Labourers so distant from what they both looked for is what the Words now read take express notice of When they came who were hired about the Eleventh hour c. The Scope and End of this whole Similitude seems to be Two-fold viz. To check the Vanity of Some who may value themselves upon having been long in the Vineyard and To encourage and sustain Others who might entertain but feeble hopes of Recompence from their being called in at the latter end of the Day Such Passages therefore as strictly answer this End are the substantial and necessary parts of the Parable and ought to be strictly attended to The rest we need not be very nice about but may consider them only as Circumstances inserted to make the Resemblance more beautiful and moving The Applications of this Parable must likewise be suited to the main design of it and the Doctrines deduced from thence such as carry an exact agreement with and are the natural Result of that Design Of these the Principal seem to lye within the compass of my Text which propounds to our Consideration the Justice and the Mercy of God in rewarding his Servants under the Gospel-Covenant Mercy to Them who receive the Penny notwithstanding they were hired but at the Eleventh hour Yet this without any derogation to his Justice towards them who receive no more notwithstanding they came into the Work sooner These are the Points I have undertaken to treat of from the Words And in order hereunto it will only be needful to premise that by The Kingdom of Heaven I understand the dealings of God with Mankind under the Christian Dispensation Calling us to the Faith and Obedience of his Blessed Son who rules in our hearts and administers the Kingdom of Grace here and rewarding that Faith and Obedience in Heaven where he shall reign in the Kingdom of Glory hereafter So that by the Wages or the Penny is chiefly meant that Eternal Happiness awarded to Good men in the next World Not excluding but implying in Subordination to that future Recompence all the Benefits and Privileges of the Christian Religion which lead on toward that Triumphant State while as yet the Church is Militant in this World There are but Two sorts of Application necessary to be taken notice of because all the rest which Learned men have thought upon will I think either be comprehended under these or may by Parity of Reason be deduced from them The First is That which supposes this Parable to proceed as in truth most of our Saviour's Parables do upon a Comparison between the Jews and Gentiles The Second brings it home to particular Christians and accommodates this whole Matter to the Age of Man and the several Stages of our Lives Now to render my present Discourse as full and satisfactory as I am able I shall take in both these Senses and will endeavour to shew that the giving to every Labourer a Penny that is making the Gentiles equal with the Jews and late Penitents equal with more early Converts as this Parable when duly observed represents the matter to us that these Proceedings I say are neither of them any just Reflection upon the Righteousness of God and that his Bounty and Mercy are eminently magnified in Both. I. I begin with his Mercy Some by the several Hours mentioned here have understood the several Ages of the World So as that Hiring Labourers early in the Morning should allude to the Revelations God made of himself to the Fathers before the Floud The Third hour to his calling Abraham and the Patriarchs out of the Corruptions of Idolatry The Sixth to the Institution of the Law promulged by Moses The Ninth to the Prophetick Age. And the Eleventh or Close of the Day to That dispensation which is the Last men are ever to expect the Gospel of Christ But these are Niceties upon which no great Stress need be laid For all our Saviour seems to have intended by distinguishing the time after this manner is only to express himself according to the Custom of the Jews Who began to reckon their Day from Sun-rising and parcell'd out the Whole into Four Watches or Divisions At the beginning of Three of these and once more at the last hour the Lord of the Vineyard renews his Call and takes in as many as were ready and willing to come By This no doubt we are given to understand that God has done all that became him toward men's Conversion He called when he was under no obligation He sought Them who enquired not after Him He did not only go out early to seek them but he repeated his Invitations And though the Excuse made at the Sixth Verse is not expresly refuted nor were they who urged it rejected yet we cannot certainly infer that this was admitted as a just and sufficient Plea They of the Eleventh hour were indeed idle because no man had hired them but still might it not be their own fault that they were not hired sooner For the same Master went out to seek them before He came to the Marker the place whither Labourers usually resorted and where they ought to have been ready to offer themselves and as many as were then present and did accept his Service he kindly retained So that this Passage seems to stop the mouths not of Jews only but of all pretended Christians too who complain that they want means and opportunities for becoming the men they ought to be For this delay is very often too manifestly their own Fault Opportunities have been put into their hands and let slip through their own Sloth and Negligence The Lord of the Vineyard sought them sooner but they were not found And in this case the Blame will return at last upon their own want of Care and of more early Preparation For had those who came in at the Sixth and Ninth and Eleventh hours been there at the First and Third we have reason to think they had been hired then At least they had done their parts But nothing less than being up at the earliest hour can acquit them from the Imputation of Idle and Sluggish Servants Not but that God does herein differ greatly from any Master of a Vineyard that his Bounty and Condescensions are infinitely greater and peculiar to Himself alone Isa XXX 18. He waits over men's Souls continually to do them good He does not only call but he disposes our minds to hearken to and comply with that Call and in his merciful Providence times his Calls so that they shall be repeated at Seasons most favourable and when we are best prepared to obey them These are the Methods of his abundant Grace and as such they are to be received For as those Labourers could have no just complaint against the Housholder supposing him to have gone but once into the Market because it was their duty to have been ready then but it was great kindness to employ them afterwards So when Almighty God hath
Matter which it no way concern'd him to know And an Intimation withal that the great and only thing he ought to be solicitous for was to prepare himself for the Discharge of his own Duty And as Providence intended to liken him to his Master in the manner of his Death so his Thoughts should be employed in taking good heed to be like him in a meek and patient and constant suffering of the Tryals appointed for himself Now the Rebuke applyed here to one particular Instance I shall so treat of at this time as to render it an Admonition of general Use and Benefit For such no doubt it may prove to every Christian if we from this Example take the hint of forbearing to indulge all needless Curiosities in Matters of Religion And bending our Studies to those Objects which have a direct Tendency to Practice and a good Life lay aside such aiery Speculations as deservedly fall under this Reprehension of our Saviour If it be thus or thus what is that to thee Now I would fain hope That even in this busy and pretending Age of Ours men might be prevailed upon thus far to consult their own Ease and Benefit would they but seriously consider these Three Arguments 1. First That Many if not Most of the abstruse Points of Religion are beset with such Difficulties as they cannot receive any positive and full Satisfaction in 2. Secondly That could they go to the bottom of all these Difficulties yet such Knowledge would be of little or no real use to them 3. Thirdly That the employing their Thoughts in such intricate Questions is not only fruitless but dangerous and many times of very fatal Consequence to themselves to others and to Religion in general This I shall endeavour to convince you is ordinarily the Case of those nice and curious Persons who spend their time and pains in the speculative Parts of Religion And not only so but I shall urge withal that the Study of the Practical and necessary Duties is the very Reverse of all this That these are very possible to be attain'd exceeding profitable when understood and that all the Hours and Industry laid out upon them turn to the truest the best account both for our Selves and for the Publick I. My first Discouragement against curious Speculations in Matters of Religion consists in this that they are entangled with such Difficulties as men cannot receive any positive and particular Satisfaction in And would not one choose of the two rather to sit still and be idle than to travel through Briars and Thorns and after infinite Toil and Trouble give out at last heartily tired with one's Journey but still as far from the End as when he first set out And yet this is the Consequence of those sublime Notions and subtle Distinctions which have taken up the Thoughts and employed the Pens and swell'd the Volumes of a great many Learned Men in almost all but especially in these later Ages of the Church The Mysterious Union of the Blessed Trinity and that of two Natures in the Person of our Saviour Christ The Secrets of Providence and the Methods of Divine Grace the State of Souls departed and the particular Nature and Quality of those Rewards and Punishments which await men in the next World These and abundance more such Points there are in which the Scriptures have given us some general Insight as much as is necessary for our present purpose But when men not content to be wise according to that which is written plunge themselves into Controversies about the particular Modes and Circumstances of them the farther they wade the more they are carried out of their Depth And how should it be otherwise indeed For when all is said and done these are Subjects not of a size with us our own Understanding is not qualified to fathom them The Light from above is our only safe Guide in these matters So far then as this leads us we may go on boldly and stand upon sure and firm ground but where that Light forsakes us all the Discoveries pretended to beyond must needs be very fanciful and precarious and weak So full of Delusion are those very profound Contemplations which lose the Mind in matters too high for it so liable to that Reproach of St. Paul * Rom. I. 21 22. though in another Signification of the words for These men too becoming vain in their Imaginations their foolish heart is darkned and professing themselves to be wise they become Fools But now the most important part of Religion is of a quite different kind For those things which the Gospel commands to be believed or done in order to Salvation lie level to every ordinary Capacity Thus for Belief It asks no mighty Depth for a Man to convice himself that what the God of Truth hath revealed ought readily to be embraced that He who was pleased to declare his Will to Mankind did certainly do it with a design to be understood that therefore we ought to take his word in its plain and natural Sense except where there appears manifest Reason to the contrary That its containing some things which we cannot perfectly comprehend especially when treating of God's own Nature and Operations is no good Argument of any Necessity to take him otherwise Because our Reason tells us that God is infinite and yet it tells us at the same time too that infinite he could not be if a finite Mind could fully comprehend him In a word it requires Modesty and Integrity rather than Acuteness and Skill to be satisfied that the true and proper Foundation of Faith is not the Quality or Perspicuity of the things revealed but the Authority and Testimony of the Party revealing These are matters that lie sufficiently fair and open to every considerate Person and They who come to the Scriptures with these Impressions will find no difficulty in assenting to what they meet with there nor any occasion for flying to wretched Criticisms as an Expedient for bringing down the loftiest Doctrines to their own narrow Apprehensions So again for the Moral Precepts of Piety and Justice and Charity and Purity and Meekness and Patience and Perseverance and the like These are so suited to our natural Notions of God and Goodness that if a Man hath but once thrown off the dead weight of his own Prejudices and corrupt Inclinations they cannot but cast the Scale against the contrary Vices Nor must I upon this occasion forget to put put you in mind that the Practice of Religion is a mighty Help to our more compleat Knowledge of it It is so as it engages our diligent Attention and fervent Love to that which is good It is so as it secures Probity of Mind a teachable and impartial Disposition It is so as it entitles us to the Blesling of God upon our Studies Whose Goodness will never suffer those who serve and seek him with their whole Heart to continue in dangerous and fatal Mistakes
So manifest is the Advantage of applying our selves to this part of Religion in which a Christian 's proper Business lies So possible so certain that all who do so shall effectually improve by their Endeavours So unalterable that Promise of him who came to direct us in the right Way to Happiness that * John VII 17. If any man will do his will he shall not fail to know of the Doctrine whether it be of God II. Secondly My next Argument against indulging nice and curious Speculations of this kind is taken from the Vnprofitableness of them Our Lord had he so pleased could have informed St. Peter what should become of this beloved Disciple But he reproves his enquiring into it because no Benefit was to be had by such Information For so we may very reasonably interpret that Passage If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee How wilt thou be the better if I should tell thee what this Man shall do What Furtherance can it prove to thy Preparation for following Me to know whether he shall be required to tread in the same Steps And I cannot but think it would puzzle the wisest Man alive to give a satisfactory account what ends of Consequence to our Everlasting Happiness would be served by being let into a clear and distinct View of all those dark mysterious Truths which are now in so great a degree lockt up from us or how Religion would upon those Terms be in a better State than now it is Let us put the Case in one or two of these Instances already mentioned that the Trinity of Persons in Unity of the Divine Essence and the Incarnation of the Son of God were fully understood by us I desire to know now whether this would at all promote our Zeal in the Love and Service of God or what one Argument we should then have which at present we have not for being better Men or more thankful Christians The true ground of our Reverence and Fear our Love and Trust in God is a due Sense of his Holiness and Wisdom his Power and Justice and Goodness And what dependence I beseech you have our Notions of these Attributes upon our knowing how God is Three in One The proper Motives to a Christian Life are Gratitude and a just Regard to the adorable Mystery of Man's Redemption the Mercy of having our Sins pardoned and satisfied for the Rewards proposed to our sincere Obedience the terrible Punishments of obstinate Offenders and the little Reason we have to flatter our selves with hopes of escaping Heb. II. 3. if we neglect so great Salvation Now these Affections spring from our considering the infinite Kindness and Condescention of the Son of God who humbled himself to do so many wonderful and to suffer so many bitter things for our Sakes But the Mercy of his doing and enduring these things in Nature will not touch our hearts one whit the more tenderly for discerning how this Nature of Ours was united to his Divine Nature It is the thing 's being done and not the particular manner by which it was done that must have this Effect upon us So likewise for the rest The Influences of Divine Grace would not be more prevalent nor is Their Condemnation who stifle and resist them less deserved because we see not all the Springs by which the Holy Spirit moves and bends us It is sufficient that he acts as he does to render both our Obedience possible and our Obstinacy inexcusable The Considerations fitted to contain men in their Duty are the Greatness and the Certainty of the Punishments threatned to wicked Livers As on the other hand the powerful Incentives to doing and suffering with Constancy what God appoints us to are the Excellence and the Assurance of a future Recompence But if the being warn'd in so solemn and express a manner as we are that Torments everlasting and extream remain for the Ungodly will not restrain us from being such our selves neither would we be restrained though God had told us whether that Torment be material Fire or whether it be such as for the exquisite and insupportable Anguish of it was thought convenient to be represented to us by Everlasting Burnings If we will not be perswaded to live and die unto the Lord by these supporting Reflections that Rom. VIII 18. the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us and that it neither hath entred nor can enter 1 Cor. II. 9. into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him What additional Force could these Reflections possibly receive by our being acquainted wherein each Excellence of that Glory and these Joys consists For still the same Temptations to Sin and Infidelity would continue And They who refuse to take God's Word for the Greatness and the Certainty of future Rewards and Punishments which are the only Qualifications necessary to quicken us in our Duty would not have wanted any one Objection which they now pretend to urge against whatever God should have revealed concerning the Nature and Quality of those Rewards and Punishments If men shall be Happy or Miserable for ever and as Happy or Miserable as they are capable of being it matters not much after what manner they shall be so That they shall be so at all depends upon the Will of God that they believe they shall be so is from an Assent to the Word of God declaring that Will. And if the Revelation of God find no Credit as to these things in general there is but little appearance that it would have gained more Credit had he described the whole Process and descended to every Circumstance of these things For the Truth and Declaration of God being the only Motive of Assent common to both these Cases it unavoidably follows that there would be the same reason for witholding it in the One that there can possibly be in the Other Nay shall I carry this Point a little higher I may do it and dare appeal to all that hear me whether in the Judgment of every considerate and unprejudic'd Christian it be not for the Dignity and Advantage of Religion that some Articles of it exceed the largest humane Comprehension Whether we should entertain the same awful Impressions of the Divine Majesty if the Perfections of his Nature and Operations were such only as we could see to the end of and in every respect account to our Reason for Whether it do not raise the value of Man's Redemption to have been brought about by Miracles of Mercy not only without Example but even beyond our present Understanding Had all these things been less we should have known them better but so much as you abate of them to bring them nearer to Mens Capacity so much you weaken the Power of them upon their Affections And the influencing mens Affections is
the direct and great Business of Religion For These are the Springs that move us and according as They are set higher or lower we shall be sure to act with more or less Vigour It is therefore in Reality the very Commendation and Excellence of these Doctrines that they are so far above us because the height and greatness of the Subject is more serviceable to the ends they were designed to promote than their being obvious and intelligible throughout could possibly have rendred them We should esteem it an instance of the Divine Goodness no less than Wisdom so to have tempered his Revelations that we want no Knowledge fit to engage our Piety and holy Wonder and yet we have not so much as should destroy our Humility and Reverence In a Word both the Light which is allowed us and that which is denied us if a right use be made of both do mutually conspire to carry on the Advantage of Religion And we have reason to believe it could not have been better nay probably not near so well if either less had been discovered to us or less concealed from us So small Improvement is there to be had from bold and busy Intrusions into those Secrets which God hath like the Ark of old forbidden to be seen But now a diligent Attendance upon the plain Preceptive parts of the Christian Institution This brings in vast and present Profit such as grows every day upon our hands and approves it self to all the World by its visible and excellent Effects For This hath a direct Influence upon the Dispositions and Manners of Men corrects depraved Nature and cultivates those Virtues which contribute to our own Perfection and the Good of Others This puts us upon making our Light shine before men by filling the Post Providence hath placed us in It secures a diligent and faithful Regard to those several Capacities and Relations in the satisfying whereof not only the Peace and Happiness of the World but the good Pleasure of God and the Duty of each Person 's particular Calling consists And God who is a Lover of men thinks himself much better served when we become useful and publick Blessings to the Age we live in than by the most refined Knowledge and rapturous Contemplation These at the best are but Personal and solitary Excellencies and contribute little or nothing to the Common good From hence I presume it is that St. Paul prefers * Cor. XIII 1. Charity before the Gift of Prophecy and understanding all mysteries and all knowledge assuring us at the same time That these are glittering Advantages which dazzle our Eyes with a false Light as oft as Christian Perfection is placed in them for that it is very possible for a Man even supposing him to attain to all these yet in the Esteem of God still to be nothing Such Enforcement hath even the Authority of an Apostle given to my Second which yet is not the greatest Discouragement I have to urge For III. Thirdly Such Speculations are not only useless but extreamly dangerous too and many times of very dreadful Consequence To the Persons employed in them To others and To Religion in general 1. The Persons themselves suffer by them in being taken off from more useful and important Subjects For the Difficulty of these devours their time engrosses their Thoughts and leaves them neither Leisure nor Inclination for attending to the plainer and weightier Matters of the Law The Knowledge of our Duty 't is true may be brought within a small compass but the Practice of it requires all our time and pains Passions and Lusts are not subdued in an Instant and the Attacks of Temptation come on so thick that our constant Watchfulness and utmost Care is no more than needs They who employ themselves as they ought upon these Occasions will find that Providence hath cut them out Work enough for their whole Lives And were there no other Inconvenience attending these nice Speculations yet this alone is too much in all Conscience that they rob those men of a great portion of their time who have no time to spare The Knowledge of these will make no Article in our last great Account and is what we may be very good Christians without but the practical Precepts are expresly given us in charge and will be sure to be strictly reckon'd for These are so many Branches of the One thing necessary and all is lost if we suffer any thing else to come in between and take That away from us But further yet Such Curiosity does not only divert our more vigorous pursuit after Vertue but it tinctures the Mind very strongly with several sorts of Vice Hence the Apostle takes notice of a * 1 Cor. VIII 2. Knowledge which puffeth up and sets this in Opposition to Charity which edifieth And in another place he describes the Consequence of not being content to rest in the plain wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ by saying * 1 Tim. VI. 45. That such Persons are proud knowing nothing but doting about Questions and Strifes of words whereof cometh Envy Strife Railings Evil Surmisings Perverse Disputings of men of corrupt minds And this is likewise but too visible that such men grow immoderately sond of some peculiar Notions by which they affect to distinguish themselves This engages them in Controversy which sowrs their Temper and sharpens their Pens and makes the Contention as hot and fierce as if in these Quarrels too that false Punctilio of fantastick Honour were to take place never to acknowledge Satisfaction till they have drawn Blood of their Adversary All which as it is of infinite ill Consequence to themselves so is it 2. Secondly Matter of mighty Scandal to Others For Standers-by though they ought not to do so yet if they be ill disposed they will be but too apt to cover their own Irreligion with the pretence of vehement Disputes and indecent Heats about Religion to fall into Scepticism and universal doubting when they find men so eager in Differences wherein if others cannot form a clear Judgment it is not to be wondred at And such as all People are never like to be brought to one mind about while the World endures Nay even Good men cannot but lament and be displeased to see such intemperate Admirers of Singularity and Distinctions lose Charity and Moderation the very Life and Substance of Religion while they are contending for the Subtleties of the Schools which are in comparison but as thin Air and empty Shadows And it would really move ones Indignation that men should have the Vanity to imagine they do any true Service to the Cause of God and Religion by an ungovern'd Fervour which seems to be little or not at all concern'd what becomes of Humanity and Justice good Nature or good Manners provided the Writer can but acquire to himself the Reputation of Smartness and Subtlety and Skill And can there happen a greater Calamity not only to
the Persons thus corrupted and seduced but which is worst of all 3. Thirdly To the Christian Institution in general than to be thus unfairly dealt by To have the Excellence of the Gospel falsly placed in Matters wherein the Power and Essence of Godliness does not at all consist Can there be any Course more destructive to sound Religion than to represent it as a meer Science as if men were better or worse in proportion to what they know and not in proportion to what they do And do not our Eyes plainly see the ill Effect of pretending to these lofty Speculations Are not men a thousand times more intent upon the Disputes between contending Parties than they are upon the Practice of that which all Parties agree to be necessary Do not even the Vulgar now a days the People of every Age and Sex and Condition take an Estimate of their own Improvements by what they are able to say for or against some difficult and warmly debated Points rather than by the Conformity of their Lives to the plain and indispensable Duties And whence all this but from an itch of being thought might Reasoners ignorant of none not even the darkest and deepest Mysteries of Christ And this Vanity is followed close at the heels by a nauseating of the most valuable and profitable Parts of Religion for that every thing wherein the true Worth and Advantage of them lies I mean the honest Plainness of all necessary Doctrines and that God hath not required Artifice and Skill and a great reach of Parts but hath qualified the Simplicity of Babes a common Capacity assisted with conscientious Industry for working out Salvation And how perverse a humour is this which thinks nothing worth its Study which does not give it Trouble Whereas in truth it is with our spiritual as with our natural Food That affords us best Nourishment which is easiest of Digestion and the Man grows in both Respects not by trying the Strength of his Stomach but by the Health and Vigour which proceeds from Exercise and Sustenance duly distributed For search the Bible throughout and you shall not find there so much as One single Promise made to Knowledge abstracted from Practice Action is that which must crown all our Studies and what our Saviour said to his Disciples is true of every Christian and of every Branch of Divinity not Happy are ye if ye know these things but * Joh XIII 17. if we know these things happy are ye if ye do them I am sensible much more might have been said to this purpose but at present I only beg leave to draw two or three Inferences from this Discourse and so conclude 1. And First It is no hard matter from hence to discover upon what occasions the study of sublime and controverted Points in Religion is useful and adviseable It is not to repose our Confidence in as the Gnosticks of old did who made great account of their boasted Illuminations though at the same time they allowed themselves in the most beastly Impurities It is not to expose or overthrow the Mysteries of the Christian Faith to foment Differences and blow the Coals of Contention by forming Parties and Factions as Hereticks and Schismaticks do It is not to feed our Vanity and Ostentation to play Prizes in Divinity and make wanton Flourishes of Subtlety and Wit as the School-men too often seem to have done It is not to disparage plain practical Knowledge as if men were wiser when they choose to shew their Dexterity by treading out new Paths than when they travel in the beaten Road to Heaven It is not in a word from Choice but from Necessity that these things should be labour'd in And this is a Necessity which conceited Smatterers or crafty Enemies of Religion lay upon Some to qualify themselves for countermining them For God forbid that the Stewards of the Mysteries of Christ should stand by tamely and look on in silence while they that hate the Truth are at work to take away the Ground from under them upon which their Faith and Hope are built These men must consider the Charge committed to their Trust and be prepared not only with Integrity and Zeal but with Penetration and Skill For the best Cause will suffer if they who undertake it are not provided with a just Defence And this Defence cannot be made without being Masters of the same with their Adversaries that so they may detect their false Reasonings put them out of their Play and foil them at their own Weapon It were no doubt much happier for You and Us and all the World that we had nothing else to attend to but only to perswade our People to their respective Duties and explain to them the Methods how they may best adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour in all things Greatly to be wished that the differing Interests and Opinions of Christians were so composed as to leave no occasion Or if that cannot be yet that Petulant and Licentious Tongues and Pens were so effectually restrained as never to give any just Provocation for such Disputes For the less of these there is the better to be sure it is not only for the Churches Peace but for the Quiet and good Government of the State too We must be provided with Arms because we are listed in the publick Service but we shall do well to remember by whose Commission we act and never use those Arms but when our Master's Honour and Religion are in Danger 2. Secondly Let me prevail on you for this most reasonable Request That from the Uncertainty of some abstruse Points in Religion you would not make any Conclusions to the prejudice of Religion in general Though inexplicable Difficulties may lie on both sides of some Questions this does not hinder the Authority of easy and uncontestable Truths And though Some that enter the Lists upon these Occasions may lay about them madly like Fencers in the dark and cut and gash one another without Mercy yet be assured there are such Vertues as Meekness and Christian Charity in the World It is a general Rule in all Arts and Sciences to make those things that are Plain a Foundation and Introduction to those that are Obscure But no where I think except in Religion have men ever been so fantastical and absurd as to deny and cast off all regard to things that are Plain for the sake of those that are Obscure This is just as if an undisciplin'd Reader should reject all Euclid's Axioms because he finds himself unable to demonstrate every Proposition in his Book There is not any one of our pert Disputers against Jesus and Divine Revelation but would think it a Reproach upon his understanding to treat any other Author at the rate he does the inspired Writers of Holy Scripture When therefore men are loosen'd in their Principles of Religion upon such poor and frivolous accounts as would not be allowed sufficient to shake the Principles of
which was designed to enquire What it is to have no fellowship with these works of Darkness And here I can by no means think it proper to put the avoiding the Commission of the grossest Sins much less contracting the habits of them into this account For to call the Insolent and Haughty the Uncharitable and Censorious the Contentious and the Slanderer the man that repines at Good and triumphs in misery and mischief that disguises himself and deceives and betrays others to call Him I say only a Partaker in Wickedness To allow the zealous Advocates for Sin and busy Factors of the Devil them who make it their Business to put Vertue and Religion out of Countenance to corrupt all they converse with and carry on his Trade here upon Earth I say To allow such Wretches as these so gentle a Name as men that have Fellowship with Works of Darkness is to shew a great deal more Civility to Vice than becomes us This were to give too much Reputation to Sin by softning the worst of Practices and representing them to the World under such extenuating Terms It is necessary the Works of Darkness shou'd have no Veil drawn before them but be expos'd to the View of Mankind in their true Colours and that every one shou'd be made throughly sensible whose business he carries on and what he is doing and how great a guilt he contracts when he indulges himself in any of those Abominations And therefore I shall now proceed to tell you what other Instances of forsasaking such Corruptions the Apostle must in all reason be acknowledged to require here and that none of us can answer the Character of Children of Light unless to the avoiding the Pollution of such Lusts in our own Persons we do likewise add these following Particulars 1. First The declining as much as may be the Acquaintance and intimate Conversation of notorious and scandalously wicked men The Infection of Sin is so rank and spreading and we in so constant a Disposition to receive it that no Caution when prudently us'd can be too great in this Particular * Ecclus. XIII 1. The Scriptures have compared vicious Company to Pitch upon the Clothes and Prov. VI. 27. Fire in the Bosom And the general Censures even of men discreet and tender are apt to bring the Keepers of it under an odious Character Which abundantly justifies the Comparisons and argues the universal consent of Reason in the extream danger of such Conversation The same Discoveries of our Love and Hatred which Nature and Passion put us upon in Other Cases must be the Work of Reason and Religion in This. And they who industriously place themselves in the way of Temptation seem to have but a very imperfect Sense of their own Frailties or else not to have weaned their Inclinations sufficiently from the Lusts they affect such Familiarity with For when we cannot be personally intimate with the Devil himself the next degree of Friendship we can possibly shew for him is to be fond of conversing with those who are most like him themselves and whose Examples naturally tend to make others like him too What Philosophers tell us of some Creatures that they frequently change their Colour according to the Stones or Plants their Bodies rest upon must always be admitted by thinking Persons to be a very lively Emblem of the minds of men For these ever receive a strong Tincture from the Persons they frequent and are insensibly form'd into Their Appetites and Opinions Their Language and Their Manners And therefore such persons must not think they are ill used if both God and Good Men condemn those approaches to Sin as sure Arguments of a secret kindness for it and sad Presages of a dying Zeal for the Honour of Religion and their own Safety Mistake me not I beseech you I am not here recommending such a surpercilious Pride as we find the Pharisees upon all Occasions guilty of such as shou'd teach men to distinguish themselves from the rest of the World with a Stand off I am holier than Thou No The Detestation of other People's Vices must always be so temper'd as not to produce a disdain for their persons nor may we so far consider them as Sinners as to forget that they are Men. All that I am now advising is only the necessary Care for our own Preservation And where the Offices of Charity and the Courtesies of the World do not endanger our own Souls as indeed they very seldom do if managed with any competent degree of discretion there we have a pattern in our Blessed Saviour himself who for the sake of doing good was content to eat and to drink with Harlots and Publicanes and Sinners But still That Example of His and All that can be said to support and countenance the frequenting of bad Company will never be able to persuade holy and considering men that they ought to mingle Friendships with all indifferently and to keep no guard at all upon themselves in the midst of a very crooked and perverse Generation It gives too much encouragement to Vice to make it no part of our Aversion and puts our own welfare upon too desperate a hazard to court that distemper which if once caught may end in Death eternal It shews that we think very little of the horror of Sin or the deadly creeping Qualities by which it steals into our Souls when we are loath to be kept at a distance from it and upon such poor pretences as either the Forms of Civility or a false Confidence in our own Strength and Wisdom are us'd to furnish us with delight to dwell within the reach of its Infection This is in effect to throw dry Stubble into the Fire to commit a Body full of ill Humours to the mercy of a raging Pestilence For such in truth is the Venemous nature of all Vice and in such constant readiness are our hearts to catch and suck it in But yet the same Apostle who forbids all fellowship with the works of darkness here and all scandalous Conversation in the Vth of his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians was so sensible of the universal Corruption of that time and People that he acknowledges to avoid vicious Company altogether a Man must even go out of the World And therefore since the Tares and Wheat must stand together till the general Harvest and the condition of the present Life does of necessity inferr a mixture of Good and bad men in the same common Field of the Church After the due Care already mention'd to preserve our selves from being tainted by this mixture The Next thing I presume necessary and imply'd in St. Paul's Command here is This 2. Secondly That those persons who cannot be wholly declin'd may never be approved or have their wickedness favoured by us After a long Description of the Abominations of the Heathen World this is added as a very high Aggravation of all the rest * Rom. I. 32.
only to ruine himself but to be upon his guard against all Hazards of Ruine And it was not a hard but a prudent and needful Commandment which St. Paul has left us 1 Thess V. 22. to abstain from the very appearance of Evil. They who profess to hate the thing it self and to repent of it and to forsake it and yet wou'd fain be doing what looks like it and leads to it cannot escape this Censure at least of being Lovers of pleasure more than Lovers of God This comes from a perpetual hankering after their Lusts and shews that they wou'd fain accommodate the matter between Christ and the Devil They endeavour to divide themselves as equally as may be Not to be wicked for fear of danger but yet to be as near wicked as they can too for Love of Pleasure And like treacherous and poor-spirited men who in a disputed Title act for one Prince to serve their own Ends and are secretly in the Interests of another to humour their Inclination so these men carry it between Vertue and Vice They have a secret Affection for the one and yet they must stifle this Affection because it cannot be to their advantage to own and pursue it publickly But still their hearts are ever treacherous ever bending to the wrong side and the bottom of all their pretended Quarrel with Sin is not so Much for its being a Work of Darkness as for its being an Vnfruitful Work 5. Fifthly and Lastly The thing which contains and which must perfect all the rest is what the Apostle urges in the End of this Verse Reproving those Works I mean by the constant Tenure of a pious and exemplary Conversation For that is the Reproof he means there The exposing them by this means to the World and discovering all the Horrour and Deformity of them The Shortness of our Capacities and the intricate Natures of things make it necessary for us to advance in Knowledge by the help of Comparisons And the quickest way to it is by setting Opposite Qualities before our eyes at once to contemplate both and so to discern the difference between them Now as none are more Contrary so none do more manifestly illustrate each other than Vertue and Vice which are therefore very elegantly represented by the Apostle here under the two most distant and irreconcilable Figures of Light and Darkness But all the Life and Efficacy of this Representation depends upon the Practice It is not a plausible declaiming against the One nor the most elegant Harangue in Praise of the Other that can sufficiently recommend This or condemn That Because though the Characters be never so just yet Words are but matter of form and may be employed upon any subject for private respects contrary to the inward and real Sense of the Speaker But the Esteem which comes to Religion by a good Life cannot be counterfeit These Actions of a Man prove themselves and shew the power of Godliness upon the Soul And in such a Case none is so blind but he sees the Beauties of Holiness how it shines and sheds its Rays like the Sun not only to the delight but the benefit and warmth of all that are within the Sphere of its Activity What a foil the contrary Vices are to it how black and dismal how ugly and crooked they look when brought to this Light and set against the streight and uniform the sweet and charming Excellencies of Religion This comes home to the meanest Understandings and supplies the place of all the Eloquence in the World It convinces where nothing else can enter It is a sort of mechanical Reason without the studied Methods of Rhetorick and Argument and will not fail to draw where those cannot so much as move This is therefore the peculiar advantage of a holy Life to check and discountenance Sin to shew it in its true and worst Colours and not only to receive Lustre from but to reflect it back again upon Vertue and Religion From what has been delivered in these Particulars we see the true extent of the Apostle's Command and our Duty with regard to it How false those men are to God and Religion who content themselves with avoiding the grossest and foulest Offences if in the mean while they indulge their Lusts and expose their Souls to the Snares of evil Company If they retain any secret Fondness for Sin and can so much as with ease or patience see or hear what is so If they are so tame and cold in the Cause of God and Religion as not boldly and sharply to rebuke Vice where that can be prudently and seasonably done If they still halt between Vertue and Vice and are so fond of the thing as to sport upon the very confines of it and shew that their proceeding no further is more the effect of Interest and Necessity than sincere Piety and Choice and lastly If their Example do any way countenance it and not rather display its Deformity and deceitful Disguises and by representing Godliness in all its Lustre render that more inviting and lovely and Sin more odious to the World Those who do not endeavour all this are not entirely devoted to Christ nor true Children of Light but have still a Tenderness for and hold a private Correspondence with the Works of Darkness And how destructive such double dealing will be in the End how reasonable our Aversions to those Works are and all even the most severe proofs that can be required to demonstrate the truth of our Hatred and to make good our Engagements against them I hope will soon appear to you by a brief consideration of my Third Particular viz. III. The reason of avoiding these works of Darkness which the Text hath couched here by calling them Vnfruitful It is not without great Elegance and particular good reasons that the Lusts and Practices of Sinners are so frequently in Scripture styl'd Works for This implies the Toil and Drudgery of them and intimates to us what sad experience wou'd teach too late that no man can be very wicked without much Labour and great Vexation The distracting Cares and Interests of Ambition and Covetousness the Violence and Tyranny of raging Passions and inordinate Desires which hurry men into Anger and Revenge and Injustice and Uncleanness and all manner of Excess cannot but be inconsistent with ease and pleasure For they impose more merciless Tasks upon a man and put him upon more dangerous and more extravagant Attempts than the most arbitrary Tyrant or the Cruelest Enemy cou'd invent for his Captive or his Slave And he that has once resign'd up the Government of himself to the furious and wild Suggestions of the Tempter and his own rebellious Appetites must make no more Pretensions to Freedom and Satisfaction He has bid adieu to all that can give him any and does in the highest sense of the words verify our Lord's observation * Joh. VIII 34. Whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of
29 30. Wretches once profligate and infamous should have an equal place in their Heavenly Father's Love But now the Gentiles formerly and many reform'd Sinners since have endeared themselves particularly to Almighty God by their deep Humility and Meekness of Spirit by resembling Him in a most extensive Charity a generous Largeness of Heart which fills them with unfeigned Joy at the Recovery of their once lost and to all appearance desperate Brethren inclines them to delight in the Happiness of all mankind and to esteem their own more exalted when the Mercy of God is magnified and the number of his Blessed Saints increased 3. Thirdly It is very probable there may be Another Difference not less considerable than either of the Former and that is a Difference in the Work it self The Parable indeed is silent in this particular perhaps for a Reason which I shall mention hereafter See Hammond here Note b. But some Jewish Fables very like this reply thus to the murmuring Servants This man hath the hire of a Day because he hath in two hours done the work of a whole Day Thus much however is certain in the Subject before us that the Gentiles are frequently commended for excelling in Zeal and in the Graces of Christianity doing things to their utmost 2 Cor. VIII 3. 1 Cor. I. 7. nay even beyond their power and fired by a generous Emulation to come behind the Jews in no Vertue Thus also upon Repentance from a very dissolute Life we often observe men act with double Vigour and indefatigable Diligence sadly sensible of the Time they have lost and impatient to redeem it by the best improvement of that little they have left desirous to make Religion some amends for the injury and dishonour they have done it formerly and to give the world satisfaction for the Scandal of an ill Example by setting one as eminently good and being for the future the very Reverse of what they were before And that this is the natural Consequence of breaking off from a wicked course is plain from our Saviour's discourse upon washing his feet Luke VII 44 c. where he applies to the different behaviour of a Penitent Woman and a proud Pharisee that Parable of the two Debtors which proves that He who is most sensible of the Greatness of his Sins and the Mercy of Forgiveness will naturally love God most and by all his actions give testimony that he does so Thus St. Paul says in his own Vindication that though he was the last and least of the Apostles not worthy that name 1 Cor. XV. 8 9. 10. because as one born out of due time and once a Persecutor of the Church of God yet he laboured more abundantly than they all And in such a case a man's Obedience will be measured not by Length of Time but by the Fervency of the Desire and the Sincerity of the Heart A few exalted acts of Constancy and Piety may express a man's affection as effectually as many years practice and in the balance of Equity weigh against a multitude of Others where the Circumstances were not so trying And God who sees the Heart judges us not only by what we do but by what we are ready and resolved to do and would certainly accomplish if we had opportunity Thus Innocence or early Vertue may be crowned not only for the little it hath done but for the noble Fruits which God foresees that generous Plant would bear had not he for wise reasons cut it off before it arrived to ripeness of Years and Judgment Thus a Man who is heartily disposed to continue faithful in despight of all hardship and suffering may be considered for that habitual Steadiness of mind no less than if God had brought the fiery Tryal upon him Luke XXIII 42 43. And thus the Thief upon the Cross by one Glorious Confession of Christ at his last hour obtained remission of his whole pass'd wicked Life and an entrance into Paradise that very day When I urge these Arguments my meaning is only thus much That This is oftentimes the Case and that there is a great deal in the Reason and Nature of the thing which should push on the Labourers who come in late to exert and distinguish themselves in the works of Righteousness and Charity and a strict exemplary Conversation So that an equal Reward is not supposed by this Particular except there be an equal Vertue But then this Vertue may be either apparent in the outward Acts or it may be inward in the Disposition which to God who is the Judge and Rewarder is all one for He sees it though Men do not Where there is no such equality in the Persons the Parable does not assert any equality in the Wages for the Aphorism illustrated is not All Ch. XIX 30. but Many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first Or as another Evangelist hath expressed it Luk. XIII 30. Behold there are Last which shall be First and there are First which shall be Last Some Gentiles that is who have not the same advantages of Faith and a Good Life will excel some Jews who have greater And Some late Penitents will out-do others of an early Piety The Arrogant Righteous shall be degraded for their Envy and Spiritual Pride And the Contrite the Humble the Charitable Convert shall be exalted and preferr'd The Vertues conspicuous in one sort of these men being thus cast into Scales against those which the Other have not or have them in a less degree or sully them with some Blemish or notable Imperfection Thus much for the First Reason arising from those Differences which the Parable it self leads us to observe between the late and early Labourers But it must be confess'd II. Secondly That the Main Argument and that wherein the Parable is most express why this Proceeding cannot possibly be any imputation upon the Justice of Almighty God is what we meet with here in answer to the grumbling Workmen in the Conclusion of this Representation Vers 13 14 15. Friend I do thee no wrong Didst not thou agree with me for a Penny Take that is thine and go thy way Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own Is thine Eye evil because I am good This Reply teaches us that Eternal Life is at least a valuable it is indeed an infinite and most disproportionate Consideration for the best and most laborious Services that it is God's own to do what he will with a free Gift even to Them who make good Their part For it was his Mercy alone which moved him to seek these Labourers And admit them to so advantagious an Agreement And we cannot be guilty of a vainer thought nor cast a greater Blemish upon our good works than to suppose Heaven due to them as a strict and adequate Reward To inculcate this notion of God's Bounty and free Grace the more I take
and reduce him to an effectual Sense of his own Vileness and Ingratitude than some very undeserved Kindness of a Person whom he hath heinously injured And what greater Indignity could St. Peter put upon his Lord than thus to disown and abjure him What greater Kindness could our Lord shew to this revolting ungrateful Man than by the silent but significant Rebuke of his Eye cast that way so opportunely to call him back to himself And what could cut St. Peter more to the quick than such an Instance of Mercy and Tenderness Such as shewed a greater Concern for his Disciples Sin than for all the Injuries and Insolence of his Enemies to himself Such as declared though that wicked Servant had disclaimed his Master yet that He was so gracious as not even thus to discard and forsake Him This I make no doubt was one of the bitterest Ingredients in St. Peter's Sorrow and that which confirmed him in his Duty ever after as much as any other Consideration whatsoever 4. And this puts me in mind of a Fourth thing very necessary to be observed which though not mentioned here yet is abundantly evident from other Passages of the New Testament and that is the Thorough Change wrought in St. Peter by this Godly Sorrow and the ample Amends he afterwards made for all the Dishonour this Denial of Christ could possibly reflect upon Himself his Master or the Christian Religion For immediately after our Lord's Resurrection we find the same ardent Affection flaming out again as bright as ever This * John XXI 7. once dismayed St. Peter did then cast himself into the Sea out of Impatience to hasten to Jesus upon the Shore He put himself forward †Acts II. 14. on the Day of Pentecost and with undaunted Zeal asserted the Resurrection and Divinity of that Saviour whom he had formerly denied He ‖ Acts IV. 19 20. maintained his Point against the Jewish Rulers despised their Rebukes and angry Menaces and plainly told them that God was to be obeyed rather than Men and therefore whatever it cost him He could not forbid himself publickly declaring the Truths which he had seen and heard He * Acts IV. 23. 1st and 2d Epist strengthened the Brethren by his resolute Behaviour led them on bravely and took all possible care to keep them from shrinking at the Terrours of Persecution He persisted in his preaching and when the Enemies of the Faith were not to be reasoned out of their malice most willingly offered his Person to scourging and Imprisonment * Acts V. 40 41. rejoycing that he was counted worthy to suffer shame for the once abjured Name of Jesus He was the Mark of Envy and Rage singled †Acts XII 4. out by Herod for a Sacrifice that would above all others content the Jews And therefore was intended to gratify their Spight by making his Death add to the Triumphs and solemn Rejoycings of their Passover And though God saw fit to disappoint that Design and reserve him for more and greater Services to the Christian Cause yet did he at last glorify him ‖ John XXI 18 19. by the same kind of Tortures and Death which his Master condescended to undergo nay St. Peter gladly received the notice of this from Christ's own mouth So that St. Peter was not more different from himself when trembling at the Voice of a silly Damsel than the same St. Peter afterwards the Glorious the Invincible Apostle before the Council in Prisons and upon the Cross was from the Cowardly the Infamous Renegade in the High Priests Hall This settled and deliberate Fidelity was a noble Compensation for the Infirmity and Fears and violent Transport of his Fall This shewed what the Man was when perfectly himself and supported by the Grace of God As the Other did what he was when naked and destitute of Heavenly Succours depending upon his own Strength and left in the hand of his Passions This restored him to Favour and hath established his Honour to all Eternity And we should not have done right to St. Peter in handling the Case now before us should these last and Finishing Scenes of his Life have been omitted Because whatever he had done amiss through Frailty and hurry he thus undid again in cool and staid and deliberate Acts. And since Repentance is an Alteration of the Man of his whole Temper and Behaviour I thought my self bound to set before you some of those Instances which the Holy Ghost hath left upon Record of the Efficacy and Sincerity of this Man's Repentance And bound indeed I esteem my self not only in Justice to the Memory of this Eminent Apostle but for Your sakes too in regard of those Uses and Instructions that are capable of being drawn from hence For That is the next thing I am now applying my self to The making some Reflections upon St. Peter's Repentance of which all Christian's may profit themselves who read and consider it with serious and due Attention 1. And First From the Consideration of this Instance before us it will be no hard matter to possess our minds with a right Notion of the Promises of God to Good Men with regard to Temptations He hath not engaged that our Virtue shall never be brought into hazard for This would prevent the Proofs of our Fidelity to him which is chiefly seen in our Constancy under those Tryals that endanger it And therefore in this case we are to support our Spirits with those Assistances of his Grace which may enable us to resist Temptations Nay he hath not assured us we shall always be successful in our Resistance when thus assaulted but thinks it sufficient Encouragement that if through the Infirmity of our Corrupt Nature and the Violence of our Temptations we happen to be overcome and fall into Sin his Grace shall not be wanting to raise us again by Repentance Thus our Lord tells St. Peter * Luke XXII 32. that he had prayed for him that his Faith might not fail that is that he might not fall away finally His Faith we see did fail for a Season for such peremptory Denials of our Lord could not be consistent with that saving Principle But That which received so terrible a damp by this Interruption was not utterly lost and extinguished in his mind The Distemper in its own Nature was Mortal but by the Power and Skill and timely Application of his Spiritual Physician it received a perfect Cure Christ therefore did not pray for the Prevention of his Sin but for his Conversion from and Amendment after it And this was every whit as much for the Benefit of the Patient and the Honour of the Divine Grace as the preserving him in perfect Health and Soundness could possibly have been Nay more indeed both for the One and the Other For the greater the Danger was the more clearly does the Sovereign Virtue and Efficacy of the Remedy appear The Grace of God is never so
And He who rests upon a naked Belief and will not be baptized when he may expects in vain that God will reckon him among his Children or admit him to any part of his Inheritance after having so peremptorily declared that such a one is none of his nor in any Condition of entring into his Kingdom And so in general If to acknowledging the truth of the Scriptures and confessing the Sufferings the Nature the Exaltation of Christ In a word If to the most Orthodox Opinions that ever were or can be we are commanded by the Word of God to add the reverent Observation of Divine Ordinances devout Prayer frequent receivings of the Sacrament and all manner of Vertue and Innocency of Life He who neglects These and puts Confidence in his Understanding or Owning the Principles of Religion builds upon a sandy and deceitful bottom His hope is that of Hypocrites and will at last lose both it self and Him that cherishes it And the Reason of these things is very obvious For the Redemption of the World by Christ is an arbitrary Act in God an Act of Free Mercy As such it is what no Collections of Natural Light or Moral Justice can give us any Apprehension at all of Consequently we can enter no farther into the grounds and manner of it than He who did it of his own accord thinks fit to let us into Consequently again we are bound to take the Manifestations of it entire Not to parcel them out as we see convenient and so make One Clause of this Indenture repugnant to and destructive of Another No reasonings of our own are of any weight in this Case any further than they are justified by Revelation by the natural Sense of some Text of Scripture and by the general design of the Christian Dispensation Now the very same Spirit which says * Ephes II. 8. We are saved by Grace through Faith hath informed us by the Ministry of the self-same Pen that †Galat. V. 6. in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but faith which worketh by Love He hath commanded us to ‖ Heb. XII 14. follow peace with all men and holiness as things without which no man shall see the Lord. He hath drawn a black Catalogue of the Works of the Flesh and most solemnly assured us that they who are guilty of * Galat. V. 19 20 21. Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Is it not now as clear as the Sun that the Man who trusts to any Faith except such a Faith as worketh by Love leans upon a broken Reed Hath any man reason to think his Confessing Christ will save him who takes no care of either Peace or Holiness and allows himself in those Abominations just now mentioned Can he be called a Believer who dishonours his Profession by a scandalous Life or esteemed a Son of God who cannot see his face nor inherit his Kingdom It were most absurd to think most blasphemous to say so The receiving Christ is much another thing than these men make it I have already said It is not One simple Act of the Will or the Understanding but a large and a permanent thing an embracing his Doctrines in their just extent and submitting to all the Consequences of them in our Conversations 'T is to preserve a Harmony and punctual Agreement between the several parts of them that Faith and Virtue Promises and Precepts may go hand in hand and not be set in array to sight against and destroy each other And thus it must needs be For He that is otherwise perswaded acts contrary to this Rule builds without a Foundation he forms a New Gospel of his own and does not Believe but Presume In short God cannot away with these partial Proceedings these consultings with Flesh and Blood He will not have his own Institution the noblest and most compleat that ever was to be mangled and defaced And those very Jews who shut Christ out and would not receive him at all are not more wicked and inexcusable than the pretended Christians who receive him by halves and under the Cover of this Profession affront and deform and dishonour him and his Gospel Far be it from us to imagine that God will so far prostitute his mercies as to admit such wretches to the incomparable Advantage mentioned in my Text They may usurp a Title that is not theirs but the Obedient and Virtuous Believers the Pious and the Respectful Receivers of Christ These alone are the Persons who receive him as Christ and to them only he gives power to become the Sons of God Which is the Benesit mentioned in the Words and the Second Head of my Discourse upon them II. Those who have Criticized nicely upon this Passage make great Remarks upon the Evangelist's cautious manner of expressing himself in it They tell us It would have been less proper to have said that Christ made us become the Sons of God because this would have seemed an Act of Omnipotence and Necessity such as might have been interpreted in prejudice to the Freedom of our Will and that part which we our selves contribute to our own Regeneration Nor had it been equally prudent to say that he gave us power to make our selves the Sons of God because this had exalted our Faculties as much too high and deprest the Bounty of God and the Honour he hath done us as if any Performances of Ours could deserve or procure this Sonship But by saying he gave us power to become the Sons of God both these Inconveniences they think are saved The Mercy is still represented in it's due proportion in that this Honourable Relation is a Grace and our Advances toward it not a Meritorious Cause but a Qualification only And the Liberty of our Actions is still implyed in that he gave us only a power of obtaining what yet we might not obtain if we refused or neglected to exert that power Without being so Curious we may content our selves with that Sense of the word which our Marginal Reading suggests and by power understand the Privilege of becoming the Sons of God and even thus it affords us these two Considerations The Excellence and Greatness of the Benefit and Then the Free Bestowing it upon us 1. The Excellence and Greatness of the Benefit is abundantly declared in the very Title it self insomuch that St. John thought he had reason to cry out with some Astonishment when he reflected upon the Excellence of the Benefit and the unparallel'd Greatness of the Condescension * 1 John III. 1. Behold says he what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the Sons of God! And reason good he had most certainly For What could express What can confer greater Happiness By This we are allowed to promise
the Sinner's Ruine at his own door so frequently and so manifestly recorded in Scripture Were it not thus what wretched Uncertainties are Christians abandoned to what terrible Anxieties and Discouragements must they labour under in their greatest Concern So great that the best good Man could never tell what he hath to trust 10 And I know not whether it might not truly be affirmed that upon these Terms They to whom Revelation and the Light of the Gospel have come are of all men most miserable Some Other Conclusions there are very proper upon this occasion but those I must be satisfied with referring to my next Discourse Now to God the Father c. SERMON X. THE NATURE Of the Christian's CALLING and ELECTION Stated from the Parable of the Marriage Feast St. Matth. XXII 14. For Many are called but Few are chosen MY Design in the Choice of these Words was to treat of that Calling and Election whereby Men are at last brought to the obtaining that Salvation which is purchased for them by Christ and tendred to them in his Gospel And in this Undertaking I have made some Progress already by a former Discourse 1. By explaining the Parable of which my Text is the Conclusion and shewing who are the Called and who the Chosen of God That in the former Class are to be reckoned All to whom the Invitations of this King that is the Word of God hath come Whether they came to the marriage upon such Invitations or not Whether they receive or reject Christ preached to them And All who came whether with or without the Wedding Garment who do receive and profess the Truth though they do not attain to all the Advantages of a true Faith and These are Many But by the Chosen Those only are to be understood that thankfully and dutifully embrace the Proffers of Salvation and by conforming their Lives to the Precepts of Christianity in Righteousness and true Holiness are admitted as worthy Partakers of this Divine Feast And These it seems in comparison of the Numbers so Called as I have said are but Few But now in regard that in order to our right Understanding and receiving due Encouragement for the Performance of our Christian Duty it must needs import us highly to know whence this so great Disparity proceeds and how it comes to pass that where such Means are plentfully offered they become so seldom effectual I proceeded to enquire so far as we can receive Information from this Parable whether such Miscarriages and Disappointments are to be imputed to God or to Mens own selves Whether He never intended that All who were Called should be Chosen notwithstanding their most assiduous Endeavours so to be Or whether every one so Called might also have been Chosen if he had not some way or other been wanting to himself in the Improvement of such Advantages as that Call put into his hands To this purpose I proposed to consider both the Case of Them who when the Gospel was preached to them did not receive it and of Those others who did receive it but were not saved by virtue of their doing so The former of These is represented to us from the First to the Eleventh Verse under the Figure of the Obstinate Jews i.e. Them who came not in when bidden to the Marriage The Latter by the Man who had not on a Wedding Garment who is the Representative of unsincere and Wicked Christians I am still engaged in the Former of these Heads and for our forming a Judgment of that Case more distinctly did promise to set before you both what this Parable relates to have been done by the King inviting his Guests and what hindrances it takes notice of in those Guests as the Causes of their not complying with so gracious an Invitation On the King's Part I shewed you the Circumstances of this Parable plainly speak Two things I. The large and magnificent Preparations for entertaining the Guests II. The Desire he expressed and the repeated Endeavours he used that the Persons invited should partake of them From these Passages explained and applied to the Matter manifestly intended by this Parable I drew some Inferences which to me seem unavoidably to follow upon them 1. That the Redemption of the World by the Incarnation and Death of our Blessed Saviour was an Act of God's free Mercy and marvellous Grace 2. That the Mercy figured here by the King 's making a Marriage for his Son was intended for the Benefit of Mankind 3. That the Design of this Benefit was Universal or as our Church in her excellent Catechism most truly expresses it that the Son of God redeemed all Mankind 4. That in the Methods made use of to prepare and qualify men for rendring this Universal Redemption effectual to themselves in particular Almighty God was very serious and sincere and did not by any fatal Necessity decreed by his secret Will render it impossible for them to comply with his revealed Will. I now proceed to some Other Conclusions for which the Passage before us seems to be a very just Foundation For instance 5. Fifthly We may observe from hence that commonly speaking the Manner and Method by which God calls Men is the Outward Ministry of his Word and other Ordinary and Stated Means of Grace The Servants of this King answer to God's Ministers regularly sent and appointed in the Church Whose established Order and Business it is to publish their Message diligently to make the Will and gracious Intentions of their Master known to all People to proclaim the Tidings and explain the Terms of Salvation To instruct exhort reprove encourage promise threaten according to the Tenure of their Commission and by all prudent and possible Care to urge and prevail upon their Hearers that they would not neglect or obstinately refuse their own Mercy So that our respective Congregations are to know they meet with and are taught by God in the Holy Scriptures in the blessed Sacraments in the Prayers of the Church and in all the Ordinances of the true Religion It was not of our Lord 's immediate Disciples alone but of all their Lawful Successors to the World's End that those Words in St. Luke are to be understood * Luke X. 16. He that heareth You heareth Me and He that despiseth You despiseth Me and He that despiseth Me despiseth him that sent Me. And whatever wild Dreams some People may have of I know not what imaginary Inward Calls See Chrysost Tom. 5. Pag. 291. Ed. Eton. Such I mean as pretend to defer their Repentance or receiving the Blessed Sacrament or the like upon the Notion of waiting for some powerful distinct and express Call and not thinking the Arguments of their Teachers and the unanswerable Convictions of their own Reason that these things ought to be done sufficient Motives for going about them These it is much to be feared are vain Pretences the Delusions of Melancholy or Sloth and dangerous Suggestions of
Jesus make a Figure so very opposite to what they had conceived of Christ they treated Him and his Doctrine with the utmost Contumely and Disdain And in Those mens steps may all They be very justly esteem'd to tread at this day who look upon Christianity as a low and despicable dispensation A Religion cut out only for such as its first Preachers were but below men of Letters and Honour and Condition Who are scandalized at the Cross of Christ and make the Death he submitted to for our sakes a Subject of scornful Railery and profane Scoffs Who despise the Gospel as a System of Faith and Morality fit only for such credulous and easy such poor and little Souls as can give up their Assent to Mysteries above their comprehension can tamely put up injuries and affronts crucify themselves to the World in hope of unseen and very distant Rewards renounce the present pleasures of Sin engage in a perpetual War with sensual Appetite and stand in awe of that Bugbear Conscience To what purpose can it be to invite Men of such a carnal Palate to this Spiritual Feast Before those Calls can have effect they must abandon their false Notions of Gallantry and Greatness and Good Sense They must be brought down to such a Temper as is fit to be treated with will hearken to better Instruction and is content to acknowledge That God is wiser than We And that He is the best Judge what Virtues are best qualified to perfect the Nature himself gave us and what measures were most proper to be taken for repairing the breaches Sin had made upon it That He who alone can forgive Sin hath alone right to determine upon what conditions it shall be forgiven and to choose his own Sacrifice And that it becomes lost Wretches to admire and adore his Goodness and to conclude that the Methods of their Redemption were certainly adjusted with infinite Wisdom what Foolishness soever vain Man when proceeding upon the false principles of Worldly prudence might be apt to suspect in them Till this shperfluity of Nanghtiness be pruned away till Men entertain reverent apprehensions of God and are satisfied that His ways are not as Our Ways nor His thoughts as Our Thoughts though ten thousand Messages were sent to call them to the Marriage they are like to continue the same sturdy haughty Jews still and will not come in 2. Another sort are mentioned v. 5. who upon pretence of some more important concerns made light of this Feast and went One to his Farm Another to his Merchandise They gave the Messengers the hearing but did not think the Invitation worth acceptance when it must hinder other Business And such are all They now whom Riches and Preferments and worldly Cares keep from becoming good Christians The Feast is what they like well enough provided the King would so far condescend as to admit them when they are at leisure to wait on him They have nothing to object against Religion but confess the advantages it offers to be very noble and alluring And Good Men they fully design to be at some more convenient Season But at present their hands are so full that till they can disengage themselves of some weighty and indispensable affairs it is not possible for them to attend to that which they wish with all their hearts they were free for Now here is the main Difficulty that Godwill not accept of divided Affections This Feast requires a new Appetite and a refined Tast it expects the Chief of our Pains and the most serious of our Thoughts This is the Camel that cannot get Mark X. 24. 25. through the Eye of the Needle and renders it impossible for such as trust and delight and place their happiness in Riches or any present Enjoyments so as for their sakes to neglect and disesteem a future and Spiritual Good even to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Serm. XI But with these Men I propose to discourse more particularly hereafter and shall therefore wave entring into the Argument with them now 3. A Third Sort of People yet worse than both the former we read of at the sixth Verse who not content to reject the Invitation fell foul upon them that brought it They took the Servants and entreated them spightfully and slew them These gave themselves no trouble about making excuses but added to their perverse Rudeness Cruelty and Malice and Rage or to say the softest thing such behaviour will bear the Fury of an undisciplin'd and mistaken Zeal And how blind how blood-thirsty this was our Lord hath acquainted us in that prediction of his Disciples Sufferings that the time was coming John XVI 2. when whosoever killed them should think he did God Service Such were heretofore the Crucifiers of our Blessed Saviour Such the Persecutors of the Apostles and Primitive Christians And such are all those still who openly oppose the Name of Christ vilifie his Ministers and are profess'd Patrons of Infidelity and Profaneness Such also They who under pretence of more vigorously promoting or maintaining what they call the Truth attack those of a contrary opinion with Sword and Fire and Faggot Who rend and tear their Saviour's Mystical Body in sunder and advance that not unchristian only but even unnatural Principle that it is the duty of One Member to pluck out and to cut off Another That which aggravates the Ingratitude of these Refusals yet more is the very nature of the Invitation it self Now This was not to Labour and Hardship but to a Marriage a Feast of Joy a King's Feast To which it is a mark of singular favour and a mighty condescension to be so sollicitously importun'd so kindly received And the Christian Religion is very fitly resembled by this Figure both in comparison of that Yoke of Servitude it delivers us from and with regard to the exquisite Satisfactions the unspeakable Glories which all who embrace it sincerely are thereby made partakers of Had we been call'd to Toil and great Drudgery even so God had a right to command our Obedience Had he bid us do some unprofitable some very harsh and unpleasant thing we ought not to have declin'd it How much rather should we comply when he says Come unto the Marriage And sure this single Circumstance that Men will not be perswaded to their own advantage is sufficicient to shew us where the fault truly lyes And that when the Master of the Feast after having made such provision for his Guests and done so much to bring them to it is requited only with Slights and Obstinacy and Malice Wicked Men are reprobated and shut out not because God did not do all that it became a gracious King to do but because when they were bidden in the most affectionate manner yet they were not would not be worthy II. Having spoken so largely to the case of Them who when the Gospel is preached to them do not receive it I come now very briefly to
our Love and Thanks and He deserves them all To suffer other Objects to possess our Hearts in Opposition to or Competition with Him is a fault and to divide our Affections is to rob him Our Mind our Soul our Strength the Whole of These is his just Tribute and those Men are false unthankful and unjust who put the trifles of a perishing Life into the balance with their God and Duty For how reasonable soever our regards may be to these things when considered in themselves and with relation to our present Conveniences yet they lose all their value and cease to be of any Consideration when set against our Obedience to that Great King this Gracious Master this kindest of all Friends Would the Hungry and the Naked think you object that Work and Begging must be followed when sent for by his Prince allowed to tread his Courts and eat at his Table Yet such and greater is the Distance between Almighty God and all the Sons of Men. The poorest Begger and the meanest Slave is less beneath the Majesty of Monarchs Than even those Monarchs are below the Majesty of God Yet does this God invite yet does He importune us Such is the honour all his Servants have Well then may that great Master of the Feast be angry when such deny his favour and put him off with vain pretences He cannot but condemn them and they if they would reflect or think at all must needs condemn their own folly For which is more These Calls are not to our Duty only but to our Interest too as will appear if we now descend to consider 2. The Nature of the Feast it self and what is figured by it 2. When Men provide their dainty Meats some weightier Matters may come in between and hinder the paying our respects And in such case our loss is not very considerable A courser Meal at home instead of higher feeding which Nature misses not will serve the turn as well But here the Feast is very Sustenance and Life the only Thing by which our Souls subsist and They who do not come hither must look for nothing but Languishing and Death Despair and Misery For our Condition lies in wide Extremes it admits no middle State betwixt Heaven and Hell and they who do not eat Bread with Saints and Angels in the Kingdom of God are cast for ever into utter Darkness and pass infinite Ages in weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in Regions of Horror and the dismal Society of Fiends and Devils When therefore this Proffer mentioned in the Parable is made to needy Man when He is called to sit and feed with God The invitation is to fill our Souls with all manner of Graces and Virtues now and with all the fullness of Eternal Bliss when Death translates them to another State This is to ask them if they will be Happy Happy beyond their desert beyond their comprehension beyond their largest wishes and desires It is to call to press them to it And Who in his right mind will deny such a proffer as this Who can suppose that Any engagement ought to obstruct him in the pursuit of it Who can excuse so unreasonable a refusal I do not say to God but to His own self Most certain it is All Men agree in this design of being Happy All seek the same End though they seek it by different means But 't is as certain too that He who made Us and our Happiness hath told us That in His presence alone is true Joy and They who do not feek They who do not accept it there whatever satisfactions else they may find or fancy all these will prove but flattering empty dreams at last and good were it for such men if they had never been born 3. The Causes Parallel to those assigned in the Parable for keeping Men away deserve to be closely considered For the Love of Riches the Incumbrances of a worldly Life and the Indulging of Sensual Delights are of very fatal Consequence to the Soul It may be alledged indeed in their vindication and excuse that the Parable supposes them to be only such Cares and such Pleasures as in their own nature are honest and unblameable But yet this does not acquit those of guilt who are too eager in the pursuit of them For it is the part of a Good as well as a Wise Man to carry his Eye forward to the Consequences of Things And the Christian Religion expects that we should no more addict our selves to those Passions and Engagements which are sure to have ill effects upon us than to those that have an inherent malignity and are downright vicious in themselves So that although the Concerns of a Man's Calling and the prudent contrivances of raising a Fortune fairly though every gratification of our fleshly Appetites Every recreating of the Mind be not absolutely forbidden yet when they exceed in their Measures when they get within us and gain upon our Affections when they loosen our Principles and detain us from matters of a higher and more lasting Importance they then become sinful And for this reason ought they to be used always with great Temper and Moderation because they are apt to betray us to these Inconveniences The Dangers rising from them are not the less but in some respects greater because the Things are lawful For of those Men who are not utterly abandoned to Wickedness and a Reprobate Mind More it is probable perish by the abuse of Innocent and Good things than by the Love or the Commission of things positively Evil. In these the Offence soon manifests it self Here Reproof Reason and Remorse of Conscience strike in and check an open breach of Duty There needs not much sagacity to discern things palpably unlawful But where the Fact it self or the Object we are conversant about does not fall under such plain Censure there it is easie to mistake in Circumstances and Degrees For here Men neither have nor can have any certain Rule to guide them The Measures of Business and Pleasure are not to be sixed but vary daily According to the Constitution of the Person The Necessities of his Condition The present face and juncture of Affairs and a thousand other unforeseen Emergencies So that more or less may be allowed to One Person or at One Time or upon One Occasion than can to another All the Direction this case is capable of is only that we avoid Irregularity and Excess but We are Judges still of that Irregularity and Excess for Christian Prudence is the only thing that can determine it And from hence proceeds the Hazard of such actions That Men are apt to be too partial to the side of the World and the Flesh They know these things are not directly sinful and This supports them in the love and practice of them This gives them Confidence and great Security and they are very hardly brought to acknowledge or to mend a fault or to impose severe restraints
in those cases where God permits a Liberty and Use of the thing in Question And besides Here the Necessities and Comforts of Life fall in and add fresh force to the Argument Ease and Subsistence and the Care of Families when seconded and urg'd by Inclination find it an easie matter to influence the Reason and over-beat Religion too in time Men know and own that God is to be served but the same God they tell you hath so ordained that their Necessities and Conveniences should be served too And therefore He they hope will not forget that they obey him even in these cares and cannot take it ill if their attendance upon his Will in the Constitutions of his Providence should interfere now and then with their observance of his Laws and Worship For both they cannot do They wish with all their hearts they could but they trust they serve him very acceptably even in what they do Such are the vain pretences which worldly-minded People make to cover that neglect of God which they are ashamed to confess and to ruine their own Souls by deceitful colours of honest and lawful Practices But pray my Friends Consider God sets us in the World and for our humiliation hath appointed us a life of Trouble and Industry and Labour By These he gives leave nay he commands that we should provide for our selves and those that depend upon us But he does not mean that this should extend so far as to shut out Him from our Regard and our Thoughts We are to use but we are not to serve the World God gave Man large Dominions and made him Lord of the Creatures here below But when our hopes our labours and our delights are placed upon these objects we then degrade our selves lose our Original Prerogative and that Dominion turns to Slavery We should enjoy the Giâ—t and love the Giver but we must not slight the Giver and dote upon the Gift We must employ some time upon our Business A greater or less proportion of time according as our business happens But Body and Estate must not swallow the Soul The concerns of a moment must not be preferr'd to Eternity Nor may we ever follow the World so close as not to be at leisure to be saved This may take up Some of our Love and our Thoughts but God must always reign and sit Supreme in all our Thoughts and Endeavours and Affections And therefore mighty caution and reserve is necessary in this matter of Worldly cares because the Present is exceeding apt to engross us and we know who hath told us that * Matth. VI. 24. God and Mammon cannot both be served In short All we do and All we seek here below must be in subordination to somewhat nobler and better above and should never be permitted to justle out our first and great Concern Gods Righteousness and Kingdom When this Great Master of the Feast invites us we must leave all and follow Him prefer His Provision before our Own and readily obey the gracious Summons Heaven and our Souls require the best of our Care And believe me it is not a little care that will suffice for these purposes Our Passions must be mortified our Desires resigned our Affections raised and fixed upon a better Country And this is a work that will ask more of our time and pains than men seem generally well aware of Let any of us but make the Experiment Let a man single out One darling Lust and see how many conflicts how long practice it will cost him perfectly to subdue That One. And this will soon convince him how unreasonable it is to think Salvation a Work by the by and how unworthy they are of Eternal happiness who will afford no time for Religion but meerly that which hangs upon their hands How impudent a thing it is to serve God only when we have nothing else to do How unequally those Men divide themselves who spend so much upon the World and so little upon Heaven who pretend perishing Interests and Engagements and involve themselves in endless Pursuits and Projects about the less the trifling advantages and leave no time for the greater and more substantial This is our Case and This is our Danger when even the most Lawful cares employ us That they steal away our Hearts and take possession debase our Minds and fasten them down to the Earth devour our time and strength and leave us no Leisure no Inclination to follow that which is the great End of Living the Glory of God and the Salvation of our Souls They harden us against the Calls of Grace and indulge and feed those very Lusts which we are bound to kill and crucify And therefore since when God permits the One sort of these cares he does not absolve us from the Other Since he appoints us to Another State and hath given us a double Care to provide for our living hereafter as well as here but chiefly to provide how we may live hereafter And since that future Life is to be sought by fervent Devotion by constant Watchfulness by painful Labour of the mind by many repeated Acts of Self-denial and Mortification Since Vertue and Happiness are not to be attained in an instant but must be the fruit of a long Course and continual Endeavours Since the Rewards of these are so much more precious and desirable and the Rest at our Journeys end so much more comfortable than any Conveniences we can possibly meet with by the Way It follows that these Conveniences must be used and sought but as Refreshments only as things given to support and entertain us in our Travels But if we be diverted by These and set up our rest on this side the Land of Promise The End of all will be to perish in our folly And when instead of thanking Him by our Obedience who gives us these Encouragements we grow fond of Them and despise Him What can we think all this will come to at last but that God should be Just and such men Miserable That he revenge this baseness of Wretches so insensible of their own true happiness so unthankful for his gracious Condescensions in their favour In a word that the foolish Worldling who rather chose to feed on Husks with Swine should be shut out as unworthy to eat Bread in the Kingdom of his Heavenly Father II. From the Justice of God in condemning Wretches so unperswadeable to their own Advantage I pass now in the Second place To consider his Mercy in the means used for the Conversion of those who do thankfully accept and profit under them And This as it is illustrated throughout the whole Parable so particularly in the twenty third Verse now before us The Lord said unto the Servant Go out into the High-ways and Hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled That even the Jews should find so much favour was wonderfully kind but of That large Intimations and Promises had
and against it have been put into the Balance together That side which preponderates will take possession of the Understanding And if the advantage be visible and great there will be no probable danger of having this undone again or being drawn off to a contrary Opinion But where we are not to rest in a bare Judgment of a thing 's being thus or otherwise Where we are obliged to pursue a Doctrine â—…o ' all its Consequences and to make it a Rule of Living to us Where we must not only believe that so it is but upon all occasions behave our selves like Men seriously possest with that belief there the Case is very different And from hence it is that no present perswasion though never so full and clear will answer the Character of a Christian Faith without a particular and constant Application And in this it seems to be chiefly that the generality of Christians fail And great difficulties there are both in reducing General acknowledged Truths to our own Particular Circumstances and in having the Applications always ready and at hand when our occasions call for them This is manifestly seen in the very first principle of all Religion The Belief of a God and Providence For the acknowledgment of such a Being infors a Power constantly superintending the Affairs of the whole World Ever present with us A strict Observer and an impartial Judge of all our Actions A Lover of Holiness and Justice and a mighty Avenger of his Honour when we provoke him These are all of them Notions which either Nature or Religion or Both have riveted so fast into men's Minds that we find very Few of those who strive against them and would fain get quit of them able to do it effectually And yet of the Men who profess to have these Apprehensions how few are there that take a due care to drive them home upon their Consciences and improve them to all the mighty purposes which they are fitted to serve Nay How often do even They who revolve them frequently and make it their business to dwell and converse with their Lord How often I say do They the Best the most Reverent Adorers of the Godhead betray their want of Consideration and fall by Surprise or Forgetfulness if not by Wilfulness and Presumption Now the failings of most People in this Case cannot proceed from Infidelity or want of Faith properly so called for they do most firmly believe the Justice and Providence of God And are able perhaps in cold Blood to convince the sturdiest Gainsayer and to warm the coldest and most frozen Neglecter of Religion But the business is that their thoughts are not always equally bent nor the Applications of these general Doctrines at all times made to their own private Circumstances Or even those Applications are not ever powerful alike And because the shewing our Faith by our Works is a duty of continual practice and use and not One single Act of Perswasion and Assent though never so stedfast Therefore every one in this respect is more or less defective as he is wanting in the ready performance of each Act. And even those who would be ready to dye at a stake for the Truth of Christianity yet cannot always preserve their Minds so throughly awake nor find the Impressions of these things so lively and vigorous as to prevent in their lives Every thing that is not perfectly consistent with such a Belief The Habit of Faith is in their Souls and in Many perhaps in Most Occasions exerts it self with great efficacy and success But it is their misfortune that the Cares of the World The Clutter of business The Diversions of Life Their own Inadvertency or some other accidental Unhappiness justle the more necessary Meditations aside for a while and so that Habit lies dormant and idle It will probably recover and rouse it self very quickly but till that be done it is the same thing as to that particular instant of action as if the man had had no such Ideas at all 3. But Thirdly There is yet another Account to be given of Men's weakness of Faith in which all of us are deeply All God knows but too deeply concerned I mean the Infirmities of Humane Nature with regard to the prevalency of our carnal Lusts and the Affection we bear to this present World The former Particular shewed us a defect owing to want of Consideration but This goes farther discovers a failing even in Consideration it self When we pretend to judge and yet determine wrong When we do remember our Duty think upon it but think and remember without Success And This is a failing of so much the more fatalconsequence because Persons of higher Perfection are Subject to it For that the Heedless and Heady should stumble and fall can be no strange thing to us But when the Cautious and Circumspect They who are sensible of the Slippery way and see their danger and intend to avoid the Precipice do yet slide into it This must in all reason make us very apprehensive and will warrant no Man in any vain supposals of absolute Security and Perfection The Powers of Reason and Religion are given us to check and controul the extravagance of our Desires to calm and quiet our Passions to comfort and sustain us in all our Disorders and Misfortunes And indeed if applied seasonably and impartially they are sufficient for this great Work An excellent Remedy for all our Diseases and a sure Support under the heaviest Calamities of humane Life But yet this Remedy does not always prove effectual because we do many times fail in the Use of it and will not allow it to have its full force and just operation upon our Hearts but incline too much to the Objects of sense and are carried away by too tender a Concern for the things of this present World We know well enough that the Happiness of a Christian is not placed here below And when the precious Promises of the Gospel are duly considered when a Life of Eternity and uninterrupted Bliss is put into the Balance against One which we are sure can be but short and find to be uneasy and vexatious at the best We cannot but be satisfied that the Apostle had reason in advising Men by His Example to look not at * 2 Cor. IV. 18. the things which are seen and are temporal but at the things that are not seen because they are Eternal And yet when we have imprest this Truth pretty well as we think upon our Souls it frequently either forsakes us quite when we come to the Encounter or proves too feeble when we have most occasion for it The Byass of Sense draws us from our strait Course Some trifling Advantage some pleasing Gratification presents it self and though we pretend to argue and debate the matter yet it is too frequently but like a Corrupt Judge All Arguments against inclination are lessened to the view The Bribery upon our affections
most beloved Servants when he sees this most expedient Profitable for the Tryal and Increase of their Vertue and Patience or any otherwise more for the Eternal Good of their Souls Thus it appears evidently That the Joy of Well-Doing does not always accompany the Action it self Sometimes it is separated from it by God who sends this Anguish and Tribulation of Spirit and consults our Advantage by these unpleasant Methods And sometimes an unhappy Constitution sheds its Venom upon the Mind and imbitters all its Reflections upon it self But however that be since the Pleasures and charming Satisfactions of Holiness may be sometimes missing And since these Ways there are at least of taking them from us the Consequence is undeniable to my present Purpose viz. That those inward Disquiets ought not to drive us to any distrust of Mercy or Despondency of our own Eternal Welfare That Comfort and Safety do not always dwell together and we argue wrong if we make the Want of Peace and Joy in believing a Proof of our not believing at all III. And now at length I am come to my Third and Last Thing proposed from the Text which is To lay down some Rules whereby the Weakness of Faith may be distinguished from the Want of it and how any Man by examining his own Conscience may discern whether his imperfect Belief be consistent with the Terms of Salvation or not The Necessity of having some such distinguishing Characters is very great because what I have said upon the Former Particulars is only designed to prove That the Imperfections of our Faith are not always our Faults but now and then our Misfortunes This was a Support due to the Integrity and honest Endeavours of some Melancholy good Persons But when I urge thus much on Their Behalf my Meaning is not to encourage Others in their Security who ought to be dejected and yet are not Some Cases give Men unnecessary Trouble and scare them with imaginary Dangers Others carry just Fear in them and open all Hell to Men so stupid and blind that that they cannot or will not see it So that it is of mighty Consequence to open the Eyes of both Those sorts of Persons and to set each of their Circumstances in a true Light that the One may be awakened from his frightful Dream the Other from his pleasant deluding One The Sorrowful rejoice in the vanishing of his Sorrows and the Sinner have no less Cause to do so in the timely Sight of his Misery and happy Care to prevent it This were a Work well deserving a larger and more particular treating than I am now able to allow it but however some few General Observations carefully applied and compared with what hath been said on the Two former Heads will be a sufficient Direction to us in this Affair First Such Imperfections in our Faith are very agreeable with our Safety as we our selves have not voluntarily contributed to There is as I said formerly a Defect in Believing which proceeds from the Mysterious Nature of the Doctrines propounded to us and the Shortness of our Understandings which are not large enough to comprehend them And this is such a Defect as Nature and not We are accountable for But there is also Another which Men make this only a Pretence for and That is wholly their Own For though we are not able to conceive every Article of the Christian Religion distinctly and to render a Reason of every Nicety that captious Disputers may load it with yet unless there be some Unfair Dealing of which we are Guilty to the blinding of our own Eyes there is enough to be discovered for the Conviction of our Judgment and bringing us into the Obedience of Faith Now indeed if we first consult Flesh and Blood and take a prejudice to Religion because itabridges us of some Pleasures and claps a severe Restraint upon some Appetites and expects that Humane Discourse should submit to Divine Revelation Upon These Terms the Success of our Study in it is not like to be very great But then the Disappointment is entirely from our selves For when Men thus possest pretend to examine and give off dissatisfied it is because their Minds are bribed and byassed against the Cause they undertake to judge Almighty God does indeed declare Truths of a more elevated kind but the Principles he requires us to proceed upon are the same And he gives Men leave to use all Arguments that they think reasonable in other Cases provided they will but yield their Assent upon equal Terms But if a Man resolve beforehand not to allow that God can be Wiser or Greater than himself if no Authority shall suffice to prove that any thing above the reach of his own Reason ever came from Heaven but all Mankind shall be esteemed Lyars rather than that Idol within his own Brain if he discern beforehand what Engagements these Doctrines when allowed draw him into and cannot away with the Absurdity of a Practice contradicting his Profession and upon that Account will not enslave himself nor tye up his own Hands This alters the Case extreamly These are not Difficulties of Nature's but our Own making God will vindicate his Institution and his Truth in severe Vengeance upon such perverse Wretches and make a just Difference between those that doubt because it is impossible for them to know perfectly and them that dispute and oppose because they are loth to find the Truth slack to consider and unwilling to believe Secondly Another very distinguishing Character of this imperfect Faith whether it be agreeable to the Terms of Salvation or not is the Humility or the Pride of the Man's Heart For where a Person is modest and thinks meanly of himself he will see and bewail and diligently endeavour to redress the Grievances and Infirmities of his own Mind His Ears will be open to Instruction and Reproof his Understanding will not disdain to captivate it self to the Wisdom of God nor blaspheme and rally the Inspirations of the Holy Ghost nor arraign all sober Christians of Credulity and Madness for submitting to a Voice from Heaven the Testimony of Miracles and the united Consent of the Church in all Ages He studies the Scriptures reverently confirms himself in what Reason may attain to and what it cannot he silently adores His Ignorance is not wilful and affected but he is ever desirous of better Information and in the mean while submits quietly to the Determination of his Superiors in disputed Points rather than he will disturb the Peace and Order of the Church for the sake of Contradiction or the Itch of advancing any particular Conceit of his own Such a Temper as This is highly necessary and commendable where no Man can know every Point of Religion perfectly and but very Few have Advantages of examining nicely all that may be known Now an Humble Spirit makes the best amends for such Disabilities in Speculation And indeed for all the Defects in Practice
them power to prevail for our Reformation And as the Efficacy of the Second Crowing was immediate and strong when attended with that rebuking Glance of our Blessed Master so where those Outward means are backed with the Inward Influences of the Spirit there they produce sudden and wonderful Alterations For what reasons God vouchsafes this Inward Call to Some and not to Others who all partake equally of the Outward Call is best known to â—…s own Infinite Wisdom Nor is it now requisite to enter so far into that Enquiry as we may know This is sufficient for my present purpose that the raising men dead in trespasses and Sins and quickening them with a Principle of Spiritual and new Life are described by St. Paul * Ephes I. 19 20. II. 1 5. as Miracles which nothing less than Almighty Power can do And therefore when we feel any Desires and Tendencies to lead better Lives and forsake our old Sins let us be sure to lay the first Foundation of our Repentance in Humility Not fondly imagining that this Sufficiency is of our selves but meekly and with all due Thankfulness acknowledging in the Language of the same St. Paul that †2 Cor. III. 5. we are not able of our selves so much as to think one good thought and that it is God alone ‖ Phil. II. 13. who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure that * 1 Cor. XV. 10. by the Grace of God we are what we are and that it lies upon Us to take great care that his Grace which is bestowed upon us be not in vain To which purpose 2. Secondly St. Peter's Example teaches us that our Repentance ought to be speedy He was no sooner made sensible of his fault but immediately he left the Scene of his Wickedness broke loose from the Company that had drawn him into it and betook himself to his Prayers and his Tears And We in like manner if we would approve our selves true Penitents must strike in with the very first Convictions of our own minds We must not tamper with our Consciences nor seek out frivolous Excuses for deferring our Reformation but improve the Motions of Grace and quit all occasions of Sin All that Company All those Pleasures or whatever else hath been a snare to us heretofore must be wholly abandoned Or if that cannot be so carefully watched so cautiously used that all the Approaches and Passes may be guarded and blocked up where the Tempter hath used or is likely to break in upon us And This is a thing that will admit of no delay because the continuing to cherish and approve our Sins is the same thing in effect with committing them over again It argues the very same disposition still to remain For he that is loath to part with his Vices wants nothing but Opportunity to repeat them And God who judges us according to the Bent of our Wills and measures the Good or Evil we do by the Degrees of Love or Hatred we bear to Him and Religion knows very well that They who put off their Repentance to a further day are still in the Gall of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity Men may flatter themselves and impose upon Others with I know not what idle Pretences but He that is seriously convinced he ought to repent and does not set about it immediately is not in good earnest nor does he sincerely hate his wicked ways or heartily intend ever to repent at all 3. Thirdly The Bitterness of St. Peter's Weeping instructs us how necessary and how Essicacious a branch of Repentance it is to be deeply and heartily sorry for our Sins This is necessary because we have to deal with a God to whom we are not in a condition of bringing any Atonement and therefore the Only Satisfaction we can make him is the taking the Shame of our Fault to our selves and being unfeignedly afflicted for all our unworthy behaviour toward him For which reason the broken and contrite heart is called in a peculiar manner God's Sacrifice and such an Offering as he will not despise Psal LI. 17. And as such Sorrow is Necessary so is it likewise of great Efficacy in the present case because our Care to avoid Sin for the future will naturally be proportionable to our Concern for having committed it heretofore Hence are the pious Mourners so blessed Hence the shootings and stinging pains of a wounded Conscience the greatest Mercies to the Sufferer Because such pains are profitable by begetting an irreconcilable and settled aversion against the wretched Cause of them and firmer resolutions to deliver from such smart and misery by seeking the peaceable fruits of Righteousness ever after And because such inward Reproaches and Anguish of Heart if the degree of This Sorrow be equal will have the same natural Effects with all Other Sorrow Therefore we are so often called upon for the same Testimonies of it as are usual under Other Afflictions Hence we are commanded to * Joel II. 12. turn to the Lord with weeping and Mourning Hence David washed his bed and watered his Couch with Tears †Psal VI. 6. and Hence God is said to put such Tears into his bottle ‖ Psal LVI 8. that is To treasure them up and have them in favourable Remembrance because as St. Paul says * 2 Cor. VII 10. Godly sorrow worketh Repentance Mistake not my Friends Sorrow is not Repentance but works it that is it is Instrumental toward it and very powerful to produce it Which leads me to a Fourth thing in which if we do not imitate St. Peter all the rest is of no Significance at all to us And That is an Effectual Change of Manners and stedfast Perseverance in Holiness for the time to come And This will be the natural Consequence of our Sorrow for Sin if it be indeed afflicting and sincere For No Man thinks he can be too careful to avoid that which creates him disquiet No Man needs be warned to keep at a distance from things which he hates and apprehends extream danger and certain Destruction from If therefore This be our real Sense of Sin our Behaviour will be agreeable to it But besides the Obligation which a due Regard to our own Safety lays upon us we are likewise bound to it in Gratitude to Almighty God For Which way can we express our thanks for the inestimable mercy of being rescued out of the Captivity of Sin and Death so well as by living to Him who hath thus loved us It is not enough in such a case that we refuse to be entangled again in the same Yoke of Bondage Thus much we owe to our Selves But to Him who hath hewed our snares in pieces we owe a great deal more The greater our Debt was the more we must testify our Affection to the kind Creditor who released it And This can only be done by devoting our selves as eagerly to the Service of Religion
as ever we had done formerly to that of our Lusts By stemming the Torrent of Profaneness and Impiety and endeavouring with all our might to promote Goodness in the World Particularly by being eminently conspicuous in those Virtues which are most directly contrary to the Vices we formerly indulged and by our active indefatigable Charity to the Souls of our Brethren giving Testimony how just a value we set upon the deliverance of our Own in our mighty care to rescue Theirs Thus far St. Peter's Example leads us But even when we have followed it thus far we may not suppose that our Pardon and good Acceptance are due to any Desert of our own Good Works Or that our deepest Sorrow can properly speaking have in it any thing of Satisfaction For as * Luke XXII 32. St. Peter's Faith did therefore not fail because Christ prayed that it might not so our Restoration and the Essicacy of our Repentance is entirely the Effect of the Merits and Intercession of the same kind Saviour He only could take up this quarrel between offended God and sinful Man and therefore when we find God most easy of Access and are suffered to draw so near as even to be mystically united to him and fed by him let us not forget to beg that the intolerable Burden of our Sins may be removed not in Presumption of our own Righteousness but in confidence of his manifold and great Mercies humbly beseeching him That for his Son our Lord Jesus Christ's Sake he would forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever heareafter serve and please Him In newness of Life To the honour and glory of his holy Name through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen SERMON VII THE CERTAINTY AND Nature of Regeneration St. John III. 8. The Wind bloweth where it lifteth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit WHEN we read of Nicodemus adventuring to Visit Jesus and acknowledging the Conviction his Miracles had wrought upon some of the Beholders that they concluded from hence his Mission and Authority to be Divine it is plain somewhat more than mere Curiosity drew him to this Conference Desires he had though as yet but imperfect of better Instruction but such as they were our Saviour did not disdain to gratify them in entring upon a Discourse concerning the Kingdom of God That Kingdom which it was his design to bring men to the Kingdom of that God from whom he came a Teacher Whether Nicodemus had enquired into the Qualifications requisite to prepare Men for and admit them into this Kingdom we know not or whether Christ of his own accord fell upon This as a Point the most improving the most necessary to be first understood and most pertinent to the purpose of stealing this Visit Nor was it material for St. John to acquaint us That which is of much greater Consequence is that he makes a Man's being born again the indispensable Condition of seeing that Kingdom V. 3. And This deserves the Greater Attention because a Master in Israel mistook it As if God had intended the Impossibility or at least our Saviour were so absurd to propose it of going through the Course of a Natural Birth the second time V. 4. From that wild Misconstruction our Lord delivers himself and explains the Nature of Regeneration That Water and the Spirit the Washing of Baptism outwardly and the inward Sanctifications of the Holy Ghost are the Principles by which it is effected V. 5. That Could it be compassed in that gross way Nicodemus misapprehended yet that would be of no Efficacy no Advantage at all in this Case For since in all Productions the thing born receives the Nature and Resemblance of That whence it s Being was derived Flesh could only produce Flesh But the new Creature which God requires consists in the Mind and therefore to bring forth a new Spirit it is necessary that the Vital Principle should be a Spirit V. 6. And however he might find some difficulty in assenting to this because neither the Cause nor the manner of its Operation fall under the notice of the Bodily Senses yet is not that any just Exception against the Reality of the Fact A very familiar Instance whereof he alledges in the Words of my Text which are thus introduced by the seventh Verse Marvel not that I said unto thee Ye must be born again The Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit The Words plainly consist of two parts A Similitude and The Application and my Discourse upon them shall accordingly distribute it self into these Two Heads First From the Similitude I shall draw some general Conclusions which may direct us in our Contemplation of Divine Truths and especially That of Regeneration which is the Subject Matter of our Lord's Argument with Nicodemus Secondly From the Application I shall consider how far the properties of the Wind mentioned here will give us any just ground to judge of the Holy Spirit 's workings upon the Souls of Men. I. I begin with some General Conclusions drawn from the Similitude it self such as may direct us in our Contemplation of Divine Truths and more especially in That of Regeneration which is the subject Matter of our Lord's Argument with Nicodemus And these Conclusions are as follow 1. First A man may have sufficient Reason to assure himself that a Thing really is without being able to give an account how it came to be For the Cause of a Thing is indeed one and a very satisfactory way of coming to the distinct Knowledge of its Nature But this is but One way of Many and Some things which we cannot come at this way may be so certain to us that it would be the Extremity of an Obstinate Singularity to deny them For as things have Causes so have they likewise Effects and Properties and other Characters by which they may be distinguished And it is enough in all Conscience if any of these give Evidence of their existing For we are every whit as sure that what hath no Being of its own cannot have Properties and Effects as we are that it could never have been without a Cause And therefore when we are able to assign any such Properties or Effects that is a Demonstration of the Reality of the Thing For instance Very Few if Any of the most Learned have been able to give a satisfactory Account of the Original of Winds but the Hypothesis of one Philosopher is disliked and exploded by another Now though these Curious Searchers into Nature cannot agree whence they come and whither they go yet herein they all agree that come and go they do This they know without any search And the unlettered part of the World who have neither Capacity