find any of those Virtues that I have mentioned condemned and forbidden A clear Evidence that Mankind never took any exception against them but are generally agreed about the Goodness of them Fourthly God hath shewn us what is good by External Revelation In former Ages of the World God revealed his will to particular Persons in an extraordinary manner and more especially to the Nation of the Jews the rest of the World being in a great measure left to the conduct of natural Light But in these later Ages he hath made a publick Revelation of his Will by his Son And this as to the matter of our Duty is the same in Substance with the Law of Nature For our Saviour comprehends all under these two general Heads the love of God and of our Neighbour The Apostle reduceth all to three Sobriety Justice and Piety The grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World So that if we believe the Apostle the Gospel teacheth us the very same things which Nature dictated to Men before only it hath made a more perfect discovery of them So that whatever was doubtful and obscure before is now certain and plain the Duties are still the same only it offers us more powerful Arguments and a greater Assistance to the performance of those Duties so that we may now much better say than the Prophet could in his days He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what it is that the Lord requires of thee Fifthly and lastly God shews us what is good by the motions of his Spirit upon the Minds of Men. This the Scripture assures us of and good Men have experience more especially of it though it be hard to give an account of it and to say what motions are from the Spirit of God and what from our own Minds for as the wind blows where it listeth and we hear the sound of it but know not whence it comes nor whither it goes so are the Operations of the Spirit of God upon the Minds of Men secret and imperceptible And thus I have done with the three things I propounded to speak to All that now remains is to make some Inferences from what hath been said by way of Application First Seeing God hath so abundantly provided that we should know our Duty we are altogether inexcusable if we do not do it Because he hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what the Lord requires of thee therefore thou art inexcusable O Man whosoever thou art who livest in a contradiction to this light God hath acquainted us with our Duty by such ways as may most effectually both direct and engage us to the practice of it we are prompted to it by a kind of natural Instinct and strong impressions upon our Minds of the difference of good and evil we are led to the knowledge and urged to the practice of it by our Nature and by our Reason and by our Interest and by that which is commonly very prevalent among Men the general voice and consent of Mankind and by the most powerful and governing passions in Humane Nature by hope and by fear and by shame by the prospect of advantage by the apprehension of danger and by the sense of honour and to take away all possible excuse of ignorance from us by an express Revelation from God the clearest and most perfect that ever was made to the World So that when ever we do contrary to our Duty in any of these great Instances we offend against all these and do in the highest degree fall under the heavy Sentence of our Saviour This is the Condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light Secondly You see hence what are the great Duties of Religion which God mainly requires of us and how reasonable they are Piety towards God and Justice and Charity towards Men the knowledge whereof is planted in our Nature and grows up with our Reason And these are things which are unquestionably good and against which we can have no exception things that were never reproved nor found fault with by Mankind neither our Nature nor our Reason riseth up against them or dictates any thing to the contrary We have all the Obligation and we have all the Encouragement to them and are secure on all hands in the practice of them In the doing of these things there is no danger to us from the Laws of Men no fear of displeasure from God no offence or sting from our own Minds And these things which are so agreeable to our Nature and our Reason and our Interest are the great things which our Religion requires of us more valuable in themselves and more acceptable to God than whole Burnt-offerings and Sacriâ—ices more than thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl more than if we offered to him all the Beasts of the Forest and the Cattle upon a thousand Hills We are not to neglect any Institution of God but above all we are to secure the observance of those great Duties to which we are directed by our very Nature and tyed by the surest and most sacred of all other Laws those which God hath riveted in our Souls and written upon our Hearts And that Mankind might have no pretence left to excuse them from these the Christian Religion hath set us free from those many positive and outward observances that the Jewish Religion was incumbred withall that we might be wholly intent upon these great Duties and mind nothing in comparison of the real and substantial Virtues of a good Life Thirdly You see in the last place what is the best way to appease the displeasure of God towards a sinful Nation God seems to have as great a Controversie with us as he had with the People of Israel and his wrath is of late years most visibly gone out against us and proportionably to the full measure of our Sins it hath been poured out upon us in full Vials How have the Judgments of God followed us And how close have they followed one another What fearful Calamities have our eyes seen enough to make the ears of every one that hears them to tingle What terrible and hazardous Wars have we been ingaged in What a raging Pestilence did God send among us that swept away thousands and ten thousands in our streets What a dreadful and fatal Fire that was not to be checked and resisted in its course 'till it had laid in Ashes one of the Greatest and Richest Cities in the World What unseasonable weather have we had of late as if for the Wickedness of Men upon the Earth the very Ordinances of Heaven were changed and Summer and Winter Seed-time and Harvest had forgotten their appointed Seasons And which is more and sadder than all this what dangerous attempts have been made upon our
Duties namely those which are comprehended under those two great Commandments of the love of God and our Neighbour In the Christian Religion there is very little that is meerly Positive and Instituted besides the two Sacraments and praying to God in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ 2. The most prefect Revelation that ever God made to Mankind I mean that of the Christian Religion doth furnish us with the best helps and advantages for the performance of Moral Duties it discovers our Duty more clearly to us it offers us the greatest assistance to enable us to the performance of it it presents us with the most powerful Motives and Arguments to engage us thereto so that this Revelation of the Gospel is so far from weakning the obligation of natural Duties that it confirms and strengthens it and urgeth us more forcibly to the practice of them 3. The positive Rites and Institutions of Revealed Religion are so far from entrenching upon the Laws of Nature that they were always designed to be subordinate and subservient to them and when ever they come in competition it is the declared will of God that positive Institutions should give way to natural Duties and this I have shewn to be plainly the meaning of this Saying in the Text I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice If Circumstances be such that one part of Religion must give place God will have the Ritual and Instituted part to give way to that which is Natural and Moral It is very frequent in Scripture when the Duties of Natural Religion and Rites of Divine Institution come in competition to slight and disparage these in comparison of Moral Duties and to speak of them as things which God hath no pleasure in and which in comparison of the other he will hardly own that he hath commanded When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands Isa 1. 12. Thou desirest not Sacrifice thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal 51. 16. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl He hath shewn thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy But God no where makes any comparison to the disadvantage of Natural Duties he never derogated from them in any Case he never said he would have such a thing and not mercy or that he had rather such a Rite of Religion should be performed than that men should do the greatest good and shew the greatest Charity to one another It is no where made a question will the Lord be pleased that we deal justly every Man with his Neighbour and speak the truth one to another that we be kind and tender-hearted and ready to forgive that we be willing to distribute and give Alms to those that are in need there is no such question as this put in Scripture nay it is positive in these Matters that with such Sacrifices God is well pleased I instance in this Vertue more especially of Kindness and Compassion because it is one of the prime instances of Moral Duties as Sacrifice is put for all the Ritual and Instituted part of Religion and this disposition of Mind our Saviour makes the root of all Moral Duties Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the Apostle speaks of it as the great End and Scope of the Gospel The end of the Commandment is Charity And this temper and disposition of Mind he advanceth above Knowledge and Faith and Hope The greatest of these is Charity and without this he will not allow a Man to be any thing in Christianity this he makes our highest perfection and attainment and that which abides and remains in the future state Charity never fails This our Saviour most effectually recommends to us both in his Doctrine and by his Example this he presseth as the peculiar Law of his Religion and the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple This he requires us to exercise towards those who practice the contrary towards us to love our Enemies and to do good to them that hate us And of this he hath given us the greatest Example that ever was when we were Enemies to him he loved us so as hardly ever any Man did his Friend so as to lay down his Life for us and he Instituted the Sacrament for a Memorial of his love to Mankind and to put us in mind how we ought to love one another And now the Application of what hath been said upon this Argument to the occasion of this Day is very obvious and there are two very natural Inferences from it First From what hath been said upon this Argument it plainly appears what place Natural and Moral Duties ought to have in the Christian Religion and of all Natural Duties Mercy and Goodness This is so primary a Duty of Humane Nature so great and considerable a part of Religion that all positive Institutions must give way to it and nothing of that kind can cancel the obligation of it nor justifie the violation of this great and Natural Law Our Blessed Saviour in his Religion hath declared nothing to the prejudice of it but on the contrary hath heightned our obligation to it as much as is possible by telling us that the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them So that they know not what manner of Spirit they are of who will kill Men to do God service and to advance his Cause and Religion in the World will break through all obligations of Nature and Civil Society and disturb the Peace and Happiness of Mankind Nor did our Saviour by any thing in his Religion design to release Men from the obligation of Natural and Civil Duties He had as one would imagine as much Power as the Pope but yet he deposed none of the Princes of this World nor did Absolve their Subjects from their Fidelity and Obedience to them for their opposition to his Religion he assumed no such Power to himself no not in Ordine ad Spiritualia nor that ever we read of did he give it to any other Whence then comes his pretended Vicar to have this Authority And yet the horrid attempt of this Day was first designed and afterwards carried on in prosecution of the Popes Bull of Excommunication and was not so much the effect of the despair and discontent of that Party here in England as the Natural Consequence of their Doctrines of Extirpating Hereticks and Deposing Kings and Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance to them No Zeal for any positive Institution in Religion can justifie the Violation of the natural Law the Precepts whereof are of primary and indispensable Obligation The Pope's Supremacy is not so clear as the Duty of Obedience to civil Government nor is Transubstantiation so plainly revealed in Scripture as it is both in Nature and Scripture that we should do no murder And yet how many thousands have been
those future good things which were promised under the Gospel a kind of rude draught of a better and more perfect Institution which was designed and at last finâ—sht and perfected by the Christian Religion This account the Apostle gives of the legal Rites and Observances Col. 2. 16 17. Let nb maâ—â— judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come bâ—t the body is of Christ that is he is the substance and reality of all those things which were shâ—dowed and figured by those legal observances And so the Apostle to the Heb. calls the Priests and Sacrifices of the Law the Examples and shadows of Heavenly things Chap. 8. 5. and so Chap. 10. 1. the Law having a Shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things that is being but an obscure Type and not a perfect Representation of the Blessings and Benefits of the Gospel which we now have in truth and reality Now reason will tell us that the Laws concerning these Types and Shadows were only to continue 'till the Substance of the things signified by them should come and that they would be of no longer use when that more perfect Institution which was figured by them should take place and then they would expire and become void of themselves because the reason and use of them ceasing they must necessarily fall But they did not expire immediately upon the coming of Christ and therefore he himself submitted to these Laws so long as they continued in force he was Circumcised and presented in the Temple and performed all other Rites required by the Law that first Covenant to which these Laws and Ordinances belonged continuing in force 'till the ratification of the second Covenant by the death of Christ and then these Laws expired or rather were fulfill'd and had their accomplishment in the Sacrifice of Christ which made all the Sacrifices and other Rites of the Jewish Religion needless and of no use for the future Christ having by this one Sacrifice of himself perfected for ever them that are sanctified as the same Apostle speaks Heb. 10. 14. So that Christ did not properly abrogate and repeal those Ritual and Ceremonial Laws but they having continued as long as they were designed to do and there was any use of them they abated and ceased of themselves And that the death of Christ was the time of their expiration because then the new Covenant took place St. Paul expresly tells us Eph. 2. 15. having abolisht or voided in his flesh the law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and this v. 16. he is said to have done by his Cross and more plainly Col. 2. 14. blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross So that you see that even the Ceremonial Law was not so properly abrogated by the Sacrifice and Death of Christ but rather had its accomplishment and attained its end in the Sacrifice of Christ which by the Eternal efficacy of it to the expiation of Sin and the purifying of our Consciences hath made all the Sacrifices and Washings and other Rites of the Ceremonial Law for ever needless and superfluous Thirdly But especially as to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual obligation our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or to lessen and slacken the obligation of them And of this I told you our Saviour doth principally if not solely speak here in the Text as will appear to any one that shall attentively consider the scope of his Discourse In the beginning of his Sermon he promiseth Blessing to those and those only who were endowed with those Virtues which are required by the Precepts of the Moral Law or comprehended in them and then he tells them that Christians must be very eminent and conspicuous for the practice of them v. 16. Let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven and then he cautions them not to entertain any such imagination as if he intended to dissolve the obligation of the Law and to free Men from the practice of Moral Duties which probably some might have suggested against him think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets as if he had said you cannot entertain any such conceit if you consider that the Precepts which I inculcate upon you and those Virtues the practice whereof I recommend to you are the same which are contained in the Law and the Prophets So that I am so far from crossing the main design of the Law and the Prophets and taking away the obligation of Moral Duties enjoyned by the Jewish Religion that I come purposely to carry on the same Design to further perfection to give a more perfect and clear Law and to give a greater enforcement and encouragement to the practice of Moral Duties these were always the sum and substance of Religion the ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets and therefore I am so far from discharging Men from the obligation of the Moral Precepts of the Law that I come to bind them more strongly upon you And verily I say unto you that is I solemnly declare that whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is he shall in no wise enter therein You think the Scribes and Pharisees very Pious and Excellent Men and to have attained to a high pitch of Righteousness but I say unto you that except your Righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And then he instanceth in several Precepts of the Moral Law which in the letter of them especially as they were interpreted by the Teachers of the Law among the Jews were very much short of that Righteousness and Perfection which he now requires of his Disciples and Followers So that his whole Discourse is about Precepts and Obligations of the Moral Law and not a word concerning the Ritual and Ceremonial Law which makes me very prone to think that our Saviour's meaning in the Text is this that his Religion was so far from thwarting and opposing that which was the main design of the Law and the Prophets that is of the Jewish Religion that the principal intention of Christianity was to advance the practice of goodness and virtue by strengthning the obligation of Moral Duties and giving us a more perfect Law and Rule of Life and offering better Arguments and greater Encouragements to the obedience of this Law Therefore for the fuller explication and illustration of this Matter I shall endeavour to clear these three Points First That the Main and Ultimate Design of the Law and the
so with other Nations neither had the Heathen such a knowledge of God's Laws But notwithstanding this the Jewish Religion was very short and defective very weak and infectual to the great end of Righteousness and true Holiness and to raise Men to that perfection of goodness of which Humane Nature through the grace of God is capable and therefore there wanted a more perfect Institution to supply the defects and weakness and imperfection even of that Divine Revelation which God had made to the Jews and really to effect and accomplish that which the Jewish Religion attempted and aimed at and was but as I may say rudely begun under that imperfect Institution And this the Gospel or the Christian Religion revealed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath fully effected as will evidently appear by a particular Survey and Consideration of the main defects of the Jewish Religion which I shall shew to be all perfectly made up by the revelation of the Gospel and the Doctrine of Christianity in these following Particulars First it was a great defect of the Jewish Religion that a considerable part of it was meerly external concerning the purification of the Body and the Flesh and only figurative of that inward Purity and real Righteousness which renders Men truly good and like to God for which reason the Jewish Institution is by the Apostle to the Hebrews call'd the Law of a Carnal Commandment Heb. 7. 16 and Ch. 9. 10 is said to consist only that is chiefly in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation that is 'till the Messias should come and give such Laws as should really tend to reform the Hearts and Lives of Men and therefore these Laws and Ordinances are call'd poor pitiful Elements and the Rudiments of the World fitted rather for Children in understanding and goodness than to bring Men to any maturity and perfection in goodness All their Rites of purification did only sanctifie to the purifying of the Flesh but did not purge the Conscience from dead works as the Apostle to the Hebrews speaks Ch. 9. 13 14. they could not make those that performed and observed them perfect as pertaining to the Conscience v. 9. that is these Laws had no effect upon the minds of Men to make them really better to cure them of their Moral Defects and Impurities their Sins and Vices But the Christian Institution doth perfectly supply this defect by taking us off from those Carnal and External Observances and principally requiring that we worship God in spirit and in truth by giving us such Laws as wholly tend to advance real and substantial goodness purity and holiness of heart and life such as mainly tend to reform the Minds and Manners of Men and to make us like to that Holy and perfect Being whom we worship and besides an external humble and reverent demeanour of our selves in the worship of God to which Natural Religion doth likewise direct Christianity hath only Instituted two solemn External Rites viz. Baptism and the Lords Supper whereby we solemnly oblige our selves to the practice of all virtue and goodness I say only these two that by the multitude of external Observances Christians might not be taken off from the minding of the real and substantial Duties of Religion And therefore the Church of Rome have extreamly abated and weakned the force of Christianity upon the Hearts and Lives of Men by amusing them with External Rites which they have multiplied to that excessive degree as to make the Yoke of Christ really heavier than that of Moses and the Christian Religion a more external and carnal Commandment than that of the Law and by this means have diverted and taken off the Minds of Men from the main design of Christianity insomuch that they are so employed and taken up with Matters of external Ceremony that they have no leisure to think of being good Men and to mind the great and substantial Duties and Virtues of the Christian Life so that they have spoil'd the Christian Religion of one of its chief Excellencies and Perfections I mean the simplicity of its Worship which they have now encumbred with so many foolish and frivolous Rites and Observances as do not only render it more burthensom but less apt to make men inwardly and substantially good than even Judaism itself This is so true and so visible that the wiser and better sort of them have complain'd of it for several Ages and still do as much as they dare for fear of the Inquisition or some other censure Secondly Another defect of the Law of Moses was that it did not give encouragement enough to Repentance by declaring and assuring to us any certain way and method for the expiation and forgiveness of Sin This the Rites of all Religion aimed at and pretended to but were very ineffectual to that end The Heathen Sacrifices and all the cruel and barbarous Rites belonging to them did all pretend to be so many ways of appeasing the offended Deity and of making atonement and expiation for Sin and the Sacrifices of the Jews were Instituted by God himself to make an external and legal expiation and to be Types and Shadows of a better and more perfect Sacrifice which should really expiate Sin but even this was very darkly and imperfectly discovered to them besides that the expiations of the Law did only extend to the least sorts of Sins those of ignorance and inadvertency but not at all to presumptuous Sins and such as were committed with a high hand not to wilfull and deliberate Sins except in some very few and rare Cases particularly mentioned in the Law so that tho' a great part of the Religious Rites both of the Pagan and Jewish Religion aimed at the expiation of Sin yet were they really ineffectual to that end and upon the whole matter Mankind tho' they conceived good hope of God's mercy and forgiveness in case of Repentance Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his anger yet they were unacquainted with any certain and effectual means to that purpose It remains then that this great blessing of the Forgiveness of Sins was never sufficiently declared and assured to Mankind but through Jesus Christ in the Gospel So St. Paul expresly asserts Acts 13. 38 39. Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of Sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses The Gospel hath provided an expiation for all Sins in general and that by a Sacrifice of inestimable value the blood of the Son of God And this is a mighty encouragement to Repentance and one most effectual means to reclaim Men from their Sins to be assured that they are indemnified for what is past And this the Apostle means when he says Gal. 3. 13. that
the Gospel by Reason of this mighty advantage is call'd a state of Adoption and Liberty ver 15. for ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage but the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father and 2 Cor. 3. 17. where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty And to this very thing St. Paul appeals as that whereby Men might judge whether the Law or the Gospel were the more excellent and powerful Dispensation Gal. 3. 2. This only would I learn of you received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith As if he had said let this one thing determine that whole Matter were ye made Pertakers of this great Priviledge and Blessing of the Spirit while ye were of the Jewish Religion or since ye became Christians And ver 14. he calls it the blessing of Abraham that is the blessing promised to all Nations by Abraham's Seed namely the Mâ—ssias that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christâ— that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And then for the supporting us under afflictions the Gospel promiseâ—h an extraordinary assistance of Godâ—s holy Spirit to us 1 Pet. 4. 14. if ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resâ—eth upon you But were theâ—e no good Men undeâ— the dispensation of the Law Yes certainly there were and they were so by the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit but â—hen this was an effect of the Divine goodness but not of any special Promise contained in that Covenant of Divine grace and assistance to be conferred on all those that were admitted into it But thus it is in the New Covenant of the Gospel and therefore the Law is callâ—d a dead letter the oldness of the letter and the ministration of the letter in opposition to the Gospâ—l which is call'd the Ministration of the Spirit And this the Apostle lays special weight upon as a main difference between these two Covenants that the first gave an external Law but the new Covenant offers inward grace and assistance to enable Men to Obedience and hath an inward and powerful efficacy upon the Minds of Men accompanying the Ministration of it Heb. 8. 7 8 9 10. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second For finding fault with them he saith behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers c. For this is the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts And of this inward Grace and assistance we are further secured by the powerful and prevalent and perpetual intercession of our High-Priest for Sinners at the right hand of God not like the intercession of the Priests under the Law who being Sinners themselves were less fit to intercede for others but we have an High-Priest that is holy harmless undefiled and seperate from Sinners who by the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God to purchase for us those Blessings which he intercedes for The Priests under the Law were Intercessors upon Earth but Christ is entered into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. The Priests under the Law were removed from this Office by Death but Christ because he continues for ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is an everlasting Advocate and Intercessor for us in the virtue of his most meritorious Sacrifice continually presented to his Father where he is always at the right hand of God to present our Prayers to him and to obtain pardon of our Sins and grace to help in time of need and by his intercession in Heaven to procure all those Blessings to be actually conâ—er'd upon us which he purchased for us by his blood upon Earth wherefore he is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them as the same Apostle speaks Heb. 7. 25. And thus I have as briefly as well I could shewed how the Christian Religion doth supply all the weaknesses and defects and imperfections of the Jewish Religion and consequently does in no wise contradict or interfeer with the great Design of the Law and the Prophets but hath perfected and made up whatever was weak or wanting in that Institution to make Men truly good or as the Expression is in the Prophet Daniel to bring in everlasting Righteousness that is to clear and confirm those Laws of Holiness and Righteousness which are of indispensible and eternal obligation And if this be the great Design of our Saviour's coming and the Christian Doctrine be every way fitted to advance Righteousness and true Holiness and to make us as excellently good as this imperfect state of Mortality will admit since it hath many advantages incomparably beyond any Religion or Institution that ever was in the World both in respect of the perfection of its Laws and the force of its Motives and Arguments to Repentance and a Holy Life and in respect of the Encouragements which it gives and the Examples which it sets before us and the powerful assistance which it offers to us to enable us to cleanâ—e our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God What a shame is this to us who are under the power of this excellent Institution if the temper of our Minds and the tenour of our Conversation be not in some measure answerable to the Gospel of Christ The greater helps and advantages we have of being good the greater things may justly be expected from us for to whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required Christianity is the fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law by walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit by mortifying the deeds of the Flesh and by bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit which are Love Joy Peace Long-Suffering Gentleness Goodness Fidelity Meekness and Temperance The Righteousness of Faith doth not consist in a barren and ineffectual belief of the Gospel in a meer embracing of the Promises of it and relying upon Christ for Salvation in a Faith without works which is dead but in a Faith which worketh by Love in becoming new Creatures and in keeping the Commandments of God The Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment 1 John 3. 23. and this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also 1 John 4. 21. That we approve the things that are
he might redeem them that were under the Law and that those who were in the condition of Servants before might be set at liberty and receive the adoption of Sons But how did his being made under the Law qualifie him to redeem those who were under the Law Thus By submitting to it himself he shewed that he owned the Authority of it and that he had no malice or enmity against it or as he himself expresses it that he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it And being fulfill'd and having serv'd the time and end for which God intended it it expir'd of it self like a Law which is not made for perpetuity but limited to a certain period And our Blessed Saviour who came with greater Authority than Moses and gave greater Testimony of his Divine Authority had sufficient power to declare the expiration of it and by Commissioning his Disciples before and after his death to Preach the Gospel to the whole World he put an end to that particular Law and Dispensation which only concern'd the Jewish Nation by giving a general Law to all Mankind So that from the Death of our Saviour and his Ascension into Heaven upon which followed the general publication of the Gospel the Law of Moses ceased and according to our Saviour's express appointment Proselytes were to be admitted into the Christian Church only by Baptism and not by Circumcision And â—f Circumcision which was the sign of that Covenant was laid aside then the whole Obligation of that Law and Covenant which God had made with the Jews was also ceased It was once indeed the mark of God's chosen and peculiar People but now that God hath revealed himself to the whole World by his Son and offers Salvation to all Mankind Gentiles as well as Jews the wall of separation is broken down and Circumcision which was the mark of distinction between Jews and Gentiles is taken away and therefore he is said to have made peace by his Cross and to have blotted out and taken away the hand-writing of Ordinances nailing it to his Cross that is from the time of his Death to have taken away the obligation of the Law of Moses tho' it was a good while after before the Jews were wholly weaned from the veneration and use of it Nay it was some time before the Apostles were clearly convinc'd that the Gospel was to be preach'd to the Gentiles this being one of those Truths which our Saviour promised after his departure his Spirit should lead them into the perfect knowledge of and then they were fully instructed that the Law of Moses was expir'd and that it was no longer necessary to the Salvation of Men that they should be Circumcised and keep that Law And tho' it was once enjoyn'd by God himself to the Jews and their Obedience to it was necessary to their acceptance with God yet now by Christ Jesus God had offered Salvation to Men upon other Terms and whether they were Circumcised or not was of no moment to their Justification or Salvation one way or other but provided they perform'd the Condition of this New Covenant of the Gospel they were all alike capable of the Divine Favour and Acceptance But I proceed to that which I mainly intended to prosecute from these words and that is the Second Particular in the Text namely that according to the terms of the Gospel and the Christian Religion nothing will avail to our justification and acceptance with God but the real renovation of our Hearts and Lives neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision but a new Creature For the full explication of this I shall do these three Things First Shew what is imply'd in this Phrase of a new Creature Secondly That this is the great Condition of our justification and acceptance with God and that it is the same in substance with Faith perfected by Charity and with keeping the Commandments of God Thirdly That it is very reasonable it should be so 1. What is imply'd in this Phrase of a new Creature It is plain at first sight that it is a Metaphorical expression of that great and thorough change which is made in Men by the Gospel or the Christian Religion The Scripture sets forth to us this Change by great variety of expressions by Conversion and turning from our Iniquities unto God by Repentance which signifies a change of our Mind and Resolution and is in Scripture call'd Repentance from dead works and Repentance unto Life by Regeneration or being born again by Resurrection from the Dead and rising to newness of Life by Sanctification and being wash'd and cleans'd from all filthiness and impurity which three last Metaphors are imply'd in Baptism which is call'd Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. According to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the â—oly Ghost and our being born again of Water and the Holy Ghost John 3. 3. Except a Man be born again c. and ver 5. except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God and the purifying of our Consciences Heb. 10. 22. having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies wash'd with pure water and the answer of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptism doth now save us not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God and finally our being Baptiz'd into the Death and Resurrection of Christ Rom. 6. 3 4. Know ye not that so many of us as were Baptized into Jesus Christ were Baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life And lastly this Change is set forth to us by Renovation and our being made New Creatures and new Men 2 Cor. 5. 17. Therefore if any Man be in Christ that is professeth himself a Christian he is a new Creature old things are past away behold all things are become new And so likewise Ephes 4. 22 23 24. this great Change is exprest by putting off concerning the former Conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to the lusts of deceit and being renewed in the spirit of our Minds and putting on that new Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness The Expression is very emphatical renewed in the spirit of our Minds that is in our very Minds and Spirits to signifie to us that it is a most inward and thorough Change reaching to the very center of our Souls and Spirits And Colos 3. 9 10 11th verses it is represented much after the same manner Seeing ye have put off the old Man with his deeds and have put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that Created him where there is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor
Uncircumcision Barbarian Sâ—ythian bond nor free but Christ is all and in all Which is the same with what the Apostle says here in the Text that in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature that is these external Marks and Differences signifie nothing but this inward Change the new Creature Christ formed in us this in the Christian Religion is all in all But that we may the more clearly understand the just importance of this Metaphor of a new Creature or a new Creation I shall First Consider what it doth certainly signifie by comparing this Metaphorical Phrase with other plain Texts of Scripture And Secondly That it doth not import what some would extend it to so as to found Doctrines of great Consequence upon the single strength of this and the like Metaphors in Scripture without any manner of countenance from plain Texts First I shall consider what this Metaphor doth certainly import so as to be undeniably evident from other more clear and full Texts of Sripture namely these two Things 1. The greatness of this Change 2. That it is effected and wrought by a Divine Power 1. The greatness of this Change it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a new Creation as if the Christian Doctrine firmly entertained and believed did as it were mould and fashion Men over again transforming them into a quite other sort of Persons than what they were before and made such a change in them as the Creating Power of God did in bringing this Beautiful and orderly frame of things out of their dark and rude Chaos Thus the Apostle represents it 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness alluding to the first Creation hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ We are translated from one extream to another Acts 26. 18. When our Lord sends Paul to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles he tells him what a change it would make in them by opening their eyes and turning them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God And St. Peter expresses the change which Christianity makes in Men by their being call'd out of darkness into a marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. And so St. Paul Eph. 5. 8. Ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. And indeed wherever the Doctrine of Christ hath its full effect and perfect work it makes a mighty change both in their inward Principles and outward Practice it darts a new light into their Minds so that they see things otherwise than they did before and form a different judgment of things from what they did before it endues them with a new Principle and new Resolutions gives them another Spirit and another Temper a quite different sense and gust of things from what they formerly had And this inward change of their Minds necessarily produceth a proportionable change in their Lives and Conversations so that the Man steers quite another course acts after another rate and drives on quite other designs from what he did before And this is remarkably seen in those who are reclaimed from Impiety and Prophaneness to Religion and from a vicious to a virtuous course of Life The Change is great and real in all but not so sensible and visible in some as others in those who are made good by the insensible steps of a pious and virtuous Education as in those who are translated out of a quite contrary state and tâ—rn'd from the power of Satan unto God and translated out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Christ which was the case of the Heathen World in their first Conversion to Christianity Secondly This Change is effected and wrought by a Divine Power of the same kind with that which Created the World and raised up Christ Jesus from the Dead two great and glorious Instances of the Divine Power and to these the Scripture frequently alludes when it speaks of this New Creation God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts Like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also are raised to newness of life saith St. Paul Rom. 6. 4. And to the same purpose the same Apostle speaks Ephes 1. 19 20. And that ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the operation of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead So that our Renovation and being made new Creatures is an instance of the same glorious Power which exerted it self in the first Creation of things and in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Dead but not altogether after the same manner as I shall shew under the next Head I should now in the second place proceed to shew that this Metaphor of a new Creation doth not import what some Men would extend it to so as to found Doctrines of great consequence upon the single strength of this and other like Metaphors of Scripture without any manner of countenance and confirmation from plain Texts But this I reserve to another Discourse SERMON VI. Of the Nature of Regeneration and its Necessity in order to Justification and Salvation GALAT. VI. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature IN these words are contained these two Things First That the Gospel hath taken away the obligation of the Law having taken away the sign of that Covenant which was Circumcision Secondly That according to the terms of the Gospel and the Christian Religion nothing will avail to our justification and acceptance with God but the real renovation of our Hearts and Lives For the full explication of this I propounded to do these three Things I. To shew what is imply'd in this Phrase of a new Creature II. That this is the great Condition of our justification and acceptance with God and that it is the same in sense and substance with those other expressions in the two parallel Texts of Faith perfected by Charity and keeping the Commandments of God III. That it is very reasonable that this should be the Condition of our justification and acceptance to the favour of God I began with the first of these viz. To shew what is imply'd in this Phrase of a New Creature as to which I shew'd First What this Metaphor doth certainly import so as to be undeniably evident from other more clear and full Texts of Scripture namely the greatness of this Change and that it is effected by a Divine Power I now proceed Secondly To shew that it doth not import what some would extend it to and that so as to found Doctrines of great Consequence upon the meer and single strength of this and other like Metaphors of Scripture without any manner of countenance
the grace of Contentment by great Consideration and diligent Care of himself in several Conditions not as if the habit of this grace had been infused into him at once Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learn'd in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need And thus I have done with the first thing I propounded to Consider namely the true and just Importance of this Metaphor of the new Creation The two Particulars which remain I shall by God's assistance finish in my next Discourse SERMON IX Of the Nature of Regeneration and its Necessity in order to Justification and Salvation GALAT. VI. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature THE Observation I am still upon from these Words is this viz. That in the Christian Religion nothing will avail to our Justification but the Renovation of our Hearts and Lives exprest here by a New Creature In treating of which I propos'd the doing of three things First To shew the â—rue import of this Metaphor of a new Creature Secondly To shew that this is the great Condition of oâ—â— Justification And Thirdly That it is highly Reasonable that it should be so In treating of the first of these Particulars I have consider'd some Doctrines as founded upon this Metaphor which I have shewn at large not only to have no Foundation in Scripture or Reason or Experience but also to be very unreasonable in themselves and contrary to the plain and constant tenour of Scripture and to the ordinary Method of God's grace in the Regeneration of Men whether by a Religious and Virtuous Education or in those who are reclaim'd from a notorious wicked Course of Life And that I have so long insisted upon this Argument and handled it in a more contentious way than is usual with me did not proceed from any love to Controversie which I am less fond of every day than other but from a great desire to put an end to these Controversies and quarrellings in the dark by bringing them to a clear state and plain issue and likewise to undeceive good Men concerning some current Notions and Doctrines which I do really believe to be dishonourable to God and contrary to the plain declarations of Scripture and a cause of great perplexity and discomfort to the Minds of Men and a real discouragement to the Resolutions and Endeavours of becoming better Upon which Considerations I was strongly urgent to search these Doctrines to the bottom and to contribute what in me lay to the rescuing of good Men from the disquiet and entanglement of them I will conclude this Matter with a few Cautions not unworthy to be remembred by us That we would be careful so to ascribe all Good to God that we be sure we ascribe nothing to him that is Evil or any ways unworthy of him That we do not make him the sole Author of our Salvation in such a way as will unavoidably charge upon him the final impenitency and ruine of a great part of Mankind That we do not so magnifie the grace of God as to make his Precepts and Exhortations sâ—gnifie nothing Such as these Make ye new Heâ—â—ts and new Spirits strive to enter in at the strait gate Where if by the strait gate be meant the difficulty of our first entrance upon a Religious Course that is of our Conversion and Regeneration I cannot imagine how it is possible to reconcile our being meerly passive in this work and doing nothing at all in it with our Saviour's Precept of striving to enter in at the strait gate unless to be very active and to be meerly passive about the same thing be all one and an earnest contention and endeavour be the same thing with doing nothing Again that we do not make the utmost degeneracy and depravation which Men ever arrived at by the greatest abuse of themselves and the most vile and wicked practices the standard of an unregenerate state and of the common Condition of all Men by Nature And lastly that we do not make some particular instances in Scripture of the strange and sudden Conversion of some Persons as namely of St. Paul and the Jaylor in the Acts the common rule and measure of every Man's Conversion so that unless a Man be as it were struck down by a Light and Power from Heaven and taken with a fit of trembling and frighted almost out of his wits or find in himself something equal to this he can have no assurance of his Conversion whereas a much surer Judgment may be made of the sincerity of a Man's Conversion by the real Effects of this Change than by the Manner of it This our Saviour hath taught us by that apt resemblance of the operation of God's Spirit to the blowing of the wind of the Original Cause whereof and of the reason of its ceasing or continuance and why it blows stronger or gentler this way or that way we are altogether ignorant but that it is we are sensible from the sound of it John 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound of it but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit The effects of God's Holy Spirit in the Regeneration of Men are sensible tho' the manner and degrees of his operation upon the Souls of Men are so various that we can give no account of them by which one wou'd think our Saviour had sufficiently caution'd us not to reduce the Operations of God's grace and Holy Spirit in the Regeneration of Men to any certain Rule or Standard but chiefly to regard the sensible effects of this secret work upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. And after all it is in vain to contend by any Arguments against clear and certain experience If we plainly see that many are insensibly changed and made good by pious Education in the Nurture aud Admonition of the Lord and that somâ— who have long lived in a prophane neglect and contempt of Religion are by the secret power of God's word and Holy Spirit upon calm consideration without any great terrours and amazement visibly changed and brought to a better Mind and Course it is in vain in these Cases to pretend that this Change is not real because the Manner of it is not answerable to some Instances which are Recorded in Scripture or which we have observ'd in our Experience and because these Persons cannot give such an account of the time and manner of their Conversion as is agreeable to these instances which is just as if I should meet a Man beyond Sea whom I had known in England and would not believe that he had crost the Seas because he said he had a smooth and easie
passage and was waâ—ted over by a gentle Wind and could tell no Stories of Storms and Tempests And thus I have fully and faithfully endeavour'd to open to you the just importance of this Phrase or Expression in the Text of the new Creature or the new Creation I proceed to the Second Particular I propounded namely that the real Renovation of our Hearts and Lives is according to the terms of the Gospel and the Christian Religion the great Condition of our justification and acceptance with God and that this is the same in sense and substance with those Phrases in the parallel Texts to this of Faith perfected by Charity and of keeping the Commandments of God That according to the terms of the Gospel the great Condition of our justification and acceptance with God is the real Renovation of our Hearts and Lives is plain not only from this Text which affirms that in thâ— Christian Religion nothing will avail us but the new Creature but likewise from many other clear Texts of Scripture and this whether by Justification be meant our first Justification upon our Faith and Repentance or our continuance in this state or our final Justification by our solemn Acquital and Absolution at the Great Day which in Scripture is called Salvation and Eternal Life That this is the Condition of our first Justification that is of the Forgiveness of our Sins and our being received into the grace and favour of God is plain from all those Texts where this Change is exprest by our Repentance and Conversion by our Regeneration and Renovation by our Purification and Sanctification or by any other terms of the like importance For under every one of these Notions this Change is made the Condition of the forgiveness of our Sins and acceptance to the favour of God Under the Notion of Repentance and Conversion Acts 2. 38. Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 3. 19. Repent and be Converted that your sins may be blotted out Upon the same account a penitent acknowledgement of our Sins which is an essential part of Repentance is made a Condition of the forgiveness of them 1 John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Under the notion of Regeneration and Renovation 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ that is become a true Christian which is all one with being in a justified state he is a new Creature old things are past away behold all things are became new Tit. 3. 3 4 5 6 7. where the Apostle declares at large what Change is requir'd to put us into a justified state and to entitle us to the inheritance of Eternal Life For we our selves were also sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared not by works of Righteousness which we have done that is not for any precedent Righteousness of ours for we were great Sinners but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his Grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of Eternal Life So that the Change of our former Temper and Conversion and Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost is antecedently necessary to our Justification that is to the pardon of our Sins and our restitution to the favour of God and the hope of Eternal Life So likewise under the notion of Purification and Sanctification 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. where the Apostle enumerates several Sins and Vices which will certainly exclude Men from the Favour and Kingdom of God from which we must be cleansed before we can be justified or saved Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. where the Apostle likewise makes our purification a Condition of our being received into the favour of God and reckon'd into the number of his Children Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty And that by not touching the unclean thing is here certainly meant our Sanctification and Purification from Sin is evident from what immediately follows in the beginning of the next Chapter Having therefore these promises Dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God that is having this Encouragement that upon this Condition we shall be received to the favour of God let us purifie our selves that we may be capable of this great Blessing And our continuance in this state of grace and favour with God depends upon our perseverance in Holiness for if any Man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him And Lastly this is also the Condition of our final Justification and Absolution by the Sentence of the great Day Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Joh. 3. 3. Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Heb. 12. 14. Follow Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. 1 John 3. 3. The Apostle there speaking of the blessed sight and enjoyment of God tells us what we must do if ever we hope to be Partakers of it Every Man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure And this Condition here mentioned in the Text of our being New Creatures is the same in sense and substance with those Expressions which we find in the two parallel Texts to this where Faith which is perfected by Charity and keeping the Commandments of God are made the Condition of our justification and acceptance with God Gal. 5. 6. In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which is consummate or made perfect by Charity and 1 Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God It is evident that the Design and Meaning of these three Texts is the same and therefore these three Expressions of the new Creature and of Faith perfected by Charity and of keeping the Commandments of God do certainly signifie the same thing That the New Creature signifies â—he change of our state from a state of Disobedience and Sin to a state of Obedience and
Holiness of Life I have shewn at large and the Apostle explaining this New Creation most expresly tells us Ephes 2. 10 We are his wormanship Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God â—ath before ordained that we should walk in them and Colos 3. 10 12 13 14. where the Apostle tells them that they ought to give testimony of their Renovation and having put on the new Man by all the fruits of Obedience and Goodness Ye have put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Put on therefore as the Elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness longsuffâ—ring forbearing one another and forgiving one another and above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfection And the Apostle St. Peter tells us that our Regeneration which he calls Sanctification of the Spirit is unto obedience 1 Pet. 1. 2. So that our Renovation consisteth in the Principle and Practice of Obedience and a good Life And what is this but Faith perfected by Charity And Charity the Apostle tells us is the fulfilling of the Law and what is the fulfilling of the Law but keeping the Commandments of God And keeping the Commandments of God or at least a sincere Resolution of Obedience when there is not time and opportunity for the tryal of it is in Scripture as expresly made a Condition both of our present and final justification and acceptance with God as Faith is and in truth is the same with a living and operative Faith and a Faith that is consummate and made perfect by Charity Acts 10. 34 35. Of a truth I perceive saith St. Peter that God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him which speech does as plainly as words can do any thing declare to us upon what terms all Mankind of what Condition or Nation soever may find acceptance with God Rom. 2. 6 7 8 9 10. Who will render to every Man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality Eternal Life but to them who are contentious and obey not the Truth but obey Unrighteousness Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil of the Jews first and also of the Gentiles but Glory Honour and Peace to every Man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile As to our acceptance with God and the Rewards of another World it matters not whether Jew or Gentile Circumcised or Uncircumcised that which maketh the difference is obeying the Truth or obeying Unrighteousness working Good or doing Evil these are the things which will avail to our Justification or Condemnation at the Great Day To the same purpose is that Saying of the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 5. 9. That Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him I will conclude this Matter with two Remarkable Sayings the one towards the beginning the other towards the â—nd of the Bible to satisfie us that this is the tenour of the Holy Scriptures and the constant Doctrine of it from the beginning to the end Gen. 4. 7. It is God's Speech to Cain If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted And Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates into the City And thus I have done with the Second thing I propounded which was to shew that according to the terms of the Gospel and the Christian Religion the real Renovation of our Hearts and Lives is the great Condition of our justification and acceptance with God and that this in sense and substance is the same with Faith made perfect by Charity and keeping the Commandments of God The Third and last Particular remains to be spoken to namely That it is highly reasonable that this should be the Condition of our Justification and acceptance to the favour of God and that upon these two accounts First For the honour of God's Holiness Secondly In order to the qualifying of us for the favour of God and the enjoyment of him for the pardon of our Sins and the Reward of Eternal Life First For the honour of God's Holiness For should God have received Men to his favour and rewarded them with Eternal Glory and Happiness for the meer belief of the Gospel or a confident perswasion that Christ would save them without any change of their Hearts and Lives without Repentance from dead works and fruits meet for Repentance and amendment of Life he had not given sufficient testimony to the World of his Love to Holiness and Righteousness and of his hatred of Sin and Iniquity The Apostle tells us that God in the justifi-fication of a Sinner declares his Righteousness but should he justifie Men upon other terms this would not declare his Righteousness and love of Holiness but rather an indifferency whether Men were good and Righteous or not For a bare assent to the truth of the Gospel without the fruits of Holiness and Obedience is not a living but a dead Faith and so far from being acceptable to God that it is an affront to him and a confident reliance upon Christ for Salvation while we continue in our Sins is not a justifying Faith but a bold and impudent presumption upon the Mercy of God and the Merits of our Saviour who indeed justifies the ungodly that is those that have been so but not those that continue so And if God should pardon Sinners and reward them with Eternal Life upon any other terms than upon our becoming New Creatures than upon such a Faith as is made perfect by Charity that is by keeping the Commands of God this would be so far from declaring his Righteousness and being a testimony of his hatred and displeasure against Sin that it would give the greatest countenance and encouragement to it imaginable Secondly It is likewise very Reasonable that such a Faith that makes us New Creatures and is perfected by Charity and keeping the Commandments of God should be the Condition of Justification in order to the qualifying of us for the Pardon of our Sins and the Reward of Eternal Life that is for the favour of God and for the enjoyment of him To forgive Men upon other terms were to give countenance and encouragement to perpetual Rebellion and Disobedience That Man is not fit to be forgiven who is so far from being sorry for his fault that he goes on to offend he is utterly incapable of Mercy who is not sensible that he hath done amiss and resolved to amend No Prince ever thought a Rebellious Subject capable of Pardon upon lower terms than these It is in the nature of the thing unfit that an obstinate Offender should have any Mercy or Favour shewn to him And
and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction Here the Danger Objected is taken notice of but the Remedy prescribed by St. Peter is not to take â—â—om the People the use of the Scripâ—ures and to keep them in ignorance â—ut after he had cautioned against the like weakness and errors he exhorts them to grow in Knowledge ver 17 18. Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before that is seeing ye are so plainly told and warned of this danger beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that is of the Christian Religion believing it seems that the more knowledge they had in Religion the less they would be in danger of falling into damnable Errors I proceed to the Second Observation viz. That the Knowledge of our Duty and the Practice of it may and often are separated This likewise is supposed in the Text that Men may and often do know the Will of God and their Duty and yet fail in the Practice of it Our Saviour elsewhere supposeth that many know their Master's Will who do not do it and he compares those that hear his Sayings and do them not to a foolish Man that built his house upon the sand And St. James speaks of some who are hearers of the word only but not doers of it and for that Reason fall short of Happiness And this is no wonder because the attaining to that knowledge of Religion which is necessary to Salvation is no difficult task A great part of it is written in our hearts and we cannot be ignorant of it if we would as that there is a God and a Providence and another State after this Life wherein we shall be Rewarded or Punished according as we have lived here in this World that God is to be Worshipped to be Prayed to for what we want and to be Praised for what we enjoy Thus far Nature instructs Men in Religion and in the great Duties of Morality as Justice and Temperance and the like And as for Revealed Religion as that Jesus Christ the Son of God came in our Nature to save us by revealing our Duty more clearly and fully to us by giving us a more perfect Example of Holiness and Obedience in his own Life and Conversation and by dying for our Sins and rising again for our Justification these are things which Men may easily understand and yet for all that they are difficulty brought to the Practice of Religion I shall instance in three sorts of Persons in whom the knowledge of Religion is more remarkably separated from the Practice of it and for distinction sake I may call them by these three Names the Speâ—ulative the Formal and the Hypocritical Christian The first of these makes Religion only a Science the second takes it up for a Fashion the third makes some Worldly advantage of it and serves some secular Interest and Design by it All these are upon several accounts concerned to understand something of Religion but yet will not be brought to the Practice of it The first of these whom I call the Speculâ—tive Christian is he who makes Religion only a Science and studies it as a piece of Learning and part of that general knowledge in which he affects the reputation of being a Master he hath no design to practice it but he is loth to be ignorant of it because the knowledge of it is a good Ornament of Conversation and will serve for Discourse and Entertainment among those who are disposed to be grave and serious and because he does not intend to practice it he passeth over those things which are plain and easie to be understood and applies himself chiefly to the Consideration of those things which are more abstruse and will afford Matter of Controversie and subtle Dispute as the Doctrine of the Trinity Predestination Free-will and the like Of this temper seem many of the School-Men of old to have been who made it their great study and business to puzzle Religion and to make every thing in it intricate by starting infinite questions and difficulties about the plainest truths and of the same rank usually are the Heads and Leaders of Parties and Factions in Religion who by needless Controversies and endless Disputes about some thing or other commonly of no great moment in Religion hinder themselves and others from minding the Practice of the great and substantial Duties of a good Life Secondly There is the Formal Châ—istian who takes up Religion for a Fashion He is born and bred in a Nation where Christianity is profest and Countenanced and therefore thinks it convenient for him to know something of it Of this sort there are I fear a great many who read the Scriptures sometimes as others do to know the History of it and go to Church and hear the Gospel preached and by this means come in some measure to understand the History of our Saviour and the Christian Doctrine but do not at all bend themselves to comply with the great End and Design of it they do not heartily endeavour to form and fashion their Lives according to the Laws and Precepts of it they think they are very good Christians if they can give an account of the Articles of their Faith profess their Belief in God and Christ and declare that they hope to be Saved by him tho' they take no care to keep his Commandments These are they of whom our Saviour speaks Luke 6. 46. who call him Lord Lord but do not the things which he said Thirdly Hypocritical Christians who make an interest of Religion and serve some worldly design by it These are concerned to understand Religion more than ordinary that they may counterfeit it handsomly and may not be at a loss when they have occasion to put on the garb of it And this is one part of the Character which the Apostle gives of those Persons who he foretels would appear in the last days 2 Tim. 3. 2. he says they should be Lovers of their own selves Covetous Heady High-Minded Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God having a form of Godliness but denying the Power of it Now these Men do not love Religion but they have occasion to make use of it and therefore they will have no more of it than will just serve their Purpose and Design And indeed he that hath any other Design in Religion than to please God and save his Soul needs no more than so much knowledge of it as will serve him to act a part in it upon occasion I come to the Third and last Observation viz. That the Practice of Religion and the doing of what we know to be our Duty is the only way to Happiness If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them not if ye know these things happy are ye but
Religion by the restless Adversaries of it And now surely after all this is come upon us for our Sins it is time for us to look up to him that smites us and to think of taking up this quarrel 'T is time to enquire as they do in the Text Werewith shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the high God And we are apt to take the same course they did to endeavour to appease God by some external Devotion We have now betaken our selves to Prayer and Fasting and 't was very fit nay necessary we should do so but let us not think this is all God expects from us These are but the Means to a further End to oblige us for the future to the practice of a good Life The outward profession of Religion is not lost amongst us there appears still in Men a great and commendable zeal for the Reformed Religion and there hath been too much occasion for it but that which God chiefly expects from us is Reformed Lives Piety and Virtue are in a great measure gone from among us the Manners of Men are strangely corrupted the great and weighty things of the Law are neglected Justice and Mercy Temperance and Chastity Truth and Fidelity so that we may take up David's Complaint Help Lord for the Righteous man ceaseth for the faithful faâ—l from among the Children of Men. And 'till the Nation be brought back to a sober sense of Religion from an airy and phantastical Piety to real and unaffected Devotion and from a factious contention about things indifferent to the serious practice of what is necessary from our violent heats and animosities to a more peaceable temper and by a mutual condescension on all sides to a nearer and stâ—onger union among our selves 'till we recover in some measure our ancient Virtue and Integrity of manners we have reason to fear that God will still have a Controversie with us notwithstanding all our noise and zeal about Religion This is the true this is the only course to appease the indignation of God and to draw down his Favour and Blessing upon a poor distracted and gasping Nation He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God I have but one word more and that is to put you presently upon the practice of one of these Duties that I have been perswading you to and that is Mercy and Alms to the Poor If what I have already said have had its effect upon you I need not use any other Arguments if it have not I have hardly the heart to use any I shall only put you in mind again that God values this above all our external Devotion he will have mercy rather than sacrifice that this is the way to find mercy with God and to have our Prayers speed in Heaven and without this all our Fasting and Humiliation signifies nothing And to this purpose I will only read to you those plain and perswasive words of the Prophet which do so fully declare unto us the whole Duty of this Day and particularly urge us to this of Charity Isa 58. 5 6 7 8 9. Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a day for a Man to afflict his Soul Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day unto the Lord Is not this the Fast that I have â—hosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undoe the heavy burthens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own Flesh Then shall thy light break forth as the Morning and thy Salvation shall spring forth speedily and thy Righteousness shall go before thee and the Glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward Then thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am SERMON II. Instituted Religion not intended to undermine Natural MATTH IX 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice ONE of the most successful Attempts that have been made upon Religion by the Devil and his Instruments hath been by setting the Laws of God at variance with themselves and by dashing the several parts of Religion and the two Tables of the Law against one another to break all in pieces and under a pretence of advancing that part of Religion which is Instituted and Revealed to undermine and destroy that which is Natural and of primary obligation To manifest and lay open the mischievous Consequences of this Design I shall at this time by God's assistance endeavour to make ouâ—â—â—ese two Things First That Natural Religion is the foundation of all Instituted and Revealed Religion Secondly That no Revealed or Instituted Religion was ever designed to take away the obligation of Natural Duties but to confirm and establish them And to this purpose I have chosen these words of our Saviour for the foundation of my following Discourse But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice The occasion of which words was briefly this The Pharisees found fault with him for keeping Company and eating with Publicans and Sinners He owns the thing which they objected to him and endeavours to vindicate himself from any crime ot fault in so doing and that these two ways 1. By telling them that it was allowed to a Physician and proper for his Office and Profession to converse with the sick in order to their Cure and Recovery He may abstain if he pleaseth from the conversation of others but the sick have need of him and are his proper Care and his Business and Employment lies among them he said unto them they that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance they who were already good needed not to be call'd upon to amend and reform their lives and they that were so conceited of their own Righteousness as the Pharisees were and so confident that they were sound and whole would not admit of a Physician and thereby rendred themselves incapable of Cure and therefore he did not apply himself to them but to the Publicans and Sinners who were acknowledged on all hands both by themselves and others to be bad Men so that it could not be denyed to be the proper work of a Spiritual Physician to converse with such Persons 2. By endeavouring to convince them of their Ignorance of the true nature of Religion and of the Rank and Order of the several Duties thereby required but go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy
this Pattern hath been since not only closely followed but out-done by the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome as we have too much Reason to remember upon this day But to proceed in the farther explication of the Text the meaning whereof in short is this that the ritual and instrumental parts of Religion and all Laws and Duties concerning them are of less Value and Esteem with God than those which are of a moral Nature especially the great Duties and Offices of Piety and Humanity of the love of God and of our Neighbour And if we consider the matter well we shall see the Reason of it to be very plain because natural and moral Duties are approved of God for themselves and for their own sake upon account of their own natural and intrinsical Goodness but the ritual and instrumental parts of Religion are only pleasing to God in order to these and so far as they tend to beget and promote them in us they are not naturally good in themselves but are instituted and appointed by God for the sake of the other and therefore great Reason there is that they should be subordinate and give way to them when they come in competition with one another For this is a known Rule which takes place in all Laws that Laws of less importance should give way to those that are of greater quoties Leges ex circumstantiâ— colliduntur ita ut utraque servari non potest servanda est lex potior When ever two Laws happen to be in such circumstances as to clash with one another so that both of them cannot be observed that Law which is better and of greater consequence is to be kept And Tully gives much the same Rule in this matter In comparing of Laws says he we are to consider which Law is most useful and just and reasonable to be observed From whence it will follow that when two Laws or more or how many soever they be cannot be observed because they clash with one another ea maxime conservanda putetur quae ad maximas res pertinere videatur It is reasonable that that Law should be observed which is of greatest Moment and Concernment By what hath been said we may learn what is the meaning of this Saying which our Saviour more than once cites out of the Prophet I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice From the words thus explained I shall take occasion to prosecute the two Propositions which I mentioned before namely First That Natural Religion is the Foundation of Instituted and Revealed Religion Secondly That no Instituted Religion was ever designed to take away the obligation of Natural Duties but is intended to establish and confirm them And both these are sufficiently grounded in the Reason of our Saviour's Discourse from this Rule I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice I. That Natural Religion is the Foundation of Instituted and Revealed Religion and all Revealed Religion does suppose and take for granted the clear and undoubted Principles and Precepts of Natural Religion and builds upon them By Natural Religion I mean obedience to the Natural Law and the performance of such duties as Natural Light without any express and supernatural Revelation doth dictate to Men. These lye at the bottom of all Religion and are the Great and Fundamental Duties which God requires of all Mankind as that we should love God and behave our selves reverently towards him that we should believe his Revelations and testifie our dependance upon him by imploring his aid and direction in all our necessities and distresses and acknowledge our obligations to him for all the Blessings and Benefits which we receive that we should moderate our Appetites in reference to the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this World and use them temperately and chastly that we should be just and upright in all our Dealings with one another true to our word and faithful to our trust and in all our words and actions observe that Equity towards others which we desire they should use towards us that we should be kind and charitable merciful and compassionate one towards another ready to do good to all and apt not only to pity but to relieve them in their misery and necessity These and such like are those which we call Moral Duties and they are of eternal and perpetual obligation because they do naturally oblige without any particular and express Revelation from God And these are the Foundation of Revealed and Instituted Religion and all Revealed Religion does suppose them and build upon them for all Revelation from God supposeth us to be Men and alters nothing of those Duties to which we were naturally obliged before And this will clearly appear if we consider these three things First That the Scripture every where speaks of these as the main and Fundamental Duties of the Jewisâ— Religion Secondly That no Instituted Service of God no positive part of Religion was ever acceptable to him when these were neglected Thirdly That the great Design of the Christian Religion was to restore and reinforce the practice of the natural Law 1. That the Scripture every where speaks of these as the main and Fundamental Duties of the Jewish Religion When our Saviour was ask'd which was the first and great Commandment of the Law he answered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self One would have expected he would have given quite another Answer and have pitched upon some of those things which were so much magnified among the Jews and which they laid so much weight upon that he should have instanced in Sacrifice or Circumcision or the Law of the Sabbath but he overlooks all these as inconsiderable in comparision and instances only in those two great heads of Moral Duty the love of God and our Neighbour which are of natural and perpetual obligation and comprehend under them all other Moral Duties And these are those which our Saviour calls the Law and the Prophets and which he says he came not to destroy but to fulfill Mat. 5. 17 18 19 20. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill for verily I say unto you 'till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the Law 'till all be fulfilled Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven For I say unto you that except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That our Saviour doth not here speak of the Judicial or Ceremonial Law of the Jews but of the Duties of the Moral Law
worship of God signified nothing You see in the Jewish Religion what it was that was acceptable to God for it self and its own sake viz. the practice of moral Duties and that all Instituted Religion that did not promote and further these or was destitute of them was abominable to God And under the Gospel our Saviour prefers a moral Duty before any gift we can offer to God and will have it to take place Mat. 5. 23 24. If thou bring thy gift unto the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift But it should seem by this and what haâ—h been said before that God prefers Goodness and Righteousness to Men before his own Worship and obedience to the Precepts of the Second Table before obedience to those of the First But this does but seem so all that can be collected from this passage of our Saviour or any thing that hath been already said are only these two Things 1. That God prefers the practice of the Moral Duties of the second Table before any instituted Worship such as Sacrifâ—ce was and before obedience to the Laws of Religion which are meerly positive tho' they do immediately concern the Worship of God 2. That if we neglect the Duties of the second Table of Goodness and Righteousness towards Men God will not accept of our obedience to the Precepts of the first nor of any act of Religious Worship that we can perform This our Saviour means when he says leave there thy gift before the Altar first be reconciled to thy Brother then come and offer thy gift intimating that so long as we bear a revengeful mind towards our Brethren God will not accept of any Gift or Sacrifice that we can offer to him or indeed of any act of Religious Worship that we can perform Thirdly The great Design of the Christian Religion is to restore and reinforce the practice of the natural Law or which is all one of Moral Duties and therefore our Saviour begins his first Sermon by promising Blessedness to the practice of these Duties of Purity and Meekness and Righteousness and Peaceableness and Mercifulness and Patience and Submission to the will of God under Persecutions and Sufferings for Righteousness sake and tells us as I shew'd before that he came not to release Men from the practice of these Duties but to oblige them thereto more effectually and that as these were the Law and the Prophets that is the main Duties and the Foundation of the Jewish Religion so were they much more to be so of the Christian This the Scriptures of the New Testament do every where declare to be the great design of the Gospel and the Christian Religion to instruct us in these Duties and to engage us effectually to the practice of them In that known and excellent Text Tit. 2. 11 12â— The grace of God which is in and by the Doctrine of the Gospel hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldy lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world And herein St. James tell us the true nature and the force and vertue of the Christian Religion doth consist Jam. 1. 27. pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their â—ffliction and to keep our selves unspotted from the World And Chap. 3. 17. The wisdom which is from above that is that Heavenly and Divine Knowledge revealed to us by the Gospel hath these Properties and is apt to produce these effects it is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and of good fruits And the planting of these dispositions in us is that which the Scripture calls the new Creature and the Image of God Eph. 4. 20 c. The Apostle speaking there of the Vices and Lusts wherein the Gentiles lived tells Christians that they were otherwise instructed by the Gospel but ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corâ—upt according to deceitful Lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness or as the words perhaps may better be rendred in the holiness of truth for it immediately follows wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his Neighbour And this is that which the Apostle elsewhere makes to be all in all in the Christian Religion In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature Gal. 6. 15. which the Apostle in the Chapter before expresseth thus in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh or is inspired by Charity And yet more expresly 1 Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God By the comparing of which Texts it appears that the main thing in Christianity is the practice of Moral Duties and this is the new Creature and this the proper effect of the Christian Faith to produce these Virtues in us And indeed the great Design of the Christian Religion and every thing in it of the love of God in giving his Son to die for us of the pardon of our Sins and justification in his blood of all the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel and of the assistance therein promised is to engage and encourage and enable to the practice of Moraâ— Duties And thus I have done with the first thing I proposed to speak to namely that Natural Religion is the Foundation of Instituted and Revealed Religion and all Revealed Religion does suppose it and builds upon it I proceed to the Second Namely That no Revealed and Instituted Religion was ever designed to take away the obligation of Natural Duties but was intended to confirm and establish them And this also will be evident if we consider these three Things 1. That all Revealed Religion calls Men to the practice of Natural Duties Thus the Jewish Religion did The first Laws which God gave them and which hâ— distinguish'd from the rest by writing them in Tables of Stone with his own Finger were the Precepts of the Moral Law And the great business of the Prophets whom God raised up among them from time to time was to reprove not so much their defects in their Sacrifices and in the Duties of Instituted Worship as the breach of the natural Law by their Vices and Immoralities and to threaten them with the Judgments of God if they did not reform and amend these faults And now under the Gospel the preceptive part of it is almost wholly made up of Moral
put to Death because they could not understand this hardword and believe this impossible thing And yet if the supremacy of the Pope were clearly of Divine Right and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation as plain as the institution of the Sacrament yet these being but positive matters in Religion there would be no reason to kill men for not understanding and believing these things nay it would be contrary to Religion to do it because the Law of Mercy and Humanity which is the Law of Nature ought not to be violated for the promoting of any positive institution and God hath plainly said that he will have mercy rather than Sacrifice yea rather than the Sacrifice of the Mass if it were what they pretend it is the offering of the natural body and blooâ— of Christ because it would be needless for Propitiation of Sin being once made by Christ's offering himself once for all upon the Cross there needs no more Sacrifice for Sin Nay I will go further yet I had rather never administer the Sacrament nor ever receive it than take away any Man's Life about it because the Sacrament is but a positive Rite and Institution of the Christian Religion and God prefers Mercy which is a Duty of natural Religion before any Rite or Institution whatsoever Besides that all acts of Malice and Cruelty are directly contrary to the particular Nature and Design of this blessed Sacrament which is to commemorate the Sufferings of the Son of God for our sakes and to give us an example of the greatest Love that ever was and thereby to excite us to the Imitation of it 2. What hath been said gives us a right Notion and Character of that Church and Religion which prefers the positive Rites and Institutions of Religion and the observance of them to those Duties which are of natural and Eternal Obligation Mercy and Goodness Fidelity and Justice and which for the sake of a pretended Article of Religion or Rite of Worship which if it were certain that they were revealed and instituted by God are yet meerly positive will break the greatest of God's Commandments and teach men so It is too plain to be denyed that the Principles and Precepts of natural Religion were never so effectually undermined and the Morality of the Christian Religion never so intolerably corrupted and debauched by any thing that ever yet had the face of Religion in the World as by the allowed Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome and this out of a blind and furious Zeal for some Imaginary Doctrines and Rites of the Christian Religion which at the best are of meer positive Institution and of the same rank among Christians that Sacrifices were in the Jewish Religion For which we need go no further for an instance than in the Occasion of thâ—s Day 's Solemnity upon which Day about fourscore years ago there was designed a mighty Sacrifice indeed the greatest and richest burnt-offering that ever was pretended to be offered up to Almighty God by those of any Religion whatsoever not the blood of Bulls and Goats but of King and Princes and Nobles more in value than thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl than all the Beasts of the Forrest and the Cattle upon a thousand Hills Here was a prodigious Sacrifice indeed but where was Mercy the thing God chiefly desires and which above all other things is acceptable to him no Mercy not even to those of their own Religion whom these nice and tender Casuists after a solemn debate of the Case had resolved to involve in the same common Destruction with the rest rather no mercy than that this Sacrificewhich their mad zeal had prompted them to should be omitted To conclude They that can do such inhumane things and think them to be Religion do not understand the nature of it but had need to be taught the first Rudiments of natural Religion that natural Duties are not to be violated upon pretence no nor for the sake of positive Institutions because natural Religion is the Foundation of that which is instituted and therefore to violate any natural Duty for the sake of that which is instituted is for Religion to undermine and blow up it self Let those who do such things and teach men so go and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice SERMON III. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTHEW V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil THERE is no Saying in the whole Gospel which the Jews did so frequently object to the Christians as this of our Blessed Saviour as if his Words and Actions were plainly repugnant and contrary to one another for when it is evident say they that he took away so many Ceremonies Purifications Distinctions of Meats Sacrifices Judicial Laws and many other things yet he says he came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets so that it is plain that he did throw down the Law of Moses and in so doing contradicted his own Saying that he did not intend to destroy the Law To clear our Saviour's words of this Objection it will be requâ—site to consider the Scope and Design of his Discourse in this Chapter by which we shall fully understand the sence and meaning of these Words in the Text. Our Saviour in this Sermon which contains the Sum and Substance of his Religion doth earnestly recommend to his Disciples and Followers and strictly enjoyns the perfect Practice of all Goodness and Virtue declaring to them that he came to bring in and establish that Righteousness which the Jewish Religion indeed aimed at but through the Weakness and Imperfection of that Dispensation was not able to effect and accomplish And to take away all suspicion of a Design to contradict the former Revelations of God made to the Jews by Moses and the Prophets or to destroy their Divine Authority by carrying on a Design contrary to them I say to prevent any imagination of this kind he does here in the Text expresly declare the contrary Think not c. Intimating that some either did or at least might be apt to suspect that his Design was to destroy the obligation of the Law and to undermine the Authority of Moses and the Prophets to free them from this jealousie he declares plainly that he had no such thought and intention it was far from him I am not come to destroy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abrogate or dissolve the Law to encourage Men to the breach and violation of it for the word is of the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the 19. ver whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do we then make void the Law by Faith Which is the same question with that of the same Apostle Gal. 3. 21. Is the Law
then against the Promises of God that is are the Law and the Gospel contrary do they contradict one another So that the meaning of our Saviour's Declaration is this that he was not come to dissolve and abrogate and make void the Law or to encourage Men to the breach of it that the Precepts of his Religion were in no wise contrary to those of the Law and the Prophets did not thwart and oppose them or any ways contradict the main design and intention of the Law and the Prophets that is of the Jewish Religion for so the Law and the Prophets do frequently signifie Mat. 7. 12. therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets that is this is the main scope and intention of what your Religion contained in the Law and the Prophets teacheth concerning your Duty to one another So likewise Mat. 22. 40. On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets that is this is the sum of all the Duties of Religion to these two Laws all that the Jewish Religion teacheth may be refer'd I am not come to destroy but to fulfill to carry on the same Design which was intended by the Jewish Religion and to perfect and accomplish it to supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of that dispensation this is the plain meaning of this caution and declaration of our Saviours Think not c. For the clearing of this Matter viz. That the Design of our Saviour's Doctrine and Religion is not contrary to those former Revelations which God made to the Jews by Moses and the Prophets this will evidently appear whether we consider the Prophesies and Predictions of the Old Testament or the Laws and Precepts therein contained First The Prophesies and Predictions of the Old Testament our Saviour came not to contradict and overthrow these but to fulfill them The chief Predictions of the Law and the Prophets were concerning the Messias and his Spiritual Kingdom In the Law it was foretold that God would raise to them a Prophet like unto Moses whom they ought to hear and obey and to him all the Prophets of the Old Testament gave witness foretelling the time of his coming his extraction the manner and circumstances of his Birth the Purity and Efficacy of his Doctrine the Actions and Miracles of his Life his Passion Death and Burial with the particular Circumstances of them his Resurrection from the Dead and his Ascension into Heaven and Exaltation at the right hand of God so that this part of the Law and Prophets he did accomplish and fulfill in a most eminent and remarkable manner all things that the Prophets had foretold concerning the Messias were punctually made good in the Person and Actions and Sufferings of our Saviour Secondly As to the Laws and Precepts of the Jewish Religion the Doctrine and the Laws of Christianity did not clash with them nor properly abrogate them and make them void especially as to the Moral Precepts which were the very Life and Spirit the ultimate Scope and Design of that Religion nay so far was it from doing so that the main and proper intention of Christianity was to clear and establish that which was the main design of the Law and Prophets to perfect the Law in this part and to raise and advance Morality to its highest pitch to supply all the defects and imperfections of the Jewish Religion and to make Men much better than that weak and imperfect Institution was able to do This was the great Design of Christianity and it is very probable that our Saviour had a principal if not a sole respect to the Precepts of the Moral Law when he here says that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to perfect and fulfill them as I shall have occasion by and by to shew more at large But that we may give a full Answer to the Objection of the Jews against this Saying of our Saviour's I shall shew that he did not come to thwart and contradict and properly to abrogate and make void the Jewish Law in any part of it neither the Civil and Judicial nor the Ritual and Ceremonial much less the Moral and Natural Precepts of it This is more than I think to be absolutely necessary to reconcile this Saying of our Saviour with the rest of his Doctrine and Actions for tho' he had properly abrogated the Ceremonial Law and in no sence fulfill'd it yet notwithstanding this it may be true that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets that is to destroy the obligation of Moral Duties which he speaks of in this Chapter and elsewhere declares to be the ultimate scope the sum and substance of the Law and the Prophets For if the Ceremonial Law was not designed by God to be perpetual but to give way to a more perfect dispensation then our Saviour did no way thwart and contradict the Law and the Prophets by abrogating the Ceremonial Law at that time when God designed that a period should be put to it But yet for the fuller satisfaction to this Objection I shall shew that our Saviour did not properly abrogate any part of the Jewish Law no not the Ritual and Ceremonial part of it but did fulfill it First not their Civil and Judicial Laws These in the original intention of them were not Laws designed for Mankind but suited and fitted to the disposition and temper the Condition and Circumstances of a particular People and Nation to these our Saviour taught obedience and paid it himself and never did any thing contrary to them nor in the least weaken the obligation of them but they continued in full force 'till that Nation and Commonwealth was dissolved So that these Laws were no way impeached or abrogated by the Christian Religion but they fell for want of a subject to exercise their power upon and because the People that were to be governed by them were destroyed or dissipated and tho' they neither are nor ever were obligatory to other Nations as given by Moses and as they were the peculiar Laws of a particular Nation yet the Natural Reason and Equity of them so far as it concerned Mankind is duly considered and regarded by us and many of these Laws are adopted into the Laws of most Christian Nations It is plain then that this part of the Jewish Law received no prejudice by Christianity but continued in full force so long as that Nation and Commonwealth lasted which was to be governed by it Secondly As to the Ritual and Ceremonial part of the Jewish Law which consisted in Circumcision and Purifications and Sacrifices in distinction of Meats and Times and innumerable other Rites and Observances this was not properly abrogated and made void by the coming of Christ but fulfill'd and made good by him The Rites and Ceremonies of the Law were the Types and Shadows of
Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial goodness Secondly That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to this purpose Thirdly That the Christian Religion hath supplied all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of that dispensation these three Particulars will fully clear our Saviour's meaning in this Text. First That the Main and Ultimate Design of the Law and the Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial Goodness consisting in those Virtues which our Saviour mentions at the beginning of this Sermon Humility and Meekness and Mercy and Righteousness and Purity and Peaceableness This our Saviour more than once tells us was the sum and substance the main scope and design of the whole Doctrine of the Law and the Prophets Mat. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets And Mat. 22. 40. That the love of God and our Neighbour those two great Commands to which all Moral Duties are reduced are the two great hinges of the Jewish Religion on these two hang all the Law and the Prophets St. Paul calls Love the fulfilling of the whole Law Rom. 13. 10. St. James the Perfâ—ct and the Royal Law as that which hath a Soveraign influence upon all parts of Religion And therefore the Apostle Rom. 3. 21. tells us that this more perfect Righteousness which was brought in by the Gospel or the Christian Religion is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets And indeed the Prophets every where do slight and undervalue the Ritual and Ceremonial part of Religion in comparison of the practice of Moral Duties Isa 1. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me bring no more vain oblations your New Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth But what then are the things that are acceptable to God He tells us at the 16 th ver wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow And by the Prophet Jeremiah God tells that People that the business of Sacrifices was not the thing primarily designed by God but obedience to the Moral Law the Ritual Law came in upon occasion for the prevention of Idolatry and by way of condescention to the temper of that People and thus Maimonides and the Learned Jews understand these words Jer. 7. 22 23. I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt concerning Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices but this thing commanded I them saying obey my voice and walk in all the ways that I have commanded and I will be your God and ye shall be my People So likewise in the Prophet Hosea God plainly prefers the Moral before the Ritual part of Religion as that which was principally designed and intended by him Hos 6. 6. I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than Burnt-Offerings but most plainly and expresly Mich. 6. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord Shall I come before him with Burnt-offerings Wiâ— the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do â—ustly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God These it seems were the great things which God stood upon and required of Men even under that imperfect dispensation and these are the very things which the Christian Religion doth so strictly enjoyn and command so that this Righteousness which the Gospel requires was witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets I proceed to the Second Point That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make Men truly good and for the promoting of real and inward righteousness it gave Laws indeed to this purpose but those not so clear and perfect or at least not so clearly understood as they are now under the Gospel and it made no express promises of inward Grace and assistance to quicken and strengthen us in the doing of our Duty it made no explicit promises of any blessing and reward to the doing of our duty beyond this Life so that the best and most powerful Arguments and Encouragements to Obedience were either wholly wanting or very obscurely revealed under this dispensation And this insufficiency of the Jewish dispensation both to our justification and sanctification to the reconciling of us to God and the making of us really good the Apostle frequently inculcates in the New Testament St. Paul Acts 13. 38 39. Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all those things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses and Rom. 8. 3. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is by reason of the carnality of that dispensation consisting in the purification of the body Gal. 3. 21. he calls it a Law unfit to give Life If there had been a Law which could have given Life verily Righteousness had been by the Law And the Apostle to the Hebrews Ch. 8. 6 7 8 c. finds fault with the dispensation of the Law for the lowness and meanness of its Promises being only of Temporal good things and for want of conferring an inward and a powerful Principle to enable Men to obedience but now hath he obtained speaking of Christ a more excellent Ministry by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better Promises for if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for a second and this second and better Covenant he tells us was foretold by the Prophets of the Old Testament for finding fault with them he saith behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers For this is the Covenant which I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord. I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts And Chap. 10. 1 4. he shews the inefficacy of their Sacrifices for the real expiation of Sin the Law having but a shadow of good things to come and not the lively representation of the things themselves can never with those Sacrifices which they offer'd year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect for it is not possible that
the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins I should now have proceeded to the Third Particular namely that the Christian Religion hath supplied all the defects and weakness and imperfection of the Jewish dispensation but that I shall not now enter upon but make one plain inference from the substance of what I have already discoursed upon this Argument If our Saviour came not to dissolve and loosen the obligation of Moral Duties but to confirm and establish it and to enforce and bind the practice of these Duties more strongly upon us then they do widely and wilfully mistake the design of Christianity who teach that it dischargeth Men from the obligation of the Moral Law which is the Fundamental and avowed Principle of the Antinomian Doctrine but directly contrary to this Declaration of our Saviour in the Text that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to perfect and fulfill them for to take away the obligation of a Law is plainly to destroy and make it void and contrary to the Apostle's solemn resolution of this matter Rom. 3. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith That is does the Gospel destroy and take away the obligation of the Law God forbid yea we establish the Law the Christian Religion is so far from designing or doing any such thing that it gives new strength and force to it But surely they that teach this Doctrine did never duly consider that terrible threatning of our Saviour after the Text which seems to be so directly level'd at them whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven for how can Men more effectually teach the violation not only of the least but of the greatest of Gods Commandments than by declaring that the Gospel hath set Men free from the obligation of the Moral Law which is in effect to say that Christians may act contrary to all the Duties of Morality that is do the most impious things in the World without any offence against God and notwithstanding this continue to be his Children and highly in the favour of God And all the security they have against this impious Consequence is that weak and slender pretence that gratitude and love to God will preserve them from making this ill use of the grace of the Gospel and oblige them to abstain from Sin and to endeavour to please God as much as any Law could do But then they do not consider the nonsense of this for there can be no such thing as Sin if the obligation of the Law be taken away for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression as the Apostle and common Reason likewise tells us so that the Law being removed and taken away all Actions become indifferent and one thing is not more a sin or offence against God than another And what then is it they mean that gratitude will oblige Men to or preserve them from When there can be no such thing as sin or duty as pleasing or offending God if there be no Law to oblige us to the one or restrain us from the other And what is if this be not to turn the grace of God into wantonness and to make Christian Liberty a Cloke for all sorts of Sins A Man cannot do a greater despite to the Christian Religion nor take a more effectual course to bring it into contempt and to make it to be hiss'd out of the World than to represent it as a lewd and licentious Doctrine which gives Men a perfect discharge from all the Duties of Morality and obligeth them only to believe confidently that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will and that upon these terms and no other they are secure of the favour of God in this World and Eternal Salvation in the other This is the sum and the plain result of the Antinomian Doctrine the most pernicious Heresie and most directly destructive of the great End and Design of Christianity that ever yet was broached in the World But ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning your former conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful Lusts and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness SERMON IV. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTHEW V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil I Have consider'd this Saying of our Saviour's with respect to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual force and that our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or loosen the obligation of them for the illustration of which I propounded to clear these three Points First That the main and ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial goodness Secondly That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make Men truly good and ineffectual to promote inward and real Righteousness These two points I have spoken to I shall now proceed to the Third Namely that the Christian Religion doth supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of the Jewish dispensation The Jewish Religion had very considerable advantages above the meer light of Nature which was all that the Heathen World had to conduct them towards Eternal Happiness the Jews had the knowledge of the one true God and very signal and particular Testimonies of the Divine Providence which did naturally tend to beget in them good hopes of a future Life and the rewards of another World they had the Natural Law revealed and the main Precepts of it written with God's own hand and by Moses delivered to them by which means they had a more certain and distinct knowledge of their duty they had Prophets frequently sent to them to admonish them of their Duty and to exhort them to Repentance and to warn them of approaching judgments They had good encouragement given to hope for the pardon of Sin by God's appointment of several ways of expiation which how unlikely soever they were to be available to the effectual expiation of Sin yet they did signifie that the Divine Nature was placable and did seem to figure some more effectual way designed by God for that purpose that should be exhibited in due time And finally they had most express promises and threatnings of Temporal Blessings and judgements to encourage them in their obedience and to deter them from the transgression of God's Laws These Advantages the Jews plainly had above the rest of the World God did not deal
that of St. James Chap. 2. 22. by Works is Faith made perfect Sometimes and that also very frequently the Condition of the Gospel is exprest by words which import and signifie the change of our State as by Repentance Conversion Regeneration Renovation Sanctification the New Creature and the New Man which expressions are all so well known that I need not referr to particular Texts sometimes the condition of the Gospel is exprest by the visible and sensible effects of this inward change in our outward Liâ—e and Actions as namely by Obedience and keeping the Commandments of God So Heb. 5. 9. Christ is said to be the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him where Obedience is plainly put for the whole condition of the Gospel the performance whereof entitles us to Eternal Life and Happiness Now that by these various expressions one and the same thing is certainly intended and meant viz. The Condition of the Gospel that which is requir'd on our part in order to our full and perfect justification and acceptance with God is evident beyond all denial by comparing the three different ways whereby St. Paul doth express the same proposition for sense and substance in which he tells us what it is that will avail to our Justification under the Gospel that is according to the terms of the Christian Religion that it is neither here nor there that it signifies nothing whether a Man be Circumcised or not but that we be so qualified as the Gospel requires that the Conditions upon which the Blessings of the Gospel are promised be found in us And there are three Texts wherein the same thing is plainly intended in three very different expressions Gal. 5. 6. In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which is consummate or made perfect by Charity Gal. 6. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature 1 Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God It is evident that in these three Texts the Apostle designs to say the same thing and consequently that Faith which is made perfect by Charity and the new Creature and keeping of the Commandments of God are the same in sense and substance viz. the Condition of our Justification and acceptance with God under the Covenant of the Gospel or in the Christian Religion I shall at present by God's assistance handle the second of these Texts In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature And here the Condition of the Gospel is exprest to us by the change of our State which in Scripture is call'd our Regeneration or becoming new Creatures and new Men. Circumcision was but an outward sign and mark upon the Body and the Flesh though it did indeed prefigure and typifie the inward Circumcision of the heart the giving of Men new Hearts and new Spirits under the more perfect dispensation of the Gospel but now in Christ Jesus that is in the Christian Religion the presence or the want of this outward mark will avail nothing to our justification but that which was signified by it the renovation of our Hearts and Spirits our becoming new Creatures is now the Condition of our justification and acceptance with God The false Apostles indeed did lay great stress upon the business of Circumcision not so much out of zeal to the Law of Moses as to avoid Persecution ver 12. They constrain you to be Circumcised only left they should suffer Persecution for the Cross of Christ For at that time though the Christians were Persecuted yet the Jews by the Roman Edicts had the free exercise of their Religion and therefore they gloried in this external mark of Circumcision because it exempted them from suffering but St. Paul gloried in his sufferings for Christ and the marks of that upon his Body ver 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and v. 17. I bear in my Body the marks of the Lord Jesus He tells them what necessities soever they might pretend of Circumcision either for their Justification or Salvation the true ground of all was to save themselves from Temporal Sufferings and that in the Christian Religion it signified nothing to recommend them to the favour of God whether they were Circumcised or not nothing would be available to this purpose but the renovation and change of their Hearts and Lives For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a new Creation to intimate the greatness of the Change which Christianity throughly entertained made in Men. Having thus cleared the occasion and meaâ—ing of these words I come now to consider the Particulars contained in them namely these two things First That the Gospel hath taken away the Obligation of the Law of Moses in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision Secondly That according to the terms of the Christian Religion nothing will avail to our justification and acceptance with God but the real renovation of our Hearts and Lives neither Circumcision nor uncircision but a new Creature 1. That the Gospel hath taken away the obligation of the Law of Moses In Christ Jesus that is now under the dispensation of the Gospel neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision There was never any general Obligation upon Mankind to this Rite of Circumcision but only upon the Seed of Abraham but yet upon the preaching of the Gospel many of the Jewish Christians would have brought the Gentiles under this yoak pretending that Christianity was but a superstructure upon the Law of Moses which together with the Gospel was to be the Religion of the whole World and there was some colour for this because our Saviour himself submitted to this Rite and was Circumcised which the Apostle takes notice of in the 4 th Chap. of this Epist ver 4. When the fullness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law that is Circumcised And 't is true indeed that our blessed Saviour was Circumcised but not to signifie to us the perpetuity of Circumcision and the continuance of it under the Christian Religion but for a quite different end as a testimony of his Obedience to that Law which tho' afterwards it was to expire yet was to be obeyed whilst it was in force by all that were born under it he was made under the Law and it became him who came to teach Mankind Obedience to the Laws of God to fulfill all Righteousness himself And therefore the Apostle in this Epistle where he takes notice of this that Christ was made under the Law gives this Reason of it that he might be the â—itter to free those who were under it from the servitude of it he was made under the Law that
when Vice hath got such head that it can hardly bear to be â—keckt and controll'd and when as the Roman Historian complains of his times Ad ea tempora quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus perventum est things are come to that pass that we can neither bear ouâ— Vices noâ— the Remedies of them Our Vices are grown to a prodigious and intolerable height and yet Men hardly have the patience to hear of them and surely a Disease is then dangerous indeed when it cannot bear the severity that is necessary to a Cure But yet notwithstanding this we who are the Messengers of God to Men to warn them of their sin and danger must not keep silence and spare to tell them both of their sins and of the Judgment of God which hangs over them that God will visit for these things and that his Soul will be avenged on such a Nation as this At least we may have leave to warn others who are not yet run to the same excess of riot to save themselves from this untoward generation God's Judgments are abroad in the Earth and call aloud upon us to learn Righteousness But this is but a small Consideration in Comparison of the Judgment of another World which we who call our selves Christians do profess to believe as one of the Chief Articles of our Faith The Consideration of this should check and cool us in the heat of all our sinful Pleasures and that bitter Irony of Solomon should cut us to the heart Rejoyce O young Man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment Think often and seriously on that time wherein the wrath of God which is now revealed against sin shall be executed upon Sinners and if we believe this we are strangely stupid and obstinate if we be not moved by it The assurance of this made St Paul extreamly importunate in exhorting Men to avoid so great a danger 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or evil Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. And if this ought to move us to take so great a care of others much more of our selves The Judgment to come is a very amazing Consideration it is a fearful thing to hear of it but it will be much more terrible to see it especially to those whose guilt must needs make them so heartily concern'd in the dismal Consequences of it and yet as sure as I stand and you sit here this great and terrible Day of the Lord will come and who may abide his coming What will we do when that Day shall surprize us careless and unprepared what unspeakable horror and amazement will then take hold of us when lifting up our eyes to Heaven we shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of it with Power and great Glory when that powerful voice which shall pierce the ears of the Dead shall ring through the World Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment when the mighty Trumpet shall sound and wake the Sleepers of a thousand years and summon the dispersed parts of the Bodies of all Men that ever lived to rally together and take their place and the Souls and Bodies of Men which have been so long strangers to one another shall meet and be united again to receive the doom due to their deeds what fear shall then surprize Sinners and how will they tremble at the presence of the great Judge and for the glory of his Majesty How will their Consciences flye in their faces and their own hearts condemn them for their wicked and ungodly Lives and even prevent that Sentence which yet shall certainly be past and executed upon them But I will proceed no further in this Argument which hath so much of terror in it I will conclude my Sermon as Solomon doth his Ecclesiaâ—tes Ch. 12. 13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man for God shall bring every work into Judgment and every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil To which I will only add that serious and merciful Admonition of a greater than Solomon I mean the great Judge of the whole World our blessed Lord and Saviour Luke 21. 34 35 36. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you at unawares for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole Earth Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accouuted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost c. SERMON XII Knowledge and Practice Necessary in Religion JOHN XIII 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them TWO Things make up Religion the Knowledge and the Practice of it and the First is wholly in order to the Second and God hath not revealed to us the Knowledge of Himself and his Will meerly for the improvement of our Understanding but for the bettering of our Hearts and Lives not to entertain our Minds with the speculations of Religion and Virtue but to form and govern our Actions If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them In which words our blessed Saviour does from a particular instance take occasion to settle a general Conclusion namely that Religion doth mainly consist in Practice and that the knowledge of his Doctrine without the real effects of it upon our Lives will bring no Man to Heaven In the beginning of this Chapter our great Lord and Master to testifie his Love to his Disciples and to give them a lively Instance and Example of that great Virtue of Humility is pleased to condescend to a very low and mean Office such as was used to be performed by Servants to their Masters and not by the Master to his Servants namely to wash their feet and when he had done this he asks them if they did understand the meaning of this strange Action Know ye what I have done unto you ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am if I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet for I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you Verily verily I say unto you the Servant is not greater than the Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him if ye know these things
happy are ye if ye do them As if he had said This which I have now done is easie to be understood and so likewise are all those other Christian Graces and Virtues which I have heretofore by my Doctrine and Example recommended to you but it is not enough to know these things but ye must likewise do them The End and the Life of all our Knowledge in Religion is to put in practice what we know It is necessary indeed that we should know our Duty but Knowledge alone will never bring us to that Happiness which Religion designs to make us partakers of if our Knowledge have not its due and proper influence upon our Lives Nay so far will our Knowledge be from making us Happy if it be separated from the Virtues of a good Life that it will prove one of the heaviest aggravations of our misery and it is as if he had said if ye know these things wo be unto you if ye do them not From these words then I shall observe these three things which I shall speak but briefly to First That the Knowledge of God's Will and our Duty is necessary to the practice of it If ye know these things which supposeth that we must know our Duty before we can do it Secondly That the Knowledge of our Duty and the Practice of it may be and too often are separated This likewise the Text supposeth that Men may know their Duty and yet not do it and that this is very frequent which is the Reason why our Saviour gives this Caution Thirdly That the Practice of Religion and the doing of what we know to be our Duty is the only way to Happiness If ye know these things happy â—re ye if ye do them I begin with the First of these namely That the Knowledge of God's Will and our Duty is necessary in order to the Practice of it The truth of this Proposition is so clear and evident at first view that nothing can obscure it and bring it in question but to endeavour to prove it and therefore instead of spending time in that I shall take occasion from it justly to reprove that preposterous Course which is taken and openly avowed and justified by some as the safest and best way to make Men Religious and to bring them to Happiness namely by taking away from them the Means of Knowledge as if the best way to bring Men to do the Will of God were to keep them from knowing it For what else can be the meaning of that Maxim so currant in the Church of Rome that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion or of that strange and injurious practice of theirs of Locking up from the People that great Storehouse and Treasury of Divine Knowledge the Holy Scriptures in an unknown Tongue I know very well that in justification of this hard usage of their People it is pretended that Knowledge is apt to puff Men up to make them Proud and Contentious Refractory and Disobedient and Heretical and what not and particularly that the free and familiar use of the Holy Scriptures permitted to the People hath ministred occasion to the People of falling into great and dangerous Errors and of making great disturbance and divisions among Christians For answer to this pretence I desire these four or five things may be Considered First That unless this be the Natural and Necessary effect of Knowledge in Religion and of the free use of the Holy Scriptures there is no force in this Reason and if this be the proper and natural effect of this Knowledge then this Reason will reach a great way farther than those who make use of it are willing it should Secondly That this is not the natural and necessary effect of Knowledge in Religion but only accidental and proceeding from Men's abuse of it for which the thing it self is not to be taken away Thirdly That the proper and natural Effects and Consequences of Ignorance are equally pernicious and much more certain and unavoidable than those which are accidentally occasioned by Knowledge Fourthly That if this Reason be good it is much stronger for withholding the Scriptures from the Priests and the Learned than from the People Fifthly That this danger was as great and as well known in the Apostles times and yet they took a quite contrary Course First I desire it may be consider'd that unless this be the natural and necessary effect of Knowledge in Religion and of the free use of the Holy Scriptures there is no force in this Reason for that which is necessary or highly useful ought not to be taken away because it is liable to be perverted and abused to ill purposes If it ought then not only Knowledge in Religion but all other Knowledge ought to be restrained and supprest for all Knowledge is apt to puff up and liable to be abused to many ill purposes At this rate Light and Liberty and Reason yea and Life it self ought all to be taken away because they are all greatly abused by many Men to some ill purposes or other so that unless these ill effects do naturally and necessarily spring from Knowledge in Religion the Objection from them is of no force and if they do necessarily flow from it then this Reason will reach a great way further than those that make use of it are willing it should for if this be true that the Knowledge of Religion as it is Revealed in the Holy Scriptures is of its own Nature so pernicious as to make Men proud and Contentious and Heretical and Disobedient to Authority then the blame of all this would fall upon our blessed Saviour for revealing so pernicious a Doctrine and upon his Apostles for publishing this Doctrine in a known Tongue to all Mankind and thereby laying the Foundation of perpetual Schisms and Heresies in the Church Secondlyâ— But this is not the natural and necessary effect of Knowledge in Religion but only accidental and proceeding from Mens abuse of it for which the thing it self ought not to be taken away And thus much certainly they will grant because it cannot with any face be denied and if so then the Means of Knowledge are not to be denied but only Men are to be cautioned not to prevert and abuse them And if any Man abuse the Holy Scriptures to the Patronizing of Error or Heresie or to any other bad purpose he does it at his peril and must give an account to God for it but ought not to be deprived of the means of Knowledge for fear he should make an ill use of them We must not hinder Men from being Christians to preserve them from being Hereticks and put out Mens Eyes for fear they should some time or other take upon them to dispute their way with their Guides I remember that St. Paul 1 Cor. 8. 1. takes notice of this accidental inconvenience of Knowledge that it puffeth up and that this Pride occasioned great Contentions and Divisions among
them but the Remedy which he prescribes against this mischief of Knowledge is not to with-hold from Men the Means of it and to Celebrate the Service of God the Prayers of the Church and the Reading of the Scriptures in an unknown Tongue but quite contrary Chap. 14. of that Epistle he strictly enjoyns that the Service of God in the Church be so performed as may be for the edification of the People which he says cannot be if it be Celebrated in an unknown Tongue and the Remedy he prescribes against the accidental mischief and inconvenience of Knowledge is not Ignorance but Charity to govern their Knowledge and to help them to make a right use of it ver 20. of that Chapt. after he had declared that the Service of God ought to be performed in a known Tongue he immediately adds Brethren be not Children in understanding how-be-it in malice be ye Children but in understanding be ye Men. He commends Knowledge he encourageth it he requires it of all Christians so far is he from checking the pursuit of it and depriving the People of the Means of it And indeed there is nothing in the Christian Religion but what is fit for every Man to know because there is nothing in it but what is designed to promote Holiness and a good Life and if Men make any other use of their Knowledge it is their own fault for it certainly tends to make Men good and being so useful and necessary to so good a purpose Men ought not to be debarr'd of it Thirdly Let it be Consider'd that the proper and natural Effects and Consequences of ignorance are equally pernicious and much more certain and unavoidable than those which are accidentally occasioned by Knowledge for so far as a Man is ignorant of his Duty it is impossible he should do it He that hath the Knowledge of Religion may be a bad Christian but he that is destitute of it can be none at all Or if ignorance do beget and promote some kind of Devotion in Men it is such a Devotion as is not properly Religion but Superstition the ignorant Man may be zealously superstitious but without some measure of Knowledge no Man can be truly Religious That the Soul be without Knowledge it is not good says Solomon Prov. 19. 2. because good practices depends upon our Knowledge and must be directed by it when as a Man that is trained up only to the outward performance of some things in Religion as to the saying over so many Prayers in an unknown Tongue this Man cannot be truly Religious because nothing is Religious that is not a Reasonable Service and no Service can be Reasonable that is not directed by our Understandings Indeed if the end of Prayer were only to give God to understand what we want it were all one what Language we Prayed in and whether we understood what we asked of him or not but so long as the end of Prayer is to testifie the sense of our own wants and of our dependance upon God for the supply of them it is impossible that any Man should in any tolerable propriety of Speech be said to Pray who does not understand what he asks and the saying over so many Pater Nosters by one that does not understand the meaning of them is no more a Prayer than the repeating over so many Verses in Virgil. And if this were good Reasoning that Men must not be permitted to know so much as they can in Religion for fear they should grow troublesome with their Knowledge then certainly the best way in the World to maintain Peace in the Christian Church would be to let the People know nothing at all in Religion and the best way to secure the ignorance of the People would be to keep the Priests as ignorant as the People and then to be sure they could teach them nothing but then the mischief would be that out of a fondness to maintain Peace in the Christian Church there would be no Church nor no Christianity which would be the same wise Contrivance as if a Prince should destroy his Subjects to keep his Kingdom quiet Fourthly Let us likewise Consider that if this Reason be good it is much stronger for withholding the Scriptures from the Priests and the Learned than from the People because the danger of starting Errors and Heresies and Countenancing them from Scripture and managing them plausibly and with advantage is much more to be feared from the Learned than from the Common People and the Experience of all Ages hath shewn that the great Broachers and Abettors of Heresie in the Christian Church have been Men of Learning and Wit and most of the famous Heresies that are Recorded in Ecclesiastical History have their Names from some Learned Man or other so that it is a great mistake to think that the way to prevent Error and Heresie in the Church is to take the Bible out of the hands of the People so long as the free use of it is permitted to Men of Learning and Skill in whose hands the danger of perverting it is much greater The Ancient Fathers I am sure do frequently prescribe to the People the constant and careful reading of the Holy Scriptures as the surest Antidote against the Poison of dangerous Errors and damnable Heresies and if there be so much danger of seduction into Error from the Oracles of Truth by what other or better Means can we hope to be secâ—red against this danger If the word of God be so cross and improper a Means to this End one would think that the teachings of Men should be much less effectual so that Men must either be left in their ignorance or they must be permitted to learn from the word of truth and whatever force this Reason of the danger of Heresie hath in it to deprive the Common People of the use of the Scriptures I am sure it is much stronger to wrest them out of the hands of the Priests and the Learned because they are much more capable of perverting them to so bad a purpose Fifthly and lastly this danger was as great and visible in the Age of the Apostles as it is now and yet they took a quite contrary Course there were Heresies then as well as now and either the Scriptures were not thought by being in the hands of the People to be the Cause of them or they did not think the taking of them out of their hands a proper Remedy The Apostles in all their Epistles do earnestly Exhort the People to grow in Knowledge and commend them for searching the Scriptures and charge them that the word of God should dwell richly in them And St. Peter takes particular notice of some Men wresting some difficult passages in St. Paul's Epistles as likewise in the other Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. where speaking of St Paul's Epistles he says there are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned
if ye know and do them Now to convince Men of so important a Truth I shall endeavour to make out these two things First That the Gospel makes the Practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness Secondly That the Nature and Reason of the thing makes it a necessary Qualification for it First The Gospel makes the Practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness Our Saviour in his first Sermon where he repeats the Promise of Blessedness so often he makes no promise of it to the meer knowledge of Religion but to the Habit and Practice of Christian Graces and Virtues of Meekness and Humility and Mercifulnâ—sâ— and Righteousness and Peaceableness and Pâ—râ—ty and Patience under Suffâ—rings and Persecutions for Righteousness sake And Matth. 7. 2. our Saviour doth most fully declare that the happinesâ— which he promises did not belong to those who made profession of his Name and were so well acquainted with his Doctrine as to be able to instruct others if themselves in the mean time did not practise it Not every one that â—aith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and done many wondrous works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of Iniquity Tho' they profess to know him yet because their Lives were not answerable to the Knowledge which they had of him and his Doctrine he declares that he will not know them but bid them depart from him And then he goes on to shew that tho' a Man attend to the Doctrine of Christ and gain the knowledge of it yet if it do not descend into his Life and govern his Actions all that Man's hopes of Heaven are fond and groundless and only that Man's hopes of Heaven are well grounded who knows the Doctrine of Christ and does it Ver. 24. whosoever heareth these Sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him to a Wise Man who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rocâ— and every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be liken'd to a foolish Man who built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it Tho' a Man had a knowledge of Religion as great and perfect as that which Solomon had of Natural Things large as the sand upon the sea shore yet all thâ—s Knowledge separated from Practice would be like the sand also in another respect a weak Foundation for any Man to build his hopes â—f Happiness upon To the same purpose St. Paul speaks Rom. 2. 13. Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the dâ—ers of the Law shall be justified So likewise St. James Chap. 1. 22. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves and ver 25. Who 's looketh into the perfect Law of Libert that is the Law or Doctrine of the Gospel and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this Man shall be blessed in his deed and therefore he adds that the truth and reality of Religion is to be measured by the effects of it in the government of our words and ordering of our Lives Ver. 26. If any Man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this Man's Religion is vain Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widow in their affâ—iction and to keep himself unspotted from the World Men talk of Religion and keep a great stir about it but nothing will pass for true Religion before God but the Virtuous and Charitable Actions of a good Life and God will accept no Man to Eternal Life upon any other Condition So the Apostle tells us most expresly Heb. 12. 14. Follow peace with all Men and holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. Secondly As God hath made the Practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness so the very Nature and Reason of the thing makes it a necessary Qualification for it It is necessary that we become like to God in order to the enjoyment of him and nothing makes us like to God but the Practice of Holiness and Goodness Knowledge indeed is a Divine Perfection but that alone as it doth not render a Man like God so neither doth it dispose him for the enjoyment of him If a Man had the understanding of an Angel he might for all that be a Devil he that committeth sin is of the Devil and whatever Knowledge such a Man may have he is of a devilish temper and disposition but every one that doth righteousness is born of God By this we are like God and only by our likeness to him do we become capable of the â—ight and enjoyment of him therefore every Man that hopes to be Happy by the blessed â—ight of God in the next Life must endeavour after Holiness in this Life So the same Apostle tells us 1 John 3. 3. Every Man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure A wicked temper and disposition of Mind is in the very Nature of the thing utterly inconsistent with all reasonable hopes of Heaven Thus I have shewn that the Practice of Religion and the doing of what we know to be our Duty is the only way to Happiness And now the proper Inference from all this is to put Men upon the careful Practice of Religion Let no Man content himself with the Knowledge of his Duty unless he do it and to this purpose I shall briefly urge these three Considerations First This is the great End of all our Knowledge in Religion to practise what we know The knowledge of God and of our Duty hath so essential a respect to Practice that the Scripture will hardly allow it to be properly called Knowledge unless it have an influence upon our Lives 1 John 2. 3 4. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his Commandmentâ— He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Lyar and the truth is not in him Secondly Practice is the best way to increase and perfect our Knowledge Knowledge directs us in our Practice but Practice confirms and increaseth our Knowledge John 7. 17. If any Man will do the will of God he shall know of the Doctrine The best way to know God is to be like him our selves and to have the lively image of his Perfections imprinted upon our Souls and the best way to understand
the Christian Religion is seriously to set about the Practice of it this will give a Man a better Notion of Christianity than any Speculation can Thirdly without the Practice of Religion our Knowledge will be so far from being any furtherance and advantage to our Happiness that it will be one of the unhappiest aggravations of our misery He that is ignorant of his Duty hath some excuse to pretend for himself but he that understands the Christian Religion and does not live according to it hath no cloak for his sin The defects of our Knowledge unless they be gross and wilful will find an easie Pardon with God but the faults of our Lives shall be severely punisht when we knew our Duty and would not do it I will conclude with that of our Saviour Luke 12. 47 48. That Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required When we come into the other World no Consideration will sting us more and add more to the rage of our Torments than this that we did wickedly when we understood to have done better and chose to make our selves Miserable when we knew so well the way to have been Happy SERMON XIII Practice in Religion necessary in proportion to our Knowledge LUKE XII 47 48. And that Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more IN prosecution of the Argument which I handled in my last Discourse namely that the Knowledge of our Duty without the Practice of it will not bring us to Happiness I shall proceed to shew that if our Practice be not answerable to our Knowledge this will be a great aggravation both of our Sin and Punishment And to this purpose I have pitched upon these words of our Lord which are the application of two Parables which he had delivered before to stir up Men to a diligent and careful Practice of their Duty that so they may be in a continual readiness and preparatioâ— for the coming of their Lord. The first Parable is more general and concerns all Men who are represented as so many Servants in a great Family from which the Lord is absent and they being uncertain of the time of his return should always be in a condition and posture to receive him Upon the hearing of this Parable Peter enquires of our Saviour whether he intended this only for his Disciples or for all To which Question our Saviour returns an Answer in another Parable which more particularly concerned them who because they were to be the Chief Rulers and Governours of his Church are represented by the Stewards of a great Family Ver. 42. Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season If he discharge his Duty blessed is he but if he shall take occasion in his Lord's absence to domineer over his fellow Servants and riotously to waste his Lords goods his Lord when he comes will punish him after a more severe and exemplary manner And then follows the application of the whole in the words of the Text And that Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes As if he had said and well may such a Servant deserve so severe a Punishment who having such a trust committed to him and knowing his Lord's will so much better yet does contrary to it upon which our Saviour takes occasion to compare the Fault and Punishment of those who have greater advantages and opportunitiâ—s of knowing their Duty with those whâ— are ignorant of it That Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to it shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not but did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes And then he adds the Reason and the Equity of this proceeding For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more The Words in general do allude to that Law of the Jews mentioned Deut. 25. 2. where the Judge is required to seâ— the Malefactor punish'd according to his Fault by a certain number of Stripes in relation to which known Law among the Jews our Saviour here says that those who knew their Lord's will and did it not should be beaten with many stripes but those who knew it not should be beaten with few stripes So that there are two Observations lie plainly before us in the words First That the greater Advantages and Opportunities and Man hath of knowing his Duty if he do it not the greater will be his Condemnation The Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to it shall be beaten with many stripes Secondly That ignorance is a great excuse of Mens faults and will lessen their Punishment But he that knew not but did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes I shall begin with the latter of these first because it will make way for the other Viz. That ignorance is a great excuse of Men's faults and will lessen their Punishment He that knew not but did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes For the clearing of this it will be requisite to consider what ignorance it is which our Saviour here speaks of and this is necessary to be enquired into because it is certain that there is some sort of ignorance which doth wholly excuse and clear from all manner of guilt and there is another sort which doth either not at all or very little extenuate the faults of Men so that it must be a third sort different from both these which our Saviour here means First There is an ignorance which doth wholly excuse and clear from all manner of guilt and that is an absolute and invincible ignorance when a Person is wholly ignorant of the thing which if he knew he should be bound to do but neither can nor could have helpt it that he is ignorant of it that is he either had not the Capacity or wanted the Means and Opportunity of knowing it In this Case a Person is in no fault if he did not do what he never knew nor could know to be his Duty For God measures the faults of Men by their Wills and if there be no defect there there can be no guilt for no Man is guilty but he that is conscious to himself
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that is whereas the Law left Sinners as to those Sins which stood most in need of pardon under a Curse having provided no expiation for them Christ hath redeemed them from that Curse by making a general expiation for Sin and in this sense it is that the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 9. 15. that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant that is for those Sins for which the Covenant of the Law had provided no way of forgiveness and therefore St. John says emphatically 1 Joh. 1. 7. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Thirdly The Law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain Rules and Directions for a good Life As the corruption and degeneracy of Mankind grew worse so the light of Nature waxed dimmer and dimmer and the Rule of Good and Evil was more doubtful and uncertain and that in very considerable instances of our Duty The Law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews and even to them who only had the benefit and advantage of it it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to Moral Duties and those things which are of an Eternal and Immutable Reason and Goodness And therefore our Saviour in this Sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews or the letter of it seemed to intend and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that Law as Divorce and Retaliation of Injuries but hath heightned our Duty in several instances of it requiring us to love our Enemies and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations tho' never so often repeated and not only not to revenge them but to requite them with good turns which were not understood by Mankind to be Laws before but yet when duly consider'd are very agreeable to right Reason and the sense of the wisest and bâ—st Men. So that the Christian Religion â—ath not only fixt and determined our Duty and brought it to a greater certainty but hath raised it to a greater perfection and rendered it every way fit to bring the Minds of Men to a more Divine temper and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God than ever the World was instructed in before Fourthly The Promises and Threatnings of the Law were only of temporal good and evil things which are in comparison of the endless Rewards and Punishments of another World but very languid and faint Motives to obedience Not but that the Jews under the Law had such apprehensions of their own Immortality and of a future state of Happiness and Misery after this Life as Natural Light suggested to them which was in most but a wavering and uncertain perswasion and consequently of small efficacy to engage Men to their Duty but the Law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those Natural Notions concerning a future state and the strengthning of this perswasion in the Minds of Men it did rather suppose it than give any new force and life to it And for this Reason more particularly the Apostle tells us that the Law was but weak to make Men good because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of Men by the weight of its Promises and the terrour of its Threatnings and that for this weakness and imperfection of it it was removed and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in in the place of it Heb. 7. 18 19. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment that was before that is of the Jewish Law for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did that is the Covenant of the Gospel which promiseth Eternal Life And Ch. 8. 6. for this Reason more especially the Apostle says that Christ had obtained a more excellent Ministry being the Mediator of a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises And Rom. 1. 16 18. St. Paul tell us that for this Reason the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation because therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The clear Revelation of a Future Judgment was that which made the Gospel so proper and so powerful an Instrument for the Salvation of Men. The great impiety of Mankind and their impenitency in it was not so much to be wondred at before while the World was in a great measure ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked Life and therefore God is said in some sort to overlook it but now he commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future Judgment calls loudly upon all Men to leave their Sins and turn to God Fifthly The Covenant of the Law had no spiritual Promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit for the mortifying of Sin and enabling Men to their Duty and supporting them under Sufferings but the Gospel is full of clear and express Promises to this purpose Our Saviour hath assured us that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and this the Apostle tells us is actually confer'd upon all true Christians those who do sincerely embrace and believe the Gospel Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Hence the Gospel is call'd by the same Apostle the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus v. 2d of that Chap. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and in the next words he tells us that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the Law that it left Men destitute of this mighty help and advantage at least as to any special promise of it What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by making him a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is that that Righteousness which the Law aimed at and signified but was too weak to effect might be really accomplisht in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who are acted and assisted by a higher and better Principle than Men either have in Nature or the carnal dispesnation of the Law did endow Men withall And because of this great defect the Law is said to be a state of Bondage and Servitude and on the contrary
excellent being filled with the fruits of Righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and the praise of God Phil. 1. 10 11. Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise mind these things Ch. 4. 8. And then considering what abundant provision the Gospel hath made for our attainment of Everlasting Salvation we are altogether without excuse if we perish Since God hath raised up so mighty a Salvation for us how shall we escape If we die in our Sins it is not because God would not forgive them but because we would not Repent and be Saved the fault is all our own and we owe it wholly to our selves if we be lost and undone for ever If when Life and Death Heaven and Hell are so plainly set before us Eternal Misery and Perdition fall to our Lot and Portion it is not because we were not warned of our Danger or because Happiness and the things of our Peace were hid from our eyes but because we have made Death and Destruction our obstinate and final Choice But Beloved I hope better things of you and things which accompany Salvation tho' I thus speak Only let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ and if we be careful to perform the Conditions which the Gospel requires on our part we shall not fail to be made Partakers of that Eternal Life which God that cannot lie hath promised to us for his Mercy 's sake in Jesus Christ SERMON V. Of the Nature of Regeneration and its Necessity in order to Justification and Salvation GALAT. VI. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumciston availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature THERE are two Epistles of St. Paul namely that to the Romans and this to the Galatians which are principally and particularly design'd to confute a false perswasion which had prevailed amongst many Christians especially those who were Converted from Judaism that it was not enough for Men to embrace and confess the Christian Religion unless they kept the Law of Moses or at least submitted to that great Precept of Circumcision the neglect whereof among all the affirmative Precepts of the Law was only threatned with excision or being cut off from among the People And of the prevalency of this Errour and the great disturbance which it made in the Christian Church we have a particular account Acts 15. where a General Council of the Apostles is call'd and a Letter written in their Names to all the Christian Churches to rectifie their apprehensions in this matter ver 24. of that Chap. For as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your Souls saying ye must be Circumcis'd and keep the Law to whom we gave no such Commandment c. And upon this occasion likewise it was that St. Paul wrote this Epistle to the Galatians as likewise that to the Romans in the former of which after he had at large confuted this Errour which he calls the preaching of another Gospel than what the Apostles had preached and the Christians first received In the beginning of the 5 th Chapt. he Exhorts them to assert the Liberty which Christ had purchas'd for them from the obligation of the Law of Moses ver 1 2. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoak of bondage Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Not that hereby he condemneth Circumcision as a thing evil in it self for God never Instituted or Commanded any thing that was so but he opposeth the opinion of the necessity of it to our Justification and Salvation when the Gospel had so plainly taken away the obligation and use of it and consequently to affirm still the necessity of it was really to renounce Christianity For if Judaism was still the way to Salvation Christianity was to no purpose and if Christianity be now the way then the obligation to the Jewish Religion was ceased To avoid the force of this Reasoning it was not enough for the false Apostles to say as it seems they did that Christians were not obliged universally to the whole Law of Moses but principally to the Law of Circumcision because Circumcision being the sign and badge of that Covenant whoever took that upon him did thereby own his obligation to the whole Law ver 3â— 4. For I testifie again to every Man that is Circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law Christ is become of no effect to you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace that is whoever of you expect and profess to be justified by the Law of Moses ye take away the necessity and use of the Christian Religion and are fallen from grace that is do in effect renounce the Gospel for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith ver 5 we by the Spirit in opposition to Circumcision which was in the Flesh do expect to be justified by the belief of the Gospel For in Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision ver 6. that is now under the dispensation of the Gospel by Christ Jesus it signifies nothing to a Man's Justification or Salvation whether he be Circumcised or not Circumcised whether he be a Jew or a Gentile All that the Gospel requires as necessary to these purposes is that we perform the Conditions of the Gospel that so we may be capable of being made Partakers of the blessings of it Now as the great blessing and benefit of the Gospel is variously exprest as by the forgiveness of our sins by our acceptance with God or which compâ—ehends both by our Justification sometimes by Adoption and our beingâ— made the Sons and Children of God sometimes by Redemption and which is the consummation of all by Salvation and Eternal Life I say as the bleâ—sing and benefit of the Gospel is in Scripture exprest to us by these several terms which do in effâ—ct all signifie the same thing so our Duty and the Condition the Gospel requires on our part is likewise as variously exprest sometimes and that very frequently by the word Faith as being the great Source and Principle of all Religious Acts and Performances but then this Faith must not be a bare assent and perswasion of the Truth of the Gospel but such an effectual belief as expresseth it self in suitable acts of Obedience and Holiness such as the Apostle here calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faith whick worketh by Love a Faith that is inspir'd and acted or rather consummate and made perfect by Charity for so the word doth often signifie and then this Phrase will be just of the same importance with
this may be and sometimes is I am so far from denying that I believe it to be so Some Men by an extraordinary power of God's grace upon their hearts are suddenly changed and strangely reclaimed from a very Wicked and Vicious to a very Religious and Virtuous Course of Life and that which others attain to by slower degrees and great conflicts with themselves before they can gain the upper hand of their Lusts these arrive at all on the sudden by a mighty Resolution wrought in them by the power of God's grace and as it were a new byass and inclination putâ— upon their Souls equal to an habit gain'd by long use and custom This God sometimes does and when he does this it may in some sense be call'd the infusion of the habits of Grace and Virtue together and at once because the Man is hereby endowed with a Principle of equal force and power with habits that are acquir'd by long use and practice A strong and vigorous Faith is the principle and root of all Graces and Virtues and may have such a powerful influence upon the Resolutions of our Minds and the government of our Actions that from this Principle all Graces and Virtues may spring and grow up by degrees into habits but then this Principle is not formally but virtually in the power and efficacy of it the infusion of the habits of every Grace and Virtue and even in those Persons in whom this Change is so suddenly and as it were at once I doubt not but that the habits of several Graces and Virtues are afterwards attained by the frequent practice of them in the virtue of this powerful Principle of the Faith of the Gospel as I shall shew in the progress of this Discourse And this I doubt not was very frequent and visible in many of the first Converts to Christianity especially of those who from the abominable Idolatry and Impiety of Heathenism were gained to the Christian Religion The Spirit of God did then work very Miraculously as well in the Cures of Spiritual as of Bodily Diseases But then to make this the Rule and Standard of God's ordinary Proceedings in the Conversion and Regeneration of Men is equally unreasonable as still to expect Miracles for the Cure of Diseases and 't is certain in experience that this is not God's ordinary Method in the Conversion of Sinners as I shall fully shew by and by Secondly I shall shew what Regeneration is by which it will plainly appear that there is no necessity that it should be effected in an instant and at once but that it will admit of degrees I do not deny that it may be in an instant and at once The Power of God is able to do this and sometimes does it very thoroughly and very suddenly But the question is whether there be a necessity it should be so and always be so Now Regeneration is the change of a Man's state from a state of Sin to a state of Holiness which because it is an entrance upon a new kind or course of Life it is fitly resembled to Regeneration or a new Birth to a new Creation the Man being as it were quite charged or made over again so as not to be as to the main purpose and design of his life the same Man he was before This is a plain sensible account of the thing which every one may easily understand Now there is nothing in Reason why a Man may not gradually be changed and arrive at this state by degrees as well as after this change is made and he arrived at this state of a Regenerate Man he may by degrees grow and improve in it But the latter no Man doubts of but that a Man that is in a state of grace may grow and improve in grace and there is as little Reason to question why a Man may not come to this state by degrees as well as leap into it at once All the difficulty I know of in this Matter is a meer nicety that there is an instant in which every thing begins and therefore Regeneration is in an instant so that the instant before the Man arrived at this state it could not be said that he was Regenerate and the instant after he is in this state it cannot be denied that he is so But this is idle subtilety just as if a Man should prove that an House was built in an instant because it could not be said to be built 'till the instant it was finish'd tho' for all this nothing is more certain than that it was built by degrees Or suppose the time of arriving at Man's estate be at one and twenty does it from hence follow that a Man does not grow to be a Man by degrees but is made a Man in an instant because just before one and twenty he was not at Man's estate and just then he was Not but that God if he please can make a Man in an instant as he did Adam but it is not necessary from this Example that all Men should be made so much less does it follow from this vain subtilety This is just the Case All the while the Man is tending towards a Regenerate state and is strugling with his Lusts 'till by the power of God's Grace and his own Resolution he get the Victory all the while he is under the sense and conviction of his sinful and miserable state and sorrowing for the folly of his past Life and coming to an effectual Purpose and Resolution of changing his Course and it may be several times thrown back by the temptations of the Devil and the power of evil habits and the weakness and instability of his own purpose 'till at last by the grace of God following and assisting him he comes to a firm Resolution of a better Life which Resolution governs him for the future I say all this while which in some Persons is longer in others shorter according to the power of evil habits and the different degrees of God's grace afforded to Men all this time the Work of Regeneration is going on and tho' a Man cannot be said to be in a Regenerate state 'till that very instant that the Principle of Grace and his good Resolution have got the upper hand of his Lusts yet it is certain for all this that the Work of Regeneration was not effected in an instant This is plainly and truly the Case as I shall shew in the Third Particular I propounded namely that it is evident from experience of the ordinary Methods of God's grace both in those who are Regenerated by a Pious and Religious Education and those who are reclaimed from a vicious Course of Life The first sort namely those who are brought to goodness by a Religious and Virtuous Education these at least so far as my Observation reacheth make up a very considerable part of the number of the Regenerate that is of good Men. And tho' it be certain considering the Universal Corruption
and degeneracy of Humane Nature that there is a real Change made in them by the operation of God's grace upon their Minds yet it is as certain in experience that this Change is made in very many by very silent and insensible degrees 'till at length the seeds of Religion which were planted in them by a good Education do visibly prevail over all the evil inclinations of corrupt Nature so as to sway and govern the Actions of their Lives and when the Principles of grace and goodness do apparently prevail we may conclude them to be in a Regenerate sâ—ate tho' perhaps very few of these can give any account of the particular time and occasion of this Change For things may be seen in their Effect which were never very sensible in their Cause And it is very Reasonable that such Persons who never lived in any evil course should escape those Pangs and Terrours which unavoidably happen unto others from a course of actual Sin and the guilt of a wicked Life and if there be any such Persons as I have described who are in this gradual and insensible manner Regenerated and made good this is a Demonstration that there is no necessity that this Change should be in an instant it being so frequently found to be otherwise in Experience And as for others who are visibly reclaimed from a notorious wicked Course in these we likewise frequently see this Change gradually made by strong impressions made upon their Minds most frequently by the Word of God sometimes by his Providence whereby they are convinâ—'d of the evil and danger of their Course and awakened to Consideration and melted into Sorrow and Repentance and perhaps exercis'd with great terrours of Conscience 'till at length by the grace of God they come to a fixt Purpose and Resolution of forsaking their Sins and turning to God and after many struglings and conflicts with their Lusts and the strong byass of evil habits this Resolution assisted by the grace of God doth effectually prevail and make a real change both in the Temper of their Minds and the Course of their Lives and when this is done and not before they are said to be Regenerate But all the while this was a doing the new Man was forming and the work of Regeneration was going on and it was perhaps a very considerable time from the first beginning of it 'till it came to a fixt and setled state And this I doubt not in experience of most Persons who are reclaim'd from a vicious course of Life is found to be the usual and ordinary Method of God's grace in their Conversion And if so it is in vain to pretend that a thing is done in an instant which by so manifold experience is found to take up a great deal of time and to be effected by degrees And whereas some Men are pleased to call all this the Preparatory work to Regeneration but not the Regeneration it self this is an idle contention about words For if these Preparations be a degree of goodness and a gradual tendency towards it then the work is begun by them and during the continuance of them is all the while a doing and tho' it be hard to fix the point or instant when a Man just arrives at this state and not before yet it is very sensible when a Man is in it and this Change when it is really made will soon discover it self by plain and sensible effects Fourthly and Lastly all this is very agreeable to the plain and constant tenour of Scripture Isa 1. 16. where the Prophet exhorts to this Change he speaks of it as a gradual thing Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well that is break off evil and vicious habits and gain the contrary habits of virtue and goodness by the exercise of it The Scripture speaks of some as farther from a state of grace than others Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil plainly declaring the great difficulty equal almost to a natural impossibility of reclaiming those to goodness who have been long habituated to an evil course And the Scripture speaks of some as nearer to a state of grace than others Our Saviour tells the young Man in the Gospel who said he had kept the Commands of God from his youth that he was not far from the Kingdom of God But now if by an irresistible act of God's power this Change be made in an instant and cannot otherwise be made how is one Man nearer to a state of Grace or farther from it than another If all that are made good must be made so in an instant or not at all then no Man is nearer being made good than another for if he were nearer to it he might sooner be made so but that cannot be if all must be made good in an instant for sooner than that no Man can be made so If the similitude of our being dead in sins and trespasses be strictly taken no Man is nearer a Resurrection to a new Life than another as he that died but a week ago is as far from being raised to life again as he that died a thousand years ago the Resurrection of both requires an Omnipotent act and to that both are equally easie The two Parables of our Saviour Matth. 13. 31 33. are by many Interpreters understood of the gradual operation of grace upon the hearts of Men. That wherein the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a grain of Mustard-seed which being sown was the least of all seeds but by degrees grew up to be the greatest of herbs and to leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of meal 'till the whole was leavened intimating the progress of God's grace which by degrees diffuseth it self over the whole temper of a Man's Mind into all the actions of his Life To be sure the Parable of the seed which fell upon good ground does represent the efficacy of the word of God accompanied by his grace upon the Minds of Men and that is said to spring up and increase and to bring forth fruit with patience which surely does express to us the gradual operation of God's word and grace iu the Renovation and Change of a Man's Heart and Life The New Testament indeed speaks of the sudden Change of many upon the first preaching of the Gospel which I have told you before is not a standard of the ordinary Method of God's grace the not considering of which hath been a great Cause of all the Mistakes in this Matter 'T is true those which were thus Converted to the belief of the Gospel their Faith was a virtual Principle of all grace and virtue tho' not formally the habit of every particular grace St. Paul himself who was a prime instance of this kind speaks as if he acquir'd
declarations of the wrath of God against Sinners that there is a Day of Judgment appointed and a Judge constituted to take cognisance of the Actions of Men to pass a severe Sentence and to inflict a terrible Punishment upon the workers of Iniquity More particularly our Lord and his Apostles have denounced the wrath of God against particular Sinâ— and Vices In several places of the New Testament there are Catalogues given of particular Sins the practice whereof will certainly shut Men out of the Kingdom of Heaven and expose them to the wrath and vengeance of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know ye not that the Unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God So likewise Gal. 5. 19 20 21. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of which I tell you before as I have likewise told you in times past that they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Col. 3. 5 6. Mortiâ—ie therefore your Members upon Earth Fornication Uncleanness Inordinate Affection Evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience Rev. 21. 8. The fearful and unbelieving that is those who rejected the Christian Religion notwithstanding the clear Evidence that was offer'd for it and those who out of fear should Apostatize from it The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable that is those who were guilty of unnatural Lusts not fit to be named and Murderers and Whoremongers and Sorâ—erers and Idolaters and all Liars that is all sorts of false and deceitful and perfidious Persons shall have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone whiâ—h is the second death And not only these gross and notorious Sins which are such plain violations of the Law and Light of Nature but those wherein Mankind have been apt to take more liberty as if they were not sufficiently convinced of the evil of them as the resisting of Civil Authority which the Apostle tells us they that are guilty of shall receive to themselves damnation Rom. 13. 2. Profane Swearing in common Conversation which St. James tells us brings Men under the danger of damnation Ch. 5. 12. Above all things my Brethren swear not lest ye fall under Condemnation Nay our Saviour hath told us plainly that not only for wicked actions but for every evil and sinful word Men are obnoxious to the Judgment of God So our Lord assures us Mat. 12. 36 37. I say unto you that every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the Day of Judgment For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned He had spoken before of that great and unpardonable Sin of Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and because this might be thought great severity for evil words he declares the Reason more fully because words shew the Mind and Temper of the Man ver 34. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The Character of the Man is shewn by his words saith Menander Profert enim mores plerumque oratio saith Quintilian animi secreta detegit A Man's Speech discovers his Manners and the secrets of his heart ut vivit etiam quemque dicere Men commonly speak as they live and therefore our Saviour adds A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil Man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things but I say unto you that every idle word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which I do not think our Saviour means that Men shall be call'd to a solemn account at the Day of Judgment for every trifling and impertinent and unprofitable word but every wicked and sinful word of any kind as if he had said do you think this severe to maâ—e words an unpardonable fault I say unto you that Men shall not only be condemned for their maliâ—ious and blasphemous speeches against the Holy Ghost but they shall likewise give a strict account for all other wicked and sinful speeches in any kind tho' much inferiour to this And this is not only most agreeable to the scope of our Saviour but is confirmed by some Greek Copies in which it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every wicked word which Men shall speak they shall be accountable for it at the Day of Judgment But this by the by Our Saviour likewise tells us that Men shall not only be proceeded against for Sins of Commission but for the bare Omission and Neglect of their Duty especially in Works of Mercy and Charity for not feeding the hungry and the like as we see Mat. 25. and that for the omission of these he will pass that terrible Sentence Depart ye Cursed c. So that it nearly concerns us to be careful of our whole Life of all our Words and Actions since the Gospel hath so plainly and expresly declared that for all these things God will bring us into Judgment And if the threatnings of the Gospel be true What manner of Persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly As the threatnings of the Gospel are very plain and express so are they likewise very dreadful and terrible I want words to express the least part of the terrour of them and yet the expressions of Scripture concerning the misery and punishment of Sinners in another World are such as may justly raise amazement and horror in those that hear them Sometimes it is exprest by a departing from God and a perpetual banishment from his presence who is the Fountain of all Comfort and Joy and Happiness sometimes by the loss of our Souls or our selves What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or as it is in another Evangelist to lose himself Not that our Being shall be destroyed that would be a happy loss indeed to him that is Sentenced to be for ever miserable but the Man shall still remain and his Body and Soul continue to be the Foundation of his misery and a Scene of perpetual woe and discontent which our Saviour calls the destroying of Body and Soul in Hell or going into everlasting punishment where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched Could I represent to you the horror of that dismal Prison into which Wicked and Impure Souls are to be thrust and the misery they must there endure without the least spark of Comfort or glimering of Hope how they wail and groan under the intolerable wrath of God the insolent scorn and
cruelty of Devils the severe lashes and stings the raging anguish and horrible despair of their own minds without intermission without pity and without hope of ever seeing an end of that misery which yet is unsupportable for one moment could I represent these things to you according to the terror of them what effect must they have upon us and with what patience could any Man bear to think of plunging himself into this misery and by his own wilful fault and folly to endanger his coming into this place and state of torments Especially if we consider in the Third place that the Gospel hath likewise declared that there is no avoiding of this misery no hopes of impunity if Men go on and continue in their Sins The terms of the Gospel in this are peremptory that except we Repent we shall perish that without holiness no Man shall see the Lord that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And this is a very pressing Consideration and brings the Matter to a short and plain issue Either we must leave our Sins or die in them either we must Repent of them or be Judged for them either we must â—orsake our Sins and break off that wicked Course which we have lived in or we must quit all hopes of Heaven and Happiness nay we cannot escape the damnation of Hell The clear revelation of a future Judgment is so pressing an Argument to Repentance as no Man can in Reason resist that hath not a mind to be miserable Now saith St. Paul to the Athenians he straightly chargeth all Men every where to Repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness Men may cheat themselves or suffer themselves to be deluded by others about several means and devices of reconciling a wicked Life with the hopes of Heaven and Eternal Salvation as by mingling some pangs of sorrow for Sin and some hot Fits of Devotion with a sinful Life which is only the interruption of a wicked Course without Reformation and amendment of Life but let no Man deceive you with vain words for our Blessed Saviour hath provided no other ways to save Men but upon the terms of Repentance and Obedience Fourthly This Argument takes hold of the most desperate and profligate Sinners and still retains its force upon the Minds of Men when almost all other Considerations fail and have lost their efficacy upon us Many Men are gone so far in an Evil Course that neither shame of their Vices nor the love of God and Virtue nor the hopes of Heaven are of any force with them to reclaim them and bring them to a better Mind but there is one handle yet left whereby to lay hold of them and that is their Fear This is a Passion that lies deep in our Nature being founded in self-preservation and sticks so close to us that we cannot quit our selves of it nor shake it off 〈…〉 may put off ingenuity and 〈…〉 all Obligations of gratitude Men may harden their Foreheads and Conquer all sense of shame but they can never perfectly stiâ—le and subdue their Fears they can hardly so extinguish the fear of Hell but that some sparks of that Fire will ever and anon be flying about in their Consciences especially when they are made sober and brought to themselves by affliction and by the present apprehensions of Death have a nearer sight of another World And if it was so hard for the Heathen to Conquer these apprehensions how much harder must it be to Christians who have so much greater assurance of these things and to whom the wrath of God is so clearly revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. Fifthly No Religion in the World ever urged this Argument upon Men with that force and advantage which Christianity does The Philosophy of the Heathen gave Men no steady assurance of the thing the most knowing Persons among them were not agreed about a Future State the greatest part of them spake but doubtfully concerning another Life And besides the natural jealousies and suspicions of Mankind concerning these things they had only some fair probabilities of Reason and the Authority of their Poets who talkt they knew not what about the Elizian Fields and the Infernal Regions and the three Judges of Hell so that the Wisest among them had hardly assurance enough in themselves of the truth of the thing to press it upon others with any great confidence and therefore it was not likely to have any great efficacy upon the generality of Mankind As for the Jewish Religion tho' that supposed and took for granted the Rewards of another World as a Principle of Natural Religion yet in the Law of Moses there was no particular and express Revelation of the Life of the World to come and what was deduced from it was by remote and obscure Consequence Temporal Promises and Threatnings it had many and clear and their Eyes were so dazled with these that it is probable that the generality of them did but little consider a Future State 'till they fell into great temporal Calamities under the Grecian and Roman Empires whereby they were almost necessarily awakened to the Consideration and hopes of a better Life to relieve them under their present Evils and Sufferings and yet even in that time they were divided into two great Factions about this Matter the one affirming and the other as considently denying any Life after this But the Gospel hath brought Life and Immortality â—o light and we are assured from Heaven of the truth and reality of another State and a Future Judgment The Son of God was sent into the World to preach this Doctrine and rose again from the Dead and was taken up into Heaven for a visible demonstration to all Mankind of another Life after this and consequently of a Future Judgment which no Man ever doubted of that did firmly believe a Future State The Sum of all that I have said is this the Gospel hath plainly declared to us that the only way to Salvation is by forsaking our Sins and living a Holy and Virtuous Life and the most effectual Argument in the World to perswade Men to this is the consideration of the infinite danger that a sinful Course exposeth Men to since the wrath of God continually hangs over Sinners and if they continue in their Sins will certainly fall upon them and overwhelm them with Misery and he that is not moved by this Argument is lost to all intents and purposes All that now remains is to urge this Argument upon Men and from the serious Consideration of it to perswade them to Repent and reform their wicked Lives And was there ever Age wherein this was more needful when Iniquity doth not only abound but even rage among us when Infidelity and Profaneness and all manner of Lewdness and Vice appears so boldly and openly and Men commit the greatest Abominations without blushing at them
Kingdom of God St. Paul likewise very fully declares unto us the great danger of this Condition 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. But they that will be Rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown Men in destruction and perdition for the love of mony is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows But the greatest Bait of all to Flesh and Blood is sensual Pleasures the very presence and opportunity of these are apt to kindle the Desires and to inflame the Lusts of Men especially where these temptations meet with suitable tempers where every spark that falls catcheth And on the other hand the Evils and Calamities of this World especially if they threaten or fall upon Men in any degree of extremity are strong temptations to Human Nature Poverty and Want Pain and Suffering and the fear of any great Evil especially of Death these are great straits to Humane Nature and apt to tempt Men to great Sins to impatience and discontent to unjust and dishonest shifts to the forsaking of God and Apostacy from his Truth and Religion Agur was sensible of the dangerous temptation of Poverty and therefore he prays against that as well as against Riches Give me not Poverty lest being Poor I steal and take the name of the Lord my God in vain that is lest I be tempted to Theft and Perjury The Devil whose Trade it is to tempt Men to Sin knew very well the force of these sorts of Temptations when he desired God first to touch Job in his Estate and to see what effect that would have Job 1. 11. But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face And when he found himself deceived in this surely he thought that were he but afflicted with great bodily pains that would put him out of all patience and flesh and blood would not be able to withstand this Temptation Chap. 2. ver 5. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face And this was the great Temptation that the Primitive Christians were assaulted withal they were tempted to forsake Christ and his Religion by a most violent Persecution by the spoiling of their goods by Imprisonment and Torture and Death And this is that kind of Temptation which the Apostle particularly speaks of before the Text Blessed is the Man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him and then it follows Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God And thus I have given an account of the several sorts of temptations comprehended under this second Head namely when Men are tempted by being brought into such Circumstances as do greatly endanger their falling into Sin by the Allurements of this World and by the Evils and Calamities of it Now the Question is how far God hath an hand in these kind of temptations that so we may know how to limit this Proposition which the Apostle here rejects that Men are tempted of God Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God That the Providence of God does order or at least permit Men to be brought into these Circumstances I have spoken of which are such dangerous temptations to Sin no Man can doubt that believes his Providence to be concern'd in the affairs of the World All the difficulty is how far the Apostle does here intend to exempt God from an hand in these temptations Now for the clearer understanding of this it will be requisite to consider the several Ends and Reasons which those who tempt others may have in tempting them and all temptation is for one of these three Ends or Reasons either for the trial and improvement of Men's Virtues or by way of Judgment and Punishment for some former great Sins and Provocations or with a direct purpose and design to seduce Men to Sin these I think are the chief Ends and Reasons that can be imagined of exercising Men with dangerous temptations First For the exercise and improvement of Men's Graces and Virtues And this is the End which God always aims at in bringing good Men or permitting them to be brought into dangerous temptations And therefore St. James speaks of it as a matter of joy when good Men are exercised with afflictions not because afflictions are desirable for themselves but because of the happy consequences of them Ver. 2 3. of this Chap. My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience And to the same purpose St. Paul Rom. 5. 3 4 5. We glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patience trieth a Man and this trial worketh hope and hope maketh not ashamed These are happy effects and consequences of affliction and suffering when they improve the Virtues of Men and increase their Graces and thereby make way for the increase of their Glory Upon this account St. James pronounceth those Blessed who are thus tempted Blessed is the Man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this certainly is no disparagement to the Providence of God to permit Men to be thus tempted when he permits it for no other end but to make them better Men and thereby to prepare them for a greater Reward And so the Apostle assures us Rom. 8. 17 18. If so be we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us And ver 28. For we know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God And this happy end and issue of temptations to good Men the Providence of God secures to them if they be not wanting to themselves one of these two ways either by proportioning the temptation to their strength or if it exceed that by ministring new strength and support to them by the secret and extraordinary aids of his Holy Spirit First By proportioning the temptation to their strength ordering things so by his secret and wise Providence that they shall not be assaulted by any temptation which is beyond their strength to resist and overcome And herein the security of good Men doth ordinarily consist and the very best of us those who have the firmest and most resolute virtue were in infinite danger if the Providence of God did not take this care of us For a temptation may set upon the best Men with so much violence or surprize them at such an advantage as no ordinary degree of grace
Author of the Sins of Men. I proceed now to the Second That every Man is his own greatest Tempter But every Man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed God does not tempt any Man to Sin but every Man is then tempted when by his own Lust his irregular Inclination and Desire he is seduced to evil and enticed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is caught as it were with a bait for so the greek word signifies In which words the Apostle gives us a true account of the prevalency and efficacy of temptation upon Men. It is not because God has any design to ensnare Men in Sin but their own Corâ—uption and vicious inclination seduce them to that which is evil To instance in the particular temptation the Apostle was speaking of Persecution Suffering for the Cause of Religion to avoid which many did then forsake the Truth and Apostatiz'd from their Christian Profession The true Cause of which was not the Providence of God which permitted them to be exposed to those Sufferings but their inordinate love of the good things of this Life and their unreasonable fears of the Evils and Sufferings of it they valued the enjoyments of this present Life more than the favour of God and that Eternal Happiness which he had promised to them in another Life and they feared the Persecutions of Men more than the threatnings of God and the dreadful punishments of another World They had an inordinate affection for the ease and pleasure of this Life and their unwillingness to part with ease was a great temptation to them to quit their Religion by this bait they were caught when it came to the trial And thus it is proportionably in all other sorts of temptations Men are betrayed by themselves and the tâ—mptation without hath a Party within them with which it holds a secret correspondence and which is ready to yield and give consent to it so that it is our own consent and treachery to our selves that makes any temptation Master of us and without that we are not to be overcome Every Man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed It is the Lust of Men complying with the temptations which are offer'd to us which renders them effectual and gives them the Victory over us In the handling of this Argument I shall from these words of the Apostle observe to you these two things First That as the Apostle doth here acquit God from any hand in tempting Men to Sin so he does not ascribe the prevalency of temptation to the Devil Secondly That he ascribes the prevalency of temptation to the Lust and vicious inclinations of Men which seduce them to a compliance with the temptations that are presented to them Every Man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed These two Observations shall be the subject of my present Discourse First That as the Apostle doth here acquit God from any hand in tempting Mâ—n to Sin so he does not ascribe the prevalency and efficacy of temptation to the Devil That he acquits God I have shewn at large in my former Discourse It is evident likewise that he does not ascribe the efficacy and prevalency of temptation to the Devil for the Apostle in this Discourse of his concerning temptations makes no express mention of the Devil he supposeth indeed that baits are laid for Men every Man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed i. e. when he plays with the baits that are laid for him and swallows them And the Scripture elsewhere frequently tells us that the Devil is very active and busie to tempt Men and is continually laying baits before them but their own Lusts are the Cause why they are caught by them And I do the rather insist upon this because Men are apt to lay great load upon the Devil in the business of temptation hoping thereby either wholly or at least in a great measure to excuse themselves and therefore I shall here consider how far the Devil by his temptations is the cause of the Sins which Men by compliance with those temptations are drawn into First It is certain that the Devil is very active and busie to Minister to them the occasions of Sin and temptations to it For ever since he fell from God partly out of enmity to him and partly out of envy and malice to Mankind he hath made it his great business and employment to seduce Men to Sin and to this end he walks up and down the Earth and watcheth all occasions and opportunities to tempt Men to Sin and so far as his Power reacheth and God permits him he lays baits and temptations before them in all their ways presenting them wiâ—h the occasions and opportunities to Sin and with such baits and allurements as are most â—uitable to their tempers and most likely to prevail with their particular inclinations and as often as he can surprizing Men with these at the easiest time of access and with such Circumstances as may give his temptations the greatest force and advantage Of this the Scripture assures us in general when it tells us of these wiles and devices of Satan and of the methods of his temptations so that tho' we do not particularly discern how and when he doth this yet we have no reason to doubt of the thing if we believe that there is such a Spirit in the World as the Scripture particularly tells us there is that works in the Children of disobedience and that God from whom nothing is hidden and who sees all the secret Engines which are at work in the World to do us good or harm hath in mercy to Mankind given us particular warning of it that we may not be wholly ignorant of our Enemies and their malicious Designs upon us and that we may be continually upon our guard aware of our danger and armed against it Secondly The Devil does not only present to Men the temptations and occasions of Sin but when he is permitted to make nearer approaches to them does excite and stir them up to comply with these temptations and to yield to them And this he does not only by employing his Instruments to solicit for him and to draw Men to Sin by bad Counsel and Example which we see frequently done and probably very often by the Devil's instigation those who are very wicked themselves and consequently more enslaved to the Devil and under his Power being as it were Factors for him to seduce others but besides this 't is not improbable but the Devil himself does many times immediately excite Men to Sin by working upon the humours of their Bodies or upon their Imaginations and by that means infusing and suggesting evil motions into them or by diverting them from those Thoughts and Considerations which might check and restrain them from that wickedness to which he is tempting them or by some other ways and means