according as is the Authority and Sufficiency of him upon whose Testimony we Believe a thing to be true accordingly more or less is the Credit we give to what he speaks If it be only the Word of a mere Man which we have for the Truth of a thing we are not to Believe it as that which is infallibly certain for the wisest and best of Men are insufficient to give us ground to Believe 'em as infallible in what they deliver The wisest of Men may be ignorant of the exact Truth of Things and so may be deceived themselves and those that are not the best nor very honest tho' they do know what they say yet may deceive others So that the Credit we give to any Man living can amount to no more than a Human Faith such as is fit to be given to Man and we cannot Believe infallibly what an uninspired Person shall say as if it were impossible it should be otherwise than he reports Divine Faith upon Gods Word and Testimony But if it be upon God's Authority and upon his Testimony that we Believe a thing since God is of Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom so that he cannot be deceiv'd Himself and take that for true which is not and since He is a God of Infinite Truth Justice and Goodness so that if he could he will not deceive any Man since God both upon the account of his Wisdom and Uprightness is of that Sufficiency and Authority that He cannot lye Tit. 1.2 whatever therefore he does deliver we are undoubtedly to Believe as infallibly certain and this is a Divine Faith proper only to be given to God's Testimony and Word And this is to Believe in the Christian Sence of the Word It is to be undoubtedly perswaded upon the Divine Authority of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of whatever God has delivered and revealed to us in the Scriptures particularly and especially it is to be undoubtedly perswaded of the Infallible Certainty of those main Truths of Scripture the Articles of our Christian Faith wherein are declared the only Method of Reconciliation betwixt God and Man through our Saviour Jesus Christ as well as the strongest Motives to a Holy Life And lastly it is to be perswaded of these things in such a manner and with such Acts of the Mind as is agreeable to the Nature of these several Truths Divine Faith defined This is the fullest and plainest Description I can give you of the Nature of Faith or Believing as including an account both of all those Objects or Divine Truths necessary to be Believed and of all those Acts of the Mind imply'd in Believing But to make this Description clear I will in as few Words as possible open the several Parts of it to you 1. To Believe is to be undoubtedly perswaded upon God's Authority of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of all that he has Revealed 1. To Believe is to be undoubtedly perswaded upon the Divine Authority of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of all that God has revealed A Christian must not entertain the least Doubt of the Truth of any Divine Revelation for this is to conceive meanly and unworthily of God as if He were such a one as our selves either one that were Ignorant and did not exactly know the Truth himself of what he spoke or one that were Insincere and did design to delude us into a false Perswasion of Things but far be it from us to conceive any such thing of GOD. There is nothing past present or to come there is nothing in the Nature of Things that he does not most clearly know and apprehend there is not any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 So that let his Revelations and Divine Mysteries seem never so Improbable to us or be never so Incomprehensible and beyond the reach of our Human Understandings to fathom we may notwithstanding assure our selves they are such as they are delivered since the Infinite the Omnipotent the Almighty GOD says it Nor is he Insincere and one that would delude us into a false Perswasion of Things No it is the Devil that is Insincere and the Father of Lyes John 8.44 but it is impossible that God should lye Heb. 6.18 And to what end should he deceive us by making us to Believe a Falshood What Interest can he serve by it Our being deceived can in no wise profit Him False and deceitful Men do indeed love to delude others to Believe Errors and Falshoods thereby to make a Prey of 'em but we can in no wise advantage God by our Misperswasions So that we are in such manner to give Credit to all Divine Revelations even the most Incomprehensible Mysteries of the Gospel and Articles of Faith as to be fully perswaded it is impossible but the Divine Declarations concerning these things are true since God has Reveal'd 'em to us But 2. They are those Revelations and those only 2. Those Revelations and those only which are contained in Scripture are the proper Objects of Divine Faith Nâ—â— such Doctrines as are derived only from unwritten Tradition Nor any particular Propositions concerning my self as my own particular Election and Justification in special which are contain'd in the Holy Scriptures that we are thus to Believe We are not to Believe with a Divine Faith and as founded upon the Testimony of God such Doctrines and Tenets as being derived only from Vnwritten Tradition have no Foundation in Scripture From which corrupt Fountain alone it is that the Church of Rome has all those Articles of her Creed wherein she differs from Us And with respect to which we may truly say of the Romish Doctors as our Saviour did of the Pharisees That in vain do they Worship God teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men Mark 7.7 Nor are the Objects of a Divine Faith any particular Propositions concerning our selves in special as some think who define Faith to be a firm Assent not only to all things which God hath revealed to us in his Word Fides est non tantum certa notitia qua firmiter assentior omnibus quae Deus nobis in verbo suo patefecit sed etiam certa siducia à Spiritu sancto per Evangelium in corde meo accensa qua in Deo acquiesco certo statuens non solum aliis sed mihi quoque remissionem peccatorum aeternam justitiam vitam donatam idque gratia ex misericordia Dei propter unius Christi Meritum Cattches Heidelbergens but also a certain Assurance kindled in the Heart by the Spirit of God through the Gospel whereby I put my full trust in God being assuredly perswaded that not only to others but to me in particular Remission of Sins Justification and Eternal Life are bestowed and that freely through the Mercy of God for the Merits of Jesus Christ. And agreeably
sin And when he delivered them his Law with the greatest terrour and astonishment to them yet even then he assured them That he would shew Mercy to Thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments as in the Second Commandment And in ease of their miscarriage to the drawing down of God's Judgments upon them he bespeaks them thus When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient to his Voice for the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers Deut. 4.31 and 30.1 2 3. Levit. 26.39 c. From all which grounds the Faithful among them had such a hope and confidence of pardon of Sin and of a future Happiness in another Life upon their Repentance and sincere Obedience as did effectually induce them to have good thoughts of God to love him and to endeavour to please him by having respect unto all his Commandments This made him say Psal 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And under this hope and confidence the twelve Tribes did instantly serve God day and night and grounded this Hope of theirs upon the Promise made of God unto their Fathers as St. Paul tells us Acts 26.6 7. And indeed it was the unanimous Faith of the most eminent among them from Age to Age that God had both made and would keep a Covenant to shew Mercy to those that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before him with all their Heart For that they looked upon as the Condition of God's Promise of shewing Mercy This we may see in Moses David Solomon and in Daniel and Nehemiah Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments So David Psalm 103.17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them And thus Solomon 1 Kings 8.23 And he said Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee who keepest Covenant and Mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart So Daniel in his 9th Chap. 4th ver O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the Covenant and Mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his Commandments And Nehemiah likewise Chap. 1.5 I beseech thee O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy for them that love him and observe his Commandments This we see was the serious and constant Profession of the Faith of the Servants of God in those Times And in this Faith and Practice doubtless it was that they lived and died and were saved CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham IN the next place I am to shew That the Law of Moses did contain a Covenant distinct and of a different nature from the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed Besides the general Promise which God made to Abraham respecting the Gentiles as well as the Jews In thee all Nations of the Earth shall be blessed he made a Special Covenant with him as a Reward of his signal Faithfulness to give unto his Natural Seed the Land of Canaan Nehem. 9.8 Thou foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give the Land of the Canaanites to his Seed In order to the fulfilling of which Promise after he had brought them out of Egypt he united them under himself as Head in one Political Body by a Political Covenant Exod. 19. c. which is the Covenant I am now to discourse of In which discourse I would 1. Shew in what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham 2. Prove that it did contain such a different Covenant 3. For farther illustration consider it in its parts and their relation one to another 4. And in what respect this Covenant is called the first Covenant when as the Covenant of Grace was made before it 1. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Law of Moses comes under a twofold consideration 1. As in conjunction with the Promise to Abraham to which it was annexed it made up one entire Law by which the Israelites were to be governed and directed in the way to Eternal Life And in this conjunction the Promise was the Life and Soul as it were of the Body of the Mosaic Law properly taken And in this sense as the word Law signifies the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses which contain the Promise as well as the Law it is sometimes used in the New Testament Gal. 4.21 22. 1 Cor. 14.34 Luke 16. And in this sense doubtless we are to understand the Law upon which David bestowed so many glorious Encomiums as he did saying The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul c. Psal 19.2 We are to consider the Law of Moses as given at Sinai in a stricter sense as it was an Instrument or Rule of Government in the Commonwealth of Israel The Law in the former sense of it promised Eternal Life though but obscurely to those that did believe its Promises and sincerely obey its Precepts In the latter sense it promised only temporal Blessings to those that strictly observed it in all the parts of it and threatned those with temporal Calamities that did not The same Laws materially of this Political Covenant related to both the Covenants As Eternal Life was promised in the Covenant of Grace upon condition of sincere Obedience to those Laws as an effect of Faith in the Promise so those Laws in conjunction with the Promise were as I may so say Evangelical But as temporal Benefits only were promised in that Covenant upon condition of strict Obedience to those Laws and as those Laws were enjoyned under temporal Penalties as they were Commonwealth-Laws so that Covenant containing those Laws was Political and in this Political respect it was another Covenant If the Law of God and the Law of Man command or forbid things materially the same yet if the one command or forbid them under pain of Damnation and the other only under temporal Penalties these Laws are not formally the same The Commonwealth of Israel had no Commonwealth-Laws but what God himself gave them the which Laws they also Covenanted with him to observe by which Covenant they were united under him as Head of that Political Body And therefore when they would needs choose them a King like other Nations God told Samuel saying They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not
For doubtless St. Paul's denial of Justification and Salvation to be by the Law or Works of the Law is to be understood in the very same sense in which the incredulous Jews against whom he Disputed did hold these to be attainable thereby For else his Reasonings would have been beside the Question under debate between them And therefore we must take our measure of St. Paul's sense in the Negative part of the Question by his Adversaries sense of it in the Affirmative And if so then in his denying Justification and Salvation to be by the Law or by Works of the Law we must understand him to deny a freedom from the Eternal Punishment to be attainable by Legal Sacrifices And also to deny that the promise of Eternal Life was made upon condition of Literal Circumcision and a Literal observation of the Mosaical Law without being by Faith renewed in the inward frame and moral constitution of the Soul and likewise to deny Eternal Life to be attainable by the terms of their Political Covenant the Promises whereof were not made upon condition of Believing but of Doing The Law is not of Faith but the man that doth those things shall live in them Gal. 3.12 For these and such-like were the Opinions which those Jews did hold as I have shewed and these were the things in which St. Paul opposed them They divided and separated Circumcision and the Law in the Letter of them from the Spirit of them both claiming Justification by the Letter alone And they divided the Law from the Promise rightly understood and looked to be Justified by Works of the Law without Faith in the Promise rightly understood They looked for the Messias indeed but not to become a Propitiation for Sin or to establish a New Covenant of Salvation but to further their Temporal and Eternal Felicity in the way of their Obedience to the Political Law But then it doth not in the least appear that St. Paul in denying Justification to be by the Law in the sense thus explained doth also thereby deny Works of sincere Obedience to God to concur with Faith in Man's Justification in all respects And if any shall yet suppose that St. Paul in denying Justification by Works in the Jews corrupt sense doth also on the by deny all Works of Evangelical Obedience to bear any part of the Condition on which God promiseth to justifie Men through Christ such a Supposition if admitted would make his Doctrine herein inconsistent not only with the Faith of the holy Men of Old who were wont to express the Condition of the Covenant of Mercy by loving God and keeping his Commandments but it would also make him inconsistent with himself and his own Doctrine and the Doctrine of other Apostles as I doubt not but plainly to make appear before I have done with this Discourse There is one Character of Works given by which you may certainly know what Works they were which St. Paul denied Men were justified by and they were such Works which were apt to occasion boasting Ephes 2.9 Not of Works lest any man should boast Rom. 4.2 For if Abraham were justified by Works to wit in the Jews sense by Circumcision in the Flesh to which St. Paul alludes ver 1. he hath whereof to glory but not before God but only before Men who were not Circumcised as he was For the unbelieving Jews who sought and expected Justification by Circumcision and other Legal Observations did glory over the poor Gentiles that were destitute of those Works which consisted in the outward Privileges which the Jews had and looked down upon them with contempt though some of them were much better than themselves such as Cornelius whom they looked upon as unclean This boasting humor of the Jews over the Gentiles is described and reproved Rom. 2. from ver 17. to 29. Now the Doctrine of Justification by Faith of obtaining pardon by anothers Undertaking for us to wit Christ Jesus and of being accepted with God through him upon our sincere though otherwise imperfect Obedience which sincere Obedience too is not performed without his special Grace and Assistance takes away all occasion of boasting in reference both to God and Men and laid the Jews as low as the Gentiles and made St. Peter a Jew to say But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 And therefore vvheâ— St. Paul had said that now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference meaning betvveen Jews and Gentiles Rom. 3.21 22. he thereupon demands in ver 27. saying Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we find the holy Men of old among the Jews who expected Acceptance with God upon other terms than the Pharisaical Jews did who placed their Confidence called trusting in the flesh Phil. 3.4 in their External Privileges and Performances alone were so far from glorying in such a Righteousness as that that they cryed out in reference to that All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa 64.6 Thus Regenerating Grace made David so far from boasting either of Privileges or of his Performances that he said unto God Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 1 Chron. 29.14 This made St. Paul to say We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think any thing but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 And by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15.10 And of him are we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption that he that gloriet h may glory in the Lord having nothing but what he hath received from him gratis and without all desert yea contrary to his demerits 1 Cor. 1.30 31. The good Works which the Saints do they do them by vertue of their being created in Christ Jesus in order thereunto Ephes 2.10 and all that is good is through Christ strengthening them Phil. 4.13 From whence therefore we may well conclude that if the Works which St. Paul wholly excludes in the matter of Justification were only such as were apt to occasion boasting that then Acts of Evangesical Obedience were none of those Works According to the sense explained then I presume we may well understand that Text Rom. 3.28 which of all others seems in the Phrase and Expression to be most Exclusive of Works in the point of Justification the Words are these Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Which words if you consider the context seem to import no more but this viz. That a Man
Paul in speaking against Justification by Works gives sufficient caution not to be understood thereby to speak against Evangelical Obedience in the case When he had asserted Justification to be by Faith without the deeds of the Law and that the Gentiles might be Justified by Believing without ever observing Moses's Law Rom. 3.28 lest he should be understood thereby to favour Gentilism or loose living in Men provided they would but turn Christians he frames and answers on Objection thus vers 31. Do we make void the Law through Faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law And how did they so Certainly they did not thereby establish the Ceremonial Law in the Letter of it but in the Spirit of it they did in as much as in Preaching Justification in the Gospel-way they Preached in plain Precepts the necessity of that Spiritual purity unto Salvation which was but darkly and in a figure taught by the Ceremonial Law And this they did in Preaching the necessity of Mortification instead of Circumcision And by the Doctrine of Justification by Faith they established the Moral Law both in the Letter and â—pirit of it in teaching the necessity of Evangelical Obedience to it 〈…〉 more spiritual and forcible manner than had been taught beâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 in when he had charged the unbelieving Jews with a great Erroâ— in going about to establish a Righteousness of their own in opposâ—â—iâ—â— to God's in adhering to their Law against the Gospel Rom. 10.3 to the end it might not be thought that he would take them off their Law that they might be Lawless or less Religious he adds vers 4. that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth For so he is in his Doctrine having therein taught that Righteousness of living which the Law it self taught but in a far more excellent spiritual and effectual manner than was taught by the Law So that all that he designed in taking them off from their Law was but to put them under a better conduct To make them dead to the Law that they might be married to another viz. to Christ by his Gospel that they might bring forth fruit unto God as it is Rom. 7.4 And likewise in ver 6. he saith We are delivered from the Law but not to be Lawless but that we might serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter that is according to the Spirit Scope and Design of the Law now expressed in plain Precepts and not in the oldness of the Letter and Ceremony And so he saith of himself Gal. 2.19 I through the Law am dead to the Law i e he through a better understanding of God's design in the Law became dead as to all his former expectations of Justification by it But then if he were dead to the Law it was as he saith that he might live unto God live a life in the flesh through the Faith in his Son through believing his Gospel in its Precepts and Promises the one directing and the other quickning unto a most excellent Life ver 20. And if St. Paul were thus careful in denying Justification by Works to assert the necessity of Evangelical Obedience we may well conclude that he never intended under the notion of Works of the Law to exclude Evangelical Obedience from having any hand sooner or later in Justification 3. Regeneration or the New Creature as including Evangelical Obedience is opposed to Works of the Law in the business of Man's Justification as well as Faith is and as well as the Grace of God it self is Gal. 6.15 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature Circumcision is here as elsewhere by a Synecdoche put for the Works of the Law in general For there were none that were for Circumcising but who were also for keeping the Law of Moses Only Circumcision is mentioned frequently instead of all the rest because they held it to be not only a part of the Law but more and because they laid the greatest stress upon it as I shewed before Chap. 5. Now in that which the Apostle denies Circumcision and the Works of the Law to avail a Man in that he affirms the becoming a New Creature will avail him and that was in the business of Justification and Salvation For in that sense the unbelieving Jews and Judaizers held Circumcision and other Works of the Law available And this New Creature thus opposed to Works and thus available to Justification consisteth in a new frame of Spirit and the Vital Operations thereof and which we can have no right notion of without Evangelical Obedience in will and resolution at least which are really inward acts of that Obedience and are a conformity of the renewed Will to the Divine Law 4. Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith and together with Faith is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification and Salvation Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love Here again Circumcision by the same Figure and for the same reason as before is put for the Works of Moses's Law And as these are denied to avail any Man to Justification and Salvation so on the other hand it is affirmed that that Faith which worketh by Love doth avail to these great ends For to say that Faith which worketh by Love doth so is the same in sense as to say that Faith which worketh by fulfilling the Law and by keeping the Commandments doth so avail For so Love is said to be Rom. 13.10 1 Joh. 5.3 The Assemblies Annotations upon the place give notice that the Word here translated Worketh Faith which worketh by Love being in the mean or middle voice may be taken either Actively or Passively And several other Learned Men among whom Dr. Hammond is one do render and understand it passively as if the Apostle should have said Faith which is wrought or perfected or consummate by Love and so make it directly parallel with that in St. James Chap. 2.22 By Works was Faith made perfect So far is the Scripture we see from opposing acts of Evangelical Obedience to Faith in the Works of Justification as that it conjoyns them with Faith in the title to it and in opposition to false pretentions to it 5. Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification so far is it from being true that where the Works of the Law are excluded there Evangelical Obedience is excluded from having any share in the Work of Justification 1 Cor. 7.19 Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Circumcision is here again as before put for the whole Law And indeed he that was Circumcised was bound to keep the whole Law as this Apostle noteth in Gal. 5.3 And when he saith Circumcision is nothing he means here doubtless as in
in a Way of Sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration p. 17. What Faith as Evangelical and Christian is p. 17. The first reason why Faith is made the Condition of the Promise is that the Grace of God to Man might the more shew it self The Second Reason because it best answers God's Design in this Covenant p. 18. 19. 20. Sect. 8. What we are to understand by God's counting Abraham's Faith to him for Righteousness p. 21. Two things make up the Righteousness of the Law of Grace First the Righteousness which consisteth in the Forgiveness of Sins Secondly the Righteousness of Sincere Obedience p. 22. This cleared p. 23. CHAP. II. For what ends the Law was added to the Promise not to cross or confront it p. 24. A Question wherefore then serveth the Law ibid. Answer it was added because of Transgression until the Seed should come And that in many respects first to discover Sin that it might be known to be Sin Secondly to set it out in its own Colours Thirdly to set off the Beauty and Glory of God's Grace in the Promise of Salvation Fourthly because it serves as a School Master to Lead us to Christ and as a School-Master hath a double End respecting the present and future time The present use twofold First to Reclaim and Restrain them from Heathenish superstitions 2dly for Tryal of Obedience in lesser things p. 25. The use of the Law for the time to come was first to facilitate the knowledge of the mystery of their Redemption by Christ Secondly to facilitate and Strengthen their Belief in Christ Thirdly the Law was given to the Jews for the general Good of all the World p. 27. CHAP. III. Wherein is shewed by what Faith and Practise persons under the Law were saved That the Jews had not a clear and full Knowledge of all that was included in the Promise made to Abraham p. 28. and yet that they had the Promise of Blessedness to all Nations in Abraham's Seed They had the addition of several other predictions concerning the Messias p. 30. They had large Significations of God's special Favour above all People ibid. They had exprâ—ss Declarations from God of the Goodness of his Nature By all which they were induc'd to Love God and to endeavour to please him ibid. CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham p. 31. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham ibid. The Law of Moses under a twofold consideration first as in Conjunction with the Promise made to Abraham 2dly as given at Sinai in a stricter Sense as it was a Rule of Government in the Common-Wealth of Israel In the former sense is obscurely promised Eternal Life in the Latter temporal Blessings p. 32. This Covenant consisted first of Laws 2dly the Sanction of these Laws The Laws were of two sorts 1st the Law of Duty 2dly the Laws of Jndemnity p. 33. Laws of Duty what p. 33. Laws of Jndemnity what p. 34. The Sanction of these Laws consisted in Promises made to the observing them and a Curse denounced against the Transgressors ibid. The Promises considered negatively and Affirmatively p. 35. 36. 37. A five-fold difference in reference to remission of Sin between the first Covenant and the Covenant of Grace p. 38. 39. That more than a temporal Death was threatned for a Breach of the political Covenant as such p. 39. The temporal Evils threatned for a Breach of this Covenant were Personal Domestick or Nationall whereof in particular p. 39. and 41. CHAP. V. The Grand mistakes of the Jews about the Law and Promise and how St. Paul Counter-argues these Mistakes p. 41. First they held Circumcision of the Flesh to be the special Condition upon which God's Covenant-Blessings with Abraham did depend never Vnderstanding that Spiritual Circumcision which was primarily intended p 42. St. Paul's arguing against their Belief in this point p. 42. Secondly That the Promised Messias shou'd not by suffering Death become a Sacrifice for Sin ibid. and yet his Death was necessary how St. Paul â—onsutes their Belief in this point p. 44. Thirdly They held another Error that the Legal Sacrifices did expiate Sin ibid. This Error opposed p. 45 Fourthly That without Circumcision and observing Moses's Law the Gentiles cou'd not be saved ibid. This Error Refuted ibid. Fifthly they held that the Law of Moses was unalterably perpetual and this opposed p. 47. Another Errror of theirs was That they held the First Covenant alone together with the Covenant of Literal Circumcision which they made a part of their Law to be the Covenant of Salvation ibid. And to this they peremptorily adher'd ibid. and disprov'd ibid. CHAP. VI. How St. Paul's Doctrine of Justification by Faith and not by Works was then Mistaken by some The Mistake of those Jews who laid the stress of their Salvation upon Believing only without a virtuous and Holy Life p. 53. Neither did they discern Faith to be necessary in the operative and practical Nature of it p. 54. How the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works in the sense wherein the Apostles asserted it was understood p. 55. CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and St. James about Faith and Works in reference to Justification do not differ but are wholly one p. 60. Ten Considerations to prove this p. 61. First that Works of Evangelical Obedience are never in Scripture opposed to God's Grace ibid. Secondly That St. Paul in speaking against Justification by Works gives Caution not to be Vnderstood to speak against Evangelical Obedience p. 62. Thirdly Regeneration or the New Creature is opposed to Works of the Law as well as Faith ibid. Fourthly Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith is opposed to Works of the Law in order to Justification p. 63. Fifthly Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to Works of the Law in reference to Salvation ibid. Sixthly That Faith is an act of Evangelical Obedience ibid. Seventhly That by Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a Right to Salvation p. 64. Eightly That as the promise of forgiveness is made sometimes to Believing so it is to Obedience p. 66. Ninthly That Evangelical Obedience is a part of the Condition of Justification p. 67. Tenthly That Repentance is one Eminent Act of Evangelical Obedience ibid. FINIS A DISCOURSE ON FAITH MEN's Eternal Estate of Weal or Wo in another World and their Peace and Comfort in this being very much concerned in their right understanding or mistaking the nature and difference of that Faith which is Saving and of that which is not I shall here state the nature and difference of those two kinds of Faith with what brevity and perspicuity I can I cannot I confess think that the nature of Faith which is of absolute necessity to the Salvation of the meanest Christian is in it self hard to be
immoderate Affections but indulge themselves in these or any of these or the like they deceive themselves whatever their External Conformity to Divine Precepts otherwise may be They are the pure in heart that shall see God And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts God observes more what Men are inwardly than what they are outwardly and judges of them accordingly He is not a Jew nor he a Christian who is one outwardly in the flesh but he who is so inwardly in heart whose praise is not of Men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. And therefore St. James counted them but Earthly Sensual and Devilish in their Profession of Christianity how high soever they professed and such as did lye against the Truth that indulged bitter envying and strife though it were but in their hearts Jam. 3.14 15. And if Lusts and Passions within shall break out in an unbridled Tongue in Slandering Reviling Back-biting Evil-speaking rash and uncharitable Censuring or the like how Religious soever such a Man may otherwise seem to himself or others yet St. James hath plainly determined his case such an one hath deceived his own heart and his Religion is vain Jam. 2.26 Mat. 5.22 Men may go a great way in Religion yea so far as until they are not far from the Kingdom of God Yea many shall seek to enter in by doing many things in order thereto and yet shall not be able for want of striving to do all that is necessary thereto And for that very reason and because of the great danger of Christians falling short tho' they have gone far and done much are they so earnestly Exhorted to work out or to work through their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling with a fear of falling short Phil. 2.12 And not only so but to fear even a seeming to come short of the promised Rest Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it The matter is of that huge consequence that every wise Man that doth not despise his own Soul should be afraid to do or omit to do any thing that hath but the least seeming shew or apperance of putting his Salvation into any hazard And therefore All diligence is not too much for the wisest Man living to use to make his calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Thus when Mens Understandings are bribed by their corrupt Wills they then take up with a partial Faith a partial Repentance and a partial Obedience instead of that which is Evangelically compleat and hope it is a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise And when Men shut their own Eyes and stop their own Ears against the evidence of the Word of Salvation that they may the more quietly enjoy the pleasures of any sin God many times in his Righteous Judgment after much striving and long-suffering withdraws the Assistance of his Grace and Spirit and leaves them to themselves and their own Delusions and to be practised upon by the Devil for their farther hardening according to that dreadful Prophesie in Isa 6.9 10. mentioned no less than five or six times in the New Testament Mat. 13.14 Mar. 4.12 Luke 8.10 Joh. 12.40 Acts 28.26 Rom. 11.8 Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes c. When Men will not receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved but have pleasure in Unrighteousness God sometimes sends them strong delusions to believe a lye 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Whereas on the contrary the good-ground hearers are dâ—scribed by the honesty of the Heart into which they receive the Word They study no tricks or shifts nor use any shuffling upon the account of any dishonest interest to evade the plain Truth but are content that should take place and all other things give place to it They suffer that Word which was received and assented to in the Judgment before in order of Nature to sink down into their hearts by which the Will and Affections become changed CHAP. IV. How and after what manner Faith in the Vnderstanding works savingly upon the Will THE Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the Will unto the Condition of the Promise by its operative and affecting influence upon the Passions of Hope Fear and Love the powerful Principles of Action in Man For tho' Faith in the Understanding is the first Principle of Action as Christian yet not that but the Will as it is affected with Hope Fear or Love is the next and immediate Principle of Action The Understanding when it rightly performs its Office doth not only assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation upon competent Evidence that it is from God but also considers and weighs as in a balance the import of it and how a Man is concerned in it as whether it betoken Good or Evil to him and how much and upon what terms whether Absolutely or Conditionally and what the Condition is All which when brought down to the subordinate Faculties of the Soul the Will and Affections is apt to affect them and work upon them more or less according as the things believed are apprehended more or less to concern a Man And the things believed Eternal Life and Eternal Death in another World being Invisible and absent things it is a Man's Faith touching the reality of them that supplies the room or absence of sense For Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 We neither see nor feel the glorious things promised nor the dreadful things threatned in another World otherwise than by Faith which gives the Believer a prospect of them But a Man by his Faith in that Gospel by which they are revealed hath a foresight of them as Abraham had of Christ's Day and that fills the Soul with Hope and Fear and a sense of God's love in giving such an Hope And this Hope Fear and Love puts Men upon more or less Care Diligence and Industry in doing what is necessary for the obtaining of the one and escaping the other as they are more or less influenced by a Faith that is weaker or stronger or more or less active and exercised about these things And hence comes that change which is made in the Hearts and Lives of true Believers who walk by Faith and not by Sight that is they govern their Lives by the belief of invisible and not sensible things 2 Cor. 5.7 This in general But more particularly the Faith of Assent in the Understanding works the Faith of Consent in the Will by its operation upon those three Passions or Affections of the Will Hope Fear and Love 1. As a firm assenting to the Truth of God's Promise through Christ of pardon of Sin and Eternal Life upon
his upon the Divine Promises was a sign of the good Opinion he had of God's Power and Fidelity and was therefore most graciously accepted by him Rom. 4.18 19 20 21 22. Now this as the Apostle goes on v. 23 24 25. was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we Believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our Offences and was raised again for our Justification That is in this Act of Faith also in a steddy Reliance upon the Promises of God was Abraham a Pattern to us whereby we may see that if we distrust not his Power and Goodness in Matters of the greatest difficulty but firmly Relie upon him without Doubt or Dispute this will render us acceptable to him But especially it will be a most acceptable Act of Faith in us wholly to Relie upon his Promises in Christ who became a Sacrifice for our Sins that all our most heinous Offences will be pardon'd if we unfeignedly Repent and our imperfect Obedience will be eternally rewarded if it be but sincere in Testimony and Assurance of which Promises God has raised our Saviour from the dead And thus you plainly see what sort of Faith or Believing it is that must now Justifie and Save us It must not be only giving up the Assent of our Minds that all that God has spoken is true but we must with all our Hearts Consent to a sincere and faithful Obedience to all his Commands such as may be expected from those who are undoubtedly perswaded of the Truth of all the Articles of the Christian Faith which are every one of 'em Doctrines very apt to move us to Holy Living And moreover it must be a firm Reliance on God's Truth that all his Promises shall certainly be made good to us on Condition of our Performances Especially as the case now stands with us Christians it must be an Entire Dependance upon Christ that through his Mediation with the Father on our account we shall be Justify'd Pardon'd and Sav'd on Condition we perform the Covenant of Grace that is Believe and sincerely Obey the Commands of God given us in the Gospel Reliance upon God's Promises of Pardon to us through Christ an essential Act of Faith incumbent upon us as the case now stands with us Christians I say as the case now stands with us Christians for all Mankind by reason of Adam's and our own Transgressions were liable to the Wrath of God and had been condemn'd to eternal Destruction had not Jesus Christ interpos'd betwixt his Father and us and Mediated with him that we might have Pardon and Happiness on Condition we would turn from our evil Ways and sincerely Obey him for the future so that through the Blood of Jesus Christ it is that we have Redemption and the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace Eph. 1.7 And as in him are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 so all the Promises of God in him are Tea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 That is upon the account of Christ all his Promises of eternal Life and Happiness shall be certainly and infallibly made good to us on condition we forsake our Sins and obey him And yet when we have done all things which are commanded us we are to account our selves but unprofitable Servants having done no more than was our Duty to do Luke 17.10 And we cannot lay claim to those unspeakable Rewards laid up for his Obedient Servants meerly upon our own Deserts as if we had merited and deserved 'em but that no Flesh might Glory in his Presence it is Jesus Christ who is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 That is it is Jesus Christ who is the cause of our Justification and Sanctification and by the Merit of what he has done for us shall our imperfect Righteousness be so accepted of by God that we shall be unspeakably rewarded for it And if so if all our holy Performances shall be Accepted and Rewarded only through Christ it is on Him then and not on any thing that we have done our selves that we must depend and Relie for Pardon and Happiness For without his Merits to supply our Defects our best Performances will want Pardon and all that we can do will not merit nor deserve eternal Life and Glory Thus we must Believe that is Relie on Christ and we shall not perish but have everlasting Life John 3.16 And indeed this Reliance and Dependance upon God for Mercy Because it excludes Confidence in our own Merits and Boasting in our own Performances on the account of what Christ has Merited for us not on the account of any Deserts of our own appears in the Scriptures as I before said to be an Act of Faith more well-pleasing to God and acceptable unto him in that it excludes Boasting or Glorying in our own Righteousness which the Apostle makes very necessary to Justification Rom. 3. and expects the Reward meerly from God's Free Mercy in Christ without any Reliance upon our own Performances For as it is vers 23 24 25 26. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Rightoousness that he might be Just and the Justifier of Him that Believeth in Jesus Where is Boasting then It is excluded By what Law The Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith therefore we conclude a Man is Justify'd by Faith without the Deeds of the Law Which brings me III. To shew you in what sence we are said to be Justify'd by Faith 3. In what sence we are said by S. Paul to be Justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law without the Deeds of the Law Both this Text of the Romans now mentioned and that Parallel place Gal. 2.16 seem to exclude Good Works from being at all necessary to our Justification And yet by what has been already said from St. Paul it does appear that Repentance and Obedience are Conditions equally requisite to our Justification with Faith Or when Faith alone is mentioned it is as including the other two and St. James also does most expresly assert that by Works a Man is Justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2.24 So that to clear the Holy Scripture from any Contradiction in this case it will be requisite to consider what St. Paul means by the Law and by the Deeds of the Law when he excludes either from having any thing to do in our Justification and what that Faith is upon which he does sometimes seem to lay the whole stress in that great Affair By Law in St. Pual's discourse with the Jews was meant both the Law of
earnestly exhorted Phil. 2.22 and to run so that they may obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 IV. Some to evil affect their own and others Minds with prejudice against Discourses of this nature do suggest That the laying so great a stress upon Duty as to esteem any thing of it necessary to Justification save Believing only doth derogate from the Glory of Christ's great Undertaking in the business of Man's Salvation and that it is a trusting in our own Righteousness But it will appear far otherwise if they will but impartially consider in what sence and upon what account such stress is laid upon Duty which I shall open in two Particulars 1. They that rightly understand themselves in this matter do not look that any of their Duties of what nature soever should of themselves as such be available to their Justification or Salvation but that it is for the sake of Christ and upon account of his Undertaking for us that God accepts and imputes for Righteousness to us such Duty as Faith Repentance and Obedience is and that he doth make promise of Justification upon Condition of these Since the Fall we say all our Duties that are acceptable to God or available to us become so through Christ and for his sake And therefore so long as we attribute and ascribe the benefit we expect upon our Repentance and sincere Obedience or Belief unto Christ and to his great and worthy Undertaking for us we are far from derogating from the Glory of it and from trusting in our own Righteousness in that Notion in which Mens trusting in their own Righteousness is condemned in Scripture or any otherwise than as our Duty is made a Condition without which we shall have no part in Christ nor be qualified for Glory 2. When we lay such stress upon Repentance Obedience c. as a Condition or part of a Condition of the Promise of Justification and Salvation as without which we say we cannot be Justified or Saved by Christ's Undertaking for us yet then this stress is laid and depends upon the Will and Appointment of God by which these Duties are thus made the Condition and not on the intrinsick worth or value of the Duties themselves simply considered without reference to God's Ordination appointing them to that use For if God had not made a New Covenant promising pardon for Christ's sake to such as do Repent and Acceptance and Reward to such as sincerely Obey him they would have had no sufficient ground to have been confident of Pardon Acceptance or Reward though they should have Repented and so Obey'd And the reason is because Men are not Justified in the Eye of the Natural or Moral Law upon any such account as that is So that all the stress which is laid on Duty by them that rightly understand their Duty in this matter doth terminate partly in Christ's Undertaking for them and partly in God's Institution and Appointment who hath made his Promise of Justifying us for Christ's sake so as that he hath made our Duty of Repentance and sincere Obedience a necessary Condition of it And he that trusteth to be Pardoned Accepted and Rewarded for Christ's Sake upon his Repentance and sincere Obedience because God hath promised that he shall trusteth in God and in the fidelity of his Word and Promise And in doing so what more stress doth he lay upon Duty in this kind than they that trust to be Justified and Saved upon their Believing For their Believing is matter of Duty as well as their Repenting and Obeying And their Believing would no more have entitled them to the benefit without the Promise which gives them that Title than other Acts of Duty would do And other Acts of Duty do entitle to the same benefits as fully as Faith itself doth where there is promise of the same benefits annexed to them as Faith hath And that they have I have shewed before So long then as the stress which is laid on Duty terminates in Christ and in God's Will and Appointment in the New Covenant and is regulated by his Word and Promise there is no danger of overcharging Duty It 's true indeed if we should expect that Duty should do that for us which is proper only to Christ as to expiate our sin or the like we should sinfully overcharge it as the Pharisaical Jews did their Sacrifices and other Legal Observances in expecting remission of Sin by them without Christ's Atonement Which Righteousness of theirs is for that cause called their own Righteousness which was by the Law as being no method of Justification of God's appointment but of their own devising which in that respect was indeed but as filthy Rags and loathsome to God But this is not the case with Protestant Christians who lay no such stress upon Duty no not upon Faith itself but do acknowledge that all the power and virtue it hath to justifie depends wholly upon and is derived from the Will and Ordination of God in Christ Joh. 6.40 and 1.12 Ephes 2.8 And we say the same of Repentance and sincere Obedience also And a confidence of being saved in a way of Duty upon such terms is represented in Scripture as trusting in the Righteousness of God through Faith in opposition to ones trusting in his own Righteousness Phil. 3.9 so far is it from trusting in our own Righteousness or from derogating from Christ in the Glory of his Undertaking for us And now for a Conclusion It would be considered whether such as are educated in Christianity are not hardlier brought to live as becomes the Gospel in point of Practice than to believe that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners and that he Died for them and Rose again And whether there is not cause to fear that very many more such do eternally miscarry through neglect of the former than for want of the latter And if there be as doubtless there is then Practical Discourses among such must needs be highly necessary however some of weak minds thirst more after Discourses Consolatory upon account of Believing only Which may serve instead of an Apology for writing this Discourse Saint Paul charged Titus to affirm this constantly that they which have Believed be careful to maintain good Works Tit. 3.8 FINIS 〈…〉 On the Preliminary QUESTIONS and ANSWERS OF THE Church-Catechism Giving an Account of the whole Doctrine OF THE Covenant of Grace And of the Nature Terms and Conditions of the same SHEWING ALSO By whose Mediation it was obtained for us by what Assistance we shall be enabled to perform it and our Obligations thereunto The Third Edition By THOMAS BRAY D. D. LONDON Printed by J. Brudenell for William Haws at the Rose in Ludgate-street 1703. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD WILLIAM LORD BISHOP of Coventry and Lichfield Lord Almoner to the KING MY LORD HAving your Lordship's Commands for the Publication of these following Discourses I have reason to hope my Readers will prove candid and
and strictest sence of the Word that it can be apply'd to a meer Man is a Child of God But then all who are the Children of God either in the sence of Scripture or of your Catechism are not actually thus Regenerate As to the sence of Scripture it is plain as will presently appear that every One who bears the Relation of a Child to God is not Dutiful to his Father But every Child of God is not actually Regenerate either in the sence of Scripture which is in Heaven no more than all Children are to their Natural Parents It is a monstrous Thing indeed that any Child should be Undutiful to so good and gracious a Father but it is too true that too many are so Hear O Heaven and give ear O Earth for I the Lord have spoken I have Nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me Isa 1.2 And as to the meaning of a Child of God here in your Catechism it is also plain Or of your Catechism that it is not only such as are renew'd in the Spirit of their minds and do imitate God that are there to be understood for every One who is Catechized is requir'd to answer that In his Baptism he was made a Child of God whereas many Catechumens are not actually as yet Renew'd and really Converted and by their own Fault many will never be so that a Child of God by spiritual Regeneration and a God-like Imitation expresses rather the Duty of every One what he ought to be than the Notion and Nature of a Priviledge which many may enjoy who in the mean time are not over Dutiful So that a Child of God by spiritual Regeneration or a God-like Imitation is a meaning of the Word as much too narrow to be the sence of it here in your Catechism as a Child by Creation was too wide To proceed then But Fourthly a Child of God as meant in the Catechism is every one who is so by vertue of a Covenant Relation Fourthly There are the Children of God by Vertue of a Covenant Relation and also by Adoption who are neither all the Sons of God by Creation nor yet on the other side such onely as are Renew'd in the Spirit of their Minds and do imitate God But they are all those who have been Baptized into the Covenant of Grace and have been Incorporated into Christ's Church and who do profess the true Religion and themselves the Servants of the True God Thus before the Law Gen. 6.2 the whole House and Posterity of Seth are call'd the Sons of God as on the contrary the Posterity of Cain are call'd the Daughters of Men. This was the Notion of a Child of God before the Law They are there call'd the Sons of God because that in the Family of Seth the Worship of the True God was continued and establish'd from which the Posterity of Cain had Revolted And so likewise under the Law the whole Body of the Children of Israel are call'd the Children of God Deut. 14.1 and that for this reason Vnder the Law as it follows ver 2. because they were a Holy people unto the Lord and the Lord had chosen them to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the Nations that were upon the Earth They were a Holy people unto the Lord not all of 'em by an inward and real Change in their Natures but by a Foederal Holiness and by reason of their separation from the rest of the Idolatrous and wicked World by a Holy Covenant Alas as to their inward Holiness this very Body of Men who were call'd the Children of God are said Deut. 32.5 to have Corrupted themselves and to have not the spot of Children but to be a very froward Generation Children in whom is no Faith ver 20. But their outward Relation to God continued notwithstanding and that whole Body of People being in Covenant with God were styl'd thereupon his Children And under the Gospel likewise Vnder the Gospel all that are Members of the Church and in Covenant with God are styl'd his Children Thus 2 Cor. 6.16 17 18. you will find that with Relation to all those concerning whom God declar'd He would be their God and that they should be his People which are the express Terms of the Covenant betwixt God and all Christians as you will see Heb. 8.10 and with Relation to all those whom he commanded to Come out from among the Gentiles and to be separate and not to touch the unclean thing that is not to Partake in their Idolatry which is the very Description of the Members of Christ's Church I say with Relation to all these he declar'd he would be a Father unto them and that they should be his Sons and Daughters And such are call'd Sons by Adoption concerning whom it is said Also a Child of God as meant in the Catechism is every One who is so by vertue of Adoption Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulness of time was come that God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Now this word Adoption is much used in the Epistles of St. Paul to declare that filial Relation towards God which the Members of Christ's Church are taken into and because the right understanding of the Nature and meaning of such Adoption will very much contribute to a right and through Explication of what is meant by a Child of God I will First Shew you the Nature and Meaning of Adoption both amongst the Jews and Gentiles amongst both which different People it was in use Secondly I will then shew you how we Christians especially such of us who are descended from the Gentiles are accordingly Adopted to be the Children of God And as to the First Adoption What Adoption a Thing so well known both amongst Jews and Gentiles was the taking in of a Stranger upon the want or loss of natural Issue into the Relation of a Child and into the Rights and Priviledges of a Son by Nature The use of it amongst the Israelites the Priviledges it gave them As to the use of it amongst the Israelites we find Gen. 30. that Rachel upon the want of Issue by her Husband Jacob did Adopt and take as her own Sons those of her Maid Bilhah ver 5.8 And so likewise did Leah when she saw that she had left Bearing she Adopted and took also as her own Children the Sons of Zilpah And several other the like Instances may be found in Scripture as in Jacob's Adopting Ephraim and Manasseh the Sons of Joseph to be his Sons Gen. 48.5 In all which cases it appears that upon their Adoption or being took into that Relation of Sons to Jacob Rachel and Leah they were instated into equal Priviledges with the true and genuine Issue of those Persons and were accounted amongst the Twelve
Patriarchs of the Israelites equally with the rest And as to the like Custom of Adoption amongst the Gentiles The use of it amongst the Gentiles and the Rights it confer'd upon them you 'll see Act. 7.21 how that Moses when he was cast out Pharaoh's Daughter took him up and nourished him as her own Son that is Adopted him as such And by that Right of Adoption he would have Inherited the Crown of Pharaoh but that By Faith when he was come to Years he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.24.26 Thus the Egyptians Adopted And how the same Custom did also prevail amongst both Greeks and Romans is a Thing well known to those who read their Authors but need not here be further mention'd the Scripture use of this Custom being what it does most concern you to know To hasten therefore How we Christians especially such who are descended from the Gentiles are according as has been spoke the Adopted Children of God Secondly I am now to shew you How we Christians especially such of us who are descended from the Gentiles are accordingly Adopted to be the Children of God I say how we Christians for to the Jews did once pertain the Adoption Rom. 9.4 and that whole Church and Nation were once His Children Deut. 14.1 To understand which you are to consider that the whole World who were the Sons of God by Creation having Revolted from God to serve strange Gods then did God choose Abraham and his Posterity to be a Holy Nation a peculiar People unto himself and to that purpose did Enter into Covenant with him and them and so Adopted them to be his Children instead of the rest of Mankind who had wholly forsaken him To the Israelites did once pertain the Adoption And hence it is said Rom. 9.4 that To the Israelites did once pertain the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises Thus the Jews alone were once the Adopted Children of God And now the Question returns How we Christians especially such of us who are descended from the Gentiles are according as has been spoke But that Covenant by entering into which they were his Children was only Temporary Adopted to be the Children of God And you must know that the Covenant given to the Jews was but a Temporary Law to last only till they should be fit for and till the Son of God should descend from Heaven to Institute a better and more perfect One. Just as Children in their Minority are brought up under the Discipline of the Rod and Ferula and of certain outward Observances till such time as they shall be fit for a more Manly Government so Before that Faith To last only till the Publication of the Gospel or the Gospel came the Jews were kept under the Law which was their School-master to bring them to Christ But after that Faith or the Gospel was come they were to be no longer under a School-master but were to be the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ Gal. 3.23 24 25 26. that is after they were sometime Train'd up After which they and all Christians were to be Children of God by faith in Christ and exercis'd to Obedience by that severe Dispensation given by Moses God did design to prescribe 'em by his own Son a more Reasonable Service namely That contain'd in the Gospel Ordering that That should thenceforward be the Rule of Obedience to all such as would be his Adopted Children And accordingly When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that they might receive the Adoption of Sons Gal. 4.4 5. that is when that time was come wherein God saw it fit to lay that lower Discipline the Law of Moses aside then God sent his own Son in Humane Flesh who submitted to and perform'd the whole Law himself to redeem 'em out of that Slavery of Mosaical Performances and to receive them into the Participation of his Promises and to be his Children without those Legal Observances by Faith in Christ and Obedience to his Gospel But the Jews being still of a Childish Disposition and fond of their Chains as People long accustomed to Slavery commonly are would not forego their Legal Observances for the more Manly Religion and more Reasonable Service of the Gospel of the Blessed Jesus And thus refusing Christ But the Jews adhering to their Law and refusing Christ and his Gospel in whom God had predestinated all to be his Sons the Apostles turned unto Gentiles Preaching Christ and Salvation to them and to as many as receiv'd him to them gave he Power to be the Sons of God in whom God did predestinate us all into the Adoption of Children by himself according to the good Pleasure of his Will Eph. 1.5 the Apostles by the appointment of God did thereupon turn to the Gentiles Acts 13.46 47. Preaching Christ and Salvation by him unto them and to as many as Receiv'd him to them gave he power or the Right and Priviledge as it is in the Original to become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 This is a remarkable Text to our Purpose In the Two Verses immediately before viz. The 10 and 11 it is said He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he Power or the Right and Priviledge to be the Sons of God even to them who Believe in his Name So that by this time I hope it does fully appear to you what is meant by a Child of God especially in that sence wherein it is to be understood here in your Catechism And you see as he is not every Child by Creation which is a sence too wide so neither on the other side is he only One who is so by Regeneration which is a sence as much too narrow but every One is such who has Enter'd into Covenant with God and whom the Heavenly Father has thereupon Adopted into his Family to partake of the Priviledges which belong to his Adopted Sons which Secondly What are the Priviledges which do belong to the Children of God as such Brings me next to Enquire what a Vast Priviledge it is accordingly to be made the Children of God And truly upon Enquiry it will be found to be in general the very same Priviledge in Kind but infinitely greater in Degree as Heavenly Things are always greater than Earthly which the most Tender and Indulgent Father that is withal Wise as well as Good can be suppos'd to allow his own Children beyond what he will do to Strangers and Aliens In general such as an indulgent but
of Living under a Government wholly made up of manifold Graces and Favours having a most Gracious God governing us by most Gracious and Reasonable Laws The Kingdom of Grace the Gospel State affording us a plentiful Measure of Divine Grace and Assistance to perform these Laws and proposing to us most Encouraging Rewards in Heaven to stir us up to a diligent Observance of ' em It is this happy State of Things under the Title of the Kingdom of Heaven whose near Approach John the Baptist foretold in the Wilderness saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand that is the Kingdom of the Messiah or the State of the Gospel whose Great Fundamental and Gracious Law is this that all Sinners must Repent 'em of all their former Sins and upon their Repentance they shall have most Eminent Mercies bestowed upon ' em And it was this State also concerning the undue Entertainment of which by the Scribes and Pharisees our Saviour complain'd Matth. 11.12 saying that From the days of John the Baptist even till then the Kingdom of Heaven suffered Violence so that the Violent took it by force that is the Publicans and Sinners and Gentiles who were look'd upon by the Jews as those who had no Right to the Messiah and so as violent Persons as Invaders and Intruders did croud into the Church at the Preaching of the Gospel whilst the Scribes and Pharisees ungratefully and proudly stood off So again Matth. 13.24 The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good Seed in his Field that is the State of the Gospel or the Success of our Saviour's Preaching in the World is so resembled And so likewise in several other Parables of the like Nature by the Kingdom of Heaven is to be understood the State of the Gospel here on Earth which sure does shew the exceeding great Dignity Worth and Excellency of the Gospel State far beyond any other Dispensation either Patriarchal or Mosaical which the World had ever receiv'd from Heaven before The reason why the Gospel State should be dignified with the Title of the Kingdom of Heaven And indeed upon a near View of the Nature and Design of the Gospel Dispensation we shall see sufficient reason why that State above any other should be so Honourably Entitled the Kingdom of Heaven And the reason is not only because the same God governs us and that by the same Laws of Eternal Unalterable Righteousness and Goodness as in Heaven but also because this Blessed Government of God over us by the Laws of the Gospel does directly tend to render us so exactly like the Blessed Saints those Inhabitants of Heaven viz. Because it so directly tends to render Men so exactly like the Blessed Saints the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Heaven for where the Gospel of Christ does so far prevail upon Men as through the Grace of God to make them diligent and careful to Obey him according as they have Covenanted with him it does bring in such an excellent State of Things as makes a kind of Heaven here upon Earth for where the Gospel does so far prevail as to be sincerely Obey'd it causes that The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and Fatling together and a young Child shall lead them and it causes that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all the holy Mountain for the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea as was long time since Prophecy'd Isa 11.6 7 8 9. concerning the State of the Gospel that is it files off the roughness and sweetens the cruel and savage Humours of Men so that instead of tearing and tormenting one another like Beasts and Devils it makes Men Gentle and Kind and good Natur'd like Angels like Gods to one another A State certainly which may very well deserve the glorious Title of the Kingdom of Heaven being so contrary to the Kingdom of Darkness and the State of Hell where there is nothing but Malice Rancour and Rage do reign among those unhappy Beings that do inhabit that Place And thus you see that in Scripture by the Kingdom of Heaven is sometimes meant the State of the Gospel the same God governing us therein and by the same everlasting Laws of Goodness as in Heaven and so as to render us of like Tempers and Dispositions with the Saints in Heaven A State so nearly resembling that of Heaven that the Condition of the meanest Christian now under the Gospel is for that reason prefer'd before that of the greatest of Prophets under the Law Verily I say unto you among them who are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is the Gospel State is greater than he Matth. 11.11 But tho' this be very frequently the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven in the New Testament and for that reason This is not the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven here in the Catechism I have took such particular Notice of it that so you may know how to understand that Metaphorical Expression in those many Scriptures where you will meet with it in that sence yet it is not the proper and immediate Meaning of the Word in Scripture nor is it so to be understood here in your Catechism But Secondly the Kingdom of Heaven does if not most frequently II. The Kingdom of Heaven signifies the Kingdom of Glory at least most properly signify in the Scripture the Kingdom of Glory and accordingly here in your Catechism it is solely to be understood of the glorious and happy State of Angels and Saints with God in Heaven For Instance In this sence it is to be understood Mat. 5.3 where the Kingdom of Heaven is promis'd as the Reward of the Poor in Spirit And so ver 20. where it is said that Except our Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that is into the State of Glory And in this sence only it can be understood Mat. 7.21 where our Saviour declares that Not every one that saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of the Father which is in Heaven that is not those who barely profess Christianity but those who sincerely Practice according to such a Belief and Profession shall be received into Glory The Profession alone will gain Admittance into the Visible Church here on Earth but nothing less than a Living up to it will give an Entrance into the Kingdom and State of Glory with God and his Holy Angels and Saints in the highest Heavens And a most Noble and Glorious State we may be sure this is This a most noble and glorious State as being dignify'd with so honourable and
as there are Men on Earth to be Tempted by him And as his Methods of Temptation are very many and very subtle and it does infinitely concern us Lest Satan should get an Advantage of us that we should not be Ignorant of his Devices For these Reasons I do think it may be profitable to you if I make that great Work of his his Tempting us to Sin the Subject of some particular Discourses by themselves in order to a more full and distinct State of that matter as indeed it is very requisite you should be throughly Inform'd if possible of the Temptations of Satan what they are And therefore leaving that Part for the present I shall proceed to finish this Lecture with shewing you Thirdly What it is to Renounce the Devil and all his Works of Sin To Renounce a Word of various Importance according to the Renounced already spoken of and how necessary it is we should absolutely and entirely do so To Renounce is a Word that is apply'd in our Baptismal Vow to several things even all our Spiritual Enemies that would draw us into Sin The Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh they must all of them be Renounced by us And as the Word Renounce does carry in it a great deal of Meaning and is of various Significations according to the Nature of the things to be Renounced So what it does particularly signify with Reference to each of them will best be understood by considering its Importance as apply'd to every One of those things To Renounce the Devil in the sence of the Ancient Church was to disclaime his Vsurped Dominion Authority over Mankind And agreeably therefore to the Explication now given of the Devil To Renounce the Devil is no doubt to Disclaim his Usurpt Dominion and Authority or to leave off having any Communication or Agreement with him or having any Hand in his base and ungrateful Rebellion against God This was no doubt what the Primitive Church understood by Renouncing the Devil for they are Words of a very ancient Use in the Church of God The Devil at the first Rise of Christianity especially had obtain'd a Visible Kingdom and in a manner an Universal Monarchy over the World Hence he is call'd The Prince of this World Joh. 14.30 He had also his Temples and his Altars and his Sacrifices The things which the Gentiles Sacrifice they Sacrifice unto Devils and not unto God 1 Cor. 10.20 As also many lewd and bloody Plays and pompous Processions were made in Honour of him and he was therefore in Effect The God of this world 2 Cor. 4.4 And now when any were Converted from Paganism to Christianity the Primitive Christians did expresly require from all that were admitted into that Kingdom of God the Church of Christ a publick and open Renunciation or Abjuration of him or an utter Disowning and Abandoning the Devil's Authority and the Paying any Homage Service or Obedience to him by Worshiping of him or his wicked Angels or by going to those Plays and Processions Instituted in Honour of him Thus does Tertullian an ancient Father inform us in his Book De Corona wherein reciting the ancient Customs of the Church he tells us That just before any were Baptized into the Christian Religion Aquam adituri ibidem sed aliquanto prius in Ecclesia sub Antistitis manu contestamur nos Renuntiare Diabolo Pompae Angelis ejus Tertul. de Corona they made a solemn Profession at their Entrance into the Water as also they had done a little before when under the Bishop's Hands in the Church That they did Renounce the Devil his wicked Angels and Pomps that is those solemn Processions of the Heathen Gods and those Lewd and Cruel Plays us'd amongst the Pagans which were the Ceremonies of State as it were in Satan's Kingdom All subjection to the Devil and all usage of those Rights of his Kingdom they did utterly abandon and forsake And this was what was meant in the Primitive Times by Renouncing of the Devil To Renounce his Works of Sin was in their Sence to Abandon and Forsake every Sin as being the proper Service of the Devil And to Renounce his works of Sin must accordingly signify in their Sence to disclaim abandon or forsake every Sin as being the proper Service of the Devil and in the real Meaning of it no less than a throwing off God's Authority and a disowning his Power For if you will read over Rom. 1. you will find that People upon their forsaking of the True God to serve other Gods which were many of 'em at least no other than Devils did thereupon fall into all manner of Sin and Wickedness as you will see largely describ'd in that Chapter And if you will also look into the Sixth Chapter to the Romans ver 11. you will see that Christians by being Baptized Were to reckon themselves to be dead unto Sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that in the Original and first meaning of the Words as to Renounce the Devil was to abjure and disclaim the Power and Dominion of Satan and to leave off having any Communication or Agreement with him and any Hand in his base and ungrateful Rebellion against God so to Renounce his Works of Sin was to Disclaim Abandon or Forsake all and every Sin as being the proper Service of the Devil and in the real Meaning of it no less than a throwing off God's Authority and a dis-owning of his Power This I say was the first Meaning of the Words in the first Ages of the Church Nor are they to be Interpreted in a much different Sence at this Day For Satan has his Kingdom still in the World The Words are to be understood in much the same Sence at this day Satan having his Kingdom still in the World and even amongst Christians and the Laws of Sin which are the Laws of his Kingdom being still Obey'd by the greatest Part of Mankind and the Laws of Sin which are the Laws of that his Kingdom are Obey'd by the greatest Part of Mankind The barbarous Nations amongst the Pagans do directly serve him at this Day and it is many a Christian's Lot who is cast amongst 'em to be forc'd either to Join with 'em in such Impious Service or to suffer Death with Torments for refusing And even in the Christian Pale tho' his Power is much weaken'd here since the Coming of our Saviour to what it was before yet still as Christ has his Church so Satan has his Synagogue amongst us and too many there are within the Limits of Christendom who do openly and avowedly Obey no other than the Laws of his Kingdom All your Atheists and Deists who Blaspheme God and the Christian Religion and all your Profane Swearers and Cursers whom you shall hear every Hour in the Day to Dare God as
it were by their horrid Oaths and Imprecations to Damn 'em that is to send 'em to the Devil and all those who resort to Charmers and Conjurers and Fortune-tellers as many Thousands do in this Nation All these I say are the open and profest Subjects of Satan's Kingdom And how many Lewd and Riotous Livers are there amongst us who do little else but the Works of the Devil and Obey no other Laws but those of Sin So that as you will Renounce the Devil and all his Works in that Sence wherein the Church does at present understand the Words you are with all possible care to avoid being of the Number of such Men. And I know no more that need be said at present This Renunciation for the most Part the same with Repentance to explain the Importance of the words Renounce the Devil and all his Works except it be this That if we consider such a Renunciation as the Act of One who has been heretofore a Slave to Satan and a Servant to Sin then it signifies to Forsake and Abandon the Service of Sin and the Devil formerly Liv'd in and so being a Ceasing to do Evil and a Learning to do well is the same with Repentance But if it be the Act of one of those who may be said to need no Repentance of which sort are Infants who have never committed Actual Sin then to Renounce the Devil and all his Works does mean a firm Resolution never to side with him in his Rebellion against God and as carefully as he can to avoid the committing of any Sin as being that whereby God's Rightful Authority is cast off and the Devil 's Vsurpt Dominion submitted to And so much for the Meaning of Renouncing the Devil and all his Works The Devil and all his works of Sin must be absolutely and entirely Renounced because And now Lastly it remains that I should shew you how that it is necessary we should Absolutely and Entirely Renounce the Devil and all his Works As to those other Enemies to our Souls the World and our own Flesh there is some Temper to be us'd being neither of 'em are Absolutely and in themselves Evil but only by accident when the World is too intensely Belov'd and our Flesh too much Indulg'd to the Prejudice and Hurt of the Soul and therefore there are some Degrees of Affection and Regard allow'd to both them But the Devil is the Evil One and he is by way of Eminence and Singularity styl'd the wicked One in the Holy Scripture as Matth. 13.19 and 1 Joh. 2.13.19 There is nothing but Evil proceeds from Satan So that there 's not the least Good and nothing but Evil proceeds from him and therefore no manner of Agreement is to be made with him What Concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.15 Nor are we to imagine we can divide our Service betwixt God and him We cannot serve God and Mammon Matth. 6.24 So that the Devil is Absolutely and Entirely to be Renounced by us And Sin whether we consider it in its Original Cause Nature or in its sad Effects and Consequents is the utmost Evil. And so likewise must his Works of Sin Sin as Sin is entirely Evil Consider it in its Original Cause and Nature and consider it in its Effects and Consequents and there is not a worse Evil in the World than Sin View it in its Original and first Cause and it is a Brat of the Devil 's the First-born of Hell And view it again in its Nature and it is a Choosing of quite other Ends than what the Wise and Good God has appointed us and ordain'd us for and is a Going quite cross to those Laws and Rules which he has given us And then consider it next in its sad Effects and Consequents and there is no Evil in the World to be compar'd to it It is a Sin says One which turn'd glorious Angels into hideous Devils and tumbl'd them down from Heaven to Hell It is Sin that fill'd the World with Woes and Plagues brought Death and Diseases and a vast and endless Summ of Miseries into it It is Sin that torments and terrifies the Conscience that kindles Hell Flames Exposes the Soul to the eternal and direful Revenges of the Great God And in a word Sin is so perfectly and only Evil that the worst of things here were they free from the Contagion and Evil of Sin would be Excellent and Amiable So that Sin also is Absolutely and Entirely to be Renounced by us and there is no one Sin nothing in the least of Sin that may willingly be comply'd with Therefore no one Sin nor any thing the least of Sin must willingly be comply'd with I say No One Sin nor any the least of Sin for so Poisonous a thing it is in spoiling of every thing that is Good in Man that if we shall allow our selves but in One single Sin it will utterly spoil all our other Righteousness If a man keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all Jam. 2.10 And one such single Allowance will stop God's Ears against all our Prayers If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psal 66.18 Nay so absolutely an Evil is Sin and so Absolutely and Entirely it is to be Renounced by us that the least sinful Action is not to be committed in order to attain the greatest Good So little a Sin as an Officious Lie must not be told no not to save a Man's Life Nor a Pious Fraud nor a Holy Cheat committed to promote the Good of the Church and to secure and propagate what we take to be the True Religion For if the Truth of God hath more Abounded through my Lie unto his Glory why yet am I judged as a Sinner Whereas he who telleth such a Kind and Serviceable Lie will certainly be Judg'd as such and as it follows Whosoever shall say Let us do Evil that Good may come of it his Damnation is just Rom. 3.7 8. So that every Christian must Absolutely and Entirely Renounce the Devil and all his Works of Sin And indeed it is but to consider And indeed if the Nature of Satan and of Sin the horrid Consequence of yielding to either be well consider'd it is hardly possible not absolutely and entirely to renounce both as well as know the Nature of Satan and of Sin and the horrid Consequence of yielding to either of them and it is impossible any should not absolutely and entirely Renounce that is utterly detest and avoid and beware of them As for the Devil why Even the Perversest of People the Israelites when it was solemnly put to their Reason and Consideration who to serve God or the Devil could not without the utmost Detestation think of the latter If it seems Evil unto you says Joshua to them Josh 24.15 16. to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will
those most excellent Words of the Apostle to the Eph. 6.10 11 12. with which I shall conclude Finally Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might Put on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high Places Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand in the Evil Day and having done all to stand And so goes on in several Verses shewing with what Armour you must prepare your selves wherewith to defend your Innocency against the Assaults of Satan viz. with Truth or the Knowledge of the Gospel with Righteousness Charity Faith the Hope of Salvation and the word of God And then adds as I before directed you That you must Pray always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all Perseverance THE Fourteenth Lecture First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh HAVING already in order to the Explication of these Words shew'd you Who the Devil is what are his Works what is meant by Renouncing the Devil and all his Works and how necessary it is we should absolutely do so I come now Secondly In like manner to Explain unto you What is meant by the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and to shew you in what Sence and how far you must Renounce the wicked World with its Pomps and Vanity What 's meant by the Pomps and Vanity of the wicked World and in what sence and how far we must Renounce the wicked world w th its Pomps and Vanity Three things here to be explain'd and accordingly Renounced 1. The World 2. The wicked World and 3. The Pomps and Vanity of this wicked world To Renounce the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World There is not a word here but will require some Explication As to the word Renounce indeed it may suffice what I before told you that it is of various Significations according to the Nature of the Thing to be Renounc'd by us And there being Three Things in these Words necessary to be Explain'd First The World Secondly The wicked World and Thirdly The Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World I will Expound to you the Meaning of each and will withal shew you in what sence and how far you are to Renounce every One of them And First I am to shew you what is meant by the World and in what Sence and how far you are to Renounce the World The World in Scripture does generally pass under a very bad Character and for the most part is mention'd as what does directly oppose God's Glory and our own Happiness The World a great Enemy to God's Glory and our own Happiness Thus Jam. 4.4 Know ye not that the Friendship of the World is Enmity with God and whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World is an Enemy of God And on the contrary Gal. 6.16 St. Paul gives this Character of himself That through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the World is Crucified unto him and he unto the World And 1 Joh. 5.4 it is universally declar'd that Whosoever is born of God overcometh the World And therefore in the Second Chapter of the same Epist 15 16. we are commanded Not to love the World neither the Things that are in the World being assur'd that If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him And indeed if we shall search throughout the whole Book of God we shall find such frequent and earnest Commands to Renounce this World and to beware of its Temptations that nothing except Satan the Ring-leader of all our Adversaries seems to be a more Mortal Enemy to the Happiness and Salvation of Mankind than this World And all this consider'd as also that it is made so material a Part of our Baptismal Covenant to Renounce as the Devil so the World I think it concerns you to be well informed what is meant both in Scripture and your Catechism by that World which you are so oblig'd to Renounce and in what sence and how far you are to Renounce it And a more nice and critical Enquiry and State of this Matter is the rather necessary because the World as hardly as it is spoke of is not absolutely and in its own Nature Evil as the Devil is for consider'd in it self it is the Creature of God and consequently very Good according to that Divine Testimony given thereunto Gen. 1.31 God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very Good And it is only Evil accidentally by our Abuse of it That therefore you may Err on neither side neither despise the Workmanship of God's Hands to the Disparagement of God's Goodness in giving us of his Creatures for our Use and Convenience nor too much Dote upon the Creature to the Neglect of the Creator which is a Degree of Idolatry I will with what Skill God shall enable me state this whole matter to you and shew you What is meant by the World and in what Sence and how far you are to Renounce it And for the more full and compleat Explication of this Point I will do it both Generally and Particularly It is to be consider'd both generally and particularly And First as to the World in General it is visible what is meant by it viz. The whole Frame of Nature which we behold with whatever is contain'd therein True it is the World is put many times in Scripture as Joh. 7.7 and often elsewhere to signify Evil Men because that the Wicked make up the greatest Part of Men in this world But this is an improper and figurative meaning of the World Evil Men being but a part of the World and in this Sence will better be consider'd by us under the next general Point to be spoken to viz. The wicked World But Matth. 4.8 and in innumerable other Places of the Scriptures by the World is meant that whole Frame of Nature which we behold and all that Variety of Creatures which it contains and is given us by the Bounty and Goodness of God for our Use and Benefit I. By the world in general is meant that whole Frame of Nature which we behold and all that variety of Creatures which it contains and is given us by the Bounty and Goodness of God for our Vse and Benefit And now the great Question will be In what Sence and how far we must Renounce the World in this Sence of the Word And there are not ordinary Mistakes about it For some shall Cry out most grievously against this World as the Author of all their Sin and Misery and therefore many have endeavour'd
to fly out of it as it were into Desarts living separate from Mankind and without the Conveniencies of Life as the Hermits of Old and into Cloysters and Monasteries as the several Orders of Monks and Friars at this Day The World in this Sence is not in it self Evil but only accidentally by Man's abuse of himself or it in the Church of Rome But certainly the World does not deserve to be so spitefully us'd as the Words and Actions of Superstitious and mistaken Men do import For to use the words of a great Man The World is certainly in it self Good and is not Evil but accidentally by Man's Abuse of himself or it It doth contain a general supply of Objects answerable to the Desires of our sensible Nature and the Exigencies and Conveniencies of it It is a great Shop full of all sorts of Wares answerable to our Wants or Conditions There is Wealth and Places and Delights for the Senses and it becomes an Enemy to us by reason only of the Disorder and Irregularity of those Lusts and Passions that are within us and by reason of the Over-value that we are apt to put upon them They are indeed Temptations but they are only Passive as the Wedge of Gold did Passively Tempt Achan but it was his own Lust and Covetousness that did him the Harm The Rock doth not strike the Ship but the Ship strikes the Rock and breaks it self Nay this World as it is not Evil in it self Consider'd in it self it is very Good and convenient to us so most certainly it is full of Goodness and Benevolence to us It supplies our Wants it is accommodate to the Exigencies and Conveniencies of our Nature it furnishes us with various Objects and Instances of the Divine Goodness Liberality Bounty of his Power and Majesty and Glory of his Wisdom Providence and Government which are so many Instructions to teach us to Know and Admâ—â—e And as it is not absolutely in it self evil so neither is it entirely to be renounc'd but being good in it self it may in some measure be desired and enjoy'd by us and Magnify him to walk Thankfully Dutifully and Obediently unto him to teach us Resignation Contentedness Submission and Dependance upon him A good Heart will be made the better by it and if there be Evil in it it is such as our own corrupt Natures occasions or brings upon it or upon our selves by it and it is a great Part of our Christian Warfare and Discipline to teach us to use it as it ought to be used and to subdue those Lusts and Corruptions that abuse it and our selves by it So that the World you see is not absolutely and in it self Evil nor is it consequently entirely to be Renounced by us But it is in it self Good and as such it may in due measure be desir'd and enjoy'd by us Nevertheless through our own Corruption Nevertheless through our own Corruption whereby we abuse the good Things of the world it becomes accidentally the occasion of most of our Sins and of our Estrangement from God our sovereign Good whereby we abuse these good Things of the World which the Divine Bounty has bestowed upon us for our Support Comfort and Convenience the World becomes Accidentally the occasion of most of our Sins and of our Estrangement from God our sovereign Good And how the World does accidentally become the occasion of much Sin committed by us and as such how far it ought to be Renounced I take to be a Point that is very requisite you should be well instructed in And the Case you must know betwixt us and the World stands thus Man is a Compound Being made up of Two different and distinct Natures a Body and a Soul the one purely Material and Earthly the other Spiritual and Heavenly the one Inferior the other Superior in Worth and Dignity the one Mortal and Perishing the other Immortal and Everlasting Hence Man is by some called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Akin to Two Worlds the Knot as it were that ties 'em both together or the Button that fastens 'em one to another How the World becomes so Now Man consisting of these Two Principles according to One whereof and that the Principal he is nearly ally'd to God for according to his Soul he is the very Image of God it is very reasonably requir'd of him That he should chiefly mind Heaven and Heavenly Things his near and chief Relations if I may so say which he is Everlastingly to enjoy and that he should not much concern himself with the Things of this world which he must shortly leave behind him and then all Relation betwixt 'em will cease But all the time of his Pilgrimage here Living and Conversing for the most part with the Things below he becomes sooner acquainted with them and they with him they have an easier Access to him than Heavenly Things and have therefore greater Opportunities to court his Affections and to win upon 'em So that in the End it too often falls out that St. Paul's Rule is liv'd Counter to and Men generally Set their Affections on things below and not on things above In what manner it does Captivate us and draw us from God The manner how the world Captivates and Enslaves and Draws the whole Man in Triumph after it is this It presents to the Senses Riches Honours and Pleasures and dazles 'em with their Glory and Beauty Men's outward Senses being so extreamly taken with these do easily bribe the Affections to love 'em above all other and cause 'em to Covet and Lust after ' em The Affections becoming hereby most eagerly desirous of 'em do put a false Biass upon tâ—e Judgment so that our Understanding and Reason usually becomâ— thereby so far Corrupted as to dictate to the Will that these outward and sensible good Things are the Objects which are above all others worthy of its Choice And hereupon the Will does immediately choose the present Objects of Sense the Riches Honours and Pleasures of this World preferring 'em far before spiritual Things And thus the whole Man Body and Soul is made a Slave to the world and neglects Heaven and minds not to perform the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace the way thither So far therefore as it engages our Affections too closely to it so as to make us Inordinately and Irregularly to mind it and to neglect our great Concern the Business of Religion it is to to be Renounced and Rejected by us So that upon the whole Matter the World is so far only our Enemy and to be Renounced and Overcome by us as it Engages our Affections too closely to it so as to make us Inordinately and Irregularly that is with an Affection to it or any Thing in it beyond its due Desert to mind it and too much to neglect our great Concern the Business of Religion and the Performance of the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace
concern you to Renounce all false and deceitful ways of getting Riches remembring how the Prophet pronounces a fearful Woe to him who buildeth his House by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong that useth his Neighbours service without wages and giveth him not for his work Jer. 22.13 And especially you must beware of Getting Particularly not by Sacriledge by defrauding those who Minister about Holy Things The Generality of the World do now a-days seem to value no Gain like this but as it is declar'd by the Prophet Malachi 3.8 to be the worst sort of Robbery so it is the certain way to bring a Curse upon all a Man's Substance As on the contrary a very free and liberal Payment of Tythes to the full Value will bring a certain Blessing All which you have fully declar'd from the Eighth to the Thirteenth Verses So that in a word all unlawful Gain whether by Robbing God or Man you must take care of But if it has been your sad Misfortune to have brought such a Guilt upon your Consciences Whoever has unjustly gained any thing must renounce it by makeing Restitution thereof you must then Renounce those Riches in the most proper and immediate Sence of the Word that is by Restoring speedily to the full and rather more than less to all those whom you have any ways Injured as Good Zacheus did Behold Lord if I have taken any thing from any man by false Accusation that is Wrongfully I here restore him Four-fold Luk. 19.8 Thus far you must Renounce the Riches of this World with respect to the Getting of them Secondly Riches consider'd in the Possession are to be renounced by paring of those Superfluities which tempt to Idleness and Luxury to Pride and Insolence and an Idolatrous Trust in Riches by paring of that Super-abundance I say and bestowing it to Pious and Charitable uses II. Riches consider'd in the Possession are to be renounced by paring off those superfluities which tempt Idleness and Luxury Pride and Insolence and an Idolatrous Trust in Riches and by bestowing it to Pious and Charitable uses Idleness is a Life for which no Man living can give an account to God or Man there being no Man so Great or so Rich as that he can pretend to have been Born to live Idlely and to be exempt from that Use and Service which every Person owes both to Church and State as he is a Member of both those Bodies The Eye cannot say unto the Hand I have no need of thee nor again the Head to the Feet I have no need of you God having so temper'd the Body together that all the Members both Comely and Uncomely Honourable and Dishonourable Parts should have the same Care one of another 1 Cor. 12.21.24 25. And as Idleness so is Luxury a Crying Sin as will appear by considering the fearful Doom pronounc'd by St. James to such Rich Ones as wanton it in nothing but Pleasure Go to now ye Rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you ye have lived in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in a day of Slaughter Jam. 5.1.5 And as to Pride For any Person be he never so Wealthly to be pufft up by his Estate to carry it Proudly and Insolently towards other Men of lower Fortunes the usual Effect of Riches this also is a thing severely threaten'd in the now cited Place of St. James viz. Chap. 5. ver 1.5 6. But as to that Exalting themselves against God in an utter Defiance of his Laws which so many Rich and Great Men are subject to Who when God has fed them to the full do then commit Adultery and assemble themselves by Troops in the Harlots houses and are as fed Horses in the Morning every One Neighing after his Neighbour's Wife Shall I not Visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my Soul be Avenged on such a People as this Says God by his Prophet Jeremy 5.7 8 9. Sure such an insolent Contempt of God's Laws and haughty Pride against him will most terribly provoke his Indignation at the last And so Lastly will a Profane and Idolatrous Trust in Riches to which the wealthy Ones are so extreamly liable God shall likewise destroy thee for ever says the Psalmist Psal 52.5 He shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy Dwelling-place and root thee out of the Land of the Living And who is this that he will serve so Lo the Man that made not God his Strength but Trusted in the Abundance of his Riches and strengthen'd himself in his Substance ver 7. The Reason wherefore Men do so much Covet after and so closely Hug their Riches is because they take 'em to be a sure Security against all Misfortunes and Troubles and will be a Refuge to 'em they think in the Days of Calamity But alas There is nothing more Uncertain and indeed more Dangerous to the Owners thereof than Riches They can neither Fence off Death nor Sufferings but do most usually bring on both and that both from the Reason of the thing as they Excite the Envy and are a Bait to the Covetousness of others to Dispossess him who Enjoys 'em and by the just Judgment of God when Men have unlawfully got or abus'd ' em And now all this consider'd since Idleness and Luxury Pride and Insolence and a Trust in Riches are so highly Provoking to God and since the Rich are so extreamly liable to these of all others The Possessors of great Estates would do well and wisely too so far to Renounce 'em as to Pare of those Superfluities in their Fortunes and to bestow all that to Pious and Charitable Uses which Tempt 'em to such Pernicious Vices Nor is this a more hard and unreasonable Lesson than what was given by our Saviour in a like Case Matth. 5.29 says he If thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that One of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell And so we may say in this If Superfluity and Abundance and more than is necessary to provide a Person of those Conveniencies which are requisite to that State and Condition wherein Providence has Plac'd him in the World does directly tend to those Vices now nam'd then it is much better that with Crates he should even throw away that Superfluity For much better it is that his worldly Wealth should sink into the bottom of the Sea than that it should sink him both Body and Soul in Hell But there is no necessity for any Man to throw that away which God has bestow'd upon him for better Uses Take care to do Good therewith and then it will open unto you the Gates of Heaven In so doing you will Renounce those Superfluities of an Estate as to your own proper Use but however it will return into your own
Bosoms at last with infinite Advantage and Interest Which brings me in the And Lastly by suffering the loss thereof rather than Apostatize from the Faith Last Place to shew you How far the Rich are to Renounce their Wealth in Parting with it in Works of Mercy and in suffering the Loss thereof rather than Incur Apostacy And to give you my Sence thereof in a few words God true it is does not always make it the Condition of a Disciple to Sell all that he hath and to give it to the Poor as he commanded him in the Gospel upon an extraordinary Occasion Nor does he always put us upon the fiery Tryal either to leave all or preserve a good Conscience But however there is doubtless requir'd a better Use to be made of Riches and larger Distributions of what God hath Blest them withal to Pious and Charitable Uses than most of our Rich Ones do commonly think And it is also requir'd that tho' we are not always put to the actual Tryal whether we will follow Christ in the Adherence to Truth and by renouncing of Error or retain our Riches Yet it is ever requir'd that we should be readily dispos'd to Forsake all and follow Christ suppose there were Occasion which must be the Import of these words Mat. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Every One is not actually call'd to take up the Cross by abandoning his worldly Possessions or in any other way but the meaning must be that every Disciple must let this World's Goods hang very loose about him so that he could easily put 'em off when call'd to it And God who searches the Heart and tries the Reins sees whether we are so dispos'd or no. And tho' he puts us not to the actual Tryal he will however Judge us accordingly as he sees we are actually dispos'd And let this suffice for the present whereby you have seen how far we must Renounce the World in general and also in that particular Instance of its Goods the Riches thereof There are several other Ingredients of which this World does consist and in what Sence and how far you must Renounce them shall also God willing be shew'd you But of this the next Opportunity THE Fifteenth Lecture First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh THE Point that we are now upon is to lay before you the Strength of those Temptations which do arise from the World in General and the several Things therein contain'd in Particular whether they be the Goods or the Evils thereof or such as are of a middle Nature and to shew you in what Sence and how far you are to Renounce ' em And as to such Considerations which concern the World in general and also that first and principal of its Materials the Riches thereof and which are necessary to be laid before you This I have already done and now I am to pass on to the Consideration of A Second of its Particulars viz. The Honours thereof and to shew you what they mean and in what Sence and how far you are to Renounce the Honours of this World What is meant by the Honours of this World in what sence and how far they are to be Renounced Honour is accounted one of the Principal of this World's Goods and tho' it be much supported by Wealth and Riches yet it is often and sometimes deservedly prefer'd before ' em And Honour properly and strictly does signify an inward Esteem bore to a Person upon the account of some worthy Accomplishments and Advantages he is possest of and this inward Sence of his Worth testified by some outward and suitable Respects exprest either by our Carriage towards him or by our Speeches to or concerning him This is what Honour does strictly signify What is meant by Honour properly and strictly But in the more general and usual Meaning of the Thing both in Scripture What in the general meaning of the Word and common Language by Honours are also meant the Advantages or Qualities themselves upon the account of which Persons are so Honour'd and Esteem'd and Respected and those outward Respects given 'em upon the account of those Advantages And they may be reduc'd to these following Nobility or Gentility Pre-eminence or Authority and Dignities and Promotions which are call'd Posts of Honour Also an High Esteem and Reputation amongst Judicious Wise and Good Men upon the account of a Person 's Wisdom and Vertue or some worthy and glorious Action perform'd by him Or the Vulgar Applause of the Croud of Men upon what they account Praise-worthy and Honourable And lastly the Outward Expressions of Respect either by Word or Deed usually given upon the account of any of these I shall consider all these Kinds of Honour apart and allowing to Persons who any-wise deserve Honour all that is consistent with Innocency I will shew in what Sence and how far they are to Renounce it as its Tempts 'em to Sin against God and to Trample under Foot his Authority and Laws And First as to Nobility or Gentility I. Nobility or Gentility This is an Honour derived down upon Persons from their Fore-fathers who are suppos'd to have Ennobled their Names and Families by some excellent Atchievments in Peace or War either in Learning Arts or Arms or whatever worthy Performances whereby they have signally Benefited their Country The original Nature of Nobility or Gentility and who upon that account have been distinguisht by certain Badges and Titles of Honour from the Croud of Men whose Ancestors have not been so eminently Famous and Deserving And such Honour as this is highly agreeable both to Scripture and Reason In the Scriptures we do not only find the Princes of Israel Heads of the Houses of their Fathers who were the Princes of the Tribes and were over them Numb 7.2 but also that they bore several Coats of Arms for Distinction which what they were you may see Gen. 49. And in Reason there is as great a Necessity that there should be a Distinction of Members more or less Honourable in the Body Politick as in the Natural and therefore in both Vpon some Members we bestow more abundant Honour 1 Cor. 12.23 And indeed such a Distinction of Persons upon the account of their Merit or Desert of their Families does serve to raise the Emulation of Men to Atchieve some noble and worthy Enterprize and to shake off that Sloth which would otherwise Enfeeble their Activity And for this reason it is that God has Planted this Passion of Emulation in Persons Natures to rouze 'em up to Imitate the noble Vertues and great Examples of Others that they likewise might Transmit a Name worthy to be Imitated in future Generations Such is the Original and Nature of True Nobility and so
from the Justice of Peace is seldom the better thought of in the Neighbourhood and still they will be apt to think it was a Work of Darkness and only wanted a sufficient Proof Besides this I say an open and plain Discovery before Neighbours of the falshood and malice of the Slanderer in the most mild and Christian way or if such a Discovery cannot be made a Circumspection and Care to live so Inoffensively and Innocently as no one will believe the Calumny this will in time work all evil Surmises and Suspicions out of the Minds of Men. Lastly And we must utterly renounce and forfeit the Esteem of Men rather than incur the Dis-favour of God Lastly we must utterly renounce and forfeit the Esteem of men rather than incur the dis-favour of God The best and wisest of Men are but Men still and do often judge of other Persons and their Proceedings not as they ought or as God Judgeth Thus we see When Jesus began to shew unto his Disciples how that he must go up unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes and be killed then Peter took him up and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Matth. 16.21 22. that is he endeavour'd earnestly to disswade him from so hazardous an Undertaking and would have him be more careful of himself And so it often happens to his faithful Disciples especially his Ministers If any more than ordinarily Zealous of their Master's Glory or faithful in his Service shall attempt to Reprove a Great Man or to oppose the Stream of Wickedness or some ungodly but prevailing Customs his Friends too much savouring of worldly Wisdom shall violently disswade him not to be thus Righteous over-much as they think But if it shall so happen that in the Discharge of our Duty we have not their Approbation be they never so Wise or esteem'd never so Vertuous having in the first place with all Sincerity consider'd what is necessary for us to do we must vigorously proceed in the Discharge of a good Conscience let who will condemn us of Rashness or Imprudence And this is what the Apostle commands us 2 Cor. 6.3 4.8 He bids us Give no offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed that is he would have us make it in the first place a special part of our Care to Abstain strictly from all things that may give any just Offence and Avert any from the Faith endeavouring to Approve our selves to all that all Men may look on our Behaviour in the Gospel with Reverence and not with Censure And so be attracted to a Christian Life not deter'd from it But then he charges us withal In all things to approve our selves as the Ministers of God in much Patience Affliction by Honour and Dishonour by evil Report and good Report as deceivers and yet true that is he would have us approve our Fidelity in the Discharge of our Office by all proper Means thro' the various Fates of being reproachfully Treated by some as well as respectfully by others by being Vilified as well as Commended So that thus at length you have seen how that that part of Honour which consists in the Good Esteem and Reputation of the wise and vertuous part of Mankind tho' it is much to be valued in it self and may be lawfully Desir'd comfortably Enjoy'd and ought carefully to be Preserv'd Yet there is great place for Renunciation with respect both to the Attainment and Enjoyment thereof and particularly as to the Loss of it that we must so far Renounce it as not to prefer the Esteem of Men before the Honour that cometh from God Fourthly And now I am to take into consideration the Honour which is conferr'd not by the wise and vertuous part of Mankind nor given always upon the account of good Qualities and worthy Performances but the Esteem of another sort of Men and for the most part for quite different Qualities and Performances viz. The Applauses of the Vulgar and of the Croud of Men upon the account of what they judge Praise-worthy and Glorious IV. How far that Honour is to be Renounc'd which consists in the Applauses of the Vulgar upon what they do account Praise-worthy and Honourable Now by the Vulgar and the Croud of Men I do not mean barely Mechanicks and the lower Rank of Mankind but also that mixt Multitude or Herd of Men as well High as Low Rich as well as Poor all of what Rank or Degree soever who have little or no Principles of Religion or Vertue all whose Apprehensions of Divine and Religious Matters are mean and low and not lifted above the common Pitch and to those Heights and Improvements given us by true Philosophy and the Christian Doctrine Truly all such are accounted the Vulgar and shall be Herded amongst the Croud for me whether they be clad in Silks or Furs and fare Deliciously every day or whether they work at the Anvil or follow the Plow or beg at our Doors And by their Applauses I do mean that Vogue and Suffrage that Approbation and whatever other Expressions of good liking which they do commonly give to bad Actions and sinful Practices as Swearing Drinking Whoring Fighting Duelling and the like And these Applauses of theirs are as common and great a Temptation to most of those Sins which are committed This sort of Honour must be utterly and absolutely renounced as any thing whatsoever and must therefore be utterly Renounc'd Detested and Abhor'd by us So that if ever it should so happen that you shall unhappily commit any of those scandalous Sins which God avert and any of those profane and unthinking Creatures who make a Mock a meer Jest of Sin shall applaud you for the same instead of being pleas'd thereat you must take Shame to your self and let 'em know you are too much griev'd and troubled at your having committed such Folly and Madness to be pleas'd at their Recital and Plaudits given it No sure A Repentance consisting in Sorrow and Shame is what ought to follow Sin but to Glory in it and to receive Applauses for it is infinitely to aggravate it And know this for certain that Except you Repent ye shall all likewise perish as many other Sinners triumphing like Mad-men in their Impieties have done before you Luke 13.3 And now Lastly it only remains that I lay before you In what sence and how far you are bound to Renounce those outward Expressions and Significations of Respect either by Word or Deed which are usually given upon the Account of any of the fore-mention'd Honours Lastly in what Sence and how far we must Renounce those outward Expressions of Respect either by Word or Deed which are usually given upon the account of any of the fore-mention'd honours Hitherto we have consider'd Honour in its internal Parts only as Birth and Quality Authority and Dignity Reputation
and Esteem either for good or bad Qualities and Performances and have shew'd you in what Sence either of these are to be Renounced And now I am to do the like as to that outward part of Honour whereby is exprest and signify'd to the Senses the Eyes and Ears of Men the Respect which is born to Persons upon the account of any of the fore-mention'd Honours And as to these outward significations of Honour they are made either by Word or by Deed. By Word and they are either Divine Expressions of our Veneration and Honour viz. Those Names and Attributes peculiarly belonging to God or Humane Ones as Titles of Honour when we call a Person Lord most Gracious most Excellent most Noble or the like or Titles of Respect as when we call a Person Father Master c. Also as to the outward significations of Honour by Deed these are again either Divine as Adoration or Religious Worship Prostrating our selves on the ground before God and such other Significations of our most excessive Self-abasement in respect of him and our infinite Distance from him or they are Humane such as may be also us'd to Men as bowing of the Body bending of the Knee baring of the Head c. all which are Lawful Innocent and Dutiful ways of expressing our Respects and are also necessary according as they are apply'd to Persons to whom by the Laws of God and right Reason they are due And now the Question will be In what Sence and how far any Person is bound to Renounce these Honours and Respects when conferr'd upon ' em And First No Created Being either Men or Angels must suffer those Respects to be given them whether by Word or Deed which are proper and peculiar to signify our sence of God's Majesty and Perfections I. No Created Being either Men or Angels must suffer those Respects to be given them whether by word or deed which are proper and peculiar to signify our sence of God's Majesty and Perfections Thus you 'll see when Paul and Barnabas had miraculously Heal'd A Creeple a Lystra who had never walked the people would have done Sacrifice unto them as if they were Gods but those Good Men no sooner perceiv'd it but in the Abhorrency of the Blasphemy Rent their Garments and ran in upon them to restrain them crying out and saying Sirs Why do ye these things We also are Men of like Passions with your selves and preach unto you that you should turn from these Vanities to serve the living God Act. 14.14 15. And no doubt but as the Angel also refus'd the Worship which John offer'd him Rev. 22.9 So both the Blessed Saints and Angels above do now with the utmost Indignation Renounce that Divine Worship given 'em by their Superstitious Votaries the Papists Nor must any Humane Creature forbear to Renounce so as to express the utmost Detestation and Abhorrence thereof when any of the Divine Attributes and Perfections are ascrib'd to 'em by the Flattery of sinful Men for the want of which Renunciation Herod you 'll see Act. 12.21 22 23. was the most signally punisht by the Hand of God It happened that upon a set Day Herod arrayed in Royal Apparel sate upon his Throne and made an Oration unto the People And they gave a shout saying It is the voice of a God and not of a Man and immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the Glory and he was eaten up of Worms and gave up the Ghost that is because he disclaimed not that Blasphemous Flattery of the People God Executed that remarkable Vengeance upon him And this ought to be a Warning to those vain and inconsiderate Women Women therefore must with Detestation renounce those Blasphemous Complements wherein Divine Perfections are usually ascrib'd to them who in the Courtships that are paid 'em and the Complements which are usually made 'em do suffer even Divine Attributes and Perfections to be ascrib'd to ' em Nay and these they receive not only without rebuking those that presume to offer 'em but with all the Complacence and Satisfaction in ' em But surely this will be required not only at their Hands who do so Blasphemously Complement 'em but at theirs also who do patiently suffer God to be so much Blasphemed in their Praises and the same Vengeance which overtook Herod will not fall short of them also if they Renounce and Refuse not with the utmost Detestation such Impiety And it is indeed so common a strain of Wickedness that I thought it very requisite to advertise you of it and seriously to warn you against admitting it Secondly Every Man must renounce and refuse those Titles and Respects and Precedencies which are not his due but belong to Persons above him II. Every man must renounce and refuse those Titles and Respects and Precedences which are not his due but belong to Persons above him A Distinction of Titles and Respects is necessary to keep up Order and Distinction of Men and their Merits and it is a great Disorder and Confusion when Persons either Take or Receive such as do not belong to 'em So that one cannot know who is High in Rank or Reputation or who is Low in the World in respect of either This is what the Wise-man complains of Eccl. 10.5 6 7. as a great Evil and such as it concerns the Magistrate to restrain by Law There is an Evil which I have seen under the Sun as an Error which proceedeth from the Ruler Folly is set in great dignity and the Rich sit in low place I have seen Servants upon Horses and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth Nay Lastly So far must any One be from Assuming any thing of this Nature above him that It becomes every Person out of Modesty Humility and good Manners to decline his due in this kind And must ever Renounce the Entitling and Placing of himself and leave it to others Lastly And must in Modesty Humility and good Manners decline his due in this kind and must renounce the Entitleing of himself and permit that to others This our Saviour prescribes Luk. 14.8 9 10 11. When thou art bid to a Wedding sit not down in the highest Room lest a more honourable than thou be bidden of him but sit down in the lowest Room that when he that bade thee cometh he may say unto thee Friend go up higher Then shalt thou have Worship in the presence of them who are at meat with thee And the reason of this Appointment of our Saviour's in so seemingly trivial a Case was not only to pull down our Ambition and Pride but to promote Courtesy and Civility and good Manners which are very considerable Vertues in Society and therefore to be sure of good account in Christianity But the Contrary to both these last Instances of Renouncing outward Respects and Honours is one of the great Vanities of the World which shall be more fully spoke
possest with a Spirit of Profaneness Lust or Vanity it is but what may reasonably be expected for tho' all Evil Conversation is Infectious yet Vice does then most easily Insinuate it self into our Dispositions and Flies to the very Heart when the Poison is mixt with Pleasure Wit and Smartness of Conceit And having such a malignant Influence upon Faith and Manners ought never to be frequented by Christians And now since it is Universally agreed amongst all serious Persons that a more Irreligious Spirit did never Reign upon any Theater than has in this last Age in our Modern Play-houses Since as is the general Complaint in these Houses Piety is so strangely Ridicul'd the Holy and Reverend Name of God Profan'd and his Glory and Interest render'd so Contemptible and Vile Since the Youth especially of our Nation are so allur'd hereby into the Love of and Delight in Idleness excessive Vanity Revelings Luxury Wantonness Lasciviousness Whoredoms and such Debaucheries by Oaths Looseness of Conversation and corrupt Atheistical Principles Since our Gentlemen are here taught to Deride Religion to Dissolve in Luxury to Abandon themselves to their Pleasures to be Debauchers of Women to be Profuse and Extravagant in their Expences and to be entirely Libertines Since the Young Ladies of our Nation are here throughly Instructed in Intrigues and Assignations to Scoff at the prudent Reservedness and Modesty of the best of their Sex to despise the wise Instructions of their Parents and Guardians to be Disobedient to their Authority and at last without their Knowledge or Consent to Marry themselves to some loose or lewd Libertine And indeed since the Minds and Manners of the Great Ones especially of both Sexes are thereby so foully Corrupted and their Affections so sadly alienated from the Love of God and Goodness All these things consider'd 't were greatly to be wisht our Play-Houses were totally supprest However in the mean time I think it concerns all that will be secure from ever Apostatizing from the Faith of Christ and a Religious Life so far to Reject these our modern Pomps as never to Enter within those Houses where these Plays are acted Secondly By Pomps II. By Pomps in the Sence of the Ancients were meant the solemn Processions of the Heathens in Honour of their Gods in the Sence of the Ancients as some do think are meant the Solemn Processions of the Heathens wherein they carried the Images of their Gods through the Streets of the City in a most Pompous manner all the Priests Magistrates and People of Rome as Tertullian does represent it Attending and Paying their Veneration towards them And answerably to these without the least straining of the meaning in the present State of the Church may be understood those Idolatrous Processions amongst the Papists where sometimes the Images of the Saints sometimes the Host The Idolatrous Processions of the Papists in honour of the Saints answerable to these is carried in the same Solemn manner as among the Pagans were the Images of their Gods And the like Adoration and Worship requir'd from all who accompany or accidentally fall amongst 'em out of Curiosity to observe their Vanities And as amongst the Ancients those were Censur'd as Partakers with the Heathen in their Idolatry who went along with them or were publick Spectators of 'em as thereby signifying to the Eyes of Men their Allowance and Approbation thereof and of the Idolatry they contain'd and were certain to be cast out of the Communion of the Church for the same And must not therefore be joined in So those Protestant Gentlemen who Travelling into Forreign Countries out of Curiosity to observe the Popish Vanities shall Voluntarily appear amongst the Train accompanying them cannot be thought more Favourably of And if through Force they are Compell'd to join in the Adoration of those Images and shall rather comply than suffer they are wanting in Discharging that great Duty of Confessing of Christ which is so strictly requir'd at our Hands as ever we expect to have him Confess us before God and his Holy Angels Thirdly By Pomps may be meant reductively III. By Pomps Reductively may be meant the Revels Drunken Riots of our Youth at Wakes and Festivals all those Revels and Riotous Meetings of Youth whereby our Great Festivals Piously instituted by the Church to be kept with Joyful Thanksgivings to God for his singular Favours vouchsafed to the World as at such Times are so sadly Profan'd by Drunkenness lewd Songs and Ballads profane and wanton Discourse and the like The Generality of our common People seem to apprehend nothing Spiritual in the Great Feasts of Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide And a Holyday is with them the Profanest Day in the Year But I will be bold to assert with the Learned Dr. Hammond that besides these other Sences of the Word Pomps All the sinful Courses that are us'd by Men in their Times of Jollity and Festivity the Luxury and Riot and unlawful Gaming and all Kind of Excesses which are but a Copying out the Heathen Bacchanals are Pomps to be Renounced by every Christian All Riot and Excess lewd and wanton Actions and Discourses are Sins and that far greater and more punishable in Christians than in Others particularly than in Jews whose Promises of an Earthly Plenty are not so contrary and irreconcilable with Corporal Excesses as are the spiritual Joys that are the Christian 's eminent Portion under Promise And therefore these are turned out of the World by Christ and by him transform'd and chang'd into spiritual Celebrations blessing and praising God into Feasts of Charity and sober Hospitality and Bounty to the Poor instead of those outward costly vain Pomps which the Eye of the World is so pleased with These to be Abstain'd from And therefore as I would advise you to be little fond of Wakes and such like Meetings of Promiscuous Company where little Good Quacunque ex causa fuerint producti Primo nil est perniciosius morum Integritati Quippe turba omnis utique animo gravis noxia nec enim quos extulisti mores unquam refers nemo non rubiginis aliquid aut imprimit aut Nescientibus allinit Coel. Rhodgi Lib. Octav. c. 7. and a great deal of Ill is commonly learnt So especially let me Entreat you never to take into your Hands much less to learn those wanton Ballads by Heart which do insensibly convey the Poison of ill Morals into the Soul and such a dis-relish to spiritual Thoughts and Exercises as can many times be never wore off And so much for the Pomps of the World Secondly And as the Pomps so you are also to Renounce and Reject the Vanity of this World Vanity of the World What And what indeed that does mean it is not so hard to guess for we have it every Day before our Eyes And that which I do suppose is chiefly thereby meant are all Affectation of Grandeur and Greatness in
assault us to withdraw us from God and to make us break our Covenant with him And it only remains to compleat this Account of our Spiritual Warfare to consider the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and to know in what Sence and how far we are also to Renounce and Resist them And indeed this is a most Material and Important Part of Christian Knowledge To Know our selves To know our selves especially our natural Imperfection a most useful part of Knowledge is next in Dignity and Usefulness to the Knowledge of God himself And if we did but distinctly Know the Imperfection and Weaknesses of our Corrupted Nature and of all the Powers and Faculties within us neither the whole World with all its formidable Host of Temptations nor Satan himself Marshalling and managing of 'em against us with all the Malice and Cunning he is Master of would be in much danger of doing us hurt For tho' our Case is that of a Besieged Fort to take which there are not only a numerous Army under the Conduct of a wary General who narrowly views every part of us and orders the Attack where he finds us weakest but what is worse the whole Fabrick of our Corrupted Nature is extreamly decay'd and all the Faculties and Powers thereof are but so many Traytors within us ready to deliver us up to our Enemies Yet however in knowing the Weakness of our Nature we may be able to repair its Decays and by knowing also the Treachery of all its Faculties we shall successfully prevent their delivering of us up to our Adversaries And therefore for the more full Discovery of so useful and important a Subject to you 1. I will shew you what is meant by the Flesh 2. What by the sinful Lusts of the Flesh 3. What by ALL the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and together with each of these will also declare unto you in what Sence and how far we are to Renounce the Flesh and its sinful Lusts And The Flesh variously exprest First Let us enquire what is meant by the Flesh and in what sence and how far we are to Renounce the Flesh And in order to this we are to consider that as the Knowledge of things does much depend upon understanding those Phrases whereby they are usually exprest so there are very many Words in the Holy Writings of like Meaning and Importance with this of the Flesh And indeed there is not any one thing so variously exprest in the Holy Scriptures as this is It is call'd the Old Man as to denote the Antiquity of this Corruption and from whom it descended even from Adam the first Father of us all so to signify that it has universally infected the whole Race of Mankind It is called the Natural Man both because this Corruption over-spreadeth the whole Nature and because it is become Natural to Men in this Corrupt State to Sin It is called the Flesh because the very Soul in a Man and all its Faculties are Carnal and Sensual And Lastly 't is term'd Evil Concupiscence because this Fleshly Nature of ours Lusteth after Evil Things And so much for the meaning of the Word Flesh and its synonimous Phrases What 's meant by the Flesh And now by the help of what has been said we may form this account of the Flesh That it is the whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man as spoil'd as to its Original Frame and Constitution and despoil'd of that Image of God consisting in the Perfection Order and Purity of all his Faculties whereby he was Originally making towards GOD his Chief End and Happiness And it is that Corruption of this his Nature and Faculties whereby he is inordinately Converted in all the Tendencies of Soul and Body and of all the Faculties and Powers thereof towards the Creature 1. I say by the Flesh is meant the whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man not only the Body I. The whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man Soul and Body but also the Soul not only the Inferior Powers as the Affections Lusts and Appetites but also the Superior Faculties as the Understanding Conscience and the Will For it is not only said Tit. 1.15 That the Mind and Conscience is defil'd but the Mind as well as the Body is said to be Fleshly Col. 2.18 and Carnal Rom. 8.7 and Gal. 5.20 we find Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Seditions Heresies reckon'd amongst the Works of the Flesh tho' they are Sins that have their residence in the Mind only So that the whole Man as he is by Nature and all the Faculties of his Soul as well as Body as they are unregenerate and till they are sanctify'd by the Spirit and Grace of God come under this one Title of the Flesh But 2. The Flesh is the whole Man not as he was Created by God but as he is now in the State of Corrupted Nature II. The whole Man not as Created by God but as he is now in the State of Corrupted Nature No Humane Nature as it came out of God's Hands was of another Frame and Constitution to what it appears to be now in its Natural State and Condition God made Man upright but he sought out many Inventions Eccl. 7.24 He has found out many ways to crook and bend down towards the Earth that Upright Nature which God once gave him 3. Then the Flesh is the whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man as it is spoil'd as to its Original Frame and Constitution and as it is inordinately converted in all the Tendencies of Soul and Body and of all the Faculties and Powers thereof towards the Creature III. As spoil'd in his Original Frame and Constitution as despoil'd of the Image of God and as inordinately tending towards the Creature In order to the more perfect Understanding of which Matter we must in the first place enquire what was the Original Frame and Constitution of Man In what the Image of God wherein he was created at first consisted and how that in all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body his whole Bent and Inclinations were originally Heavenward for by thus comparing the upright Nature of Man as it was at first Created with what it now is in this State of Corruption we shall be able clearly to apprehend what is meant by the Flesh the important Subject of our present Enquiry And now as to the Original Frame and Constitution of our Nature wherein God made us it seems to have been this The Original Frame and Constitution of Humane Nature what He gave Man a Faculty of Understanding whereby he could Contemplate upon and Know in an Extraordinary measure the wonderful Nature and Perfections of his Creator His amazing Works of Creation His surprizing Works of Providence and thereby was able to discover the Good and Evil in any Objects that were presented to him Next he plac'd in his Bosom another wonderful Faculty called Conscience which is the practical Judgment in every Man whereby his own Mind
than throughly to understand both the Meaning and Importance of every Doctrine of Faith and the Nature and Extent of every Christian Duty And lastly since a good End can never be obtain'd without the Knowledge and Use of due and proper means the Nature therefore and Use of Prayer and the Nature and End of Sacraments must be a most necessary part of Christian Knowledge So much must our Appetites after Knowledge in the most Excellent of Humane Arts and Science be Renounc'd in comparison of our Desires after a competent Measure of Divine Knowledge But Lastly III. When out of Pride Prejudice and contradiction to all Sacred Truths we set up our own Carnal Imaginations Fleshly Reasonings against those Spiritual Notions and those Mysterious Articles of our Faith which are deliver'd to us in Scripture Above all we must Renounce that prevailing Appetite in such as are of most Depraved and Corrupt Minds viz. The setting up their own Imaginations and Fleshly Reasonings against those Spiritual Notions and those more Mysterious Articles of Faith which are delivered to us in the Scripture In the more depraved Nature of some Men there is a great deal of Untowardness and Difficulty to submit to the sacred Truths Revealed to us by Christ in the Gospel as to Matters of Faith or such Articles as are necessary to be believ'd One that is conceited of his own Wisdom strength of Parts or Improvement in Knowledge will not submit his Reason to entertain Notions which he cannot Comprehend and Penetrate The Carnal Mind which is Enmity against God Rom. 8.7 will disdain to have his Understanding baffl'd or puzzl'd with sublime Mysteries of Faith he will quarrel at any thing too high for his Wit to reach or too Knotty for him to unloose How can these things be What Reason can there be for this I cannot see how this can be true This Point is not intelligible And perhaps he finds fault with the whole Body of the Scriptures either because some things are obscure to him or the Phrase is not queint and fine enough Thus the Carnal Mind treateth the Dictates of Faith and the Word of God But far be it from Christians thus to indulge their own Carnal Reasonings and Self-Conceits in opposition to what God has Reveal'd to us as necessary to be Believ'd by us For certainly the Infinite Wisdom both knows what is fittest to be taught and reveal'd to us and in what Manner and Method he had best to express himself Those that did thus proudly despise the Wisdom of God measuring it according to their own Talent of Wit and Understanding did at first and do to this Day most fatally miscarry for it is written 1 Cor. 1.19 I will destroy the Wisdom of the Wise and will bring to nothing the Vnderstanding of the Prudent But our Duty is to submit our Understanding to Almighty God to be Inlighten'd by his infinite Wisdom Casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 There is a great deal of Vertue and Grace in an Obedient Understanding and therefore to the Disciples who were so dispos'd To them it was given as our Saviour tells us Matth. 13.11 To understand the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them who are not prepar'd with an humble Mind it is not given Nor is this an hard Imposition upon Mankind to oblige 'em to believe what is above our Reason to Comprehend It is sufficient that the Holy Scriptures which do deliver such Articles of Faith as necessary to be Believ'd are sufficiently witnessed to be Divine Revelations and that there is nothing contain'd in the Articles or Mysteries themselves which is contrary or contradictory to that Reason which God has given to Man But that there should be any thing in an Article of Faith which though it be above our Reason to Comprehend especially in this its State of weakness must yet be Believ'd will not seem hard if we consider that there are many Appearances even in Nature it self which no Man has been yet found who could give a tolerable account for and yet the truth of their being so and so cannot be call'd in question This Humour of opposing Reason to Revelation proceeds from meer Pride In short this Humour of opposing our own Fleshly Reasonings against those Divine Revelations which we cannot now in this State of Imperfection so fully Comprehend proceeds meerly from the Pride of those Men who disdaining to own the Decays of our Reason as well as of other the Powers of the Soul ever since the Fall which every modest Man's Experience does make him too sensible of in a Thousand Instances do over-value their Talent of Wit far beyond what they ought And this therefore being such a proud Luciferian Temper it ought to be Renounc'd as the most Impious of all the Sinful Lusts of the Fleshly Mind And let this suffice to be spoke concerning our Renouncing of the Sinful Lusts of that sort The Corrupt Will what and how to be Renounc'd 2. Let us next consider the WILL and the Innate Corruption which Residing in that Faculty renders it Fleshly and tending in all its Choices towards the Creature and so the proper Matter of the Christian's Renunciation And as to this Faculty we are to consider how that God gave to Man a Righteous Law which was to be the Rule of his Will and while it was conformable to this it was conformable to the Will of God and consequently Beautiful and Regular but instead thereof there is now a Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 And this Law subdues the Law of the Mind and brings the Soul into Captivity to the Law of Sin Rom. 7.23 And the Will being thus Captivated is made Carnal and filled with Enmity against God and that Law which he once planted in us to be the Rule of our Will so that it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be whilst we remain Unregenerate Rom. 8.7 But in its corrupt State being always Averse to the Directions of God's Laws and Right Reason it perversly chuses those things which please only the Senses and so becomes in the most proper and immediate Sence of the Word a Sinful and Fleshly Lust But as obstinately bent as the Corrupt Will is found to be against complying with the Laws of God which would guide our Souls upwards we must bring our selves to that Habit of Self-denial so as readily to submit our Wills to God's Laws to be Governed by 'em the reason is we are not our own and therefore our own depraved Wills ought not to bear Rule in us but we are God's Creatures and his Subjects and Servants and therefore his All-wise Will and Pleasure should be the Rule and Measure of and preside over all our Actions And this it must do in the most difficult Cases when his
full Extent thereof This will be more properly done in another Place when we come in the latter part of the Catechism to explain the Lord's Prayer For as our most Excellent Catechism does observe this most useful Method in your Instruction to teach you first in general the Terms and Conditions of your Covenant and all things relating to it and then to descend to a more particular Consideration of the same Points So we cannot do better than to follow the same Method in the Explication of these Points All that I shall therefore do at present shall be I. To shew you what is meant by praying unto God II. To lay before you how effectual a Means of performing your Covenant praying unto God will be not only as it will morally dispose nay naturally enforce and lay a necessity upon you to be faithful therein but as it will certainly procure you the Divine Assistance And First The full Meaning of Prayer I am to shew you in a few Words what is meant by praying unto God And by Prayer I do not here mean in the strictest sence of the Words our Petitions only to Almighty God wherein we do implore his Goodness to bestow upon us through Christ what he knows to be best both for our Bodies and Souls This indeed is the most proper and immediate sence of the Words and the sence that is most directly here intended But however in the largest sence of the Word I do also mean by Praying all that Application we make to the Divine Majesty when either by confessing our Sins unto him we own our selves to deserve his utmost Wrath and the severest Punishments or by petitioning of him we entreat his Forgiveness of the same and that he will strengthen us with his Grace to do better for the future or when by interceding for others we intreat the like Favour of God for them in the Forgiveness of their Sins and in the Preservation of their Innocence or lastly when we return him Thanks for whatever Mercies we or others have receiv'd at his hands All these are so many Parts of that General Duty of Prayer and in whichsoever of these Acts of Devotion we apply and address our selves to God we are said to pray as appears in the Instance of the Pharisee and Publican both which are said to have gone up into the Temple to pray Luk. 18.10 as well the proud Pharisee who uttered only his Thanks to God that he was not as had as other Men were as the honest Publican who pour'd out his Soul to God in an humble Confession of his own Vileness and in an earnest Petition that God would be merciful to him a Sinner Thus you see what is meant by praying unto God and that all the Parts and Acts of Devotion are therein included though principally and more directly by praying unto God is to be understood here our petitioning his Grace and Assistance Praâ—er a most effectual Means of performing our Covenant Secondly And I am now to shew you how effectual a Means of performing your Covenant praying unto God will be not only as it will morally dispose nay and naturally enforce and lay a necessity a restraint upon you to be faithful therein but as it will certainly procure for you the Divine Assistance 1. As it morally disposes us to be obedient unto God And 1. I say that Prayer will be a very effectual Means to enable you to perform the Covenant of Grace though we consider how far it morally disposes us to Vertue and Goodness In Prayer we draw near to God we approach the Divine Presence we hold Communion with him And those who consider that thus they do in Prayer how can they think of not quitting their Sins which render them so odious so hateful to God into whose Presence no impure thing must presume to enter It is observable what a mighty Influence it will have upon a Man to be often in the Company of one whom the Spirit of God has greatly sanctify'd into whose Soul the Divine Image is manifestly restored and who is more than ordinarily eminent for his Piety Sobriety Humility Justice and Charity The shining Graces and Vertues of such a Person will strike an awful Respect and Veneration into the Hearts of all that come near him so that they dare not offer at nor so much as think of any wicked unjust unchast or other villainous Action in his Presence and when gone from him there is scarcely any so reprobate but will carry off some good Dispositions to the like Vertues so eminent in that Person And how then can any appear before God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and not be put into the most holy Frame and Temper of Mind It is but to be frequent with God in Prayer and it would insensibly mould us into a like Heavenly Temper and Frame of Spirit and at length work in us a Divine Nature 2 As it natuâ—ally enforces us to be faithful to him Nay 2. constant Prayer will more than dispose us it will naturally inforce us to be faithful with God I mean it is a Duty of that Nature that it is scarcely to be imagin'd how any one should persevere in Prayer and yet persevere withal to violate his Covenant with God For why If I regard Iniquity in my heart that is if I do not repent of it and turn away from it the Lord will not hear me Psal 66.18 Nay the Wise Man tells us that he who turns away his Ear from hearing the Law that his Prayer shall be even an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 28.9 So that whilst a Man continues impenitent his Prayers instead of appeasing will but the more inflame the Wrath of God against him And good reason why for consider all the Parts of Prayer and you will find they are but meer Mockery out of the unhallowed Mouths of Impenitent Sinners for what less than the vilest Mockery can it be for any one whilst he allows himself in any Wickedness to come gravely into God's Presence and there confess before him that he has offended against his Holy Laws that he has left undone those things which he ought to have done and that he has done those things which he ought not to have done and yet notwithstanding all this designs no otherwise than to offend him in like manner again And how impudently it is to affront God to the Face for any impenitent Wretch to put up such Petitions as these But do thou O Lord notwithstanding I have sinn'd and will continue yet to sin for this is the true Import of a wicked Man's Prayers neither more nor less have Mercy upon me a miserable Offender And tho' he is far from repenting yet to say Spare thou me that confess my Faults Restore thou me that am penitent And again with what Confidence can wicked Christians pretend to interceed with God for his Favours to Jews Turks Infidels
should be dignify'd with the Title of the Kingdom of Heaven viz. Because it so directly tends to render Men so exactly like the Blessed Saints the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Heaven 78 This is not the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven here in the Catechism Secondly the Kingdom of Heaven signifies the Kingdom of Glory This a most noble and glorious State as being dignify'd with so honourable and glorious a Title as the Kingdom of Heaven 79 Hence all those things in this World wherein we conceive the highest Glory and Happiness are used as Emblems to set off our future Glory All which things come short of expressing it An Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven what An Heir is one who has a legal Right and Title to a Possession made over to him Such who have entred into the Covenant of Grace are in like manner Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven as Children are Heirs 80 It is through Christ alone not owing to the Merit of our Obedience that we are Intitled to the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven The vastness of a Christian's Priviledge in being made an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven First it is in it self a very great Priviledge to have the invaluable Possessions of Heaven so setled and ensur'd as to have a legal Claim and Title thereto made over to one 81 Secondly if compar'd with what others enjoy it is a singular Priviledge The best amongst the moral Heathens could have but faint Hopes built upon uncertain Conjectures of a future Happiness And their Hopes being faint they could not in the strength thereof overcome great Temptations But the Christian's Hopes are sure and stedfast being founded upon the express Promises and Covenant of the God of Truth And being such there is no Temptation so alluring nor Suffering so great which he may not overcome 82 And whatever Certainty an honest Pagan might have that God would reward his Vertue yet depending only on the Uncovenanted Goodness of God he could promise himself no greater a measure of Happiness than what his good Deeds did of themselves deserve which must fall vastly short of what is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven But a Christian to whom God has Covenanted to make sure a Crown of Glory may without Presumption rely upon him to make good the same As Life and Immortality is brought to light through the Gospel so by Embracing it and by coming into Covenant alone Salvation can be expected And to a sincere Christian who is faithful in the Covenant the Heavenly Inheritance is certain 83 Asumm of those invaluable Priviledges made over to us on God's Part in the Covenant of Grace 84 LECT IX Whereof the First is to Renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh 85 The Devil his Names and their Importance He was once one of the highest Angels and is now that Arch-Rebel againsts God He with many Legions of Inferiour Angels whom he drew into the same Conspiracy is Banisht Heaven 86 Being acted with a Spirit of Revenge against God he afterwards withdrew Mankind to join with him in his Rebellion And prevailed so far till God's Authority was almost utterly Banished from amongst Men. Which occasion'd the Son of God's coming into the World to recover Mankind The Works of the Devil in general are First Sin By Sin God's Authority is thrown off which is the Devil 's constant work 87 Whoever therefore does wilfully sin does strike at God's Authority For which Reason no Sin ought to be the Subject of any Man's Mirth Some Sins more particularly the works of the Devil First Such as are directly level'd against God's Authority viz. Idolatry Sorcery Charming Witch-craft and Conjuring as also Resorting to such as use those unlawful Arts. 88 Secondly Such as express more of the Devil's Temper than others viz. Pride Envy 89 Malice Thirdly Such as are more the Practice of Satan himself than other Sins viz. Murder Apostacy Lying and especially Calumniating and Evil-speaking 90 To Renounce a Word of various Importance according to the Renounced 91 To Renounce the Devil in the sence of the Ancient Church was to disclaim his Usurp'd Dominion and Authority over Mankind To Renounce his Works of Sin was in their sence to abandon and forsake every Sin as being the proper Service of the Devil 92 The Words are to be understood in much the same Sence at this day Satan having his Kingdom still in the World and even amongst Christians and the Laws of Sin which are the Laws of his Kingdom being still obey'd by the greatest Part of Mankind This Renunciation for the most part the same with Repentance 93 The Devil and all his Works of Sin must be absolutely and entirely Renounced because There is nothing but Evil proceeds from Satan And Sin whether we consider it in its original Cause and Nature or in its sad Effects and Consequents is the utmost Evil. Therefore no one Sin nor any thing the least of Sin must willingly be comply'd with 94 And indeed if the Nature of Satan and of Sin and the horrid Consequence of yielding to either be well consider'd it is hardly possible not absolutely and entirely to Renounce both However this if we do not do we shall forfeit all Right and Title to those infinite Blessings held forth in the Covenant of Grace 95 LECT X. To Tempt is to make a tryal of a Person To Tempt a thing morally Good or Evil according to the End thereof To Tempt a Person in order to prove his Vertue or discover his Corruption consistent with the Justice Wisdom and Goodness of a Governour and thus God does Tempt Men. 97 First Thus he tempted Abraham to try his Faith and to reward him for it Secondly Hezekiah to discover his Hypocrisy and to humble him in the sight thereof These Temptations of God are therefore in no sence to be Renounced but to be Rejoyced in because for our Good 98 A Temptation to ensnare a Person into some Sin that so God's Anger may be kindled against him And the Person punished for this Transgression is wicked and malicious and so the Devil together with the World and the Flesh do tempt us The vast Concernment it is to us to know his Temptations The several Heads of Satan's Temptations 99 By what Methods he first tempted our first Parents and still does continue to tempt us First By insinuating into the Minds of Adam and Eve false Notions of God and an ill Opinion of their Maker and Governour particularly with respect to his Justice and Mercy 100 And by Entertaining false Notions of God's Justice and Mercy do Men generally Encourage themselves in Sin at this Day But all such Conceits of God are to be utterly renounced and cast out of our Thoughts as Diabolical Suggestions most destructive to our Souls Secondly By Corrupting the Understanding and Reason of Man by putting him upon curious Enquiries after useless Matters and upon making a sinful Experiment of the differences
how far we must Renounce the wicked World with its Pomps and Vanity Three things here to be Explain'd and accordingly Renounc'd 1. The World 2. The wicked World and 3. The Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World The World a great Enemy to God's Glory and our own Happiness 141 It is to be consider'd both Generally and Particularly First By the World in general is meant that whole Frame of Nature which we behold and all that variety of Creatures which it contains and is given us by the Bounty and Goodness of God for our Use and Benefit The World in this sence is not in it self Evil but only accidentally by Man's Abuse of himself or it 142 Consider'd in it self it is very Good and convenient to us And as it is not absolutely in it self Evil so neither is it entirely to be Renounced but being Good in it self it may in some measure be desir'd and enjoy'd by us Nevertheless through our own Corruption whereby we abuse the good Things of the World it becomes accidentally the occasion of most of our Sins and of our Estrangement from God our sovereign Good How the World becomes so 143 In what manner it does Captivate us and draws us from God So far therefore as it engages our Affections too closely to it so as to make us Inordinately and Irregularly to mind it and to neglect our great Concern the Business of Religion it is to be Renounced and Rejected by us So long as we wear these Earthly Bodies about us we are permitted the Use and Enjoyment of worldly Things provided in Things lawful and in Degrees allowable But being our Souls our principal Part are soon to remove to Heaven we must chiefly set our Affections on things Above and mainly endeavour to attain ' em 144 Secondly Concerning the World consider'd in its Particulars and those Temptations result both from the Good and the Evils thereof The good Things of this World Riches Honours and Pleasures the Evils Poverty Disgrace and Afflictions And Things of a middle Nature are the different Callings Conditions and Cares of this World First As to Riches these are not in themselves Hurtful but Good and are bestowed upon us to good Ends and Purposes And those who enjoy 'em have great Advantages of doing Good therewith to others Comfort and the Benefit of their own Souls Nevertheless Riches are a mighty Temptation whether we consider Men as Getting Possessing or as Parting with or Losing of them 145 First In the over-eager Pursuit of Riches Men do run themselves into many grievous Sins As also into many miserable Snares so as to be hardly ever able to disentangle themselves but of ' em For as Restitution is necessary to Peace with God so it is extreamly difficult to be willing or able afterwards to make 146 Secondly And no less Temptations are those subject to who do possess ' em In the Possession of Riches Men are tempted to the highest Offences against God their Neighbour and themselves But lastly the great Sins of all are occasion'd by a Lothness to part with and a Fear of losing ' em 147 From a lothness to part with Riches arises Unmercifulness to Men. From the Fear of losing 'em Apostacy from God In what sence and how far Riches are to be renounced 148 In general being they are not Evil in themselves they are in Cases only to be renounced by us wherein we cannot without Sin Pursue Possess or Retain them As first Riches consider'd in the getting no Man must so put his Heart upon 'em as to Esteem 'em his cheifest Good and Happiness Nor must he labour after 'em with immoderate Care so as to neglect the great Duties of Religion and Devotion Especially he must beware of Enriching himself by unjust Means 149 Particularly not by Sacriledge Whoever has unjustly gain'd any thing must renounce it by making Restitution thereof Secondly Riches consider'd in the Possession are to be renounced by paring off those Superfluities which tempt Idleness and Luxury Pride and Insolence and an Idolatrous Trust in Riches and by bestowing it to Pious and Charitable Uses 150 And lastly By suffering the Loss thereof rather than Apostatize from the Faith 152 LECT XV. What is meant by the Honours of this World and in what Sence and how far they are to be renounced What is meant by Honour properly and strictly What in the general Meaning of the Word 153 First Nobility or Gentility The original Nature of Nobility or Gentility The Abuses it is subject to and in what Instances to be renounced First A Gentleman be he of what Rank or Quality soever must utterly renounce all that Honour which pretends to place him above the Laws of God or Man and beyond Reproof or Punishment when he has Violated either 154 Such a One is bound above others to be a strict and orderly Liver and upon his Failure is more open to Reproof and more liable to be severely Punished Secondly As also that which exalts Persons above their Brethren to that degree as to despise and oppress the rest of Mankind as if they were but a lower Rank of Creatures and had not the same God to their Father Bodies form'd out of the same Clay and Souls as Excellent in their Natures and as capable of Improvements as precious in God's sight and as much the Heirs of Heaven as their own 155 Thirdly Such ought even to renounce all Pretensions to Honour who have degenerated from those worthy Qualities which Ennobled their Ancestors 156 This the Determination of our Saviour and his Apostles in their Case Lastly and such ought to renounce all Pretensions to Honour amongst Christians at least-wise who despise Religion and its cheifest Vertues as Qualities beneath ' em But if such are accounted Honourable by vain Men they are Despicable in the Eyes both of God and of all wise and good Men. 157 The summ how far Paternal Honour is to be renounced Secondly In what sence and how far Civil Honour is to be renounced whether the Favour of Princes or the Effects of their Favour Posts of Honour 158 These kind of Honours and outward Glories are dazling and bewitching things But First A Prince's Favour tho extreamly Valuable when it can be had without Sin yet no Man must gain possess or retain it by wicked Arts or sinful Compliances Nor Secondly the Effects of their Favours high Places and Titles of Honour First In the obtaining of these no Man must grasp at that which is above his Capacities and Abilities to manage to the Publick Good 159 This Mischievous to the State This Mischievous to the Church Nor Secondly ought Persons of the best Capacities and greatest Abilities be over-eager and importunate in their Suits and Applications to those who bestow them 160 Thirdly How far and in what sence that Honour which consists in the highest Esteem and Reputation of the wise and vertuous part of Mankind is to be renounced This is what the Wise-man
calls a Good Name and is more valuable than Riches or precious Ointments 161 It is a more peculiar Blessing than any the greatest Treasures and procures better Security to our Persons and Estates It is a necessary Qualification to the Episcopal Promotion It is comfoâ—â—able to a Man 's own self 162 And smells sweet in the World It renders a Person capable of doing Good in it And active in Promoting it A desire of Reputation and Credit is a thing Implanted in our Natures by God And to preserve a Reputation untainted and unsuspected of Evil is a Duty enjoyn'd us by his Laws 163 Nevertheless even a Good Name is in some measure to be Renounced by us and the Temptations it gives us As First We must so far Renounce the Honour that shall accrue to us from our good Works as not to make our own Glory the End and Reason of any good we do 164 Secondly We must not affect but renounce those Praises which are above our Deserts Thirdly We must beware of taking the Honour and Respects given us for any worthy Performances wholly to our selves and of not transferring it to God to whom the Glory of all that is good in us does properly belong 165 Fourthly We must abhor making a Reputation for Religion an Instrument only to our own Advancement But must use the Authority our Credit gives us to discountenance Vice and to encourage Vertue in the World 166 Fifthly As valuable as is a good Name and Reputation amongst Men we must renounce all undue Means of preserving it Such are Duelling upon the account of Slanders amongst the great Ones Going to Law thereupon usual amongst common People Lastly We must utterly renounce and forfeit the Esteem of Men rather than incur the Dis-favour of God 167 Fourthly How far that Honour is to be renounced which consists in the Applauses of the Vulgar upon what they do account Praise-worthy and Honourable 168 This sort of Honour must be utterly and absolutely renounced Lastly In what Sence and how far we must renounce these outward Expressions of Respect either by Word or Deed which are usually given upon the account of any of the fore-mentioned Honours 169 First No Created Being either Men or Angels must suffer those Respects to be given them whether by word or deed which are proper and peculiar to signify our sence of God's Majesty and Perfections Women therefore must with Detestation renounce those Blasphemous Complements wherein Divine Perfections are usually ascrib'd to them Secondly Every Man must renounce and refuse those Titles and Respects and Precedencies which are not his due but belong to Persons above him 170 Lastly And must in Modesty Humility and good Manners decline his due in this kind and must renounce the Entitleing of himself and permit that to others Objections against receiving Titles of Honour Respect and Precedency answered 171 LECT XVI What is meant by the Pleasures of this World in what Sence and how far they are to be renounced First Rational Pleasure is very Excellent and Allowable 173 But first no Man must make meer Pleasure the End of his Knowledge Nor secondly must that Satisfaction and Delight which arises from the Sence and Conscience of good and worthy Deeds be so much because we are admir'd and applauded for it as because they are really in themselves Vertuous Secondly Sensitive Pleasure which results from the suitableness between the perceptive Faculties and the Objects that affect them is lawful 174 These Pleasures unlawful only when they become Thirdly Sensual As first when we prefer them in our Judgments or Desires either before our spiritual Joys in God or the eternal Joys of his Kingdom 175 Secondly When a Man relishes no Enjoyments like those of Sence Thirdly When he gluts himself so as to surfeit on these Sweets And lastly When the Deliciousness of these Pleasures causes him to load and burthen his Nature therewith so as to render him unfit for the Duties of his Calling and Religion Recreative Pleasures of a middle and indifferent Nature 176 The most Innocent thereof are to be sparingly used 177 The Evils of the World are Poverty Disgrace and Afflictions Poverty and Afflictions instead of Temptations to Sin and Hindrances to Vertue do very often prove Mortifiers to Vice and the great occasions of a holy Life 178 Nevertheless they are often great Temptations to many Sins and Impieties First It behoves those who labour under Poverty or any kind of Affliction to beware of Impatience and Discontent Secondly Those in the worst of Circumstances must not envy the outward Felicity of the Wicked Thirdly A Person that is Poor must be infinitely careful least to Rescue himself out of it he be tempted to Fraud especially to Stealing and Purloyning 179 Nor Lastly must any think that because they are Poor they are e're the more dis-engaged from the Service of God and their Attendance upon him in all the Parts of Divine Worship In what sence and how far we must Renounce Disgrace and the Temptations it gives us 180 First The Callings of the World and how the Temptations they give are to be Renounced Every Man is to betake himself to some Business It must be such as Providence hath fitted him with Abiâ—â—ties for And such he is preparatively Called and Appointed to by God with due Abilities 181 To whatsoever Calling he is appointed he must employ himself therein to God's Glory and his own and the publick Good First All Persons must renounce such Callings and Professions as are directly sinful and wicked Secondly Such as tend to the Hurt not the Good of the Publick 182 Thirdly All sinful Arts in the most useful Callings 183 Fourthly All Levity and Desultory Skipping from one Calling to another 185 Fifthly Any Calling whatsoever is to be declin'd for which a Person is not Qualified both by Education Abilities and Inclinations Especially Callings of great Importance such as the Ministry 186 Sixthly Idleness in any Calling is to be renounced Idleness not allowable no not in Gentlemen 187 It is one of the greatest Temptations in the World to Sin And is it self a very great Sin Lastly No Man must Live above his Calling 188 Secondly Amongst those Things of the World of a middle Nature the different Conditions and States of Men therein are to be considered First A Master hath great Advantages of doing Good But all that Dominion is to be utterly Renounced amongst Christians which treats Servants no better than Slaves and Brutes The State of Servants not in it self Unhappy First It concerns every Person who is to live by a Service to avoid such where there is neither the Means of Religion nor Restraints upon Sin 189 Secondly In the most Irreligious Families a Servant shall happen into he must put on a stedfast Resolution to preserve his Innocence Thirdly The State of Celibacy advantagious to Devotion and in Times of Distress This must be renounced when Persons cannot Contain Lastly The Married State
deny in the World to come his knowing of or having any thing to do with you as he declares he will Matth. 10.33 You see in Matth. 26.70 how Peter being asham'd of his persecuted Lord and Master and afraid for himself did deny his Saviour But withal you see how severely he smarted for it for being prick'd at the heart with an extreme remorse of Conscience for such a base piece of Cowardice he went out and wept bitterly v. 75. And it was well he did or else he had perish'd everlastingly So that to conclude you must not only rehearse that is give an Account of the Christian Faith to us the Ministers of Religion and pronounce it amongst those who are Friends to it in the House of God but upon all just occasions you must elsewhere even in the Face of its greatest Enemies openly declare and profess your Belief of those great Christian Truths and that when you are sure to suffer the severest Persecutions and Reproaches for so doing This last I must confess is not so directly the meaning of the Word Rehearse in this place But if ever there were occasion to extend the Importance of it to such a Sense it is now when the Confidence of Infidels in professing their impious Principles and the Cowardice of Believers in Confessing the True Articles of their Christian Faith is so extremely and on both sides so shamefully great And thus I have given you the utmost that I conceive can be the Importance of these Words Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief which may serve as a Prefatory Discourse to the Exposition I design by God's Assistance to make you of the Creed upon the Explication of which I shall next enter THE XXIX Lecture I Believe COmmenting upon these Words Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief I have given you by way of Preface to the Exposition of the Creed it self an Account of its Authority how that it is a summary Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine collected as is highly probable by the Apostles themselves however undoubtedly containing the most weighty and essential Points of Apostolical Doctrine that are necessary to be Believ'd in order to Salvation And then as to the Importance of the Word Rehearse I have told you how necessary it is 1. that you should give a good Account to God's Ministers of what you Believe 2. That you ought openly and solemnly to pronounce your Belief every time you meet together to worship God in the Publick Assembly Nay and 3. That you must undauntedly confess and own all these Christian Truths before the Face of any Man though you should incur the greatest Danger of Life Livelihood or whatever is most dear to you or expose your selves to the Reproaches of wicked Men for so doing And having thus by way of Preface to the Creed it self spoken what I thought necessary to its Authority and the Confession you are to make of it I come now by God's Assistance to lay open before you the Meaning and Importance of every particular Truth therein contain'd And that which does first offer it self to our Consideration and will indeed require a very large and full Explication is the single Word Believe Every particular Article of the Creed and every single Truth as there are many contain'd in each Article is to be Believed by us It is therefore I presume very requisite that we should with all possible Clearness and Exactness explain the Nature of Faith and shew you what it is to Believe to your Soul's Health before we come to consider the several Truths that are to be Believed accordingly Faith and Belief are two Words that signifie the same thing Faith and Belief synonomous Terms and so indispensable a Condition of our Justification and Salvation it is to Believe that not to mention more Texts Rom. 3.28 It is said a Man is justify'd by Faith And Mark 16.16 we are told in plain and express Words that he who Believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned You must not therefore think me tedious if in the Explication of this Point I shall be something large since to Believe is a thing which you are not only to do in reference to every particular Article of our Creed but that also as ever you will be justify'd and sav'd And for the more full Explication of this Point I will do these Three Things I. I will shew you in general what it is to Believe together with the Effects and Fruits of True Believing II. I will more particularly explain unto you the Nature of Justifying and Saving Faith And then III. By way of Inference I will lay before you wherein the Defect of several sorts of Faith does lie which we find by Scripture and Experience that many do rely upon but yet will by no means justifie and save ' em And 1. I am to shew you in general What it is to Believe And to Believe both in the proper and in the common Meaning of the Word is to give Credit to the Report of another Faith is founded upon a credible Testimony And herein it is distinguish'd from those other Acts of the Mind Opinion Experience and Knowledge that Opinion is when one varies in his Judgment being not without some doubt whether the thing may not be otherwise than he thinks Experience is when one's own Senses tell one it is so and so and Knowledge is when I gather from undoubted Causes and Reasons that the Effect is thus But Belief as it is more certain than Opinion so it is founded not upon my own Experience and Knowledge but upon the Authority of some one else who does relate the thing to me It is indeed thought by some that to Believe in the Language of the Scriptures which are the Words of plain Men spoke to the general Bulk of Mankind does many times signifie a full Perswasion of the Mind whether wrought within us by the Evidence of the Matter or by our own Sense or Experience or by some strong Argument and Reason as well as by some Credible Testimony and accordingly we Believe God's Being and Existence by the strongest Evidences of Reason but yet however tho' the Belief of God's Being be indeed a Knowledge that he Is a Knowledge I say that we have from several demonstrative Proofs and Reasons besides what we have from the Testimony that he Himself has given us of his own Existence yet as the Testimony that he has given us by Miracles Prophecies and his Providences are properly his Attestation to the Truth of the Article so it is the nearest and the plainest Proof thereof and that upon which the Faith of the far greatest part of Mankind who do not much employ their Reason to search after Truth is founded so that generally as well as properly speaking to Believe is to give Credit upon the Authority and Testimony of another that his Relation is true Human Faith upon Human Testimony And
Righteousness consists Now this Rule of Righteousness according to which any Person living ever since the Fall may be termed Just and Righteous cannot be the Original Law made with Adam which requir'd a perfect exact unsinning Obedience a never offending in any one Point For if we were to have our Lives measur'd by such not only the Wise Man Eccles 7.20 telleth us That there is not a a Just Man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not But St. Paul hath proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin and that there is none Righteous no not one Rom. 3.9 10. But our Comfort and Happiness is this That the First Covenant which exacted from us an unsinning Obedience The First Covenant now cancell'd is now cancell'd and we have been admitted in our Baptism into a Covenant of Grace wherein a hearty and sincere Conformity to the Terms of the Gospel that is a practical Believing of those Great Doctrines of Christianity summ'd up in our Creed A Covenant of Grace succeeds in its room Evangelical Righteousness measur'd by this last and a sincere Obedience proceeding from such a Faith to all the Laws of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ together with an unfeigned Repentance for such Failures in Faith and Practice as we have been guilty of shall be graciously accepted And this our Conformity to this Second Covenant is that which Rom. 3.22 is termed the Righteousness of God which is by Faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that Believe And which Phil. 3.9 St. Paul in opposition to his own Righteousness which is of the Law does stile that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith And the reason of its being call'd the Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness through Faith of Jesus Christ is because such a Faith or through Perswasion of all those main Truths summ'd up in our Creed concerning the Methods of Reconciliation between God and Man and the Belief of such Motives to a holy Life as those great Truths are will produce such a Righteousness in us that is will make us sincerely and heartily to obey the Laws of the Gospel to repent us of all our Sins and to rely on Christ to accept such a Faith Obedience and Repentance And the reason the same Apostle opposes this to his own Righteousness which is of the Law is because of the manifest difference betwixt the Perfect Legal Righteousness exacted by the Law and this Evangelical accepted in the Gospel The Legal Righteousness Vid. Allen's Christ Justif stated as one Judiciously states this difference stood in a perfect and indefective Conformity to whatever God commands or the Law of Nature required of Man But the Evangelical Righteousness stands in a hearty and sincere Desire Resolution and Endeavour in a Man to conform to all that God requires in conjunction with Repentance for Defects and in Affiance of God's Mercy through Christ for Forgiveness So that though the Best Man living does not perhaps keep any one of God's Commandments in a Legal sence yet the meanest sincere Christian keeps 'em all in an Evangelical sence that is in sincerity of Resolution and Endeavour And in this sence Good Men are in Scripture said to keep God's Charge his Commandments his Statutes and his Laws As for instance it is said of Zacharias and his Wife Elizabeth that they were both Righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Luke 1.6 And therefore in the same sence that is according to the Terms of the Gospel not according to those of the Law either the Law of Nature according to the Exactness of which Adam in his state of Innocency was bound or the Laws of Moses by which the Jewish Nation were oblig'd to live I say according to the Terms of neither of these but according to the Conditions of the Gospel are all the Disciples of Christ to be accounted Righteous Thirdly 3. Justification is God's Adjudging those to be Righteous who have performed the Conditions of the Second Covenant And now Justification is God's Adjudging those to be thus Righteous who have performed the Conditions of the Second Covenant that is who have Believed practically Obey'd sincerely and Repented heartily To be Justified is not to be made Just and Righteous Persons are made so by Sanctification But in Justification they are approved of by God as such and adjudged to be so and this whoever considers the Scope of those Places of Scripture where this Word is us'd will find to be the Importance of it and that it is a Law-Term and almost always us'd in a Judicial sence and particularly that it is the Act of a Judge acquitting a Person from Guilt and Punishment in opposition to the condemning him in either In this sence it is us'd Prov. 17.15 He that Justifieth the Wicked and he that Condemneth the Just even they both are an Abomination to the Lord Where to Justifie the Wicked is to Acquit him of Fault or Guilt as on the contrary to Condemn the Just is to pass Sentence against him as a Wicked Person So in these Words Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect It is God that Justifieth who is he that Condemneth That is Who shall produce any Accusation against those whom God hath approved of 'T is certain that God hath Acquitted them And according to this Sence of the Word we shall in abundance of places sind that good sincere and faithful Persons are said to be Justified that is Approved of by God as Just and Righteous or such as have performed their Covenant with him To this sence it is said Luke 18.11 that the Publican went down to his House Justified that is Approved of by God And to the same sence it is said James 2.24 That by Works a Man is Justified That is upon a conscientious Discharge of the Duties required of us in the Laws of the Gospel shall a Man be Approved of and Adjudged by God as a Just and Righteous Person But 4. That any are so Adjudjudged as Righteous it is thro' Jesus Christ Fourthly That any the most Righteous and Just Men are upon a practical Faith a sincere Obedience and an unseigned Repentance thus Approved and Adjudged by God as Just and Righteous Persons is through Jesus Christ or by virtue of his Mediation with the Father that we should be Accepted upon such Terms and that our Righteousness should be measured according to the Rules of the Gospel For Man having broke his Covenant with God and become so depraved in all the Faculties and Powers of his Nature that he could no longer live up to the strictness of it then did the Son of God mediate with the Father for a disannulling of all former Covenants impossible to be perform'd and for the substituting of a more gracious Covenant in their room For which reason it is said
Establish'd and the Truth of Christianity already Prov'd and Believ'd God does assist the Ministers of Religion only with the ordinary Graces of his Spirit in the discharge of their Ministry And as to Lay Christians therefore except it be when the Orthodox are call'd out in any Part of the World as sometimes they are to this Day to suffer for the Truth they receive no other than ordinary Assistances But this both Ministers and People are sure to do in the use of those means that Christ has appointed in his Church for that Purpose so very considerable on many accounts are the Priviledges that do belong to the Members of Christ's Church THE Seventh Lecture Wherein I was made a Child of God THE Preliminary Questions and Answers of your Church-Catechism as I have already told you do give you a general Account of the whole Covenant of Grace And these Words Wherein I was made a Member of Christ being the First of those invaluable Priviledges made over to us in this Covenant on God's Part I have already explain'd and open'd to you what they do Import The next of those Priviledges made over to us in the Covenant of Grace is exprest in these Words Wherein I was made a Child of God in order to make you sensible of the Vastness of which Priviledge also First I will shew you what is meant in Scripture and here in your Catechism by a Child of God Secondly What an inestimable Priviledge accordingly it is to be a Child of God What is meant in the Catechism by a Child of God And first let us Enquire What is meant both in Scripture and here in your Catechism by a Child of God To understand which we must Enquire into the several meanings of this Phrase in the Holy Scriptures and then in which of those Sences it is to be understood here in your Catechism when every Catechumen is taught to Answer that In his Baptism he was made a Child of God And as to the several Acceptations of this Phrase in the Holy Scriptures I. Not the Son of God by an Eternal Generation First In the highest most natural and most proper meaning of the Word there is He who is the Son or Child of God by an Eternal Generation viz. Our Saviour Jesus Christ who being Begotten of God the Father from all Eternity in a peculiar inconceivable and inexpressible manner so as to be Co-equal Co-eternal with the Father himself is call'd the Onely Begotten Son of God Joh. 3.16 But then being he is in so peculiar and high a manner the Son of God as infinitely to exceed that wherein any one else whether Angels or Men can be call'd his Sons he cannot in any measure be meant here by a Child of God which signifies a Priviledge common to many as will be presently shew'd Not every Son by Temporal Creation which is a Sence too wide Secondly There are those who are the Sons of God by a Temporal Creation and such are Reasonable Creatures both Angels and Men both being call'd the Sons of God as you will see Job 1.6 and Luk. 3.38 And that both upon the account of the manner of their Production which was by the immediate Power of God and because of their Spiritual and Immortal Natures in which both do so immediately resemble God But this is an Acceptation too wide That which is meant here by a Child of God is a Priviledge which all Men in the World do not enjoy but is the Favour which is granted to a selected Body of Men who are separated from the rest of the World Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 1 Joh. 3.1 Thirdly There are those III. Nor sachonly who are Children of God by spiritual Regeneration which is a Sence too narrow who are the Children of God by Spiritual Regeneration by being Renew'd in the Spirit of their Minds and by being Created anew in Righteousness and true Holiness And these are such Who have put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and who have put on the New Man which after God is created in Rightousness and true Holiness Eph. 4.22 23 24. They are such who are Born not only of Water but also of the Spirit that is who have not only been Baptized into the Christian Church but have been Sanctify'd by the Holy Spirit and have their whole Natures and Dispositions so altered for the Better that from Vicious and Ungodly they are chang'd to Vertuous and Holy Dispositions and Inclinations And such a vast Change wrought in our Natures by the Word and Spirit of God may very justly give those who Enjoy it the Title of the Children of God for if in the way of Natural Generation the Communicating of a Principle of Life and of suitable Operations does found the Relation and Title of a Father there is as good Reason why in Regeneration the deriving such Holy and Heavenly Dispositions and Powers from the Word and the Spirit of God to the Soul as give to a Man a Divine Nature whereby he is a Partaker of the Life and Likeness of God himself should Entitle God to be also a Father and such who are so Regenerated and Renew'd his Children And accordingly in the Holy Scripture we find that such a Derivation of Strength and Grace from the Word and Spirit of God does Entitle those who are Renew'd thereby to be Children of God St. Paul not only attributing to the Ministry of the Word a Power of Begetting in Christ 1 Cor. 4.15 But withal expresly assuring us that As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God Rom. 8.14 So that he is undoubtedly a Child of God whoever giving himself up to the guidance of God's Word and Spirit is thereby Sanctify'd wholly in his own Spirit Soul and Body 1 Thess 5.23 so as to subdue and mortify every Lust and every naughty inordinate and worldly Desire And indeed every truly Regenerate Child of God does do so such a One does by the Power of the Word and in the use and strength of that Grace that God does afford him subdue and mortify every Lust and every naughty inordinate and worldly Desire So we are expresly told 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is Born of God doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God that is a sanctify'd Child of God does really hate Sin the very Temper and Bent of his Soul is against it and as to living in any gross and wilful Sin he cannot without much Reluctancy force himself to it his renew'd Nature is so much contrary thereto Such I say is every Regenerate Child of God and such indeed in a peculiar manner Such indeed are in a peculiar manner and in the highest sence the Children of God and in the highest
make a Thousand more Worlds than he has if he pleases and his Will is directed by his Wisdom in the Framing and Ordering of the World in which sence it is said Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that did he in Heaven and in Earth in the Seas and in all deep places And he worketh all things after the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1.11 Thus is God Omnipotent so as to Act What and How he pleases IV. Eternal IV. God is ETERNAL This is also another Perfection of Life And it imports that the Living God had his Being from Infinite Ages backwards and will possess it to infinite and endless Ages to come that he neither had beginning of Days nor will have any end of Years so that as his Spiritual Nature is diffus'd thro' all Spaces and his Power can be Bounded or Restrain'd by no Force nor Impediment so this Immense and All-powerful Being has preceded all Time and will it self endure when Time that is the Revolution of Sun and Moon which do measure Time shall be no more And how is it to be imagin'd that a Being Immense and Allpowerful should not be eternal For what is it that could give to such a one his Existence since whatever is the Cause and Creator of another must be more powerful than that thing which he makes but what can be more powerful than that which is Omnipotent So that God must necessarily have Existed from all Eternity And supposing the forementioned Attributes he must as necessarily endure to infinite and eternal Ages to come For if he should cease to Be it must be by the Power of something out of his Reach or Mightier than himself which that it is impossible that any thing should be has been already shew'd No sure The Throne of God is established for ever he is from Everlasting Psal 93.2 This speaks his Eternity a parte ante his never having had any Beginning Thou art the same and thy Years shall have no End Psal 102.27 This speaks his Eternity also à parte post his continuance to be what he was before even to endless Ages to come Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hast formed the Earth and the World even from Everlasting to Everlasting thou art God Psal 90.2 which words do most magnificently bespeak both V. God is a Being INDEPENDENT and ALSVFFICIENT V. Independent and Alsufficient which is an Attribute of the sensible Nature that is He is a Being that depends on no other Cause either as to his Essence Subsistence or Operations but he Is Subsists and Acts of himself alone and enjoys in himself without any Accession from things without an Infinite and Immeasurable Felicity He is a Being that depends on no other Cause either as to his Essence Subsistence or Operations but he Is Subsists and Acts of himself alone That he Is and Subsists of himself alone is evident from what has been just now cited from Psal 90.2 before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hast formed the Earth and the World even from Everlasting to Everlasting thou art God for if he had his Being before the World and he gave that Being to it which it has he must himself Be and Subsist without it or any thing contained in it And he also Acts independently without the help or assistance of any other Cause in the Production of it having made the World out of Nothing and not out of any precedent Matter which was Coeternal with him For through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not Made of things which do Appear Heb. 11.3 And he enjoys in himself without any Accession from things without an Infinite and Immeasurable Felicity For why he possesses all Good himself and in himself and is himself the chiefest Good And being therefore infinitely happy in himself from all Eternity he could gain no Accession of Happiness by making us Happy O my God my Goodness extendeth not unto thee said the Psalmist Ps 16.2 No this cannot be For VI. God is IMMVTABLE VI. Immutable which is another Attribute of the sensible Nature that is God is not subject to any Change in his Nature and Attributes from what he was from all Eternity nor is be Fickle and Inconstant in his Decrees and Covenants He is not subject to any Change or Alteration in his Nature and Attributes In his Nature and Attributes He is not more or less Omnipotent Allsufficient Wise Good Just Holy and Happy Nor in any other of his Perfections does he suffer any Increase or Diminution There are different degrees of Perfection amongst the Creatures of God some are but of a days continuance some endure for many Years and the Souls of the Blessed after Judgment and the Angels of Heaven will remain unchang'd in their Natures to all Eternity But whereas the most perfect of God's Creatures are more or less sometime or other liable to undergo some Changes God in whom the Perfections of all the Creatures do center without the least mixture of that Imperfection adhering to any of 'em is and ever will be still the same so the Psalmist Thou Lord in the Beginning hast laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the Work of thy Hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure they all shall wax Old as doth a Garment and as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy Years shall not fail Psal 102.25 26 27. He is the same Yesterday and to Day and for ever Heb. 13.8 Nor is he subject to any Change or Alteration in his Decrees or Covenants with Mankind In his Decrees and Covenants This is indeed what the wisest Governours of this World are subject to for being Men they cannot foresee all those Difficulties which may alter their Measures But God as he did from all Eternity foresee what was fittest to be Decreed and Enacted with respect to all Ages so he did establish such Laws as were agreeable thereunto and Enacted a Covenant with Mankind the Covenant of Grace I mean whose Articles shall be the unalterable and everlasting Terms and Conditions of Life and Happiness and is therefore call'd his Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 Nor does it at all argue Fickleness or Inconstancy in the Decrees and Purposes of God that he is sometimes said to Repent as Gen. 6.6 1 Sam. 15.11 Repentance indeed as it is found in Men argues unsteadiness for it arises from the consideration of having done amiss with a design to amend and it proceous either from Ignorance or Imprudence when a Person finds that Matters have not happen'd out as he imagin'd or from Impotence when he has begun a thing which he cannot finish or out of Inconstancy when a Man disapproves what he did formerly like well of And such is properly Repentance and therefore in this sence of
the Word God is deny'd to Repent Numb 23.19 God is not a Man that he should Lie nor the Son of Man that he should Repent But as when a Man Repents he changes his Actions so the Divine Spirit in condescention to our ways of Expression is pleas'd to speak of God as repenting of the Destruction he had threaten'd to the Ninevites Jonah 3.10 when upon their Humiliation instead of Destroying he Sav'd ' em The truth of it is with respect to those very Actions upon the occasion of which God is said to Repent there is really the greatest Constancy in the Decrees and Purposes of God which are to save all Believing and Penitent Persons and to cut off Unbelievers and Impenitents And tho' the Persons who are threaten'd to be cut off should afterwards be Sav'd this shews indeed an Alteration in those Persons who have changed from worse to better and so prevented God's Anger but it speaks no Variation in God himself who is ever fixt to his own Rule of Rewarding every Man according to his Works so that the Result is this that with God there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1.17 Hitherto we have consider'd such Divine Perfections as do infinitely transcend those of any created Substance tho' never so perfect in Life and Perception those which follow are such as transcend all Perfection discernable in the Rational Nature These indeed are more peculiarly call'd his Communicable Perfections because they are in some lower Degrees and by way of Participation communicated to Man being made after the Image of God For as if we consider the Perfections of the Humane Nature to the Understanding do belong Knowledge and Wisdom to the Will Goodness Justice and Truth to the Affections freedom from Disorder or Perturbation and to the whole Nature Holiness or Integrity and the Result thereof Happiness so there are found in the Divine Nature the like Attributes and Perfections But yet still it is with this vast difference that in God they are transcendently above what is found in Man To proceed then in that short Character we have begun to give you of the Divine Perfections in order to form in your Minds a right Notion of God a thing so exceedingly necessary for all Men to have VII God is OMNISCIENT VII Omniscient and Knoweth all Things Knowledge is a great Perfection of the Rational Nature and great are the Attainments therein that Men may arrive to by Study and Industry And as to the Souls of Men departed and the Blessed Angels their Knowledge is vastly more extensive and their Faculties of Knowing not being clouded with Flesh and Blood and their Thoughts more Free and Disentangl'd from Matter they know things more Intimately more Certainly and more easily than we do And since God is the Author of all this Knowledge both in Men and Angels how transcendently more perfectly both as to the variety of Objects and the manner of Knowing must God apprehend ' em He that planted the Ear shall he not hear and he that form'd the Eye shall he not see and he that teacheth Man Knowledge shall not he know Psal 94.9 10. that is more Objects and that more perfectly than Men or Angels do 1. As to the Object of Knowledge he knows all Things Knowing all things There is not any Creature that is not manifest in his Sight but all things are Naked and Open before the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 And he perfectly understands their Natures Dispositions and Qualities their Powers and Vertues particularly he knows the Good and Bad Dispositions of Men. As to the Good I know Abraham that he will Command his Children and his Houshold after him Gen. 18.19 And likewise as to the Bad he sees and views the perverse Doings of the Sons of Men for his Eyes are upon all their ways they are not hid from his Face neither is their Iniquity hid from his Eyes Jer. 16.17 Nay and he is acquainted with the most Secret Thoughts and Contrivances of their Hearts The Lord searcheth all Hearts and understandeth all the Imaginations of the Thoughts 1 Chron. 28.9 He knows Things Past Present and to Come As to things past Past Present and to Come the knowledge of 'em is call'd Remembrance and to signifie his exact Remembrance of the minutest Circumstances past in the World God is said to have a Book of Remembrance Mal. 3.16 As to his Knowledge of things present that cannot but be most distinct when all things are naked and open in his sight Heb. 4.13 And as to his Knowledge of things to come all those Predictions and Prophecies of future Events are so many Proofs of the thing And such a proof they are of the Infinite Extent of God's Knowledge and indeed of the Godhead it self that he Challenges any of the Idols to give the like Demonstration of their Divinity Let them bring forth and shew us what shall happen or declare us things to come shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods Isai 41.22 23. 2. And as to the manner of the Divine Knowledge And infinitely more Perfectly than Men or Angels the Perfection thereof is infinitely beyond what the most Knowing and the most Learned Men can pretend to For first His Knowledge is most deep and intimate reaching to the very Essence of things ours but slight and superficial His is clear and distinct ours but confus'd and dark His Infallible ours liable to Mistake And lastly His Easie without Labour and Difficulty always present and actual ours gotten by sore Travel and easily lost again by the defects of Memory by Sickness or by Age. There is no searching of his Vnderstanding Isai 40.28 such is the Perfection you see of God's Knowledge VIII And in like manner is he also Transcendent in WISDOM VIII Transcendently Wise Wisdom is another Perfection of the Understanding It consists in these four Particulars 1. In fixing upon a right and excellent End 2. In chusing fit and proper Means 3. In observing advantagious Circumstances and Opportunities for compassing a Design by its proper Means And lastly in over-ruling the Stubbornness of Opposition and the Perverseness of Men's Wills so that all Things shall work together to the Good design'd tho' without their own Knowledge and tho' never so contrary to their own purposes And had we time to surveigh the Wisdom of God in all these Particulars we could not chuse but cry out with the Psalmist Psal 147.5 that Great is the Lord and Great is his Power yea and that his Wisdom is infinite But this Attribute will be farther illustrated when we come to consider the Works of God in the Creation of the World in his Providence over it and in his Redemption of Mankind To proceed then IX Transcendently good IX God is transcendent in GOODNESS The two former were Perfections of the Divine Understanding Goodness is perfective