that nothing less than this will bring us thither So our Saviour tells us in the latter part of the Text that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able I proceed now to the Second part of the Text the Reason or Argument whereby this Exhortation is enforced Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Every seeking to enter in will not gain our admission into Heaven therefore there must be striving For Men may do many things in Religion and make several faint Attempts to get to Heaven and yet at last fall short of it for want of that earnest Contention and Endeavour which is necessary to the attaining of it We must make Religion our business and set about it with all our might and persevere and hold out in it if ever we hope to be admitted to Heaven for many shall seek to enter that shall be shut out Now what this seeking is which is here opposed to striving to enter in at the strait gate our Saviour declares after the Text v. 25. When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence ye are Then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not whence ye are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity St. Matth. mentions some other Pretences which they should make upon which they should lay claim to Heaven Mat. 7. 21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that Day Lord Lord have we not Prophesyed in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity After all their seeking to enter in and notwithstanding all these Pretences they shall be shut out and be for ever banisht from the Presence of God This shall be their doom which will be much the heavier because of the disappointment of their confident expectation and hope So St. Luke tells us v. 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and ye your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God To which St. Matthew adds Chap. 8. v. 12. But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then our Saviour concludes Luke 13. 30. Behold there are last that shall be first and first which shall be last From all which it appears with what Confidence many Men upon these false Pretences which our Saviour calls seeking to enter in shall lay claim to Heaven and how strangely they shall be disappointed of their expectation and hope when they shall find themselves cast out of Heaven who they thought had out-done all others in Religion and were the only Members of the true Church and the Children and Heirs of the Kingdom and shall see others whom they thought to be out of the Pale of the true Church and excluded from all terms of Salvation come from all Quarters and find free Admission into Heaven and shall find themselves so grosly and widely mistaken that those very Persons whom they thought to be last and of all others farthest from Salvation shall be first and they themselves whom they took for the Children of the Kingdom and such as should be admitted into Heaven in the first place shall be rejected and cast out So that by seeking to enter we may understand all those things which Men may do in Religion upon which they shall pretend to lay claim to Heaven nay and confidently hope to obtain it and yet shall be shamefully disappointed and fall short of it Whatever Men think and believe and do in Religion what Priviledges soever Men pretend what Ways and Means soever Men endeavour to appease the Deity and to recommend themselves to the Divine Favour and Acceptance all this is but seeking to enter in and is not that striving which our Saviour requires If Men do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity it will all signifie nothing to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness Our Saviour here instanceth in Mens Profession of his Religion calling him Lord Lord in their personal Familiarity and Conversation with him by eating and drinking in his Presence and Company in their having heard him preach the Doctrine of Life and Salvation thou hast taught in our streets in their having prophesied and wrought great Miracles in his Name and by his Power Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works These were great and glorious Things which they boasted of and yet nothing of all this will do if Men do not the Will of God notwithstanding all this he will say unto them I know ye not whence ye are depart from me ye workers of Iniquity And by a plain Parity of Reason whatever else Men do in Religion what Attempts soever Men may make to get to Heaven upon what Priviledges or Pretences soever they may lay claim to eternal Life they will certainly fall short of it if they do not do the will of God but are workers of Iniquity My business therefore at this time shall be to discover the several false Claims and Pretences which Men may make to Heaven and yet shall never enter into it And to this purpose I shall instance in several Particulars by one or more of which Men commonly delude themselves and are apt to entertain vain and ill-grounded hopes of eternal Salvation 1st Some trust to the external Profession of the true Religion 2dly Others have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they rely much upon that 3dly There are others that find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Doctrines contained in it 4thly Others are very strict and devout in the external Worship of God 5thly Others confide much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Priviledges and Advantages which therein they have above others of getting to Heaven 6thly Others think their great Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them 7thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion 8thly Others rely much upon
the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby they are put into a state of Grace and become the Children of God and Heirs of everlasting Life and being once truly so they can never fall from that State so as finally to miscarry Lastly Others venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance and their Import unity with God to receive them to Mercy at the last I shall briefly go over these particulars which are the several ways whereby Men seek to enter into Heaven and hope to get thither at last and shall shew the Insufficiency of them and that there is something beyond all this necessary to be done for the attainment of Everlasting Salvation 1st Some trust to the mere external Profession of the true Religion and think it enough to call Christ Lord Lord to be baptized in his Name and thereby to be admitted Members of the Christian Church What the Apostle says of the Profession of the Jewish Religion and the outward Badge of it Circumcision may be applyed to the Profession of Christianity made in Baptism Rom. 2. 17 25 28 29. Behold thou art called a Jew and restest in the Law and makest thy boast of God Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Vncircumcision For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter The Case is the same of those who make only an outward Profession of Christianity Baptism verily profitteth if we perform the Condition of that Covenant which we entred into by Baptism but if we do not our Baptism is no Baptism For he is not a Christian which is one outwardly nor is that Baptism which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Christian which is one inwardly and Baptism is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in Water only So St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 3. 21. that Baptism is not only the washing of the Body with Water and the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God The Promise of eternal Life and Happiness is not made to the external Profession of Religion without the sincere and real Practice of it Why call ye me Lord Lord says our Saviour and do not the things which I say The Scripture hath no where said he that is baptised shall be saved but he that believeth and is baptised he that repenteth and is baptised shall be saved This deserves to be seriously considered by a great many Christians who have nothing to shew for their Christianity but their Names whose best Title to Heaven is their Baptism an Engagement entred into by others in their Name but never confirmed and made good by any Act of their own a thing which was done before they remember and which hath no other effect upon their Hearts and Lives than if it were quite forgotten 2dly There are others who have attained to a good degree of Knowledge in Religion and they hope that will save them But if our Knowledge in Religion though never so clear and great do not descend into our Hearts and Lives and govern our Actions all our hopes of Heaven are built upon a false and sandy Foundation So our Saviour tells us Matth. 7. 26. Every one that heareth these Sayings of mine and doth them not shall be likened unto a foolish Man which built his House upon the Sand. And John 13. 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them There is not a greater Cheat in Religion nothing wherein Men do more grosly impose upon themselves than in this matter as if the Knowledge of Religion without the Practice of it would bring Men to Heaven How diligent are many in reading and hearing the Word of God who yet take no care to practise it in their Lives Like those in the Prophet Ezek. 33. 31. of whom God complains They come unto thee as the People cometh and they sit before thee as my People and they hear my Words but they will not do them None do so foolishly and yet so deservedly miss of Happiness as those who are very careful to learn the way to Heaven and when they have done will take no pains at all to get thither 3dly There are others who find themselves much affected with the Word of God and the Preaching of it and this they take for a very good Sign that it hath its due effect upon them And this happens very frequently that the Word of God makes considerable Impressions upon Men for the present and they are greatly affected with it and troubled for their Sins and afraid of the Judgments of God and the terrible Vengeance of another World and upon this they take up some Resolutions of a better Course which after a little while vanish and come to nothing This was the Temper of the People of Israel they delighted to hear the Prophet speak to them in the Name of God Ezek. 33. 32. And loe thou art unto them as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well upon an Instrument for they hear thy words but they do them not Mark 6. 20. it is said that Herod had a great reverence for John the Baptist that he observed him and heard him gladly but yet for all that he continued the same cruel and bad Man that he was before And in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13. 20. there are one sort of Hearers mention'd who when they heard the word received it with joy but having no root in themselves they endured but for a while and when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth because of the Word presently they are offended There are many Men who have sudden Motions in Religion and are mightily affected for the present but it must be a rooted and fixt Principle that will endure and hold out against great Difficulties and Opposition Acts 24. 25. it is said that when St. Paul reasoned of Righteousness and Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and nothing is more frequent than for Men to be mightily strartled at the Preaching of the Word when their Judgments are convinced and born down and their Consciences touched to the quick a lively representation of the Evil of Sin and the infinite Danger of a sinful Course may stir up the Passions of Grief and Fear and dart such stings into the Consciences of Men as may make them extremely restless and unquiet and work some good Thoughts and Inclinations in them towards a better Course and yet like Metals when the heat is over they may be the harder for having been melted down 4thly Others shew great Strictness and Devotion in the Worship of God and this they hope will be accepted and can not fail to bring them to Heaven
own Books and Writers but even of the Adversaries of our Religion What Reformation Christianity at first wrought in the Manners of Men we have clear and full Testimony from what the Apostles wrote concerning the several Churches which they planted in several Parts of the World What hearty Unity and Affection there was among Christians even to that Degree as to make Men bring in their private Estates and Possessions for the common Support of their Brethren we may read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles The City of Corinth by the Account which Strabo gives of it was a very vicious and luxurious place as most in the World and yet we see by St. Paul what a strange Reformation the Christian Religion made in the Lives and Manners of many of them 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor adulterers nor idolaters nor effeminate nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And surely it is no small matter to reclaim Men from such a profligate course of Life The Apostle instanceth in Crimes and Vices of the first Rate from which yet he tells us many were cleansed and purified by the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God that is by the Power and Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine together with the Co-operation of Gods Holy Spirit After the Apostles the Ancient Fathers in their Apologies for Christianity give us a large Account of the great Power and Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine upon the Lives and Manners of Men. Tertullian tells the Roman Governours that their Prisons were full of Malefactors committed for several Crimes but they were all Heathens De vestris semper aestuat carcer Their Prisons were thronged with Criminals of their own Religion But there were no Christians to be found committed there for such Crimes Nemo illic Christianus nisi hoc tantùm c. There were no Christians in their Prisons but only upon account of their Religion Or if there were any Malefactors that had been Christians they left their Religion when they fell into those Enormities And afterwards he adds that if Christians were irregular in their Lives they were no longer accounted Christians but were banisht from their Communion as unworthy of it And they appealed to the Heathens what a sudden and strange change Christianity had made in several of the most lewd and vicious and debauched Persons and what a visible Reformation there presently appeared in the Lives of the worst Men after they had once entertained the Christian Doctrine And these Testimonies are so much the stronger because they are Publick Appeals to our Adversaries which it is not likely they who were so persecuted and hated as the Christians were would have had the Confidence to have made if they had not been notoriously true even their Enemies themselves being Judges And that they were so we have the Confession of the Heathen themselves I shall produce two remarkable Testimonies to this Purpose and one of them from the Pen of one of the bitterest Enemies that the Christian Religion ever had Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan the Emperour gives him an Account That having examined the Christians setting aside the Superstition of their way he could find no Fault and that this was the Sum of their Errour that they were wont to meet before Day and sing a Hymn to Christ and to bind themselves by a Solemn Oath or Sacrament not to any wicked Purpose but not to steal nor rob nor commit Adultery nor break their Faith nor detain the Pledge So that it seems the Sum of their Errour was to oblige themselves in the strictest manner against the greatest Vices and Crimes Which methinks is a great Testimony from an Enemy and a Judge one who would have been ready to discover their Faults and had Opportunity of enquiring into them My other Witness is Julian the Emperour and Apostate who in one of his Epistles tells us The Christians did severely punish Sedition and Impiety And afterwards exhorting the Heathen Priests to all Offices of Humanity and especially Alms towards the Poor he tells them they ought to be more careful in this particular and to mend this Fault Because says he the Galileans taking advantage of our Neglect in this kind have very much strengthned their Impiety for so he calls their Religion by being very intent upon these Offices and exemplary in their Charity to the Poor whereby they gained many over to them And in his 49th Epist to Arsacius the High-Priest of Galatia he recommends to him among other Means for the Advancement of Paganism the building of Hospitals and great Liberality to the Poor not only of their own Religion but others For says he it is a Shame that the impious Galileans should not only maintain their own poor but ours also wherefore let us not suffer them to out-do us in this Virtue Nothing but the force of Truth could have extorted so full an Acknowledgment of the great Humanity and Charity of the Christians from so bitter an Enemy of our Religion as Julian was If he owned it we may be sure it was very great and exemplary So that you see that the Christian Religion had a very great Power and Efficacy upon the Lives and Manners of Men when it first appeared in the World And the true Spirit and Genius of any Religion the Force of any Institution is best seen in the primitive Effects of it before it be weakned and dispirited by those Corruptions which in time are apt to insinuate themselves into the best things For all Laws and Institutions are commonly more vigorous and have greater Effects at first than afterwards and the best things are apt in time to degenerate and to contract Soil and Rust And it cannot in Reason be expected otherwise So that though it be a thing to be bewailed and by the greatest Care and Diligence to be resisted yet it is not so extremely to be wonder'd at if Christianity in the space of Sixteen Hundred Years hath abated much of its first Strength and Vigour Especially considering that there were several Circumstances that gave Christianity mighty Advantages at first especially the miraculous Powers which did accompany the first Publication of the Gospel which must needs be full of Conviction to those who saw the wonderful Effects of it The extraordinary Operation of the Spirit of God upon the Minds of Men to dispose them to the receiving of it The persecuted and suffering State that Christians were generally in which made those who embraced the Profession to be generally serious and in good earnest in it and kept up a continual Heat and Zeal in the Minds of Men for that Religion which cost them so dear and for which they suffer'd
so much And the fury of their Enemies against it did naturally inflame their Love and Kindness to one another nothing being a greater Endearment among Men than common Sufferings in a common Cause So long as Christians were not corrupted by Secular Interests and by denying all for Christ were free from Covetousness and Ambition the great roots of all Evil The Church of Christ though she was black yet she was comely and terrible as an Army with Banners She was all this while in an excellent Posture to resist the Temptations and fight against the Vices and Corruptions of the World But after the World broke in upon the Church and Christianity was countenanced by the Powers of the World and water'd with Secular Preferments and Encouragements no wonder if the Tares began to grow up with the Wheat Then Iniquity began to abound and the Love of many to grow cold When the Sun of Prosperity began to shine upon the Christian Profession then no wonder if the Vermin bred and swarmed every where When it grew creditable and advantagious for Men to be Christians this must in all Reason make a World of Hypocrites and counterfeit Professors These things I reckon must in Reason make a mighty Difference between the first Ages of Christianity and those which have follow'd since and no wonder if the real Fruits and Effects of Religion in these several States of Christianity be very unequal For Prosperity and Adversity made a wide difference in this Matter The Persecution of any Religion naturally makes the Professors of it real and the Prosperity of it does as naturally allure and draw in Hypocrites Besides that even the best of Men are more corrupted by Prosperity than Affliction But though Christians were best under Persecution yet God did not think fit always to continue them in that State because he would not tempt them and tire them out with perpetual Sufferings and after he had given the World a sufficient Experiment of the Power and Efficacy of the Christian Religion in maintaining and propagating it self in despite of all the Violence and Opposition of the World sufficient for ever to give Reputation to it he then thought good to leave it to be kept up by more Human Ways and such as offer less violence to the Nature of a Man Being once establisht and settled in the World and upon equal Terms of Advantage with other Religions God left it to be supported by more ordinary Means by pious Education and diligent Instruction and good Laws and Government without Miracles and without Persecution and without those extraordinary and overpowring Communications of his Grace and Spirit which he afforded to the first Ages of Christianity I have insisted the longer upon this that Men may see what Effects Christianity hath had upon the Lives of Men by which we may see the proper Nature and Efficacy of it and withal may not wonder so much that it hath not the same Effects now Though it be matter of great Shame to us that they are so vastly disproportionable to what they were at first 2. Tho' the Disproportion be very great between the Effects of Christianity at first and what it hath now upon the Lives of Men yet we ought not to deny but it hath still some good Effects upon Mankind and it is our great Shame and Fault that it hath no better If we will speak justly of things as to the general civility of Life and Manners Freedom from Tyranny and Barbarousness and Cruelty and some other enormous Vices yea and as to the exemplary Piety and Virtue of great Numbers of particular Persons of several Nations there is no Comparison between the general State of Christendom and the Pagan and Mahometan parts of the World Next to Christianity and the Law of Moses which was confined to one Nation Philosophy was the most likely Instrument to reform Mankind that hath been in the World and it had very considerable Effects upon some particular Persons both as to the rectifying of their Opinions and the reforming of their Lives But upon the generality of Mankind it did very little in either of these Respects especially as to the rectifying of the absurd and impious Opinions of the People concerning God and their superstitious Worship of the Deity Whereas the Christian Religion did universally where-ever it came set Men free from those gross Impieties and Superstitions and taught Men to worship the only true God in a right Manner Tho' we must confess to the Eternal Reproach of the Christian Religion that the Western Church hath degenerated so far that it seems to be in a great Measure relapst into the Ignorance and Superstition of Paganism out of which Degeneracy that God hath rescued us as we have infinite Cause to adore his Goodness so we have all the reason in the World to dread and detest a Return into this spiritual Egypt this House of Darkness and Bondage and the bringing of our Necks again under that Yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear So that you see that there are still very considerable Effects of the Christian Religion in the World yea and I doubt not but in those places where it is most corrupted and degenerated because they still retain the essential Doctrines of Christianity which have not quite lost their Force notwithstanding the many Errours and Corruptions that are mixt with them And as God knows and every Man sees it that the generality of Christians are very bad notwithstanding all the Influence of that excellent Religion which they profess yet I think it is very evident Men would be much worse without it For though very many who have entertained the Principles of Christianity are very wicked in their Lives yet many are otherwise And those that are bad have this Advantage by their Religion that it is in its Nature apt to reduce and recover Men from a wicked Course and sometimes does whereas the case of those Persons would have been desperate were it not for those Principles of Religion which were implanted in them by Christian Education and though they were long supprest yet did at last awaken them to a Consideration of their Condition and proved the happy Means of their Recovery 3. I will not deny but there are some Persons as bad nay perhaps worse that have been bred up in the Christian Religion than are commonly to be found in the Darkness of Paganism for the Corruption of the best Things is the worst and those who have resisted so great a Light as that of the Gospel is are like to prove the most desperately wicked of all other There is nothing that Men make worse use of than of Light and Liberty two of the best and most pleasant Things in the World Knowledge is many times abused to the worst Purpose and Liberty into Licentiousness and Sedition and yet no Man for all that thinks Ignorance desirable or would wish a perpetual Night and Darkness to
most enormous Offenders they apply to themselves and when they hear of the Sin against the Holy Ghost and the Sin unto Death or read this Text which I am now treating of they presently conclude that they are guilty of these Sins and that this is a description of their Case Whereas the Sin against the holy Ghost is of that nature that probably none but those that saw our Saviour's Miracles are capable of committing it and excepting that there is no Sin whatsoever that is unpardonable As for the Sin unto Death and that here spoken of in the Text I have shewn that they are a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion more especially to the Heathen Idolatry which these Persons I am speaking of have no reason to imagine themselves guilty of And though great and notorious Crimes committed by Christians may come near to this and it may be very hard for those who are guilty of them to recover themselves again to Repentance yet to be sure for the common Frailties and Infirmities of Human Nature there is an open way of Pardon in the Gospel and they are many times forgiven to us upon a General Repentance so that upon account of these which is commonly the case of the Persons I am speaking of there is not the least ground of Despair and though it be hard many times for such Persons to receive Comfort yet it is easie to give it and that upon sure Grounds and as clear Evidence of Scripture as there is for any thing so that the first thing that such Persons who are so apt to judge thus hardly of themselves are to be convinced of if possible is this that they ought rather to trust the Judgment of others concerning themselves than their own Imagination which is so distemper'd that it cannot make a true Representation of things I know that where Melancholy does mightily prevail it is hard to perswade People of this but 'till they be perswaded of it I am sure all the Reason in the World will signifie nothing to them 4thly This should make Men afraid of great and presumptuous Sins which come near Apostacy from Christianity such as deliberate Murder Adultery gross Fraud and Oppression or notorious and habitual Intemperance For what great difference is there whether Men renounce Christianity or professing to believe it do in their Works deny it Some of these Sins which I have mention'd particularly Murder and Adultery were ranked in the same degree with Apostacy by the Ancient Church and so severe was the Discipline of many Churches that Persons guilty of these Crimes were never admitted to the Peace and Communion of the Church again whatever Testimony they gave of their Repentance I will not say but this was too rigorous but this shews how inconsistent with Christianity these Crimes and others of the like degree of heinousness were in those days thought to be They did not indeed as Tertullian tells us think such Persons absolutely incapable of the Mercy of God but after such a Fall so notorious a Contradiction to their Christian Profession they thought it unfit afterwards that they should ever be reckon'd in the number of Christians 5thly It may be useful for us upon this Occasion to reflect a little upon the ancient Discipline of the Church which in some places as I have told you was so severe as in case of some great Crimes after Baptism as Apostacy to the Heathen Idolatry Murder and Adultery never to admit those that were guilty of them to the Peace and Communion of the Church but in all Churches was so strict as not to admit those who fell after Baptism into great and notorious Crimes to Reconciliation with the Church but after a long and tedious course of Penance after the greatest and most publick Testimonies of Sorrow and Repentance after long Fasting and Tears and the greatest signs of Humiliation that can be imagined In case of the greatest Offences they were seldom reconciled till they came to lye upon their Death-beds And in case of other scandalous Sins not 'till after the Humiliation of many Years This perhaps may be thought too great Severity but I am sure we are as much too remiss now as they were over rigorous then but were the Ancient Discipline of the Church in any degree put in practice now what case would the generality of Christians be in In what Herds and Shoals would Men be driven out of the Communion of the Church 'T is true the prodigious Degeneracy and Corruption of Christians hath long since broke these Bounds and 't is morally impossible to revive the strictness of the ancient Discipline in any measure till the World grow better but yet we ought to reflect with shame and confusion of Face upon the purer Ages of the Church and sadly to consider how few among us would in those Days have been accounted Christians and upon this Consideration to be provoked to an Emulation of those Better Times and to a Reformation of those Faults and Miscarriages which in the best days of Christianity were reckon'd inconsistent with the Christian Profession and to remember that though the Discipline of the Church be not now the same it was then yet the Judgment and Severity of God is and that those who live in any vicious course of Life though they continue in the Communion of the Church yet they shall be shut out of the Kingdom of God We are sure that the Judgment of God will be according to Truth against them which commit such things 6thly and lastly The Consideration of what hath been said should confirm and establish us in the Profession of our Holy Religion 'T is true we are not now in danger of apostatizing from Christianity to the Heathen Idolatry but we have too many sad Examples of those who apostatize from the Profession of the Gospel which they have taken upon them in Baptism to Atheism and Infidelity to all manner of Impiety and Lewdness There are many who daily fall off from the Profession of the Reformed Religion to the gross Errors and Superstitions of the Roman Church which in many things does too nearly resemble the old Pagan Idolatry And what the Apostle here says of the Apostates of his time is proportionably true of those of our days that they who thus fall away it is extreamly difficult to renew them again to Repentance And it ought to be remembred that the guilt of this kind of Apostacy hath driven some to Despair as in the Case of Spira who for resisting the Light and Convictions of his Mind was cast into those Agonies and fill'd with such Terrors as if the very pains of Hell had taken hold of him and in that fearful Despair and in the midst of those Horrors he breathed out his Soul Let us then hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and let us take heed how we contradict the Profession of our Faith by any Impiety and Wickedness in our
and yet some of the worst of Men have been very eminent for this The Pharisees were the most exact People in the World in matter of external Ceremony and Devotion and yet for all this our Saviour plainly tells them that they were farther from the Kingdom of God than those who seemed to be farthest than Publicans and Harlots and that because they were so very bad under so great a pretence of Devotion therefore they should receive the greater Damnation Not but that External Devotion is a necessary expression of Religion and highly acceptable to God when it proceeds from a pious and devout Mind and when Men are really such in their Hearts and Lives as their external Devotion represents them to be But when the outward Garb of Religion is only made a Cloak for Sin and Wickedness when there is nothing within to answer all the Shew that we see without nothing is more odious and abominable to God These are mere Engins and Puppits in Religion all the Motions we see without proceed from an artificial Contrivance and not from any inward Principle of Life and as no Creature is more ridiculous than an Ape because the Beast makes some pretence to human Shape so nothing is more fulsome than this hypocritical Devotion because it looks like Religion but is the farthest from it of any thing in the World 5thly Others confide very much in their being Members of the only true Church in which alone Salvation is to be had and in the manifold Priviledges and Advantages which they have thereby above others of getting to Heaven Thus the Jews confined Salvation to themselves and looked upon all the rest of the World as excluded from it And not only so but they believed that by one means or other every Israelite should be saved So that they were the Jewish Catholick Church out of which there was no hope of Salvation for any The same Pretence is made by some Christians at this day who engross Salvation to themselves and will allow none to go to Heaven out of the Communion of their Church and have so ordered the matter that hardly any that are in it can miscarry They are Members of an infallible Church which cannot possibly err in Matters of Faith they have not only eat and drunk in Christ's presence but have eat and drunk his very Corporal Presence the natural Substance of his Flesh and Blood they have not only our blessed Saviour but innumerable other Intercessors in Heaven they have not only their own Merits to plead for them but in case they be defective they may have the Merits of others assigned and made over to them out of the infinite Stock and Treasure of the Church upon which they may challenge Eternal Life as of right and due belonging to them and by a due course of Confession and Absolution may quit scores with God for all their Sins from time to time Or if they have neglected all this they may after the most flagitious course of Life upon Attrition that is upon some Trouble for Sin out of fear of Hell and Damnation joyned with Confession and Absolution get to Heaven at last provided the Priest mean honestly and do not for want of Intention deprive them of the saving Benefit and Effect of this Sacrament But is it possible Men can be deluded at this Rate as to think that Confidence of their own good Condition and want of Charity to others will carry them to Heaven That any Church hath the Priviledge to save impenitent Sinners And they are really impenitent who do not exercise such a Repentance as the Gospel plainly requires and if Men die in this state whatever Church they are of the great Judge of the World hath told us that he will not know them but will bid them to depart from him because they have been Workers of Iniquity 6thly Others think that their Zeal for God and his true Religion will certainly save them But Zeal if it be not according to Knowledge if it be mistaken in its Object or be irregular and excessive in the degree is so far from being a Virtue that it may be a great Sin and Fault and tho' it be for the Truth yet if it be destitute of Charity and separated from the Virtues of a good Life it will not avail us So St. Paul tells us that tho' a Man should give his Body to be burnt yet if he have not Charity it is nothing 7thly Others go a great way in the real Practice of Religion and this sure willdo the business And it is very true and certain in experience that Religion may have a considerable Awe and Influence upon Men's Hearts and Lives and yet they may fall short of Happiness Men may in many considerable Instances perform their Duty to God and Man and yet the retaining of one Lust the practice of any one known Sin may hinder them from entring in at the strait Gate Herod did not only hear John gladly but did many things in Obedience to his Doctrine and yet he was a very bad Man The Pharisee thanked God and it may be truly that he was not like other Men an extortioner or unjust or an adulterer and yet the penitent Publican was justified before him The young Man who came to our Saviour to know what he should do to enter into Life and of whom our Saviour testifies that he was not far from the Kingdom of God and that he wanted but one thing yet for want of that he miscarried And St. James assures us that if a Man keep the whole Law and yet fail in one point he is guilty of all If we be workers of Iniquity in any one kind Christ will disown us and bid us depart from him 8thly Others rely upon the Sincerity of their Repentance and Conversion whereby they are put into a state of Grace from whence they can never finally fall They did once very heartily repent of their wicked Lives and did change their Course and were really reformed and continued a great while in that good Course And all this may be certainly true but it is as certain that they are relapsed into their former evil Course And if so the Prophet hath told us their Doom that if the righteous Man forsake his Righteousness his Righteousness shall not be remembred but in the Sin that he hath sinned in that shall he die So that a Righteous Man may turn from his Righteousress and commit Iniquity and dye in it For the Prophet doth not here as some vainly pretend put a case which is impossible in Fact should happen unless they will say that the other Case which he puts together with it of the wicked Mans turning away from his wickedness and doing that which is lawful and right is likewise impossible which God forbid And that Men may fall from a state of Grace is no matter of Discouragement to good Men but a good caution against Security and an Argument
let every Man be swift to hear and slow to Wrath for the Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God and exhorts us so earnestly to receive with Meekness the Word of God which is able to save our Souls SERMON II. The Prejudices against Christianity consider'd MATTH XI 6. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me I Have from these Words propounded to consider two things I. Those Prejudices and Objections which the World had against our Saviour and his Religion at their first Appearance as also to enquire into those which Men at this day do more especially insist upon against the Christian Religion and to show the Unreasonableness of them II. How happy a thing it is to escape and overcome the common Prejudices which Men have against Religion I have entred upon the first of these the Prejudices which the World had against our Saviour and his Religion When this great Teacher of Mankind came from God though he gave all imaginable Testimony and Evidence that he was sent from Heaven yet the greatest part of the World both Jews and Gentiles were mightily offended at him and deeply prejudiced against him and his Doctrine but not both upon the same Account I have already given you an Account of the chief Exceptions which the Jews made against our Saviour and his Doctrine and have shewn 〈◊〉 Unreasonableness of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now to consider the 〈…〉 those Exceptions which 〈…〉 and Heathen Philosophers took at our Saviour and his Doctrine I shall mention these four First That Christianity was a great Innovation and contrary to the received Institutions of the World Secondly They objected against the Plainness and Simplicity of the Doctrine Thirdly That it wanted Demonstration Fourthly That the low and suffering Condition of our Saviour was unsuitable to one that pretended to be the Son of God and to be appointed by him for a Teacher and Reformer of the World These are the chief Exceptions which the Heathen and especially their Philosophers took at our Saviour and his Doctrine First That the Christian Religion was a great Innovation and contrary to the received Institutions of the World and consequently that it did condemn the Religion which had been so universally received and establisht in the World by so long a continuance of Time And no wonder if this made a great Impression upon them and raised a mighty Prejudice in the Minds of Men against the Christian Religion no Prejudices being so strong as those that are fix'd in the Minds of Men by Education And of all the Prejudices of Education none so violent and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea though they be never so groundless and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Intimating to us that Men are very hardly brought off from that Religion which they have been brought up in how absurd soever it be When Christianity was first propounded to the Heathen World had Men been free and indifferent and not prepossest with other Apprehensions of God and Religion it might then have been expected from them that they should have entertained it with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But the Case was quite otherwise the World had for many Ages been brought up to another way of Worship and inur'd to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature And this sways very much with Men Sequimur majores nostros qui feliciter sequuti sunt suos as one of the Heathens said in those Days We follow our Ancestors who happily follow'd theirs Men are hardly brought to condemn those Opinions and Customs in Religion which themselves and their Forefathers have always embraced and followed And Wise Men especially are loth to admit so great a change in a matter of so great Concernment as Religion is So that this must be acknowledged to have been a considerable Prejudice against the Christian Religion at its first Appearance But yet upon a through Examination this will not be found sufficient in Reason to withhold Men from embracing Christianity if we consider these four Things 1. No prudent Person thinks that the Example and Custom of his Forefathers obligeth him to that which is evil in it self and pernicious to him that does it and there is no Evil no Danger equal to that of a false Religion for that tends to the ruin of Men's Souls and their undoing for ever A Man might better alledge the Example of his Forefathers to justifie his Errors and Follies in any other kind than in this which is so infinitely pernicious in the Consequences of it 2. In a great Corruption and Degeneracy it is no sufficient Reason against a Reformation that it makes a Change When Things are amiss it is always fit to amend and reform them and this cannot be done without a Change The wisest among the Heathen did acknowledge that their Religion was mixt with very great Follies and Superstitions and that the Lives and Manners of Men were extremely corrupt and degenerate and they endeavour'd as much as they could and durst to reform these things And therefore there was no Reason to oppose an effectual Reformation for fear of a Change a Change of Things for the better though it be usually hard to be effected being always a thing to be desired and wisht for 3. The Change which Christianity designed was the least liable to Exception that could be being nothing else in the main of it but the reducing of Natural Religion the bringing of Men back to such Apprehensions of God and such a way of worshipping him as was most suitable to the Divine Nature and to the Natural Notions of Men's Minds nothing else but a Design to perswade Men of the one true God Maker of the World that he is a Spirit and to be worshipt in such a manner as is suitable to his Spiritual Nature And then for matters of Practice to bring Men to the Obedience of those Precepts of Temperance and Justice and Charity which had been universally acknowledged even by the Heathens themselves to be the great Duties which Men owe to themselves and others And that this is the main Design of the Christian Religion the Apostle hath told us in most plain and express Words Tit. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God that is the Doctrine of the Gospel which hath appeared to all Men and brings Salvation teacheth us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World And all that the Christian Religion adds beyond this is means and helps for our Direction and Assistance and Encouragement in the Discharge and Performance of these Duties For our Direction God hath sent his Son in our Nature to declare his Will to us and to be a Pattern and Example of Holiness and Virtue For our Assistance he hath promised the Aids of his Holy Spirit and for our Encouragement he offers
Testimony of a great number of Eye-witnesses who have wrote the History of these things And though they were truly extraordinary Persons and gave Testimony to themselves by Miracles yet at present I desire no more but that they be looked upon as knowing and honest Relators of what they heard and saw and that the same Credit be given to them which we give to Livy and Arian and Q. Curtius for plain Events and matters of Fact But yet I must add withal that besides the Miracles which they wrought they gave greater Testimony of their Integrity than any Historian in the World ever did For they willingly suffer'd the greatest Persecution and Torment yea and Death it self in Confirmation of the Truth of what they deliver'd And for the propagating of the Christian Religion through so great a part of the World it is evident by the Effect beyond all Denyal So that for the matters of Fact upon which the Truth of Christianity does depend here is greater and more advantagious Evidence of History than for any other Matter of equal Antiquity whatsoever 3. As to the substance of these matters of Fact we have the concurring Testimony of the greatest Enemies of the Christian Religion That there were such Persons as our Saviour and his Apostles that they preached such a Doctrine that they wrought such Miracles for this we have the Acknowledgment of the Jews and the Testimony of the Heathen Historians and particularly of Celsus and Porphyry and Julian who were the particular and most learned Adversaries of the Christian Religion So that as to the Matters of Fact there is no Objection against them whatever use we may make of them or whatever Consequences we may draw from them And I presume it agreed by all Objectors that if these matters of Fact be true they are a sufficient Foundation of the Truth of our Religion and we are very unequal to our Religion if we make a doubt of these things which the greatest Enemies of Christianity never had the Face to deny 4. And besides all this to recompence the Disadvantage which we have of those who saw the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles we have the Testimonium rei the Evidence of the Effects of these things to confirm our Belief of them and this is an Advantage which the first Ages of Christianity could not have We see our Saviour's Predictions of the Success of his Religion in the World in the propagating and establishing of it fully accomplisht notwithstanding the fierce Opposition and Resistance that was made against it by the greatest Powers of the World We see the Dispersion of the Jews in all Nations and the Misery and Contempt which they every where suffer and that now for above Sixteen Hundred Years they have continued a distinct People and a Spectacle of the Divine Justice and Severity for rejecting and crucifying the Son of God and for a lasting and standing Testimony of the Truth of our Saviour's Prediction and of the Christian Religion So that though we live at this distance from the first rise and beginning of Christianity yet we have the Relation of those Things which give Confirmation to it conveyed down to us in as credible a manner as any ancient matter of Fact ever was and the Effects of things remaining to this day do give Testimony to the Truth of it Fourthly It is objected that the terms of Christianity seem very hard and to lay too great Restraints upon Human Nature It commands us to mortifie our Lusts and subdue our Passions and deny Vngodliness and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World to be holy in all manner of Conversation to have respect to whatever things are honest and true and just and virtuous and of good report and to deny our selves and to part with the dearest Enjoyments of this Life yea and with Life it self for the sake of Christ and his Gospel Now these seem to be very hard Terms to forego all the present Pleasures and Enjoyments of this Life in hopes of a future Happiness which we are less assur'd of To this I answer 1. That this is a greater Objection against Religion in general than the Christian Religion For Natural Religion requires of us all the main Duties that Christianity does and gives us far less Assurance of the Reward of our Obedience Natural Religion requires Piety and Justice and Charity the due Government of our Appetites and Passions as well as Christianity does but does not discover to us the Rewards of another World by many Degrees so clearly as our Lord and Saviour who hath brought Life and Immortality to Light by the Gospel and by his Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven hath given us full Assurance of another Life after this and of a glorious Immortality So that tho' we have not nor can have the Evidence of Sense for a Future State yet we have all the Rational Evidence for it that can be wisht or expected and much more than Men have for those Adventures of their Lives and Fortunes which they frequently make in this World and think themselves reasonable in so doing 2. The Restraints which Christianity lays upon Men are in the judgment of Mankind so far from being an Objection against it that they are highly to the Commendation of it Nay it were the greatest Objection that could be against our Religion if it did set us at Liberty from those Restraints What can be more to the credit of any Religion than to command Men to be just and charitable and peaceable And what more to the Advantage of the Professors of it And on the contrary what can reflect more upon any Religion than to indulge and allow Men in any Vice contrary to these It shews Men are glad to make any thing an Objection against Christianity when they lay hold of that which if it had been otherwise they would have made ten times more Clamour against it for the contrary 3. As for most of those Restraints which Christianity lays upon us they are of that Nature so much both for our Private and Publick Advantage that setting aside all Considerations of Religion and of the Rewards and Punishments of another Life they are really good for us and if God had not laid them upon us we ought in Reason in order to our Temporal Benefit and Advantage to have laid them upon our selves If there were no Religion I know Men would not have such strong and forcible Obligations to these Duties but yet I say though there were no Religion it were good for Men in order to Temporal Ends to their Health and Quiet and Reputation and Safety and in a word to the private and publick Prosperity of Mankind that Men should be temperate and chast and just and peaceable and charitable and kind and obliging to one another rather than the contrary So that Religion does not create those Restraints arbitrarily but requires those things
of us which our Reason and a Regard to our own Advantage which the Necessity and Conveniency of the Things themselves without any Consideration of Religion would in most Cases urge us to 4. As to the case of Persecution for Religion besides that it does not now happen so frequently as it did in the beginning of Christianity nay very seldom in comparison if all things be consider'd it cannot be thought unreasonable both because Religion offers to us in Consideration of our present Sufferings a Happiness unspeakably greater than that which we forego for the sake of Religion and because when it happens God does extraordinarily enable Men to go through it with Courage and Comfort as we see in the Examples of the primitive Christians who in great Numbers of all Tempers and Ages did voluntarily chuse to give up themselves to these Sufferings when there was no necessity laid upon them but fair terms of Retreat were offer'd to them by their Enemies It is one thing when a Man suffers by the Law and cannot help it and another thing when Men may avoid Suffering In the former Case Men submit to necessity and bear it as well as they can in the latter Case if Men suffer it is a Sign they firmly believe the Reward of it and if they suffer chearfully and with Joy as most of the Martyrs did it is a plain Evidence that God affords them extraordinary Support in their Sufferings and then the Case is not very hard when Religion puts them upon nothing but what it gives them cause and enables them to rejoyce in the doing of it Fifthly It is objected that the Christian Religion is apt to dispirit Men and to break the Courage and Vigour of their Minds by the Precepts of Patience and Humility and Meekness and of forgiving Injuries and the like This Objection hath made a great Noise in the World and hath been urged by Men of great Reputation and a deep insight into the Tempers of Men and the Affairs of the World It is said to be particularly insisted upon by Machiavel and very likely it may tho' I think that elsewhere he is pleased to speak with Terms of Respect not only of Religion in general but likewise of the Christian Religion and which seems very much to contradict the other he says in the first Book of his Discourses upon Livy Ch. 11. That the greatness and Success of Rome is chiefly to be ascribed to their Piety and Religion and that Rome was more indebted to Numa Pompilius for settling Religion among them than to Romulus the Founder of their State and the Reason he gives is much to our present Purpose For says he without Religion there can be no Military Discipline Religion being the Foundation of good Laws and good Discipline And particularly he commends the Samnites who betook themselves to Religion as their last and best Remedy to make Men couragious nothing being more apt to raise Men's Spirits than Religion But howsoever this Objection be I dare appeal both to Reason and Experience for the Confutation of it 1. To Reason and that as to these two things 1. That the Christian Religion is apt to plant in the Minds of Men Principles of the greatest Resolution and truest Courage It teacheth Men upon the best and most rational Grounds to despise Dangers yea and Death it self the greatest and most formidable Evil in this World and this Principle is likely to inspire Men with the greatest Courage for what need he fear any thing in this World who fears not Death after which there is nothing in this World to be feared And this the Christian Religion does by giving Men the assurance of another Life and a Happiness infinitely greater than any is to be enjoyed in this World And in order to the securing of this Happiness it teacheth Men to be holy and just and to exercise a good Conscience both toward God and Man which is the only way to free a Man from all inward and tormenting Fears of what may happen to him after Death This makes the righteous Man to be as Solomon says bold as a Lion Nothing renders a Man more undaunted as to Death and the Consequences of it than the Peace of his own Mind for a Man not to be conscious to himself of having wilfully displeased him who alone can make us happy or miserable in the other World So that a good Man being secure of the Favour of God may upon that Account reasonably hope for a greater Happiness after Death than other Men Whereas a bad Man if he be sober and have his Senses awakned to a serious Consideration of things cannot but be afraid to die and be extremely anxious and solicitous what will become of him in another World And surely it would make the stoutest Man breathing afraid to venture upon Death when he sees Hell beyond it Possibly there may be some Monsters of Men who may have so far supprest the Sense of Religion and stupified their Consciences as in a good Measure to have conquer'd the fears of Death and of the Consequences of it But this happens but to a very few as the Poet tells us in the Person of an Epicurean Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus omnes inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari There are very few that attain to this Temper and but at some times So that if Vice and Wickedness do generally break the Firmness of Men's Spirits it remains that nothing but Religion can generally give Men Courage against Death And this the Christian Religion does eminently to those who live according to it our blessed Saviour having delivered us from the fear of Death by conquering Death for us and giving us Assurance of the glorious Rewards of another Life 2. Meekness and Patience and Humility and Modesty and such Virtues of Christianity do not in Reason tend to dispirit Men and break their true Courage but only to regulate it and take away the Fierceness and Brutishness of it This we see in Experience that Men of the truest Courage have many times least of Pride and Insolence of Passion and Fierceness Those who are better bred are commonly of more gentle and civil Dispositions But yet they do not therefore want true Courage though they have not the Roughness and Foolhardiness of Men of ruder Breeding So in a true Christian Courage and Greatness of Mind is very consistent with Meekness and Patience and Humility Not that all good Men are very couragious there is much of this in the Natural Tempers of Men which Religion does not quite alter But that which I am concerned to maintain is that Christianity is no hindrance to Mens Courage and that caeteris paribus supposing Men of equal Tempers no Man hath so much Reason to be valiant as he that hath a good Conscience I do not mean a blustering and boisterous and rash Courage but a sober and
swayed by the Interest of their Lusts and Passions as to keep the Ballance of their Judgments even and to suffer nothing but Truth and Reason to weigh with them We generally pretend to be Pilgrims and Strangers in the World and to be all travelling towards Heaven but few of us have the Indifferency of Travellers who are not concern'd to find out the fairest and the easiest Way but to know which is the right Way and to go in it Thus it should be with us our End should always be in our Eye and we should chuse our way only with Respect to that not considering our Inclination so much as our Design nor chusing those Principles for the Government of our Lives which are most agreeable to our present Desires but those which will most certainly bring us to Happiness at the last and that I am sure the Principles of the Christian Religion firmly believed and practised by us will do Let us then be perswaded by all that hath been said upon this Argument to a firm Belief of the Christian Doctrine I hope you are in some Measure satisfied that the Objections against it are not such as ought much to move a wise and considerate Man If we believe that God hath taken so much care of Mankind as to make any certain Revelation of his Will to them and of the way to Eternal Happiness let us next consider whether any Religion in the World can come in Competition with the Christian and with half that Reason pretend to be from God that Christianity is able to produce for it self whether we consider the Things to be believed or the Duties to be practised or the Motives and Arguments to the Practice of those Duties or the Divine Confirmation that is given to the whole And if we be thus perswaded concerning it let us resolve to live up to the Laws and Rules of this Holy Religion Our belief of it signifies nothing without the Fruits and Effects of a Good Life And if this were once resolved upon the Difficulty of believing would cease for the true Reason why Men are unwilling to believe the Truths of the Gospel is because they are loth to put them in Practice Every one that doth Evil hateth the Light The true Ground of most Mens Prejudice against the Christian Doctrine is because they have no mind to obey it and when all is done the great Objection that lies at the bottom of Mens Minds against it is that it is an Enemy to their Lusts and they cannot profess to believe it without condemning themselves for not complying with it in their Lives and Practice SERMON IV. Jesus the Son of God prov'd by his Resurrection ROM I. 4. And declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead ST Paul in the beginning of this Epistle according to his Custom in the rest stiles himself an Apostle particularly call'd and set apart by God for the preaching of the Gospel the main Subject whereof was Jesus Christ our Lord Who as he was according to his Divine Nature the eternal Son of God so according to his Humane Nature he was not only the Son of Man but also the Son of God According to the Flesh that is the Weakness and Frailty and Mortality of his Humane Nature he was the Son of David that is of his Posterity by his Mother who was of that House and Line Made of the seed of David according to the Flesh v. 3. But according to the Spirit of Holiness that is in regard of that Divine Power of the Holy Ghost which was manifested in him especially in his Resurrection from the Dead he was demonstrated to be the Son of God even according to his Humane Nature Declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead All the Difficulty in the Words is concerning the meaning of this Phrase of Christ's being declared to be the Son of God The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which most frequently in Scripture does signifie predestinated decreed determined but it likewise signifies that which is defined declared demonstrated put out of all Doubt and Controversie And in this Sense our Translation renders it As if the Apostle had said that our Lord Jesus Christ tho' according to the Frailty and Weakness of his Humane Nature he was of the Seed of David yet in respect of that Divine Power of the Holy Ghost which manifested it self in him especially in his Resurrection from the Dead he was declared to be the Son of God with Power that is mightily powerfully demonstrated to be so so as to put the matter out of all Dispute and Controversie And therefore following our own Translation I shall handle the Words in this Sense as containing this Proposition in them That the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Dead by the Holy Ghost is a powerful demonstration that he was the Son of God And it will conduce very much to the clearing of this Proposition to consider these Two things First upon what Account Christ as Man is said to be the Son of God Secondly In what Sense he is said to be declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the Dead The Consideration of these Two Particulars will fully clear this Proposition and the Apostles Meaning in it First Upon what Account Christ as Man is said to be the Son of God And for our right Apprehension of this Matter it is very well worthy our Observation that Christ as Man is no where in Scripture said to be the Son of God but with relation to the Divine Power of the Holy Ghost some way or other eminently manifested in him I say the Divine Power of the Holy Ghost as the Lord and Giver of Life as he is call'd in the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church For as Men are naturally said to be the Children of those from whom they receive their Life and Being so Christ as Man is said to be the Son of God because he had Life communicated to him from the Father by an immediate Power of the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost First at his Conception which was by the Holy Ghost The Conception of our Blessed Saviour was an immediate Act of the Power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing as the Scripture expresseth it the blessed Mother of our Lord And then at his Resurrection when after his Death he was by the Operation of the Holy Ghost raised to Life again Now upon these two Accounts only Christ as Man is said in Scripture to be the Son of God He was really so upon Account of his Conception but this was secret and invisible but most eminently and remarkably so upon account of his Resurrection which was open and visible to all 1. Upon Account of his Conception by the Power of the Holy Ghost That upon this Account he was
here speaks of This may be bad enough and the greater Sins any Man who professeth himself a Christian lives in the more notoriously he contradicts his Profession and falls off from Christianity and the nearer he approacheth to the Sin in the Text and the danger there threatned but yet for all that this is not that which the Apostle speaks of 4thly But it is a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion more especially to the Heathen Idolatry the renouncing of the true God and our Saviour and the Worship of false Gods which the Apostle here speaks of And this will be evident if we consider the occasion and main scope of this Epistle And that was to confirm the Jews who had newly embraced Christianity in the profession of that Religion and to keep them from apostatizing from it because of the Persecutions and Sufferings which attended that Profession It pleased God when Christianity first appeared in the World to permit the Powers of the World to raise a vehement Persecution against the Professors of it by reason whereof many out of base fear did apostatize from it and in testimony of their renouncing it were forced to Sacrifice to the Heathen Idols This is that which the Apostle endeavours to caution and arm Men against throughout this Epistle Ch. 2. 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should fall away And Chap. 3. 12. it is call'd an evil heart of Vnbelief to apostatize from the living God Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of Vnbelief to depart from the living God that is to fall from the Worship of the true God to Idolatry And Chap. 10. 23. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of our selves together that is not declining the Assemblies of Christians for fear of Persecution and v. 26. it is call'd a sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth and v. 39. a drawing back to Perdition And Ch. 12. it is call'd by way of Eminency the Sin which so easily besets the Sin which in those times of Persecution they were so liable to And I doubt not but this is the Sin which St. John speaks of and calls the Sin unto Death and does not require Christians to pray for those who fall into it with any assurance that it shall be forgiven 1 John 5. 16. There is a Sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it All Vnrighteousness is Sin and there is a Sin not unto Death We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not that is does not fall into the Sin of Apostacy from Christianity to that of the Heathen Idolatry But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not And then v. 21. he adds this Caution Little Chrildren keep your selves from Idols Which sufficiently shews what that Sin was which he was speaking of before So that this being the Sin which the Apostle design'd to caution Men against throughout this Epistle it is very evident what falling away it is he here speaks of namely a total Apostacy from Christianity and more especially to the Heathen Idolatry 5thly We will consider the Reason of the difficulty of Recovering such Persons by Repentance If they fall away it is extremely difficult to renew them again to Repentance and that for these three Reasons 1. Because of the greatness and heinousness of the Sin 2. Because it renounceth and casteth off the means of Recovery 3. Because it is so high a Provocation of God to withdraw his Grace from such Persons 1. Because of the greatness and heinousness of the Sin both in the Nature and Circumstances of it It is a downright Apostacy from God a direct renouncing of him and rejecting of his Truth after Men have owned it and been inwardly perswaded and convinced of it and so the Apostle expresseth it in this Epistle calling it an Apostacy from the living God a sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth It hath all the Aggravations that a Crime is capable of being against the clearest Light and Knowledge and the fullest Conviction of a Man's Mind concerning the Truth and Goodness of that Religion which he renounceth against the greatest Obligations laid upon him by the Grace and Mercy of the Gospel after the free Pardon of Sins and the Grace and Assistance of God's Spirit received and a miraculous Power conferr'd for a Witness and Testimony to themselves of the undoubted Truth of that Religion which they have embraced It is the highest Affront to the Son of God who revealed this Religion to the World and sealed it with his Blood and in effect an expression of as high Malice to the Author of this Religion as the Jews were guilty of when they put him to so cruel and shameful a Death Now a Sin of this heinous Nature is apt naturally either to plunge Men into hardness and impenitency or to drive them to despair and either of these Conditions are effectual Barrs to their Recovery And both these Dangers the Apostle warns Men of in this Epistle Ch. 3. 12 13. Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil Heart of Vnbelief to apostatize from the living God but exhort one another daily whilst it is call'd to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin Or else the Reflection upon so horrid a Crime is apt to drive a Man to Despair as it did Judas who after he had betray'd the Son of God could find no ease but by making away himself the guilt of so great a Sin fill'd him with such Terrors that he was glad to flye to Death for Refuge and to lay violent hands upon himself And this likewise was the Case of Spira whose Apostacy though it was not total from the Christian Religion but only from the Purity and Reformation of it brought him to that desperation of Mind which was a kind of Hell upon Earth And of this danger likewise the Apostle admonisheth Ch. 12. 15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God or as it is in the Margine lest any Man fall from the Grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and then he compares the Case of such Persons to Esau who when he had renounced his Birth-right to which the Blessing was annex'd was afterwards when he would have inherited the Blessing rejected and found no place of Repentance though he sought it carefully with Tears 2dly Those who are guilty of this Sin do renounce and cast off the means of their Recovery and therefore it becomes extreamly difficult to renew them again to Repentance They reject the Gospel which affords the best Arguments and Means to Repentance and renounce the only way of Pardon and Forgiveness And certainly that Man is in
Obedience and good Works Chap. 3. 8. This is is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good Works All that now remains is to make some useful Inferences from what hath been said upon this Argument and so to conclude this Discourse First of all To convince us that an empty Profession of the Christian Religion how specious and glorious soever it be if it be destitute of the fruits of Obedience and a holy Life will by no means avail to bring us to Heaven No profession of Faith in Christ no Subjection to him tho' we be baptized in his Name and list our selves in the number of his Disciples and Followers tho' we have made a constant Profession of all the Articles of the Christian Faith and have performed all the external parts and duties of Religion have gone constantly to Church and frequented the Service of God and have joined in publick Prayers to God with great appearance of Devotion and have heard his Word with great Reverence and Attention and received the blessed Sacrament with all imaginable expressions of Love and Gratitude to our blessed Redeemer nay tho' we had heard our blessed Saviour himself teach in our streets and had eaten and drunken in his presence yet if all this while we have not done the will of God and obeyed his Laws none of all these will things signifie any thing to bring us to Heaven and make us Partakers of that Salvation which he hath purchased for Mankind But we cannot plead so much for our selves as those did of whom our Saviour speaks None of us shall be able to alledge for our selves at the great day that we had prophesyed in his Name and in his name had cast out Devils and in his name had done many wonderful Works and yet if we could alledge all this it would do us no good All that such can say for themselves is that they have call'd him Lord Lord that is they have made profession of his Religion and been call'd by his Name that they have paid an outward Honour and Respect to him and declared a mighty Love and Affection for him but they have not done his will but have hated to be reformed and have cast his Commandments behind their backs they have only born the Leaves of an outward Profession but have brought forth no fruit unto Holiness and therefore can have no reasonable expectation that their End should be everlasting Life So that when these Men shall appear before the great and terrible Judge of the World they shall have nothing to say but those vain Words Lord Lord to which our Saviour will answer in that Day why call ye me Lord Lord when ye would not do the things which I said Notwithstanding all your profession of Faith in me and subjection to me ye have been workers of Iniquity therefore depart from me I know ye not whence ye are Secondly The Consideration of what hath been said should stir us up to a thankful acknowledgment of what the Author of our Salvation hath done for us and there is great reason for thankfulness whether we consider the greatness of the Benefit conferred upon us or the way and manner in which it was purchased or the easie and reasonable terms upon which it may be obtained 1st If we consider the greatness of the Benefit conferred upon us and that is Salvation eternal Salvation which comprehends in it all the Blessings and Benefits of the Gospel both the Means and the End our Happiness and the Way to it by saving us from our Sins from the guilt of them by our Justification in the Blood of Christ and from the Power and Dominion of them by the sanctifying grace and virtue of the Holy Ghost And it comprehends the End our Deliverance from Hell and the Wrath to come and the bestowing of Happiness upon us a great and lasting Happiness great as our Wishes and immortal as our Souls all this is comprehended in eternal Salvation 2dly If we consider the way and manner in which this great Benefit was purchased and procured for us in a way of infinite Kindness and Condescension in the lowest Humiliation and the unparallel'd Sufferings of the Son of God for never was there any sorrow like unto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce Anger in his taking upon him the form of a Servant and the person of a Sinner and his becoming obedient to death even the death of the Cross which was the Punishment of the vilest Slaves and the most hainous Malefactors The Son of God came down from Heaven from the highest pitch of Glory and Happiness into this lower World this Vale of Tears and sink of Sin and Sorrow and was contented himself to suffer to save us from eternal Ruin to be the most despicable and the most miserable Man that ever was that he might raise us to Glory and Honour and advance us to a state of the greatest Happiness that Humane Nature is capable of 3dly If we consider the easie and reasonable Terms upon which we may be made Partakers of this unspeakable Benefit and that is by a constant and sincere and universal Obedience to the Laws of God which supposeth Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as the Root and Principle of all the Virtues of a good Life that is by doing that which best becomes us and which is most agreeable to the original Frame of our Nature and to the dictates of our Reason and which setting aside the consideration of the Reward is really best for our present Benefit and Advantage our Comfort and Happiness even in this World for God in giving Laws to us hath imposed nothing upon us but what in all reason ought to have been our choice if he had not imposed it nothing but what is for our good and is in its own nature necessary to make us capable of that Happiness which he hath promised to us And what can be more gracious than to make one Benefit the Condition of a greater Than to promise to make us happy for ever if we will but do that which upon all accounts is really best and most for our Advantage in this present Life Thirdly Here is abundant Encouragement given to our Obedience we have the divine Assistance promised to us to enable us to the performance of the most difficult parts of our Duty we have the holy Spirit of God to help our Infirmities to excite us to that which is good and to help and strengthen us in the doing of it For our further Encouragement we are assured of the divine Acceptance in case of our sincere Obedience notwithstanding the manifold Failings and Imperfections of it for the sake of the perfect Righteousness and Obedience and the meritorious Sufferings of our blessed Saviour And tho' when we have done all that we can do
unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth But see the strange power of Prejudice to blind the Eyes even of good Men in the plainest matters The Disciples of our Saviour for all they had entertained a new Religion yet they retained the old Pride and Prejudice of their Nation against the rest of the World as if none but themselves had any share in the favour of God or were to have any part in the Salvation of the Messias Our Saviour did so far consider this Prejudice of theirs that he never in his life time acquainted them with this matter so as to make them fully to understand it because they were not able to bear it And it is very probable that this is one of those things which our Saviour meant John 16. 12 13. I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth That is he should lead them into the knowledge of those Truths of which they were not then capable And tho' our Saviour after his Resurrection seems to have declared this sufficiently to them yet by their practice after his Ascension it appears that they understood all this only of the Jews namely that they were to preach the Gospel first to the Jews that were at Jerusalem and in Judea and then to those that were dispersed in other Nations for 't is clear from the History of their first Preaching recorded in the Acts that they preached to none but to the Jews and the Proselytes of the Jewish Religion So strong was their Prejudice that they had not the least suspicion that this Blessing of the Gospel was intended for the Heathen World nor were they convinced to the contrary 'till St. Peter had a special Vision and Revelation to this purpose and the holy Ghost came upon the Gentiles in miraculous gifts as he had done before upon the Jews that were converted to Christianity And thus the Spirit of God led them into this Truth and then they understood this Command of our Saviour's in a larger Sense And to this St. Peter plainly refers Acts 10. 42. where he tells us how that Christ after his Resurrection appeared to them and commanded them to preach unto the People So likewise do Paul and Barnabas Acts 13. 46. where they speak thus to the Jews It was necessary that the word should first he preached to you but seeing you put it from you lo we turn to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord commanded us Now he no where commanded this but in this Commission which he gave them before his Ascension Secondly You have here a particular declaration how they were to manage this work of making Disciples to the Christian Religion 1. By baptizing them into the Christian Faith 2. By instructing them in the Precepts and Practices of a Christian Life 1. By baptizing them into the Christian Faith which is here call'd baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Baptism is a solemn Rite appointed by our Saviour for the initiating of Persons into the Christian Religion But it was a Ceremony in use before both among the Jews and Gentiles The Heathen observed it at the initiating Persons into their Religious Mysteries and the Jews when they admitted Proselytes to their Religion at which time the Males as Maimonides tells us were both circumcised and baptized the Women were only baptized One Circumstance of the Baptism of grown Persons was that standing in the Water up to the Neck they recited several Precepts of the Law And as the Jewish Writers further tell us this Ceremony did not only belong to them that were of grown Years but to the Children of Proselytes if it were desired upon condition that when they came to Years they should continue in that Religion Now tho' this was a religious Ceremony used both by Jews and Gentiles and without any Divine Institution that we know of our blessed Saviour who in none of his Institutions seems to have favour'd unnecessary Innovations was so far from the superstition of declining it upon this account that it had been in religious use both among Jews and Gentiles that he seems the rather to have chosen it for that very reason For seeing it was a common Rite of all Religions and in it self very significant of that Purity which is the great design of all Religion it was the more likely to find the easier Acceptance and to be most suitable to that which he intended to be the universal Religion of the World As for the form of Baptism into the name of the Father of the Son and of the holy Ghost it plainly refers to that short Creed or Profession of Faith which was required of those that were to be baptized answerable to the reciting of the Precepts of the Law at the baptizing of Proselytes among the Jews now the Articles of this Creed were reduced to these three Heads of the Father Son and holy Ghost and contains what was necessary to be believed concerning each of these And this probably is that which the Apostle calls the Doctrine of Baptism Heb. 6. 2. viz. a short Summary of the Christian Faith the Profession whereof was to be made at Baptism of which the most ancient Fathers make so frequent mention calling it the rule of Faith It was a great while indeed before Christians tied themselves strictly to that very form of Words which we now call the Apostles Creed but the Sense was the same tho' every one exprest it in his own Words nay the same Father reciting it upon several Occasions does not confine himself to the very same Expressions A plain indication that they were not then strictly bound up to any form of Words but retaining the sense and substance of the Articles every one exprest them as he pleased So that to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost is to perform this Rite or Sacrament by the Authority of and with special Relation to the three Persons of the blessed Trinity Father Son and holy Ghost as the chief Objects of the Christian Faith whereof solemn Profession was then made So that upon this form in Baptism appointed by our Saviour compared with what is elsewhere said in Scripture concerning the Divinity of the Son and the holy Ghost is principally founded the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity I mean in that simplicity in which the Scripture hath delivered it and not as it hath been since confounded and entangled in the Cobwebs and Niceties of the Schools The Scripture indeed no where calls them Persons but speaks of them as we do of several Persons and therefore that word is not unfitly used to express the difference between them or at least we do not know a fitter word for that purpose By baptizing then
industrious than in truth they are they are rather Hypocrites the other way and would conceal their Covetousness and Ambition and not seem to aspire after Riches and Honours so much as indeed they do But in the pursuit of better things how cold and remiss are we With what a careless indifference do most Men mind their Souls How negligent and formal and many times Hypocritical are they in the Service of God and the Exercise of Religion With what a pitiful Courage and with what faint Spirits do they resist Sin and encounter the Temptations of it and how often and how easily are they foil'd and baffl'd by them 4thly The Men of the World are more invincibly constant and pertinacious in the pursuit of Earthly things they are not to be birbed or taken off by favour or fair Words not to be daunted by Difficulties or dasht out of Countenance by the Frowns and Reproaches of Men. Offer an Ambitious Man any thing short of his End and Aim to take him off from the prosecution of it he scorns the motion and thinks you go about to fool him out of his Interest Bait a Covetous Man with Temptations of Pleasure to get his Money from him how generously will this mean spirited Man trample upon Pleasure when it would tempt him from his Design of being rich Difficulties do not daunt them but whet their Courage and quicken their Endeavours and set a keener edge upon their Spirits Give an Ambitious Man almost a demonstration of the impossibility of his attempt contrà audentior ibit he will go on so much the more boldly and resolutely In the ways of Religion Men are apt to be discouraged and put out of Countenance by Contempt and Reproach but a Covetous Man is not to be jeer'd and flurted out of his Money and Estate he can be content to be Rich and give leave to those that are not so to laugh at him Populus mihi sibilat at mihi plaudo The Rich Worldling can hug himself and his Bags when the World hisseth at him he can bear to be hated and persecuted and have all manner of Evil spoke against him for Money sake And in the pursuit of these Designs Men will with great Resolution encounter Enmity and Opposition and endure great Sufferings and Persecution How many have been Martyrs to their Lusts and have Sacrificed their Ease and Health and even their Lives in the prosecution of their Ambitious and Covetous and Voluptuous Designs But on the other hand how easily are Men check'd and diverted from a good Course by the Temptations and Advantages of this World How many are cold in their Zeal for Religion by the Favour and Friendship of this World And as their Goods and Estate have grown greater their Devotion hath grown less How apt are they to be terrified at the apprehension of Danger and Sufferings and by their fearful Imagination to make them greater than they are and with the People of Israel to be dishearten'd from all further Attemps of entring into the land of promise because it is full of Giants and the Sons of Anak How easily was Peter frighted into the denyal of his Master And when our Saviour was apprehended how did his Disciples forsake him and flie from him And tho' they were constant afterwards to the Death yet it was a great while before they were perfectly armed and steel'd against the fear of Suffering 5thly The men of the World will make all things stoop and submit to that which is their great End and Design their End rules them and governs them and gives Law to all their Actions they will make an Advantage of every thing and if it will not serve their End one way or other they will have nothing to do with it If an ambitious Man seek Wealth it is but in order to his Design to purchase Friends and strengthen his Interest and make his rising the easier he will lay his whole Estate at the stake rather than miss of his End The covetous Man will quit his Pleasure when it lies cross to his Interest if he have any expensive Lust and chargeable Vice he will turn it off or exchange it for some more frugal and profitable Sin But in the affairs of Religion and the concernments of our Souls how frequently do Men act without a due Regard and consideration of their great End and instead of making other things submit to it they often bow and bend it to their inferiour Interests They make Heaven stoop to Earth and Religion to serve a worldly Design and the glory of God to give way to gain and the great Concernments of their Souls and their eternal Salvation to their Temporal Profit and Advantage The Men of the World are generally true to their great End and pay it that Respect which is due to it and will suffer nothing to take place of it in their Esteem and Affection and if Men were as wise for their Souls and for another World they would bring all things to their great End and make all the Concernments of this Temporal Life to yield and give way to the great Concernments of their Eternal Happiness I proceed in the Second Place to give some Account of this whence it comes to pass that the Children of this World are wiser in their generation than the Children of Light And this I shall do by considering what Advantages the Children of this World have as to the Affairs of this World above what good Men have as to the Concernments of another World I shall instance in four or five of the chief 1st The Things of this World are present and sensible and because of their nearness to us are apt to strike powerfully upon our Senses and to affect us mightily to excite our Desires after them and to work strongly upon our Hopes and Fears but the things of another World being remote from us are lessen'd by their distance and consequently are not apt to work so powerfully upon our Minds they are invisible to us and only discerned by Faith which is a more obscure and less certain Perception of things than we have of those Objects which are presented to our bodily Eyes The things which God hath prepared for them that love him the Glory and Happiness of the next World are things which Eye hath not seen nor ear heard The Children of Light do not see God as the Children of this World see Mammon 2dly The sensual Delights and Enjoyments of this World are better suited and more agreable to the corrupt and degenerate Nature of Men than Spiritual and heavenly things are to those that are regenerate In this lapsed and degenerate state of Mankind Appetite and Sense are apt to prevail above Reason and therefore those things which are most delightful to Sense we savour and mind and love to busie our selves about them because they are most suitable to the animal life which is the governing Principle of corrupt Nature And the