Repenting implies that it was their own Fault they did not which yet could not be unless God had first put it into them power to Repent but this it is plain he did not if nothing less than Irresistible Grace could have brought them to Repentance Now this Consideration that the Means of Grace are Resistible should make us extreamly cautious of driving off our Repentance and Amendment of Life in expectation of some mighty irresistible Act of God to save us the labour of turning our selves to him There is no doubt but God can over-rule the most stubborn and inflexible Wills of Men and bear them down in spight of all their Reluctancies into the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel And had hepromised them so to do they might safely have depended upon him But since he has made no such Promise and does every day permit Incorrigible Sinners to resist his Holy Spirit and withstand the Gospel till they have sinned beyond the possibility of Repentance How should this awaken those that have any purposes of Repenting at all to put themselves beyond the danger of miscarrying for ever by a ready and immediate execution of them The last care that God will ever take of the Salvation of Men is long since discovered to them in the Gospel And by an experience of many hundred years it is evident in all Churches that the Gospel does not carry an Irresistible Force along with it It gives men all the Reason and Assures them of all the Help and Assistance that can be reasonably desired to persuade them into a compliance with it and there it leaves them i. e. it leaves them to their choice to accept or refuse its Proposals and so to be Happy or Miserable as they please So that if men will not take any pains with themselves to understand their Everlasting Interest and to stoop their minds to the Obedience of the Gospel but wait to see what God will do with them they will find that he will not drive them into Heaven against their Wills 2. Hence it folows that the Impenitency of men under the Gospel is to be ascribed to their own wilful and incorrigible Temple and not to any weakness or insufficiency in the Gospel to reform and sanctifie them The Gospel has sufficiently verified what it speaks of it self that it is the Power of God to Salvation The Conversions it has wrought in the World from all kinds of Superstition Wickedness and Impiety abundantly testifie the Divine Virtue and Efficacy of it And what is all along supposed in this Discourse the Good Spirit of God is always ready to bless the Means of his own Appointment and to make them effectual to his own Gracious Ends and Purposes without respect of Persons where men do not distinguish themselves by their wilful neglect or perverse and peremptory Opposition to them This being the case there can be no other reason why the Gospel at any time fails of its Blessed Effect but the stupid and inflexible Temper of those that live unprofitably under the mighty influences of it And hence St. Paul imputes the Impenitency of such men to their Despising the Goodness and Forbearance of God Rom. 2.4 and not knwoing that the Goodness of God leadeth to Repentance Which surely he would not have done had he known the While that God was not so Good unto them as to furnish them with sufficient Grace to Repent withal Considering then what Different Effects the ministration of the Gospel has upon the Hearts and Lives of Men and the reason why some are hardned while others are inllightned and renewed in the Spirit of their Minds we see there lies a great deal upon our endeavours to dispose and qualifie our Hearts lest the Word should not profit us which is able to save our Souls The Best Means of Grace the most Powerful Preaching in the World seconded by the mighty Operations of the Spirit will not soften our Hearts will not melt them into Repentance while we suffer them to be heardned by the Deceitfulness of Sin And there fore neither our Saviour nor his Apostles ever pretended to convert all that heard them or that saw them doing Miracles by the Finger of God There is a certain good Temper and ingenuity of Mind disposing us to be just to our selves and to the Truths we hear which is requisite to our Edification by them Judas heard as Good Preaching and certainly got as little Good by it as ever any man did His eager desire of Wealth and Worldly Gains which seem to have been his Aim in keeping close to our Saviour hoping according to the Common Opinion that he would have proved a Great Temporal Monarch had so perverted his Mind that the Best Instructions and the most Absolute Example of Virtue and Piety that ever the World had could not prevail with him to be Virtuous and Good We should therefore be very cautious lest the same Word which is a Savour of Life to others should prove a Sentence of Death and Condemnation to our Selves But I hasten to the third and last Observation viz. 3d. Obser Than the final condition of those that reject the Gospel and continue impenitent under the ministration of it will be more grievous and intolerable than theirs that were never called to Repentance by it So our Saviour told the Cities of Corazin and Bethsaida It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judg than for you i.e. they that have only resisted the Light of Nature shall then receive a milder Sentence than you that have Guides and Instructors from Heaven that have had the Son of God among you that have rejected his Doctrine disregarded his Miracles and refused the Greatest Salvation that was ever offered to men Now that this Wo belongs to all that obey not the Gospel preached to them tho they never heard a syllable from Christ himself or saw the least of those Mighty Works with which he upbraids the Galileans in the Text will appear if we consider that God has provided as well for the Faith of the Church in this and all future Ages as he did for that of the Jews that lived in the days of our Saviour And if there be as much reason now to believe the Gospel as there was in our Saviour's time 't is certain there is as much reason to fear th Threatnings denounced in it against Impenitent Sinners I know we are apt to fansie that the Hearers of Christ's Doctrine and the Spectators of his Miracles stood in much better light to discern the Divinity of them than we do at this day But wherein does the great difference lie They saw Christ in the Flesh Isa 53.2 3. but they saw no Beauty in him that they should Dosire him yea they saw him in so humble a Guise and Habit as raised their Contempt more than their Admiration of him They had but the same Prophesies concerning his comeing and the Quality
of Christianity and the unspeakable Trouble and dishonour of the Church To give you one Remarkable Instance of this In the beginning of the Reformation in Germany Sleid. com lib. 10. They who first scrupled only the Doctrine of Infant Baptism by degrees so Intangled themselves in New and greater Errours that in a few Years they grew the highest Enthusiasts vented the Rankest Blasphemies and the most Fulsome Opinions And after the fairest shew of sanctity and self-denial threw off all Humanity Indulging themselves in the most Beastial and Impudent vices in fine They Renounc't all Allegiance to their Lawful Superiours set up a Pupper King of their own Dignified him with the Title of Universal Monarch and to Compleat the Tragedy Baptiz'd one another with their own Blood 3. That the greatest Zeal is no Evidence of the goodness of any Cause or Principles While some contend as earnestly against as others do for the Truth their Zeal can Determine nothing on either side 'T is the goodness of Principles and the Merit of a Cause that can only Justify our Zeal for them If they be wanting Zeal is no better than Rage and Frenzy Therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 4.18 It is Good to be Zealously affected always in a good thing which Implies that when our Zeal is not thus Qualified it is good for nothing Or if it rises above the Goodness of its Object it so far over-shoots it self and Degenerates into Vice and Folly And this is the Fault of those that lay the Weight of Religion upon slender things that can find nothing to spend their Zeal upon but an Innocent Phrase or Ceremony that Dispise Communion with a Church that does not hit their Phancy in every Punctilio and seem almost contented the Protestant Religion should fink rather than the best support of it should stand I mean the Union of Protestants in our Establish't National Religion These are Humours that Charity it self can hardly Excuse in them or look upon as any other than the excesses of a mistaken and Intemperate Zeal In short Zeal is either the best Friend or the keenest Enemy to Religion for which reason we ought to look narrowly to the Grounds and Tendencies of it 4. We see what reason we have to be aware of those Persons who Teach and Promote such Principles as are contrary to the True Spirit and Interest of Christianity I know not what can be said worse of any Religion than that it inspires Men with Rage and Cruelty Quenches the Spirit of Love and Meekmess and Represents God as the Author of Confusion a Humourous and Discontented Being that is never Pleased long with his own Prescriptions and therefore must be sooth'd and flatter'd with something that is New and Fanciful that looks like an Excess or Transport of Devotion that is Owing to the Good-Will or III-Nature of Men such Religion as this can never reconcile it self to the Doctrine of Christianity but will be supplanting it where-ever it comes And the Zeal it infuses into Men will if not effectually restrained Act over all those Dismal Tragedies again of which the Christian Church has been almost the Constant Scene ever since the Foundation of it We should therefore be jealous of it in all shapes Whether it Pleads for Unity as the Church of Rome do's who takes her self to be the Only Church and therefore Reprobates all that will not be United to her Or whether it declares for Free-Grace i.e. a Gospel without a Sanction as the German Antinomians and Ranters did who turn'd the Grace of God into Lasciviousness and liv'd as if it taught them to deny themselves no Ungodliness or Worldly Lusts whether it pretends to Visions and Revelations of the Lord contrary to the Doctrines Received and delivered by his Apostles from him Or whether it sets up for Purity of Worship in mistaken or doubtful Instances against the Peace of the Church and contrary to the Wisdom that is from above which is first Pure then Peaceable Jam. 3.17 Gentle and Easy to be intreated Not Peevish or implacable not apt to Quarrel with Shadows and much less to put three Kingdoms into a Flame for the sake of three harmless Ceremonies 5. Lastly Since Christianity is liable to and has endured so much Opposition from Men we should learn to adore Gods Infinite Widsom and Goodness in Preserving his Truth and Protecting his Church against the Zealous Endeavours of their Enemies to stifle and destroy them And certainly We of this Nation have seen as extraordinary Evidences of this kind as ever any Christian Nation did Our deliverances have had so many visible marks of a Divine and Peculiar Providence upon them that one would think they should at once clear the Nation of all Atheistical Dotage Open the Eyes of its Divided Inhabitants and Discourage its most zealous Adversaries from Daring any longer that All-seeing Eye that hath so often discovered from strugling any more with that Omnipotent hand that hath so seasonably baffled their Closet and most perfidious Designs and Practices And doubtless were we as sensible as we ought to be of God's singular goodness towards us in casting us into the Bosom of a Church where we have all advantages for Eternal Salvation and in lengthening out our Peace and Tranquility in despight of our Enemies we should think it out Interest to leave our selves still in his hands I do not mean by sitting still and neglecting our Guards but by a patient continuance in Well-doing by attempting nothing that is Unworthy of our excellent Religion By a clear and genuine Zeal for the Honour of God our Saviour by our Unfeigned thankfulness to him for his Wonderful Mercies by confiding in his Goodness and Protection by the Fervency of our Prayers and Intercessions with him and by mutual Exchanges of kindness and condescention to one another in any thing that may truly promote our Common Interest In a word by adhering to the Old Principles of Christianity and avoiding the two dangerous Rocks of Superstition and Enthusiasm and what ever else is contrary to the Name of Jesus Grant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so Peaceably Ordered by thy Governance that thy Church may Joyfully serve thee in all Godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sermon III. Of the Different Dispensations of Grace and of Impenitency under the best means of Salvation Matthew 11.21 22. Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida For if the Mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented long ago in Sack-cloth and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you Chorazin and Bethsaida were Cities of Galilee situate on the Sea-Shore not very far from the Coasts of Tyre and Sidon They profest the Jewish Religion and had the Priviledge of hearing our Saviours Doctrine and beholding his Miracles But
commonly the Deepest most lasting and indelible And hence it is that Men are generally very apt to stick to their first Principles be they true or false and for want of due enquiry how they came by them to take them for Divine Impressions and Eternal Truths And thus an Erroneous Conscience Usurps the Authority of a Guide the ordinary effect of which is a zealous Opposition against all that standin its way or presume to Check and disturb the Dictates of it For what ever ought to be it is plain that Mens present Thoughts and Principles are and will be the Rule of their Actions and that the worse any Principles are and the Earlier they are Instilled into them under the Notion of Divine Truths the more strongly they Impregnate their Minds and excite them to pursue the Tendencies of them And therefore we need not much wonder at those who are bred up in a Religion contrary to the Truth as it is in Jesus and to his Commandments of Love Peace and Unity Who are taught from their Cradles to call us Hereticks and to speak the bitterest things against us to Break their Faith with us and to mark us out for Destruction if in process of time they grow expert in all the Arts of Confusion and with undaunted Courage Undertake the Boldest Crimes which their Party and Principles do Countenance the Practice of 'T is true the Prejudices of Education are not invincible if Men would take a right course to overcome them But this is a rare case and there are but few in Comparison of those that choose to enjoy their Errors that are willing to make a Tryal of it And indeed when our green and tender Minds are once warpt by false and Pernicious Principles it is no easy matter to bring them streight and to put them into a right Posture again It requires a great deal of Consideration and Impartial inquiry into the Reason and bottom of things which some Men want abilities of mind others Leisure Humility Patience and Integrity to carry them through And the want of any of these is enough to answer for their obstinate persisting in their First Errours and unreasonable Opposition to the Truth 2. Affected Ignorance of the Truth naturally hardens Men in their Evil Principles and disposes them to approve of any Rugged and violent Course to keep up the Reputation of them The Jews in our Saviour's time had the greatest Advantages that ever Men enjoyed of being delivered from the Chains and Fetters of an ill Education I Pet. 1.18 or as St. Peter calls it From their vain Conversation received by Tradition from their Fathers They had the Brightest Revelations of the Divine Nature and Will that ever came from Heaven And those delivered to them by their own Messiah whom they had long expected In whom all the Promises concerning that Infinite Blessing to Mankind were exactly fulfilled Who wrought the greatest and most Astonishing Miracles that ever the World beheld Who gave them a Perfect Comment on the Law which had been miserably Corrupted by the Glosses of their Scribes and Doctors and layed open their Hypocrisies to themselves and all the People and yet so Blind and Sottish were they as to reject all his Admonitions with Spight and Scorn to Love Darkness rather than Light to Admire their Deluders and to Crucify their Guide to Eternal Bliss and Happiness Our Saviour himself Testifies of them in the height of their Rage and Malice against him Luke 23.34 that they knew not what they did They had been Taught their Messiah should be a Glorious King and Conquerour and such an One they must have or none They had been long wonted to a Pompous and Ceremonious service And therefore could not bear the thoughts of having the Stately Fabrick of their Religion Erected by God himself and supported by Moses and the Prophets taken down by the Carpenters Son as they stiled our Lord. These were the Fatal Chains that held them fast in that Dungeon of Darkness and Ignorance which Paradise it self could not Tempt them nor the Son of God could not redeem them from And is not the same wilfull and Affected Ignorance still to be found amongst the Adversaries of our Religion Some think there ought to be an Infallible and Universal Head of the Church on Earth and such an one they will have what ever it costs them Others that are strongly perswaded of Christs Personal Reign upon Earth think they ought to Fight for King Jesus against all Opposers And why is Ignorance so much Cherisht and Applauded in the Church of Rome but that it gives the Guides of that Church a mighty advantage to Mis-lead the People and Embolden them to act any illthing they are pleased to Impose upon them And this is the very use they make of it they Teach them to call Evil Good and Good Evil to Invert the Nature of things and to Fix the Crossest Names they can devise upon them and then Prosecute them directly contrary to their intrinsick merit Just as the Heathens Cloth'd the Christians in Beasts Skins and then exposed them to be Worried by Wild Beasts to Death They first teach them to call our Religion on Heresie which naturally creates an Implacable Hatred of it And having gone thus far they easily perswade them they cannot be too Zealous to suppress it the next step to which Persuasion is to think any thing to be lawful that will do it or if that will not do it shall be Meritorious And then to destroy Hereticks follows of course to be a Glorious Work But surely St. Paul did not think so when he confest the contrariety of it to the Name of Jesus Nor did our Saviour think so when he reproved the Rash and Destructive zeal of his Disciples who would have consumed the Samaritans by Fire from Heaven telling them that they knew not what manner of Spirits they were of And after this Luke 9.55 should I presume to say that the Controversies between us and the Church of Rome have been managed with invincible strength and demonstration of the Truth on our side Or should I say that no cause since the sealing of the Scriptures unless that of our common Christianity was ever better Defended than our departure from that Church I should not be ashamed of this confidence of boasting 3. Secular Interests have great Power to distort the Judgments of men and to inflame their Passions against those that differ from them in matters of Religion What ever it is they place their chief satisfaction in whether they are bound for the Port of Gain or Honour or Liberty we commonly find they make all the Sail that ever they can to come speedily to it If the way to attain their ends be to appear stoutly for this or that Party or Persuasion they will readily do it and serve the cause to the Utmost if they happen to thrive by it Men of corrupt Minds and destitute
Greater Light we may be sure to make Streight Paths for our Feet till we come to the Perfect Fruition of them Nor are we commanded only to search the Scriptures but to prove all things by them to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 Thes 5.21 1 Job 1.4 Luk. 12.57 and to judge of our selves what is Right That is we must use our own Reason and Judgment in comparing matters in Controversie with the Infallible Rule of Scripture For some Rule we must have to Prove and Try and Judge by And it is plain the Scripture takes no notice of any other Rule but it self and that of Modern and Unwritten Tradition as Opposite to it And this is security enough against any Dangerous Error considering that the Gospel is as much a standing Revelation to the Christian Church as the Law and the Prophets were to the Jews 5. We find the happy Effect of this Course so far that persons of ordinary capacity after a competent Trial of it do rightly believe and understand all that is necessary to their Eternal Salvation The necessary Articles of Religion are so visible in the Scriptures that it is the hardest thing that can be for an Ingenious Reader to overlook them That there is but One God that He only ought to be Worshipped that he sent his Only Begotten to Die for us that he Died and Rose again that as many as Repent of their Sins Believe and Obey the Gospel shall be Saved These and other Principles of Religion are so clearly and fully exprest in Scripture that there is no need of an Infallible Interpreter to certifie for them A common Understanding with the ordinary Means of Knowledge can reach the Discovery I mean without the help of a Roman Telescope or standing upon the Shoulders of St. Peters's pretended Successor This we know the Certainty of we feel it in our selves and we see the Demonstration of it in ten thousand Instances and do not think the worse of our Faith for being Protestant i. e. immediately Grounded upon the Evidence and Authority of Scripture We look upon it as our Inviolable Birth right to judge of Plain Truths when we see them And for this we have the general Sense of Mankind on our side and cannot think it reasonable to put it to any man to judge for us whether or no there is a God a Christ or a Heaven That all necessary Truths are plain is allowed by all Christians but those that make Articles of Faith necessary to Salvation which are so far from being plain that there is not the least mention of them in the whole Gospel And if all things that are Necessary are Plain then I hope a plain man may judge of them and without asking leave of any other man may believe them and so doing he certainly is in a state of Salvation And then the Church that declares he is not cannot be Infallible unless a Church can Err and be Infallible at the same instant 6. It is far easier for men who implore the Direction of God and use the Helps which he affords them to find their way to Heaven in the Scriptures than to find an Infallible Guide on Earth to lead them to it It must be granted that there are Obscure as well as Plain Passages in Scripture Some Places so very Dark and Intricate that they even Pose the most skilful and judicious Guides But thn our Happiness is that our Way does not lie Thorough them and that there is Light enough in innumerable other places to direct our Steps and to bring us in a Streight Line to Everlasting Bliss and Perfection I do not say that every thing tht concerns our Salvation is so clearly revealed that no man can be ignorant of it But that we may know as much as is needful for us if we apply our minds to it and laying aside all prejudice against the Truth beg of God to Preserve us from Error all which we have great encouragement to do since he has promised us the assistance of his Spirit in the search of Truth The Church of Rome indeed offers to put us into a shorter and easier Method of finding out Truth and to bring us to a Guide that will Infallibly shew us every step of our way So that we need not be at the Pains of any Tedious Inquiries nor any longer in danger of missing our Aim in them through the weakness of our own Fallible Judgments And who would not gladly embrace so Free and kind an Offer as this provided there be no Trick or Fallacy it it The Tryal of which will appear if the Proposes of this way of certainty be able to satisfy us in a few reasonable Cases without which as great as the Courtesy seems to be we cnnot prudently Accept of their Offer If a man should freely proffer me the Indies I must say it is a very Noble Gift if he can make it good and when he has convinced me that he can I will thankfully accept it from him but before he can give me Satisfaction about it I find ther must be a few words exchanged between us and therefore if he Pleases I desire him to tell me how he came to be the Owner of so vast a Treasure which is or lately was in the possession of so many Great and Potent Princes And which way he will put me into Possession of it c. If he cannot Answer these Queries as I believe he cannot I am sure he can never conveigh the Indies to me and therefor I will never trouble my Head more about them And thus I fear it will fall out in the case of an Infallible Guide to all Christians who were there such a Church or Person as they boast of at Rome that could infallibly solve all Doubts and put an end to all Controversies in Religion were richly worth both the Indies together But before I accept of the Conduct of this Guide I must desire to be satisfied in a few things in reference to him As 1. How I may be certain that there is such a Guide or Judg of Controversies For I find there is a great Controversy in the Church about it And if I can never be assured that there is such an one till he has ended all Controversies which is the great blessing the Church of Rome Promises from him 't is in vain in this Age of Controversies to enquire any farther after him But suppose it were not may I or any other Protestant determine this Controversy by the use of our own Fallible Judgments If we may then it seems a Fallible Judgment may do more sometimes than an Infallible Judg. However a Fallible Judgment is all the Judgment that we have and if by it we may be certain of an Infallible Guide which at Rome goes for a leading Article of Faith I see no Reason why we may not by the same means be certain of all the Rest and if we may
excited to amend them And this will make us more humble more sensible of our Dependence upon god and more importunate with him for a greater measure of his Spirit to preserve us from the like Miscarriages for the future This will send us to his Mercy-seat covered with shame and sorrow for the pardon of our sins And the bitterness of them will call to mind the Pleasure and satisfaction we formerly enjoyed in the sense of his Favour through the Faithful Discharge of our Duty to him And this will fire our Hearts with a holy indignation against our selves for the dishonour we have done to God and our Redeemer the waste we have made of our Inward Peace and the opportunities we have lost of doing Great and Glorious Things for our selves of establishing our Peace with God and insuring our Election to Eternal Life All which do naturally tend to provoke us to the greatest care to approve our selves to God for the time to come which is a steady and Universal Principle of true Virtue and Holiness 7. Lastly Serious and Frequent Contemplation upon the Joys and Glories of the Heavenly State will surely cast our Minds into a more Spiritual Frame Refine our Conversations and Improve our Graces 'T is true an exact Idea of Heaven is not to be attained at this distance from it But did we often consider what we have read and believe of that Glorious Place we should certainly feel our selves inspired with Nobler Thoughts and Brisker Resolutions in relation to it we should not santer up and down after earthly Vanities nor give way to every Petty Discouragement and Mean Temptation and so make our Journey more heavy and tedious than we need as if we were afraid of coming too soon to our Happiness The Glories which are above were we better acquainted with them would darken all these inferiour Beauties which captivate our Souls the smile of Pleasures the shine of Riches and the lustre of Honours Did we six our minds where true Joys and Felicities are to be found the gloss of worldly excellencies would vanish and disappear as lesser Lights lose their Brightness at the appearance of the Greater There would be little danger of Loitering in the Way or falling short of the end of our Hope if we would but keep our Eye upon those Happy Regions above and consider what Mighty Joys are there what Massie Crowns are laid up for the Lovers of God and Goodness We should be all Life and Spirit even in those very Duties which now go off so heavily with us we should cut through all Difficulties and soar above all Temptations from this lower World if the other was always in our view and our Hearts were filled with the expectation of it This would raise our Spirits and elevate our Souls till we should even touch and feel the Pleasures of the Heavenly State And indeed the only way for those that are in a languishing state of Grace to recover into a healthful and thriving temper is to strengthen their Appetite to Heavenly things by livelier apprehensions of the Glory and Reality of them By this they will quickly come to loath the Husks and Trash of this World and retrieve the strength and vigour they have lost by their eagerness after them 3. The third thing propounded was to warn you of the great Hinderances and Obstructions to your Spiritual Growth 'T is evident that Remisness in any of the former Duties will defeat the Design and Efficacy of them And therefore every Neglect and Error in the use of those Means is to be carefully avoided as an obstruction to the end of Growing better Besides which I shall briefly remind you of these three Impediments 1. False and mistaken Notions in matters of Religion Some think they were Reprobated from Eternity and therefore never were in a State of Grace and then to what purpose should they think of Growing in it Others that they cannot fall from Grace because they were absolutely Elected And the same Persons are commonly of Opinion that every degree of Grace is wrought in them by the immediate Operation of the Spirit tho they freely acknowledge the use of Means This I confess is a very Ingenuous acknowledgment because it is undoubtedly true that they ought to use Means and it is apparently against themselves when they speak against the immediate workings of the Spirit But I the rather think that their Opinions are not true because they manifestly tend to check and stifle their endeavours after Grace and Holiness tho I verily believe they have not this effect upon some very serious Persons through their Happy Ignorance of the consequences of them If we are sure that we are absolutely elected to Eternal Life Phil. 2.12 I cannot see why we should work out our Salvation as St. Paul exhorts us with fear and Trembling because there can be no Fear that an Absolute Decree should fail And then to what purpose is it to make use of means if the Operations of the Spirit do immediately produce their Effects For if they do so there would be no room left for the use of Means unless there can be an immediate Cause that works its Effect by Means i. e. that does not work it immediately And what is this but to render all the Means of Increasing Holiness in us utterly vain and ineffectual 2. Want of Vigilancy over the Faults and Weaknesses of our Natural Tempers When men first turn their Thoughts to Religion and their Eyes inwards they are deeply sensible of their more hainous and provoking sins and extreamly cautious of any Temptations to them but are seldom very watchful over the lesser Faults and Errors which are deeply rooted in their Constitutions and grow up from their Infancy with them These they are very apt to overlook and indulge as if they had a Right of Protection from them till they suffer them to shade and overtop their Graces There is no man of so clear a Disposition but he has some Flaws and Infirmities with his Excellent Temper And some Natures are so very bad that without a mighty care to manage and improve them nothing that is good will ever come to any Ripeness or Perfection in them And if it be rightly considered the want of this care is the manifest reason of the miscarriage of Men otherwise Virtuous and Good who are often transported into Great Disorders and Indecences by an unguarded Humour or unhappy disposition which they brought into the World with them and without long care and watchsulness is like to send them halting to their Graves 3. Spiritual Pride I mean Pride of Understanding in matters of Religion and an over weening conceit of more than ordinary Attainments in Holiness This alone is enough to blast the most hopeful beginnings in Virtue and Piety This is Root of every new Sect which brings forth the Bitter Fruits of Self-will Schism Error Envy and Animosity And I was going to say whatever obstructs
any Gratitude in us any Ingenious Sense of the Infinite Debt that lyes upon us will strongly engage us to make the best Returns and Acknowledgments we are able knowing that when we have done all Luk. 17.10 we are but Vnprositable Servants And then the Danger of Forfeiting the Grace of God by our Wilful Negligence and of Driving away his Grieved Spirit from us and so Clouding and Shortning our Day of Grace How should this Quicken our Diligence and Inflame our Endeavours after Grace to serve God in a more Lively and Acceptable manner with Reverence and Godly Fear But there will be an occasion of enlarging upon this Argument in the Next Particular which is this 5. The stronger we Grow in Grace the better we shall be able to hold out unto the End without which all our Pains and Diligence in Religion will be thrown away A constant Proficiency in Virtue and Goodness is the best Security against Apostacy While we go on and Persevere in Well-doing there is no Danger of our Falling away All the danger is while we are at a stand and are strongly Tempted to Return to our former Courses of Sin and Folly By pressing forward to the Mark for the prize of our high Calling we are continually getting ground for our Spiritual Enemies And the more we keep before them the less Danger we are in of being Surpriz'd and Overtaken by them A State of Sin and Perfection being the two opposite Terms of our Christian Course so far as we advance towards the latter we leave the former behind us and by Consequence are at so much the greater Distance from Apostacy So that if we would secure our Perseverance it concerns us to get as Forward in Religion as we can and not Rest in any mean Attainments as if we thought our selves at any time good enough for Heaven and were sure of our Crown so soon as ever we had begun our Race We know not what Tryals we may be Exercised with or what degrees of Fortitude and Patience we shall need to support and carry us through them But certainly 't is a great Advantage to be well Prepared before hand And it therefore becomes us to be constantly Training and Exercising our Graces and Daily Reinforcing our Resolutions to break through all the Difficulties that obstruct our passage to Glory and Happiness If we Faint in the day of Tryal we shall very hardly recover our selves And if we fall away we shall loose all the Fruit of our former Labours and our latter End will be far Worse than our beginning I know there are those that take sanctuary at the supposed Impossibility of falling from Grace I will not dispute the Truth of this Doctrine I will only remind those who are too Flush and Confident of it for surely it is too much for Man to venture his salvation upon it that tho it should be true it may do them no service And that for this plain reason that many that have taken themselves to be in a State of Grace and had the Character of Good Men amongst those that were truly so have at last yeilded to the Charms of this Tempting World and Neglecting to Work out their Salvation with Fear have Outlived all the Evidences of their Good Estate and the Fair Opinion of the most Candid and Charitable persons And for this Reason we should be extreamly Cautious of Presuming too far upon the Grace of God and Dashing against the Rocks which many that have had the Steerage of a Religious Education and seemd to set out with all Advantages for Heaven have Fatally struck upon for want of that Diligence and Circumspection which is Requisite in so weighty an affair as that of our Eternal salvation There is no doubt but that Good Men may Grieve and Resist the Holy Spirit of God And that every Degree of Resistance is a New Provocation to him to withdraw his Grace from them And that the oftener he is Repulsed the more Danger there is of his Forsaking those that withstand his blessed motitions And whether this may or may not proceed to an utter Dereliction I am sure we have all the Reason Imaginable to be Cautious of it Considering the Dreadful End of some very Hopeful Beginners Who if once they were not Really Good were Deceived in themselves Nay were so Extreamly like those that are Good that they Deceived the best Judges of Sincerity and Goodness Let him therefore that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he Fall And let us all Endeavour by a sensible and constant Improvement in Grace and Piety to Grow Stedfast and Vnmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord And then we may be assured our Labour will not be in Vain in the Lord. 6. The Difficulty in Religion will Daily lessen and the Pleasures of it Increase the farther we proceed in the Practice of it The true Reason why any of God's Commandments appear Harsh and Grievous is because we are not used to obey it For use and diligence make any thing Easy and all Excellent things Delightful And hence we find by Experience that the seldomer we do any good the unwillinger we are to come to it again And the more faintly we set about it the less satisfaction we have in the performance of it But now let us but inure our selves to any part of our Duty and take care to do it but as well as we can and we shall quickly perceive that we are pleased with what we have done and that it is indeed but the same thing to Please God and our selves A Good Man is never Weary of Doing Good And it were strange if he should for it is the Nature of Goodness to give satisfaction to all that deal in it which I doubt not is the meaning of that saying of the Wise-Man A Good Man shall be satisfied from himself When he Prays Pro. 14.14 or Meditates on Heavenly things with due Attention and Devotion he is as it were in Heaven the while And never Enjoy's himself more than when he does any thing well which God requires of him He that is hardly persuaded to an Act of Charity and at last does it but with half a Consent is fain to struggle with himself before he proceeds so far and so loses all the Pleasantness of it Whereas he that gives freely and chearfully has no trouble in himself about it but is highly pleased with what he has done and finds it a more blessed thing to Give than to Receive And thus could I run through all the parts of Christian Practice I should not doubt to gain this Conclusion that every thing in Religion would be Easie and Pleasant if it were but done as it it should be And consequently the more we improve and the better we discharge our Duty the faster we overcome the Difficulties of a holy Life and make our progress the more easie and delightful to the End This is no Romantick Fancy
Live it all and apply it to the uses of a Blessed Eternity 6. Lastly This should admonish those that in a Course of Nature are drawing near a Conclusion of their Lives and have been long entangled in the Affairs and Business of this World to hasten their Preparation for a Better Such Persons need not be taught that having lived fifty or threescore Years already their Lives are shorter than they were by so many Years and therefore in Reason they cannot think to live many more and then it is to be Hoped the little Time that is left is not too much for Heaven If we think it is I cannot imagine with what confidence we can entertain any Hopes of going thither And if we think not why do we not follow our own Convictions strike off immediately from this World and gain all the Time and advantage that we can to Purify our selves from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit to Adorn and Beautify our Souls with Divine Virtues and Graces and qualify them for the bblest Society of God and the glorious Spirits that are about his Throne We have lived to little purpose if all this while we are not sensible of the Vanity and Fallacy of this World and must have very mean apprehensions of Celestial Bliss and Happiness if we can but so much as desire to live always here However it do's not lie at our choice We may choose whether we will be Happy or Miserable in the other World but thither we must go and one of the two we must certainly be And since we are so far upon our Way it highly concerns us if we make Heaven our Option and it is strange if we should not to be very quick and serious in our Preparations for it They that have lost all or the best part of their Time have none to lose now unless they will lose all Eternity with it And for those that have met with great interruptions in their Christian Course having been hurried up and down by the Affaris and Business of this World it behoves them to get out of the Noise and Bustle of it so soon as ever they can and to redeem the precious Hours and Opportunities they have lost of serving God and laying up their Treasures in Heaven tho' they should Dye some hundreds the poorer for it For surely the next Life is of far greater concernment than this and therefore it becomes the best Men when they have had their share of the Trouble and Business of this World and have enough to carry them through it to retire as fast as they can not merily to enjoy their Ease but as the Apostle speaks in another Case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 7.35 that in a Fitting and Decent manner they may attend upon the Service of God and mind the Work and Business of the next World without distraction 'T is very unseemly to see Men that have more than enough for this and pretend to live upon the Faith and Hope of another World pursuing Riches and Honours to the very brink of the Grave and Gasping after Preferments almost with their Dying Breath Men that Traffick in a Forreign-Land have generally the Wisdom to withdraw their Effects when they are leaving the Country and returning to their Native Soil And 't is said of the Holy Men mention'd that they declared plainly Heb. 11. v. 15 16. that they sought an Heavenly Country Not by a mere verbal Profession but by doing such things as more plainly signified the reality of their concernment for it viz. By refusing the Grandeurs of the Earth and despising the little Pageantries of this World And what less can we do to testify the sincerity of our Christian Profession who renounce the World in our Baptism than freely to take our leave of it so short a time before we go to our Graves In short 't is high time when we are upon the confines of the other State and can see Eternal Life Just before us to Disengage our selves from the Distractions of this busy World and to gain leisure before we Dye to compose our Spirits to perfect our Repentance and to fetch off the Soil and Defilement we have contracted in the hurry of our Wordly Occasions or by keeping too much upon the common Roads Men especially that have run through a World of Business must have borrowed much Time from the Hours of Prayer and other Religious Duties and should therefore make some kind of Restitution by giving their last Days to the peculiar Service of God and not venture to go reeking out of this World with a steam of Earthly Affections about them into his immediate Prefence To conclude since the Time of our Dissolution is at Hand What manner of Persons ought we to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the Day of Christ the Glorious Day of our Redemption from Death and Triumphing over all the Enemies of our Eternal Salvation Let us therefore bid adieu to all the flashly Delights and Impertinent Cares of this Transitory World Let us lay aside every Weight that besets us and fix our Conversation in Heaven Let us raise our Spirits and lift up our Heads with Joy in Expectation of the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile Body and make it like unto glorious Body by His Mighty Power which is able to subdue all Things unto himself To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be Ascribed all Honour and Glory Dominion and Power both now and ever Amen THE END