5.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall be liable to the Judgment viz. The Court of the Twenty Three Elders where the Punishment was Capital though in a more mild manner than in the Council viz. of the Sanhedrim or in the Vally of Hinnom denoted there by the Expression of Hell-fire And therefore the least Punishment hereafter being such as answers to Death here importeth no less than Death Eternal though a lesser degree thereof than what shall be inflicted upon greater Sins Theoph. But can this Motive be said any way to prevail for our Love to these Laws It may excite indeed a Dread but not likely our Love. Eubul Yet Theophilus let things be seriously considered and even from This Motive how dreadful soever it may at first view appear there will be reason to love these Laws For the Constituting such Punishments is no more than what is meet to be done Where the Laws are in themselves so every way good and where there are Eternal Rewards promised to the Observance of them you will say when they are disobey'd that it is but fit there should be Penalties inflicted and these Penalties such as shall be answerable to the Offences committed Now the greatness of the Offences is to be gathered from the exceeding Riches of Gods Bounty viz. Everlasting Rewards held out unto Men on Terms so excellent and to Rational Natures so truly agreeable If These shall be despised and cast behind their backs the Sin is of a very great height and what Punishment will so rightly sute it as the contrary to that Eternal Happiness which they have rejected viz. Eternal Misery The measure of Gods Justice is to these Men not greater than the abundant Goodness was which they so ungratefully refused They shall not be thrown deeper in Hell than by the Will of God they might have been raised in Heaven Nor shall they continue longer in Punishments than they should have done in Joys Now these things in Speculation must be acknowledged to carry in them a dueness of proportion and to be therefore bountiful as indeed every thing in God and in his Actings is even his Justice no less than his Mercy Only we are weak and sinful and so cannot over quickly discern it But to impartial Consideration it will at length shew itself so to be But that which comes more near us and may more move our Love is this viz. That the Intent of threatning these Punishments is primarily not that they should be born but that they should be escaped Self-preservation is a thing so natural unto Men that the fears of losing their Welfare and Being shall have a more quick touch upon them than any thing else God therefore hath added this Motive of Fear that it may be a spur to quicken us when by the Corruption of Nature other Arguments are rendred less prevalent These Punishments shall indeed be undergone by refractory Sinners For they have as much as in them lies gone about to dissolve utterly the Community which is made up between God the Legislator and Men his People by infringing the Authority of the Divine Laws and the Dignity of Him who is to see that they be observed But it is only by such as These that these Punishments shall be undergone To others they are chiefly a Motive to Obedience and are further only as a reserve when all other means have proved ineffectual The case in respect of Punishments is much different betwixt our Lawgiver and Lawgivers on Earth Some of These are more forward to punish than to reward because Punishments do oftentimes increase their Treasuries and Rewards diminish them But our Lord is no way profited by the punishment of any neither in the rewarding them is his Abundance extenuated Much delight he takes in the Life of Men but he hath given us the greatest Assurances that he hath no pleasure in the death of Sinners His threatning therefore to punish them is that they may not be punished And truly though we may dread the Effects of God's Justice yet when he thereby shall awaken our Hearts that we may be the more secured unto Happiness as it may very much excite our Obedience so may it also our Love to God's Law even upon the account of threatning Eternal Punishments Theoph. I see out of the Eater there may be Meat and out of the Strong Sweetness What to common view is at the greatest distance from Love is hearer than what I could think an Engagement thereof to the Divine Law. Eubul Another Motive for the securing of Obedience to the Laws of Christ is their having stronger Assistances afforded for the Performance of them than under the Old Law there were The Holy Spirit will always joyn with our sincere Endeavours and will help our Infirmities And hereupon the Gospel and all the Laws of Jesus Christ are in Holy Writ called Spirit by reason of the Grace of God's Spirit preventing and enabling us in the doing of them and are therein put in opposition to the Mosaick Law which is term'd the Letter Thus is it 2 Cor. 3.6 God hath fitted us to be Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit i. e. not of the Old Law but of the Evangelical for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life i. e. The Spirit with its Assistances in this Law enables us to perform it and in so doing to obtain Life Hence it is that the Apostle as some very Learned Persons interpret him reckons more to the Constitution of a Christian than of other Men joyning Spirit to Soul and Body and giving that the precedence of the other two I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 2 Thess 5.23 Not that This is a Substance distinct from the Soul and Body but a Principle we may call it which is wrought within us by the Blessed Spirit and is well expressed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul the New Creation and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Peter the Divine Nature whereby we are enabled to act those things which meerly by our Natural Powers we cannot reach unto And what is it that we cannot do if our Lord through the Blessed Spirit will lend us an Hand in the doing it I can do saith St. Paul all things through Christ that strengtheneth me and so may every good Christian say as well as he Which is a very great Encouragement to love these Laws in that they bring their Helps as well as their Rewards along with them Theoph. What you say Eubulus might be a great Encouragement to love these Laws were these Assistances such as you speak them to be But alas our Work seems to be little the less for them We must labour fight and strive and when we have done all which we are able we can see much of the Weakness of Men but little of the Strength of God and nothing
they have the Laws of Christ for their Rule and Warrant They can of themselves lay no Obligation upon us The Holy Men we read of in Scripture were not sent into the World to be a Rule to all Others in the Things they acted The Vncertainty of Examples very great Their Insufficiency None of the Actions of our Blessed Lord from his Example merely and without a Law did lay any Obligation upon us to Imitate them The Laws of Christ reach to all Moral Actions No Examples of Goodness beyond what is included in those Laws Inferences concerning the Examples in Holy Writ In those things where the Law of God is Silent Prudence is to be our Guide Examples though of themselves they lay no Obligation upon us are yet of use Those which bear the Image of the Laws of Christ are given us for Incentives and Encouragements of our Obedience When Divine Laws are question'd as to their Sense Examples upon occasion may be Interpretations of them By Examples we may be instructed to do our Duties in a decent and becoming way Decency added unto Sincerity may make its reward the greater Examples are Registred in Holy Scripture for the Honour of those whose they were Our Condition the more sure than it would have been if we had had none in whose Steps we might tread By comparing Examples with our Rule we shall quickly find whether they will hold Good for our Practice or no. P. 175. The Contents of the Seventh Discourse COncerning the Divine Law as taken in a larger Sense Of the Historical part of Scripture particularly of the Creation All other Opinions concerning the Being of the World are cold and unaffecting Of the Fall of Man. It gives Light to many things which otherwise we should never have known the reason of The sad effects of our Fall are in great measure corrected by God's Mercy and made Comfortable to us Many things in the dark and mingled with falsities in profane Authors we may from hence more clearly discern Sacred History shews forth God's immediate Hand and plainly tells us that he punished and rewarded for such and such reasons Of the History of our Redemption How wonderful it is and what a Sacredness runs through all the Circumstances of our Lord's Conception Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension The great evidence of these things Of the Prophetical part of Scripture Especially of those Prophecies relating to our Blessed Saviour As Divine Truth is eminently seen in all of them so the quick and various workings of Providence for the fulfilling of some of them are very delightful The Predictions of the Heathen Oracles much different from these The Sibylline Prophecies of suspected Credit Of the Adhortative part of Holy Writ God hath used the most Taking words for the prevailing with Men for Obedience In the Gospel there is nothing wanting that may work upon the Soul of Man. Of the Devotional part of Sacred Scripture It consisteth of such Services as were fit for Men to pay unto their God and needed not Secresie to shelter them from an Honest Ear or Chast Eye Devotion raised to a much greater perfection by having our Lord and the Holy Spirit so nearly concerned in it Those persons quite mistake what they read in Sacred Scripture who find a pleasure therein without any respect to the Divine Law properly as such What we are to think of those who are conscientiously Obedient to the Divine Law but yet find not that Delight therein which Earthly things do frequently give them and who hereupon are very apt to interpret their Love to God's Precepts to be unsincere and such as will be rejected The great reasonableness and Benefit of Holy Meditation P. 210. The Contents of the Eighth Discourse DIsobedience is a Pollution It brings Disorder into a Man. It tends to make the Almighty to minister to his Creatures in the vilest Offices How God cannot be made to serve How he may He is pleas'd in Holy Writ to speak after the manner of Men that so He may condescend to our Vnderstandings and excite our Affections How He is made to serve in His Holy Name How in His Works The Creation sensible of this Slavery and God very much displeas'd with it Disobedience of an Extensive Nature It affects a kind of Eternity It 's highly Disingenuous God necessitates none to Disobedience Why He will not force Men into Obedience Why he generally cuts them not off P. 257. The Contents of the Ninth Discourse THe Plea of those is vain who say they never sinned maliciously against the Almighty nor wish'd his Greatness and Power to be less The Difference betwixt Rebellion against God and that against a Temporal Prince Disobedience a defilement in whomsoever it is Not the same Pollution in all Sins What the Sins of Good Men are and how known to be theirs The Sins of wicked Men of a deep Dye wherein they differ from those of pious Men. The Difference between wicked Men How of the worst sort some are more open some more secret in their Sins How the Sins of the less evil sort are to be measur'd The same fairness of Converse not equally innocent unto many A Sin may be a pardonable one to some when the very same to the Eye and Opinion of Men will not be so to others What we are to think of the Heinous Sins of Good Men Registred in Holy Scripture No reason from them for wicked Men to think better of their own Sins God will not esteem the Sins of his Children which are in themselves as great as and the same with the Sins of other Men to be therefore the less because they are committed by those who are his Children How to make a Judgment of our own Sins P. 288. ERRAT Pag. 282. lin 21. read them for him THE TRUE NATURE OF THE Divine-Law AND OF DISOBEDIENCE thereunto c. The Contents THE Occasion of the Discourse What is to be understood by the Divine Law. The Difference between the Law of Old and That which was given afterwards The Laws which enjoyn'd Duties towards God were such as we would in Right Reason wish should be towards a Prince and Lawgiver Concerning some Laws which might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather And others which seemed to proceed from the Will of God meerly as Supream without any Reason and consequently without any Love to his Creatures Of the Precepts which require Fear and are enforced upon the account that God is Terrible How these can consist with Love which casteth out Fear The Laws which a Rational Man would desire for the Welfare of Society are those which are enjoyn'd by God. Such likewise are those that respect ourselves Why the Law is called The Ministration of Death by St. Paul. What he meaneth when he saith He was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died And how the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which
Theoph. You rightly say what the word Law imports as spoken by our Psalmist God's Will being written at that time no further than as it made up the Jewish Oeconomy As it hath been manifested since it hath relation to Men in a far wider sense wheresoever planted upon the Face of the Earth Yea even those Laws of Moses which are retained in the Evangelical Dispensation cease to bind as they were given by Moses and are Obligatory now from another Lawgiver Jesus Christ But yet still they are to be acknowledged God's Laws and we may even now use these words O how I love thy Law Therefore Eubulus I desire you will shew me these things 1. What the Inducements were to this so great Love in David and other holy Men of old to the Divine Laws 2. What the Inducements are which we Christians have to love them Eubul I see Theophilus the greater share of Discourse must lie upon me but you will have it so and to my power I will obey you As to the Inducements which David and other holy Men of old had to love the Divine Laws they seem to me to arise partly from its pleasing God to give those Laws and partly from the Excellency of the Laws themselves In relation to the former I must confess that the Nature of Men seemeth necessarily to require that Laws should be given unto them For it would have been highly irrational on Mens part not to acknowledge Him as their Lord who gave them a Being and it would be a very great Dishonour unto God should we think that They whom he had made a little lower than the Angels should be left unregarded and lawless But yet when Men had fallen from their Obedience and had in great measure sullied that Law which was imprest on their Natures it was certainly a very great Favour that God in stead of throwing upon them deserved Punishments should chuse a Numerous People to be his Peculiar and should himself repair that Law thus obliterated within by writing it in Tables that it might be discern'd by the Eye Consider Theophilus the Greatness of Him who gives this Law how he needs not the Services of any Creature and also the Ingratitude of Man how he disobeyed the most righteous Law in Paradise where all the Love and Observance which possibly he could shew would not have been too much Consider this I say and the Law if it carry but any favour along with it may certainly for the sake of Him who gave it be justly esteemed and loved Neither is the Time wherein it pleased God to give these Laws unworthy of our Notice So much was the Welfare of Mankind esteemed to depend upon the Writing of Laws that many Nations in after Ages contended for the Dignity of being the first Authors thereof And Greece especially among the Priviledges which she boasts to have held forth to the rest of the World reckons this as one of the the chief But the Honour of having the first Written Laws belongs to the Hebrews alone in comparison of whom as Josephus against Apion proveth the Grecian Legislators were but of yesterday and this Honour is much heightned by God's owning the immediate Relation of a King unto them while he wrote these Laws Now the Benefit of Laws and the Glory of having These given so early and by such an Hand being well understood and rightly valued by our Psalmist who himself was a Ruler and a King might well engage his Love to them Theoph. I acknowledge the Inducement from God's thus giving the Law to be a very fair one Pray Eubulus go on to the other you mentioned viz. The Excellency of the Laws themselves Eubulus Take it in that pious King 's own words Psal 19. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statuts of the Lord are righteous rejoycing the Heart The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-Comb Moreover by them is thy Servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Theoph. This is a very high Character indeed of those Laws if there be as I doubt not but there is Truth in the whole Eubul There is Truth in every tittle And this will appear if we shall look upon the Laws which require Duties to Him who is the Lawgiver or to Those from one to another or to Themselves whom these Laws are given unto Pray tell me Theophilus what would you in Right Reason and according to a perfect Harmony of Things have the Duties towards a Prince and Lawgiver to be Theoph. I would desire they should be Fear Love and Gratitude and these shewn upon Grounds every way good There being nothing more comely than that Subjects should be with-held from offending by Fear moved to all Obedience by Love and excited to Acknowledgments of Benefits and Protection by Gratitude More than These I mention not because to These all others I suppose may be reduced and are in effect no other than Expressions of them Eubul All these you shall find to be according to your Wish Your first Duty of Fear is in Deut. 6.13 as also in sundry places more Thou shalt Fear the Lord thy God and serve Him and swear by his Name Their Fear is to be such as not to scare them from him but they are to approach unto him and to do him Service And for the deciding of Controversies and establishing of Truth they are to use his Name solemnly in an Oath And a right good Ground there is for such a Fear from the Power and Justice of God such as can and will inflict Punishments on them when they wilfully transgress and this to the utmost of their Deserts The Destruction of the Old World for its Impiety The Overwhelming of the Egyptians in the Red Sea The Earths opening her Mouth and swallowing up Corah Dathan and Abiram and numerous other Instances of the like Nature were hereof Testimonies sufficient So that this Law of Fearing God as a Prince and Lawgiver manifests itself to be built on a sure and lasting Foundation Your second Duty of Love is commanded Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength It is not to be a faint and an unconstant Love but one that is strong and will not fail For the Loving of God with all the Heart and Soul and Strength doth not only import the greatest vigour of Love but the greatest duration of it also It must not be towards him Now and anon quite off him but the greatest Length it must have as well as the greatest Heighth And the strong Inducements to this Duty were well known
preserve our Lives by no means to lose them However let not this Command of our Lord which requires us to part with Estates and Lives rather than deny him be faulted as too rigid and hard while the Rewards are so much beyond the Pains and while so many of Those who have thus suffered have had such Assistances and Joys afforded them even in the midst of their Sufferings that a Man would almost wish for their Sorrows could he but have their Joys together with them From all which it may appear Theophilus that the Air as was objected is not too pure to be breath'd in and that they are not unreasonable Heights of Duty which are required of us Neither may it disturb us that this our Work is not without difficulty to be begun and in like manner for some time to be carried on by us For it is in a sort a Priviledge which Angels have not to testifie unto Pains yea even unto Death itself the Sincerity of Obedience Which Testification of Sincerity although it ariseth from an Imperfection of Human Nature will yet be very acceptable unto God possibly no less than that of the Holy Ones Above which is wholly free from all such Conflicts And while the chief Intent of our Lawgiver is to make us Pious towards God Composed in our own Breasts Loving unto others and Loved again by them Perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect who makes his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and meting only the same measure to others which hath first been meted by the Love and Compassion of our Lord unto us we must one would think use very much Violence to the better Inclinations of our Souls if we do not entirely love these Laws As for mine own part Theophilus will you give me leave to speak my Heart freely to you my Love is so great to them that methinks I would obey them all not so much because I am commanded to do it as because they are every way in themselves so worthy to be loved I could wish that they were even one with my Soul and that all my Thoughts and Actions might proceed not more from Life than from Them. And so far would I be from questioning the goodness of them that I would as soon doubt whether it were good to Live and be Happy So dear are they unto me yea so much better than Life itself Theoph. I am much prevail'd upon by the Reasons you have given and your last Affectionate Words add so much a further weight to those Reasons that they appear to me not to be more the Issues of your Brain than of your Heart And therefore you may on good Grounds presume that they will be convincing to others when they have first been so to yourself But though I acknowledge the Laws of our Lord to require most reasonable things of us and do find that they truly have an high place in my Esteem and Love yet I 'll confess to you Eubulus much dejected I am somtimes when I reflect upon my many Failures Resolve indeed I do for the greatest Care and Circumspection but yet my Sins do daily increase upon me and what will it boot me to love these Laws when every day I transgress them To own them so admirably fitted for the perfecting of our Nature and the refining of our Practise when I see mine own Nature so imperfect under them and my Practcie so impure in Comparison of them Eubul What you now say Theophilus makes way for and will best be answer'd by the Consideration of the Fourth thing viz. That from these Laws we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins Most perfect these Laws are as you have heard but by reason of that weakness which is within us and those many strong Temptations which are without they are not like to be perfectly obeyed All that we can do is as it were a great way off to behold and admire that perfection which we cannot of ourselves attain unto and to grieve that we daily and hourly some way or other have Sinn'd against it But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Our Blessed Lord knowing our frame and make and seeing that our strength and abilities are but small hath added two other Laws of Faith and Repentance in which we may find some cheering in respect of those many Breaches of the Divine Laws which lie as a weight upon our Souls That of Faith requires thus much of us That we believe in Christ as a Saviour who by his precious Blood for us Shed hath appeased Gods Wrath and obtain'd Remission for all the Sins of Men and for ours in that number And from the mighty importance of this Law and the infinite benefits it affordeth unto us the whole Gospel and all the Laws thereof are in a comprehensive Word called the Law of Faith. And in this respect it is much different from the Old Law. Perfect Obedience was required by That and because perfection of Obedience is necessarily grounded upon a perfection of Nature the Law seemeth therefore to have been the Rule not of our Works only but of our Nature also which at the Creation was committed pure into our Hands But this Law of Faith by reason of Human Natures having been perfect in Christ and having Done also without the least failure whatsoever was Incumbent on the Representative of Mankind to do and as united with the Divine Nature having suffered likewise what Punishment was Due to the Sins of Men this Law I say of Faith doth Command that we should not rely upon any Righteousness of our own not yet Despair for any Sin whether belonging to our Nature or more particularly to our own Persons but should have our Eyes upon Him who alone by his Merits hath purchased Salvation for us The Law of Repentance is this viz. That we truly be sorry for what Sins soever we commit and do heartily endeavour an amendment of Life And this shall be available through the Death of Christ for our Pardon Repentance shall not Theophilus be unto Sins after the same manner as Sacrifices in Moses Law were Not the small Sins only shall be done away but the great ones also shall no less For he who hath called us unto Repentance hath been a propitiation for all the Sins of Mankind alike for those of a deeper Dye as well as those of a lighter Stain And his Blood is against the greatest Offences and the smallest Infirmities equally Efficacious Of Old if a Man had unwillingly Kill'd his Brother and was truly sorry for it the avenger of Blood was notwithstanding allowed to Slay him if he could overtake him before he reach'd to the City of Refuge The Sin here if it were not rather an unhappiness was so far imputed as That he must dye for it if another could run faster than he which might happen to be a thing beyond his power to prevent And though this might
that appears either answerable to the Title of Spirit which is given to these Laws by reason as you say of God's Holy Spirit preventing and enabling us in our Obedience or expressive of the Constitution of a Christian in which Spirit is added to Soul and Body Eubul I hope Theophilus you do not think that the Assistances of the Holy Spirit are such things as put by our Endeavours and nourish our Sloth They are Assistances and so they do suppose that we ourselves should do somthing For were all to be performed by the Holy Spirit without the intervention of our Actions we must call them by some other Name for they could not properly be termed Assistances And therefore it is that what our Lord doth accomplish for us by his Grace through the Holy Ghost he enjoyneth us by his Command to do as of our own Power He worketh in us to will and to do but yet we are to work out our own Salvation He strengtheneth us but we are to strive The Victory is from Him but the Fighting must be ours And so it is very true what you said viz. That our Work seems not to be the less to us for the Assistances which he gives we must be altogether as industrious and earnest as if the whole were to be done by ourselves and nothing at all by Him. But because when we have done all which we are able to do we can see much of Human Weakness in our Actions and but little of Divine Strength shall we therefore conclude that the Assistances of the Spirit have been none or at most very mean and nothing worthy of the Character which is given them What Theophilus if the Holy Spirit in his aiding us will so comply with the Natural Powers of our Souls that we cannot discetn his Actings from our own What if he in a silent and gentle manner shall suggest things to our Understandings shall secretly sway our Wills and move our Affections really but yet imperceivably unto us Let us not because he draws us with the Cords of a Man say that we are not drawn at all If when we have done our best we seem to ourselves to be weak and to have done far less than we should have done it possibly is none of the least Aids of the Spirit that we can discern our own weakness and desire to please God even beyond our Abilities His Grace can be and it this way is very properly made perfect in our Weakness I dare be bold to say that he is not prompted from above who shall deny that there are Divine Assistances because there is not a Demonstration to the Soul that there are such Nay it may seem expedient that ordinarily they should be secret and imperceptible For should they commonly be otherwise Men would be too apt to rely upon them and thereby do less themselves because they see what their Aids are Or it may be they would grow conceited and abuse the helps of Gods Holy Spirit to the overthrow of the Excellent Grace of Humility Out of Mercy therefore the Blessed Spirit may Insensibly give his Aids unto Men that so by a constancy in their endeavours they at last may attain unto a greater perfection of all Graces and may the surer enjoy his Love by their Humility Theoph. But Eubulus if the Holy Spirit should in his Assistances move upon the Soul in this insensible way how could it be known that there were any Assistances at all And if it could not be known where would the Excellency of these Laws be from such a Motive as we are uncertain of Eubul There would be certainty enough of it from the Scriptures Revealing that such Assistances there are although we should not know the manner of them nor the times in which they are afforded But yet Theophilus these Spiritual Aids are not always indiscernible neither They oftentimes are seen by their effects though in their actings they were unperceiv'd And when a Mans Life is changed and he that heretofore was Dissolute and Wicked is now become Sober and Religious Or when in a constant course of Piety and Devotion he from his Childhood hath escaped the enticements of Satan and pollutions of the World we and he himself also though those Assistances have not been discerned may no less know that the Holy Spirit hath been present with him than we know that there is a Wind when we hear the Sound thereof though we see not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth And yet further Theophilus after faithful Obedience to the more Silent and Gentle Motions of the Holy Spirit it is not altogether unusual to have inward and sacred Joys darted into the Soul which as they are Rewards for Fidelity in the years past so are they likewise more sensible Helps for higher degrees of Piety in the years to come and prelibations of that unspeakable Joy which Holy Men shall be filled with hereafter in Heaven If there be not such discernible Assistances more frequent in the World it is either because Men do not duly close with the Holy Spirit in his Ordinary and Secret Aids or because they indulge a Sad and Melancholy Temper which shuts them out of the Soul or because God sees them not requisite for a great many Persons But yet the Laws of our Lord may notwithstanding be truly said to have more strong Assistances afforded than under the Old Law there were and deservedly to be entitled so much to the Spirit from the Secret Helps which the Holy Spirit offers unto all that are willing to obey Theoph. I was willing to urge you somthing the more upon this Head because the Holy Spirit is signally the Honour of the Evangelical Laws and because many are forward to talk slightly of his Assistances upon the account that they are not Visible to the Eye nor gross enough to be touch'd Eubul I heartily pity the State of these Men since none are more surely in the way to Misery than those that laugh at the Aids to Happiness especially when held out by a Divine Hand But let us go to the Third and last Motive for the securing of Obedience to these Laws which is their having such Loving Invitations and Affectionate Expressions of Kindness joyn'd with them Come unto me saith our Lord all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden and I will give you rest Where by those that Labour and are heavy Laden I suppose that They are not only to be understood who perceive the burden of their Sins and see the necessity of Grace from their Misdoings Our Lord here calls Men not only to Comfort but also to Teach and Instruct them that they may come to an Acknowledgment of their Sins which in their own Nature are a Weight and Burden although they be not yet perceived so to be After the manner of those who Rev. 3.17 were Wretched and Miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked when they felt no such thing So that all Men
here are called by Christ whether they be such as think themselves to be miserable or such as do not That by the One the Misery which they in good sort perceive may be avoided and from the Other the Misery which they are under though they see it not may by good Instructions be removed and they brought into those Paths which will give them a true rest from Sin at the present and will bring them into Everlasting Rest hereafter And how persuasive is that of St. Paul We as Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be you reconciled unto God i. e. be you Obedient to his Laws and thereby reconcile yourselves unto him who by Disobedience were his Enemies And how strangely may this prevail for Love to God's Law when his Commands of themselves Righteous and Gentle are yet further softned by kind Invitations and Passionate Beseechings These are Theophilus the general Motives relating to all the Divine Laws together and if we will not be obstinate nor lay aside our Understandings with what pleasing Strengths will they come upon our Souls and sway them into Love and Obedience Theoph. But methinks Eubulus there is the absence of some things in them which were a great Ornament to the Law of Moses and as it may seem would be no less so to That of our Lord viz. Those Visible Expressions which I remember you mention'd in your first Walk of God's Power and Presence in the Vrim and Thummim in Oracles from the Ark in the wondrous Activeness of the sacred Fire in the Cloud filling the Temple and also in Miraculous Deliverances and Revenges These you said kept the love of Gods Laws awake that it sunk not into Carelesness and Irreverence Is there not as much need of these things or such as these now And would they not have been meet to accompany the Evangelical Motives you instanced in Eubul These were things which were adapted for that State where Men were to be wrought upon chiefly by means that could be seen and felt and were as yet not so fit for a more spiritual Dispensation But now when Heavenly Mysteries and Rewards are so fully revealed it would be our shame if not satisfied with them we should still be looking after outward and sensible Manifestations And I speak a truth when I say That God's being present with us in a spiritual manner is more suitable to his Nature which is incorporeal than his appearing in a Cloud or by other visible or audible Ways in the Jewish Temple was And it is also a more perfect Way than was that other That being more to the outward sense and the weaker part of Man This more to the Soul which is his Excellence That being exercised through visible things This through the Holy Spirit who is invisible and infinitely surpasseth them Neither is there wanting what may keep our Love from Drowziness as much or more than what under the Old Law there did The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of the Joynts and Marrow and the Holy Spirit like a Refiner's Fire will give a quickness unto and keep up vigour in our Love. But suppose Theophilus there should be visible and continued Manifestations of the Divine Presence as of old there were In tract of time they would be esteem'd little different from the effects of Nature and would prevail with Men no more than the Course of the Sun and Moon and the Growth of Trees and Herbs which from their commonness make small Impressions upon the less knowing and immoral sort of Men. And it may be these more open Expressions of his Power and Presence which God Almighty gave under the first Temple he therefore denied under the second because their every-days being seen made them so little taken notice of that they thereby in great measure lost their End. But if you would have the Divine Power to be now and then in extraordinary Concerns exerted beyond the common road of Nature as I cannot say but somtimes it now is though very rarely neither would this possibly have the effect you think of We live in a curious and uncrediting World and those whom these things should most work upon would if far distant not believe that there were such things If they should be so near as to see them they would be forward to solve such Acts by Natural Reasons and thereby render them fruitless to themselves However it be we in general may say That God in these later Ages of the World chuseth to manifest himself more by the exercise of his Wisdom than by the open Effects of his Power herein dealing with Men according to their own way Policy and Contrivance being that which almost every one affecteth And from the more quiet and wise disposal of things now God's Hand by religious and considering Men may as truly be acknowledged as when his Methods were more discernable by the Eye Therefore since the Divine Laws as now they are settled are abundantly fitted for the prevailing upon sober and docible Minds and those visible effects of God's Power would not in all likelihood sway with those who are of a contrary Disposition and his secret way of acting is the choice of his Providence to confound and bring under the evil Policies of Men in a suitable and agreeing manner we have no reason to complain as if there were a want of those visible Expressions of his Power and Presence which he heretofore afforded and we are very unjust if we prefer some Motives belonging to the Law of old before those which appertain to the Divine Law now Theoph. Your Reply hath satisfied me and made a fair way for me to intreat your proceeding to those Motives which you said there were to every particular Law apart by itself Eubul They deserve not to be passed over without notice For they are so apposite so sweet and strong that nothing can be more And such as are either wholly peculiar to the Gospel or else are there more clearly and convincingly urged Would it not be long I might at large instance â—n those Laws which respect God immediately other Men and ourselves but I will so far presume as briefly to do it Can any thing more stir up the Duty of Love â—nd Gratitude to God than that he is so much more our Father by Redemption than he was by Creation by how much the shedding of the Blood of God transcends the speaking of a Word Can a Reverential Fear be more awakened by any thing than by our being acquainted that he is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell and by our being bid to fear him with a redoubled Precept Fear him I say unto you Fear him And then for Duties to others in the Relation of Subjects to a Prince of Priest and People of Husbands and Wives of Parents and Children of Masters and Servants and of
all Indignities without Endeavours of vindicating himself though he had the power of doing it small Encouragement there would have been for our complying with his Example had he not said Resist not Evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the Right Cheek turn to him the other also Love your Enemies Bless them them that curse you Do good to them that hate you And pray for them that despitefully use you that ye may be the Children of your Father who is in Heaven Certainly had there been only the Example of our Lord without any thing else we should not Theophilus have known how to interpret some Actions But if in the Example which he hath set his Will and Design should have been told the Matter of his Actions would have put on the Nature of a Law and so would have bound us to imitation not as Example so much as Law. Whence I suppose Theophilus it is plain that the Example of none no with Reverence I speak it not of our Blessed Lord himself do as of themselves lay any Obligations upon us and consequently our Imitation of Holy Men is to go no further than their Example hath the Divine Laws for its Rule and Warrant 2. The Perfection of the Laws of Christ which reacheth to all Moral Actions and even to the Thoughts of our Hearts sheweth us the same thing also Nothing is there that is just and good but the Precepts of the Gospel do enjoyn it Nothing that is unrighteous but is forbidden there And in this sense in is that the Law of God is said to be exceeding broad Psal 119. Now to say that there may be Examples of Goodness beyond what is included in the Laws of Christ is to make those Laws imperfect which pierce in every thing even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit and the Joynts and Marrow and which proceed from Him who is infinitely Wise and so cannot be thought to be any way deficient But to say that such or such an Example is good because it includeth in it that goodness which the Laws of our Lord do enjoyn is to grant that the Law is Superiour to the Example and though there should have been no such Example would have required the matter of it to have been done Theoph. But pray Eubulus what shall we think of the Example of the Church in some things which we account necessary to be done from her Practice when yet there is no Command in Holy Scripture for the doing them I will instance only in two things though I might in more to wit The Baptizing of Infants and the setting apart the First Day of the Week as Holy. It may seem that either we are mistaken when we press the necessity of these things or else that there are some things necessary which the Precepts of our Lord do not reach unto Eubul But yet Theophilus even in these things we are not swayed merely by the Example of the Church without great Reason moving Her to the constant Observance of them And though there be no direct Command for these things yet if they may with good probability be inferred from Holy Writ if there be a Congruity in them to some Laws given unto the Jews so far as Reason and Enquity enforced those Laws and if there be likewise some things in the New Testament that more than a little intimate the doing of them we may observe them upon the same Grounds that the Church observed them and not only from her Example Though truly her Example downwards even from her First Age may add Authority to the Considerations now mention'd in that she is a Society which above all others in the World hath the Aids and Direction of the Holy Spirit who is the Guide unto all Truth If we look upon your first Instance of Baptizing Infants there is a Command that all Nations should be Baptized God enlarging his Covenant to all Mankind which was confined to the Jews before Though truly even the Covenant which was made with Abraham of which Circumcision was the Seal was of an Evangelical Nature and belonged to him chiefly as he was the Father of the Faithful and to his Spiritual no less than to his Fleshly Race And if Children before and in the time of the Old Law were capable of the Covenant why not in the time of the Gospel where is much greater Love manifested unto Men than ever there was in the Jewish State And while Divine Love is more abundant to all Sorts and Conditions of Men shall poor and helpless Children suffer a Diminution in it Especially when our Blessed Lord was pleased to take them in his Arms to rebuke those that kept them from him and to pronounce that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven There is so much cause to think that the Priviledges of Children are not only continued but increased under the Gospel that to make us to be of another Mind it may seem necessary that there should have been a Command on purpose not to Baptize them And what Prejudice think we would it not have wrought in the Jews towards Christianity if their Children who were taken into Covenant under Moses should have been excluded the Covenant under Christ Or should it be said that God hath Mercy in store for them as Infants why if the inward Grace be vouchsafed unto them should the outward Seal of such Grace be denied them who if they be fit for the Kingdom of Heaven are sure not unfit for the Font As for your other Instance of setting apart the First Day of the Week as Holy Natural Religion will tell us that some time is to be allowed to the Service of God And Revealed Religion hath acquainted us that God by a Command to the Jews the Reason of which is fetch'd from the very beginning of the World had determined the seventh part of Time to be continued as his own Peculiar The Equity of which Portion of Time in that it respected the Resting of Cattel as well as of Men the Church still owneth as not knowing a better than what God himself had appointed But the Day of Christs Resurrection by reason of the Exceeding Greatness of Gods Power and Love shewed in it surpassing that Day which immediately succeeded the Creation and having been signalized by the Apostles and other Believers meeting together upon it not once by Chance or another time as it happened but frequently by Choice Our Lord also honouring their coming together by his own Presence and by the wonderful Presence of the Holy Ghost sent upon them on that Day and its being probable likewise that the Observation thereof was by the Order of the Apostles or otherwise there would not have been such early Discipline as the Laying by in Store Collections for the Saints on that Day nor would the Day itself in so short a time have been established throughout the whole Church still every Hour encreasing and further it being no less
other Who is it can look upon and not be highly pleased in them But all These are nothing else but the Excellencies of the Laws of our Lord And shall we not Reverence shall we not Love them If I say we would in the Laudable actions of Men though much distant from the Perfection of the Laws of Christ often cast our Thoughts upon those Laws acknowledging the Beauty to belong unto them which in all these things is really derived from them it would be no more than a due Expression of Esteem and Love towards them and at the best much â—â—ow their Excellency Meet therefore surely it is when we have a Mind to do any thing and have an Example of the same ready in Sacred Scripture that we think not ourselves presently authoriz'd thereby to do it Some actions even of good Men who are now happy in Heaven having not been always nor altogether Good. Let us make the Precepts of the Gospel to be our Touchstone and by comparing the Example with the Rule we shall quickly find whether it will hold good for our Practice or no. Choose we either those Examples of Holy Writ which in the whole or those which in some part of them are the Image of a Divine Law and thereupon have a perpetual Rectitude Yet in these later be sure to avoid that part of the Example which is transgressive of the Command As for those which had a Warrant only for the Time in which they were done they lay no more obligation upon us now than Circumcision and Sacrifices do but are wholly to be shunn'd And those which the Law of God is silent in and which are therefore merely indifferent we may justly esteem ourselves no more bound by them than we are to wear a Seamless Coat or to lye along every time we eat unless Human Laws shall upon Prudential accounts enjoyn the doing them And then for other Examples Theophilus not recorded in Scripture They also are to be Examined by the Rule If in any thing they deviate from the Laws of Christ we are not to follow them though they be grown the Practice of Many and of some who may seem to be more Understanding and Religious than most of their Neighbors Always bearing in mind that the Best have their Errors and Frailties and that the most dangerous Errors in Religion are for the most part if not always usher'd in with Semblances of Holiness more than ordinary which to wise Men do often betray themselves by being over-acted But the Divine Laws are in every respect sincere and perfect and will lead us into no paths but such as will undoubtedly bring us unto Happiness They have no Interest to set up besides the Glory of God and the everlasting Welfare of Souls And will bear the being search'd into themselves as well as they require that other things be proved by them We may through them find out the failures of many specious Actions and Pretences but may despair in any example to see those Excellences which are not in far greater measures in Them. And Thus Theophilus as well as I could I have answered your Request In the doing of which I cannot reasonably be thought to have detracted any thing from Sacred Examples by having made them wholly dependent on Sacred Laws Were there generally a greater Caution used in Those and a greater Love shewed to These Men would walk more Surely Themselves and would set far better Copies unto Others Theoph. I dare say none of those Holy Men who have left us their good Examples would think those good Examples injured by what you have said Since their greatest Care in them was to obey God's Law And their greatest Pleasure from them was to have done it This your kindness Eubulus together with your other shall I hope find that Entertainment with me which you would wish And among the Virtues which they tend to promote I will see that Friendship and Gratitude shall not be wanting DISCOURSE the Seventh The Contents COncerning the Divine Law as taken in a larger Sense Of the Historical part of Scripture particularly of the Creation All other Opinions concerning the Being of the World are cold and unaffecting Of the Fall of Man. It gives Light to many things which otherwise we should never have known the reason of The sad effects of our Fall are in great measure corrected by God's Mercy and made Comfortable to us Many things in the dark and mingled with falsities in profane Authors we may from hence more clearly discern Sacred History shews forth God's immediate Hand and plainly tells us that he punished and rewarded for such and such reasons Of the History of our Redemption How wonderful it is and what a Sacredness runs through all the Circumstances of our Lord's Conception Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension The great evidence of these things Of the Prophetical part of Scripture Especially of those Prophecies relating to our Blessed Saviour As Divine Truth is eminently seen in all of them so the quick and various workings of Providence for the fulfilling of some of them are very delightful The Predictions of the Heathen Oracles much different from these The Sibyllin Prophecies of suspected Credit Of the Adhortative part of Holy Writ God hath used the most taking words for the prevailing with Men for Obedience In the Gospel there is nothing wanting that may work upon the Soul of Man. Of the Devotional part of Sacred Scripture It consisteth of such Services were fit for Men to pay unto their God and needed not Secresie to shelter them from an Honest Ear or Chast Eye Devotion raised to a much greater perfection by having our Lord and the Holy Spirit so nearly concerned in it Those persons quite mistake what they read in Sacred Scripture who find a pleasure therein without any respect to the Divine Law properly as such What we are to think of those who are conscientiously Obedient to the Divine Law but yet find not that Delight therein which Earthly things do frequently give them and who hereupon are very apt to interpret their Love to God's Precepts to be unsincere and such as will be rejected The great reasonableness and Benefit of Holy Meditation THEOPHILVS I Remember Eubulus that as by the Word Law you understood the Preceptive Part of the Bible which you have hitherto discoursed of so you did not exclude from it what ever else is contained in Holy Writ EVBVLVS YEs Theophilus we may in a larger Sense understand this also And indeed since all Scriptures have some way or other a respect to the Precepts thereof therefore the Word Law doth oftentimes import the whole Scripture as is manifest in these places John 10. It is written in your LAW I have said ye are Gods. And Cap. 12. We have heard out of the LAW that Christ abideth for ever and Cap. 15. It is written in their LAW they hated me without a cause All which places are not in the
And some of these Enemies from the expressness of those Prophecies which respect our Saviours sufferings have been forced to say that there is to be a Suffering Messias as well as a Glorious one though they will not allow the True Messias who is both the One and the Other to be either Theoph. I could desire to be continually fixed on the thoughts of the Prophetick part of Scripture so divinely pleasant is it from the lively Representation of great and sacred things in after-times revealed I doubt not but there will be a true Beauty in that other part of holy Scripture which you termed the ADHORTATIVE Eubul If great Love intermingled with great Art in the enforcing of it can give a Beauty and what can give a greater Beauty than these it is truly amiable And indeed God who knoweth our Frame and Make and can tell what Words will most Sway the Affections of Men hath seemed to let go none that may prevail with them to be such as they ought to be Somtimes enforcing his Exhortations from the Greatness of his Favours the Excellences of his Laws the Natural Desires and Aversations of Men their Forgetfulness and such like I almost wonder how any of the Jews of Old could be Disobedient when they read such Words as these Ask now of the Days that are past since the Day that God Created Man upon the Earth and ask from the One side of Heaven unto the Other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it Did ever People hear the Voice of God speaking out of the mid'st of the Fire as Thou hast heard and Live Or hath God assayed to go and take him a Nation from the midst of another Nation by Signs and Wonders and a Mighty Hand Thou shalt therefore keep his Statutes He led thee through the great and terrible Wilderness where there was no Water and he brought thee forth Water out of the Rock of Flint He fed thee there with Manna which thy Fathers knew not Thy Raiment waxed not Old upon thee neither did thy Foot swell these Forty years Therefore shalt thou keep the Commandments of the Lord thy God. And where an Exhortation is set home by the recounting of such mighty Favours it cannot sure but prevail There is nothing usually will take more with a Man than the Reputation of being Wise and Vnderstanding The Excellency of Man consisting in nothing more than in a Power of Discerning and Acting what is good On this ground therefore it is that God builds his Exhortation Keep saith he and do these Statutes and Judgments for this is your Wisdom and Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations Deut. â— 6 And since a Man will bear any thing better than the Name of Fool and accounteth it a great Discredit to act weakly and below a Man Therefore God so often in Scripture termeth Disobedience Folly and speaketh thus to Transgressors O ye Fools when will you learn Wisdom How long ye simple Ones will ye love Simplicity and Fools hate Knowledge Turn you at my Reproof I look upon Peace and Plenty to be as it were a visible Exhortation and a Persuasive that is palpable and may be felt But because these do somtimes steal away the Heart and are apt to render the Man forgetful of his Gracious Benefactor God in infinite Goodness is pleased to strengthen this Exhortation by Cautioning us when we have eaten and are full not to forget Him to take heed to ourselves and to keep our Souls diligently lest we forget the things which our Eyes have seen and lest we depart from the Lord our God all the days of our Life But should any be so heedless or perverse as not to be prevail'd upon by such Exhortations as these how can they hold out against God's pathetical Pleading with them Thus Ezek. 18 Ye say The Way of the Lord is not equal O House of Israel is not my Way equal are not your Ways unequal If ye offer the Lame and the Sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour will He be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If I then be a Father where is mine Honour If a Master where is my Fear Malac. 1. I will plead with you saith the Lord and with your Childrens Children will I plead For pass over the Isles of Chittim and see and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be any such thing Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods But my People have changed their Glory for that which profiteth not Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord of Hosts For my People have committed two Evils They have forsaken me the Fountain of Living Waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no Water Jer. 2. Theoph. These are highly moving And in my Opinion no less is that of quickning Mens Obedience even by the better Carriage of Beasts and Fowls I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib But Israel doth not know my People doth not consider Isai 1. I hearkned and heard but thy spake not aright no Man repented him of his Wickedness saying What have I done Yea the Stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my People know not the Judgment of the Lord Jer. 8. He will be yet much lower than the Beasts and Fowls who seeing himself out-gone by them will not be ashamed and quicken his pace Eubul There are innumerable other Schemes of Speech which God Almighty useth as if he would not omit so much as one Figure or Topick of sacred Oratory by which the wicked Hearts of Men might be bent to their good And truly all the gracious Methods which under the Legal Dispensation he hath chosen for Persuasives are in force now under the Gospel for the engaging us to Obedience it being through the Blood of Christ that so much Care and Love was then shewed Only what were made Excitements to the Jews are now with the change of some Circumstances enlarged and do belong to the whole World. As for those Exhortations which are more strictly comprized in the Gospel what may we say of them or rather what may we not The New Covenant is so wholly in itself a Persuasive set off with the highest Expressions of Divine Wisdom and Love that where IT alone will not prevail all other Arguments may seem fruitless But that there may nothing be wanting which may work upon the Soul of Man what affectionate Beseechings are there added What earnest Invitations given How are pure Minds stirred up by way of Remembrance What fervent Prayers are made for
and in Them the Image and Work of God to the vilest of Drudgeries When the Vnderstanding which is capable of the Knowledge of God and should be exercis'd to the right conceiving of all Virtues and the best Methods of bringing them forth into Action shall be fill'd with Impure Conceptions and wrought up to the Knowledge of all Wickedness and of the readiest ways of reducing it upon all occasions into practice When the Will which ought to be bent to the pleasing of God in an Universal Compliance with his Laws shall be forward in the desiring and prosecuting of Evil and shall rest satisfied in the accomplishment of it When the Memory which is so well fitted for God's Service shall be far from retaining the great Mercies he hath shewed to Men in general and to ourselves in particular in various Circumstances of our Lives When the excellent Things of God's Law are allow'd no room in it but on the contrary when itself is chiefly imploy'd in the remembring of those things which are light and vain in the preserving present to our Minds the readiest ways of bringing about ill Actions and in the keeping fresh those Injuries which by others have been done us whether through Imprudence Passion or Design that we may never upon Opportunities forget to revenge them When the Affections which should be engaged in an Holy Joy at the great things which God hath done for us in an Vnfeigned Love to Him for his being so loving and gracious unto us in a Delight in those Commandments which are so agreeable to the Nature and Souls of Men in an Ardent Longing for that Blessed State where we shall be wholly freed from Sin When these Affections I say shall be turned into Coldness towards God and the Things of Heaven into an hot and eager persuit after those things which minister only to Worldly Advantage or Sensual Pleasures into Ill Wishes towards others Envy at their Welfare Delight in their Troubles or Miscarriages And likewise when our Bodies which are Temples of the Holy Ghost shall be alienated to prophane Uses when our Members which are the Members of Christ shall be made to become the Members of Vnrighteousness our Eyes in beholding Vanity our Tongues in uttering Deceit or those things which Minister not Grace to the Hearers our Hands in doing that which is Evil our Feet in being swift in running to Mischief all of which were made for better Ends. When Men which were Created in the Similitude of God and should in their Actions also be like him shall through Disobedience have their Bodies and Souls brought under to such vile Offices is not the Great God made to serve in the Principal of his Handy-Works on Earth Certainly he is We know among Men there may be a suffering of Indignities in Effigie in somthing that shall represent the Man though his Person be absent or untouched and the Discredit shall redound to him in great measure as if he himself had in Person suffered And will it be otherwise with the Almighty God We are his Image and Likeness in respect of our Souls and both in our Souls and Bodies we bear the Image of his Son our Lord who was pleased to take upon him our whole Nature If therefore Disobedience shall throw such Dishonour on his Image and Workmanship in us although it reach not his Person to hurt that it yet makes him through his Works and his Image too as we are his Works and Image to serve Neither doth it Theophilus any more spare the Almighty in the other visible things of the World. The Sun and Moon and Stars in their Light and Influences The Earth and Sea and all the Creatures thereof in their several Capacities He made instrumental to the Life and Virtuous Actions of Men and through them to his own Praise and Glory And therefore since They as of themselves being Mute cannot Celebrate the Praises of their Creator Man's Mouth is to be theirs and to offer up Praise unto God in their stead Thus did the Royal Psalmist for them Praise the Lord ye Sun and Moon Praise him all the Stars of Light. Praise the Lord ye Heavens and ye Waters that be above the Heavens Praise the Lord from the Earth ye Deeps Fire and Hail Snow and Vapours Wind and Storm fulfilling his Word Mountains and all Hills Fruitful Trees and all Cedars Beasts and all Cattel Creeping things and Flying Fowl Psal 148. So likewise since these Visible Things of themselves are unable to do any Virtuous Deeds in relation unto Men our Hands are in some sort to become theirs through which they are to promote Actions of Justice of Kindness and of Mercy These are the Ends for which they were made and in them all they are to do Service unto God. But Theophilus our Disobedience to the Divine Law turns all these things another way and makes the Holy God in his Creation to be Instrumental unto Services which are quite contrary unto Himself When the Sun shall rise and make the Day only that those Sins may be acted which require Day-light in the Commission When it shall set and Night come on merely for the accomplishing of those Vices which need secresie chiefly and darkness When Malice and Ill Nature shall strengthen themselves by calling to their Aid whatever we possess rather than fall unactive to the ground When what should in Sobriety be imploy'd for the good of ourselves and in Charity and Friendship for the Benefit of others shall be abused to Intemperance Covetousness or Ambition is not God through the Works which he hath Created made to Serve Yea to Serve the worst of Beings his greatest Adversary in the worst of Services Theoph. Were it not that the Creation is by some Religious Men improved to right Ends we might not wonder if it should give Signs that it rather would be reduced to its first nothing than be thus abused to the Dishonour of its Maker and of itself Eubul This Slavery Theophilus the Creature is in a manner sensible of for the Apostle saith Rom. 8.22 The whole Creation Groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now and all upon the aceount that it is made Subject unto Vanity and brought under the Bondage of Corruption It is not willingly that it thus serveth the Prince of Darkness It groaneth and travelleth in pain Which expressions denote the State it is now in to be a State of great Misery and speak forth the greatest longing and the most earnest Expectation to be delivered from it into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Where as those Sons of God shall be freed from Sin and shall do Service pure and uncorrupted unto God so the rest of the Visible Creation which hath too much and too long been forc'd to minister unto Vain Ends and Ungodly Practices shall be asserted also into that Freedom where it never shall be imployed more but in the true Service of God whose Service is perfect
to serve him But Men he indued with a Reasonable and Intelligent Soul by which they conceive what it is they do and why they do it And so having a sense of themselves and their own state and in some sort also of the Greatness and other Infinite Excellences of the Lord whom they serve Their Obedience alone of all Earthly Creatures may be termed the Grace of Obedience and They only have the Honour to be in strictness and propriety of Speech serviceable and obedient unto God. Yea when Men had deserv'd the Punishment of Death by breaking the Command of God He in infinite Mercy and Wisdom contriv'd a way for the saving them from Destruction by the pretious Death of his Son. And in relation hereunto He hath by that his Son given them Commands that are not grievous Laws that are righteous and good perfective of their Nature and truly useful to Society He vouchsafes Assistances from Heaven for the Performance of them and promises Everlasting Salvation after Death to those who sincerely observe them And lastly He sustains and preserves them even while they sin against Him when they could not breath did not his Providence afford them Air nor live did not he give them Bread So that God may say to These as he did to his Vineyard Isai 5. Judge I pray you between Me and Them What could have been done more unto them that I have not done And for which of all these good Works do you throw Servitude upon me What should more excite your Honour to me as a Father your Fear to me as a Master and your Love to me as a Friend than these things And if I am your Father where is mine Honour If I am your Master where is my Fear And if I am your Friend as none possibly can be more is this your Kindness to your Friend Do you thus requite the Lord ye foolish People and unwise to make him to serve by your Sins Theoph. You said truly that here it is that Disobedience hath its Loathsomness For where Disingenuity and Ingratitude do rise so high as here they infinitely do what deeper Stain can there possibly be And as one would wonder how any should be willing to carry it so ill towards a gracious God who hath beyond Expression deserved well of them so one would no less wonder that it could ever enter into the Heart of Man to say That God by his Decrees hath necessitated them to Disobedience That He cannot justly find fault because who is it that hath resisted his Will Eubul A Man would admire indeed that any should be so absurdly unreasonable For who would ever designedly bring himself into Dishonour and be the chief cause of that which is most odious in his own Eyes This no wise Man no nor one but tolerably in his Wits would ever do Let us but Attribute that Wisdom to Him whom we acknowledge to be infinitely Wise which in these Circumstances would never be wanting to any Man who hath Common Sense and Reason and we may be quickly satisfied that God compelleth no one to Vilifie his Holy Name his Image and his other Works and to bring them into the Service of the Devil to the great Satisfaction and Delight of that his Enemy Let us not therefore say It is through the Lord that we have done thus for we ought not to do the things which he hateth Let us not say He hath caused us to Err for the Lord hateth all Abomination and they that fear God love it not as the Son of Sirach excellently speaketh Chap. 15. Vers 11 12 13. Or as the Holy Ghost himself saith in St. James Let no Man say when he is tempted unto Evil he is tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any one But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed Chap. 1.13.14 God hath no need of the Sinful Man and he hateth Evil even while it shall seem to be done that good may come And whosoever shall say let us do Evil that Good may come the Apostle telleth us their Damnation is just How can any one then imagine that God should necessitate Men to those Sins that strike directly at his Honour And bring him as far as possible and would yet further bring him could it be done into the worst of Servitudes Theoph. They highly dishonour God who by their Disobedience do carry themselves Contemptuously But yet those Persons who make Him Himself to be the moving Cause of all this do the more dishonour him because they represent him as such an one who is not worthy of better Services than Wicked Men would Subject him unto Most Horrid abusers they Both are of the most Righteous and Holy God. But why if I may lawfully enquire so far will he permit such things against Himself Why will he not rather force Men into due Obedience or else Cut them off A Wise Governor on Earth when he sees himself struck at his Favours abused his Laws vilified yea the Ruin of his Person wished will think the present time not too soon to punish such Notorious Offenders And while God letteth those alone who thus Sin against him using no restraints towards them nor making them Exemplary in their Punishments may he not seem to act below the Wisdom of Prudent Governours among Men Are not the Criminals encouraged to continue in their Wickedness And others also drawn by their Example into the same Excess of Iniquity And may not Gods Government of the World hereby seem remiss Eubul There is a great deal of difference Theophilus between God and Those who are Governors upon Earth The Frail Condition of These in the possibility of their Persons being really brought into Servitude or destroy'd and their Governments being weakned or wholly overthrown requireth often times the speedy Punishment of Those who are Notorious Offenders But God in his Person is secure from all the Evils that can be wish'd or attempted against him And however his Government may in appearance be less'ned yet in reality his Power and Dominion can never be endangered or diminished For as before was said he is infinitely perfect and so is no way subject to any Change for the Worse and therefore there is no need that God should make that haste to restrain or punish the Disobedient as Earthly Princes must oftentimes in Prudence do Add to this That many of those Sins against God which deserve the severest Punishments though they by no means can be for the Welfare of Society on Earth yet do not immediately strike at and disturb the Peace of the Community or at most not in any eminent degree And so the Necessity of Human Affairs doth not presently call for God as a Revenger Yet notwithstanding these things we may with Truth say Theophilus That some of those who do with an high Hand sin against Him God somtimes makes Examples of his Wrath and in them
doth vindicate his own Soveraignty and Power which they as much as in them lieth have brought under and trampled upon And this he so doth as that they themselves may look upon it to be God's just Hand and that others also may acknowledge it his doing But then Communities of Men which by their publick Sins make the Almighty to serve are always when those Sins are ripe punished in this World for they cannot with any reason be thought punishable in the next because all Bonds of Civil Society are utterly broken and evacuated by the Death of the Whole Yea and those Private Men who have contributed their share to the Sins of a Nation as such are also oftentimes in some respect punished in this World even after Death by Publick Calamities reaching their Children or other Relations in whom themselves are in a manner still here continued Which to one who rightly considers it sheweth forth God's Righteous Judgments upon them But because it is not always safe to pronounce That the untimely Deaths or unexpected Miseries of some particular Persons are an immediate Stroke of God upon them for their Disobedience for our Christian Charity will not permit this when we know no signal Crimes by them And the great Afflictions of some who are not greater Sinners than other Men and of some whom we have reason to esteem as good Men may caution us in this point not to be over-forward to Judge And because also we see a great many wicked Men to live and become old to be in no Troubles as other Men to die in peace and leave the rest of their Substance for their Babes Therefore we may affirm it as a Truth Viz. That God seeth it fit generally not to cut off those Men nor yet to force them into Obedience who by their Disobedience do thus make him to serve He seeth it fit generally not to cut them off that they may have space for Repentance Thus did he to the Church of Thyatira I gave her saith he space to Repent of her Fornication And for this end may he spare these dealing with them as the Lord did with the Barren Fig-Tree hoping that though they be not fruitful this year they will grow better the next And this the rather because from the thoughts of this Goodness of God unto them they may the more effectually be prevail'd upon to repent Despisest thou saith the Apostle the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God in this his Forbearance and Long-suffering leadeth thee to Repentance A Sorrow for former Sins and an Acknowledgment of God's Soveraignty for the future in Mens giving themselves up to his Service may arise from other Considerations but from none more directly or more forcibly than from that of his sparing them and suffering them to live that they may Repent and Turn unto him Neither may it be a small Motive for his not generally Cutting them off that in case they do not Repent there may from their Freedom from Punishment in this Life be afforded unto us a strong Proof that there will be Another Life after This in which those Sins which are here spared and Unrepented of shall most surely be punished God is a Righteous God and he hath told us plainly by his Prophet Nahum Chap. 1.3 That he will not acquit the Wicked And it is not Unobservable that These Words are put thus to wit The Lord is slow to Anger and great in Power and will not acquit the Wicked As much as to say Though he forbear long yet it is not as if he could not punish yea if they shall go on in their Disobedience and not Repent them of their Misdeeds they most certainly shall have the Reward of their Doings Now in that These Wicked Men who to the utmost of their Power make God to Serve do often live and dye without Punishments they must necessarily be punished after Death or else God will contrary to his Word acquit the Wicked But the Judge of the Earth will do Right though all Men shall be Lyars yet God cannot but be True And therefore he will not Cut them off that he may make them a strong Argument that there will be a Day of Punishments when this World is at an End with them And Lastly Theophilus we may not amiss think he will suffer them to Live that if They Repent not here they themselves may hereafter in the Other World confess that they are justly punished Though Gods sparing their Lives in so much Mercy when they had deserved to be struck Dead or sent Living into Hell were little minded by them on Earth it yet shall at the Great Tribunal have this effect upon them viz. To make them acknowledge that their Damnation is Just because They had so much favour shew'd them and they shut their Eyes upon it And surely as Gods Gracious Designs of Mens Turning unto him and being happy do take off whatever can be Objected against his not presently destroying the Disobedient So the Reputation of his Justice which will by this means be Exalted even among Those that in Hell shall suffer it may abundantly Vindicate Gods Government of the World from being slack and remiss though he do not immediately Condemn unto Death those who make him to Serve by their Sins Theoph. You have throughly satisfied me why God doth not presently Cut those off who are Rebellious But since all Power is his and with a Word He can do it why doth he not Force them into Obedience that his Sovereignty may be acknowledg'd by all and not opposed so much as in appearance by any Eubul One Reason may be Because he would have their Obedience to be their Virtue and such as shall become Rational Creatures to give He as Elihu saith Teacheth Them more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh Them Wiser than the Fowles of Heaven that they may know what Good and what Evil is and may be sensible of the Favours that are shew'd unto them He hath given them a Will to choose or refuse what things are before them And hath planted Affections in their Souls by which Love and Gratitude may be Exercised Now when they shall endeavour to Understand what is truly Good and also what Gods Loving-kindness to them is when they shall choose that which is best and shall willingly serve Him whom they know to be the Lord of the World and their Lord Loving him for his Goodness and striving to express Thankfulness to him so far as they are able when I say they shall do this they will be Virtuous and shew themselves such as their Nature and Make require they should be But how unagreeable would it be for these Men to be forced contrary to their Mind and Will Wherein would they be Commendable should they do that which they could not help And how unsutable to Love and Gratitude is Violence and Constraint It is Love that is