was so fram'd as to make a visible discovery of the Prerogatives of his Creation And when he reflected upon his Soul that animated his dust its excellent endowments wherein 't is comparable to the Angels its capacity of enjoying God himself for ever he had an internal and most clear testimony of the glorious perfections of his Creator For Man who alone admires the works of God is the most admirable of all 2. The Image of God was resplendent in mans Conscience the seat of practical Knowledg and Treasury of moral Principles The directive faculty was sincere and incorrupt not infected with any disguising tincture 't was clear from all prejudices which might render it an incompetent Judg of good and evil It instructed Man in all the parts of his relative Obligations to God and the Creatures 'T was not fetter'd and confin'd fearfully restraining from what is Lawful nor licentious and indulgent in what is forbidden Briefly Conscience in Adam upright was a subordinate God that gave Laws and exacted obedience to that glorious Being who is its Superior 3. There was a Divine Impression on the Will Spiritual Reason kept the Throne and the inferiour Faculties observed an easy and regular subordination to its dictates The Affections were exercis'd with proportion to the quality of their Objects Reason was their inviolable Rule Love the most noble and Master-affection which gives being and goodness to all the rest even to hatred it self for so much we hate an object as it hinders our enjoyment of the good we love this precious Incense was offer'd up to the excellent and supreme Being which was the Author of his Life Adam fully obeyed the first and great Command of loving the Lord with all his heart soul and strength His love to other things was regulated by his love to God There was a perfect accord between flesh and spirit in him They both joyn'd in the service of God and were naturally mov'd to their happiness In short the image of God in Adam was a living powerful Principle and had the same relation to the Soul which the Soul hath to the Body to animate and order all its Faculties in their Offices and Operations according to the Will of his Creator 2. The Image of God consisted though in an inferiour degree in the happy state of man Herein he resembled that infinitly Blessed Being This happiness had relation to the two Natures which enter into Mans Composition 1. To the Animal and Sensitive and this consisted in two things 1. In the excellent disposition of his Organs 2. In the enjoyment of convenient Objects 1. In the excellent disposition of the Organs His body was form'd immediately by God and so not liable to those defects which proceed from the weakness of second causes No blemish or disease which are the effects and footsteps of sin were to be found in him His health was not a frail inconstant disposition easily ruin'd by the jarring elements but firm and stable The humours were in a just temperament to prevent any destemper which might tend to the dissolution of that excellent frame Briefly all rhe senses were quick and lively able to perform with facility vigour and delight their operations 2. There were convenient Objects to entertain his sensitive faculties He enjoyed Nature in its original Purity crown'd with the benediction of God before 't was blasted with the curse The World was all Harmony and Beauty becoming the goodness of the Creator and not as 't is since the Fall disorder'd and deform'd in many parts the effect of his Justice The Earth was liberal to Adam of all its Treasures the Heavens of their Light and sweetest Influences He was seated in Eden a place of so great beauty and delight that it represented the Celestial Paradise which is refresht with Rivers of Pleasure And as the ultimate End of the Creatures was to raise his mind and inflame his heart with the love of his great Benefactor So their first and natural use was the satisfaction of the Senses from whence the felicity of the Animal Life did proceed 2. His supreme Happiness consisted in the exercise of his most noble Faculties on their proper Objects This will appear by considering that as the spiritual Faculties have objects which infinitely excel those of the sensitive So their capacity is more inlarged their union with objects is more intimate and their perception is with more quickness and vivacity and thereby are the greatest instruments of pleasure to the rational being Now the highest Faculties in Man are the Understanding and Will and their happiness consists in union with God by Knowledg and Love 1. In the Knowledg of God As the desire of Knowledg is the most natural to the humane Soul so the obtaining of it produces the most noble and sweetest pleasure And proportionably to the degrees of excellency that are in objects so much of rational Perfection and Satisfaction accrues to the mind by the knowledg of them The discovery of the Works of God greatly affected Man yet the excellencies scatter'd among them are but an imperfect and mutable shadow of God's infinite and unchangable Perfections How much more delightful was it to his pure understanding tracing the footsteps and impressions of God in Natural things to ascend to him who is the glorious Original of all Perfections And although his finite understanding could not comprehend the Divine excellencies yet his knowledg was answerable to the degrees of Revelation wherein God was manifested He saw the admirable Beauty of the Creator through the transparent vail of the creatures And from hence there arose in the Soul a pleasure pure solid and satisfying a pleasure divine for God takes infinit contentment in the contemplation of Himself 2. The Happiness of Man consisted in the Love of God 'T was not the naked speculation of the Deity that made him happy but such a knowledg as ravisht his Affections For happiness results from the fruitions of all the Faculties 'T is true that by the mediation of the understanding the other Faculties have access to an object the Will and Affections can't be enclin'd to any thing but by vertue of an act of the mind which propounds it as worthy of them It follows therefore that when by the discovery of the transcendent excellencies in God the Soul is excited to love and to delight in Him as its Supreme Good 't is then really and perfectly happy Now as Adam had a perfect knowledg of God so the height of his love was answerable to his knowledg and the compleatness of his enjoyment was according to his Love All the Divine Excellencies were amiable to him The Majesty Purity Justice and Power of God which are the terrour of guilty creatures secur'd his happiness whilst he continued in his Obedience His Conscience was clear and calm no unquiet fears discompos'd its Tranquillity 't was the seat of Innocence and Peace Briefly His love to God was perfect without any
infinitly above the ordinary course of Nature The Maxims of Philosophy are not to be extended to Him We must adore what we cannot fully understand But those things are against Reason and utterly inconceivable that involve a contradiction and have a natural repugnancy to our Understandings which cannot conceive any thing that is formally impossible And there is no such Doctrine in the Christian Religion 2. We must distinguish between Reason corrupted and right Reason Since the Fall the clearness of the Humane Understanding is lost and the light that remains is eclipsed by the interposition of sensual lusts The carnal Mind cannot out of Ignorance and will not from Pride and other malignant habits receive things spiritual And from hence ariseth many suspicions and doubts concerning supernatural Verities the shadows of darkned Reason and of dying Faith If any Divine Mystery seems incredible 't is from the corruption of our Reason not from Reason it self from its darkness not its light And as Reason is obliged to correct the Errors of Sense when 't is deceived either by some vicious quality in the organ or by the distance of the object or by the falsness of the medium that corrupts the image in conveying of it So 't is the office of Faith to reform the judgment of Reason when either from its own weakness or the height of things Spiritual 't is mistaken about them For this end supernatural Revelation was given not to extinguish Reason but to redress it and enrich it with the discovery of Heavenly things Faith is called Wisdom and Knowledg it doth not quench the vigour of the Faculty wherein 't is seated but elevates it and gives it a spiritual preception of those things that are most distant from its commerce It doth not lead us through a mist to the inheritance of the Saints in light Faith is a rational Light For 1. It arises from the consideration of those Arguments which convince the Mind that the Scripture is a Divine Revelation I know saith the Apostle whom I have believed And we are commanded Alwaies to be ready to give an account of the hope that is in us Those that owe their Christianity meerly to the Felicity of their Birth without a sight of that transcendent excellency in our Religion which evidences that it came from Heaven do not believe aright As the Eye that is clouded with a Suffusion so that all things appear yellow to it when it judges things to be yellow that are so its judgment is vitious Because it proceeds not from the quality of the object but from its own indisposition So those that believe the Gospel upon a false Principle because 't is the Religion of their Country though in its self the word of Truth yet they are not right Believers 'T is not Judgment but Chance that enclines them to embrace it The Turks upon the same reason are zealous votaries of Mahomet as they are Disciples of Christ. 2. Faith makes use of Reason to consider what Doctrines are revealed in the Scripture and to deduce those Consequences which have a clear connexion with supernatural Principles Thus Reason is an excellent instrument to distinguish those things which are of a Divine Original from what is spurious and counterfeit For sometimes that is pretended to be a Mystery of Religion which is only the fruit of Fancy and that is defended by the sacred respect of Faith that Reason ought not to violate which is but a groundless imagination so that we remain in an Error by the sole apprehensions of falling into one as those that die for fear of Death The Bereans are commended for their searching the Scriptures whether the Doctrines they heard were consentaneous to them But 't is a necessary Duty that Reason how stiff soever should fully comply with God where it appears reasonable that He hath spoken Briefly The richest Ornament of the Creature is Humility and the most excellent effect of it is the sense of the weakness of our Understanding This is the temper of Soul that prepares it for Faith partly as it puts us on a serious consideration of those things which are reveal'd to us in the Word Infidelity proceeds from the want of consideration and nothing hinders that so much as Pride Partly as it stops all curious enquiries into those things which are unsearchable and principally as it entitles to the Promise God will instruct and give Grace to the humble The knowledg of Heaven as well as the Kingdom of Heaven is the inheritance of the poor in spirit A greater progress is made in the knowledg and belief of these Mysteries by humble Prayer than by the most anxious study As at Court an hour of Favour is worth a years attendance Man cannot acquire so much as God can give And as Humility so Holiness prepares the Soul for the receiving of Supernatural Truths The Understanding is clarified by the purification of the Heart 'T is not the difficulty and obscurity of things reveal'd that is the real cause of Infidelity since men believe other things upon far less Evidence but 't is the prejudice of the lower Faculties that hinders them When all Affections to sin are mortified the Soul is in the best disposition to receive Divine Revelation He that doth the will of God shall know whether the Doctrine of the Gospel came from Heaven The Spirit of God is the alone Instructer of the Spirit of Man in these Mysteries so as to produce a Saving Belief of them That Knowledg is more clear and satisfying that we have by his Teaching than by our own Learning The Rational Mind may discern the Literal Sense of the Propositions in the Gospel and may yield a naked assent to the truth of them but without supernatural irradiation by the Spirit of Life there can be no transforming and saving Knowledg and Belief of them And as the vast expansion of Air that is about us doth not preserve Life but that part which we breath in so 't is not the compass of our Knowledg and Belief though it were equal to the whole revealed Will of God that is vital to the Soul but that which is practised by us The Apostle saith Though he had the understanding of all Mysteries and all Knowledg and all Faith yet if it were not joyned with Love the Principle of Obedience it were unprofitable There is the same difference between the Speculative Knowledg of these Mysteries and that which is Affectionate and Operative as between the wearing of Pearls for Ornament and the taking of them as a Cordial to revive the fainting spirits In short Such a Belief is required as prevails upon the Will and draws the Affections and 〈◊〉 the whole Man obsequious to the Gospel For 〈◊〉 a Faith is alone answerable to the quality of the Revelation The Gospel is not a meer Narrative but a Promise Christ is not represented only as an innocent Person dying but as the Son
credit and reputation destitute of all humane strength and had only a Crucified Person for their leader Christianity was exposed naked in the day of its birth without any shelter from secular Powers 2. They had not the advantage of Art and Eloquence to commend their Religion There is a kind of charm in Rhetorick that makes things appear otherwise than they are the best cause it ruins the worst it confirms Truth though in its self invincible yet by it seems to be overcome and Errour obtains a false triumph We have a visible proof of this in the Writings of Celsus Symmachus Caecilius and others for Paganism against Christianity What a vast difference is there between the lyes and filthiness of the one and the Truth and Sanctity of the other Yet with what admirable address did they manage that Infamous Subject Although it seem'd incapable of any defence yet they gave such colours to it by the beauty of their expressions and their apparent reasons that it seem'd plausible and Christianity notwithstanding its brightness and purity was made odious to the people But the Apostles were most of them wholly unlearned St. Paul himself acknowledges that he was weak in presence and his Speech was not with the enticing words of Mans Wisdome A crucified Christ was all their Rhetorick Now these impotent despicable Persons were imployed to subdue the World to the Cross of Christ and in that season when the Roman Empire was at its height when the most rigorous Severities were used against all Innovations when Philosophy and Eloquence were in their flower and Vigour so that Truth unless adorn'd with the dress and artifice of falshood was despis'd and a Message from God himself unless eloquently convey'd had no force to perswade Therefore the Apostles debased themselves in the sense of their own weakness We have this treasure in earthen vessels That the excellency of the power may be of God not of us 'T was from distrust of themselves their true confidence in God proceeded They were onely so far powerful as he enabled them like inâ—â—ruments in which there is not Vertue sufficient for the carving of a Statute if they do not receive it imprest from the Artificer that uses them Briefly as God the Author of Wonders uses that which is weak in Nature to conquer the most rebellious parts of it He makes the weak sand a more powerful bridle to the impetuous Element of Waters than the strongest banks rais'd by the industry of Men and compos'd of the most solid materials so he was pleased by a few artless impotent persons to confound the wisdom and overcome the power of the World 3. The great sudden and lasting Change that was made in the World by the Preaching of the Gospel is a certain Argument of the Divine Power that animated those mean appearances and that no instrument is weak in Gods hands 1. The greatness of the Change is such that it was only possible to Divine Power 'T is a great Miracle to render sight to the Blind but 't is more miraculous to inlighten the Dark mind to see the truth and beauty of Supernatural Mysteries when they are disguis'd under reproach sad representations and effectually to believe them especially when the inferiour appetite is so contrary to Faith 'T is a prodigy to raise the Dead but 't is more admirable to sanctify an habituated sinner For in comparing the quality of those Miracles that is the greatest in the performing whereof God is discover'd to be the absolute Lord of the greater Nature Now the intellectual Nature is superiour to the corporeal Besides there is no contradiction from a Dead body against the Divine Power in raising it on the contrary if any sense were remaining it would ardently desire to be restor'd to the full enjoyment of Life but corrupt Nature is most opposite to renewing Grace Now these marvelous effects were produced by the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Heathens The glorious light of Truth scattered the thick and terrible darkness of Ignorance and errour that was so universal The Gospel in its power and the quality of its effects was like those words Let there be Light which the Eternal Word pronounced upon the confused Chaos and infused a Soul and Life into the World The clear knowledge of God in his Nature and Glorious Works of Creation and Redemption of the duty of Man of the future state was communicated to the meanest understandings And in proportion to the Light of Faith such was the measure of Piety and Holiness Idolatry that had Number Antiquity Authority of its side was intirely abolisht The false Deities were cast out of the Temple and the Cross of Christ was planted in the Hearts of Men. Accordingly the Apostle tells the Thessalonians For they themselves shew of us what manner of entring in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the Living and true God and to wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the Dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come Innumerable from secret Atheism publick Gentilism were converted to acknowledg and accept of the Redeemer for their Lord. What could produce such a marvelous change in the World but an Almighty power How seemingly impossible was it to bring so many who were proud in their natures perverse in their customs and indubitably assenting to their false Religions from such a distance as the Worship of innumerable Deities to adore a Crucified God 'T was admirable that Alexander broke the Persian Empire with an Army of Thirty Thousand but what is there comparable in that Conquest to the Acts of the Apostles How much less difficult is it for some Nations to change their Kings than for all to change their Gods How far more easie is it to overcome the bodies of Men than subdue their Souls Upon the most exact inquiry there will never be found in humane nature any cause capable to produce such an effect nor in the Records of all Ages any example like it Add to this the excellent Reformation in the hearts and lives of Men. As their understandings so their wills and affections the sources of action were miraculously alter'd What the Sages of the World could not effect in a few select Persons The Gospel hath done in great numbers nay rais'd them above all their feigned Ideas above the higest pitch of their Proud Philosophy Those strong and furious passions which Natural Reason was as unable to restrain as a threed of silk is to govern a fierce beast the Gospel hath tamed and brought into order It hath executed what Philosophy durst never enterprise despairing of Success The Gospel hath made the Wise Men of the World resign their Reason to Faith it hath perswaded Carnal Men to mortify the Flesh the Ambitious to despise secular Honours the Voluptuous to renounce their Pleasures the Covetous to distribute their Goods to the Poor the
difficult unpleasant quality annexed upon which account the Will may reject it so any particular evil may be so disguised by the false lustre of goodness as to encline the Will to receive it This is clearly verified in Adam's Fall For a specious Object was conveighed through the unguarded Sence to his Fancy and from that to his Understanding which by a vicious carelesness neglecting to consider the danger or judging that the excellency of the end did out-weigh the evil of the means commended it to the Will and that resolved to embrace it It is evident therefore that the action which resulted from the direction of the Mind and the choice of the Will was absolutely free Besides As the regret that is mixt with an action is a certain Character that the person is under constraint So the delight that attends it is a clear Evidence that he is free When the Appetite is drawn by the lure of Pleasure the more violent the more voluntary is its motion Now the representations of the forbidden fruit were under the notion of Pleasure The Woman saw the fruit was good for food that is pleasurable to the Palate and pleasant to the Eyes and to be desired to make one wise that is to increase Knowledg which is the pleasure of the Mind and these Allectives drew her into a snare Adam with complacency receiv'd the temptation and by the enticement of Satan committed adultery with the Creature from whence the cursed race of Sin and Miseries proceed Suppose the Devil had so disguis'd the Temptation that notwithstanding all his circumspection and care Adam could not have discovered its evil his invincible Ignorance had rendered the action involuntary But Adam was conscious of his own action there was light in his mind to discern the evil and strength in his will to decline it For the manner of the defection whether it was from affected Ignorance or secure Neglect or transport of Passion it doth not excuse The action it self was of that moment and the supreme Law-giver so worthy of Reverence that it should have awakened all the powers of his Soul to beware of that which was Rebellion against God and ruin to himself Or suppose he had been tried by Torments whose extremity and continuance had vehemently opprest his nature this had only lessen'd the guilt the action had still been voluntary for no external force can compel the Will to choose any thing but under the notion of comparative goodness Now to choose Sin rather than pains and to prefer ease before obedience is highly dishonourable to God whose Glory ought to be infinitely more valuable to us than Life and all its endearments And although sharp Pains by discomposing the Body make the Soul unfit for its highest and noblest Operations so that it cannot perform the acts of Vertue with delight and freedom yet then it may abstain from evil But this was not Adam's case The Devil had no Power over him as over Job who felt the extremity of his rage and yet came off more than conqueror to disturb his felicity he prevailed by a simple suasion Briefly Though Man had strength sufficient to repel all the Powers of Darkness yet he was vanquisht by the assault of a single Temptation These are the circumstances which derive a crimson guilt to Man's rebellious Sin and render it above measure sinful This will more fully appear by the convincing declaration of God's displeasure against it in the dreadful effects that ensued The punishment of Man was of the same date with his Sin Immediatly after his Treason against Heaven he made a deadly forfeiture of his Original Righteousness and Felicity 1. He lost his Original Righteousness which we may consider under the notion of the purity and beauty of the Soul or of its dominion and liberty in opposition to which Sin is represented in the Scripture by loathsom Deformity and Servitude 1. His Soul degenerated from its purity the Faculties remain'd but the moral perfections were lost wherein the brightness of God's Image was most conspicuous How is Man disfigur'd by his Fall How is he transform'd in an instant from the Image of God into the Image of the Devil He is defiled with the filthiness of flesh and spirit he is asham'd at the sight of his own nakedness that reproach'd him for his crime but the most shameful was that of the Soul The one might be cover'd with leaves the other nothing could conceal To see a Face of exquisite Beauty devour'd by a Cancer how doth it move compassion but were the Natural Eye heightned to that clearness and perspicacity as to discover the deformity which Sin hath brought upon the Soul how would it strike with grief horrour and aversation 2. He was deprived of his Dominion and Liberty The Understanding was so wounded by the violence of the fall that not onely its light is much impaired but its Power is so weakned as to the lower faculties that those which according to the order of nature should obey have cast off its just authority and usurp the Goverment The will hath lost its true Freedom whereby 't was enlarg'd to the extent and amplitude of the Divine Will in loving whasoever was pleasing to God and is contracted to mean and base Objects What a furious disorder is in the Affections The restraint of Reason to check their violent course provokes them to swell higher and to be more impetuous and the more they are gratified the more insolent and outragious they grow The Senses whose office is to be the Intelligencers of the Soul to make discovery and to give a naked report without disturbing the higher Faculties they sometimes mistake disguised enemies for friends and sometimes by a false alarm move the lower Appetites and fill the Soul with disorder and confusion that the voice of Reason can't be heard By the irritation of Grief the insinuation of Pleasure or some other Perturbation the Soul is captivated and wounded through the Senses In short when Man turn'd Rebel to God he became a slave to all the Creatures By their primitive Institution they were appointed to be subservient to the Glory of God and the use of Man to be motives of Love and Obedience to the Creator but Sin hath corrupted and changed them into so many instruments of vice they are made subject unto vanity And Man is so far sunk into the dregs of Servitude that he is subject to them For by forsaking God the Supreme Object of Love with as much injustice as folly and choosing the Creature in his stead he becomes a Servant to the meanest thing upon which he places an inordinate affection Briefly Man who by his Creation was the son of God is made a slave to Satan that damned spirit and most cursed creature Deplorable Degradation and worthy of the deepest shame and sorrow 2. Man lost his Felicity Besides the trouble that Sin hath in its own nature which I have toucht
had in his Creation an original Power to perform 2. There is a moral Impotence which arises from a perverse disposition of the Will and is join'd with a delight to Sin and a strong aversion from the holy Commands of God and the more deep and inveterate this is the more worthy 't is of punishment Aristotle asserts That those who contract invincible Habits by Custome are inexcusable though they cannot abstain from evil For since Liberty consists in doing what one wils this impossibility doth not destroy Liberty the depravation of the Faculties doth not hinder their voluntary operations The Understanding conceives the Will chooses the Appetite desires freely A distracted Person that kils is not guilty of Murder and therefore secure from the Sentence of the Law For his Understanding being distemper'd by the disorder of the images in his Fancy it doth not judg aright so that the action is involuntary and therefore not culpable But there is a vast difference between the causes of Distraction and those which induce a carnal Man to sin The first are seated in the distemper of the Brain over which the Will hath no Power whereas there should be a regular subjection of the lower appetite to the Will enlightned and directed by the Mind The Will it self is corrupted and brought into captivity by things pleasing to the lower Faculties It cannot disintangle it self but its impotence lies in its obstinacy This is the meaning of St. Peter speaking concerning unclean Persons That their eyes are full of adultery and they cannot cease from Sin 'T is from their fault alone that they are without power Therefore the Scripture represents Man to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak but wicked His disability to supernatural Good arises from an inordinate Affection to that which is sensual So that 't is so far from excusing that it renders inexcusable being voluntary and vitious And in this the Diseases of the Body are different from those of the Soul In the first the desire of healing is ineffectual through want of knowledg or power to apply Sovereign Remedies Whereas in the second the sincere desire of their Cure is sufficient for the Diseases are corrupt desires The Natural Man is wholly led by Sence by Fancy and the Passions and he esteems it his infelicity to be otherwise as the degenerous Slave who was displeased with a Jubile and refused Liberty Servitude is his Sensuality He is not only in love with the unworthy object but with the vitious affection and abhors the cure of it As one in the Poet that was so delighted in his pleasant Madness that he was offended at his Recovery Cui sic extorta voluptas Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error This is acknowledged by St. Austin in his Confessions where he describes the conflict between Conviction and Corruption in his Soul He tells us in the strife between Reason and Lust that he had recourse to God and his Prayer was Da mihi continentiam sed noli modo he desired Chastity but not too soon This is the general sence though not the general discourse of men As the Sick Person that desired his Physician to remove his Fever but not his thirst which made his drink very pleasing to him So Man in his sensual state would fain be freed from the aestuations of Conscience but he cherishes those carnal desires which give a high tast to objects suitable to them From hence it appears that although in the corrupt Nature there is no liberty of indifferency to good and evil yet there is a liberty of delight in evil and though the Will in its natural capacity may choose good yet 't is morally determin'd by its love to evil· In short There is so much power not to sin as is sufficient to sin that is that the forbidden action be free and so become a Sin Which strange combination of Liberty and Necessity is excellently exprest by St. Bernard That the Soul which fell by its own choice can't recover it self is from the corruption of the Will which overcome by the vitious love of the Body rejects the love of Righteousness so that in a manner as strange as evil the Will being corrupted with Sin makes a necessity to it self yet so that the necessity being voluntary doth not excuse the Will nor the Will being pleasantly and powerfully allur'd exclude Necessity The Law therefore remains in its full force and God is righteous in the commanding and condemning Sinners From all that hath been discours'd 't is evident how impossible it is for corrupt Man to recover his lost Holiness For there are only two Motives to induce the reasonable Creature to seek after it 1. It s Beauâ—y and Loveliness 2. The Reward that attends it And both these Arguments are ineffectual to work upon him 1. The Beauty of Holiness which excels all other created Perfections it being a conformity to the most glorious Attribute of the Deity doth not allure him For Unusquisque ut affectus est ita judicat Man understands according to his Affections The renewed Mind can only see the essential and intimate Beauty of Holiness Now in faln Man the clearness of the discerning power is lost As the natural Eye till 't is purged from vicious qualities can't look on things that are bright and sublime and if it hath been long in darkness it suffers by the most pleasing Object the light so the internal eye of the Mind that it may see the lively lustre of Holiness it must be cleansed from the filthiness of carnal Affections and having been so long under thick darkness it must be strengthned before it can sustain the brightness of things spiritual Till it be prepar'd it can see nothing amiable and desireable in the Image of God 2. The Reward of Holiness hath no attractive power on the carnal Will because 't is Future and Spiritual 1. 'T is Future and therefore the conceptions of it are very dark and imperfect The Soul is sunk down into the Senses and they are short-sighted and can't look beyond what is present to the next life And as the images of things are weaken'd and confus'd proportionably to their distance and make a fainter impression upon the Faculty so the representation of Heaven and Blessedness as a Happiness to come hereafter and therefore remote doth but coldly affect the Will A present vanity in the judgment of the carnal Soul outweighs the most glorious futurity 'Till there be taken from before its eyes the in Tertullian's language thick curtain of the visible World it cannot discern the difference between them nor value the reward for its excellency and duration 2. 'T is Spiritual and there must be a divine Disposition of the Soul before it is capable of it The pure in heart can only see the pure God The Felicity above is that which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it
of God dying to deliver Men from Sin and the effects of it The fallen Angels may understand and believe it without any Affections being unconcernâ—d in it To them 't is a naked History but to Men 't is a Promise and cannot be rightly received without the most ardent Affections This is a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation That Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners 'T is essentiaâ—â—â— good as true its Sweetness and Profit are equal to its Certainty So that it commends it self to all our Faculties There are severe and sad Truths which are attended with fearful expectation and the Mind is averse from receiving them As the Law which like Lightning terrifies the Soul with its amazing Brightness and there are pleasant illusions which have no solid Foundation And as Truth doth not delight the Mind unless united to Goodness such as is suitable to its Palate so Goodness doth not affect the Will unless it be real Now the Doctrine of the Gospel is as certain as the Law and infinitly more comfortable than all the Inventions of Men. 'T is in the knowledg of it alone that the sensible and considering Soul enjoys perfect Satisfaction and the most composed Rest. 'T is evident that the Understanding doth not behold these Truths in their proper light when the Will doth not embrace them For the rational Appetite follows the last judgment of the Mind When the Apostle had a powerful Conviction of The Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ this made him so earnest to gain an interest in Him For this reason those who are only Christians in Title Having a form of Godliness and denying the power of it are in Scripture-language stiled Infidels It being impossible that those who truly and heartily believe this great Mystery of Godliness should remain ungodly 'T is a strong and effectual Assent that descends from the Brain to the Heart and Life that denominates us true Believers So that when the Death of Christ is propounded as the cause of our Reconciliation with God the wonder of the Mystery doth not make it incredible when as the reason of the Mortiâ—â—â—ation of our Lusts the Pleasures of Sin do not disguise its horrour When Salvation is offer'd upon our accepting of Christ for our Prince and Saviour the Soul is ravisht with its Beauty and chooses it for an everlasting portion To conclude The Doctrine of the Gospel clearly discovers its Divine Original 'T is so reasonable in itself and profitable to us so sublime and elevated above Man yet hath such an admirable agreement with Natural Truths 't is so perfectly corresponding in all its parts that without affected Obstinacy no man can reject it And if after the open revelation of it we are so stupid and wicked as not to see its Superlative Excellency and not to receive it with the Faith Love and Obedience which is due to it what contempt is this of that infinite Wisdom which contriv'd the astonishing way of our Salvation What a reproach to the Divine Understanding as if it had been employed from Eternity about a matter of no moment and that deserves not our serious Consideration and Acceptance The neglect of it will justly bring a more severe punishment than the Hell of the uninstructed Heathens who are strangers to Supernatural Mysteries CHAP. VIII The Mercy of God is represented with peculiar advantages above the other Attributes 'T is eminently glorified in our Redemption in respect of its freeness and greatness The freeness of it amplified from the consideration of the original and object of it God is perfectly happy in Himself and needs not the Creature to preserve or heighten his felicity The glorious reward conferred upon our Saviour doth not prejudice the freeness of his love to Man There was no tie upon God to save Man The Object of Mercy is Man in his lapsed state 'T is illustrated by the consideration of what he is in himself No motives of love are in him He is a rebel impotent and obstinate The freeness of mercy set forth by comparing him with the fallen Angels who are left in perfect irremediable misery Their first state fall and punishment The Reasons why the Wisdom of God made no provision for their recovery ALthough all the Divine Attributes are equal as they are in God for one Infinite cannot exceed another yet in their exercise and effects they shine with a different glory And Mercy is represented in Scripture with peculiar advantages above the rest 'T is God's natural off-spring he is stiled the Father of Mercies 'T is his dear Attribute that which he places next to himself He is proclaim'd the Lord God Gracious and Merciful 'T is his delight Mercy pleases him 'T is his Treasure he is rich in Mercy 'T is his triumphant Attribute and the special matter of his Glory Mercy rejoyces over Judgment Now in the performance of our Redemption Mercy is the predominant Attribute that sets all the rest a working The acts of his Wisdom Justice and Power were in order to the illustration of his Mercy And if we duly consider that Glorious Work we shall find in it all the ingredients of the most sovereign Mercy In discoursing of it I shall principally consider two things wherein this Attribute is eminently glorified the Freeness and the Greatness of it The Freeness of this Mercy will appear by considering the original and object of it 1. The Original is God and the notion of a Deity includes infinite perfections so that it neeessarily follows that he hath no need of the creatures service to preserve or heighten his feliâ—ity If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand From Eternity he was without external honour yet in that infinite duration he was perfectly joyful and happy He is the fountain of his own blessedness the Theatre of his own Glory the Glass of his own Beauty One drop encreases the Ocean but to God a million of Worlds â—an add nothing Every thing hath so much of Goodness as it derives from him As there was no gain to him by the Creation so there can be no loss by the annihilation of all things The World proceeded from his Wisdom as the Idea and Exemplar and from his Power as the efficient cause and it so proceeds from him as to remain more perfectly in him And as the possession of all things and the obedience of Angels and Men is of no advantage to God so the opposition of impenitent Rebels cannot lessen his Blessedness If thou sinnest what doâ—t thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him The Sun suffers no loss of its light by the darkness of the night or an Eclipse but the World loâ—es its day if intelligent Beings do not esteem him for his Greatness and love him for his Goodness 't is no injury to him but their own infelicity Were it for his
of God's Love is in the Sufferings of Christ. The description of them with respect to his Soul and Body The Sufferings of his Soul set forth from the Causes of his Grief The Disposition of Christ and the Design of God in afflicting Him The sorrows of his forsaken state All comforting Influences were suspended but without prejudice to the Personal Union or the perfection of his Grace or the Love of his Father towards Him The Death of the Cross considered with respect to the Ignominy and Torment that concurr'd in it The Love of the Father and of Christ amplified upon the account of his enduring it THe next Circumstance to be considered in the Divine Mercy is the degree of it And this is described by the Apostle in all the dimensions which can signifie its greatness He prays for the Ephesians that they may be able to comprehend with all Saints the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God in Christ which passes knowledge No language is sufficient to express it if our hearts were as large as the Sand on the Sea-shore yet they were too straight to comprehend it But although we cannot arrive to the perfect knowledg of this excellent Love yet 't is our duty to study it with the greatest application of mind for our happiness depends upon it and so far we may understand as to inflame our hearts with a superlative Affection to God And the full discovery which here we desire and search after in the future state shall be obtained by the presence and light of our Redeemer Now the greatness of the Divine Love in our Redemption appears 1. By reflecting on the mighty Evils from which we are freed 2. The means by which our Redemption is accomplisht 3. That excellent State to which we are advanced by our Redeemer 1. If we reflect upon the horrour of our natural state it will exceedingly heighten the mercy that delivered us This I have in part opened before therefore I will be the shorter in describing it Man by his rebellion had forfeited Gods favour and the honour and happiness he injoyed in Paradise And as there is no middle state between Sovereignty and misery he that falls from the Throne stops not till he comes to the bottom so when Man fell from God and the dignity of his innocent state he became extreamly miserable He is under the servitude of sin the tyranny of Satan the bondage of the Law and the empire of Death 1. Man is a captive to sin He is fallen from the hand of his counsel under the power of his passions Love Hatred Ambition Envy Fear Sorrow and all the other stinging Affections of which is true what the Historian speaks of the several kinds of Serpents in Africa Quantus nomiuum tantus mortium numerus exercise a tyranny over him And if no man can serve two Masters as the Oracle of Truth tells us how wretched is the slavery of Man whose passions are so opposit that in obeying one he cannot escape the lash of many imperious Masters He is possest with a Legion of impure lusts And as the Demoniac in the Gospel was sometimes cast into the fire and sometimes into the water so is he hurried by the fury of contrary passions This servitude to sin is in all respects compleat For those who serve are either born servants or bought with a price or made captives by force and sin hath all these kinds of title to man He is conceived and born in sin he is sold under sin and sells himself to do evil As that which is sold passes into the possession of the buyer so the sinner exchanging himself for the pleasures of sin is under its power Original sin took possession of our nature and actual of our lives He is the servant of corruption by yeilding to it for of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage The condition of the most wretched bond-â—lave is more sweet and less servile than that of a sinner For the severest tyranny is exercised only upon the body the soul remains free in the midst of chains but the power of sin oppresses the Soul the most noble part and defaces the bright character of the Deity that was stampt upon its visage The worst slavery is terminated with this present life In the grave the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master But there is no exemption from this servitude by death it extends its self to Eternity 2. Man since his fall is under the tyranny of Satan who is call'd the God of this World and is more absolute then all temporal Princes his dominion being over the will He overcame man in Paradise and by the right of War he rules over him The soul is kept in his bondage by subtile Chains of which the spiritual nature is capable The understanding is captivated by ignorance and errors the will by inordinate dangerous lusts the memory by the images of sinful pleasures those mortal visions which inchant the soul and make it not desirous of liberty Never did cruel Pirat so incompassionately urge his Slaves to ply their Oares in charging or flying from an enemy as Satan incites those who are his captives to do his will And can there be a more afflicting calamity then to be the slave of ones enemy especially if base and cruel This is the condition of man he is a captive to the Devil who was a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning He is under the rage of that bloody Tyrant whose ambition was to render Man as miserable as himself who in triumph upbraids him for his folly and adds derision to his Cruelty 3. Fallen Man is under the Curse and Terrors of the Law For being guilty he is justly exposed to the punishment threatned against transgressours without the allowance of repentance to obtain pardon And Conscience which is the Ecchâ— of the Law in his bosom repeats the dreadful sentence This is an Acouser which none can silence a Judge that none can decline and from hence it is that Men all their life are subject to bondage being obnoxious to the wrath of God which the awakened Conscience fearfully sets before them This complicated Servitude of a Sinner the Scripture represents under great variety of Similitudes that the defects of one may be supplied by another Every Sinner is a Servant now a Servant by flight may recover his Liberty But he is not only a Servant but a Captive in chains A Captive may be freed by laying down a Ransom but the Sinner is not only a Captive but deeply in debt Every Debtor is not miserable by his own fault it may be his Infelicity not his Crime that he is poor but the Sinner is guilty of the highest offence A guilty Person may enjoy
Graces are amiable and attractive in the view of Men as easiness to pardon a readiness to oblige compassion to the afflicted liberality to the necessitous sweetness of conversation without gall and bitterness these are of universal esteem with mankind and soften the most savage tempers If there be any Vertue and if there be any Praise think on these things And St. Peter excites Believers to joyn to their Faith by which the Gospel of Christ is embrac't Intellectual and Moral vertues without which 't is but a vain picture of Christianity Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity He enforces the command give all diligence that these things abound in you and ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of Christ. Now these Graces purifie and perfect refine and raâ—se the humane nature and without a Command their Goodness is a strong obligation I will take a more distinct view of the Precepts of Christ as they are set down in that excellent abridgement of them by the Apostle The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Here is a distribution of our duties with respect to their several Objects our selves others and God The first are regulated by Temperance the second by Justice the third by Godliness And from the accomplishment of these is formed that Holiness without which no man shall see God 1. In respect to our selves we must live soberly Temperance governs the sensual appetites and affections by sanctified reason The Gospel allows the sober and chast use of pleasures but absolutely and severely forbids all excess in those that are lawful and abstinence from all that are unlawful that stain vilify the Soul and alienate it from converse with God and mortifie its lust to spiritual delights By sensual complacency Man first lost his Innocence and Happiness and till the flesh is subdued to the spirit he can never recover them The carnal mind is enmity against God Fleshly lusts war against the Soul Therefore we are urged with the most affectionate earnestness to abstain from them by withdrawing their incentives and crucifying our corrupt inclinations In short the Law of Christ obliges us as to deal with the body as an enemy that is disposed to revolt against the Spirit by watching over all our senses lest they should betray us to temptations so to preserve it as a thing consecrated to God from all impurity that will render it unworthy the honour of being the Temple of the Holy Ghost 2. We are commanded to live Righteously in our relation to others Justice is the supreme Virtue of humane Life that renders to every one what is due The Gospel gives rules for Men in every state and place to do what Reason requires As no condition is excluded from its Blessedness so every one is obliged by its Precepts Subjects are commanded to obey all the lawful commands of Authority and not resist and that upon the strongest motive not onely for Wrath but for Conscience They must obey Man for Gods sake but never disobey God for Mans sake And Princes are obliged to be an encouragement to good Works and a terror to the evil that those who are under them may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty It injoynes all the respective duties of Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants And that in all contracts and commerce none defrauds his Brother accordingly in the esteem of Christians he is more religious who is more righteous than others Briefly Christian righteousness is not to be measured by the rigor of Laws but by that rule of universal Equity delivered by our Saviour Whatsoever ye would have others do to you do it to them 3. We are instructed by the Law of Christ to live Godly This part of our duty respects our apprehensions affections and demeanour to God which must be sutable to his Glorious perfections The Gospel hath revealed them clearly to us viz. the Unity Simplicity Eternity and Purity of the Divine Nature that it subsists in three Persons the Father Son and Spirit and his Wisdom Power and Goodness in the Work of our Redemption It requires that we pay the special Honour that is due to God in the esteem and veneration of our Minds in the subjection of our Wills in the assent of our Affections to him as their proper object That we have an intire Faith in his Word a firm Hope in his Promises a Holy Jealousie for his Honour a Religious care in his Service And that we express our reverence love and dependance on him in our Prayers and Praises That our Worshp of Him be in such a manner as becomes God who receives it and Man that presents it God is a pure Spirit and Man is a reasonable Creature therefore â—e must worship him in Spirit and Truth And since Man in his fallen State cannot approach the Holy and Just God without a Mediator he is directed by the Gospel to address himself to the Throne of Grace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can reconcile our Persons and render our Services acceptable with his Father Besides the immediate service of the Deity Godliness includes the propension and tendency of the Soul to him in the whole conversation and it contains three things 1. That our Obedience proceeds from love to God as its vital Principle This must warm and animate the external action this alone makes Obedience as delightful to us so pleasing to God He shews Mercy to those who love him and keep his Commandments Faith works by Love and enclines the Soul to obey with the same Affection that God enjoins the Precept 2. That all our Conversation be regulated by his Will as the Rule He is our Father and Sovereign and the respect to his Law gives to every action the formality of Obedience We must choose our Duty because he commands it Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for his command and by his assistance 3. That the Glory of God be the supreme End of all our Actions This Qualification must adhere not only to necessary Duties but to our natural and civil Actions Our light must so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do all must be done in a regular and due proportion to the Glory of God A general Designation of this is absolutely requisite and the renewing of our intentions actually in matters of moment For He being the sole Author of our Lives and
his supreme Dominion which extends it self to all things in Heaven and Earth Now in the Participation of these the Image of God did principally consist The Holiness of Man was the copy of the Divine purity his Happiness a representation of the Divine Felicity and his Dominion over the lower World the resemblance of Gods Soveraignty I will take a particular survey of them 1. Man was conformed to God in Holiness This appears by the expressions of the Apostle concerning the Sanctification of corrupt man which he sets forth by the renewing of him in knowledg righteousness and holiness after the image of the Creator The Renovation of things is the restoring of them to their Primitive state and is more or less perfect by its proportion to or distance from the Original Holiness Righteousnesse are the comprehensive Sum of the Moral Law which not only represents the Will but the Nature of God in his Supream Excellency and in conformity to it the Divine likeness eminently appear'd Adam was created with the perfection of Grace the progress of the most excellent Saints is incomparably short of his beginning By this we may in part conjecture at the Beauty of Holinesse in him of which one faint ray appearing in renewed persons is so amiable This primitive Beauty is exprest in Scripture by rectitude God made Man upright There was an universal entire rectitude in his Faculties disposing them for their proper Operations This will more fully appear by considering the distinct powers of the Soul in their regular Constitutions 1. The understanding was inrich'd with knowledg Nature was unveiled to Adam he enter'd into its Sanctuary and discover'd its mysterious Operations When the Creatures came to pay their Homage to him whatsoever he called them that was the name thereof And their Names exprest their Natures His knowledg reach'd through the whole compass of the Creation from the Sun the glorious vessel of Light to the Gloworm that shines in the hedg And this knowledg was not acquir'd by Study 't was not the fruit of anxious inquiry but as the illumination of the Air is in an instant by the light of the Morning so his Understanding was enlightned by a pure beam from the Father of Lights Besides He had such a knowledg of the Deity as was sufficient for his Duty and Felicity His mind did not stick in the material part of things but ascended by the several ranks of Beings to the Universal Cause He discover'd the Glory of the Divine Essence and Attributes by their wonderful effects 1. Almighty Power When he first open'd his eyes the stupendious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth presented itself to his view and in it the most express and clear characters of that Glorious Power which produced it For what could overcome the Infinite distance between not being and being but Infinite Power As there is no proportion between not being and being so the cause which unites those terms must be without limits Now the Divine Word alone which calls the things that are not as if they were caused the World to rise from the Abyss of empty nothing At Gods Command the Heavens and all their Host were created And this led him to consider the Immensity of the Divine Essence For Infinite Power is incompatible with a finite Essence and by the consideration of the Immensity he might ascend to the Eternity of God To be Eternal without beginning and Infinite without bounds infer one another and necessarily exist in the same subject For 't is impossible that any thing which is form'd by another and hath a beginning should not be limited in its Nature by the cause that produced it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Eternal Power of God is set forth in the Creation of the World joyning with the discovery of his Power that of his Eternity 2. Admirable Wisdom appear'd to Man in the Creation For by considering the Variety and Union the Order and Efficacy the Beauty and Stability of the World he clearly discerned that Wisdom which so regularly disposed all 'T is thus that Wisdom speaks in the Book of Proverbs When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened thâ— Fountains of the Deep when he gave the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments when he appointed the Foundations of the Earth I was with him contriving all in the best manner for Ornament and Use. The knowledg of this fill'd his Soul with wonder and delight The Psamist breaks forth with astonishment as one in the midst of innumerable Miracles O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom hast made them all And if he discovered such wonderful and Divine Wisdom in the Works of God when the vigour of the humane Understanding was so much impair'd by the Fall how much more did Adam who perfectly understood Universal Nature the offices of its parts the harmony of the whole and all the just Laws of Union by which God hath joined together such a multitude of beings so distant and disagreeing and how the Publick Peace is preserved by their Private Enmity This discovery caused him to acknowledge that Great is the Lord and of great Power his Understanding is infinite 3. Infinite Goodness shin'd forth in the Creation This is the leading Attribute that call'd forth the rest to work As there was no matter so no motive to induce God to make the World but what arose from his Goodness For he is an All-sufficient Being perfectly blessed in himself His Majesty is not encreased by the Adoration of Angels nor his Greatnesse by the Obedience of Nature neither was he less happy or content in that Eternal Duration before the existence of any Creature than he is since His Original Felicity is equally incapable of accession as of diminution 'T is evident therefore that only free and unexcited Goodness moved him to create all things that he might impart being and happiness to the Creature not inrich his own And as by contemplating the other works of God so especially by reflecting upon himself Adam had a clear sight of the Divine Attributes which concurr'd in his Creation Whether he consider'd his lowest part the Body 't was form'd of the Earth the most artificial and beautiful piece of the visible World The contrivance of its parts was with that proportion and exactness as most conduc'd to Comliness and Service It s stature was erect and raised becoming the Lord of the Creatures and an observer of the Heavens A Divine Beauty and Majesty was shed upon it And this was no vanishing ray soon eclips'd by a Disease and extinguisht by Death but shin'd in the countenance without any declination The Tongue was Man's peculiar glory being the interpreter of the mind and capable to signifie all the Affections of the Soul In short the Body
and are the measures of his duty to God to himself and to his fellow creatures This was publisht by the voice of Reason and is holy just and good Holy as it enjoins those things wherein there is a conformity to those Attributes and Actions of God which are the pattern of our imitation So the general Rule is Be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation and this is most honourable to the humane nature 'T is just that is exactly agreable to the frame of mans faculties and most suitable to his condition in the world and good that is beneficial to the observer of it In keeping of it there is great reward And the obligation to it is eternal it being the unchangeable will of God grounded on the natural and unvariable relations between God and Man and between Man and the Creatures Besides the particular directions of the Law of Nature this general Principle was planted in the reasonable Soul to obey God in any instance wherein he did prescribe his pleasure Moreover God was pleased to enter into a Covenant with Adam and with all his Posterity naturally descending from him And this was the effect 1. Of admirable Goodness For by his Supremacy over Man he might have signified his Will meerly by the way of Empire and requir'd Obedience But he was pleased to condescend so far as to deal with Man in a sweeter manner as with a Creature capable of his Love and to work upon him by rewards and punishments congruously to the reasonable Nature 2. Of Wisdom to secure Man's obedience For the Covenant being a mutual engagement between God and Man as it gave him infallible assurance of the reward to strengthen his Faith so it was the surest bond to preserve his Fidelity 'T is true the Precept alone binds by vertue of the authority that imposes it but the consent of the Creature increases the Obligation It twists the cords of the Law and binds more strongly to Obedience Thus Adam was God's servant as by the condition of his nature so by his choice accepting the Covenant from which he could not recede without the guilt and infamy of the worst perfidiousness The terms of the Covenant were becoming the Parties concern'd God and Man It established an inseparable Connexion between Duty and Felicity This appears by the Sanction In the day thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou shalt die In that particular species of Sin the whole genus is included according to the Apostles Exposition Cursed is every one that doth not continue in all the works of the Law to do them The threatning of Death was exprest it being more difficult to be conceiv'd The promise of Life upon his Obedience was implied and easily suggested it self to the rational Mind These were the most proper and powerful motives to excite his Reason and affect his Will For Death primarily signifies the dissolution of the vital union between the Soul and Body and consequently all the preparatory dispositions thereunto Diseases Pains and all the Affections of Mortality which terminate in Death as their center This is the extremest of temporal Evils which innocent Nature shrunk from it being a deprivation of that excellent state which Man enjoyed But principally it signified the separation of the Soul from God's reviving presence who is the only Fountain of Felicity Thus the Law is interpreted by the Lawgiver The Soul that sins shall die Briefly Death in the threatning is comprehensive of all kinds and degrees of evils from the least Pain to the compleatness of Damnation Now 't is an inviolable Principle deeply set in the Human Nature to preserve its being and blessedness so that nothing could be a more powerful restraint from Sin than the fear of Death which is destructive to both This constitution of the Covenant was founded not only in the Will of God but in the nature of the things themselves And this appears by considering 1. That Holiness is more excellent in it self and separately considered than the reward that attends it 'T is the peculiar glory of the Divine Nature God is glorious in Holiness And as He prefers the infinite purity of his Nature before the immortal felicity of his state so he values in the reasonable Creature the vertues by which they represent his Holiness more than their perfect Contentment by which they are like Him in Blessedness Now God is the most just esteemer of things his judgment is the infallible measure of their real worth 't is therefore according to natural order that the Happiness of Man should depend upon his Integrity and the reward be the fruit of his Obedience And although it is impossible that a meer Creature in what state soever should obtain any thing from God by any other title but his voluntary Promise the effect of his Goodness yet 't was such Goodness as God was invited to exercise by the consideration of Mans obedience And as the neglect of his Duty had discharged the Obligation on God's part so the performance gave him a claim by right of the Promise to everlasting Life 2. As the first part of the alliance was most reasonable so was the Second that Death should be the wages of Sin It is not conceivable that God should continue his favour to Man if he turn'd Rebel against Him For this were to disarm the Law and expose the Authority of the Lawgiver to contempt and would reflect upon the Wisdom of God Besides If the reasonable Creature violates the Law it necessarily contracts an obligation to punishment So that if the Sinner who deserves death should enjoy life without satisfaction for the offence or Repentance to qualifie him for pardon both which were without the compass of the first Covenant this would infringe the unchangable rights of Justice and disparage the Divine Purity In the first Covenant there was a special clause which respected Man as the inhabitant of Paradise That he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil upon pain of Death And this Prohibition was upon most wise and just reasons 1. To declare God's Sovereign Right in all things In the quality of Creator he is Supreme Lord. Man enjoyed nothing but by a derived title from his Bounty and Allowance and with an obligation to render to him the Homage of all As Princes when they give estates to their Subjects still retain the Royalty and receive a small rent which though inconsiderable in its value is an acknowledgment of dependance upon them So when God placed Adam in Paradise he reserved this mark of his Soveraignty that in the free use of all other things Man should abstain from the forbidden Tree 2. To make trial of Mans Obedience in a matter very congruous to discover it If the Prohibition had been grounded on any moral internal evil in the nature of the thing it self there had not been so clear a testimony of God's Dominion
the Soul yet to the bringing of it forth the concurrence of the external Faculties is requisite Thus a Voluptuary who is restrain'd from the gross acts of Sensuality by a Disease or Age may be as vicious in his Desires as another who follows the pernicious swing of his Appetite having a vigorous Complexion Briefly The variety of circumstances by which the inward corruption is excited and drawn forth makes a great difference as to the open and visible acts of it Thus an ambitious person who uses Clemency to accomplish his design would exercise Cruelty if 't were necessary to his end 'T is true some are really more temperate and exempted from the tyranny of the flesh than others Cicero was more vertuous than Catiline and Socrates than Aristophanes But these are priviledged persons in whom the efficacy of Divine Providence either by forming them in the Womb or in their Education or by conducting them in their maturer Age hath corrected the malignity of Nature All men have sinn'd and come short of the glory of God's image And that Sin breaks not forth so outragiously in some as in others the restraint is from an higher Principle than common and corrupt Nature 4. This Corruption although natural yet 't is Voluntary and Culpable 1. Voluntary All Habits receive their character from those acts by which they are produced and as the Disobedience of Adam was voluntary so is the Depravation that sprung from it 2. 'T is inherent in the Will If Adam had derived a Leprosie to all Men it were an involuntary evil Because the Diseases of the Body are forreign to the Soul But when the Corruption invades the internal Faculties 't is denominated from the subject wherein 't is seated 3. 'T is the voluntary cause of actual Sins and if the acts proceeding from this corruption are voluntary the principle must be of the same nature 2. 'T is Culpable The formality of Sin consists in its opposition to the Law according to the definition of the Apostle Sin is a transgression of the Law Now the Law requires an entire rectitude in all the Faculties It condemns corrupt inclinations the originals as well as the acts of Sin Besides Concupiscence was not inherent in the humane Nature in its Creation but was contracted by the Fall The Soul is stript of its native Righteousness and Holiness and is invested with contrary qualities There is as great a difference between the corruption of the Soul in its degenerate state and its primitive purity as between the loathsomness of a Carcass and the beauty of a living Body Sad change and to be lamented with tears of confusion That the Sin of Adam should be so fatal to all his Posterity is the most difficult part in the whole order of Divine Providence Nothing more offends carnal Reason which forms many specious Objections against it I will briefly consider them Since God saw that Adam would not resist the Temptation and that upon his Fall the whole race of Mankind which he supported as the foundation would sink into ruine Why did he not confirm him against it was it not within his Power and more suitable to his Wisdome Holiness and Goodness To this I answer 1. The Divine Power could have preserved Man in his Integrity either by laying a restraint on the apostate Angels that they should never have made an attempt upon him or by keeping the Understanding waking and vigilant to discover the danger of the Temptation and by fortifying the Will and rendring it impenetrable to the fiery darts of Satan without any prejudice to its freedom For that doth not consist in an absolute Indifference but in a judicious and deliberate choice so that when the Soul is not led by a blind instinct nor forc'd by a forreign power but embraces what it knows and approves it then enjoyes the most true Liberty Thus in the glorified Spirits above by the full and constant Light of the Mind the Will is indeclinably fixt upon its supreme Good and this is its Crown and Perfection 2. It was most suitable to the Divine Wisdom to leave Man to stand or fall by his own choice 1. To discover the necessary dependance of all Second Causes upon the first No Creature is absolutely impeccable but the most perfect is liable to imperfection He that is essentially is only unchangeably Good Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption The Fall of Angels and Man convince us that there is one sole Beeing immutably Pure and Holy on whom all depend and without whose Influence they cannot be or must be eternally miserable 2. 'T was very fit that Adam should be first in a state of trial before he was confirm'd in his Happiness The reason of it is clear he was left to his own judgment and election that Obedience might be his choice and in the performance of it he might acquire a title to the reward A determining vertue over him had crost the end of his Creation which was to glorifie God in a free manner Therefore in Paradise there were amiable objects to allure the lower Faculties before they were disordered by Sin The forbidden Fruit had beauty to invite the Eye and sweetness to delight the Palate And if upon the competition of the Sensual with the Intellectual Good he had reâ—ected the one and chose the other he had been rais'd to an unchangeable state his Innocence had been crown'd with Perseverance As the Angels who continued in their Duty when the rest revolted are finally establisht in their Integrity and Felicity And the Apostle gives us an account of this order when he tells us That was first which was natural then that which is spiritual and supernatural Man was created in a state of perfection but 't was natural therefore mutable the confirming of him immediatly had been Grace which belongs to a more excellent Dispensation Now to bring Man from not being to a supernatural state without trial of the middle state of Nature was not so congruous to the Divine Wisdome 3. The permission of the Fall doth not reflect on the Divine Purity For 1. Man was made Upright He had no inward Corruption to betray him There was Antidote enough in his Nature to expel the strongest Temptation 2. God was not bound to hinder the commission of Sin 'T is a true Maxime that in debitis causa dâ—ficiens efficit moraliter But God is not only free from subjection to a Law as having no Superiour but was under no voluntary Obligation by Promise to prevent the Fall 3. Neither doth that first Act of Sin reflect on Gods unspotted Providence which suffer'd it as if Sin were in any degree allowed by Him The Holy Law which God gave to direct Man the terrible Threatning annext to warn him declare his irreconcileable Hatred against Sin He permits innumerable Sins every day yeâ— He is as jealous of the Honour of his Holiness now as in the beginning
for ever and is not compleated Secondly Faln Man considered only in his corrupt and miserable state is incapable of real Repentance which is a necessary Condition to qualifie him for Pardon For whereas Repentance includes an ingenuous sorrow for Sin past and a sincere forsaking of it he is utterly indispos'd for both 1. He cannot be ingenuously sorrowful for his offence 'T is true when the circumstances are changed that which was pleasing will cause trouble of Spirit As when a Malefactor suffers for his Crimes he reflects upon his Actions with Sorrow But this hath no moral worth in it For 't is a forc'd act proceeding from a violent Principle and is consistent with as great a love to Sin as he had before and is intirely terminated on himself But that grief which is divine and is accompanied with a change in heart and life respects the stain more than the punishment of Sin and arises from Love to God who is disobeyed and dishonored by it Now 't is not conceivable that the guilty Creature can love God whilst he looks on him as an irreconcileable enemy Distrust of the favour of a person which is a degree of fear is attended with coldness of affection a strong fear which still intimates an uncertainty in the event inclines to hatred But when fear is turn'd into despair it causeth direct hatred An instance of this we have in the Devils who curse the Fountain of Blessedness If the Evil be past Remedy the sence of it is attended with rage and transports of blasphemy against God himself A despairing Sinner begins in this life the gnashing of teeth against his Judg and kindles the fire that shall torment him for ever 'T is for this reason the Scripture propounds the Goodness of God as the most powerful persuasive to lead men to Repentance There can be no kindly relentings without filial Affection and that is alwaies temper'd with the expectation of favour Without hope of Pardon all other motives are ineffectual to melt the heart Now the first Covenant obliged Man to Obedience or Punishment It required Innocence and did not accept of Repentance The final voice of the Law is Do or Die Guilty Man cannot look on God with comfort under the notion of a Holy Creator that delights to view his own resemblance in the innocent creature nor of a compassionate Father that spares an offending Son but he apprehends him to be an inexorable Judge who hath Right and Power to revenge the Disobedience He â—an find no expedient for his Deliverance nor conceive how Mercy can save him without the violation of Justice an Attribute as essential to the Divine Nature as Mercy And what can induce him to make an humble confession of his fault when he expected nothing but an irrevocable Doom An instance of this we have in Adam who being under the conviction of his Sin and an apprehension that God would be severe did not sollicite for Mercy but endeavour'd to transfer the guilt on God himself The woman thou gavest me she gave me of the tree and I did eat As if she had been design'd for a snare and not to be an aid in his innocent state 2. A sincere Resolution to forsake Sin is built on the hopes of Mercy Till the reasonable Creature know that Heaven is open to Repentance to his second and better thoughts he is irreclaimable He that never hopes to receive any good will continue in doing evil Despair of Mercy causeth a despising of the Law The Apostate Angels who are without the reserves of Pardon are confirm'd in their Rebellion their Guilt is mixt with Fury they persist in their war against God though they know the issue will be deadly to them And had there not been an early revelation of Mercy to Adam he had been incorrigibly wicked as the Devils For despair had inflam'd his hatred against God which is of all the Passions the most incureable Those vicious Affections that depend on the humours of the Body which are mutable alter with them But Hatred is seated in the superiour part of the Soul which is of a Spiritual nature and Diabolical in obstinacy In short When the reasonable Creature is guilty and vitious and knows that God is Just and Holy and that He will be severe in revenging all Disobedience he hath no Care nor Desire to reform himself He will not lay a restraint on his pleasing Appetites when he expects no recompence he esteems it lost labour to abstain And all his design is to allay and sweeten the fear of future Evils by present enjoyments When he is scorcht with the apprehensions of wrath to come he plunges himself into sensual excesses for some relief He resolves to make his best of Sin for a time according to the Principle of the Epicures Let us eat and drink while we may to morrow we shall die The Sum of all is this that an unrelenting and unreformed Sinner is incapable of Pardon For unless God should renounce his own Nature and deny his Deity He cannot receive him to favour And it is inconceivable how the rational Creature once lapsed should ever be encourag'd to Repentance without the expectation of Mercy And there being an inseparable alliance between the integrity and felicity of Man by the terms of the first Covenant the one failing he could not entertain the least degree of Hope concerning the other By all which it appears he is under an invincible necessity of sinning and suffering for ever his Misery is compleat and desperate CHAP. V. Of the Divine Wisdome in the contrivance of Man 's Redemption Understanding agents propound an End and choose Means for the obtaining it The End of God is of the highest consequence his own Glory and Man's Recovery The difficulty of accomplishing it The Means are proportionable The Divine Wisdome glorified in taking occasion from the Sin and Fall of Man to bring Glory to God and to raise Man to a more excellent State It appears in ordaining such a Mediator as was fit to reconcile God to Man and Man to God 'T is discovered in the designation of the Second Person to be our Saviour And making the Remedy to have a proportion to the cause of our Ruine 'T is visible in the manner whereby our Redemption is accomplisht And in the ordaining such contemptible means to produce such glorious effects And laying the design of the Gospel so as to provide for the comfort and promote the holiness of Man GOD by his infallible Prescience to which all things are eternally present viewing the Fall of Adam and that all Mankind lay bleeding in him out of deep compassion to his Creature and that the Devil might not be finally victorious over him in his Councel decreed the Recovery of Man from his languishing and miserable state The design and the means are most worthy of God and in both his Wisdom appears This will be made visible by considering that
the natural understanding to discover the mystery of Redemption when those that had the highest reputation for wisdom were ignorant of the Creation The Philosophers were divided in nothing more then in their account of the Worlds Original Some imagin'd it to proceed from Water others from Fire some from Order others from Confusion some to be from Eternity others in Time If the Souls eye be so weakned as not to see that Eternal Power which is so apparent in its effects much less could it pierce into the Will and free determinations of God of which there is not the least intimation or shadow in the things that are made This Wisdom comes from above and was hidden from Ages and Generations 'T is called the Mystery of Christ he is the Object and Revealer of it The Mystery of Faith the discovery of which was by pure Revelation The Mystery of his Will an inviolable Secret till he was pleased to make it known Were the humane understanding as clear as 't is corrupt yet it cannot by the strength of discourse arrive to the knowledge of it Supernatural Revelation was necessary to discover it to the Angels The thoughts of Men are a secret into which the Creator alone hath right to enter it being his prerogative to search the heart The Angels conjecture only from the dispositions of Men from outward circumstances from the Images in the Fancy and from material impressions on the Blood and Spirits what are the thoughts of the Heart and much less can they discover the Counsel of God himself The Apostle tells us to Principalities and Powers in heavenly places by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God is made known By the first coming of Christ and the conversion of the World the depths of the Divine Wisdom were opened and there remains much undiscover'd which his second coming shall gloriously make known Before the first they understood not the foundation til the second not the perfection of our recovery Briefly the Spirit that searches the mysterious Counsels of God is the alone Intelligencer of Heaven that reveals them to the world And the more to incite us with sincere and humble Thankfulness to acknowledg this invaluable Mercy it will be useful to reflect on the state of the Heathen world who are intirely ignorant of this Mystery The Apostle describes the case of the Gentiles in such terms as argue it to be extreamly dangerous if not desperate Their understandings were darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them They were without Christ aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of the Promise without hope They had no sense of their misery no expectation nor desire of Mercy Not only the barbarous and savage but the polisht and civiliz'd Nations are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being without the knowledg of the true God and of a Saviour Philosophy never made one Believer And as the want of a Sovereign Remedy exposes a man that hath a mortal Disease to certain ruin so the single Ignorance of the Gospel leaves men in a state of Perdition 'T is true where the Faculties are not capable or the Object is not revealed God doth not impute the want of Knowledg as a crime But Salvation is obtain'd only by the Covenant of Grace which is founded in the Satisfaction of the Redeemer And 't is by the knowledg of him that he justifies many God would have all men saved by coming to the knowledg of the Truth that is the Doctrine of the Gospel so called in respect of its excellency being the most profitable that ever was reveal'd The Infants of Believers are sav'd by special Priviledg for the merits of Christ without any apprehension of him But others who are come to the use of Reason and made partakers of Blessedness by the Knowledg of God in Christ. This is Life eternal to know thee to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The Sun quickens some creatures by its vital Influences which are buried in the caves of the Earth and never see the Light But the Sun of Righteousness illuminates all whom he saves What degree of Knowledg is necessary of the Dignity of his Person and the Efficacy of his Mediation I cannot determine But that the Heathens who are absolutely strangers to the only means of our recovery and do not believe on God reconciled in the Son of his Love should partake of Saving Mercy I do not see any thing in the Gospel which is the revelation of God's Will concerning our Salvation upon which to build a rational Hope Indeed if any Heathen were seriously penitent God is so merciful that He would rather dispatch an Angel from Heaven saying Deliver him from going down into the pit I have found a ransome or by some other extraordinary way instruct him in the necessary knowledg of our Saviour than suffer him to perish to the prejudice of his Mercy But Repentance as well as Forgiveness is purchased dispenced alone by our Saviour And that any received this benefit who are intirely ignorant of the Benefactor we cannot tell Now this should raise our esteem of the discriminating favour of God to us What a flood of Errors and Miseries cover'd the Earth when the Grace of God that brings Salvation first appeared The Deluge was universal and so was the Destruction Those that were most renowned for Wisdom the Philosophers of Greece and the Orators of Rome were swallowed up only the Church of Christ is triumphant over the merciless waters When Noah from the top of the Mountain saw the sad remains of that dreadful Inundation what a lively sense of Joy possest his breast As Misery is heightened so Happiness is set off by comparison Not that there is any regular content to see the destruction of others but the sense of our own preservation from a common ruine raises our joy to its highest elevation The first work of Noah after his deliverance was to build an Altar on which to offer the Sacrifices of Thanksgiving to his Preserver We should imitate his Example How many Nations unknown to our world remain in the Darkness and Shadow of Death now the Day-spring from on High hath visited us This special Favour calls for special Thankfulness Were there any qualities in us to encline God to prefer us before others it would lessen our esteem of the Benefit But this distinguishing Mercy is one of those free Acts of God for which there is no reason in the objects on which they are exercised St. Austin calls it Profundum Crucis As the lowest part of the Cross is under ground unseen but the upper part is exposed to sight So the effects of Divine Predestination the fruits of the Cross are visible but the Reasons are not within our view When God divided the world and chose Israel for his
happy therefore he wishes there were no God to whom he must be accountable He is no more wrought on by the Divine perfections and beauties to love the Deity than a guilty person who resolvedly goes on to break the Laws can be perswaded to love the Judge for his excellent knowledg and his inflexible integrity who will certainly condemn him Besides the great and abundant blessings which God as Creator and Preserver bestows upon all cannot prevail upon guilty Creatures to love him Indeed the goodness that raised us from a state of nothing is unspeakably great and layes an Eternal Obligation upon us The whole stock of our affections is due to Him for conferring upon us the humane Nature that is common to Kings and the meanest Beggar All the Riches and Dignity of the greatest Prince whereby he exceeds the poorest Wretch compared to this benefit which they both share in have no more proportion than a Farthing to an immense Treasure The Innumerable Expressions of God's Love to us every Day should infinitely endear Him to us For who is so inhumane as not to love his Parents or his Friend who defended him from his deadly Enemies or relieved him in his poverty especially if the vein of his bounty be not dryed up but alwayes diffuses it self in new favours If we love the memory of that Emperour who reflecting upon one day that past without his bestowing some benefit with grief said Diem perdidi I have lost a day how much more should we love God who every moment bestows innumerable blessings upon his Creatures But sinful Man hath contracted such an unnatural hardness that he receives no impressions from the renewed Mercies of God He violates the Principles of Nature and Reason For how unnatural is it not to love our Benefactour when the dull Ox and the stupid Ass serve those that feed them and how unreasonable when the Publicans return love for love Now there is nothing that can perfectly overcome our hatred but the consideration of that Love which hath freed us from Eternal Misery for the guilty Creature will be alwayes suspicious that notwithstanding the ordinary benefits of Providence God is an enemy to it and till Man is convinced that in loving God he most truly loves himself he will never sincerely affect him This was one great design of God in the Way as well as in the Work of our Redemption to gain our hearts intirely to himself He saves us in the most endearing and obliging manner As Davids affection declared its self I will not serve the Lord with that which cost me nothing So God would not save Man with that which cost him nothing but with the dearest price hath purchased a Title to our Love God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself as well as through Christ reconciling himself to the World He hath propounded such Arguments for our Love so powerful and sublime that Adam in Innocence was unacquainted with He sent down his own Bowels to testifie His Affection to us And that should be the greatest indearment of our Love which was the greatest evidence of his And if we consider the Person of our Redeemer what more worthy object of our affection than Christ And Christ dying with all the circumstances of dishonour and pain and dying thus for Love and this Love terminated on Man If He had no attractive excellencies in himself yet his dying for us should make him infinitely precious and dear to our Souls He is more amiable on the Cross than in the Throne For there we see the clearest Testimony and the most Glorious Triumph of his Love There he endured the Anger of Heaven and the scorn of the Earth There we might see Joy sadned Faith fearing Salvation suffering and Life dying Blessed Redeemer what couldst thou have done or Suffered more to quicken our dead Powers and inflame our cold Hearts toward thee How can we remember thy bleeding dying Love without an Extasy of affection If we are not more insensible than the Rocks 't is impossible but we must be toucht and softened by it Suppose an Angel by special delegation had been enabled to have trod Satan under our feet our obligations to him had been inexpressible and our love might have been intercepted from ascending to our Creator For Salvation is a greater benefit than the meer giving to us our natural being As the privation of felicity with the actual misery that is joyned with it is infinitely worse than the negation of being Our Lord pronounced concerning Judas It had been good for that Man that he had never been born Redeeming Goodness exceeds creating Now the Son of God that he might have our highest Love alone wrought Salvation for us And what admirable Goodness is it that he puts a value upon our affection and accepts such a small return our most intense and ardent love bears no more proportion to his than a spark to the Element of Fire Besides His Love to us was pure and without any benefit to himself but ours to him is profitable to our Souls for their eternal advantage Yet with this He is fully satisfied when we love Him in the quality of a Saviour we give Him the Glory of that he designs most to be Glorified in that is of his Mercy to the miserable For this reason he instituted the Sacrament of the Supper the contrivance of his Love to refresh the memory of his Death and quicken our fainting love to him Now the Love that our Saviour requires must be 1. Sincere and Unfeigned This declares it self by a care to please Him in all things If a Man love me saith our Saviour he will keep my Commandments Obedience is the most natural and necessary product of Love For Love is the spring of Action and employs all the faculties in the service of the person loved The Apostle expresses the force of it by an emphatical Word The Love of Christ constrains us it signifies to have one bound and so much under power that he cannot move without leave As the inspired Prophets were carried by the Spirit and intirely acted by his motions Such an absolute Empire had the Love of Christ over him ruling all the inclinations of his Heart and actions of his Life 'T is this alone makes Obedience chearful and constant For Love is seated in the Will and the Obedience that proceeds from it is out of choice and purely voluntary No Commandment is grievous that is performed from Love And it makes Obedience constant that which is forced from the impression of fear is unsteadfast but what is mixt with delight is lasting 2. Our Love to Christ must be supreme exceeding that which is given to all inferiour Objects The most elevated and entire Affection is due to Him who saves us from Torments that are extreme and eternal and bestows upon us an Inheritance immortal and undefiled Life it self and all the endearments of it Relations Estates
that is the Condition upon which God absolves Man from his guilt And this Grace of Faith as it respects entire Christ in all his Offices so it contains the Seed and first Life of Evangelical Obedience It crucifies our Lusts overcomes the World works by Love as well as justifies the person by relying on the Merits of Christ for Salvation 2 Adoption into Gods Family the purchase of Christ's Meritorious Sufferings who Redeemed us from the Servitude of Sin and Death is conferr'd upon us in Regeneration For this Prerogative consists not meerly in an Extrinsick Relation to God and a title to the Eternal Inheritance but in our participation of the Divine Nature whereby we are the living Images of Gods Holiness Civil Adoption gives the title but not the reality of a Son But the Divine is efficacious and changes us into the real likeness of our Heavenly Father We cannot enter into this state of Favour but upon our cleansing from all Impurity Be separate from the pollutions of the profane world and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty These are the indispensable terms upon which we are received into that honourable Alliance None can enjoy the Priviledge but those that yield the Obedience of Children 3. Holiness is the Condition on which our future Blessedness depends Electing Mercy doth not produce our Glorification immediately but begins in our Vocation and Justification which are the intermediate Links in the Chain of Salvation As Natural Causes work on a distant object by passing through the medium God first gives Grace then Glory The everlasting Covenant that is sealed by the Blood of Christ establishes the connexion between them Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The exclusion of all others is peremptory and universal Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. The Righteousness of the Kingdom is the only way of entring into it A few good actions scattered in our lives are not availeable but a course of Obedience brings to Happiness Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality shall inherit eternal life This is not a mere positive Appointment but grounded on the unchangeable respect of things There is a rational convenience between Holiness and Happiness according to the Wisdom and Goodness of God and 't is exprest in Scripture by the natural relation of the Seed to the Harvest both as to the quality and measure What a man sows that shall he reap We must be like God in purity before we can be in felicity Indeed 't would be a disparagement to Gods Holiness and pollute Heaven it self to receive unsanctified Persons as impure as those in Hell 'T is equally impossible for the Creature to be happy without the favour of the Holy God and for God to communicate His favour to the sinful Creature Briefly according to the Law of Faith no wicked Person hath any right to the Satisfaction Christ made nor to the Inheritance he purchased for Believers 3. Man in his corrupt state is deprived of Spiritual Life so that till he is revived by special Grace he can neither obey nor enjoy God Now the Redeemer is made a quickning Principle to inspire us with new life In order to our Sanctification he hath done four things First He hath given to us the most perfect Laws as the Rule of Holiness Secondly He exhibited the most compleat Patern of Holiness in his Life upon the Earth Thirdly He purchas'd and conveyes the Spirit of Holiness to renew and to enable us for the performance of our Duties Fourthly He hath presented the strongest inducements and motives to perswade us to be Holy First He hath given to Men the most perfect Laws as the rule of Holiness The principal parts of the Holy Life are ceasing from evil and the doing well Now the Commands of Christ refer to the purifying of us from sin and the adorning us with all Graces for the discharge of our universal Duty 1. They enjoyn a real and absolute separation from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit The outward and inward Man must be cleansed not only from Pollutions of a deeper dy but from all Carnality and Hypocrisie The Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching them to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts. All those irregular and impetuous desires which are raised by worldly Objects Honours Riches and Pleasures and reign in worldly Men Pride Covetousness and Voluptuousness The Gospel is most clear full and vehement for the true and inward Mortification of the whole body of corruption of every particular darling sin It commands us to pluck out the right eye and to cut off the right hand That is to part with every grateful and gainful lust It obliges us to crucifie the Flesh with the affections and lusts Humane Laws regard External actions as prejudicial to Societies but thoughts and resolutions that break not forth into act are not within the Jurisdiction of the Magistrate But the Law of Christ reforms the powers of the Soul and all the most secret and inward motions that depend upon them It forbids the first irregular desires of the carnal appetite We must hate sin in all its degrees strangle it in the birth destroy it in the conception We are enjoyned to fly the appearances and accesses of evil what ever is of a suspitious nature and not fully consistent with the purity of the Gospel and what ever invites to sin and exposes us to the power of it becomes vicious and must be avoided That glorious purity that shall adorn the Church when our Redeemer presents it without spot or wrinkle or any such thing every Christian must aspire to in this Life In short the Gospel commands us to be Holy as God is Holy who is infinitely distant from the least conceivable pollution 2. The Precepts of Christ contain all solid substantial goodness that is essentially necessary in order to our supreme Happiness and prepares us for the Life of Heaven In his Sermon on the Mount He commends to us Humility Meekness and Mercy Peaceableness and Patience and doing good for evil which are so many beams of Gods Image the reflections of his Goodness upon intelligent Creatures And that comprehensive precept of the Apostle describes the Duties of all Christians whatsoever things are true Truth is the principal character of our profession and is to be exprest in our Words and Actions whatsoever things are honest or venerable that is answer the dignity of our High-calling and agree with the gravity and comeliness of the Christian profession whatsoever things are just according to Divine and Humane Laws whatsoever things are pure we must preserve the Heart the Hand the Tongue the Eye from impurity whatsoever things are lovely and of good report some
Repentance and Faith which are humbling Graces to be the conditions of our obtaining Pardon By Repentance we acknowledge that if we are condemned 't is just severity and if we are Saved 't is rich Mercy And Faith absolutely excludes boasting For it supposes the Creature guilty and receives Pardon from the Sovereign Grace of God upon the account of our Crucified Redeemer The benefit and the manner of our receiving it was typified in the miraculous cure of the Israelites by looking up to the Brasen Serpent For the act of seeing is performed by receiving the Images which are derived from the objects 't is rather a Passion then an Action that it might appear that the healing Virtue was meerly from the Power of God and the Honor of it intirely his In short God had respect to the lowliness of this Grace in appointing it to be the qualification of a Justified person for the most firm reliance on Gods Mercy is alwayes joyned with the strongest renouncing of our own Merits Briefly to excite humility in us the Gospel tells us that the Glorious reward is from rich bounty and liberality The gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As the Election of us to Glory so the actual possession of it proceeds from pure Favour There is no more proportion between all our Services and that High and Eternal felicity than between the running a few steps and the obtaining an Imperial Crown Indeed not only Heaven but all the Graces that are necessary to purify and prepare us for it we receive from undeserved Mercy So that God crowns in us not our proper Works but his own proper Gifts 2. The Gospel strictly commands Self-denial when the Honor of God and Religion is concern'd Jesus tells his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Life and all the endearments of it Estates Honours Relations Pleasures must be put under our feet to take the first step with our Redeemer This is absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian In the preparation of his mind and the resolution of his will he must live a Martyr and whensoever his duty requires he must break all the Retinacula Vitae the voluntary bands that fasten us to the World and die a Martyr rather than suffer a divorce to be made between his Heart and Christ. Whatsoever is most esteem'd and lov'd in the world must be parted with as a snare if it tempts us from our Obedience or offered up as a Sacrifice when the Glory of God calls for it And this command that appears so hard to sense is most just and reasonable For God hath by so many titles a right to us that we ought to make an intire Dedication of our selves and our most valuable interests to him Our Redeemer infinitely denied himself to save us and 't is most just we should in gratitude deny our selves to serve him Besides an infinite advantage redounds to us for our Saviour assures us that whosoever will save his life when 't is inconsistent with the performance of his duty shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for his sake shall find it Now what is more prudent than of two evils that are propounded to choose the least that is Temporal Death rather than Eternal and of two goods that are offered to our choice to prefer the greater a Life in Heaven before that on the Earth Especially if we consider that we must shortly yeeld the present life to the infirmities of Nature and 't is the richest traffick to exchange that which is frail and mortal for that which remains in its perfection for ever 3. The Gospel enjoyns Universal Love among Men. This is that fire which Christ came to kindle upon the Earth 't is the abridgment of all Christian perperfection the fulfilling of the Divine Law for all the particular Precepts are in substance Love He that loves his Neighbor will have a tender regard to his Life Honour and Estate which is the sum of the second Table The extent of our Love must be to all that partake of the same common nature The universal consanguinity between Men should make us regard them as our allies Every Man that wants our help is our Neighbour Do good to all is the command of the Apostle For the quality of our Love it must be unfeigned without dissimulation The Image of it in Words without real Effects provokes the Divine displeasure for as all falshood is odious to the God of Truth so especially the counterfeiting of Charity that is the impression of his Spirit and the seal of his Kingdom A sincere pure affection that rejoyces at the good and resents the evils of others as our own and expresses it self in all real Offices not for our private respects but their benefit is required of us And as to the degree of our Love we are commanded above all things to have fervent Charity among our selves This principally respects Christians who are united by so many sacred and amiable bands as being formed of the same Eternal Seed Children of the same Heavenly Father and joynt-Heirs of the same Glorious Inheritance Christian Charity hath a more noble Principle than the affections of nature for it proceeds from the Love of God shed abroad in Believers to make them one Heart and one Soul and a more Divine pattern which is the Example of Christ Who hath by his Sufferings restored us to the Favour of God that we should Love one another as He hath Loved us This Duty is most stricty injoyn'd for without Love Angelical Eloquence is but an empty noise and all other Virtues have but a false lustre Prophesie Faith Knowledge Miracles the highest outward Acts of Charity or Self-denial the giving our Estates to the Poor or Bodies to Martyrdom are neither pleasing to God nor profitable to him that does them Besides That special branch of Love the forgiving of Injuries is the peculiar Precept of our Saviour For the whole World consents to the returning evil for evil The vicious Love of our selves makes us very sensible and according to our preverse judgments to revenge an injury seems as just as to requite a benefit From hence revenge is the most Rebellious and Obstinate Passion An Offence remains as a thorn in the mind that inflames and torments it till 't is appeased by a vindication 'T is more difficult to overcome the Spirit then to gain a Battel We are apt to revolve in our thoughts injuries that have been done to us and after a long distance of time the memory represents them as fresh as at the first Now the Gospel commands a hearty and intire forgiveness of injuries though repeated never so often to seventy seven times We must not only quench the Fire of Anger but kindle the Fire of Love towards our greatest Enemies I say unto you Love your Enemies
Bless them that Curse you do good to them that hate you Pray for them which despitefully use you and Persecute you This is urged from the consideration of God's forgiving us who being infinitely provoked yet pardons innumerable faults to us moved only by his Mercy And how reasonable is it that we should at his command remit a few faults to our Brethren To extinguish the strong inclination that is in corrupt Nature to revenge our Saviour hath suspended the Promise of Pardon to us upon our pardoning others For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses He that is cruel to another cannot expect Mercy but in every Prayer to God indites himself and virtually pronounces his own Condemnation 4. The Gospel enjoins Contentment in every state which is our great Duty and Felicity mainly influential upon our whole life to prevent both Sin and Misery Be content with such things as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee It forbids all Murmurings against Providence which is the seed of Rebellion and all anxious thoughts concerning things future Take no thought for to morrow we should not anticipate evils by our apprehensions and fears they come fast enough Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof Our corrupt Desires are vast and restless as the Sea and when contradicted they betray us to Discontent and Disobedience The Gospel therefore retrenches all inordinate Affections and vehemently condemns Covetousness as a Vice not to be named among Saints but with abhorrency It discovers to us most clearly that temporal things are not the materials of our Happiness For the Son of God voluntarily denied himself the enjoyment of them And as the highest Stars are so much distant from an Eclipse as they are above the Shadow of the Earth so the Soul that in its esteem and desires is above the world its brightness and joy cannot be darkened or eclipsed by any accidents there The Gospel forbids all vain Sorrows as well as vain Pleasures and distinguishes real Godliness from an appearance by contentment as its inseparable Character Godliness with Content is great gain When we are in the saddest circumstances our Saviour commands us to possess our Souls in Patience to preserve a calm Constitution of Spirit which no storms from without can discompose For this end he assures us that nothing comes to pass without the Knowledge and Efficiency or at least Permission of God That the Hâ—irs of our Head are numbred and not one falls to the Earth without his License Now the serious belief of a Wise Just and Powerful Providence that governs all things hath a mighty efficacy to maintain a constant tranquillity and equal temper in the Soul amidst the confusions of the World God works all things according to the counsel of his own will and if we could discover the immediate reasons of every Providence we cannot have more satisfaction then from this General Principle that is applicable to all as light to every colour That what God doth is always best This resolves all the doubts of the most intangled minds and rectifies our false judgments From hence a Believer hath as true content in complying with God's Will as if God had complyed with his and is reconciled to every condition Besides the Gospel assures us that all things work together for the good of those that love God For their Spiritual good at present by weakening their corruptions for affliction is a kind of manage by which the sensual part is exercised and made pliable to the motions of the Spirit and by increasing their Graces the unvaluable Treasures of Heaven If the dearest Objects of our Affections the most worthy of our Love and Grief are taken away 't is for this reason that God may have our Love himself in its most full and inflamed degree And Afflictions are in order to their Everlasting good Now the certain expectation of a blessed issue out of all troubles is to the Heart of a Christian as the putting a Rudder to a Ship which without it is exposed to the fury of the winds and in continual dangers but by its guidance makes use of every Wind to convey it to its Port. Hope produces not only acquiescence but joy in the sharpest Tribulations For every true Christian being ordained to a Glorious and Supernatural Blessedness hereafter all things that befal them here below as means are regulated and transformed into the nature of the End to which they carry them Thus temporal evils are turned into good Our light Afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory To consider this Life as the passage to another that is as durable as Eternity and as blessed as the Enjoyment of God can make it that the present miseries have a final respect to future Happiness will change our opinion about them and render them not only tolerable but so far eligible as they are instrumental and preparatory for it If the Bloody as well as the Milky way leads to God's Throne a Christian willingly walks in it In short A lively Hope accompanies a Christian to his last expiring breath till it is consummated in Celestial fruition So that Death it self the universal terror of Mankind is made desirable as an entrance into Immortality and the first day of our Triumph Thus I have considered some particular Precepts of Christ which are of greatest use for the government of our Hearts and Lives and the reasons upon which they are grounded to make them effectual Now to discover more fully the compleatness of the Evangelical Rule I will consider it with respect to the Law of Moses and the Philosophy of the Heathens CHAP. XVII The Perfection of Christ's Laws appears by comparing them with the Precepts of Moses The Temple-Service was manag'd with Pomp suitable to the disposition of the Jews and the dispensation of the Law The Christian Service is Pure and Spiritual The Levitical Ceremonies and Ornaments are excluded from it not only as unnecessary but inconsist with its Spirituality The obligation to the Rituals of Moses is abolisht to introduce real Righteousness The Indulgence of Polygamy and Divorce is taken away by Christ and Marriage restored to its Primitive Purity He clear'd the Law from the darkening Glosses of the Pharisees And enforc'd it by new Obligations The Law of Christ exceeds the Rules which the highest Masters of Morality in the School of Nature ever prescribed Philosophy is defective as to Piety and in several things contrary to it Philosophers delivered unworthy Conceptions of God Philosophy doth not enjoin the Love of God which is the first and great Command of the Natural Law Philosophers lay down the servile Maxime To comply with the common Idolatry They arrogated to themselves the praise of
their Vertue and Happiness Philosophy doth not propound the Glory of God for the Supream End of all Humane Actions Philosophy is defective as to the Duties respecting our selves and others It allowes the first sinful motions of the lower Appetites The Stoicks renounce the Passions Philosophy insufficient to form the Soul to Patience and Content under Afflictions and to support in the hour of Death A Reflection upon some Immoral Maxims of the several Sects of Philosophers THe Perfection of the Laws of Christ will further appear by comparing them with the Precepts of Moses and with the Rules which the highest Masters of Morality in the School of Nature have prescribed for the directing our lives The Gospel exceeds the Mosaical Institution 1. In ordaining a Service that is Pure Spiritual and Divine consisting in the Contemplation Love and Praises of God such as the holy Angels perform above The Temple-Service was managed with Pomp and external Magnificence suitable to the disposition of that People and the dispensation of the Law The Church was then in its Infant-state as St. Paul expresses it and that Age is more wrought on by Sense than Reason For such is the subordination of our Faculties that the vegetative first acts then the sensitive then the rational as the organs appointed for its use acquire perfection The knowledg of the Jews was obscure and imperfect and the external part of their Religion was ordered in such a manner that the senses were much affected Their Lights Perfumes Musick and Sacrifices were the proper entertainment of their external Faculties Besides being encompast with Nations whose Service to their Idols was full of Ceremonies to render the temptation ineffectual and take off from the efficacy of those allurements which might seduce them to the imitation of Idolatry God ordain'd his Service to be performed with great splendour Add further The Dispensation of the Law was typical and mysterious representing by visible material objects and their power to ravish the Senses Spiritual things and their efficacy to work upon the Soul But our Redeemer hath rent the Vail and brought forth Heavenly things into a full Day and the clearest Evidence Whereas Moses was very exact in describing the numerous Ceremonies of the Jewish Religion the quality of their Sacrifices the Place the Persons by whom they must be prepared and presented to the Lord We are now commanded to draw near to God with cleansed hands and purified hearts and that Men Pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Every place is a Temple and every Christian a Priest to offer up Spiritual Incense to God The most of the Levitical Ceremonies and Ornaments are excluded from the Christian Service not only as unnecessary but inconsistent with its Spiritualness As Paint they corrupt the native beauty of Religion The Apostle tells us that humane Eloquence was not used in the first preaching of the Gospel lest it should render the truth of it uncertain and rob the Cross of Christ of its Glory in converting the World for 〈◊〉 would be apt to imagine that 't was not the supernatural vertue of the Doctrine and the efficacy of its Reasons but the artifice of Orators that overcame the spirits of Men So if the Service of the Gospel were made so pompous the Worshippers would be enclin'd to believe that the external part was the most principal and to content themselves in that without the aims and affections of the Soul which are the life of all our Services Besides upon another account outward Pomp in Religion is apter to quench than enâ—â—ame Devotion For we are so compounded of Flesh and Spirit that when the corporeal Faculties are vehemently affected with their objects 't is very hard for the Spiritual to act with equal vigour there being such commerce between the fancy and the outward Senses that they are never exercised in the reception of their objects but the Imagination is drawn that way and cannot present to the mind distinctly and with the calmness that is requisit those things on which our thoughts should be fixt But when those diverting objects are removed the Soul directly ascends to God and looks on him as the Searcher and Judge of the Heart and worships him proportionally to his perfections That this was the design of Christ appears particularly in the Institution of the Sacraments which he ordained in a merciful condescension to our present state for there is a natural desirâ— in us to have pledges of things promis'd therefore he was pleased to add to the Declaration of his Will in the Gospel the Sacraments as confirming seals of his Love by which the application of his Benefits is more special and the representation more lively than that which is meerlâ— by the Word But they are few in number on Baptism and the Lords Supper simple in their nature and easy in their signification most fit to relieve our infirmity and to raise our Souls to Heavenly things Briefly the Service of the Gospel is answerable to the excellent light of knowledge shed abroad in the hearts of Christians 2. Our Redeemer hath abolisht all obligation to the other Rituals of Moses to introduce that real Righteousness which was signified by them The carnal Commandments given to the Jews are called Statutes that were not good either in respect of their matter not being perfective of the humane nature or their effect for they brought Death to the disobedient not Life to the Obedient the most strict observation of them did not make the performers either better or more happy But Christians are dead to these Elements that is perfectly freed from subjection to them The Kingdom of God consists not in Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost for he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. We are commanded to purge out the old leaven of Malice and Wickedness that sowers and swells the mind and to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth We are obliged to be free from the moral imperfections the vices and passions which were represented by the natural qualities of those Creatures which were forbidden to the Jews and to purify the Heart instead of the frequent washings under the Law But the Gospel frees us from the intolerable yoke of the legal abstinencies observations and disciplines the amusements of low and servile Spirits wherewith they would compensate their defects in real Holiness and exchange the substance of Religion for the shadow and colours of it For this reason the Apostle is severe against those who would joyn the fringes of Moses to the robe of Christ. 3. The indulgence of Polygamy and Divorce that was granted to the Jews is taken away by Christ and Marriage restored to the purity of its first Institution The permission of these was by a political Law and the effect was temporal Impunity For God is to be considered
Accordingly all their Precepts reach no farther than the Counsels of the Heart But the desires and motions of the lower faculties though very culpable are left by them indifferent So that 't is evident that many defilements and stains are in their purgative vertues 2. The Stoicks not being able to reconcile the passions with reason wholly renounced them Their Philosophy is like the River in Thrace Quod potum saxea reddit Viscera quod tactis inducit marmora rebus For by a fiction of fancy they turn their vertuous Person into a Statue that feels neither the inclinations of Love nor aversions of hatred that is not toucht with Joy or Sorrow that is exempt from Fears and Hopes The tender and melting affections of nature towards the misery of others they intirely extinguish as unbecoming perfect Vertue They attribute Wisdom to none but whom they rob of Humanity Now as 't is the ordinary effect of folly to run into one extreme by avoiding another so 't is most visibly here For the Affections are not like poisonous plants to be eradicated but as wild to be cultivated They were at first set in the fresh soil of Mans nature by the hand of God And the Scripture describes the Divine perfections and the actions proceeding from them by terms borrowed from humane affections which proves them to be innocent in their own nature Plutarch observes when Lycurgus commanded to cut up all the Vines in Sparta to prevent Drunkenness he should rather have made Fountains by them to allay the heat of the Wines and make them beneficial So true Wisdom prescribes how to moderate and temper the affections not to destroy them 'T is true they are now sinfully inclin'd yet being removed from Carnal to Spiritual objects they are excellently serviceable As Reason is to guide the Affections so they are to excite Reason whose operations would be languid without them The natures that are purely spiritual as the Angels have an understanding so clear as suddenly to discover in objects their qualiteis and to feel their efficacy but Man is compounded of two natures and the matter of his body obscures the light of his mind that he cannot make such a full discovery of good or evil at the first view as may be requisite to quicken his pursuit of the one and flight from the other Now the Affections awaken the vigour of the Mind to make an earnest application to its object They are as the Winds which although sometimes tempestuous yet are necessary to convey the Ship to the Port. So that 't is contumelious to the Creator and injurious to the humane nature to take them away as absolutely vicious The Lord Jesus who was pure and perfect exprest all humane affections according to the quality of the objects presented to him And his Law requires us not to mortifie but to purify consecrate and employ them for spiritual and honourable uses 4. Philosophy is ineffectual by all its Rules to form the Soul to true Patience and Contentment under sufferings Now considering the variety and greatness of the changes and calamitys to which the present life is obnoxious there is no Vertue more necessary And if we look into the World before Christianity had reform'd the thoughts and language of Men we shall discover their miserable errours upon the account of the seeming confusion in humane affairs the unequal distribution of temporal good and evils here below If the Heathens saw Injustice triumph over Innocence and crimes worthy of the severest punishment crown'd with Prosperity if a young man dyed who in their esteem deserved to live for ever and a vicious person lived an age who was unworthy to be born they complained that the World was not governed according to Righteousness but rash fortune or blind fate ruled all As the Pharisee in the Gospel seeing the Woman that had been a notorious sinner so kindly received by Christ said within himself If this Man were a Prophet he would know who it is that touches him So they concluded if there were a Providence that did see and take care of sublunary things that did not only permit but dispose of all affairs it would make a visible distinction between the Vertuous and the Wicked 'T is true God did not to leave the Gentiles without a witness of himself for sometimes the reasons of his Providence in the great changes of the World were so conspicuous that they might discover an eye in the Scepter that his Government was managed with infinite Wisdom Other Providences were vail'd and mysterious and the sight of those that were clear should have induc'd them to believe the Justice and Wisdom of those they could not comprehend As Socrates having read a Book of Heraclitus a great Philosopher but studiously obscure and his Judgment being demanded concerning it reply'd that what he understood was very rational and he thought what he did not understand was so But they did not wisely consider things The present sense of troubles tempted them either to deny Providence or accuse it Every day some unhappy wretch or other reproacht their Gods for the disasters he suffered Now the end of Philosophy was to redress these evils to make an afflicted to be a contented state The Philosophers speak much of the Power of their Precepts to establish the Soul in the instability of worldly things to put it into an impregnable fortress by its situation above the most terrible accidents They boasted in a Poetical bravery of their Victories over Fortune that they despised its flattery in a calm and its fury in a storm and in every place erect Trophies to Vertue triumphing over it These are great words and sound high but are empty of substance and reality Upon tryal we shall find that all their Armour though polish't and shining yet is not of proof against sharp Afflictions The Arguments they used for comfort are taken 1. From necessity that we are born to Sufferings the Laws of humanity which are unchangeble subject us to them But this consideration is not only ineffectual to cause true contentment but produces the contrary effect As the strength of Egypt is decribed to be like a reed that will pierce the hand instead of suporting it For our desires after freedom from miseries are inviolable so that every evil the more fatal and inevitable 't is the more it afflicts us If there be no way of escape the Spirit is overcome by impatience or dispair 2. From reflexion upon the miseries that befal others But this kind of consolation is vicious in its cause proceeding from secret envy and uncharitableness There is little difference between him that regards anothers misery to lessen his own and those who take pleasure in other afflictions And it administers no real comfort If a thousand drink of the waters of Marah they are not less bitter 3. Others sought for ease under sufferings by remembering the pleasures that were formerly enjoyed But
devoted themselves to Death The Spirit of Holiness who formes the powerful and lasting habits of true Vertue in the Soul that effectually enclines from the Love of God and with an intention for his Glory to obey his Will as it was purchas'd by Jesus Christ so it is peculiar to the Dispensation of the Gospel that reveals Him The Doctrine of it is not delivered with so much Pomp but with infinite more efficacy than the most eloquent Instructions of Philosophers One plain Sermon that represents Christ as Crucified before our eyes to obtain Pardon of Sin for us inflames the Soul with a more ardent Love to God and vehement hatred of Sin than all their elegant and sublime Discourses There is the same difference between their Morals and the Evangelical Institution as between two Nurses The one is adorned and looks lovely to the eye but wants Milk to nourish the Infant in her Arms the other is not so amiable in appearance but hath a living spring of Milk to nourish her Child Philosophy hath the advantage of artificial beauty but cannot supply the nourishment that is necessary to maintain the spiritual Life But the Gospel affords the sincere rational milk to the Soul that it may grow thereby 'T is therefore call'd the Word of Life a title that distinguishes it from the Law and all humane Institutions 4. Jesus Christ hath presented the strongest inducements and motives to perswade us to Holiness The way which he takes to save us is not by a meer act of Power to raise us above our selves but he deals with us conveniently to our frame in making use of our Affections to bring us to himself And whereas there are three Affections that have a mighty power over the reasonable Nature and are the inward springs of humane actions viz. Fear Hope and Love He hath propounded such Objects to them which being duely considered are infinitely more efficacious than any thing that may divert us from our duty The great temptations to sin are from the terrors or delights of Sense and to overcome these he hath brought to our assistance the Powers of the World to come that is hath revealed the dreadful preparations for the Punishment of the Wicked and the Glorious Rewards that attend the Godly in their future State Now to discover the efficacy of those Objects for the perswading Men to be Holy I will consider 1. Their Greatness as 't is described in the Gospel 2. Their Truth and Reality of which our Saviour hath given us convincing evidence and assurance 1. To excite our Fear he threatens Torments extreme and eternal These are set forth by such representations as may impress the quickest sense of them upon Men. For the Imagination depends on sensible experience and is strongly affected with those things that are terrible to our outward faculties Now Hell is described by a Worm gnawing the most tender parts that are most capable of pain to signify the furious reflections of the guilty Soul the sting of the inraged Conscience the torment of those perfect Passions that continually vex the Damned And 't is set forth by Fire and Brimstone that is most fierce to sense the serious consideration of which is enough to cause terror and amazement in all that are liable to it And if the sole apprehension be intolerable how much more will the dwelling with devouring Fire and everlasting burning 'T is called the blackness of darkness to signifie the compleat horrour of that state The Fire hath only force to burn not to give any light to mitigate the obscurity 'T is called the second Death in comparison of which that of the body is but the shadow of Death Nothing of Life remains but the sense of Misery and that will be as strong for ever as at the first entrance into it This infinitely increases the Torment that it shall never end The suffering Soul knows it shall be Eternal and as such it is felt and afflicts The Fire that devours shall never say 't is enough that sad Night shall never have a Morning that horrible Tempest never any Calm The Damned have no breathing of Rest in their extreme pains no shadow of Hope to refresh them in their intolerable heat but are under torment day and night for ever and ever Now what can be more powerful to restrain Men from sin than the terrours of the Lord if the desires of carnal and momentaâ—y pleasures are impetuous and urgent what can be more effectual to give check to them than the consideration that they are attended with a painful Eternity that within a little while nothing will remain of the most pleasant lusts but the Worm and the Fire Thus one extreme is cured by another Or if the fear of Men who can inflict but outward evils and Death on the Body at any time resists the performance of our Duty what is more proper to lessen the impression than to remember how dreadful a thing it is to fall into the revenging hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Thus our Saviour fortified his Disciples against Persecution I say unto you my Friends Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more they can do but I will forwarn you whom you shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Eternal Damnation is infinitely more fearful than Temporal Death As the Rod of Moses devoured the Rods of the Magicians So the fear of Hell overcomes the fear of Death and all the Torments which end with this Life I shall add further to shew how fit an Argument this is to work on mankind That usually the Fear of evil more deeply affects than the Hope of good When the Imagination is violently struck with an object it hath a mighty force to turn the Mind and Will it self Therefore Laws are secured by Punishments not by Rewards Indeed the fear of Hell at first disposes us for the love of Heaven to escape the one we fly to the other As the virtue of the Loadstone is increast by arming it with Iron which although it hath no attractive power in it self yet by conjunction it makes the others more forcible So the promise of Heaven makes a stronger impression upon us by the threatning of Hell to all that despise it Were it not for the Torments of Hell which are more easily conceived by us whilst we are cloathed with flesh than Celestial Joys and therefore more strongly affect us Heaven would be neglected and be as empty of Saints as 't is full of Glory To awaken us out of the deep Lethargy of sensual Lusts the most pleasant Musick is ineffectual nothing less is requisite than cutting and scarifying And not only those that begin and first enter in the ways of Godliness but those who are advanc'd in Christianity have need of this Bridle For there are
some temptations wherein the Flesh assaults the Spirit with that violence that Love it self is obliged to call in Fear to its assistance as being more proper to repress its inordinate motions 'T is only in Heaven that perfect Love will consume all concupiscence and cast out fear of Judgment but whilst we are encompast with temptations we must not think under the pretext of a more raised Spirituality that the fear of Hell is either unbecoming or unnecessary 'T is not unworthy a Child of God to employ all the Motives of the Gospel We are commanded to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling But the opening of Hell to our view is not sufficient alone to make us Holy For the strongest terrors although they restrain from the outward forbidden act yet they do not change the Heart According to that of St. Austin Inaniter se victorem putat esse peccati qui poenae timore non peccat quia etsi non impletur foris negotium malae cupiditatis ipsa tamen cupiditas intus est hostis That is the fear of Punishment can never make us truly victorious over sin because although we do not actually accomplish the desires of the corrupt Will yet the corrupt Will is still an enemy that lives within and is only destroyed by the love of Holiness which allures us by the excellent Reward that is promised to it Besides Fear is a violent Passion to which Nature is repugnant so that although its power is great yet not constant how strong soever the force is by which a stone is thrown upwards yet 't is weakned by degrees and overcome by the natural weight of the Stone whereby it falls to the Centre So the Humane Nature resists Fear and lessens its impetuousness so far that frequently it returns to sensual Lusts. Therefore that the Law of the Spirit may be perfect and stable it must be confirmed by the hopes of Heaven As the Natural so the Spiritual Life must be nourisht by grateful food 't is not preserv'd with Aloes or Worm-wood For this reason our Saviour 2. To encourage and raise our Hopes offers to us a Reward infinitely valuable for as God is Infinite such is the Happiness he bestows on his favourites 'T is described to us in Scripture under the most enamouring representations as a state of Peace and Love of Joy and Glory The Prince of Peace reigns in the Holy Jerusalem that is above and preserves an everlasting serenity and calmness The mutinous Spirits that rebell'd were presently chased from thence into this lower Region where they brought trouble and disorder He maketh Peace in his high Places The Peace of Heaven is like the Chrystal Sea before the Throne of the Lamb which no unquiet agitation ever troubles or disturbs An inviolable Love unites all his Subjects no division or jealousie discomposes their Concord They enjoy without envy for infinite Blessedness is not diminished by the number of the possessours The Inheritance in light is communicated to all Although the Angels are distinguish'd by their several Orders and Ministrations as Seraphims and Cherubims Thrones and Powers yet a Chain of Holy Love binds all their affections together And the Saints although they shine with different degrees of Glory yet as in a Chorus of Musick although the voices are different they make but one intire harmony So Love that ever continues unites their wills in a delightful harmonious Agreement Although there are millions of the Celestial Inhabitants yet they all make but one Society Love mixing in one mass of Light and Glory all their understandings and wills And since all true Joy and Sweetness springs from Love 't is impossible but they must feel unspeakable complacency in the reciprocal exercise of so Holy and Pure an Affection But principally their Joy arises from the possession of God himself by the clearest Knowledg and purest Love of his Excellencies They see him as he is Sight is the most Spiritual and noble Sense that gives the most distinct and evident discovery of its objects The Soul in its exalted state sees the King in his Beauty all the perfections of that infinitely Glorious and Blessed Nature in their brightness and purity And this Sight causes the most ardent Love by which there is an intimate and vital union between the soul and its happiness and from hence springs perfect delight In thy presence is fulness of Joy It expels all evil that would imbitter and lessen our felicity And this is an admirable priviledge for the Humane Nature that is so sensible of trouble All complaints and cries all sighings and sorrows are for ever banisht from Heaven If the Light of the Sun be so pleasant that every morning revives the World and renders it new to us which was buried in the darkness of the night how infinitely pleasant will the Light of Glory be that discovers the absolute and universal Excellency of the Deity the beauty of his Holiness the perfection of his Wisdom the greatness of his Power and the riches of his Mercy How inexpressibly great is the Happiness that proceeds from the illumination of a purified Soul when such is the amiableness of God that his infinite and eternal Felicity arises from the fruition of himself The Joy of Heaven is so full and satisfying that a thousand years there are but as one day Inferiour earthly goods presently lose the flower of novelty and languish in our enjoyment of them Variety is necessary to put an edge upon our appetites and quicken our delights because they are imperfect and fall short of our expectation But the object of our Blessedness is infinitely great and produces the same pure and perfect Joy for ever After the longest fruition it never cloys or satiates but is as fresh and new as the first moment And that which is the peculiar Pleasure of the Redeemed is that they shall be with Christ and see his Glory What a marvellous joy will fill our hearts to see our Blessed Saviour who suffer'd so much for us on Earth to reign in Heaven Here He was in his enemies hands there he hath them under his feet Here He was in the form of a Servant there He appears in the form of God adorn'd with all the marks of Majesty Here He was under the cloud of his Fathers displeasure there He appears as the Brightness of his Glory Here He was ignominiously Crucified there He is crown'd with Immortal Honour Now considering the ardent Affections which the Saints have to their Redeemer the contemplation of him in this glorious state must infinitely ravish their hearts Especially if we consider that the exaltation of Christ is theirs The Members triumph when the Head is crown'd His excellent Glory reflects a lustre upon them and by the sight of it they are chang'd into his Likeness If the imperfect and dim sight of his Divine Vertues in the Gospel hath a power to change Believers into his