purum desuper se lumen infundit Light is infused from above into the purified Soul And that this Expression is so to be understood here in the Text as also Chap. 10.32 the Syriac and Ethiopic give us good ground to believe for they render the Text thus It is impossible for those who have been once baptized and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift And at the 10 th Chap. v. 32. which we translate But call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions that is call to mind the former days in which after by Baptism ye had publickly embraced the Profession of Christianity ye were upon that account exposed to many grievous Sufferings and Persecutions So that I think there can be no great doubt but by those that were once enlightned the Apostle means those that were baptized To proceed then For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost these two Expressions seem to denote the Spiritual Benefits and Graces of the Holy Ghost conferred upon Christians by Baptism particularly Regeneration which is the proper work of the Holy Ghost and Justification and Remission of Sins So we find Faith whereby we are justified called the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 Faith is the gift of God and our Justification is called a Gift and a free Gift five several times in one Chapter Rom. 5.15 16 17 18. But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many and what this free Gift is he tells us in the next words viz. Justification or Remission of Sins v. 16. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to Condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life So that by the Heavenly Gift I understand remission of Sins and by being made partakers of the Holy Ghost the Sanctifying Power and Efficacy of God's Spirit And have tasted the good Word of God that is entertained the Gospel which is here called the good Word of God by reason of the gracious promises contained in it particularly the Promises of Eternal Life and Happiness And the powers of the World to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Powers of the Gospel Age that is the miraculous Powers of the Holy Ghost which were bestowed upon Men in order to the propagation of the Gospel And that this is the true meaning of this Phrase will I think be very plain to any one who shall but consider that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is generally in Scripture used for miraculous Powers and Operations and particularly to express the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which were bestowed upon the Apostles and first Christians I need not cite the particular Texts for the proof of this they are so many and so well known And then if we consider farther that the times of the Gospel the days of the Messias are frequently called by the Jews Seculum futurum The Age to come And indeed this is the very Phrase used by the LXX concerning our Saviour Isa 9.6 where he is called according to our Translation The Everlasting Father but according to that of the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Farher of the future Age. And this very Phrase is used once more in this Epistle to the Heb. ch 2.5 For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the World to come whereof we now speak He had said before that the Law was given by Angels v. 2. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast but the dispensation of the Gospel which he calls The World to come or the future Age was not committed to them this was administred by the Son of God Vnto the Angels hath he not put into subjection the World to come And 't is observable that this Phrase is only used in this Epistle to the Hebrews because the Jews very well understood the meaning of it being that whereby they commonly exprest the times of the Gospel according to that ancient Tradition of the House of Elias which distributed the duration of the World into three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ages the Age before the Law the Age under the Law and the Age of the Messias which they called the Seculum futurum or the Age to come and which is likewise in Scripture called The last days or times and the conclusion of the Ages Concerning which it was particularly prophesied that the Holy Ghost should be poured forth upon Men in miraculous Gifts and Powers And to this very purpose the Prophet Joel is cited by St. Peter Acts 2.16 17. This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie c. From all which it is very evident that by tasting the powers of the World to come is meant being partakers of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost which were poured forth in the Gospel Age by the Jews commonly called The World to come If they shall fall away that is if after all this they shall apostatize from this Profession out of love to this present World or from the fear of Persecutions and Sufferings It is impossible to renew them again to Repentance that is it is a thing very difficult hardly to be hoped for that such wilful and notorious Apostates should be restored again by Repentance For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Impossible is not always to be taken in the strictest sense for that which absolutely cannot be but many times for that which is so very difficult that it seems next to an impossibility So our Saviour that which in one place he calls exceeding hard viz. for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven he afterwards calls impossible with Men and so here I understand the Apostle that those who apostatize from Christianity after Baptism and the benefits of it 'T is exceeding hard to recover them again to Repentance This Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to renew them again to Repentance some understand of restoring them again to the Peace and Communion of the Church by a course of Penance such as was prescribed in the ancient Church to great Offenders and then they understand
Meekness the Word of God which is able to save our Souls SERMON II. The Prejudices against Christianity consider'd MATTH XI 6 And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me I Have from these Words propounded to consider two things I. Those Prejudices and Objections which the World had against our Saviour and his Religion at their first Appearance as also to enquire into those which Men at this day do more especially insist upon against the Christian Religion Vol. V. and to show the Unreasonableness of them II. How happy a thing it is to escape and overcome the common Prejudices which Men have against Religion I have entred upon the first of these the Prejudices which the World had against our Saviour and his Religion When this great Teacher of Mankind came from God though he gave all imaginable Testimony and Evidence that he was sent from Heaven yet the greatest part of the World both Jews and Gentiles were mightily offended at him and deeply prejudiced against him and his Doctrine but not both upon the same Account I have already given you an Account of the chief Exceptions which the Jews made against our Saviour and his Doctrine and have shewn the Unreasonableness of them I proceed now to consider the principal of those Exceptions which the Gentiles and Heathen Philosophers took at our Saviour and his Doctrine Ser. 2. I shall mention these four First That Christianity was a great Innovation and contrary to the received Institutions of the World Secondly They objected against the Plainness and Simplicity of the Doctrine Thirdly That it wanted Demonstration Fourthly That the low and suffering Condition of our Saviour was unsuitable to one that pretended to be the Son of God and to be appointed by him for a Teacher and Reformer of the World These are the chief Exceptions which the Heathen and especially their Philosophers took at our Saviour and his Doctrine First That the Christian Religion was a great Innovation and contrary to the received Institutions of the World and consequently that it did condemn the Religion which had been so universally received and establish'd in the World by so long a continuance of Time And no wonder if this made a great Impression upon them and raised a mighty Prejudice in the Minds of Men against the Christian Religion no Prejudices being so strong as those that are fix'd in the Minds of Men by Education And of all the Prejudices of Education none so violent and hard to be removed as those about Religion yea though they be never so groundless and unreasonable Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods Intimating to us that men are very hardly brought off from that Religion which they have been brought up in how absurd soever it be When Christianity was first propounded to the Heathen World had Men been free and indifferent and not prepossess'd with other Apprehensions of God and Religion it might then have been expected from them that they should have entertained it with a readiness of Mind proportionable to the Reasonableness of it But the Case was quite otherwise the World had for many Ages been brought up to another way of Worship and inur'd to Rites and Superstitions of a quite different Nature And this sways very much with Men Sequimur majores nostros qui feliciter sequuti sunt suos as one of the Heathens said in those Days We follow our Ancestors who happily follow'd theirs Men are hardly brought to condemn those Opinions and Customs in Religion which themselves and their Forefathers have always embraced and followed And Wise Men especially are loth to admit so great a change in a matter of so great Concernment as Religion is So that this must be acknowledged to have been a considerable Prejudice against the Christian Religion at its first Appearance But yet upon a through Examination this will not be found sufficient in Reason to withhold Men from embracing Christianity if we consider these four Things 1. No prudent Person thinks that the Example and Custom of his Forefathers obligeth him to that which is evil in it self and pernicious to him that does it and there is no Evil no Danger equal to that of a false Religion for that tends to the ruin of Men's Souls and their undoing for ever A Man might better alledge the Example of his Forefathers to justify his Errors and Follies in any other kind than in this which is so infinitely pernicious in the Consequences of it 2. In a great Corruption and Degeneracy it is no sufficient Reason against a Reformation that it makes a Change When Things are amiss it is always fit to amend and reform them and this cannot be done without a Change The wisest among the Heathen did acknowledge that their Religion was mixt with very great Follies and Superstitions and that the Lives and Manners of Men were extremely corrupt and degenerate and they endeavour'd as much as they could and durst to reform these things And therefore there was no Reason to oppose an effectual Reformation for fear of a Change a Change of Things for the better tho it be usually hard to be effected being always a thing to be desired and wish'd for 3. The Change which Christianity designed was the least liable to Exception that could be being nothing else in the main of it but the reducing of Natural Religion the bringing of Men back to such Apprehensions of God and such a way of worshipping him as was most suitable to the Divine Nature and to the Natural Notions of Men's Minds nothing else but a Design to persuade Men of the one true God Maker of the World that he is a Spirit and to be worshipp'd in such a manner as is suitable to his Spiritual Nature And then for matters of Practice to bring Men to the Obedience of those Precepts of Temperance and Justice and Charity which had been universally acknowledged even by the Heathens themselves to be the great Duties which Men owe to themselves and others And that this is the main Design of the Christian Religion the Apostle hath told us in most plain and express Words Tit. 2.11 12. The Grace of God that is the Doctrine of the Gospel which hath appeared to all Men and brings Salvation teacheth us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World And all that the Christian Religion adds beyond this is means and helps for our Direction and Assistance and Encouragement in the Discharge and Performance of these Duties For our Direction God hath sent his Son in our Nature to declare his Will to us and to be a Pattern and Example of Holiness and Virtue For our Assistance he hath promised the Aids of his Holy Spirit and for our Encouragement he offers to us Pardon of Sin in the Blood of his Son and Eternal Life and Happiness in another World This is a short
of Temptation if we be not continually vigilant and upon our Guard Not confident in our selves because we stand by Faith and Faith is the gift of God therefore as the Apostle infers we should not be high-minded but fear Men may have gone a great way in Christianity and have been sincere in the Profession of it and yet afterwards may apostatize in the foulest manner not only fall off to a vicious Life but even desert the Profession of their Religion I would to God the Experience of the World did not give us too much Reason to believe the Possibility of this When we see so many revolt from the Profession of the Reformed Religion to the Corruptions and Superstitions of Rome And others from a religious and sober Life to plunge themselves into all kind of Lewdness and Debauchery and it is to be feared into Atheism and Infidelity Can we doubt any longer whether it be possible for Christians to fall away I wish we were as certain of the possibility of their Recovery as we are of their Falling and that we had as many Examples of the one as of the other Let us then be very vigilant over our selves and according to the Apostle's Exhortation 2 Pet. 3.17 Seeing we know these things before beware lest we also being led away with the Error of the wicked fall from our own stedfastness 2 dly This shews us how great an Aggravation it is for Men to Sin against the Means of Knowledge which the Gospel affords and the Mercies which it offers unto them That which aggravated the Sin of these Persons was that after they were once enlightned that is at their Baptism were instructed in the Christian Doctrine the clearest and most perfect Revelation that ever was made of God's Will to Mankind that after they were justified freely by God's Grace and had received Remission of Sins and had many other Benefits conferred upon them that after all this they should fall off from this Holy Religion This was that which did so heighten and enflame their Guilt and made their Case so near desperate The two great aggravations of Crimes are Wilfulness and Ingratitude if a Crime be wilfully committed and committed against one that hath obliged us by the greatest Favours and Benefits Now he commits a fault wilfully who does it against the clear knowledge of his Duty Ignorance excuseth for so far as a Man is ignorant of the Evil he does so far the Action is involuntary but knowledge makes it to be a wilful Fault And this is a more peculiar Aggravation of the Sins of Christians because God hath afforded them the greatest means and opportunities of Knowledge that Revelation which God hath made of his Will to the World by our Blessed Saviour is the clearest Light that ever Mankind had and the mercies which the Gospel brings are the greatest that ever were offer'd to the Sons of Men the free Pardon and Remission of all our Sins and the assistance of God's Grace and Holy Spirit to help the weakness of our Nature and enable us to do what God requires of us So that we who sin after Baptism after the knowledge of Christianity and those great Blessings which the Gospel bestows on Mankind are of all Persons in the World the most inexcusable The Sins of Heathens bear no proportion to ours because they never enjoyed those means of Knowledge never had those Blessings conferred upon them which Christians are partakers of so that we may apply to our selves those severe words of the Apostle in this Epistle How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Hear how our Saviour aggravates the Faults of Men upon this account of the wilfulness of them and their being committed against the express Knowledge of God's Will Luke 12.47 48. The Servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required and to whom Men have committed much of him they will ask the more The Means and Mercies of the Gospel are so many Talents committed to our Trust of the neglect whereof a severe Account will be taken at the Day of Judgment If we be wilful offenders there is no Excuse for us and little hopes of Pardon If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth says the Apostle in this Epistle there remains no more sacrifice for sin I know the Apostle speaks this particularly of the Sin of Apostacy from Christianity but it is in proportion true of all other Sins which those who have received the Knowledge of the Truth are guilty of They who after they have entertained Christianity and made some progress in it and been in some measure reformed by it do again relapse into any vicious course do thereby render their Condition very dangerous So St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 2.20 21. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them Therefore we may do well to consider seriously what we do when under the Means and Opportunities of Knowledge which the Gospel affords us and the inestimable Blessings and Favours which it confers upon us we live in any wicked and vicious course Our Sins are not of a common rate when they have so much of Wilfulness and Unworthiness in them If Men shall be severely punish'd for living against the Light of Nature what vengeance shall be poured on those who offend against the Glorious Light of the Gospel This is the Condemnation that Light is come c. 3 dly The Consideration of what hath been said is Matter of Comfort to those who upon every Failing and Infirmity are afraid they have committed the unpardonable Sin and that it is impossible for them to be restor'd by Repentance There are many who being of a dark and melancholy Temper are apt to represent things worse to themselves than there is reason for and do many times fancy themselves guilty of great Crimes in the doing or neglecting of those things which in their nature are indifferent and are apt to aggravate and blow up every little Infirmity into an unpardonable Sin Most Men are apt to extenuate their Sins and not to be sensible enough of the Evil and Heinousness of them but it is the peculiar Infelicity of Melancholy Persons to look upon their Faults as blacker and greater than in truth they are and whatsoever they hear and read in Scripture that is spoken against the grossest and most enormous Offenders they apply to themselves and when they hear of the Sin against the Holy Ghost and the Sin unto Death
in the more notoriously he contradicts his Profession and falls off from Christianity and the nearer he approacheth to the Sin in the Text and the danger there threatned but yet for all that this is not that which the Apostle speaks of 4 thly But it is a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion more especially to the Heathen Idolatry the renouncing of the true God and our Saviour and the Worship of false Gods which the Apostle here speaks of And this will be evident if we consider the occasion and main scope of this Epistle And that was to confirm the Jews who had newly embraced Christianity in the profession of that Religion and to keep them from apostatizing from it because of the Persecutions and Sufferings which attended that Profession It pleased God when Christianity first appeared in the World to permit the Powers of the World to raise a vehement Persecution against the Professors of it by reason whereof many out of base fear did apostatize from it and in testimony of their renouncing it were forced to Sacrifice to the Heathen Idols This is that which the Apostle endeavours to caution and arm Men against throughout this Epistle Ch. 2.1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should fall away And Chap. 3.12 it is call'd an evil heart of Vnbelief to apostatize from the living God Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of Vnbelief to depart from the living God that is to fall from the Worship of the true God to Idolatry And Chap. 10.23 Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of our selves together that is not declining the Assemblies of Christians for fear of Persecution and v. 26. it is call'd a sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth and v. 39. a drawing back to Perdition And Ch. 12. it is call'd by way of Eminency the Sin which so easily besets the Sin which in those times of Persecution they were so liable to And I doubt not but this is the Sin which St. John speaks of and calls the Sin unto Death and does not require Christians to pray for those who fall into it with any assurance that it shall be forgiven 1 John 5.16 There is a Sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it All Vnrighteousness is Sin and there is a Sin not unto Death We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not that is does not fall into the Sin of Apostacy from Christianity to that of the Heathen Idolatry But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not And then v. 21. he adds this Caution Little children keep your selves from Idols Which sufficiently shews what that Sin was which he was speaking of before So that this being the Sin which the Apostle design'd to caution Men against throughout this Epistle it is very evident what falling away it is he here speaks of namely a total Apostacy from Christianity and more especially to the Heathen Idolatry 5 thly We will consider the Reason of the difficulty of Recovering such Persons by Repentance If they fall away it is extremely difficult to renew them again to Repentance and that for these three Reasons 1. Because of the greatness and heinousness of the Sin 2. Because it renounceth and casteth off the means of Recovery 3. Because it is so high a Provocation of God to withdraw his Grace from such Persons 1. Because of the greatness and heinousness of the Sin both in the Nature and Circumstances of it It is a downright Apostacy from God a direct renouncing of him and rejecting of his Truth after Men have owned it and been inwardly perswaded and convinced of it and so the Apostle expresseth it in this Epistle calling it an Apostacy from the living God a sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth It hath all the Aggravations that a Crime is capable of being against the clearest Light and Knowledge and the fullest Conviction of a Man's Mind concerning the Truth and goodness of that Religion which he renounceth against the greatest Obligations laid upon him by the Grace and Mercy of the Gospel after the free Pardon of Sins and the Grace and Assistance of God's Spirit received and a miraculous Power conferr'd for a Witness and Testimony to themselves of the undoubted Truth of that Religion which they have embraced It is the highest Affront to the Son of God who revealed this Religion to the World and sealed it with his Blood and in effect an expression of as high Malice to the Author of this Religion as the Jews were guilty of when they put him to so cruel and shameful a Death Now a Sin of this heinous Nature is apt naturally either to plunge Men into hardness and impenitency or to drive them to despair and either of these Conditions are effectual Barrs to their Recovery And both these Dangers the Apostle warns Men of in this Epistle Ch. 3.12 13. Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil Heart of Vnbelief to apostatize from the living God but exhort one another daily whilst it is call'd to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin Or else the Reflection upon so horrid a Crime is apt to drive a Man to Despair as it did Judas who after he had betray'd the Son of God could find no ease but by making away himself the guilt of so great a Sin fill'd him with such Terrors that he was glad to flye to Death for Refuge and to lay violent hands upon himself And this likewise was the Case of Spira whose Apostacy though it was not total from the Christian Religion but only from the Purity and Reformation of it brought him to that desperation of Mind which was a kind of Hell upon Earth And of this danger likewise the Apostle admonisheth Ch. 12.15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God or as it is in the Margine lest any Man fall from the Grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and then he compares the Case of such Persons to Esau who when he had renounced his Birth-right to which the Blessing was annex'd was afterwards when he would have inherited the Blessing rejected and found no place of Repentance though he sought it carefully with Tears 2 dly Those who are guilty of this Sin do renounce and cast off the means of their Recovery and therefore it becomes extremely difficult to renew them again to repentance They reject the Gospel which affords the best Arguments and Means to Repentance and renounce the only way of Pardon and Forgiveness And certainly that Man is in a very sad and desperate Condition the very nature of whose Disease is to reject the Remedy that should cure him And
Happiness by the free Grace and Mercy of God to do any thing whereby they may forfeit their Happiness or so much as to entertain a Thought of offending that God to whom they cannot but be sensible how infinitely they are obliged In this Imperfect state few Men have so little Goodness as to sin without a Temptation but in that state where Men are perfectly good and can have no Temptation to be otherwise it is not imaginable that they should fall from that state 2. As to the state of the damned that that likewise is immutable the Scripture does seem plainly enough to assert when it calls it an everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and uses such Expressions to set forth the continuance of their Misery as signifie the longest and most interminable Duration expressions of as great an Extent as those which are used to signifie the Eternal Happiness of the blessed and as large and unlimited as any are to be had in those Languages wherein the Scriptures are written Besides that wicked Men in the other World are in Scripture represented as in the same Condition with the Devils of whom there is no ground to believe that any of them ever did or will repent Not because Repentance is impossible in its own nature to those that are in extream Misery but because there is no place left for it Being under an irreversible Doom there is no encouragement to Repentance no hope of Mercy and Pardon without which Repentance is impossible For if a Man did utterly despair of Pardon and were assured upon good ground that God would never shew Mercy to him in this case a Man would grow desperate and not care what he did He that knows that whatever he does he is miserable and undone will not matter how he demeans himself All motives to Repentance are gone after a Man once knows it will be to no purpose And this the Scripture seems to represent to us as the case of the Devils and damned Spirits Because their state is finally determined and they are concluded under an irreversible Sentence therefore Repentance is impossible to them Sorry no doubt they are and heartily troubled that by their own Sin and Folly they have brought this Misery upon themselves and they cannot but conceive an everlasting Displeasure against themselves for having been the Cause and Authors of their own Ruin and the Reflection of this will be a perpetual Spring of discontent and fill their Minds with eternal rage and vexation and so long as they feel the intolerable Punishments of Sin and groan under the insupportable Torments of it and see no end of this miserable state no hope of getting out of it they can be no otherwise affected than with discontent at themselves and rage and fury against God They are indeed penitent so far as to be troubled at themselves for what they have done but this Trouble works no change and alteration in them they still hate God who inflicts these Punishments upon them and who they believe is determined to continue them in this miserable state The present anguish of their Condition and their despair of bettering it makes them mad and their Minds are so distracted by the wildness of their Passions and their spirits so exasperated and set on fire by their own giddy Motions that there can be no rest and silence in their Souls not so much as the liberty of one calm and sedate Thought Or if at any time they reflect upon the evil of their Sins and should entertain any thoughts of returning to God and their Duty they are presently checkt with this Consideration that their case is determined that God is implacably offended with them and is inexorably and peremptorily resolved to make them miserable for ever and during this Perswasion no Man can return to the love of God and Goodness without which there can be no Repentance This Consideration of the immutable state of Men after this Life should engage us with all seriousness and diligence to endeavour to secure our future happiness God hath set before us good and evil life and death and we may yet chuse which we please but in the other world we must stand to that choice which we have made here and inherit the Consequences of it By Sin Mankind is brought into a miserable state but our Condition is not desperate and past Remedy God hath sent his Son to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins So that tho' our Case be bad it need not continue so if it be not our own fault There is a possibility now of changing our Condition for the better and of laying the foundation of a perpetual Happiness for our selves The Grace of God calls upon us and is ready to assist us so that no Man's Case is so bad but there is a possibility of bettering it if we be not wanting to our selves and will make use of the Grace which God offers who is never wanting to the sincere endeavours of Men. Under the Influence and Assistance of this Grace those who are dead in trespasses and sins may pass from death to life may be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God So long as we are in this world there is a possibility of being translated from one state to another from the dominion of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son But if we neglect the opportunities of this life and stand out against the offers of God's Grace and Mercy there will no Overtures be made to us in the other world After this life is ended God will try us no more our final miscarriage in this world will prove fatal to us in the other and we shall not be permitted to live over again to correct our Errors As the Tree falls so it shall lye such a State as we are settled in when we go out of this world shall be fixt in the other and there will be no possibility of changing it We are yet in the hand of our own Counsel and by God's Grace we may mould and fashion our own Fortune But if we trifle away this Advantage we shall fall into the hands of the living God out of which there is no Redemption God hath yet left Heaven and Hell to our choice and we had need to look about us and chuse well who can chuse but once for all and for ever There is yet a space and opportunity left us of Repentance but so soon as we step out of this Life and are entred upon the other world our Condition will be sealed never to be reverst And because after this Life there will be no further hopes of Mercy there will be no possibility of Repentance This is the accepted time this is the day of Salvation therefore to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts lest God swear in his Wrath that we shall not enter into his rest
seem to be more serious and industrious than in truth they are they are rather hypocrites the other way and would conceal their Covetousness and Ambition and not seem to aspire after Riches and Honours so much as indeed they do But in the pursuit of better things how cold and remiss are we With what a careless indifference do most men mind their Souls How negligent and formal and many times Hypocritical are they in the Service of God and the Exercise of Religion With what a pitiful Courage and with what faint Spirits do they resist Sin and encounter the Temptations of it and how often and how easily are they foil'd and baffl'd by them 4 thly The Men of the world are more invincibly constant and pertinacious in the pursuit of Earthly things they are not to be bribed or taken off by favour or fair Words not to be daunted by Difficulties or dasht out of Countenance by the Frowns and Reproaches of men Offer an Ambitious Man any thing short of his End and Aim to take him off from the prosecution of it he scorns the motion and thinks you go about to fool him out of his Interest Bait a Covetous man with Temptations of Pleasure to get his Money from him how generously will this mean-spirited man trample upon Pleasure when it would tempt him from his Design of being rich Difficulties do not daunt them but whet their Courage and quicken their Endeavours and set a keener edge upon their Spirits Give an Ambitious man almost a demonstration of the impossibility of his attempt contrà audentior ibit he will go on so much the more boldly and resolutely In the ways of Religion men are apt to be discouraged and put out of Countenance by Contempt and Reproach but a Covetous man is not to be jeer'd and flurted out of his Money and Estate he can be content to be Rich and give leave to those that are not so to laugh at him Populus mihi sibilat at mihi plaudo The Rich Worldling can hug himself and his Bags when the world hisseth at him he can bear to be hated and persecuted and have all manner of evil spoke against him for Money sake And in the pursuit of these Designs men will with great Resolution encounter Enmity and Opposition and endure great Sufferings and Persecution How many have been Martyrs to their Lusts and have Sacrificed their Ease and Health and even their Lives in the prosecution of their Ambitious and Covetous and Voluptuous Designs But on the other hand how easily are men check'd and diverted from a good Course by the Temptations and Advantages of this world How many are cold in their Zeal for Religion by the Favour and Friendship of this world And as their Goods and Estate have grown greater their Devotion hath grown less How apt are they to be terrified at the apprehension of Danger and Sufferings and by their fearful Imaginations to make them greater than they are and with the People of Israel to be dishearten'd from all further Attempts of entring into the land of promise because it is full of Giants and the Sons of Anak How easily was Peter frighted into the denial of his Master And when our Saviour was apprehended how did his Disciples forsake him and flye from him And tho they were constant afterwards to the Death yet it was a great while before they were perfectly armed and steel'd against the fear of Suffering 5 thly The men of the world will make all things stoop and submit to that which is their great End and Design their End rules them and governs them and gives Law to all their Actions they will make an Advantage of every thing and if it will not serve their End one way or other they will have nothing to do with it If an ambitious man seek Wealth it is but in order to his Design to purchase Friends and strengthen his Interest and make his rising the easier he will lay his whole Estate at the stake rather than miss of his End The covetous man will quit his Pleasure when it lies cross to his interest if he have any expensive Lust and chargeable Vice he will turn it off or exchange it for some more frugal and profitable Sin But in the affairs of Religion and the concernments of our Souls how frequently do men act without a due Regard and consideration of their great End and instead of making other things submit to it they often bow and bend it to their inferior Interests They make Heaven stoop to Earth and Religion to serve a worldly Design and the glory of God to give way to gain and the great Concernments of their Souls and their eternal Salvation to their Temporal Profit and Advantage The Men of the world are generally true to their great End and pay it that Respect which is due to it and will suffer nothing to take place of it in their Esteem and Affection and if men were as wise for their Souls and for another world they would bring all things to their great End and make all the Concernments of this Temporal Life to yield and give way to the great Concernments of their Eternal Happiness I proceed in the Second Place to give some account of this whence it comes to pass that the Children of this world are wiser in their generation than the Children of Light And this I shall do by considering what Advantages the Children of this world have as to the Affairs of this world above what good men have as to the Concernments of another world I shall instance in four or five of the chief 1 st The Things of this world are present and sensible and because of their nearness to us are apt to strike powerfully upon our Senses and to affect us mightily to excite our Desires after them and to work strongly upon our Hopes and Fears but the things of another world being remote from us are lessen'd by their distance and consequently are not apt to work so powerfully upon our Minds they are invisible to us and only discerned by Faith which is a more obscure and less certain Perception of things than we have of those Objects which are presented to our bodily Eyes The things which God hath prepared for them that love him the Glory and Happiness of the next world are things which Eye hath not seen nor ear heard The Children of light do not see God as the Children of this world see Mammon 2 dly The sensual Delights and Enjoyments of this world are better suited and more agreeable to the corrupt and degenerate Nature of Men than Spiritual and heavenly things are to those that are regenerate In this lapsed and degenerate state of Mankind Appetite and Sense are apt to prevail above Reason and therefore those things which are most delightful to Sense we savour and mind and love to busy our selves about them because they are most suitable to the animal life which