for it consists in a not doing what the Law commands Rom. 11. or doing what it forbids 'T is therefore said That the carnal mind is Enmity against God An active immediate and irreconcilable Contrariety to his holy Nature and Will From henee there is a reciprocal Hatred between God and Sinners God is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity without an infinite Displicence the Effects of which will fall upon Sinners and tho' 't is an Impiety hardly conceivable Rom. 1. yet the Scripture tells us that they are haters of God 'T is true God by the transcendent Excellence of his Nature is uncapable of suffering any Evil and there are few in the present State arrived to such Malice as to declare open Enmity and War against God In the Damned this Hatred is explicit and direct the Fever is hightned to a Frenzy the blessed God is the Object of their Curses and eternal Aversation If their Rage could extend to him and their Power were equal to their Desires they would Dethrone the most High And the Seeds of this are in the Breasts of Sinners here As the fearful Expectation of irresistible and fiery Vengeance increases their Aversation increases They endeavour to rase out the Inscription of God in their Souls and to extinguish the thoughts and sense of their Inspector and Judge They wish he were not All-seeing and Almighty but Blind and Impotent uncapable to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God The Heart is the Fountain of Desires and Actions interpret the Thoughts and Affections from whence the Inference is direct and conclusive that habitual Sinners who live without God in the world have secret Desires there was no Sovereign being
to observe and require an account of all their Actions The radical cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are enemies to God in their minds through wicked works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very Conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1. His Creating Goodness 'T is clear without the lea st shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so Wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 15 16. marvellous are thy works and that my soul knows right well Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy hands have made me and fashioned me round about Job 10.8 The Soul our principal Part is of a celestial Original inspired from the father of Spirits The faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorifie and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superior Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our Native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was Gods end in Making us Certainly it was becoming his infinite Understanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fullness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgement of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments Rev. 4.11 as not to acknowledge 't is our indispensable Duty Our reasonable service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Natures I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking-glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those Sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed them nay sinks them below the insensible part of the Creation that invariably observes the Law and order prescribed by the Creator Astonishing Degeneracy Hear O Heavens give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up Childen and they have rebelled against me was the Complaint of God himself The considerate Review of this will melt us into Tears of Confusion 2. 'T was the unvaluable goodness of God to give his Law to Man for his rule both in respect of the matter of the Law and his end in giving it 1. The matter of the Law this as is forecited from the Apostle is holy just and good It contains all things that are honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report whatsoever are vertuous and praise-worthy In obedience to it the innocence and perfection of the reasonable creature consists This I do but glance upon having been consider'd before 2. The end of giving the Law God was pleas'd upon Mans creation by an illustrious revelation to shew him his duty to write his Law in his Heart that he might not take one step out of the circle of its precepts and immediately sin and perish His gracious design was to keep Man in his love that from the obedience of the reasonable creature the divine goodness might take its rise to reward him This unfeined and excellent goodness the sinner outragiously despises for what greater contempt can be exprest against a written Law than the tearing it in pieces and trampling it underfoot And this constructively the sinner does to the Law of God which contempt extends to the gracious giver of it Rom. 7.10 Thus the Commandment that was ordain'd unto Life by sin was found unto Death 3. Sin is an extreme vilifying of Gods goodness in preferring carnal pleasures to his favour and Communion with him wherein the life the felicity the heaven of the reasonable creature consists God is infinite in all possible perfections all-sufficient to make us compleatly and eternally happy he disdains to have any competitour and requires to be supreme in our esteem and affections the reason of this is so evident by Divine and Natural light that 't is needless to spend many words about it 'T is an observation of St. Austin * Omnes Deos colendos esse sapienti Cur ergo a numero caeterorum ille rejectus est nihil restat ut dicant cur hujus Dei sacra recipere noluerint nisi quia solum se coli voluerit Aug. de Consens Evang. c. 17. That
sublime nervous Epistle whether St. Luke or Barnabas or Clement or Apollos or the Apostle Paul as I most think I here dispute not is evidently walking in the searches of the great Excellency of Christianity as it was brought unto us by and took its denomination from and serves the purposes and speaks the Eminence Unction and Prerogatives and Designs of Christ the Son of God And this discourse he here directeth to the Hebrews by whom we may understand those Christian Jews that were in Syria Judea and principally at Jerusalem for those that were dispersed through the Provinces of the Roman Empire were commonly called Greeks And those indeed who were Converted to the Christian Faith were terribly persecuted by the Jews their Brethren and assaulted by Seducers to work them back again to their deserted Judaism and much ado they had to stand their ground Whereupon this Author mindful of what his Lord had said in Mat. xxiv 9-13 attempts to shew the Eminencies of their State and that Judaism was every way transcended by Christianity The Author of it was a greater and better Person than Moses Aaron or Melchizedeck The Doctrines were more mysterious and sublime The Laws more spiritual and most accurately suited to the compleating and perpetuating of the Divine Life and Nature in them and to the advancing them unto all Conformities to God imitations of him and intimacies with him The Promises were more glorious rich and full and all the Constitutions Furniture Services Ministry and Advantages of the Gospel Polity and Temple carried more glorious signatures of God upon them and were more eminently attested patronized and succeeded by God than ever Judaism was or than it could pretend unto Why therefore should it be deserted or coldly owned or improved negligently or defectively This Author having therefore gained his point and throughly proved the dignity of the Christian state and calling beyond all possibility of grounded Cavils or competition He next proceeds to shew these Hebrews the genuine and just improvement of what he had demonstrated Heb. x. 19-39 xi xii xiii 1-19 The Casuistical consideration of the Text best serves the stated purpose of this hour And that I may be evidently pertinent clear succinct and profitable let me now lay the Case and Text together and consider them in their relative aspects each toward the other 1. Luke-warmness is the remissness or defectiveness of heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a middle thing betwixt cold and heat When there is not heat enough in subjecto capaci to serve the purposes that such a thing under such circumstances should subserve Now God and Christ expect a fervent Spirit burning and flaming Love and in the Text Love is here represented as needing Provocation Heart-warmth is nothing else but love suiting and accommodating it self to worthy objects according to their apprehended dignity usefulness or concerns Love is the endearing to our selves of apprehended Excellence or Goodness and our letting out our selves or the issuings forth of our pleased wills in correspondent motions towards reposes in obsequiousness to and engagements for what we admire and affect for worth or excellence discerned makes us accommodate our selves unto the pleasure and concerns thereof according to its nature place and posture towards us and our affairs therewith When therefore this Affection Principle or Grace or Passion if Love may properly be called so is grown too weak to fix the will and to influence the life so as to please its God and turns indifferent and unconcerned and variable as the winds and weather change this languor of the Heart and Will and its easiness and proneness to be drawn off from God and things Divine we call Luke-warmness which is nothing else indeed but the sluggishness and dulness of the heart and will to such a degree as that it is not duly affected with nor startled at nor concerned intimately about what is truly excellent and of great consequence and importance to us And hence our Author phrases it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that Love may and ought to be smart and keen heating and urging all the powers of the Soul to excite all their vigours and to perform all their Functions with strength and pleasure Consider well Cant. viii 6 7. ii Cor. v. 14. i Thess ii 8. Heart unaffectedness unconcernedness and inactivity let Souls and their concerns God's interest and the Matters of Christ's Kingdom go and be as they will Phil. ii 20 21. This is the malady to be cured 2. It is not so much a single instance of luke-warmness as a temper that the case speaks of Nor doth the Text intend an intermittent Feaver in the heart 't is not a transient Paroxysm by fits and starts for hearts to burn but 't is a stated frame that must be changed and fixt The Malady is a luke-warm temper a frame and constitution of the inward man too weakly bent and byassed towards God and heavenly things to make them statedly its predominant ambition business and delight Act. xi 23. ii Cor. v. 9. A frame of Soul that sits too loose towards God to do to bear to be to hope to wait much for him in the stormy and dark day 3. It is the effectual cure hereof that the case aims at and in this Paroxysm of Love and of Good Works the cure consists Hence Labour of love Heb. vi 10. i Thess i. 3. Love abounding more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence until the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the Glory and Praise of God Phil. i. 9. 11. when Love is fervent fixt and genuinely fruitful then is this luke-warm temper cured indeed Hence zealous of good works See Tit. ii 11. 14. 4. How this Cure of such a temper may be effectually wrought is the next thing to be enquired into and the great import of the case before us and a great cluster of apt and pertinent Expedients doth the Text here entertain us with Such as 1. Determining and designing to enterprize the thing here called Provocation to love and to good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · This is the great concern to be espoused and the great scope of our intentions resolutions and endeavours Love and good works are the great Cure of this Distemper to which we must direct our thoughts words deeds provokingly Col iv 5 6 Such a Distemper must not be ordinarily expected to be cured by accident nor are their Labours likely to be prosperous who do not cordially design this Cure 2 The mutual Considerations of Persons Consider one another to a Provocation So the Greek We must take into serious deep and frequent thoughts the quality capacity spirits courses and concerns of one another and see wherein they are defective or exemplary and proficient in these things as
do this that if it were possible He might allure and draw others to walk in the same way of Wisdom and Holiness as Himself had chosen but however he would do this that none of them might have his pattern to justifie and embolden any of them in their ways of wickedness Of all Persons Parents in a Family Ministers in the Church and Magistrates in a Kingdom ought to be very careful and curious they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take heed to their way and foot it right For those that do not prove publick pests and mischiefs going up and down to the infecting of many Secondly As such should make it their business to Live prophaneness down so it will be an excellent thing for them to Frown it down Let them not bestow their smiles upon those that Practise it for those smiles are misplaced Princes will do well not to admit them into their Courts nor to make them the objects of their special Favour We find the Lord speaking thus Hos 7.1 When I would have healed Israel the Iniquity of Ephraim was discovered and the Sin of Samaria I find some Expositors do by Ephraim there understand the Court for certain after the revolt of the ten Tribes from the House of David in the days of Rehoboam Samaria was the Metropolis or Capital City of the Kingdom of Israel This being so we may by warrant of that Text lay down this position If there be Iniquity in Ephraim no man hath any reason to wonder that he finds Wickedness in Samaria Sins in the Court will diffuse themselves and not be kept out of the City no nor the Countrey neither Therefore holy David did not only resolve to take special care of himself though it was his Wisdom to begin there that was beginning at the right end but he did not shut up his care within so narrow bounds He did not limit it to himself but would look about him and have an Eye upon his Domesticks all those that should live with him Psal 101.3 A froward Heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked Person Assoon as I have discovered such an one and found him to be of an evil Temper and Life He shall away he must depart from me if he be a worker of iniquity I will cast him and turn him out of doors my Palace shall be no place for such vermin I will not know him He shall be none of my acquaintance or retinue And indeed there is very good reason why they should be out of credit at Court who are a discredit to the God they own and the Religion they profess Marks of special favour are at all times and in all places very unhappily bestowed upon such as do by their Leudness and Debauchery deserve the blackest brands of infamy And whatever other abilities and accomplishments they may have I think it is very hard and hazardous to trust them who do not fear God None are before the throne of God in Heaven but holy Angels and the Saints who have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb Rev. 7.14 Evil shall not dwell with him nor shall the workers of iniquity stand in his sight And then will things be well indeed when none but such are suffered to stand before the Thrones of earthly Princes his Substitutes and Vicegerents The way of prophaneness would not be so beaten a road as it hath been but have far fewer Travellers when all shall see that it doth not lead to preferment To be severe against the wicked is a convincing argument of a Princes wisdom Prov. 20.26 A wise King scattereth the wicked and bringeth the Wheel over them And in this way he doth provide for his own security Prov. 25.5 Take away the wicked from before the King and his Throne shall be established in righteousness When Cardinal Julian was commended to Sigismund he answer'd Tamen Romanus est Let such or such a man be commended for never so much if it may be said Tamen profanus est that should be enough for a bar in his way Thirdly Another excellent way for the suppressing of prophaneness is an opposition made to it by severe Laws yea to every sin that falls within the cognizance of the Civil Magistrate runs upon the point of his Sword And by those Laws let punishment be provided for it according to its nature and demerit For all sins are not equal in themselves and therefore there ought to be a diversity in the punishment Let Rulers thunder most terribly against those abominations that have the loudest cry in the Ears of Heaven make the strongest fence against that sin which above all others threatens the Land with an inundation and be sure to spend the most angry and formidable frowns upon the boldest and most daring outrages Let Laws Kingdoms and Common-wealths be sure to look those sins out of Countenance which are of all other most impudent and look men in the face without a blush and walk up and down in our Streets at noon-day This to do is one part of the work belonging to our King and Parliament with whom alone is lodged the Legislative power whose meetings are to be for the publick good with which they are intrusted and for the promoting whereof they were chosen and sent And as they will answer for it to the Holy Righteous and Eternal God who is a Consuming Fire they are strictly obliged and that at their peril to take care that those Laws which they make be not grievous but righteous have not a malignant but benign influence and that by them every mans Property may be secured that Religion which is warranted by Scripture and so pure and undefiled before God and the Father be not Discouraged Punished and first driven into corners and then ferreted out of them but countenanced and promoted and that all that whatsoever it be that is contrary to Godliness and sound Doctrine as well as that which disturbs the publick peace and creates uncivil disorders may be kept down and as far as is possible banished out of a Land We read Psalm 94.20 of a throne of iniquity that frameth mischief by a Law If there never had been such Thrones in the World there would not have been that mention made of them in the Scripture But such there have been That of Jeroboam was one who would not suffer the people according to the divine Command to go up to Jerusalem to worship God who had there placed his name but spread for them that went nets upon Miâ—pahâ— and set snares upon Mount Tabor and such Thrones there have been since too many of them Well Saith the Psalmist shall they have fellowship with thee No no God keeps his distance from them those that we call stinking dunghils are not offensive to God as Thrones of iniquity are which shall neither be approved by him nor secured Stay a while Christians and in patience possess your Souls for