Mysterious Doctrine of the Resurrection although artificially couched by wayâ— of Insinuation and Address 1. It is not a vain thing to suppose it because God had Promised it For no Tradition of Fathers no Conjectures of Philosophers no Power of Nature could be a sufficient Foundation to build such an Article of Faith upon nothing short of the Promise made of God 2. It is not a new thing started by him to disturb and perplex the Minds of Men it was a Promise made to our Fathers i. e. it was involv'd and implied in the great Promise of the Messias and the Happiness to come by him which was not with Respect to this World but the World to come the full and compleat Enjoyment whereof must suppose a Resurrection of the dead 3. It is not an unreasonable thing which appears by S. Paul's putting it to them in such a manner Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Wherein the Apostle hath shew'd us the true Method of asserting and defending the Mysteries of the Christian Faith viz. not to undertake to demonstrate things by natural Reason which are uncapable of it but first to prove them to be of Divine Revelation and then to shew that there is no Objection from Reason which can make that Revelation incredible And this I shall endeavour to make out as to the Subject here mentioned and that 1. In General with respect to the Doctrine of the Resurrection 2. More particularly 1. As to the Resurrection of Christ 2. As to the Resurrection of the Dead at the great Day 1. In General as to the Doctrine of the Resurrection It is no unreasonable Method of proceeding with Mankind to suppose some general Principles agreed on before we undertake to prove particular Doctrines For when we go about to reason at all we must suppose the Foundations of certainty without which it is to no purpose to undertake to convince any Man of any thing When we prove that there is a God we must suppose something that is without our selves in the Frame of this visible World and from the order of Causes the variety of Effects the nature of successive Beings we justly infer that it could not be always just as it is and therefore it will be produced by a Being Superiour to it whose Power must be Infinite as giving Being to that which had none and disposing things in such a manner as we see them For as nothing can be without a Cause so it is most unreasonable to suppose that which once was not should put it self into Being or a blind and unactive Cause should produce such admirable Effects An infinite Power being then necessarily supposed as to the Production of the World it cannot be unreasonable to apply it to a particular Effect although above the power of natural Causes if it be such a one as is agreeable to the infinite Wisdom of God It is an unreasonable thing to suppose any absurd Doctrine to be true because God's Power is infinite For he doth not imploy his Power but in a way most agreeable to his Wisdom and his Wisdom is discovered in the suitableness of the End and the clearness of Divine Revelation It is as possible for God now to raise the Dead as at the great Day but we have no reason to believe it because it doth not now answer the great End of the Resurrection which is in order to an eternal State Therefore altho' there be an equal Possibility in the thing yet there is not an equal Credibility because this doth by no means come up to the declared Purpose of God's raising the Dead which is of very great moment for Mankind to believe and expect If I could believe it possible for the Body of Christ to be in ten thousand places at the same time which I cannot yet if it were not to attain some great and spiritual End which cannot be carried on another way I have the same reason to think it incredible as I have to believe that God will not imploy his infinite Power as often as a Priest shall think fit by repeating the words of Consecration And we never find in the whole History of Scripture the infinite and miraculous Power of God tied to a certain Form of words and that to no spiritual End viz. either for the Conviction Conversion or Sanctification of Mankind to which other means more proper and agreeable are appointed But in the Case of the Resurrection of the Dead our Saviour hath sufficiently declared the End and Design of it to be such that we may justly suppose that if God will imploy his infinite Power it would be for such a Purpose The hour is coming saith Christ in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Can we imagine the Power of God to be imployed for a more suitable End to the Design of his Providence than this It is not to make them capable of acting over again all that Folly and Vanity and Vice which they live in now it is not meerly to shew his Power over all the scattered Atoms of our Bodies and that he can when he pleases fetch them of their secret Repositories and dispose and unite them so as to make the same Bodies it is not to convince then the unbelieving part of Mankind when they see that effected which they before thought incredible for they who will not believe now upon the Evidence which God hath given so as to prepare themselves for that great Day shall then be forced both to believe and tremble Altho' then we do own that without God's infinite Power we look on the Resurrection as impossible yet this ought to be no disparagement to the Doctrine since the End of it is such as doth so fully agree with the Wisdom and Design of Providence It 's true the ancient Fathers who discoursed much to the Heathens upon the Argument of the Resurrection which they thought one of the most incredible Parts of the Christian Doctrine do make use of many comparisons and Similitudes from natural Causes and Effects But we are not to look on them as strict Proofs but as handsome Illustrations being designed to take off the Scorn and Derision with which the Heathens entertained the Doctrine Thus they speak of a Diurnal Resurrection viz. Of the Day dying into Night and being buried in Darkness and in the Morning springing out of its Grave of Obscurity and Silence with a fresh Glory and Splendour of an Annual Resurrection when the Trees begin to have a new Life in them and the precious Liquor which shoots up into the withered Body and Branches and so brings forth new Leaves and Flowers and Fruit. But after all we know that such a Revolution of Days and Nights and the several Seasons of the
Power of Divine Grace in Righteousness and true Holiness And even where that doth not appear yet there is a Tenderness and Compassion due to mankind as far as is consiâ—â—ent with the Order and Government of the World 2. The Spirit of Love and of a sound Mind consists in laying aside private Animosities and Heats for a publick and general Good That is a thing too great and too sacred to be exposed and ridiculed as though it were only a popular Pretence for Faction and Sedition Whereas nothing is more directly opposite to it for therefore it is called Faction and Sedition because it is against it If it hath been abused by Men of ill Minds so have the best things in the World but they do not lose their Nature and Exceâ—lency by it If there be not such a thing as a common Good whence comes any Man's obligation to preserve Order and Government and to seek the Safety and Welfare of his Country although it may be to the hazard of his own Life If there be such a thing it deserves our Regard in the first Place and we ought to lay aside all Pâ—ejudices and mutual Animosities and the Interests of particular Parties and heartily to promote that which is our true common Interest as we are English-men and Protestants of the Church of England which is a great and considerable Part of the Christian Church and the Chief of the Reformation It is hard for any not to see that the whole Protestant Interest lies at stake and that the Preservation of it depends very much on our Conduct and Union at this time But if we find any to be humoursome and peevish any to struggle more for the Interest of a Party to make it uppermost than for our common Good although it be a very sad Consideration and bodes very ill to us all yet we have that poor Comfort left us that Men were as ill disposed even in the Apostle's times For saith St. Paul at a time when one would have thought they should have been much better inclined All men seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christs I hope it cannot be faid of all now but I fear it is so true of too many that it is one of the worst Symptoms of the present State of our Affairs And that which makes it more deplorable is that some Men have entertained such Suspicion and Jealousie of each other that he that goes about to reconcile them instead of making them Friends is look'd on as a common Enemy I am afraid there is not Sincerity and Integrity enough left to be a Foundation for uniting several Parties among us at lest there wants an Opinion of it And as long as there are such Mistrusts and Jealousies the greatest Integrity is so far useless Some learned and good Men have been of late apt to perswade themselves and others that the glorious and happy Times of the Church are coming on I could be glad to be of their opinion for it is a comfortable thing to a man who travels in an ill Road and with bad Company whom he is perpetually afraid of to see at a distance a pleasant and safe Country where he shall be rid of his Fears and Dangers But I confess I cannot much please my self with such thoughts till I see the Tempers of Men's minds begin to change towards one another If I could once see the Spirit of Love and a sound Mind prevail among us if men would be contented to sacrifice their Humours and Piques to the publick Interest in short if there were any hopes Men would be wise and good there were then a great Foundation for hope that all things would be settled among us so as to continue for succeeding Generations But if Men will persist in their own wilfull Humours if they had rather all should perish than they not compass their own Ends we need no foreign Enemies to come in upon us we shall soon come to that height of Animosity as to bite and devour one another and then it is an easie Inference that we shall be consumed one of another I am far from thinking our Case desperate for I hope Men have not lost all their Sense and Zeal for our common Interest but if Men's Heats and Passions increase and grow fiercer a Man needs not pretend to prophecy to foretell what the dreadfull Consequence will be The true Spirit of Religion seems to be buried in Men's warm Contentions about it and some have pretended to a sort of Zeal without Conscience to Religion without Faith and to Scruples without common Honesty If ever God designs to do us good there must be a great Alteration in Men's Tempers and Manners We must have more Sincerity and Integrity among us the want of which hath caused such a general Mistrust of one another that if Faith were to save the Nation I am afraid there is hardly enough left in it And it looks like one of the Symptoms of the Day of Judgment upon us For If the Son of Man should come he would hardly find Faith upon Earth But instead of discoursing of Magnanimity I am sensible I have run into the Object and Reason of our Fears But therefore to conclude all I shall speak briefly to the last Particular which was 3. To consider what Arguments and Means there are to support us against our Fears or to attain to that Christian Magnanimity I have been discoursing of And there are two great Arguments which Christianity doth particularly recommend to us 1. Let things go as ill as we can fear in this World if we are sincere Christians there is a far better State to come to which we shall be admitted when we are once out of this troublesome and sinfull World There will be no Hurries and Confusions no Jealousies and Suspicions no Piques and Animosities The highest Regions of the Air are the most calm and serene all the Clouds and Storms and blustering Winds are below and arise from the Atmosphere If our Minds were more loose from the World we should be more at quiet For at the bottom the Considerations of this World make Men so troublesome in it It is Honour or Power or Riches which make them so unquiet and endeavouring to supplant and undermine one another If Men could learn to be content with that which they pretend was all they so long and so impatiently desired there might be some hopes of seeing something like Peace and Unity among us but if Liberty be thought to signifie nothing without Power it is reasonable to suppose that Power will signifie nothing unless it be all in their own Hands And what can they imagine the rest of the Nation will do Will they suffer an established Church and such a one as ours is which I think an Apostolical Church as to Doctrine Worship and Government if there be any now in the World to be run down with the violent Heats of
first Resolutions and to improve them into a present Practice agreeable thereto as the prodigal Son here did who when he had resolved upon it did accordingly arise and go to his Father v. 20. I do not think there are many Persons in the World who have Convictions upon their Minds of the Evil of their Ways but do resolve at one time or other before they die to repent of their Sins and to make their Peace with God But alas these are Ova subventanea they make a fair appearance but there is no principle of Life in them or as St. Jude expresses it they are Clouds without Water of no Consistency but carried about with winds hurried to and fro with the force and power of Temptations and then their Resolutions are like the Vapours St. James speaks of which appear for a little Time and then vanish away Trees they are without fruit as St. Jude goes on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not that make no shew or appearance of Fruit but it hath no such firmness and substance in it as to endure the nipping Frosts and so it drops off and withers away Just such are the Effects of faint and imperfect Resolutions they never hold out long and only aggravate the Sins committed after them For every such Sin is a plain Sin against Conscience or else they would never have made any Resolution against it And those who continue to sin after Resolutions against their Sins not only lose all the Peace and Comfort of their Minds but make it much harder for them either to make or trust their Resolutions again and consequently to be satisfied of the Sincerity of their Repentance If we would then lay a sure Foundation for the Satisfaction of our Minds in a matter of such unconceivable Moment as the Truth of our Repentance is let us call our selves to an Account as to this matter of the firm Purpose and Resolution of our Minds Have we strictly examin'd our selves as to our particular Sins For there is no Age no Imployment no Condition of Life but hath its Temptations belonging to it which require not only our Care and Consideration but Resolution to keep us from them But suppose we have been overcome by the Sin which doth so easily beset us the Work is harder to recover the Ground we have lost than at first to maintain it but if we have sinned we must repent and the sooner the better but it is not to be done without awakening the drousie and benummed Faculties of our Minds and exercising the secret and hidden Powers therein Not as though this were to be done without the Grace of God preventing and assisting us but because God worketh in us to will and to doe of his good Pleasure we ought to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Let us then trifle no longer in a Work we can never do too well nor too soon nor go about it with too much Resolution It is the want of this which ruins such a Number of those who would fain go to Heaven but have not Courage and Resolution enough to own their Repentance and to break off their former Sins They are half Penitents they are inwardly troubled for them and wish themselves able to withstand the next Temptation but when it comes they yield and suffer themselves to be drawn away as a Bird hasteth to the Snare and knoweth not that it is for his Life Now in such Cases Resolution is not only a convenient and proper thing but a very wise thing For when once a Resolution is found to be serious and in good earnest the former Companions in wickedness will leave off to solicit and if once a penitent Sinner can endure to be despised and exposed for a time by evil Men for owning his Repentance he will find the other parts of his Change grow more easie to him and the Devil's Instruments in tempting will be like himself i. e. they will give over tempting when they see no hopes to prevail And let no Men ever complain that they want Power to break off their former Sins till they have tried what the strength of a Vigorous Resolution will do But because we have always Reason to suspect our selves let us make our devout Applications to Almighty God to give us the Assistance of his Grace through the only Mediation of his Son Jesus Christ. To whom c. SERMON II. Scripture and Tradition COMPARED In a SERMON Preached at Guild-Hall-Chapel Novemb. the 27 th 1687. Coloss. II. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him THERE are two things observable in the manner of St. Paul's expressing himself to the Colossians in this Epistle 1. That he had a very good opinion of them at present as appears by the foregoing Verse For though I be absent in the Flesh yet am I with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ. What could be said more to the Advantage and Honour of a Christian Church For Order is the Strength and Beauty of any Society uniting the several Parts to each other and thereby preserving and adorning the whole Body And the more there is of this in any Christian Church the more it resembles the Body of Christ and the greater Honour it brings to the Christian Profession Especially when it is joyned with a stedfastness of Faith in Christ i. e. with a firm and well setled Resolution to adhere to that Faith which Christ himself delivered For the true Faith of Christ is not only the Mark which distinguishes but the Soul which enlivens the Body of the Church and by its Vigour and Influence makes the several Parts of it become the living Members of Christ's Body But if all this were seen by St. Paul in the Church of the Colossians what need he to write so warmly and earnestly as he doth to them Must we think as some do that he uses these Expressions as gentle Methods of Insinuation and commends them for that which he would perswade them to But this doth not seem agreeable to the Apostles simplicity and godly sincerity which he elsewhere sets such a value upon But it is far more probable that hitherto they had been very orderly and stedfast But Epaphras going to St. Paul had informed him throughly of their condition viz. That they were like a Garrison closely besieged on all sides and although hitherto they had held out with great Courage yet he did not know what earnest Sollicitations and fair Promises and tempting Motives might do with them and therefore the Apostle writes this Epistle to encourage them in their stedfastness and to warn them against Temptations Which he doth in such a manner as shews 2. That he had a more than ordinary Apprehension of the danger they were in And this I say saith he lest any man should beguile you with enticing words v. 4 And beware lest
Apostle calls it an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you Such is the Condition of the World without us here and of the Passions and Infirmities within us that it is a vain thing to expect a true Happiness to be enjoyed in this Life the utmost we can hope for is to be prepared for a better and God knows there is difficulty enough in that We have Hearts so vain and sensual so addicted to the Pleasures and Impertinencies of this World so prepossessed with the Objects of Sense that it is no easie Matter to bring them so much as in earnest to consider of another World But it is yet harder to fix the Thoughts of it upon our Mindâ— so as to make a deep Impression upon them as they must do if we make the Happiness of Heaven our chief End and Design Supposing that Paradise were still upon Earth in its first Glory and to be found by the Description which Moses gives of it a Man may think often concerning it where it lies what the Rivers are by which it is to be discovered but all this amounts but to a mere Speculation But suppose that he takes up a Resolution to go thither what other kind of thoughts hath he then about it as to the Truth and Certainty of the Place and the Way that leads thither and the Difficulties he is like to meet with Which make another kind of Impression than the former dry Speculation did If a Man doth not think Heaven worth all the Pains and Difficulties which lie in our way to it he never yet had one serious and becoming thought concerning it For the Happiness proposed is really so great and invaluable that the more we think of it the more we shall esteem it and the more we shall despise and triumph over the greatest Difficulties in order to it it being no less than the perfect Enjoyment of the most perfect Good in a most perfect State of Life and nothing can be desired by humane Nature greater than this 2. The Difficulties in our Way to Salvation are not such but we may reasonably hope to overcome them i. e. if we set our selves about it otherwise a very mean Difficulty will appear too great for us Therefore we must suppose not only a willing Mind but a firm Resolution to do what lies in us And there are two things to shew that we may hope to overcome them 1. That the most difficult Duties are in themselves reasonable to be performed by us 2. That God offers his gracious Assistance for the performance of them 1. That the most difficult Duties are in themselves reasonable I mean such whose Difficulty doth not arise from accidental outward Circumstances but from a Respect to the present State and Condition of humane Nature Such as 1. True Repentance which is one of the hardest Works of a Man's life when he hath been long engaged in a Course of sinning against Conscience It is not hard for such a one to be made sensible that he hath done amiss for he that acts against his Judgment is as Aristotle observes apt to repent i. e. to find fault with himself for his own Actions and to resolve to amend There is a sort of Displeasure against Sin which is consistent with the Practice of it which is called by the Casuists Attritio Impoenitentium but they say it is without a Purpose of forsaking it if there be such a Purpose that they say is Attritio Poenitentium but if it be an ineffectual Purpose the Scripture no where calls it Repentance For as long as the habitual Practice continues it is certain that Man's love to his Sin exceeds his Hatred of it and what Repentance can that be which is consistent with a prevailing Love of Sin When Persons were first made Christians their Repentance was easily discerned whether true or false because it was a publick and solemn Renunciation of all their former Sins but when Men have accustomed themselves to sin under a Profession to renounce their Sins it is a harder Matter to find out the Sincerity of their Repentance as to those Sins And here a difference must be made as to the Nature and Kind of Sins For there are some Sins which all agree to be Sins yet it is a hard Matter to convince Persons that they are guilty of them such as Hypocrisie Schism and Idolatry which Men will find something to excuse themselves from notwithstanding the clearest Evidence against them Some are such Strangers to themselves that they do not suspect themselves for those Sins which others easily discern in them as is common in the Case of Pride and Envy and Covetousness and Superstition It cannot be supposed that Persons should so particularly repent of such Sins which they are not sensible of but where Self-love blinds it cannot excuse And where such evil Habits prevail Persons must repent and search and examine themselves in order to a particular Repentance There are other Sins which are really perpetual Burthens to a good Mind but it knows not how to get rid of them with the utmost Care such as inward Motions to Sin sudden Heats and Surprises mixt Infirmities Coldness in Devotion Distractions in Prayer and many Omissions of Personal Duties in such Cases as these if we do not allow Sincerity of Repentance without through Amendment we make a general Repentance insignificant and make the Condition of many good Men desperate for none can be saved without true Repentance And if there can be no true Repentance without actual forsaking all such Kinds of Sins there is no such thing as true Repentance to be found But there are other Sins of a more dangerous and malignant Nature which argue a very bad Mind such as Malice and Hatred a rooted Aversion to what is Good and a strong Inclination to Evil. There are some Sins that are gross and notorious of which St. Paul saith The lusts of the Flesh are manifest i. e. such Sins are easily known to be Sins and Men's Consciences condemn them even while they commit them such as Murther Adultery Intemperance Injustice Perjury and such like Of which the Apostle after declares That they who do such things shall never come to Heaven Therefore as to them such a Repentance is necessary as implies not merely a dislike and sorrow for them but a thorough Change of a Man's Mind and the Course of his Life with respect to them And surely it is no easie Matter to new mold the Temper of ones Mind and to turn the Tide of our Actions to break off our beloved Sins and to bring forth Fruits worthy of Repentance This is indeed a hard Work but yet it is a most reasonable Work It is hard but it is like the taking violent Physick in some Diseases where the Humour must be purged out or the Party must die the Uneasiness iâ— not to be considered but the Necessity and in
Matter of so great Importance as a Judgment to come makes so little Impression on the Minds of the generality of Mankind who profess to believe it 2. By what means the Consideration of a future Judgment may have a greater Influence on all our Minds 1. How a thing of so great Importance as God's bringing us into Judgment comes to make so little Impression on the Minds of the generality of those who profess to believe it when we are so tender and sensible of small things with respect to this World For resolving this we must consider that there is a great Difference between the Not-disbelieving Doctrinal Points of Faith and the practical Improvement of them in our Minds without which they remain there but as general and confused Notions Thus too many who abhorr being thought Atheists live as if there were no God not that they deny or dispute his Being or Attributes but they have no Regard to them in the last Dictates of their Minds or in the Course of their Actions To go about to prove such things to be true they look on as lost labour for they do not question them but there is another thing then which we are to give an Account of viz. how it comes to pass that so great and so weighty Doctrines being received and allowed to be true make so little Impression on the Generality of Mankind especially this of the Day of Judgment of which these seem to be the main Reasons 1. Men's Impatience of considering great and weighty things at a Distance which cannot affect and move our Senses 2. The bewitching and stupifying Nature of present and sensual Pleasures which draw off the Mind from greater things and weaken all the Impressions they make upon us 3. A General Presumption upon God's Mercy towards Mankind on the Account of the Frailty of humane Nature notwithstanding the severity of his Threatnings in Scripture 1. I begin with Men's Impatience of Considering We flatter and please our selves with the thoughts that we are Intelligent and Considering Beings when it may be Considering especially as to Matters of greatest Consequence is one of the things which Mankind have the greatest Aversion to For generally they love to go no farther than the Outsides and Appearances of things and have their Minds wholly possessed with false and flattering Imaginations having neither Truth nor Consistency in them And those who account themselves of better Breeding than others are often more imposed upon than others in this way The Pomp and Grandeur of the World the Gaity and Splendour of Living strikes their Fancies with such vehement Impressions that scarce any thing else gets into their Minds or sinks deep into them There are many other things that seem to stand fair in their Opinion at some times but it is as they are thought serviceable to worldly Greatness and Honour This after all the Instructions of Philosophers the Declamations of Heathen and Christian Orators and the far more powerfull Arguments of the wisest and best of Men recorded in Holy Scripture is still the great Idol of Mankind which they serve and worship with the truest and warmest Devotion All other things how great and weighty soever in themselves yet are really look'd on by them as a sort of Metaphysical Abstracted Notions of things invisible and immaterial quite out of the reach of their Imagination which may serve for the Amusement of some and the Affrightment of others and the Entertainment of Speculative Minds but how to raise themselves in the World to appear Great and have many Dependents to pursue and carry on their own Interest tho' without regard to Justice and Honesty these they account Great and Noble things and fit to employ their Minds upon But alas How much are such imposed upon by meer Shews and Appearances of things which are really what God made them but are not what we fansie them to be There are no doubt real Conveniencies of Life in Riches and Honour and Ease and Plenty or else they could never be esteemed Blessings nor could we have reason to thank God for them but there is a great difference between the Fitness of things for our present Use and for our Happiness i. e. when we make them our End and do not employ them in order to a farther End But it is good Advice of St. Paul Using the World as not abusing it for the Fashion of this World passeth away it passes like a Ship under Sail while the generality of Mankind like Passengers lie asleep in it Sometimes when Stoâ—ms arise or Waves cross them they seem to be awake and to look about them and to think whither they are going but those thoughts being uneasie to them they lie down again and are carried they know not whither But still it is but the Fashion of this World a meer Landskip wherein there is great Variety but little Satisfaction the Shew far out-doing the Substance When the Devil shewed Christ the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them the highest Mountain could afford but a small Prospect of them but as some think he caused a Representation in the Air of the most tempting Splendour and Glories of them And this was the truest Representation of them by glorious Appearances and bewitching Shews But unless there be something in humane Nature which makes it very apt to be deceived by such things it were strange the Devil should think to prevail on our Saviour by them We pity those who travelling in the Night are deceived by false Fires and shining Meteors and follow them into Bogs and Precipices but the case of such is so much worse who are deluded by the deceitfull Vanities of this World to their own Destruction And can there be any greater Argument of the want of Consideration than for Persons to suffer themselves to be so easily and so fatally cheated It is a wise Observation of Aristotle that True Knowledge and Wisdom lies most in settling and fixing the Mind For it is not the subtlety and fineness of Thoughts not the quickness and sharpness of Apprehension nor the close and mathematical Deductions of Reason which make a wise Man but the having a calm and composed Temper of Mind the subduing our Passions and governing our Actions with respect to our chief End And in order to this Consideration is absolutely necessary without which that which is nearest to us and offers it self first to our Choice must prevail upon us And here lies the main Difficulty to perswade Mankind to choose a far greater Happiness at a Distance and invisible before a present Enjoyment of things we are constantly conversant with and have made an early Impression upon us But still we say that it is nothing but Men's Impatience of Considering which makes them have so little Regard to another Life For if they would but lay both Worlds in the Balance one against the other they would soon discover the wonderfull Folly of
they have not the Heart and Courage to examine them whether they be reasonable or not but rather choose to return to their former Opiates than undergo the trouble of an effectual Cure by a hearty Repentance and coming to themselves as the prodigal Son in the Parable did when his Hardship had brought him to Consideration We do not know what had become of him if he had been wise and frugal in his Pleasures if he had taken care of a good Stock and a plentifull Subsistence but he first came to be pinched with want before he was awakened to repent But we have in Scripture a more remarkable Instance of the stupifying Nature of sensual Pleasures and that was in David after his Sins of Adultery and Murther It is a wonder how a Man of such a tender Conscience in other things should continue so long under the Guilt of these Enormities without being awakened to Repentance Did he not know these to be great Sins And did not his Conscience charge him with the Guilt of them How came he then to need a Prophet to be sent to him and to deal so plainly with him as to tell him Thou art the Man But this is a plain Evidence how much the Pleasures of Sin are apt to stupifie Men's Consciences so far that unless God by his Grace be pleased to awaken them thoroughly they never come to a sincere and hearty Repentance David saw nothing more as to the Guilt of his Sins when he penn'd his 51st Psalm than his own Reason and Natural Conscience might inform him before but he had quite another Sense of his Sins then his Heart was broken and his Soul wounded under the Apprehension of God's Displeasure and this makes him pray so earnestly and so importunately to God for the Pardon of his Sins And if it were thus in the case of a Man otherwise after God's own heart i. e. afraid of offending him and carefull to please him what may we imagine it to be in those who in the time of Youth walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes i. e. allowing themselves in all sensual Inclinations and pursuing carnal Delights so far till they have lost all Sense of God and another World and such as these nothing but the powerfull Influences of Divine Grace can awaken and recover 3. The third Reason is A General Presumption upon God's Mercy The first thing which Sinners in the Heat of their Youth and Pursuit of their Lusts aim at is to think as little as may be of what they are doing or what will be the Consequence of their Actions For every thought of themselves is very uneasie to them and every thought of God is much more so therefore they drive away all such Thoughts by one Means or other by Sleep Diversion Company and such publick Entertainments as rather heighten and inflame their Vices than correct them If all this will not do but there will be some melancholy Hours wherein Conscience begins to rouze it self and to awaken the Sinner to some Sense of his Folly then he is ready to hearken with Pleasure to any Raileries against Religion and Morality and admires the Wit of any one who dares say a bold and sharp thing against the Wisdom of all Ages and of the best Men in them And one or two such Sayings without Proof are cried up as far beyond the best Rules of Morality or the Evidence of natural and revealed Religion Any Sceptical Disputes are sufficient Demonstrations to them and the most unreasonable Cavils against Religion are embraced because against the thing they hate and even a Jest against the Day of Judgment shall signifie more with them than the strongest Arguments in the World to prove it The true Reason is they love their Vices and hate every thing which makes them uneasie to them and nothing doth more so than the thoughts of a Judgment to come But suppose after all the terrible and frequent Expressions of Scripture concerning the Day of Judgment joyned with the Reasonableness of the thing do make such Impression on their Minds that they cannot wholly shake off the Fears and Apprehensions of it then their last Endeavour is to mitigate and lessen them from a General Presumption of God's Mercifull Nature and therefore they are willing to suppose that however God to keep the World in awe hath threatned them with the dreadfull Severities of the Great Day yet as a tender Father who threatens his disobedient Son in order to reclaim him with no less than disinheriting him for ever yet when it comes to Execution he may relent not from his Son's Deserts but his own Compassion so they hope or believe or are willing to do so that God at the Great Day will not proceed according to the Rigour which he hath threatned to use And to comfort themselves in these hopes they find out all possible Extenuations of their Sins If we say they had been created purely intellectual Beings free from this load of Flesh and the Inclinations which are natural to it then it had been more reasonable to have called us to a strict Account for every Action of our Lives for then every Inclination to Evil must have come from our Minds but now our Bodies corrupt and draw them aside and the Inclinations to Evil grow faster than our Reason which should check and restrain them And when those Inclinations are strongest Men have not that Judgment which is necessary to the Government of unruly Passions So that the very Frame of humane Nature seems to plead for Sins committed in the Heat and Violence of Youth Besides such is the Strictness and Purity of the Law of God and so great the Weakness and Disability the Ignorance and Inadvertency of Mankind that if God will make no Allowance for humane Frailty who can stand before his Tribunal And if any Allowance be made for Sins of Infirmity there are so many Abatements to be made for Sins committed through sudden Passion through Mistake through the unavoidable Impotency of humane Nature in this degenerate Condition that the Severity of that Day is not much to be feared This is the utmost of the Sinner's Plea against the Severity of the Day of Judgment But to shew how faulty it is I shall offer these Considerations 1. That God will certainly Judge the World in Righteousness and therefore none shall have Cause to complain of the Harshness or Severity of his Proceedings For this Righteousness is not the Rigour of Justice but that Equity which hath a Regard to the Circumstances of Actions and the Abatement and Extenuation of Faults which arise from them 2. None shall suffer at that Day but for their wilfull Impenitency and obstinate Continuance in Sin For this is not only agreeable to the Mercifull Nature of God to forgive repenting Sinners but it is one of the great Designs of the Gospel to assure Mankind of it by the
confess that no Sacrifices are so pleasing to him as a Pious devout and vertuous Mind but then they were to seek as to the Measures of Piety and Vertue But that is the Infinite Advantage by the Scriptures which we enjoy that by them we know what is most pleasing to God He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what hath the Lord required of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God When God sheweth us our Duty we have no longer any ground to dispute it especially when it is so agreeable to the Divine Nature and our own What can we do better with respect to Mankind than to do justly and to love Mercy What can become us more with respect to God than to walk humbly with our God To walk with God is to have a constant Regard to him in the Course of our Lives thus Enoch walked with God and Noah and Abraham and to walk humbly with him is to maintain a due Sense of our Distance from him and our Dependence upon him And this Humility of Mind doth not take off from true Magnanimity for it is the Magnanimity of Christians that I am speaking of The Magnanimity of Philosophers carried them beyond the due bounds of their Dependence upon God for they presumed upon their own Sufficiency both as to the Support of their Minds under Difficulties and the making themselves happy In both which they were lamentably mistaken But the Humility of Christians in depending upon God for Assistance and Happiness is so far from being inconsistent with Magnanimity that it is not to be had without it For saith St. Paul I can do all things Can any thing be said greater than that But how Through Christ which strengtheneth me And this Dependence upon God for his Grace is no more inconsistent with Magnanimity than a Favourite's Greatness is with his Duty and Service to his Prince The Christian's Magnanimity lies in having but one to please but such a one as is the greatest the wisest the happiest Being in the World 2. But if he cannot please God and the World together then this Magnanimity carries him rather to choose suffering under the World's Displeasure than to displease God This seems a hard Choice but there would be no Magnanimity without Difficulty It may please God that our Duty and Interest may lie together and then it is Folly and Humour to choose to suffer when we need not Where there is true Magnanimity in suffering there is an impartial and prudent weighing and balancing all Circumstances together before there can be a just Resolution of suffering And a Man's Courage in suffering depends very much upon the Motives induced him to it which every Man's Conscience must judge of But there are two sorts of sufferings Magnanimity may shew it self in 1. The Necessary and unavoidable Accidents and Calamities of Life 2. The voluntary preferring a suffering Condition rather than sinning against God 1. As to the common Accidents of Life It is observed by the Moralists that it is a harder thing to bear things that are troublesome than to abstain from things that are pleasant The Sense of Pain and Suffering being much more uneasie than the forbearing what is delightfull which is only crossing a natural Inclination And though many Persons choose rather to yield to their vicious Inclinations than to avoid the Pains and Diseases which follow them yet that is because they look on them as uncertain and at a Distance and hope they may escape them But when it is certain and present humane Nature is very tender and sensible of Pain and shrinks from it and requires inward Courage to support it self under it It is observed by the Roman Orator that a peculiar kind of Courage is necessary for suffering Pains and Diseases for many that have been brave Men in the Field yet could not viriliter oegrotare behave themselves like Men when they came to be sick The truth is all Mankind abhorr suffering so much that one of the great Inducements to the study of Morality of old was to find out some Antidotes against the common Accidents of Life For they soon found there were some Sufferings incident to humane Nature which all the Art and Skill of the wisest Men could never prevent Our Bodies are continually subject to Pains to Diseases to Corruption and Dissolution Our Estates to Violence Fraud and Misfortune Our Houses and Cities to Flames to Earthquakes to Inundations Our Friends and Relations are all liable to the same Calamities with our selves and that makes our Trouble the greater What now should wise Men do Can they hope to stem the Tide and to turn back the Stream No that is too violent for them Can they raise any Banks or Sea-Walls against them to keep them out All such are vain and fruitless What then Shall they strip themselves of all the Comforts of Life that they may leave nothing to Misfortune So some did to no great purpose unless they could shake off their Passions too But this doth not look like Magnanimity but Cowardice not overcoming an Enemy but running away from him By the same Method they must go naked to avoid Robbery and live on the Tops of Mountains to escape a Deluge But some thought these things look'd most terrible at a Distance whereas if they consider'd how common they were they would learn to bear them better But Carneades said well Malevoli animi Solatium est turba miserorum it is a kind of ill-natur'd Comfort which one draws from the commonness of Calamities And after all it is no real Satisfaction to a Man's mind to think that so many suffer as he doth it is like the unnatural Pleasure of Revenge which one Man takes in anothers Pain There is one thing it serves well for and that is to shew the Folly of great Impatience under such things which the rest of Mankind bear Thus Julian in his Epistle to Amerius relates a Story of Democritus his dealing with Darius upon the loss of his beloved Wife After several ineffectual Ways of comforting him at last he asked him whether bringing her to Life would not put an End to his Grief No doubt of it But how should this be done Let me alone for that said the Philosopher if you will provide me all the things I shall desire in order to it After great Care taken in providing many things for him Darius asked him if he had all he wanted No said he there is one thing more I must have and you are the most likely Person to furnish me with it In short you must get me three Names to be put upon her Monument of such Persons who have gone to their Graves without Sorrow or Trouble and you said he have very large and populous Dominions and no doubt if such a thing be to be had you can procure it Darius was struck with this and after some consideration
the least Reflection or Consideration would make them see how bad their condition is For they have no true Sense of God or Religion at all they have no serious thoughts or apprehensions of Divine and Spiritual things this World they pretend to know something of and have too great an Esteem of the Vanities and Pleasures of it for these wholly take up their Hearts and Time and they have a savour and relish for any thing that tends to their Greatness or Honour or Entertainment of their Appetites or Fancies here buâ— if we speak to them of another World of God and Heaven and a Spiritual Disposition of Soul either they look on us with Amazement as if they were insensible of such things or else with Scorn and Contempt as if we went about to deceive them Alas They are too wise to be imposed upon by us and they have other things to mind I am sure not greater or weightier which take up all their Time and so what through the Business and the Impertinencies of this World their Time passeth away as a Table that is told and as though it were a pleasant Tale they are troubled only to think it will be so soon at an End But these are not the Persons who require any such Care to pass a right Judgment upon them for they can pretend to nothing that is spiritual as to the Tempers and Dispositions of their Minds and therefore such as these must be set aside for it is too apparent that they are only sensual and carnally minded But as the Papists distinguish of the Body of Christ so may we of the carnal Mind there is a gross and Capernaitical Sense and there is a more refined and if I may use the Expression a more Spiritual Sense of it For altho' it be a great Absurdity in them to suppose that a meer Body can be after the Manner of a Spirit yet it is not so to suppose a Carnal Mind to have a Mixture of some Spiritual Qualities and Dispositions in it And this makes the difference so much harder to be perceived between the carnally and spiritually minded since there are the same Faculties of Perception Reasoning and Application in both and the same common Principles of Religion may be owned by both which may in Reason be supposed to make some Impression on the Minds of the more ingenuous Part of Mankind who are not given over to such a Reprobate Sense as the former were Now how to distinguish between frequent good Impressions on the Mind and an habitual Temper and Disposition is not so easie to all who are concerned to distinguish them And yet a Person may be throughly convinced of his Sins and tremble at the Apprehension of the Justice and Severity of God against them he may have many Checks and Reluctancies of Conscience while he goes on to commit them he may sigh and groan and lament under the wretchedness of his Condition by his Love of Sin and yet may love his Sins all the while more than God or Heaven or any thing in Competition with them The difference doth not lie in the Nature or Number of the Impressions from without but in the inward Principle of Action A Cistern may be full of Water falling down from Heaven which may run as long as that holds which fell into it but a Spring hath it rising up within and so continues running when the other is spent A carnal Mind may have many Spiritual Convictions and good Motions and Inclinations but after a time they wear off and leave no lasting Effect behind them but where there is a Spring in the Soul there is a fresh and continual Supply of such Inclinations as keep up a constant Course of a Spiritual Life which our Saviour calls Rivers of living Water I confess it is hard to determine what a Habit or Principle abiding in our Minds is yet the Scripture doth evidently suppose such a thing when it speaks of the New Birth and the New Life and the New Creature and the Children of God all which are very insignificant Terms if there be not under them something answerable to the First Principles of Life and if there be not a Divine Spirit dwelling and acting in the Souls of good Men and raising them up above carnal and sensual Objects to things Divine and Spiritual and carrying them through the Passage of this World so as to prepare them for a better But yet there may be many things which carry some Resemblance to this Principle within which come not up to it There may be such Principles of Education and good Manners such Awakenings of Conscience such a Strength of Natural Reason and common Ingenuity as may carry one on to do some very good things and yet he may fall short of having a true Principle of Spiritual Life in him But then there must be another Principle within which contradicts this and prevails over it and carries him on to the Love of Sin which proves too strong for the Love of God and the due Regard to Spiritual things The Result of this Discourse is since the Carnal Mind is not to be taken meerly for such a one which stands out in opposition to the Gospel nor for such a one which is insensible of Spiritual things but such as may consist with a common Profession of Religion and have the same Convictions and good Impressions which others have it doth require a more than ordinary Acquaintance with our selves to be able to judge aright whether the Temper of our Minds be Carnal or Spiritual 2. But this is not all for since there is so great a Mixture of Good and Evil in the better sort of Mankind there is required not barely Knowledge of our selves but a good Judgment too to adjust the Proportions of Good and Evil in particular Persons so as to be able to judge whether we are carnally or spiritually minded For as those who are Carnal while they follow their carnal Inclinations may have many inward Strugglings by spiritual Convictions so those who are spiritually minded may meet with many Combats from the Flesh which may be troublesome where it cannot prevail But there is a great difference between the Spirit struggling against the Flesh in the carnally minded and the Flesh struggling against the Spirit in those who are spiritually minded For where there is no perfect Victory there will be some Opposition and the best have so many Failings to complain of in this World so many Infirmities and Defects in their good Actions so many Passions not brought into their due Order so many Omissions of Personal and Relative Duties such Variety of Tempers and Weakness of Resolution such Coldness in Devotion and unreasonable Dejections of Mind so many unaccountable Fears and such dreadfull Apprehensions of Death and the Consequences of it that these things must make great Abatements as to such as are truly spiritually minded But by all these things the
an uncertain Oral Tradition which can hardly hold the same from one End of the Town to another but by unquestionable Writings of such Authority that the Christians would rather die than deliver up their Books And in these are all those Circumstances contained which we are bound to believe as Christians among which this is one of the Chief that God sent his Son into the World for the Salvation of Mankind To summ up all I desire those who after all this pretend that they are willing to believe as much as they can and those who are liable to any Suggestions of Infidelity to consider seriously with themselves whether there can be a greater and more noble Design more becoming the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God to carry on than that of rescuing Mankind out of a miserable State and putting them into a certain way of Eternal Happiness Whether such a Design must not be discovered in some particular Age of the World with all the Circumstances relating to it Whether that Age were not the fittest of all others wherein the most remarkable Prophecies were to be accomplished as to the Coming of the Mâ—ssias while the second Temple was standing Whether the Difficulties as to humane Testimonies be not equal to all Ages and Things Whether because it is possible for all Men to deceive it be reasonable to inferr that all Men are deceived and that there is nothing but Illusion and Imposture in the World and that all Men lye and deceive for the sake of lying and deceiving But if there be a Difference to be made between Men and between Testimonies then we are to examine the different Characters of Truth and Falshood and give our Assent according to them And if after the severest Examination we do not find sufficient Reason to believe that God sent his Son into the World for the Salvation of Mankind upon such Testimonies as are given of it we must conclude all Mankind to be made up of Fraud and Imposture and that there is no such thing as Sincerity and Honesty in the World or that if there be it is not possible for others to discern it Which are such fatal Reproaches upon humane Nature that no one who pretends to any Regard to it can be guilty of For if they be Universally true they must condemn themselves if not wè must see some very particular Reason why we should not rather think them deceived than fix such an indelible Blot upon the Reputation of Mankind And surely it is a great Advantage to the Truth of Religion to find that it cannot be overthrown but by such Methods as equally overturn all Truth and Certainty and that the Faith of Christianity stands not only upon the same Bottom with the common Faith of Mankind But if we reject such Assurance as is offer'd us for the Faith of the Gospel our Infidelity cannot be the Effect of Reason and Argument but of a causeless Suspicion and unreasonable Mistrust of the best Part of Mankind Who have most firmly believed the Truth of these things and have led the most holy and exemplary Lives in hopes of a Blessed Immortality And if the Testimony of any Persons deserves to be taken before others it must be of such who could have no Design upon this World but were resolved by Faith and Patience to prepare for a better To conclude For us who believe and own the Truth of this great and fundamental Article of the Christian Faith we have something else to do than meerly to vindicate and assert it This at some times is more necessary than at others and I heartily wish this were none of them I am willing to hope the best of all who in such an Age of Infidelity have the Courage and Zeal to own the Faith of this Day viz. That God sent his Son into the World in order to the making us for ever happy And I hope none who profess themselves Christians this Day will ever be discouraged by the Mocks and Flouts of Infidels so as to let go the Anchor of their Hope or mistrust the Foundation of their Faith It is as great a Piece of Wisdom to know when to believe as when not to believe and it is as certain an Argument of a weak Mind to be always doubting as to be over-forward in believing For the Soil must be very bad that can bear no Foundation But withall let us not flatter our selves only that we have a better Faith than others For how miserable will our Case be if we have nothing but a superficial Faith and a sort of Anniversary Devotion We can never thank God too much for the Blessing of this Day but God expects something more from us than meerly the giving him solemn Thanks once a Year for sending his Son into the World We must endeavour to answer the End of God's sending him i. e. to save us first from our Sins and then from the wrath to come This is the Method which God himself hath appointed not barely from his own Will and Pleasure but from the necessary Order and Reason of Things For otherwise a Man might be rewarded for doing amiss and punished for performing his Duty If we therefore ever hope for any Benefit by this coming of Christ into the World we must apply our Minds to consider seriously on what Conditions we may reasonably hope for Salvation by him Can they think that Christ came to so little Purpose as to save Men in their Sins If that were to be hoped there had been no need of his coming but it is a hard Work indeed to save us from them The Guilt must be expiated and the Power subdued the former Christ hath done but he expects and with great Reason that we should deny ungodly and worldly Lusts and work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling SERMON X. CONCERNING Sins of Omission Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL ON March 18th 1693 4 being Midlent-Sunday St. James IV. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin ALthough our Apostle in this Epistle calls the Gospel the Law of Liberty yet to prevent any Misconstruction thereof as though it allowed a Liberty to sin we no where find more strict and severe Passages against it than in this Epistle both with respect to Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission As to Sins of Commission his Expression seems hardly consistent with the Grace of the Gospel For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all Hath the Law of Moses any thing more apt to terrifie the Consciences of Men if not to drive them into despair than this It is not If one breaks the whole Law then it had been no wonder if he were guilty of all even under the Gospel which doth not take away the force of the Moral Law But If he keep the whole Law and yet offend in
made And what Proof can be given of the Truth of a Body greater than this If they had pretended that after his Resurrection his Body was presâ—nt but after the manner of a Spirit i. e. after an invisible impalpable unintelligible manner the World would have despised their Testimony and there had been no need to have said more for rejecting it than that if Body and Spirit be to be known asunder it must be by the different Properties and therefore to confound them is to confound our knowledge of them 2. It was necessary that there should be such Witnesses who would attest what they saw which his Enemies and Murderers would not have done if he had appeared to them Can we imagine that the High Priests and Elders and his other implacable Enemies who had Blasphemously attributed his other Miracles to the Power of the Devil would immediately have been convinced upon the sight of his Body after the Resurrection No doubt by the same Reason they would have concluded it to have been an Apparition of the Devil 3. There must be some Proof of the Honesty and Sincerity of Mankind allow'd and the Apostles gave the greatest that ever Men did by their Self-denial Unanimity Courage Patience Constancy and Perseverance They almost all laid down their Laws to attest this Truth and all underwent great Persecutions for it when the Discovery of the least Fraud would not only have set them at ease but gained them a plentiful Reward And therefore Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise his Son from the Dead 2. We must consider this with Respect to the general Resurrection of the Dead What Reason can we have to think that incredible when God hath already given such an Evidence of the Possibility of the thing by the Resurrection of Christ He that can raise up one Body can raise the rest since the difficulty lies not in the number of Bodies but in the Nature of the thing Some have ridiculously question'd whether the Surface of the Earth would be large enough to hold all the Bodies of Mankind upon it at the Day of Resurrection But an ingenious Person hath demonstrated the Folly of such an Imagination And it cannot be thought a needless Exercise of Divine Power when it is in order to the general Judgment and the Resurrection of Christ was intended as a Pledge and Assurance to the World not only of that day to come but that Christ is appointed to be the Judge Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead What remains then but for us to think it our greatest Concernment to live as becomes those that believe we must not only die but be raised from the Dead by the mighty Power of God and that in order to our appearing before the Judgment Seat of Christ that we may receive according to to things done in the Body whether good or bad What manner of Persons ought we then to be in all boly Conversation and Godliness What fruit had ye then saith St. Paul in those things whereof ye are now ashamed As though the bare Reflection of a Man 's own Conscience were enough to make him sensible of the Folly of Sin But what then is it to consider That those things which will not bear a severe Reflection at home shall be laid open before the Judgment Seat of Christ We are now to palliate and disguise and conceal our Follies and Weaknesses here as much as we can from our selves as well as others we would fain keep upon good Terms with our selves and use too many Arts to blind and deceive our own Consciences But alas How vain and foolish a thing is it for us to deceive our selves to our own Destruction If the Judge at the great Day would judge just as we do it would be the best Argument in the World â—or deceiving our selves But he will judge the World in Righteousness Not according to the vain Opinions Men have of themselves not according to the rash Censures or indiscreet Flatteries of others who cannot be able to judge of us as we may do of our selves And this is a Matter of the greatest Importance to us since God is pleased to leave it so much to our own Judgment That if we judge our selves we shall not be judged Let us not therefore do it carelessly partially and ineffectually but deal faitâ—fully and sincerely with our selves searching for our most secret and beloved Sins and proceed against them in such a manner as we shall wish we had done when we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Think with your selves then how shall we then abhor those Sins of the Body which will expose both Soul and Body to the eternal Vengeance of God How shall we be ashamed to have yielded so much and so easily to the Inclinations of it against the Convictions of Reason the Checks of Conscience and the plain Commands of Scripture And therefore the thoughts of that day should have the most powerful Influence on us to keep our Bodies in subjection to our Minds and to subdue the irregular Appetites that come from them For these Bodies of ours now are not so much Companions as Traitors to our Souls holding a Correspondence with their greatest Enemies suggesting Counsels which tend to their Destruction and the Temptations which arise from them are so many and so bewitching that without a constant Care our Bodies may prove the ruin of our Souls And those who have the greatest Command over them have enough to do to keep under the Passions that arise from them which may grow troublesome when they cannot Govern and like discontented Persons be very uneasie when they are not gratified to their own Desire It is therefore a great satisfaction to the Minds of good Men to think there is a Day of Resurrection coming when their Bodies shall no longer be an â—ncumbrance or a Temptation to their Minds they shall neither hinder their Happiness nor draw them from it Thus all the dark Temptations and cloudy Vapours and disturbing Passions which arise from our Bodies now shall be scattered and dispersed and there shall be nothing but Purity Serenity and Clearness in that State For Then the righteous shall shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father when the glorious Light within shall break through the Passages of the Body and cause as great a Splendour in it as the Sun it self would have within so narrow a Compass Thus it is said of our Saviour upon his Transfiguration That his â—ace did shine as the Sâ—â— and yet his Body then had the same Qualities that our's have now But after the Resurrection the glorified Bodies shall be so purified and refined by a Divine Spirit and
should resist that which they account the clearest light they have and in so doing they must cast off the immediate Guidance of their Consciences which might have very bad Effects as to the Force and Power of Concience in other things I am afraid many do not impartially weigh and consider things as they ought but when or where did the Generality of Mankind do so he thinks such Scruples are weak and ought to be laid aside but they say they cannot overcome them and they have prayed and searched and used the best means and cannot be satisfied and what can they now do Conscience is really a nice and tender thing and ought not to be handled roughly and severely considering how unaccountable sometimes to others the real Scruples of some Consciences are Although Conscience be a Man's Judgment in order to Practice yet there may be a great strictness of Conscience where there is no strictness of Judgment and Conscience in some Cases is more nice for want of Judgment But what then must we condemn all those who labour under that Distemper And that you count want of Judgment in him he may look on as want of Sincerity in you We have been so long censuring and condemning each other for such things that God seems by his wife Providence to bring the Plea of Scruples of Conscience round that we may learn more Tenderness to each other By which we see that some may really scruple that which others wonder at and that Mens Consciences are not to be measur'd by the same Light for that is a Matter of Admiration to one which is of Scruple to another The best use we can make of this is to pity the Infirmities of Mankind and of those most who are under the Conduct of a mis-guided Conscience because whatever the Action be their Design and Intention is honest and good 2. In putting the worst Construction upon Mens Actions which is directly contrary to that Charity St. Paul so much commends for that not only bears the worst and hopes for the best but where a thing is capable of being made better by a favourable Sense it is ready to give it Now there are many things Men do which are accounted good or evil according to the Intention of the doer of them I do not say That alters the Nature of the Action in it self for what God commands is Good and what he forbids is Evil whatever Mens Intentions be but although a good Intention cannot make a bad Action good yet a bad Intention may make a good Action evil not in it self but to him that doth it And so there are two ways Men may exceed in judging 1. In making no Abatement in an evil Action as to the Person for the goodness of his Intention For altho ' the Action be not good by it yet it is so much less evil and in doubtful Cases it takes much from the Guilt although not where the Command is plain as in the Case of Saul 2. In charging Persons with a bad Intention in a good Action where there is no plain Evidence for then it is but Suspicion and an uncharitable Judgment Our Saviour might justly charge the Pharisees with this as to their Alms and Prayers because he knew their Hearts They laid them open enough to others by their Asfectation and where that is gross and notorious it were weakness and not charity to judge otherwise But where we have no ground for it to judge Men to Act upon bad Principles is being Righteous overmuch or rather being unrighteous and uncharitable 3. In judging Mens Condition towards God from some particular Actions although contrary to the general Course of them Think with your selves what strange and mistaken Judgments you should have past upon David and Ahab if you had been privy to the Adultery and Murder of the one and had seen the Humiliation of the other If you had seen Ahab in his Mortification when he fasted and put on Sackcloth and humbled himself you would have thought him a Saint for he seemed to have been in good earnest for the time And if you had judged of David by those particular Actions you must have concluded him a very bad Man but both these Conclusions had been false because taken up upon too slight and narrow an Inspection The same Case had been as to St. Peter's denial and the Repentance of Judas We must not form our Judgments of others by single and sudden Actions which Persons may fall into by Surprize or sudden Accidents and conclude all the rest to be like but we are to suspend our thoughts for the present and to weigh and compare the Course of a Man's Actions together For so God will judge Mankind and so ought we to judge of one another 4. In judging of Mens spiritual Estate from outward Afflictions which befall them Thus Job's Friends were righteous overmuch when they charged him so deep with Hypocrisie because his Calamities were extraordinary It is natural for such who believe Providence to interpret God's Actions towards Men are either as Marks of his Approbation or Displeasure But God hath no where declared so much and we have no Reason to pass such a Judgment on Men since the wise Man saith No Man can know Love or Hatred by the things which are before him And there is a just Man who perisheth in his Righteousness and a wicked Man that prolongeth his Life in his Wickedness If such had seen a just Man suffering to such a Degree they must have inferr'd that he was Guilty of some secret Wickedness which made God deal so hardly with him but the wise Man saith this was to be Righteous overmuch for God is not to Act according to our Measures He knows what is best and fittest for Men to undergo and he never Acts so as they shall have Cause to complain at last There is a just Man to whom it happeneth according to the work of the Wicked and there is a wicked Man unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the Righteous Therefore it is very unrighteous for us to pronounce any wicked meerly because they undergo greater Sufferings and more pinching Calamities than others There is no judging a Child to be out of his Fathers Love because he corrects him for his Faults as long as there is hopes of Amendment he will do it and when there is none he lets him alone to take his Course but he is then more displeased than ever 5. In judging too easily concerning the Faults and Mis-carriages of others Men shew their severity to others and partiality to themselves this way they think themselves hardly dealt with to be censur'd upon vain and idle Reports and yet they are too apt to do the same thing by others There is a Justice we ought to shew to the Reputation of others which lies here in doing as we think reasonable as others should do by us Some cannot think so
more valuable than any other Delight whatsoever and he now found impossible to be enjoy'd in a Course of Rebellion against his heavenly Father 3. In the Conviction of his Folly upon due Consideration of what he had done which is Emphatically called Coming to himself having before acted so much below himself and against himself unworthy of the Relation he stands in to God of those Faculties he had bestow'd upon him and of those hopes and expectations he might have had from him either as to this or another World 4. In the Resolution he takes upon this Conviction no longer to delay his purpose of repenting and returning home but to embrace the present opportunity of doing it freely heartily and ingenuously I will arise and go to my Father c. Having formerly in this Place and on a like Occasion considered the prodigal Son 's coming to himself I shall now pursue the Method of his Repentance in the Resolution he here takes to arise and go to his Father c. And therein I shall enquire into these things I. What grounds a Sinner hath to incourage him to repent or to form such a Resolution in his Mind that he will arise and go to his Father when he knows he hath so much provoked and offended him II. How necessary it is in order to true Repentance to form a fixed and steady Resolution to go through with it I will arise and go c. First What grounds a Sinner hath to incourage him to repent or to make Application to his Father in order to Forgiveness since he is convinced he hath so justly offended him For if we consider the Circumstances here mention'd he had no such Reason to hope to be receiv'd into Favour upon such easie Terms as are here expressed For 1. He had wilfully forsaken his Father's House without any just Cause of Complaint of any hard usage there 2. He had embraced such a Course of Life which he knew was displeasing to him living riotously and disorderly in a way contrary to his Will 3. He never thought of returning home till mere Necessity forced him till Hunger and Poverty made him come to himself And what could be more disobliging to a Father than such Circumstances as these 1. His Father never forced him from home nor made his Condition uneasie there Our Saviour here represents Almighty God as dealing with Mankind like a tender and indulgent Father and not like a severe and hard Master his Laws being intended for our Good and not for his own Advantage There is no Duty of ours towards God or our selves or others but is founded on this Relation to God as a Father to Mankind Nothing can be more reasonable in general than that the Father should order and direct his Children and give such Rules which are fitting for them to observe And if we examine the particular Laws of Nature or the Dictates of Reason as to Good and Evil we shall find them very agreeable to God's Paternal Government What is the Duty of Prayer to God but asking daily Blessing of our heavenly Father What is our Thanksgiving but a solemn owning his Paternal Care and Bounty towards us And in these two the main Duties of Natural Religion consist The Neglect whereof is such a disrespect to our heavenly Father as is not consistent with our believing him to be so For as God himself argues in the Prophet A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine Honour And if I be a Master where is my Fear God was a Father by the Right of Creation and Providence but he was a Master to the Jews in respect of the Bondage of the Law and as there was a Spirit of Bondage on that account in them which inclined them to a more servile Fear so there ought to have been a natural Spirit of Adoption toward God as their Supreme Creatour and Father which should excite all Men to such a dutifull Love such a reverential Esteem such a Mixture of Awe and Kindness as is in Children towards their Parents Yea it ought to be much greater than that can be supposed because the Distance is Infinite between God and us and our Dependence more immediate and necessary and there is in him a Concurrence of all Perfections which may cause in us the highest Esteem and the humblest Adoration There is an unquestionable Duty owing by Children to their earthly Parents but how much rather saith the Apostle ought we to be in subjection to the Father of Spirits The Fathers of our Flesh may be very Kind but not Wise in their Love or Wise and not so Kind or they may be both Wise and Kind but not able to help their Children They may love and pity and pray for them when they are in Misery or Sickness and Pain but after all they are unable to relieve them For the most indulgent Father when his bowels yearn and his heart is ready to break at the sight of a Child lying under the Agonies of Death is not able to give a Moments Respite to the terrible Pangs which he can neither behold nor abate But our heavenly Father hath not only Infinite Wisdom but Infinite Kindness and Power and where all these are joined together what Honour what Love what Fear is due unto him Although there be defects in their Parents yet Children are still bound to obey them and to shew a mighty Regard and Reverence towards them but here it is so much otherwise that if we could conceive our selves without this Relation to God yet his Perfections are so many so great so infinite as to deserve and require our utmost Veneration The prodigal Son could then have no Reason to complain of the Duty which he owed to his Father And was it not fit for him to appoint the Orders of his Family and to expect that his Children should behave themselves therein as became the Relation they stood in to himself and to one another That they should have a decent Regard to themselves in Sobriety Temperance Command of their Passions and Care of their Words That they should behave themselves towards their Brethren with Sincerity Kindness and Justice which comprehend all the Duties we owe to one another And what now was there in all this that the Prodigal could have any Cause to complain of or that should make his Father's House so uneasie to him But his Father had just Cause to be provoked when his wise Counsels and prudent Care and constant Kindness and righteous Government were so much slighted and despised by a disobedient and ungratefull Son who had so little Sense of his Duty or his Interest as to be weary of being so well at home and therefore impatiently desiring to find out new Methods of living well as he then thought when the best Orders of his Father's Family were become so displeasing to him 2. But what were these new and fine
Contrivances for his own happiness He began to suspect his wise Father did not allow his Children liberty enough at home and that he concealed from him the great Mystery of the Happiness of Life and therefore concluded that if he did give way to those Desires which he found to be natural but his Father thought unreasonable he should enjoy much more Pleasure and Satisfaction than he did at home And being resolved upon this he gives way to those Inclinations he found strongest in himself denies himself no Pleasures of Life accounts Vertue but a Name which sowre and morose Persons put upon their own humours and Religion but a Device for Fools to deceive themselves and Knaves to deceive others by And so he throws off all checks and restraints upon himself and never regards the Good or Evil of what he doth for his Lusts are his Laws and the satisfaction of them he now looks upon as the only real Happiness of Mankind And could any thing be supposed more provoking to his heavenly Father than such a wicked and dissolute way of living So contrary to his Father's Will to his own Reason Conscience Interest Reputation and which soon brought him to Shame and Misery 3. But that which added yet more to the height of the Provocation was that he did not think of returning home to his Father upon the first apprehension of his own Folly but he resolved to undergo any difficulty and submit to any hardship rather than do what was necessary in order to Reconciliation with his Father How hard a Matter then is it to bring an habitual Sinner to Repentance It is not easie to bring him to any due and serious Conviction of the Evil of his doings but it is far more difficult to change the inward Disposition of the Mind and to alter all the great Designs and Pleasures of Life It is but a mean Notion of Repentance which is apt to prevail in the World as though it implied no more than some Acts of Contrition for greater Sins when the Habit and Disposition remain the same But true Repentance is the turn of the whole Soul from the Love as well as the Practice of Sin and this is not a thing to be done easily or suddenly a Sinner will bear a great many Checks and Reproofs of Conscience before he will part with his beloved Sins he will struggle a great while with himself and endure many Conflicts between an awaken'd Conscience and rooted Inclinations before the penitent Sinner can assure himself that his Repentance hath had its due and effectual operation upon him For we see here nothing but extremity brought the Prodigal to himself and made him at last to resolve to arise and go to his Father c. As Themistocles said of the People of Athens they did by him as Men commonly do by a great Tree they run to it for shelter in a Storm but care not how they use it another Time that is too true of Sinners with respect to God when they can make a shift for themselves any other Way they despise Religion and make God their Refuge only at a day of Extremity but not their Choice when their Conditions please them But when the prodigal Son had so slighted his Father broken his Commands despised the Advantages he had at home and was so hardly brought to think of returning thither how came he now to be so incouraged in his Mind to arise and go to his Father and confess his fault with hopes of being forgiven after all this We find no other Account here given but that he was his Father however he had offended him and therefore he was resolved he would arise and go to his Father as though there were charms and force enough in that word to answer all Discouragements Which being an Argument taken from the Bowels of Pity and Compassion which a Father hath towards a relenting Child we must enquire how far this will hold with respect to God who is so infinitely above all the fond Passions of humane Nature that it is a diminution to his Glory and Majesty to be thought like to Mankind and therefore his thoughts and ways are said to be as far above ours as the Heavens are above the Earth To clear this we are to consider not only that our Blessed Saviour doth here lay the force and weight of the Parable upon the tenderness of a Father to his Son but that he elsewhere argues from it in such a manner as to convince us that God hath far greater Pity and Compassion towards Mankind when they make due Applications to him than Fathers can have towards their Children even when they ask for necessary Sustenance What Man is there of you whom if his Son ask bread will he give him a stone Or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children How much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him There have been Philosophers so severe against the Passions of humane Nature that they would not allow any Pity or Commiseration towards others whatever their Condition or Relation were but only acting according to Reason in supplying their Wants But the Christian Religion doth far more reasonably allow such Passions in Mankind as dispose them to do good to others by fixing such an impression on their Minds of others Misery as doth excite them to do what is fitting for their Ease and Support And Compassion is not as some imagine such a mean and selfish Passion as doth arise only from the Apprehension that we may suffer the same things our selves which we pity others for but it is a generous Sense of what others feel joined with a Readiness to help them according to our Power And in this Sense our Saviour not only allows it in Fathers towards Children but looks on it as necessary in humane Nature in order to the good and advantage of Mankind and therefore himself taking our Nature upon him is said to be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities and to have compassion on the Ignorant and on them that are out of the Way But although this be allowable in humane Nature how can such a thing as Compassion be attributed to the Divine Nature which is uncapable of such impressions and motions which we are subject to And yet the Scripture is very full and clear in attributing Pity and Compassion to Almighty God with respect to his Creatures The Psalmist saith The Lord is full of Compassion and Mercy long-suffering and of great Goodness St. James saith He is very pitifull and of tender Mercy And in that wonderfull Appearance to Moses when God himself declared his own Attributes the greatest part consists of his Kindness and Mercy towards Mankind The Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands