Paul's Doctrine touching God's Grace and Long-suffering and wrest several passages in his Epistles and other Scriptures to their own destruction we are told by St. Peter also 2 Pet. 3.15 16. And account that the long-suffering of the Lord is Salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given him hath written unto you as also in all his Epistles speaking in them of these things In which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction And after St. Paul in his 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5 verses had by many black Characters described a sort of Christians that had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof In ver 8. he further describes them by that which was the cause of the forementioned unsavoury fruits of the Flesh to wit that they were men of corrupt minds or understandings and reprobate concerning the Faith or void of Judgment concerning the Faith as the Margin hath it They were Men of corrupt Principles and injudicious concerning the Doctrine of Faith They did not discern Faith to be necessary in the operative and practical nature of it But as they did satisfie themselves with a form of Godliness without the power so they did likewise with a formal inefficacious and liveless Faith which made them so unsavoury in their Lives And St. John after he had in his first Epistle antidoted the Christians against the pretentions of the Gnosticks who held a bad Life consistent with Communion with God through illumination of mind and the Christian Faith deceiving themselves and labouring to deceive others in thinking they might be Righteous without doing Righteousness 1 Joh. 3.7 He towards the conclusion of that Epistle sums up his general scope in it in these words These things have I written unto you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God Chap. 5.13 His meaning is as I conceive that he wrote this Epistle first to the end they might be the better assured of Salvation by Christ upon their rightly Believing on him And secondly To the end they might not be drawn into mistakes in the point of Believing as if any Faith less than such as is accompanied with a constant adherence to Christ's Doctrine and Example touching a holy Life would give them that Assurance He wrote to them that did Believe that they might Believe that is that they might Believe yet more understandingly more groundedly and so perseveringly against all temptations to Apostacy from the profession of the Faith or to loosness in the profession of it St. Jude also ver 3 4. stirred up the Christians to contend earnesâ—ly for the Faith the Doctrine of saving Sinners in the way of Believing because as he told them there were certain Men professing Faith but of ungodly Lives that were among them that turned the grace of God into lasciviousness so understanding the Law of Grace the Gospel as if it had been a Proclamation from Heaven of a general Pardon for Christ's sake and through Faith in him of as many sins as Men had a mind to commit The which Error led them into those Monstrous Impieties charged upon them in that Epistle By reason of which the way of Truth the right Faith they pretended to was evil-spoken of in the World as St. Peter notes they being indeed Spots and Blemishes to the Christians and Christian-profession so long as they were admitted to their Feasts of Charity as owned by them to be of their Number This was indeed an ungodly Faith But the Faith which he exhorted them to contend for and to build up themselves upon as on a sure Foundation he calls their most holy Faith vers 20. such a Faith as is an Operative Principle of a holy Life And they were such Christians as St. James in his Epistle did expostulate with that did lean so much upon a meer Believing upon a meer Assent of the mind unto the truth of certain Propositions as that they were careless in the subduing of their Passions and bridling their Tongues and regulating their Actions as if these had not been necessary to Salvation But thought themselves safe upon account of their barren Faith though they were Proud and Conceited of their Knowledge and Attainments Censorious and Contentious Unmercifull and Uncharitable In a word they were such as were injudicious concerning the Faith that will Save and under mistakes of the Apostles Doctrine about it All this will easily appear to any that shall but with a competent measure of Understanding view and consider the scope and contents of that Epistle And thus you see how plainly it appears by the Epistles of the Apostles that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works in the sense in which the Apostles asserted it was misunderstood by many Gnosticks carnal Gospellers or Solifidians The sense in which the Apostles did assert it was that Faith justifies without Works Antecedent to Believing and without Works as the Works of a literal observation of Moses's Law which was opposed by the Jews to Faith as having Christ Crucified for its Object and Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience in a holy Life for its inseparable Effects But these deceived Souls that deceived their own Hearts seem to have understood the Apostles as if they had taught Justification by Faith considered only as having the Death of Christ and the Atonement made thereby for its Object without respect to Regeneration and new Obedience as any part of the Condition And it had been much better for the Christian World if those corrupt Notions about the Doctrine of Faith as Justifying had died with those Men which in the first Ages of the Christian-Church were infected with them But alas it is too apparent that the same or much of the same dangerous and destructive mistakes have been transmitted to or revived in these latter Ages of the Church For we find by experience in this present Age that very many of those who are called Christians presume themselves to be Christians indeed and such as shall be saved by Christ though their Lives declare them to be far from being New Creatures from being renewed in the Spirit of their Minds Wills Affections and Conversations as those are that have been taught as the Truth is in Jesus Ephes 4.21 24. For they are confident they Believe all the Articles of their Creed and in doing so they are confident they shall be Saved and so they would if that Belief of theirs were but so effectual and operative as to produce such a change in Heart and Life as would denominate them New Creatures But the mischief is they deceive themselves in the nature of their Faith it being but an Opinionative Inoperative and dead Assent to the Truth of the Gospel such as is only an
hereto that to be justified and to be saved is the same thing with St. James as well as it is with St. Paul according to the tenour of his Reasoning Chap. 2. from ver 14. to the end What doth it profit my brethren saith he though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can Faith save him Vers 14. This Interrogation implies an Emphatical Negation and the meaning is that such a Faith can by no means save a Man and he gives the reason of it twice over in vers 17 20. because Faith without Works is dead And then afterwards argues the necessity of Works together with Faith unto Justification or unto Salvation which was the thing he began with by God's justifying Abraham by Works together with his Faith who was the great Pattern or Example of God's justifying all others If then to be justified and to be saved amounts to the same in St. James's Discourse here then by the way they do not rightly understand St. James who think he doth not speak of a Justification before God in this his Discourse about Justification by Works together with Faith but of a Justification before Men and to their own Conscience only Which supposition of theirs doth directly thwart the very scope and design of his whole Discourse which is to set forth what will and what will not avail a Christian-Professor in the sight of God to the saving of his Soul as abundantly appears So that the Scripture which saith Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness and which St. James saith was fulfilled in Abraham's being justified by Works as well as by Faith was not fulfilled in Abraham's being justified to others and to his own Conscience but in his being justified before God and so St. Paul understood it Rom. 4.3 Gal. 3.6 But this was touched before in Chap. 1. The result then of what hath been argued in Answer to the Objection is this viz. That all that are justified are thereby put regularly into an immediate capacity of Salvation so that if they should dye the very next moment after they are once justified they would undoubtedly be saved And therefore Evangelical Obedience can be no more necessary to Salvation than it is to Justification and it is as necessary to the one as to the other And if to say Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification be injurious to Christ and to the Grace of God as some would pretend how comes it to pass then that to say Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Salvation is not so too For our final Salvation is as much the effect of God's Grace and of Christ's Undertaking for us as our Justification it self is and of as much Value And therefore if the one be not injurious in this kind neither is the other 8. As the Promise of forgiveness of sins by the Blood of Christ or the Promise of an interest in his Blood to the pardon of Sin is sometimes made unto Believing so sometimes again it is made unto Evangelical Obedience or a holy Life as in 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light that is endeavouring to be holy as God is holy then have we fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin but otherwise it doth not And so the Christians to whom St. Peter wrote were said to be elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 But they were not elect to the benefit of being sprinkled with the Blood of Christ without Obedience And therefore by this we see also that Evangelical Obedience is part of the Condition of the Promise of Justification by the Blood of Christ 9. To forgive Injuries is an act of Evangelical Obedience to that Precept of our Lord Mar. 11.25 And yet without this act of Obedience Men that have been injured cannot be justified because they cannot be pardoned according to the Word of our Lord Mark 11.26 Mat. 6.15 and 18.35 Therefore Evangelical Obedience must needs be part of the Condition of Justification 10. Repentance is an eminent Act of Evangelical Obedience Acts 17.30 and yet pardon of sin which is essential to Justification is not to be obtained without it Luke 13.3 5. Therefore again it follows that Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification and part of the Condition of it And now by this time I suppose it fully appears to any unprejudiced Reader that the Doctrine of St. Paul yea and of St. Peter and John too do fully accord with the Doctrine of St. James touching the necessity of Evangelical Obedience unto Justification The opposition then which some have made between Faith and all Internal and External Works in reference to Justification as well Evangelical as Mosaical hath not been only without Scripture-ground but against Scripture-evidence and looks more like that which was made by the Gnosticks or other Solisidians opposed by St. James if it be not the very same than any the Scripture any where maketh And how much injury the Christian Religion and the Souls of Men may have suffered thereby is a thing to be thought on and sadly laid to Heart It is a pleasant Doctrine and the worst of Men called Christians are glad to hear that they may be justify'd by Christ only upon their Believing in him without any Works of Righteousness or Self-denial of their own And upon that account presuming verily that they do Believe they are confident that they are justify'd though they are unsanctify'd But those especially are in great danger of deceiving their own Souls by building their Confidence upon this Doctrine who together with this Belief have more of the form of Godliness than the other have and are found much more in the use and exercise of the external Devotional part of Religion and are zealous for this or that Opinion Party or Way which they think most Orthodox though they be greatly destitute of Love to the Nature of God and of Humility Charity strict Justice Fidelity Peaceableness Sobriety Temperance Modesty and Meekness and of that renewed frame of Soul which would make them like Christ Jesus wherein the power of Christianity doth consist The external Duties of Hearing Reading Praying and the rest being in great part but means referring to the other as the end So that no Man is to account himself truly Religious further than he attains to these truly Christian Qualifications by the use of the External Mâ—ans and Internal Aids Yea the â—â—â—shly part even in Mâ—n good in the main is very apt to make an advantage of such a Doctrine as aforesaid to the lessening of their Care Dilience and Zeal in working out their Salvation in striving to enter in at the straight Gate in governing their own Spirits and Appetites in cleansing themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and
perswading themselves that a meer Assent of their minds to the Truth of these and other Evangelical Verities is the Faith to which the promised Justification and Salvation is made though it hath no such powerful operation upon their Wills as to make them new Creatures to make any thorow change in the temper of their Hearts and tenor of their Lives And many doubtless have been greatly strengthened in this delusive confidence by having been taught that Faith justifies without any VVorks at all And these again perswade themselves that they believe in Christ to the saving of their Souls because they rely on him alone for Salvation and upon what he hath done and suffered for them though they love their sins and live in them still Just like some Jews of old who though they were very bad in their Lives yet leaned upon the Lord and said is not the Lord among us None evil can come upon us Mich. 3.11 Isa 48.1 2 They leaned upon God's Promise of being their God as those do upon Christ's undertaking to be a Saviour although they overlooked the Condition to be performed by them in being a People unto him in loving and serving him as those Christians I speak of also do Though Christ alone is to be relyed on for Salvation as touching all that is proper to the Mediatory Office and VVork yet no Man is to rely on him so as to think he should excuse him if he do not Repent or be not Regenerate or as if he did Repent or were Regenerate for him If they do they promise themselves from him that which he never promised or undertook but hath told them plainly That except they themselves Repent they shall Perish and that except they themselves be Born again they cannot see the Kingdom of God 2 They deceive their own Hearts also in the nature of Repentance their Notion of it being one thing and the Scripture-Notion of it quite another So that tney perswade themselves they have Repented when indeed they have not They know and believe perhaps Repentance to be necessary to Salvation because Christ hath said that except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish But then they mistake in perswading themselves that they do repent because they are frequently sorry for what they have done tho' they cease not to do the same again Indeed when the pleasure of Sin is over and rebukes of Conscience come in the room of them these trouble their minds for what they have done which was the Repentance of Judas and there is no peace to the wicked who are like the troubled Sea Now this they count Repentance though it work no effectual and thorow change in Heart and Life but when that sad fit is over they appear to be the same Men they were before by returning to the same sins And herein the Romish Church hath most unhappily laid a Snare which as is to be feared catcheth multitudes of Souls to their Destruction in asserting Contrition yea Attrition with Confession to be Repentance sufficient to Salvation VVhereas sorrow alone though it be godly sorrow is not Repentance but as St. Paul saith Godly sorrow worketh Repentance 2 Cor. 7.10 But Repentance it self which is Saving consisteth chiefly in a real change in Mens apprehensions of and affections to both Sin and Duty and in ceasing to do evil and learning to do well Others again deceive themselves in taking a partial Reformation for true Repentance Because they have left some sins which they could best spare as blemishing their Reputation or impairing their Estates or their Health And because they have done many things which yet Herod also did Mar. 6. they think they have Repented and are Converted though they retain others which are more gainful or yield them more pleasure VVhereas the sincerity of Repentance can be nothing less then a hatred of and turning from sin as sin and so from all sin by diligent and careful endeavours 3. They deceive themselves by a false Notion of that Obedience which is necessary to Salvation They believe in the gross indeed that Obedience to the Commands of God to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel is necessary to Salvation because the Scripture so plainly declareth it to be so But then they deceive their own Hearts in thinking and perswading themselves that they have performed this part of the Condition of the Promise when as they have not performed one half of it They have been it may be somewhat careful to be found in acts of External Worship and Devotion both publick and private and to keep themselves from Idolatry Swearing Cursing Sabbath-breaking Murder Adultery Stealing False-witness-bearing and the like in the outward and gross acts of them But all the while have made no conscience of governing their Thoughts Affections and Passions nor their Tongues neither as to many things And in all this wherein do they exceed the Pharisees whom if we exceed not in Righteousness Christ hath told us who best knows that we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5.20 They were strict and zealous in the observation of the Laws for Circumcision Sacrifices Sabbaths Tythes and other positive Precepts and that to a tittle And Fasted often and made long Prayers and gave Alms and made Ostentation also that they were not as others were Extortioners Unjust Adutlerers nor as the Publicans And why would not all this bring them to Heaven Because all this notwithstanding as they had not Faith in Christ so they were Covetous Proud and Ambitious seeking Honour one of another contemning and despising others they were Envious and Malicious Cruel and Ill-natured Unmerciful and Persecuting such as faithfully reproved them They made clean the outside of the Cup and Platter and so far as they did so they did well But that for which Christ denounced Woe to them was that their inward part was full of ravening and wickedness and for want of love to God and of Judgment Mercy and Fidelity God is a Spirit and the Service that is acceptable to him as being most agreeable to his Nature is that which is done in Spirit and Truth And therefore his Precepts are given to govern the inward Man as well as the outward He that said Thou shalt not kill hath said also Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart nor be Angry with him without a cause or bear a grudge against him He that said Thou shalt not commit Adultery hath said also Thou shalt not lust after a Woman in thy heart And he that said Thou shalt not steal hath said also Thou shalt not covet and the like And therefore they that think themselves to be Obedient Children to God upon account of their abstaining from outward gross Sins and of being outwardly Righteous and do not truly endeavour and make a business of it to mortifie and subdue their Pride Covetousness love of the World Envy Hatred Malice thoughts of Revenge the unruliness of Passions and all
He descended into Hell 2. What pertain'd to his going into Heaven to incerceed for us there we have deliver'd in these The third day he rose again from the Dead He ascended into Heaven And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty Nor 3. Are the Nature and Acts of his Kingly Office less particularly and distinctly delivered in the Creed than those of his Priestly One main Prerogative of that Royal Office is that from Heaven He shall come again to judge both the Quick and the Dead and all the remaining Articles declare the several other Parts of it But these will also fall under another Consideration under which I shall mention them III. Then as to the Holy Ghost the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity to Him it does belong to prepare qualifie and sanctifie with all necessary Vertues and Graces all whom Christ has redeem'd and sav'd from the Dominion of Sin and Satan and cleans'd from the Pollution of their Natures caus'd thereby that they may be meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And this we are taught to believe that he does in the Article I Believe in the Holy Ghost for the Attribute Holy does here import His doing this His sanctiing of us Thus does the Apostles Creed instruct us first in all the more material and weighty Truths necessary to be believ'd concerning God And next secondly it does the same concerning the State and Condition of us Men both in this and the World to come For 1st In general we are taught to Believe that all our Hopes of Redemption and Happiness on the Account of Christ's undertaking for us depends upon our being Members of His Holy Catholick Church 2dly In particular it teaches us the great Privileges we enjoy through him by being Members of the Church both here and hereafter namely that thereby we have the benefit of the Communion of Saints and the Forgiveness of Sins and that we shall have a Resurrection of our Bodies to Life Everlasting And thus I have given you to understand what is meant by the Articles of our Belief Secondly The Importance of the word Rehearse I am next to declare to you what is the Importance of the Word Rehearse Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief And 1. This Word Rehearse possibly in its primary Design 1. It primarily signifies the Catechists Command to the Catechumen to render him an Account of his Faith may import no more than the Ministers Command to those that come to be Catechis'd that they give him an Account of what they do Believe concerning God and his Church And as the end of your Faith is the Salvation of your Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 So it is the Duty of such as are under our Care first to get as good an Understanding as they can in the Christian Faith and then to give an Account thereof with all readiness imaginable to us the Ministers of Religion whenever we demand it Thus the Apostle commands you to Obey them that have the Rule over you and to submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief Heb. 13.17 And if the Pastors of Christ's Church must give a strict Account to God of your Proficiency in Faith and Knowledge it must be your Duty to make it appear to us how much you have profited under us And thus it lies upon you to do that our Ministry may be easie and comfortable and that we may have Joy and not Sorrow in the Execution of it Alas for us to be discouraged in the Exercise of our Ministry is not for your Profit for so long as we do it uncomfortably we cannot do it so effectually as otherwise we might To do it with grief that it is unprofitable for you says the Apostle in the same Verse And would to God you would believe it But so it is that there is nothing in the World would be a greater Satisfaction to us than to see you as in the Jewish Church they did sit at the Feet of your Gamaliels your Teachers than to see you not altogether cumbred with Worldly Business as Martha was but to attend on your Teachers with Mary who chose the better part as our Saviour gave Testimony to her because she diligently sate to attend the Word delivered by our Saviour Luke 10.42 2. It may reductively signifie the Churches Command to all Worshippers audibly to recite the Belief after the Minister 2. This word Rehearse may be also reductively interpreted as a Command of the Church that whenever you come to worship God you should pronounce with an audible Voice the Articles of your Belief together with your Minister thereby publickly and before the whole Congregation confessing that you are Christians and that you Believe all that Christians should Believe to their Souls Health according to that usual Form of Words used by some before their reciting of the Creed in Divine Service calling upon the People to join with 'em in making Confession of their Christian Faith Now it is order'd by our Church to very good purpose that the whole Congregation should bear a share throughout the Common Service and that all both Ministers and People should with united Hearts and Voices utter God's Praises and set forth his Glory in the Psalms and Hymns and Creeds And it is an admirable means to fix your Attention to the great Business you are about that you are not to be standers by as it were when God is glorify'd but are personally to eccho forth his Praises And it will also wonderfully stir up and quicken each other in your Devotion to him when you are striving as it were which shall celebrate God's Goodness and Mercies with the mightiest Vehemence and humblest Reverence And as I do not doubt but it does enliven you in your Prayers to and Praises of God to have the Minister of Religion perform the Service with Seriousness and a becoming Devotion so I must profess that to see and hear some devout Worshippers heartily to sound forth their Praises to God in the Congregation has not a little enkindled a Flame in my own Breast so that to rehearse and utter forth with an audible Voice the Glorious Excellencies of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in every one of the Psalms and Hymns is a thing very much becoming every Christian But especially every one of you should openly rehearse and profess his Belief together with the Minister as often as we are called upon to it in Divine Service We are to pray not only for Our selves but for Others for we may be benefited not only by our own but by others Prayers But every one must Believe for himself and shall be saved only by his own Faith which is the reason that whereas our Publick Prayers are in the Plural Number Our Father our Belief runs in the singular I' Believe and
deny in the World to come his knowing of or having any thing to do with you as he declares he will Matth. 10.33 You see in Matth. 26.70 how Peter being asham'd of his persecuted Lord and Master and afraid for himself did deny his Saviour But withal you see how severely he smarted for it for being prick'd at the heart with an extreme remorse of Conscience for such a base piece of Cowardice he went out and wept bitterly v. 75. And it was well he did or else he had perish'd everlastingly So that to conclude you must not only rehearse that is give an Account of the Christian Faith to us the Ministers of Religion and pronounce it amongst those who are Friends to it in the House of God but upon all just occasions you must elsewhere even in the Face of its greatest Enemies openly declare and profess your Belief of those great Christian Truths and that when you are sure to suffer the severest Persecutions and Reproaches for so doing This last I must confess is not so directly the meaning of the Word Rehearse in this place But if ever there were occasion to extend the Importance of it to such a Sense it is now when the Confidence of Infidels in professing their impious Principles and the Cowardice of Believers in Confessing the True Articles of their Christian Faith is so extremely and on both sides so shamefully great And thus I have given you the utmost that I conceive can be the Importance of these Words Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief which may serve as a Prefatory Discourse to the Exposition I design by God's Assistance to make you of the Creed upon the Explication of which I shall next enter THE XXIX Lecture I Believe COmmenting upon these Words Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief I have given you by way of Preface to the Exposition of the Creed it self an Account of its Authority how that it is a summary Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine collected as is highly probable by the Apostles themselves however undoubtedly containing the most weighty and essential Points of Apostolical Doctrine that are necessary to be Believ'd in order to Salvation And then as to the Importance of the Word Rehearse I have told you how necessary it is 1. that you should give a good Account to God's Ministers of what you Believe 2. That you ought openly and solemnly to pronounce your Belief every time you meet together to worship God in the Publick Assembly Nay and 3. That you must undauntedly confess and own all these Christian Truths before the Face of any Man though you should incur the greatest Danger of Life Livelihood or whatever is most dear to you or expose your selves to the Reproaches of wicked Men for so doing And having thus by way of Preface to the Creed it self spoken what I thought necessary to its Authority and the Confession you are to make of it I come now by God's Assistance to lay open before you the Meaning and Importance of every particular Truth therein contain'd And that which does first offer it self to our Consideration and will indeed require a very large and full Explication is the single Word Believe Every particular Article of the Creed and every single Truth as there are many contain'd in each Article is to be Believed by us It is therefore I presume very requisite that we should with all possible Clearness and Exactness explain the Nature of Faith and shew you what it is to Believe to your Soul's Health before we come to consider the several Truths that are to be Believed accordingly Faith and Belief are two Words that signifie the same thing Faith and Belief synonomous Terms and so indispensable a Condition of our Justification and Salvation it is to Believe that not to mention more Texts Rom. 3.28 It is said a Man is justify'd by Faith And Mark 16.16 we are told in plain and express Words that he who Believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned You must not therefore think me tedious if in the Explication of this Point I shall be something large since to Believe is a thing which you are not only to do in reference to every particular Article of our Creed but that also as ever you will be justify'd and sav'd And for the more full Explication of this Point I will do these Three Things I. I will shew you in general what it is to Believe together with the Effects and Fruits of True Believing II. I will more particularly explain unto you the Nature of Justifying and Saving Faith And then III. By way of Inference I will lay before you wherein the Defect of several sorts of Faith does lie which we find by Scripture and Experience that many do rely upon but yet will by no means justifie and save ' em And 1. I am to shew you in general What it is to Believe And to Believe both in the proper and in the common Meaning of the Word is to give Credit to the Report of another Faith is founded upon a credible Testimony And herein it is distinguish'd from those other Acts of the Mind Opinion Experience and Knowledge that Opinion is when one varies in his Judgment being not without some doubt whether the thing may not be otherwise than he thinks Experience is when one's own Senses tell one it is so and so and Knowledge is when I gather from undoubted Causes and Reasons that the Effect is thus But Belief as it is more certain than Opinion so it is founded not upon my own Experience and Knowledge but upon the Authority of some one else who does relate the thing to me It is indeed thought by some that to Believe in the Language of the Scriptures which are the Words of plain Men spoke to the general Bulk of Mankind does many times signifie a full Perswasion of the Mind whether wrought within us by the Evidence of the Matter or by our own Sense or Experience or by some strong Argument and Reason as well as by some Credible Testimony and accordingly we Believe God's Being and Existence by the strongest Evidences of Reason but yet however tho' the Belief of God's Being be indeed a Knowledge that he Is a Knowledge I say that we have from several demonstrative Proofs and Reasons besides what we have from the Testimony that he Himself has given us of his own Existence yet as the Testimony that he has given us by Miracles Prophecies and his Providences are properly his Attestation to the Truth of the Article so it is the nearest and the plainest Proof thereof and that upon which the Faith of the far greatest part of Mankind who do not much employ their Reason to search after Truth is founded so that generally as well as properly speaking to Believe is to give Credit upon the Authority and Testimony of another that his Relation is true Human Faith upon Human Testimony And
36.26 A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you Men are called upon to circumcise their own hearts Deut. 10.16 And God is said to circumcise the heart Deut. 30.6 Men are required to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 And they are also said to be washed and sanctified by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6.11 Men are commanded to repent Acts 17.30 And God is said to give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.35 Acts 5.31 It is by reason of this Co-operation of God's assistance and Man's endeavours that St. Paul expresseth himself as he doth once and again Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me He doth not by these last words so deny what he had said in the former as if he had not spoke true for he speaks the same things in effect in another place without any such correcting himself as here he useth 1 Cor. 3.9 For we are labourers together with God And therefore by his so correcting himself saying Not I but the Grace of God which was with me he only intends to magnifie God's Grace as having the principal stroke in the work It is a phrase of like import with that 2 Cor. 3.10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth So Man's endeavour though it be somewhat in it self considered yet comparatively and in respect of the work of God's Grace by his Spirit which excels it is nothing Therefore in fine as Men are said through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the Body Rom. 8.13 So they may be said through the same Spirit to Believe Repent Obey that is through the assistance of the Spirit who is said to help our Infirmities Rom. 8.26 Considering then that there is promise of divine assistance to Man using his endeavours in doing what he may and can do towards the performing the condition of the Covenant we may well conclude that there is no Man under the Gospel doth perish but through his own fault and neglect It is true God doth sometimes for special reasons meet with and convert sinners with a high hand of Grace whilst they are pursuing their sins in a full career and using no endeavours at all towards their own Salvation as he did Saul before he was Paul But such extraordinary instances are no Rules to us by which to judge of God's ordinary proceedings in converting Men Nor hath the Lord put Men in expectation by any promise of his of their being converted after that manner and upon such terms And therefore it will in no wise be safe for any Man to expect to be converted by such extraordinary workings of Grace and to neglect to do what he can do and what God requires he should do towards his own conversion There are many things which Men may and can believe and do without any Supernatural Grace and by vertue of God's common Grace It is no Supernatural Act to believe the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul or future state Or to know that we are sinners against God and consequently that we stand in need of his Mercy Nor is it a Supernatural Act for a Man to desire the future happiness of his own Nature or Being or to hear the Word of God which directs the way to that happiness no more than it is to hear any other Doctrine that only pretends to do so Nor is it a Supernatural Act to consider the Doctrine of the Scriptures with as much seriousness as Men do or may the contents of any other Books Nor is it a Supernatural Act to consider how we are concerned in the Doctrine of the Scriptures in case it should prove true No more is it a Supernatural Act seriously to consider the strength and force of those Reasons that tend to perswade Men to believe that Doctrine to be true Nor under the natural desires which Men have to be happy in another world is it a Supernatural Act for them to pray to God to direct and assist them in the use of means that they may be happy These I take to be no Supernatural Acts in Men. For though the depraved VVill of Man needs Special or Supernatural Grace to do these so seriously and effectually as is needful to true Sanctification yet in some sort and measure they may be done by common help And if Men would but go thus far as they can out of a real desire to be happy I should make no question but that the Spirit of God would yield them his assistance to carry them quite through in the Work of Conversion And whither our Saviour doth not by the Hearers resembled by the good Ground mean such Men as before their Conversion have some such Working of Heart about their future state as doth incline them to hear and consider what with any fair probability may be said about the way to be happy in that state and not to hear out of Curiosity or for fashion-sake or to carp I submit to consideration It is doubtless then Mens Inconsideration Carelessness and Negligence in those things which they do Believe and which they can do that undoes them It is because seeing they see not and hearing they hear not which is the reason why more is not given but rather that taken away from them which they had That is The reason why God with-holds his special Grace and many times with draws common Grace and Assistance from Men is because though they have understanding and considering Faculties which they could if they would use and imploy about their being happy in another World as well as they do about their happiness in this yet they will not though they are frequently called upon and excited thereto Whereas those that take heed or consider what they hear and how they are concerned in it to them more shall be given God will come into such with Supernatural Aid Mark 4.24 And therefore God to put Men upon a holy necessity of complying with his Grace in acting diligently towards the working out their own Salvation hath wisely made the obtaining of the great Benefits of the Covenant Remission of Sin and Eternal Life Conditional so that Men can have no farther assurance of pardon of Sin and Salvation than they are sure they sincerely endeavour to perform the condition on their part upon which they are promised Wherefore we are greatly concerned to be awakened by such Sayings as these Strive to enter in at the strait gate So run that ye may obtain Vse all diligence to make your calling and election sure Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of you should seem to
do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the Belief of God's Threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of Believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of Grace and Favour to him as it is practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincear Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. James That his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God Covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Country and his Country it self with his Kindred and his Father's House that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him Eternally Happy And God's farther design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that Believe whether literally Circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to Believe in God and to Obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of New Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be Blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4.11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Rightousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that Believe though they be not circumcised that Rightousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a Death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with Believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to Love and Obey God by which he was Justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were Saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declaration in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own Duty as causeth a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be Preâ—â—hed to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's â—â—â—â—e and Man's Duty and of his Wrath against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin o fit in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares That God upon account of his Son's giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to Pardon and Eternally to Save as many as shall Believe in his Son and Repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming New Men in yielding sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares That those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty Now it is the practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly Repent and amend their lives and become New Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelical Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in Destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1.18 A Man of this
Act of the Mind or Understanding and doth not powerfully influence the Will and so it is not a believing with all the Heart but is the act only of one such faculty of the Soul A Belief it 's probable may be found in the Devil himself And such a Belief was found in some who were so convinced by the power of Christ's Miracles in concurrence with his Doctrine and Life that they could not choose but believe him to be an extraordinary Person sent from God though their carnal Interest prevailed so much in them as that it would not suffer them to confess him openly because they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God Joh. 12.42 43. And besides these Men deceive themselves about their Faith in this also that they do not heartily Believe the whole Doctrine of the Gospel but are partial in their Faith They in a sort believe Christ to be the Son of God and that he came into the World to save sinners and that he Died for our sins and the like But then they do not heartily believe his Doctrine touching the necessity of Repentance of being born again of denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living righteously godly and soberly in this present world Or else they frame such Notions of these things unto themselves of Repentance and Regeneration as that they think they believe Christ's Doctrine touching them when they believe only the lying Imagination of their own Brains And there is too much ground to fear that many Mens ill managing the Doctrine of Justification by Faith hath not a little strengthened Men in this vain confidence For while Evangelical Obedience it self under the Notion of those Works to which Faith is opposed hath been decryed as Popish when interessed in Justification and Justification asserted to be by Faith alone in opposition to all Works whatsoever Inward and Outward as well Evangelical as Legal as well those after Conversion as those before yea and the disposition thereunto the Flesh and the Devil to help it hath got great advantage thereby to perswade Men against the necessity of a holy Life in such a sense of a holy Life as the Scripture makes absolutely necessary to Salvation For though it 's true that good Works have been acknowledged and pressed too as necessary to Salvation yet when withal they have been denied to be necessary to Justification and Men have been taught that when once they are Justified they can never fall away from a State of Justification they have easily been drawn to believe that good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation no more than to Justification but Faith only And upon supposition that the other two Points of Doctrine are true it would be but rational for them so to believe For if good Works be not necessary to Justification at all And if it is impossible but that those who are once justified should be saved how should Men chuse but infer from hence that good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation Unless it shall be said that Men are not put into an immediate capacity of Salvation by being justified Which to affirm would be to say Men are not freed from Condemnation by being freed from Condemnation which would be a contradiction in terms For to be justified is to be freed from Condemnation Rom. 8.33 34 and 5.16 18. and therefore Justification must needs put Men into an immediate capacity of being saved And as there is great reason to think that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone in opposition to the Works of Evangelical Obedience hath been a stumbling-stone unto many and a back-friend to the power of Godliness so there is another which hath been wont to be joyned with it that hath rendred it the more dangerous and it self no good friend to holy Living and that is the Doctrine of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness unto Justification in that way in which it hath been managed by very many For otherwise there is a sense as I have shewed in which it is a great and a comfortable Truth For when Men have been taught to esteem their own Righteousness but as filthy rags not only because of its utter insufficiency to justifie instead of Christ or as he justifies in which respect indeed it is no better but also as any part of a Condition of Justification or of our acceptance with God And when they have been taught also that upon their Believing only Christ's Righteousness in fulfilling the Law for them becomes imputed to them in it self and not only as the procuring cause of their Justification upon the terms of the Gospel so that they are looked upon as having themselves perfectly kept the Law in him it hath doubtless infeebled their endeavours after an inherent Righteousness and proved a temptation to them to think that so long as they have such anothers Inherent Righteousness essentially in it self imputed to them as Christ's is they have no great need to find it in themselves considering also that if they had it they must rather loath themselves for it than take any comfort in it But let no man deceive you saith St. John he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 I do acknowledge that many of them have been worthy Men who yet have propagated these Opinions But that makes the Opinions never the better but have done more hurt in gaining thereby the more credit It is true also that those worthy Men have zealously pressed the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and a Holy Life Which proved indeed an Antidote against the Poyson of the other Opinions so that they did not become Mortal to many as otherwise they would have done And indeed they would have made mad work if they had not been yoaked with wholesomer Doctrine as we see they did among Antinomians Ranters and other carnal Christians that have followed the Ducture of those Opinions but have been shy of letting the Doctrines of Mortification and strict Living to have any power over them But then if the preaching of those sounder Doctrines of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life have done much good notwithstanding they have been clogged with Opinions of another tendency it is easie to imagine that they would have done much more good if they had not been checkt by those unsound Principles But I shall say no more of this though more might be said because I hope I may say that most of those who have formerly imbibed these Opinions are now come to deliver themselves with more caution than heretofore And so I shall proceed to the last thing I propounded to touch upon and that is to shew CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and of St. James about Faith and Works in reference to Justification do not differ but are wholly one IT is true indeed though the Doctrine of St. PAVL and St. JAMES was in nothing opposite the one to the other yet the nature
of God's Promise until it hath produced that Repentance Regeneration Love and Obedience Which is a full and an undeniable proof of the necessity of such a consent of the Will as aforesaid to render Faith justifying and saving Now this Consent and resolution of the Will to Repent and Obey Christ and to forsake all for him is the Moral Change of the Soul and the New Life in its first beginning And so a Man's first effectual Belief is his whole Christian Life in its beginning And a Man's first Faith is perfected afterwards by Works Jam. 2.22 as a Child is perfected in his manly state as he grows up to manly actions or as the Seed is perfected when it grows to a full Ear. By this first Consent of the Will we restipulate and strike Covenant with God and not only so but we hereby begin also to keep and perform Covenant with him on our part When this Consent is first wrought in the Will then the Laws of the new Covenant are first put into the Mind and written in the Heart And by this we first begin to become savingly a People unto God to Believe in him to Love and Serve him as he by Covenant and Promise becomes a God unto us to make us Happy Heb. 8.10 This is the Covenant that I will make I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People 3. The other act of the Soul which I call the act of the Understanding and of the VVill conjunct is an Affiance in God through Christ a trusting in him or a relying on him for the fulfilling of his Promise of saving Benefits while we continue sincerely to Consent resolve and endeavour to perform the Condition on our part This is that or part of that which is called a Believing on God a Believing on Christ and a Trusting in him Noting the Souls dependence upon Christ for the saving Benefits which accrue to Men by his Mediation Office and Undertaking and on the Truth and Faithfulness Power VVisdom and Goodness of God to perform all that he hath promised them through his Son and upon the terms he hath promised and not otherwise For the Promise of saving Benefits being made but upon the Condition before-mentioned a true Believer or he that is Rational and Wise considers as well upon what terms the Benefits are promised as who hath promised them and what they are and expects the one no otherwise than as he sincerely resolves and endeavours to perform the other And therefore if any shall Rely on God and Christ for those Benefits in whom yet the qualifying Condition of the Promise of them is not found such a Reliance is but a groundless Presumption and not Faith or Affiance duly so called For such do not only rely on Christ for that for which they have no promise but for that which God hath expresly declared they shall have no share in whilst they remain destitute of that qualification which is the Condition upon which and not without it the promise of those Benefits is made These three acts of the Soul exercised on their Objects do make up that Faith which is justifying and saving And when justifying Faith in the compleat nature of it is spoken of in Scripture all these three acts of the Soul are to be understood and especially the two first though perhaps they are many times mentioned severally and apart Faith being described sometimes by one of them and sometimes by another As God himself is represented to us sometimes by one Attribute sometimes by another CHAP. II. Wherein the Defect lies of that Faith which is not saving BY what hath been discoursed touching the nature of that Faith which is saving it is easie to discern wherein the defect lies of that Faith which is not so And the defect lies chiefly in the Will in its not Consenting to perform the Condition of the Promise in Repenting and in receiving Christ as Lord to be governed by his Laws I will not deny but the defect in part may be in the Understanding when its Assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation is so weak as that it can make but a too weak and faint impression upon the Will to procure its Consent unto the Condition of the Promise But then that defect in the Assent of the Understanding doth usually at least in great part proceed from the Will as I shall shew afterwards Now that the defect lies mainly in the Will 's not Consenting to the Condition of the Promise appears by this because unregenerate Men may assent unto the truth of God's Testimony and may trust that they shall be saved by Christ which contain the other two acts of the Soul but no Man truly consents to perform the Condition of the Promise but in doing so he is Regenerate in the first Act and Justified 1. Unregenerate Men may have the same Faith of Assent in the Understanding to a degree as the Regenerate may They may believe God to be the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and Jesus Christ to be his only Son and the rest of the Articles of the Creed and they may believe in great part that to be their Duty both towards God and Man which is so indeed and yet hold that Truth in unrighteousness which they do believe Rom. 1.18 Many of the chief Rulers believed on Christ who yet loved the Praise of Men more than the praise of God and durst not confess him Joh. 12.42 43. As also did many others when they saw his Maricles who yet were such as Christ had no mind to commit himself to Joh. 2.23 24. And Simon Magus believed wondering and being astonished at the signs which were done by Philip who yet remained in the bond of iniquity Acts 8. Such as are resembled by the stony Ground believed who yet loved their ease and worldly Interest more than Christ and those that St. James expostulates with Chap. 2. were thus far Believers also 2. Excepting the Consent of the Will to the Condition of the Promise Unregenerate Men may hope to be saved by Christ and rely on him for Salvation as well as the Regenerate Only for want of their performing the Condition of the Promise their hopes and confidence are groundless and will deceive them But otherwise Men that are but carnal and live in some known sin may and oftentimes do perswade themselves that they shall be saved by Christ Jesus because they believe that he died for Sinners and because they ask God forgiveness and perform some acts of Religion Our Saviour saith Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord open unto us Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and done many wonderful works We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets To whom he will say for all that Depart from
openly which to do was necessary to make them capable of the Promise of Salvation by him Joâ— 12.42 43. Among the chief Rulers many believed on him but because oâ— the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God These had more understanding than the common People who as they said knew not the Law John 7. and yet not so many of them as of the people believed on Christ so as to confess and follow him because their worldly interest being greater it held them faster and had the greater power over their Wills The unbelief then of Men where the Gospel comes is generally to be resolved into the obstinacy of their Wills in opposition to the convictions of their Understanding John 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye might have life How oft would I have gathered you and ye would not Mat. 23.37 O that my people had hearkened to my counsel But Israel would none of me Psal 81.11 They did not chuse the fear of the Lord Prov. 1.29 They chose their own ways their Souls delighted in their abominations Isa 6.3 Thus much in general But I would shew yet more particularly how the Will doth obstruct the perfecting the work of Faith after it 's begun in the Understanding And it doth it as I conceive 1. By calling off the Understanding from a frequent consideration of that evidence by which it was first convinced of the Truth of God's Testimony touching the Promised Benefits and the Condition and Means of obtaining them and from a frequent application of it to the Will And this the Will can do For as the Understanding hath a power over the Will so far as to represent its apprehensions to the Will in order to its acting thereupon according to a Man 's own concerns therein so also the Will hath a kind of power over the Understanding both to put it upon frequent consideration to strengthen it self in the belief of that which the VVill would have to prove true and to be believed and also to call it off from so doing when there is a great reluctancy in the VVil against having that prove true which the Understanding represents as true And if the Understanding be taken off so that it hath not frequent recourse to that evidence which first procured its Assent unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel that it might be thereby nourished strengthened and maintained that Faith in the Understanding will languish and grow weak and so have no powerful operation upon the VVill to change and renew it and to procure its effectual consent to perform the Condition of the Promise when the Will stands disinclined of it self to the Verdict of the Understanding Besides if the Understanding doth not ply the VVill and frequently inculcate upon it it s own apprehensions concerning God's Testimony and the consequence and concernment of it to a Man 's own self thereby to make the VVord believed to be an ingrafted Word it will not work any Cure upon it or any thorough change in it The unwillingness in Men to have their Minds ingaged in the consideration of God's ways and their own is the reason of their turning back from him Job 34.27 They turned back from him and would not coâ—sider any of his ways As on the contrary the Scripture represents th conversion of a sinner as proceeding from the consideration of the bad tendency of his evil ways Ezek. 18.28 Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions which he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not dye And our Saviour seems to cast mens profiting or not profiting their Belief or not Belief by hearing God's Testimony in the Gospel upon their considering or not considering of it Mark 4.24 And he said unto them Consider what you hear so Dr. Hammond reads it for with what measure ye meet viz. in considering or not considering it shall be measured to you again in profiting or not profiting which is to be understood according to God's ordinary proceeding with Men. The reason why the Faith of those resembled by the stony ground doth not abide or come to perfection is because they have no Root in themselves and that comes to pass for want of much consideration and a frequent working the first conviction of the mind from the evidence of Truth into the Will and Affections by a constant Consideration and close Application of it Acts 17.11 They searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so and therefore they Believed 2. When men hold fast their Lusts out of their great love to them notwithstanding their conviction in their Understandings and are not willing to part with them upon any terms the Fumes of those Lusts continually ascending will cloud and darken the Understanding as a thick Fogg doth the Sun and by degrees make it less capable of discerning its Object viz. saving Truth in its clear evidence and proportionably hinder its operation upon the Will The cares of this World and the deceitfulness of Riches and the lusts of other things choak the Word and it becometh unfruitful Mar. 4.19 He that hateth his Brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goes because darkness hath blinded his eyes 1 John 2.11 3. Sinful Mens Understandings are not so uncorrupt but that they are apt to be bribed by their Wills to cast about and devise how to evade the force and edge of their own Notices and Dictates and to attempt and baffle their former apprehensions and convictions to the end they may still retain their lusts without any great disturbance from their Understandings This when it is yielded to and put in practice is that which in Scripture is called Mens closing their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and should be converted and healed Mat. 13.15 And when this takes place in Professors of Christianity that do believe that Faith Repentance and Obedience are necessary to Salvation as the Condition on which it is promised the way by which they usually deceive their own Hearts is by perswading themselves that they do perform the Condition of the Promise in these when indeed they do not but frame to themselves Notions of saving Faith Repentance and Obedience different from the Scripture Notions of them as I shall shew in each of them 1. Many delude themselves by taking up a wrong Notion of Saving Faith and so think they have it when they have it not They believe indeed Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World and that those shall be saved that believe in him and those damned that do not because the Scripture which they believe to be the Word of God saith so And thus far they believe rightly objectively But then they deceive their own Souls by
for many for the remission of sins Matth. 26.28 And the Terms and Conditions of this Second Covenant Wherein Repentance Faith and a sincere Obedience is accepted instead of a perfect exact and unsinning Obedience being no more a perfect exact and unsinning Obedience Repentance is henceforward to be admitted as a means of Reconciliation and a sincere Obedience to the best of our Power will be accepted and Faith in God and in Jesus Christ accompany'd with Living like those who Believe the Gospel shall be henceforward imputed to our Justification so that we shall have our Sins pardon'd and be receiv'd to Happiness This in short was the Tenour both of the first Covenant made with Adam and the Second procur'd for us by the Mediation of Jesus Christ Not to speak here of the different Measures and Degrees of its Promulgation nor of that Legal Covenant whereof Moses was the Mediatour and was made only with the People of Israel and was annex'd as an Appendix and Codicil to this Covenant of Grace for Reasons too many and too large now to be consider'd For tho' to shew how that the whole Promulgation of this gracious Covenant was not made all at once but that it seem'd good to the Divine Wisdom that so stupendious and grand a Scene of Mercy should not be open'd but by degrees tho' to shew this I say and the several Reasons of adding this Legal Covenant to the Covenant of Grace may be useful Points of Divinity to be explain'd in their due time yet I look upon 'em as none of the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ but rather part of that Strong meat spoke of Heb. 5.14 which belongeth to them who are of full Age and have been already competently well instructed and so to be no proper Matter of Catechetical Doctrine To proceed therefore and in a word we may consider the Second Covenant not as such indeed which is made betwixt a Master and his Servant wherein the Master engages to allow Meat Drink and Wages on Condition the Servant will perform unto him such and such Services which are just and reasonable and the Servant is capable to perform which expresses more the Nature of the Covenant of Works Do this and Live But rather for this comes nearer to the Nature of the Covenant of Grace between God and us which is full of advantageous and profitable Considerations on our side we may rather compare it It resembles Articles of Accomodation made thro' the Intercession of a Prince's Eldest Son betwixt him and his Rebellious Subjects I say to an Accord made betwixt a Gracious Prince and his Rebellious Subjects as suppose some City or State wherein the Prince is graciously pleas'd through the Intercession of some great Favourite to grant unto those his Subjects not only Pardon of their former Crimes but moreover certain great Priviledges and Freedoms Protection and several particular Favours Lands and Possessions and the like on Condition they will thence-forward Renounce and Forsake all his Enemies and place no farther Trust nor Confidence in 'em and will not Disobey him for the future in any of his just and reasonable Commands but pay him a true and faithful Obedience to all his Laws And much of the same Nature I say is the Covenant of Grace made betwixt God and all Christians thro' the Mediation of his only Son only with this difference That on God's Part the Benefits and Advantages are of most infinite Value which are made over to us his Rebellious and Disobedient Subjects and this upon the most reasonable just and easy Conditions considering the Assistance he affords us by the vertue of the same Covenant to perform ' em For Almighty God in the first place vouchsafes us in this Covenant to be made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven which are Mercies and Priviledges of invaluable Benefit and Advantage to us And we on the other side Engage and Promise but to Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh to Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith to Obey God's holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of our Life which I say are most reasonable just and easy Conditions considering the Assistance he will afford us to enable us to perform ' em This will very clearly appear by that time I have Explain'd to you distinctly and severally the Terms and Articles of this Covenant both the Advantages made over to us on God's part and the Conditions to be perform'd on ours as they are taught you in the Words now read to you And it is a Subject indeed that does extreamly concern you to be well Instructed in and to be consider'd by you None of you shall be able to perform a Bargain except you know what you have bargain'd and agreed to do No One can discharge a Bond except he knows distinctly what he is oblig'd to pay no more can any of you be able to perform the Covenant of Grace except you do well understand the Nature Terms and Conditions of it And indeed Little more of universal Concernment to be known but the Articles of this Covenant there is perhaps but little necessary to be known in Religion besides the Articles of this Covenant We may without Prejudice to our Salvation doubtless be ignorant of many Points that are Canvast with Heat enough in the Controversies of Men of all Perswasions but to know what inestimable Blessings God has Promis'd and Ensur'd to us and what we are to perform to make our selves Inheritours of those Blessings is what every Body who believes a future State and the Immortality of his Soul and that it is worth his while to study the Salvation of his Soul must think it necessary except he can imagine it safe to take his Journey to Heaven blindfold when he cannot think of getting but to his short Home here on Earth without his Eyes open A distinct and clear Understanding of the Nature Terms and Conditions and of all that pertains to the Covenant of Grace is without doubt of all things in the World the most necessary The Catechetical Method most useful to that Purpose And there is no Method of Instruction whereby it can be so distinctly and clearly known as the Catechetical way For not to say that Preaching now upon one Head and immediately after upon another without any dependance and coherence of the several parts of Christianity together is not so likely to give Persons a clear understanding of the whole Nature and Design of Christianity as may be requisite The Catechetical way by treating orderly on all the Parts of our most Holy Religion and by giving thereby a distinct View of their natural Connection with and Dependance one upon another has this Excellency in it no doubt that thereby Persons shall be better able to
their darling Opinion should be Entituled to the Policy of so ill an Author but if considering the Mischief together with the Cunning there does appear upon Examination to be in Satan's Contrivances to Ruine Religion and to draw us off from God we may safely Conjecture any Doctrine that is Pernicious in its Effects when Plausible in its Appearance to be of his Invention surely that which under the Colour of Advancing a more Spiritual Worship does so fatally destroy all Religious Worship has another Spirit for its Author than is commonly Pretended And thus you may perceive by these few Instances whereby you may be enabled to make a happy Conjecture concerning the rest how Cunningly Satan does Gild over and Disguise his Errors with something of a Resemblance to Divine Truth in order to prevent their Discovery And this he does especially in those Countries and Churches where Men do Thirst after Divine Knowledge and to that End do Search the Scriptures The Devil 's main and principal Care indeed is to keep out the Word of God from shining upon any People and at first he bends all his Forces to keep off the Preachers of it that so the World being detain'd in Ignorance they may not know how to Repent and Return to God But when the Light of his Holy Gospel does once begin to shine upon any People then all his Endeavours are to Corrupt and Deprave it with false and forc'd Explications and to multiply Controversies and Contentions in Religious Matters to teach Men to Scruple every Thing and out of a scrupulous Humour to divide and sub-divide into innumerable Sects and Parties stirring up each to Persecute and Destroy the other that whilst the different Parties contend so furiously with one another he may securely Triumph over all and bring the Holy Scriptures at last into Contempt with Prophane and Atheistical Men As if they were the Occasion of all those Wars and Confusions that are occasion'd in the World by Religious Disputes when alas He alone by managing the Lusts and corrupt Humours of sinful Men is the cause thereof So St. Jude ver 19. These be they who separate themselves Sensual having not the Spirit They have not the Holy Spirit of God tho' no none make more confident Boasts thereof than Schismaticks and Separatists usually do But the Spirit which they have is the Spirit of Satan and of Sensuality whatever Godliness and Purity above other Men they pretend to II. As to the Temper and Preparation of the Soil in Churches where the-scriptures are lockt up and ignorance prevails he imposes the grossest Heresies as Articles of Faith But Secondly Is the Soil better prepared to his Mind I mean Is there no Prophecy no Teaching Are the Scriptures Lockt up in an unknown Tongue and is a Cloud of Ignorance drawn over a whole Church Why then he throws off the Veil and walks as at Noon-day And there is no Error and Heresy so gross there is no Doctrine so contrary to Truth that he will not Impose as an Article of their Belief There is not that Ceremony so Absurd Trifling and Ridiculous which he will not Introduce into such People's Worship And there is no Immorality so bad in Practice which he will not teach such People securely and without Fear of Damnation to commit And I do call such Souls who know not the Scriptures and are utterly Ignorant of Divine Things a Soil better prepared to his Mind because he can with the greatest Ease reduce such back to his Ancient Paganism and Idolatry Especially he introduces Idolatry and Superstition whereby he is most immediately and directly serv'd or something like it which above all things he desires because by Superstition and Idolatry he is more directly and immediately serv'd As a Politick Prince he 'll make great Advantages of the Divisions of another's Subjects But the Idolater is his immediate Slave and therefore an ignorant Soul as being most proper to sow that Weed in is the Soil he does most of all like But he has a wonderful skill in suiting his Seed to any Soil so that whatever People's Interests or Lusts do incline 'em to Believe he will never fail to suggest such plausible Arguments as will most probably take with ' em III. As to the fitness of the Season he is dexterous in Accomodateing his Counsels his Actions and his manner of acting to such Seasons as are most proper to his Purpose of seducing Mankind Nor Thirdly Is Satan less Subtle in Distinguishing which are the most fit and advantagious Seasons of sowing his Tares of corrupt Doctrines in the Field or Church of Christ Indeed his great Dexterity and Policy is eminently seen in suiting his Counsels his Actions and his manner of Acting to such Seasons as are most proper to his Purpose of seducing Mankind And tho' it be his constant and perpetual Endeavours to Exercise his utmost Enmity against the Seed of the Woman and to Establish his Kingdom amongst Men Yet to fit his Counsels to proper Seasons to suit 'em to the several Ages of the Church to the Studies and Dispositions and Occupations of Men that so he may commit no Blunder in his Politicks is his great and mighty Care and Cunning. Of which amongst other Instances that might be given I will choose but One. In the dark and ignorant Ages of the Church which were from about the Ninth Century till towards the time of the Reformation when Men's Studies and Dispositions savour'd wholly of Superstition we hear of nothing so much in the Stories of those Times as of the Apparitions and Visions Hence in dark and ignorant Ages nothing so common as the Apparitions of Saints as was pretended to introduce the belief of Purgatory Image-Worship and the like Superstitions that the Founders of their several Orders and superstitious Doctrines did receive Insomuch that no New Order of Monks and Fryars nor any New Doctrine of Purgatory Image-worship Prayers to Saints or any Pilgrimage to the Shrine of some Saint departed was to be Invented but either the Virgin Mary or some other Saint is said to have Appear'd and to have Appointed it And as Legendary and Fabulous as were the Histories of those Times I am apt to Believe there were such Apparitions as I am throughly perswaded that Samuel did Appear to Saul But then as it was not really Samuel himself for his Body was in the Grave and his Soul in Paradise and it was not in the Power of the Witch of Endor to Raise up the One from the Dust much less to Recal the Other out of Heaven but the Devil who did assume Samuel's Shape So it is more than probable he might appear in the Resemblance of the Blessed Virgin and Others to seduce the superstitious People of those Times into Idolatrous Practices who throwing aside the Scriptures Gave heed to Fables and Doctrines of Devils It was infinitely then the Interest of his Kingdom so to do But pray
those of whom we stand in awe These are the Men who will expect not only to be Obey'd but Honour'd And if we Ape and Imitate 'em in all their Ways we may hope thereby to obtain their Favour If we shew a dislike of their Courses we may have reason to fear their Displeasure And what is it that Two such active Springs in our Nature as our Hopes and Fears are will not force us to or drive us from So powerful you see are the Examples of Sin when they are backt with all these Advantages And now the Examples of Sin have all these Advantages in 'em to influence you to Conform your selves unto ' em Ever since the unhappy Fall of Man there is in every Child of Adam a great deal of Proneness to Sin rather than to Vertue Alas We carry a Principle about us which is not only buisy and ready to close with the Temptations of others Examples but is forward to betray us to Sin tho' we had few Examples for it Nay evil Inclinations and corrupt Desires are so powerful within us that even the best Instructions and the most pious Examples and all other good Means and Helps are daily found too weak and unable to Overcome ' em And yet as if all this were little enough there are far more Examples abroad in the World of Wickedness than of Goodness insomuch that by the World in Scripture simply taken is often meant no other than wicked Men they make up so great a Part thereof And not only too many Great Men whom you have an Awe of do give most abominable Examples of Profaneness Lewdness Drunkenness c. to their Inferiours but to come nearer Home to you too few of your Parents and Masters I am afraid are Examples to you of Religion and of the Fear of God Nay and perhaps some that you have an Esteem for and you may take for Good Men may be Examples of Schism and Separation and of breaking the Unity of the Church and Despisers of the Sacrament or in one Kind or other not so Good as they should be not entirely and uniformly Good And now what must you do in this Case Why by all means you must Renounce and Refuse Conformity to such bad Examples We must by all Means renounce and refuse Conformity to such bad Examples For You must by no means follow the Examples of Sin be they who or what they will Let them be never so many you must not follow a Multitude to do Evil Exod. 23.2 It will not afford the least Ease to the Torments of the Damned that they are the many and that they Saved are the few Nor must the Examples of the Greatest no nor of those you count Good Men be a Rule to you when they vary from the Laws of God There is no Man so Great Wise or Good that he can dispense with God's Laws and absolve you from your Allegiance to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth This Great Man or that Parent or Master to flatter and please whom you do follow their Examples in Sinning against God and your own Soul cannot afford you Protection from God's Wrath nor Rescue you from under the Stroak of Divine Vengeance No but he shall be as liable to it himself as the poorest Slave No First a Christian a Souldier of Jesus Christ is call'd out to Combat against the wicked Examples of the World as much as against any one sort of Enemy in his Christian Warfare I. A Christian is call'd out to Combat against the wicked Examples of the World as much as against anyone sort of Enemy in his Christian Warfare and be they never so many never so mighty he must not be over-born by 'em so as to Conform himself unto 'em and either Renounce his Faith or commit any Sin by the Influence of such numerous and mighty Examples We read the 2d of Kings that in the Days of wicked Ahab the whole People of Israel were so Apostatiz'd from the true Religion that Elisha thought there was but himself left alone who had not through the Influence of so many Idolatrous Examples and the Power of that wicked Prince together with the Corruption of their own Hearts so prone to Idolatry he thought there was Not one man left in Israel who had not bowed his knee to Baal But he was never the more stagger'd for all that but preserv'd himself notwithstanding a true Worshiper of the True God And for the Encouragement of you who are Children and Servants if it has been your Misfortune to be Born of wicked Parents and Bred up in ungodly Families consider that There was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel for which God had a Regard to him even in Abijah rhe Son of wicked Jeroboam who made Israel to sin 1 King 14.13 And Obadiah preserv'd himself a good Man even in the House of wicked Ahab Chap. 18.13 And so must you likewise as you will approve your selves faithful Souldiers of Jesus Christ be wrought upon by no Examples to comply with Sin Nay secondly to Confront their bad Examples with an excellent One of his own Nay Secondly So far must a Christian be from Conforming himself to the Examples of wicked Men which would influence him to Sin that he is call'd forth do more Namely to confront their bad Ones with an extraordinary good One of his own and in the midst of an Evil and Adulterous Generation he must shew himself an excellent Example of Religion and Vertue Hence it is that in the Fifth of St. Matth. of us Christians it is said that we must be the Salt of the Earth ver 13. that we must be the Light of the World and a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and a Candle not put under a Bushel but on a Candlestick ver 14 15. And lastly we are there commanded ver 16. To let our Light so shine before Men that they may see our good Works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven It is therefore that we are thus Represented because that by the Excellency of our Examples we must be as Salt to a corrupted World to season and recover it from its Corruption that by the Eminency of all Christian Vertues and Graces shining in our Conversations we must Enlighten the dark World and lead 'em by the Brightness of our good Examples into Holiness and Purity of Living So much it lies upon you not to Conform your selves to evil Examples that would lead you into Sin that by the Goodness of your own you must draw others off from it II. When they shall Tempt and Entice us by their evil Company Secondly You must refuse to Conform your selves as to the Examples so to the Company of wicked Men when falling amongst 'em they would entice you to join with 'em in Sin As there are a great many more of bad Examples abroad in the World than good Ones So the
a Conclusion we must not content our selves in this great Work of Renouncing ALL the sinful Lusts of the Flesh that we have our Minds enlighten'd so as to know what we ought to do whilst our Affections and Bodily Powers do remain Rebellious against the Dictates of our Minds and Consciences But we must have our whole Natures possest with an Aversion an Antipathy from the very Heart against all Sin and we must have both the Mind Will and Affections nay the very Lusts and Appetites fully bent against it And we must have on the contrary a hearty Love and Disposition to all Vertue wrought in all the same Faculties both of Soul and Body We must be Renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and put on the New Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4.23 24. And when a Person is thus inwardly Chang'd throughout in all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body it is then only that he can be truly said to be a New Creature a New Man And this indeed This the hard Part. to become thus Renew'd in the Spirit of our Minds so as to have the Heart and Affections set against Sin and sinful Pleasures as well as the Mind convinc'd of the Evil of 'em is the hard Work This is certain that it is not possible for any Man to work so great a Change in his Nature of himself but it is the Spirit of God that must assist wonderfully in the doing of it And indeed That we may be said sincerely and throughly to Renounce the Flesh and ALL its sinful Lusts that Renovation of our Corrupted Nature wherein this Renunciation does consist must be such as is wrought in us by the Spirit and Grace of God This I say because it is very possible for a Man to be Chang'd from some sensual Courses to an utter Hatred thereof and yet remain in God's Eyes a Carnal and Vnregenerate Man and the reason is because his Change proceeds not from any Inward Vital Principle of Vertue but from some prudential Methods in the management of his Pleasures as some the most sensual Epicures that live shall become at length temperate and sober because their Constitutions will not bear a Debauch but as the Spirit of God had nothing to do in the Change so in their Hearts and Minds they remain still to be sensual And others again you shall meet who have a full Conviction in their Minds and Consciences through the Preaching of the Word of the Evil of Sin and yet in their Affections they Love it and their Lusts and Appetites Rebelling against the Reason of their Mind will have it and their Wills do finally chuse it so that these Persons with the Mind do serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin as St. Paul in that much mistaken Chapter Rom. 7.25 does represent as was now shew'd you the Case of the Carnal Jew abiding only under the Conviction of the Law But where the Spirit of God works the Change that Person is Sanctify'd wholly and the whole Spirit and Soul and Body will be preserved Blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.23 So that such a Person shall effectually Renounce the Flesh and all its sinful Lusts both of the Inward and of the Outward Man And accordingly as we will draw nigh to God and have him draw nigh to us we must cleanse our hands and purifie our hearts and not be double-minded Jam. 4.8 We must through the Help of his Grace Cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 We must be always I say in the perfecting of one Degree after another our Holiness and that Image of God which we lost by our Fall for the subduing of All our Lusts must be the Work of Time and it is not of a sudden that we can get an entire Conquest over 'em ALL. But if in our Strivings against 'em we find our selves still more and more to get ground upon 'em we are in a hopeful Condition In a Word therefore Brethren we are Debtors not to the Flesh to live after the Flesh for if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if through the Spirit ye do Mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. 12.13 14. The Reason of having enlargd so much upon this one Article of Renouncing the Devil c. And so I have at length done with this no less Important than Copious Subject the Renouncing of the Devil the World and the Flesh It may seem indeed as if I have been too long upon the Explication of one single Article of our Covenant viz. the Renouncing the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and All the Sinful Lusts of the Flesh But if it be considered that half the Business of our Christian Religion is performed in Resisting the Enemies of our Salvation it will not be a Matter of Blame that I have been so long upon this Point especially in Instructing of Youth about it who ought to be very well fore-arm'd in order to their coming off Conquerors The truth of it is this Renouncing of the World the Flesh and the Devil that is the Resisting and Overcoming of all their Numerous Host of Temptations is the Christian's Warfare and great Work For as the Holy Scriptures do in a multitude of Texts Represent our State as a State of Warfare Fight the good Fight of Faith lay hold on Eternal Life for hereunto ye have been called before many Witnesses 1 Tim. 6.12 That is we Listed our selves in this Warfare at our Baptism in the Presence of the Church of Christ As our State I say is a State of Warfare against all these Spiritual Enemies so it does infinitely concern all of us to know as far as is possible All their Arts and Stratagems to deceive us and this I hope will be a sufficient Apology that I have been so improportionably long to what I have and shall be upon other Heads in shewing you what it is and how far you must Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh THE XXII Lecture Secondly That I should Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith HAVING largely Explain'd the first Condition of Life and Happiness and shew'd you what I conceive is meant by Renouncing the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh I come now to do the like as to the Second Condition upon which we are to expect to be Justify'd to have our Sins Pardon'd and Eternal Life and Happiness conferr'd upon us and which we have also Covenanted with God to do and that is that We Believe all
shall obtain those Blessings and upon that Assurance the strongest Consolations and Comforts also to chear us in going through the Difficulties we shall meet with in performing those Conditions whereby only we shall obtain such unspeakable Blessings By having GOD in Covenant with us I say we have the greatest Assurance possible that we shall obtain his Favours To which purpose those words of St. Paul are very remarkable Gal. 3.15 16. Brethren says he I speak after the manner of Men tho' it be but a Man's Covenant yet if it be confirmed no Man disannulleth or addeth thereto now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises that is the Covenant made Which words do import that if deceitful Man will scarcely fail to perform what he has once obliged himself by Covenant to do it is impossible that the God of Truth should fail to make good to the utmost those Blessings he has ensured to Abraham and his Seed that is to all whom he has vouchsafed to enter into Covenant withal And such Assurance given by GOD does yield also the strongest Consolations and Comfort For why If you will compare one Scripture with another you will find that that which Gen. 17.2 GOD does call his Covenant Heb. 6.13 is called his Promise upon Oath And what says the Apostle in that Case Why GOD says he vers 17 18 19 20. willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by Oath or by Covenant that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong Consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us which Hope we have as an Anchor of the Soul sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the Veil whither the FORE-RVNNER is for us entred even Jesus That is GOD having ascertained to us his Blessings by Promise upon Oath or which is tantamount by Covenant we cannot upon such Assurance but have the greatest Comfort and Hopes of obtaining those Blessings and so of following e're long that Jesus which is gone before us into Heaven To prepare a Place for us that where he is there we may be also Joh. 14.2 3. So that it is an invaluable Priviledge this of which the World can never be sufficiently sensible nor thankful to God for that he vouchsafed to ensure his Mercies to 'em by Covenant But Or secondly Our singular Happiness therein above the fallen Angels or the rest of Mankind Secondly The occasion of your Thankfulness is yet greater if you consider your own singular Happiness in being called into this Covenant of Grace and in having all God's Mercies thereby secured to you when so many Millions of his Creatures do want this Favour The words of your Catechism do teach every one of you to consider his own particular Interest in this Covenant as the proper matter of his Thanksgiving to God Every one of you is taught to answer for himself in particular I thank God our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this State of Salvation through Jesus Christ our Saviour And indeed if we are naturally most affected with and most sensible of those Benefits which we see so many besides our selves to want here is occasion for the deepest Sense and utmost Acknowledgments of GOD's Goodness to you that you have been called into this State of Salvation when so many millions besides both Angels and Men do want the Benefit of it As to the fallen Angels the Covenant of Grace was a Favour never afforded by God to them for Christ that he might deliver them who all their life-time were subject to Bondage verily took not on him the Nature of Angels but took upon him the Seed of Abraham Heb. 2.15 16. And as to Men alas there are many Nations now in the World who have not yet enjoyed so infinite a Blessing as this happy Call into a State of Salvation who have not yet heard of a Saviour nor the good Tidings of the Gospel or Covenant of Grace who have had no Apostles no Evangelists no Pastors nor Teachers amongst 'em and who therefore still lie groping in Darkness and the shadow of Death And perhaps amongst those Nations that are called there are not any that enjoy the Means of Salvation the Worship of GOD the Administration of Sacraments and the Preaching of the Word in that purity and force as we in this Church and Nation do It is indeed an unspeakable Blessing we enjoy above many other People For now in Jesus Christ we who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ who is our Peace Ephes 2.13 14. And are no more Strangers and Forreigners but Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God vers 19. It is counted a great Privilege amongst Men but to enjoy the Freedom of a City or Corporation as that which puts those who enjoy it above the Condition of Strangers and gives 'em to partake of many singular Advantages which Forreigners want But by being taken as Fellow-Citizens of the Saints and of the Houshold of God into Covenant with him we are Enfranchized Citizens of the New Jerusalem whereby we are entituled to all those Privileges which Christ has purchased for us which are unspeakable and invaluable and which does place us as has been often said in so much a better State and Condition than the rest of Mankind Such infinite reason have we heartily to Thank Almighty God our Heavenly Father that he hath Called us to this State of Salvation through Jesus Christ our Saviour THE XXV Lecture In my Baptism Wherein I was made AS to what concerns the Nature and Substance of the Covenant of Grace I have already opened and declared to you I have shewed First What are its Terms Secondly That it restores us to a State of Salvation Thirdly By whose Mediation we obtained so gracious a Covenant and were restored thereby into a State of Salvation Fourthly By whom we have been Called into it And Lastly What mighty Thanks we do owe unto God that we have been called into so gracious a Covenant and happy state of Salvation My next Business must be to treat upon the Sacrament or Solemnity by which you Entred therein For the declaring whereof and the full Explication of these Words In my Baptism wherein I was made it will be requisite That I should in some measure so far as relates to the Sealing of the Covenant of Grace open unto you the Nature and End of Baptism And not to give you now a full and particular account of the whole Nature and Meaning and End of Baptism which shall be more conveniently done when we come to the latter part of your Catechism where the whole Doctrine of that and the other Sacrament is taught you it may suffice to our present purpose to tell you That Baptism what Baptism is an outward Rite or Ceremony of our
Ancient Writers of the Church we find the Title of Sponsores or Sureties Tertul. de Bap. August Tom. 2. 35. d. 2. given 'em which imports them to be Persons that have given Security to God and the Church about some Matter relating to the Infants they have presented to Baptism As also they are called Fide Jussores which is a Word of the like Importance and signifies a Surety or Bondsman In the latter Ages particularly amongst the Reformed Churches where they are generally in Use and even Junius and Tremellius Calvinist Writers do derive them from Is 8.6 they came to be called Compatres and Commatres which give me leave to translate Joint-fathers and Joint-mothers with respect to their Spiritual Birth and State which seems farther to import that the Security they give to the Church with reference to those Children they present to Baptism is concerning something that belongs to Natural Parents to take care of the Words signifying 'em to be join'd with 'em in the Parental Care And lastly amongst us they are properly enough stiled Godfathers and Godmothers because this Collateral Security given by 'em in behalf of the Infants is given to God and his Church and is a Security given by these Persons styled Godfathers and Godmothers that they will be instrumental to their New Birth as their Parents were to their Natural And let this suffice as to the Importance of the Words all which put together do signifie thus much that Godfathers and Godmothers are a Collateral Security join'd together with the Natural Parents in the behalf of their Children entred into Covenant with God and that this their Security is given to God and his Church that they will be Instruments in begetting them to God II. And now let us enquire into the Nature of their Office II. The Nature of their Office imply'd in these Words They did promise and vow three things in my Name And truly the Nature of their Office seems to me to be no more nor less than this 1. An express Engagement given to Christ and his Church in behalf of those Infants they present to Baptism that so soon as they become capable to be taught they shall be instructed in the Nature of that Covenant which they their Sureties have undertook for them and 2. That they shall be admonish'd and advis'd by them to lead their Lives according to the Obligations laid upon them by that their Covenant And lastly That those Infants shall moreover after sufficient Instruction in their Covenant solemnly take upon themselves the Profession of it before the Chief Minister of Christ's Church the Bishop I say that the Office of Godfathers and Godmothers does seem to me to import no more nor less than a Security given to God and his Church that the baptized Person shall do thus shall be instructed in his Covenant shall be minded to live according to it and shall solemnly declare it that it is his sincere Intentions so to do And First It is not only as a Proxy to speak for the Child in Baptism First that he shall be instructed in his Covenant True it is these Words They did promise and vow three things in my Name do seem to import something more as if the Sureties in Baptism did not only engage for the Instruction of the Party in the Nature of his Covenant but for his actual performance of it too which as it lays a very great and weighty Charge upon Sureties too much it is thought for any one to undertake for another so I am not willing to interpret them in a sense as will be apt to deterr conscientious People from doing so charitable an Office and make others have no Care about it as a Bond they despair of ever discharging I am not therefore inclin'd to expound them in so discouraging a sense if the Expressions will fairly bear milder as I humbly conceive these will For to do a thing in ones name especially in the transacting of Covenants where Privileges and Advantages accrue thereby is to act as a Proxy in the others stead In the acting as such in any Covenant by reason of the Absence or Minority or other Incapacity of the Person mainly concerned it is very usual for the Proxy so to personate the Covenanting Party himself as if he were the Person whom he represents And thus these Words They did promise and vow three things in my Namr shall be understood to mean no more than this that I being uncapable my self by reason of my Infancy to express my Consent to my Part of the Covenant my Godfathers and Godmothers were my Mouth who did it for me Now this I do indeed take to be part of the Sense but not the whole Importance for then there would be no Engagement to any thing on the Godfathers and Godmothers part whereas they are something more than meer Proxies and are really and truly Sureties for something to be done tho' not perhaps that the Person baptized shall actually perform his Covenant yet at least that he shall be instructed in the Nature of it so as to know what he ought to perform But it imports withal a Security given to God and his Church that the Child shall be instructed in his Baptismal Covenant And this taking care of the Child's Instruction is the first part of the Duty of Godfathers and Godmothers For the best way I conceive to understand the meaning of any Author in Words more generally exprest is to consult those Expositions and Explications he makes of his own Sense elsewhere if any such can be met withal And now we have a most excellent Key for the opening of this Engagement of the Godfathers and Godmothers in the behalf of the Child baptized in the Exhortation given them after Baptism and in the Charge to bring the Baptized Person to Confirmation The Words of the Exhortation run thus Forasmuch as this Child hath promised by you that are his Sureties to renounce the Devil and all his Works to believe in God and to serve him Ye must remember that it is your Parts and Duty to see that this Infant be taught so soon as he shall be able to learn what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession he hath here made by you And that he may know these things the better ye shall call upon him to hear Sermons and chiefly ye shall provide that he may learn the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments in the Vulgar Tongue and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his Soul's Health And that this Child may be vertuosly brought up to lead a Godly and a Christian Life remembring always that Baptism doth represent unto us our Profession which is to follow the Example of our Saviour Christ and to be made like unto him that as he dyed and rose again for us so should we who are Baptized dye to Sin and rise again unto Righteousness continually mortifying all
our evil and corrupt Affections and daily proceeding in all Vertue and Godliness of Living So that hereby it does appear that the Engagement of the Godfathers and Godmothers is in the first place that they will take care to have those Infants whom they have presented to Baptism Catechised in the Nature of that Covenant they have in the way of Proxy for them enter'd into which is the Importance of these Words Remember that it is your Parts and Duties to see that this Infant be taught so soon as he shall learn what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession he hath here made by you which is the proper Work of Catechising to teach ' em They are also for their farther Edification in this grand Matter of their Covenant to call upon 'em to hear Sermons which are a Method of Instruction design'd to improve 'em in all that necessary Knowledge the beginnings of which was laid by Catechising But especially their Care must be to have 'em throughly Catechised which lays the Foundation of Divine Knowledge in the Principles of Religion without which there can be no bottom for their Edification any other way Chiefly says the Exhortation ye shall provide that they may learn the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments in the Vulgar Tongue and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his Soul's Health which I say is the proper work of Catechising to teach ' em Secondly Secondly It is the Office of these Sureties to admonish the Child to live according to his Baptismal Engagements Having thus took care to have 'em well instructed by Catechising and Preaching in the Articles and Conditions of their Covenant their next Care must be to admonish and advise 'em seriously to apply themselves to live according to those Obligations laid upon 'em in their Covenant with God Youth of all Persons want good Monitors as being of themselves giddy and inconsiderate and too regardless of what does mainly concern 'em and their Sureties ought to make it a part of their Care peculiarly to admonish such as they have a band in bringing into the Covenant that they live according to it so it follows in that most Excellent Exhortation Ye shall take care that this Child may be vertuoulsy brought up to lead a Godly and a Christian Life c. Thirdly And then as for the last thing Thirdly And to take care that at Years of Discretion the Child should take his Vow upon himself before the Bishop in Confirmation wherein I said consists the Office of Sureties in Baptism viz. that they take care their Youth after all due Instruction in the Nature of the Covenant should personally for their own parts take it upon themselves before the Chief Minister of Christ the Bishop This you have deliver'd plainly and fully in the Charge given about Confirmation running in these Words Ye are to take care that this Child be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him so soon as he can say the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments in the Vulgar Tongue So that if you will allow the Blessed Authors of our most Divine and Excellent Liturgy the Liberty to explain themselves The utmost Importance of these Words They did promise and vow three things in my Name is 1. an Engagement to Christ and his Church in the behalf of the Baptized Infant that so soon as he becomes capable he shall be instructed in his Covenant 2. that he shall be admonish'd to live according to it and 3. that he shall solemnly declare his sincere Intentions so to do III. The Reason the Church has to require Sureties III. And now let us see what reason the Church had to appoint Godfathers and Godmothers not only to represent but thus to engage for the Infant in Baptism It is for the better Order and Decency of the Administration that some should be the Mouth of the Child And truly as to the representing part there seems to me to be as great reason for that as that all things in Divine Administrations should be done decently and in order as the Apostle commands 1 Cor. 14.40 For why You are not again to be told that this whole Solemnity of Baptism is the transacting of a Covenant with God a Covenant wherein both Parties concerned are either personally themselves or by others as their Proxies to make mutual Engagements one to another to perform each his Part of the Covenant Now God who is the first and prime Party in this Covenant He true it is is sufficient for these things of himself and needs no other to engage for him yet in Compassion to our Infirmities who cannot bear the Majesty of God's Presence hence the Israelites after the Thunder and Lightning on Mount Sinai prayed he would speak to them by his Servant Moses lest they should dye Tho' God need not I say to treat with us by Proxy yet in conformity to our Weakness he hath substituted the Priest in his stead to assure us of the Promises his part of the Covenant And what then shall the Infant do who is so far uncapable of transacting personally the Covenant and engaging by himself to perform its Conditions that he does not nor cannot understand the Conditions of it what I say shall he do Why it is fit that he likewise by his Sureties as by Proxy should engage that he will do his part To this purpose saith a Father since for want of Age Children cannot believe with the Heart to Righteousness nor confess with the Mouth unto Salvation therefore others answer for 'em that the Sacrament may be admitted compleatly to ' em It would indeed seem to me a very odd and indecent and disorderly thing extremely unlike the usual way of transacting Covenants when one and He so great a Party concern'd as God should vouchsafe to make over by his Proxy the Minister of the Covenant express Assurances of Infinite Mercies the other Party a poor wretched Creature in whose Favour this is done should not have a Mouth either by himself or others to make an open and solemn Protestation of Acceptance of those Gracious Terms and of sincere Resolutions to perform his part A silence on his side wou'd look like a sullen ungrateful refusal of such Gracious Overtures and Terms of Mercy the most indecent and disorderly thing in the World The Administration would be extreamly indecent without a Proxy to Represent the Infant And indeed so much is the Honour of God and of the Church It is of concernment to the Church that Security be given that every one who is admitted a Member into it should live to the Reputation and Interest of it and of the Christian Religion concern'd that no Person be enter'd into the Profession of the Gospel who will not live answerably to it that it is highly fit it is extreamly requisite all possible Security shou'd be first given to God and his Church
that the Person admitted into the Society of Christians should at leastwise be Instructed and Admonish'd and be Engag'd solemnly to profess what belongs to him to do as a Member of that Body So far it is requisite Security should be given before he is admitted a Member of Christ's Church if it be not farther necessary it should be given for his living according to the Obligations of the Covenant Indeed so far is it from being unreasonable to require Security that he should be Instructed and Admonish'd what are his Obligations that if we closely consider the Matter it may not seem so unreasonable as some do imagine to exact Security of the Person Baptized even that he shall live up to the Obligations laid upon him in his Covenant We see it daily practic'd This is what Societies whose Honour and Interest is of infinite less consequence do daily require and it is allow'd a reasonable and prudent Caution in all Societies of Men to exact Security from those who are not responsible themselves that they shall Answer the Ends and Interests of that Society whereinto they desire to be admitted before they will take 'em in amongst ' em This is the common practice you know in all Corporations and Companies And even in our Parish concerns no Man shall be admitted into either from whom they apprehend any Danger without giving Security against all Disadvantages that may accrue by his Admission And may not the Church of Christ upon as good Grounds require good Security from Children who cannot Answer nor Engage for themselves and who considering the inbred Corruption of Nature are in danger enough without a great deal of Care of proving very pernicious Members Shall not She I say as well as other Societies whose Interests are infinitely less exact of all that are admitted into her Body that they will never depart from or contemn her Laws nor Act contrary to the Honour and Interest of her and her Lord and Saviour Is not the Church of Christ a Society yea the chief of all Societies Are not her and her great Masters Honour and Interest the most considerable of all others in the World And does it not then infinitely concern her that none of her Members turn Rebels to the Laws of God that they do not become Profane and Wicked Livers the greatest Injury that can be done to God and her self I sure I think it does for there is nothing tends more to the dishonour of her Saviour and of Religion and of her self than that any of her Members should become Profane and Wicked The III Lives of her Children make her a Sport to the vile Atheist a Scorn and Reproach to Turks and Infidels It extreamly hinders the Gospels prevailing upon Infidels abroad and is hugely Offensive to all her Pious Sons at home Blame her not therefore for taking such Prudent Care as to admit none into her Society without having first Security given of their good Behaviour That of Parents not sufficient without Collateral Security And indeed so far is she from deserving Blame therein that we are to reckon her moderate in her Demands when she requires no more than Security that the New Member shall be well Principl'd and Educated and duly Admonish'd Things that may be easily in our Power to take care of Nor is it sufficient Security to the Church that the Parents are bound to take this Care of their Children The Natural Parents it is confess'd are oblig'd both by the Light of Nature and the express Laws of God to bring up their Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord But this is not enough in so grand a Concern Parents possibly may not live to Educate their Children and how many of those that do live are wofully careless in the Principling of them with a due Knowledge and Sense of the Goodness of God to them and those great Duties they owe to him What through Earthly-mindedness in some who care for nothing but to Train 'em up in all the Arts and Cunning how to Live and grow Rich in the World and what through the Fondness of others whose fatal Indulgence will not suffer 'em to put their Children much upon any thing ungrateful to 'em as Religion indeed is to Flesh and Blood these things consider'd it is more than requisite that besides the Obligations of the Natural Parent there should be moreover some Collateral Security given by such Persons as are likely to use all convenient Industry upon the Parents neglect which is too usual to provide 'em good Education as far as Reading at least to instil good Principles into 'em by Catechising and to give 'em good Admonitions by way of Reproof or Exhortations as there shall be occasion The requiring of this as reasonable now as in the Primitive Times Nor is the giving such Security for their Religious Education less necessary now than it was in the Primitive Times It is well known that then all Infants had their Sponsors or Sureties that engag'd at the Font for their Christian Education and Faithfulness in their Covenant And that for this amongst other Reasons lest in those Persecuting Times the Parents being took off by their Persecutors their Infants and Children shou'd remain expos'd to the danger of being Train'd up in Paganish Idolatry for want of some Persons particularly Engag'd to take care of ' em The Church true it is is not now so often shak'd with violent Persecutions as in those Days Tho' sometimes it has its cruel Enemies in the very Bowels of it full as furious as ever were the Heathens in their bloody Slaughters and as zealous to ravish from the Orthodox their Children to train 'em up in their wicked Idolatry But however This Charge no unreasonable Imposition at any time being little more than what is requir'd from one Christian to another in common Charity at all times besides this it ought to be consider'd that our Covenant with God is not broke only by Apostatizing back from the Service of the true God to the Worship of the Devil or Evil Spirits but by living in Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and therefore that equal Care ought to be taken as then that the Child shou'd Renounce the Devil and all his Works and believe in God so now that he shall Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the Days of his Life And God and his Church is as much Dishonour'd aâ—d the Soul as much endanger'd by the lewd and vitious Lives of Christians now as by the Apostacy of Christians to Paganism or Idolatry it was then and therefore there is as much reason that the Church should now take all possible Security against the one as then it did against the other sort of scandalous and dangerous Violations of its Covenant especially if it be farther considere'd that Prosperity and Peace being infinitely more apt to corrupt the Lives and Manners of Men than Sufferings are
between Good and Evil. 101 The Mind of Man naturally desirous of encreasing Knowledge Experimental Knowledge of Sin clouds the Reason and stupifies the Sence of Spiritual things And even meer Curiosity after less Profitable things takes off from the Knowledge of God and our Selves and the Means of Happiness 102 By these Means he brings that Ignorance in Divine Matters which reigns in most Men's Minds And being spiritually Ignorant Men are easily led into whatever Sin and Misery This therefore another Wile of Satan's which must be carefully avoided 103 Thirdly By Bribing the Affections with something nearest our Hearts and rather than disoblige and lose which we will commit any thing that is Evil. And by whatever we most place our Affections upon does he still Inveigle us to do what is Forbidden And therefore our Saviour would have us bear that Indifferency of Affection towards our nearest Relations as to be able to Forsake them and their Interests rather than God Lastly By exciting their Lusts and Appetites after the forbidden Fruit by proposing the fairest Objects and most delicious Dainties to their Senses 104 And by the same Methods does he prevail to this day upon the far greatest part of Mankind to Rebel against God For Man being made up very much of Sense so that nothing enters into the Soul but through the Doors of our Senses we are easily prevail'd upon by what gratifies our Senses Especially the Senses of Seeing and Tasting 105 But our being taken only with Outward things is such an high Ingratitude to God who hath provided so much better for us and such an Abuse to our Souls which are capable of relishing higher Enjoyments as is not to be Endur'd 106 LECT XI What Temptations Satan levels against the Church of Christ God recovers out of the fallen Race of Mankind a Body of Men the Church to his Service Listed 'em under Jesus Christ to Fight against Satan The Devil enrag'd to have his Prey snatcht out of his Teeth continually Attacks it His first and chief Endeavours are utterly to destroy it from off the Face of the Earth 107 This he Endeavour'd to do in the Person of Abel And when afterwards Recruited in the Family of Seth yet he Reduc'd it again by the Bloody Posterity of Cain to Eight Persons in the Days of Noah When after the Flood God chose Abraham and his Posterity to be a special People unto himself Satan endeavour'd utterly to have Extinguisht that People by his Servant Pharaoh And in all Periods till our Saviour's coming he stir'd up the Idolatrous Nations their Neighbours especially the Four Monarchies to Harrass them But soon after that Christ appeared in the World did he most vigorously Exert his Malice against it 108 So that for the first 300 Years we hear of nothing but of bloody Persecutions The Emperors of Rome the Instruments but Satan the Instigator And wheresoever any Attempt is made to Convert a Country from Paganism he does instigate the Princes and People thereof to Persecute and Destroy the Preachers of the Gospel And he is no less Industrious to drive Christianity out of those Countries whereof it had once Possession And he has an Anti-Christian Party within the Bowels of Christendom most sadly weakning Christ's and most effectually promoting the Interest of his own Kingdom 109 And now all Christians are so far to Renounce Satan with respect to those his persecuting Temptations as to submit to the sorest Sufferings which Satan and his wicked Instruments can inflict rather than deny Christ or his Truths Secondly When those bloody Methods fail Satan then does endeavour so to corrupt Mens Notions of God and Religion that by their very Christianity they may dishonour him 110 This Politick Method of his discover'd to us under the Parable of a malicious Enemy coming privately in the Night and sowing Tares where the Husbandman had before sowed good Seed Like a skilful Husbandman he is choice about the Nature of the Seed the Temper and Preparedness of the Soil the Fitness of the Season and the Skilfulness of the Seeds-man First As to the Nature of the Seed he takes care his Heretical Opinions and Practices should bear some Resemblance of Divine Truth in order to conceal their Discovery Thus especially he Gilds his Errors where the Light of the Gospel does most clearly shine as here First When under the plausible Appearance of Advancing God's Honour in some of his Attributes he renders him odious and dispis'd in Others 111 Secondly When under the Colour of Advancing Gospel-Truths he propagates Heresies which do undermine Religion and the Necessity of a Holy Life Thirdly when he teaches to prefer some eminent Christian Duty or some part of a Duty or one Way of performing a Duty to the Disparagement of another As to prefer Prayer to the neglect of Preaching or Sermons to the contempt of Prayers As also Praying in Spirit to the regard of Bodily Worship And Extemporary Prayer to the utter Contempt of Forms of Prayer 112 By this latter Means Satan has utterly Defeated those excellent Helps we have in our Church and brought in a great Neglect of Publick Family and Private Devotion 113 Secondly As to the Temper and Preparation of the Soil in Churches where the Scriptures are Lockt up and Ignorance prevails he imposes the grossest Heresies as Articles of Faith Especially he introduces Idolatry and Superstition whereby he is most immediately and directly serv'd Thirdly As to the fitness of the Season he is dexterous in accommodating his Counsels his Actions and his manner of Acting to such Seasons as are most proper to his Purpose of seducing Men. 114 Hence in dark and ignorant Ages nothing so common as the Apparitions of Saints as was pretended to introduce the Belief of Purgatory Image-Worship and the like Superstitions And in Learn'd and Philosophical Ages he is as shy in appearing lest he should destroy the prevailing Sadducism Fourthly As to the skilfulness of the Seeds-man Satan is wonderfully Cunning in making choice of fit and proper Instruments and in furnishing those with the proper Arts of Deceiving and with suitable Qualities whom he employs to sow the Seed of corrupt Doctrine in the Souls of Men. 115 Such as place all Religion in Morality shall be adorn'd with Humanity Such as turn it all into Mystery shall be gifted with Canting 116 And yet sometimes the Crooked Serpent by Men seeming Godly will propagate Principles extreamly Immoral The most difficult Part of a Christian's Warfare is to preserve One-self untainted with Heretical Pravity colour'd over with the Varnish of Gospel-Truth But yet by trying it by proper Rules it may be done viz. First By its tendency to an Ill Life Secondly By its taking off from our Dependance upon the Mediation of Christ for the acceptance of a good One. 117 LECT XII Thirdly Satan's great Industry is to gain over to his Party or to Tempt to some scandalous Enormity such Persons as are more than ordinarily Eminent
deal concerning him and his Attributes even from the Consideration of those Perfections which we behold imprinted upon the Creatures for St. Paul testifies Rom. 1.20 That the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that those who know him not are without excuse But much more can we Christians be able to know a great deal of him when our Reasonings from a Created Perfection are so much assisted by Divine Revelation declaring and deciphering God so clearly as it does both in his Nature and all his Attributes Now the Perfections which belong to the Creature may be reduc'd as a Learned Man observes to such as pertain to it as a Substance or as having Life as having Perception or Sense or as having Reason And to proceed therefore from our general Conceptions of God as a Being Infinite in all Perfection and Incomprehensible by us to the Contemplation of the Divine Nature and Perfections so far as we shall be able to gather what they are from what is legible in the Creature and especially in the Holy Scriptures 1. A Spirit I. If we consider God as a Substance since the more Fine and Spiritual any Substance is it is always accounted the more Perfect as the Animal Spirits in the Body are far exalted above the grosser Matter God therefore must not be conceiv'd to be of a Bodily Form and Composition the lower Form of Substances but to be of the highest of all viz. purely a SPIRIT And being also the Cause of the Spirits both of the Souls of Men and of the Angels of Heaven he must then be transcendently exalted in the Spiritual Nature above those most Glorious Beings the Holy Angels It is not easie nor is it necessary for us whose Faculties being Cloathed with Flesh can discern nothing but through the door of the Senses to form a True and Adequate Notion of a Spirit It is sufficient to conceive of God that he is absolutely Incorporeal without Figure or Parts which are the Accidents of Matter and therefore he is invisible to Mortal Eyes and accordingly is said by the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.15 16. To dwell in the Light which no Man can approach unto whom no Man hath seen nor can see It is necessary also to believe him infinitely more Spiritual in his Nature than the Souls of Men or than the Angels themselves are and therefore is he call'd the God of the Spirits of all Flesh Numb 16.22 The Father of Spirits or he who maketh his Angels Spirits Psal 104.4 For if he is the Cause of that Spiritual Nature which the Souls of Men and the Angels in Heaven do possess he as the Cause must have much more of that Perfection in him than he imparts unto others In a word the utmost that we can conceive of God as to this kind of Perfection is that he is a pure and Divine Mind as even the wisest amongst the Philosophers were wont to call him II. He is IMMENSE or OMNIPRESENT II. Immense or Omnipresent This is another of those Attributes or Divine Perfections which belong to God under the Notion of a Substance And a transcendent Attribute this is whereby he Infinitely excels all Created Beings As for bodily Substances they are Circumscribed and Limited by other Bodies touching and bounding 'em on all sides so that no two Bodies can be in the same place nor can the same Body be possibly in two places at the same time And as to those Spiritual and Immortal Substances the Souls of Men and the Angels of Heaven they are also Defin'd to certain Places so that when they are in one place they cannot be in another at one and the same Instant But as to the Divine Nature it is in one and the same Instant present in all places It is neither Included nor Circumscribed in any place nor Excluded from any but he is every where present in an Ineffable and an Inscrutable manner so that there can be nothing conceiv'd where God is not Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afar off Do not I fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.23 24. To which purpose also that place Psal 139.7 8. does admirably set forth the Omnipresence of God whither shall I flee from thy Spirit or whither shall I go from thy Presence If I climb up into Heaven thou art there if I go down to Hell thou art there also III. God is a Being OMNIPOTENT III. Omnipotent This is another Attribute which belongs to God and it pertains to him as he is a Living Substance For tho' many things Inanimate have their Virtues yet Power and Activity are the Properties and Result of Life And if the Angels which have received their Being from him do so excel in Strength that one of 'em slew an hundred fourscore and five thousand of the Camp of the Assyrians in one Night 2 Kings 19.35 how eminently great must that Power be which created those potent Spirits It is an Attribute which does fall in very properly to be considered after God's Immensity for where-ever God is present as he is every where he can do whatever he pleases and nothing can resist his Power concerning which the Scripture gives us the plainest Testimonies and the most astonishing Instances Thus Matth. 19.26 it is said that with God all things are possible And the Instances thereof are no less than that whole Frame of Nature which we behold even the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Host of Heaven concerning whom it is testify'd Gen. 1.2 and Ps 148.5 that God did but speak the Word and they were made that he Commanded and they were Created And sure then all things possible can be effected by the Power of God if he pleases I say all things possible Being able to effect all things possible or which have no repugnancy in themselves nor to the Nature of God for some things there are which it is a a Contradiction to the nature of the things themselves they should be done as that a Body whose Nature it is to be Circumcised and bounded in the place wherein it it is should be in different places at the same time And other things are repugnant to the perfect Nature of God to do as to Die to Deceive to do Injustice to damn an Innocent Person to all Eternity in respect of which it is said that it is impossible for God to Lie Heb. 6.18 And that he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 And he does whatsoever he pleases And whatsoever he pleases for this is the difference between God who is a voluntary Agent and other necessary Agents that whatever does Act necessarily does operate to the utmost of its Power as for Instance the Stone in descending falls as low as it can but a free Agent as God is Acts so far only as he Wills for he might