CONTENTS TO VOL. V.

SERMONS.

SERMON LXXXV.

THE SIN AND DANGER OF ADDING TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE GOSPEL.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed.—Gal. i. 8, 9.

BEFORE I come to handle the words, for the better understanding of them, I shall give a brief account of the occasion of them, which was this:—some false apostles had made a great disturbance in the churches planted by the apostles of Christ, by teaching that it was necessary for Christians, not only to embrace and entertain the doctrines and precepts of the Christian religion, but likewise to he circumcised, and keep the law of Moses. Of this disturbance, which was raised in the Christian church, yon have the history at large, Acts xv. and as in several other churches, so particularly in that of Galatia, these false apostles and seducers had perverted many, as appears by this Epistle; in the beginning whereof St. Paul complains, that those who were seduced into this error, of the necessity of circumcision, and keeping the law of Moses, had, by this new article of faith, which they had added to the Christian religion, quite altered the frame of it, and made the gospel another thing from that which our Saviour delivered, and commanded his apostles to teach all nations.

For he tells us (ver. 6. of this chapter), that he “marvelled, that they were so soon removed from him that called them by (or through) the grace of Christ, unto another gospel,” that is so different from that which they had been instructed in by those who first preached the gospel unto them: for the making of any thing necessary to salvation, which our Saviour in his gospel had not made so, he calls another gospel. “I marvel, that ye are so soon removed from him that called you by the grace of Christ, unto another gospel; which is not another,” ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, which is no other thing, or by which I mean nothing else, “but that there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ;” as if he had said, When I say that ye are removed to another gospel, I do not mean that ye have renounced Christianity, and are gone over to another religion; but that ye are seduced by those who have a mind to pervert the gospel of Christ, by adding something to it, as a necessary and essential part of it, which Christ hath not made so: this the apostle calls a perverting or overthrowing of the gospel; because, by thus altering the terms and conditions of it, they made it quite another thing from what our Saviour delivered it.

And then at the eighth and ninth verses he denounceth a terrible anathema against those, whoever they should be, yea, though it were an apostle, or an angel from heaven, who by thus “perverting the gospel of Christ” (that is, by making any thing necessary to be believed or practised, which our Saviour in his gospel hath not made so), should in effect “preach another gospel;” “but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema,” an accursed thing. And then, to express his confidence and vehemency in this matter, and to shew that he did not speak this rashly and in a heat, but upon due consideration, he repeats it again in the next verse, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

From the words thus explained by the consideration of the context, and of the main scope and design of this Epistle, these following observations do naturally arise:

First, That the addition of any thing to the Christian religion, as necessary to be believed and practised in order to salvation, is a perverting the gospel of Christ, and preaching another gospel.

Secondly, That no pretence of infallibility is sufficient to authorize and warrant the addition of any thing to the Christian doctrine, as necessary to be believed and practised in order to salvation.

Thirdly, That Christians may judge and discern when such additions are made.

Fourthly, and consequently, That since the declaration of the gospel, and the confirmation of it, there is no authority in the Christian church to impose upon Christians any thing as of necessity to salvation, which the gospel hath not made so.

SERMON LXXXVII.

HONESTY THE BEST PRESERVATIVE AGAINST DANGEROUS MISTAKES IN RELIGION.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.—John vii. 17.

I MADE entrance into these words the last day; in which our Saviour declares to us, that an honest and sincere mind, and a hearty desire and endeavour to do the will of God, is the best security and preservative against dangerous errors and mistakes in matters of religion; ἐάν τις θέλῃ ποιεῖν, “If any man desire to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

Now there are (I told you) two great mistakes in religion: to reject any thing which really is from God; and to receive and entertain any thing as from God, which is not really from him. And therefore, I proposed, from this text, to shew how a sincere desire and endeavour to do the will of God, is a security to men against both these dangers; namely, upon these two accounts.

First, Because he, who sincerely desires and endeavours to do the will of God, is hereby better qualified and disposed to make a right judgment of spiritual and Divine things; and that for these two reasons.

I. Because such a person hath a truer notion of God and Divine things. He that resembleth God most is like to understand him best, because he finds those perfections, in some measure, in himself, which he contemplates in the Divine nature; and nothing gives a man so sure a notion of things as practice and experience.

II. Because such a person is more impartial in his search and inquiry after truth, and, therefore, more likely to find it, and to discern it from error. That man only stands fair for the entertainment of truth, who is under the power and dominion of no vice or lust, because he hath nothing to corrupt or bribe him, to seduce him and draw him aside in his inquiry after truth: he hath no manner of concernment that the contrary proposition should be true, having the indifferency of a traveller, and no other interest but to find out the right way to heaven, and to walk in it. But if a man be biassed by any lust, and addicted to any vicious practice, he is then an interested person, and concerned to make a partial judgment of things, and is under a great temptation to infidelity when the truths of God are proposed to him; because, whatever the evidence for them be, he cannot but be unwilling to own the truth of those doctrines which are so contrary to his inclination and interest.

Secondly, Another reason why they, who sincerely desire to do the will of God, have a greater security in discerning truth from error, is, because the providence of God is more especially concerned to preserve such persons from dangerous errors and mistakes, in things which concern their eternal salvation. When men are of a teachable temper, of a humble and obedient frame of mind, God loves to reveal himself and his truth to them; (Psal. xxv. 9.) “The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.” The proper disposition of a scholar is to be willing to learn; and that which in religion we are to learn, is, “what is the good and acceptable will of God, that we may do it;” for practice is the end of knowledge: “If ye know these things (saith our Saviour) happy are ye if ye do them.” It is necessary to know the will of God, but we are only happy in the doing of it; and if any man be desirous to do the will of God, his goodness is such that he will take effectual care to secure such an one against dangerous and fatal errors. He that hath an honest mind, and would do the will of God if he knew it, God will not suffer him to remain ignorant of it, or to be mistaken about it in any necessary point of faith or practice. Thus far I have gone.

I shall now proceed to remove an objection, to which this discourse may seem liable, and then draw some inferences from the whole.

After all that hath been said, some, perhaps, may ask, Is every good man secure from all error and mistake in matters of religion? This is a mighty privilege indeed: but do not we find the contrary in experience? that an honest heart and a weak head do often meet together?

For answer to this, I shall lay down these following propositions:

First, That if there were any necessity that a good man should be secured from all manner of error and mistake in religion, this probity of mind, and sincere desire to do the will of God, is the best way to do it; because such a temper and disposition of mind gives a man the best advantages to discern betwixt truth and error, and God is most likely to reveal his will to such persons. But there is no necessity of this, because a man may be a good man, and go to heaven, notwithstanding a great many mistakes in religion about things not necessary. For while we are in this imperfect state, “we know but in part,” and see many things very imperfectly: but when we shall come into a more perfect state, “that which is imperfect shall be done away;” the light of glory shall scatter all those mists and clouds which are now upon our understandings, and hinder us from a clear sight and judgment of things: we shall then see God, and other things, as they are; and be freed from all that ignorance, and those many childish mistakes, which we are liable to here below; and till then, it is not necessary that we should be secured from them. Humility, under a sense of our ignorance, is better for us than infallibility would be.

Secondly, This temper and disposition of mind which I have been speaking of, is a certain security against fatal mistakes in religion, and a final continuance in such errors as would prove damnable; and this is all that this discourse pretends to, or our Saviour hath promised in this text. And considering the goodness of God, nothing is more improbable, than that an honest mind that seeks impartially after truth should miss of it, in things that are fundamentally necessary to salvation. And if we could suppose such a man to fall into such an error, either it would not be fundamental to him, having not been, perhaps, proposed to him with sufficient evidence, and would be forgiven him upon a general repentance for all sins and errors known or unknown, or he would not be permitted to continue in it; but the providence of God would find out some way or other to convince him of his error, and to bring him to the acknowledgment of the truth, that he might be saved. God would rather speak to him immediately from heaven (as he did to St. Paul), than suffer him to continue in such an error as would infallibly carry him to hell.

Thirdly, There is no such depth of judgment and subtilty of wit required, to discern between gross and damnable errors in religion, and necessary and saving truth, but that an ordinary capacity may be able to do it. There is so plain a line drawn between great truth and gross errors, that it is visible to every capacity; and an ordinary understanding, that is not under a violent prejudice, or blinded by some vice or fault of the will, may easily discern it. Indeed, in matters of lesser moment or concernment, and which have no such considerable and immediate influence upon the practice of a holy life, the difference betwixt truth and error is not always so gross and sensible as to be obvious to every unprejudiced eye. But we have all the reason in the world to believe, that the goodness and justice of God is such, as to make nothing necessary to be believed by any man, which, by the help of due instruction, may not be made sufficiently plain to a common understanding. God hath so tender a care of good men, who sincerely love him and his truth, that we may reasonably presume, that he will not leave them under an unavoidable mistake concerning those matters upon which their eternal salvation does depend. The Judge of all the world will do right; and then we may certainly conclude, that he will not condemn any man for no fault, and make him for ever miserable, for falling into an error, which, with all his care and diligence, he could not possibly either discern or avoid.

Fourthly, God hath made abundant provision for our security from fatal and dangerous errors in religion, by these three ways:

I. By an infallible rule, sufficiently plain in all things necessary.

II. By sufficient means of instruction to help us to understand this rule.

III. By an infallible promise of security from dangerous errors and mistakes, if, with an honest mind and due diligence, we apply ourselves to understand this rule, and make use of the means of instruction which God hath provided for that purpose.

I. God hath given us an infallible rule, sufficiently plain in all things necessary. He hath given ns the Holy Scriptures, which were given at first by Divine inspiration; i. e. by men infallibly assisted in the writing of them, and therefore must needs be an infallible rule; and all Scripture divinely inspired, “is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” as St. Paul tells us, 2 Tim. iii. 16. speaking there of the books of the Old Testament; and there is the same reason as to the inspired writings of the New.

Now, if the Scriptures be an infallible rule, and “profitable for doctrine and instruction in righteousness;” i. e. to teach us to believe and do; it follows of necessity that they are sufficiently plain in all things necessary to faith and a good life, other wise they could not be useful “for doctrine and instruction in righteousness;” for a rule that is not plain to us in these things, in which it is necessary for us to be directed by it, is of no use to us; that is, in truth, it is no rule. For a rule must have these two properties; it must be perfect, and it must be plain. The Scriptures are a perfect rule, because the writers of them, being Divinely inspired, were infallible. And they must likewise be plain; other wise, though they be never so perfect, they can be of no more use to direct our faith and practice, than a sun-dial in a dark room is to tell us the hour of the day; for though it be never so exactly made, unless the sun shine clearly upon it, we had as good be without it. A rule that is not plain to us, what ever it may be in itself, is of no use at all to us, till it be made plain and we understand it.

II. God hath likewise provided sufficient means of instruction to help us to understand this rule. It is not necessary that a rule should be so plain that we should perfectly understand it at first sight; it is sufficient, if it be so plain that those of better capacity and understanding may, with due diligence and application of mind, come to the true knowledge of it, and those of a lower and more ordinary capacity by the help and instruction of a teacher. Euclid’s “Elements” is a book sufficiently plain to teach a man geometry; but yet not so plain that any man at first reading should understand it perfectly; but that, by diligent reading, by a due application, and steady attention of mind, a man of extraordinary sagacity and understanding may come to understand the principles and demonstrations of it; and those of a more ordinary capacity, with the help of a teacher, may come to the knowledge of it. So, when we say that the Scriptures are plain, in all things necessary to faith and a good life, we do not mean that every man, at first hearing or reading of these things in it, shall perfectly understand them; but, by diligent reading and consideration, if he be of good apprehension and capacity, he may come to a sufficient knowledge of them; and if he be of a meaner capacity, and he willing to learn, he may, by the help of a teacher, be brought to under hand them without any great pains; and such teachers God hath appointed in his church for this very purpose, and a succession of them to continue to the end of the world.

In a word, when we say the Scriptures are plain to all capacities, in all things necessary, we mean, that any man of ordinary capacity, by his own diligence and care, in conjunction with the helps and advantages which God hath appointed, and in the due use of them, may attain to the knowledge of every thing necessary to his salvation; and that there is no book in the world more plain, and better fitted to teach a man any art or science, than the Bible is, to direct and instruct men in the way to heaven; and it is every man’s fault if he be ignorant of any thing necessary for him to believe, or do, in order to his eternal happiness.

III. Good men are likewise secured from fatal errors in religion, by the infallible promise of God, if so be that, with honest minds and due diligence, they apply themselves to the understanding of this rule, and make use of the means of instruction which God hath provided for that purpose. God hath promised to guide and “teach the humble and meek;” that is, such as are of a submissive and teachable temper, desirous and diligent to be instructed in the truth. (Prov. ii. 2, 3, 4, 5.) “If thou incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” And here, in the text, our Saviour assures us, that if any man be desirous to do his will, “he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether he spake of himself;” i. e. he shall be able to discern the doctrines which are from God.

This is the provision which God hath made for our security from fatal mistakes in religion; and this is, in all respects, a better security, and more likely to guide and conduct us safely to heaven, than any infallible church; and that for these reasons.

First, Because it is much more certain that God hath made this provision which I have mentioned, than that there is an infallible church appointed and assisted by him to this purpose. That the Scriptures are an infallible and adequate rule, and sufficiently plain in all things necessary, I have already proved; and I add further, that this was the constant judgment of the ancient church, and so declared by the unanimous consent of the fathers of it for many ages; and that all councils, in their determinations of faith, proceeded upon this rule, till the second council of Nice.

I have likewise proved, that God hath provided a succession of pastors and teachers in his church, to instruct us in this rule; and that we have God’s infallible promise for our security from dangerous errors and mistakes, if, with an honest mind and due diligence, we apply ourselves to understand this rule, and make use of the means of instruction which God hath provided for that purpose.

But that there is an infallible church, appointed and assisted by God, to declare and determine matters of faith, and to be an infallible interpreter of Scripture, is not certain; because there is no clear and express text of Scripture to that purpose, that any church whatsoever, much less that the church of Rome, hath this power and privilege.

Nay, I add further, that it is impossible, according to the principles of the church of Rome, that this should be proved from Scripture; because, according to their principles, we cannot know either which are the true books of Scripture, or what is the true sense of Scripture, but from the authority and infallible declaration of that church. And if so, then the infallibility of the church must be first known and proved, before we can either know the Scriptures or the sense of them; and yet till we know the Scriptures, and the sense of them, nothing can be proved by them. Now, to pretend to prove the infallibility of their church by Scripture, and at the same time to declare, that which are the true books of Scripture, and what is the true sense of them, can only be proved by the infallible authority of their church, is a plain and shameful circle, out of which there is no way of escape; and, consequently, that God hath appointed an infallible church is impossible, according to their principles, ever to be proved from Scripture, and the thing is capable of no other proof. For that God will infallibly assist any society of men, is not to be known, but by Divine revelation. So that, unless they can prove it by some other revelation than that of Scripture (which they do not pretend to), the thing is not to be proved at all. Yes, they say, by the notes and marks of the true church; but what those marks are must either be known from Scripture, or some other Divine revelation, and then the same difficulty returns: besides that, one of the most essential marks of the true church must be the profession of the true faith; and then it must first he known which is the true faith, before we can know which is the true church; and yet they say, that no man can learn the true faith but from the true church; and this runs them unavoidably into another circle as shameful as the other. So that which way soever they go to prove an infallible church, they are shut up in a plain circle, and must either prove the Scriptures by the church, and the church by the Scriptures; or the true church by the true faith, and the true faith by the true church.

Secondly, This provision and security which I have mentioned is more human, better accommodated and suited to the nature of man; because k doth not suppose and need a standing and perpetual miracle, as the other way of an infallible church doth. All inspiration is supernatural and miraculous; and this infallible assistance which the church of Rome claims to herself, must either be such as the apostles had, which was by immediate inspiration, or something equal to it, and alike supernatural: but God does not work miracles without need, or continue them when there is no occasion for them. When God delivered the law to the people of Israel, it was accompanied with miracles, and the prophets, which he sent to them from time to time, had an immediate inspiration; but their supreme judicature, or their general council, which they call the Sanhedrin, was not infallibly assisted in the expounding of the law, when doubts and difficulties arose about it; no, nor in judging of true and false prophets; but they determined this, and all other emergent cases, by the standing revelation and rule of their written law; and that they were not infallibly assisted, is evident from the great errors they fell into, in “making void the commandments of God by their tradition,” and in their rejecting and crucifying the true Messias and the Son of God.

In like manner the apostles and first teachers of the Christian religion were immediately inspired and assisted in the publishing of the Christian doctrine, and for the speedy and more effectual propagating and planting of it in the world, in despite of the violent prejudices that were against it, and the fierce opposition that was made to it. But when this was done, this miraculous and extraordinary assistance ceased, and God left the Christian religion to be preserved and continued by more human and ordinary ways; the doctrines of it being committed to writing, for a standing rule of faith and practice in all ages, and an order of men appointed to instruct people in those doctrines, with a promise to secure both teachers and people, that sincerely desire to know and do the will of God, from all fatal errors and mistakes about things necessary to their eternal salvation; and this is a provision more likely to be made by God, and better suited to the nature of man, than the perpetual and needless miracle of an inspired, or any otherwise infallible church.

Thirdly, This way is likewise more agreeable to the nature of religion and the virtue of faith. The design of an infallible church is to secure all that continue in the communion of it, against all possibility of error in matters of faith. The question now is not, whether an infallible church would do this? but whether that church which arrogates infallibility to itself does not pretend to do this? And if they could do it, it would not be agreeable to the nature of religion and the virtue of faith. For faith, which is the principle of all religious actions, would be no virtue, if it were necessary. A true and right belief can be no virtue, where a man is infallibly secured against error. There is the same reason of virtuous and criminal actions; and as there can be no crime or fault in doing what a man cannot help, so neither can there be any virtue. All virtuous actions are matter of praise and commendation; and therefore it can be no virtue in any man, because it deserves no commendation, to believe and own that the sun shines at noon-day when he sees it does so. No more would it be a virtue in any man, and deserve praise, to believe aright, who is in a church wherein he is infallibly secured against all errors in matters of faith. Make any thing necessary, and impossible to be otherwise, and the doing of it ceases to be a virtue. God hath so framed religion, that the evidence of truth, and the means of coining to the knowledge of it, as to be a sufficient security to men of honest minds and teachable tempers against all fatal and final mistakes concerning things necessary to salvation; but not so, that every man that is of such a church should be infallibly secured against all errors in matters of faith; and this on purpose to try the virtue and disposition of men, whether they will be at the pains to search for truth, and when it is proposed to them with sufficient evidence, though not by an infallible hand, they will receive it in the love of it, that they may be saved.

Fourthly, This is as much security against errors in matters of faith, as God hath provided against sin and vice in matters of practice; and, since a right belief is only in order to a good life, a man would be hard put to it, to give a wise reason why God should take greater care for the infallible security of men’s faith than of their obedience. The reason pretended why God should make such infallible provision for a right faith, is, for the better security of men’s eternal salvation and happiness. Now the virtues of a good life have a more direct and immediate influence upon that than the most orthodox belief. The end of the commandment (i. e. of the declaration of the gospel) is charity. In the Christian religion, that which mainly avails to our justification and salvation is, “a faith that worketh by charity,” and the keeping of the commandments of God. “He that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them (saith our blessed Lord), I will liken him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock;” and again, “not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, (i. e. makes profession of faith in me) shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven;” and again, “if ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them.” And the apostle St. Peter exhorts Christians to “add to their faith knowledge, and virtue, and godliness, and brotherly kindness, and charity, that so an abundant entrance may be ministered to them, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” So that the virtues of a good life have the greatest influence upon our salvation, and the main stress of Christianity is to be laid there. And, therefore, whatever reason can be as signed why God should provide for the infallible security of our faith, is much stronger why an equal provision should be made to secure holiness and obedience of life; because, without this, faith cannot infallibly attain its end, which is the salvation of our souls. But this, it is granted, God hath not done, and experience shews it; and therefore it is unreasonable to suppose that he hath done the other. It is sufficient that, in both kinds, he hath done that which is sufficient to make us capable of happiness, if we be not wanting to ourselves; the rest he hath left to the sincerity of our endeavours; expecting we, on our part, “should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and give all diligence to make our calling and election sure.” And if God hath made such provision by the gospel for all that enjoy the light and advantage of it, that none can miscarry without their own fault, then both his goodness and wisdom are sufficiently acquitted, without an infallible guide and judge in matters of faith; and that irreverent way of arguing in the canon law might well have been spared—that of necessity there must be an infallible judge of controversies in religion; aliter dominus non videretur fuisse discretus, “otherwise God would not seem to have ordered matters discreetly,”

But what infallible security soever they have, in the church of Rome, as to matters of faith, they are certainly the worst provided, of wholesome and safe directions for the consciences and lives of men, of any church in the world. No religion, that I know of in the world, ever had such lewd and scandalous casuists. Witness the moral divinity of the Jesuits, which hath been so exposed to the world, not only by those of our religion, but by their own writers also. Nor is this mischief only confined to that order; their casuists in general, and even the more ancient of them, who writ before the order of Jesuits appeared in the world, have given such a liberty and loose to great immorality in several kinds, as is infinitely to the reproach of the best and purest religion in the world. Insomuch that Sir Thomas More himself, who was a great zealot for that religion, could not forbear to make a loud complaint of it, and to pass this severe censure upon the generality of their casuists: “That their great business seemed to be, not to keep men from sin, but to teach them quam prope ad peccatum liceat accedere sine peccato: how near to sin they might lawfully come without sinning.” In the mean time the consciences of men are not like to be well directed, when, instead of giving men plain rules for government of their hearts and lives, and clear resolutions of the material doubts which frequently occur in human life, they entangle them in niceties and endless scrupulosities, teaching them to split hairs in divinity, and how, with great art and cunning, they may avoid the committing of any sin, and yet come as near to it as possible. This is a thing of a most dangerous consequence to the souls of men; and if men be but once encouraged to pass to the utmost bounds of what is lawful, the next step will be into that which is unlawful.

So that unless faith without works will save men, notwithstanding the infallible security which they pretend to give men of a sound and right belief (if it were really as much as they talk of), the salvation of men would still be in great hazard and uncertainty, for want of better and safer directions for a good life, than are ordinarily to be met with in the casuistical writings of that church; especially if we consider that the Scriptures are locked up from the people in an unknown tongue, where the surest and plainest directions for a good life are most plentifully to be had; insomuch, that a man had better want all the volumes of casuistical dignity, that ever were written in the world, than to be without the Bible; by the diligent studying of which book alone, he may sooner learn the way to heaven than by all the books in the world without it.

Fifthly and lastly, This provision which God hath made, is, when all is done, as good a security against fatal errors and mistakes in religion, as an infallible church could give, if there were one; and it is as good a way to prevent and put an end to controversies in religion, so far as it is necessary that they should be prevented, and have an end put to them. And these are the two great reasons why an infallible judge is so importunately demanded and insisted upon. I shall speak to these distinctly and severally; but, because they will require a longer discourse than the time will allow, I shall not enter upon them at present, but refer them to another opportunity.

SERMON LXXXVIII.

HONESTY THE BEST PRESERVATIVE AGAINST DANGEROUS MISTAKES IN RELIG1ON.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.—John vii. 17.

WHEN I made entrance into these words, I proposed from this text:—

First, To shew that an honest and sincere mind, and a hearty desire and endeavour to do the will of God, is the greatest security and best preservative against dangerous errors and mistakes in matters of religion.

In the next place, I proceeded to remove an objection to which my discourse upon this subject might seem liable. Some, perhaps, might ask, Is every good man then secure from all error and mistake in matters of religion? This is a mighty privilege indeed. But do we not find the contrary in experience, that an honest heart and a weak head do often meet together? For answer to this, I laid down several propositions.

By the last of which I shewed, that God hath made abundant provision for our security from fatal and dangerous errors in religion, both by the infallible rule of the Holy Scripture, and by sufficient means of instruction to help us to understand this rule, and by his infallible promise of assisting us, if, with honest minds and a due diligence, we apply ourselves to the understanding of this rule, and the use of these means. And this, I told you, was in all respects a better security, and more likely to conduct us safe to heaven, than any infallible church whatsoever; and that for five reasons, four of which I have already treated of, and now proceed to the fifth, and last, viz.

Because this provision which I have shewn God hath made, is both as good a security against fatal errors and mistakes in religion, as an infallible church could give, if there were one: and it is likewise as good a way to prevent and put an end to controversies in religion, so far as it is necessary they should be prevented, or have an end put to them. And these are the two great reasons why an infallible judge is so importunately demanded and insisted upon. I shall speak to these two points distinctly and severally.

First, Because this is as good a security against fatal errors and mistakes in religion, as an infallible church could give, if there were one. For an infallible church, if there were such an one upon earth, could not infallibly secure particular Christians against errors in faith any other way than by the definition and declaration of those who are infallible in that church. And there are but three that pretend to it: either the pope, or a general council, or the pope and a general council agreeing in the same definitions. Not the pope by himself, nor the general council without the pope; because the church, which pretends to infallibility, is not agreed that either of these alone is infallible, and therefore their definitions can be no certain, much less infallible, foundation of faith; no, not to that church which pretends to infallibility. So that, if there be an infallible oracle in that church, it must be the pope and council in conjunction, or the definition of a council confirmed by the pope. Now in that case, either the council was infallible in its definitions, before they had the pope’s confirmation, or not. If the council was infallible in its definitions, before they had the pope’s confirmation, then the council alone, and of itself, was infallible (which a great part of the church of Rome deny), and then it needed not the pope’s confirmation to make it infallible: or else a general council is not infallible in its definitions before they receive the pope’s confirmation, and then the pope’s confirmation cannot make it so; for that, which was not infallibly defined by the council, cannot be made infallible by the pope’s confirmation.

But there is another difficulty yet: it is a maxim generally received, and that even in the Roman church, “That the definitions of a general council, confirmed by the pope, are not obligatory, unless they be received by the universal church;” from whence these two great inconveniences will unavoidably follow:—

I. That no man is obliged to believe such definitions, till he certainly know that they are received by the universal church; which how he should certainly, much less infallibly, know, I cannot understand; unless he either speak with all the Christians in the world, or the representatives of all particular churches return back and meet again in council, to declare, that the universal church hath received their definitions; which, I think, was never yet done.

II. It will follow, that the definitions of a general council, confirmed by the pope, are not infallible till they be received by the universal church; for if they were infallible without that, they would be obligatory without it; because an infallible definition, if we know it to be so, lays an obligation to believe it, whether it be received by the universal church or not. And if such definitions are not infallible till they be received by the universal church, they cannot become infallible afterwards; because, if the definitions were not infallible before, they cannot be received as such by the universal church, nor, by the mere reception of them, be made to be infallible definitions, if they were not so before.

But if we should pass, over all these difficulties, there is a greater yet behind, and that is, supposing the definitions of general councils confirmed by the pope to be infallible, particular Christians cannot be secured infallibly from error without the knowledge of those definitions. And there are but two ways imaginable of conveying this knowledge to them: either by the living voice of their particular pastors, whom they are implicitly to believe in these matters; but particular pastors are fallible (as they themselves grant), and therefore their words can neither be an infallible foundation of faith, nor an infallible means of conveying it; and it is unreason able, they say, for men that own themselves to be fallible, to require an implicit belief to be given to them; or else the knowledge of the definitions of councils must be conveyed to particular Christians by writing; and if so, then there will only be an infallible rule, but no living infallible judge. And if an infallible rule will serve the turn, we have the Scriptures, which we are sure are infallible, and therefore at least as good as any other rule. But they say that the definitions of councils give us an infallible interpretation of Scripture, and therefore are of greater advantage to us. But do not the definitions of councils sometimes also need explication, that we may know the certain sense of them, with out which we cannot know the doctrines defined? Yes, certainly, they need explication as much as Scripture, if there be any difference about the meaning of them; and there have been, and still are, great differences among those of their own church about the meaning of them. And if the explications of general councils need themselves to be explained, then there is nothing got by them, and we are but where we were before: for differences about the meaning of the definitions of general councils, make as great difficulties and uncertainties in faith as the differences about the meaning of Scripture:

Well, but the people have the living voice of their particular pastors to explain the definitions of councils to them. But this does not help the matter neither; for these two reasons.

1. Because particular pastors have no authority to explain the definitions of general councils. The council of Trent hath, by express decree, reserved to the pope, and to him only, the power to explain the definitions of the council, if any difference arise about the meaning of them. So that, if there be any difference about the true sense and meaning of any of the definitions of the council, particular pastors have no authority to explain them; and where there is no doubt or difference about the meaning of them, there is no occasion for the explication of them.

2. But suppose they had authority to explain them, this can be no infallible security to the people, that they explain them right; both because particular pastors are fallible; and likewise, because we see, in experience, that they differ in their explications; witness the bishop of Condom’s exposition of the catholic faith, and of the definitions of the council of Trent, which is, in many material points, very different from that of Bellarmine, and many other famous doctors of that church. And, which is more, witness the many differences betwixt Ambrosius, Catharinus, and Dominicus à Soto, about the definitions of that council, in which they were both present and heard the debates, and themselves bore a great part in them. Now if they, who were present at the framing of the definitions of that council, cannot agree about the meaning of them, much less can it be expected from those that were absent.

Secondly, This provision which I have mentioned, is likewise as good a way to prevent and put an end to controversies in religion, so far as it is necessary they should be prevented, or have an end put to them, as any infallible church would be, if there were one: and this is another reason why an infallible church is so much insisted upon, that there may be some way and means for a final decision of controversies, which the Scriptures cannot be, because they are only a dead rule, which can end no controversy without a living judge ready at hand, to interpret and apply that rule upon emergent occasions.

It is not necessary that all controversies in religion should either be prevented or decided: this the church, which pretends to be infallible, cannot pretend to have done; because there are manifold controversies, even in the church of Rome herself, concerning matters of religion, which still remain undecided; and, in their commentaries upon Scripture, many differences about the sense of several texts concerning which she hath not thought fit to give an infallible interpretation. And where their popes, and several of their general councils, have thought fit to meddle with Scripture, they have applied and interpreted texts more improperly and absurdly than even their private doctors. And which is more, in differences about points of faith, which are pretended on both sides to be fundamental, this church hath not thought fit to put an end to them by her infallible decision, after two hundred years brandling about them. For instance, in that fierce and long difference about the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin, which, on both sides, is pretended to be an article of faith, and for which contrary revelations of their canonized saints are so frequently pretended; and yet neither pope, nor general council, have thought fit to exert their infallibility for the decision of this controversy. So that if their church had this talent of infallibility ever committed to them, they have with the slothful servant laid it up in a napkin; and, according to our Saviour’s rule, have long since forfeited it, for not making use of it.

And whereas it is pretended that the Scripture is but a dead rule, which can end no controversies without a living judge ready at hand, to interpret and apply that rule upon emergent occasions; the same objection lies against them, unless a general council, which is their living judge, were always sit ting. For the definitions of their councils in writing are liable to the same and greater objections, than the written rule of the Scriptures.

The sum of all is this. In differences about lesser matters, mutual charity and forbearance will secure the peace of the church, though the differences remain undecided; and in greater matters, an infallible rule searched into with an honest mind and due diligence, and with the help of good instruction, is more likely to extinguish and put an end to such differences than any infallible judge, if there were one; because a humble and honest mind is more likely to yield to reason, than a perverse and cavilling temper is to submit to the sentence of an infallible judge, unless it were backed with an inquisition. The church of Rome supposeth herself infallible, and yet, notwithstanding that, she finds that some question and deny her infallibility, and then her sentence signifies nothing. And of those who own it, many dispute the sense and meaning of her sentence; and whether they deny the infallibility of her sentence, or dispute the sense of it, in neither of these cases will it prove effectual to the deciding of any difference.

But after all this provision which we pretend God hath made for honest and sincere minds, do we not see that men fall into dangerous and damnable errors, who yet cannot, without great uncharitableness, be supposed not to be sincerely desirous to know the truth, and to do the will of God?

To this I shall briefly return these two things.

I. That the same errors are not equally damnable to all. The innocent and (humanly speaking) almost invincible prejudices of education in some persons even against a fundamental truth; the different capacities of men, and the different means of conviction afforded to them; the greater and lesser degrees of obstinacy, and a faulty will in opposing the truths proposed to them; all these, and perhaps several other considerations besides, may make a great difference in the guilt of men’s errors, and the danger of them.

II. When all is done the matter must be left to God, who only knoweth the hearts of all the children of men. We cannot see into the hearts of men, nor know all their circumstances, and how they may have provoked God to forsake them, and give them up to error and delusion, “because they would not receive the truth in the love of it, that they might be saved.” And as, on the one hand, God will consider all men’s circumstances, and the disadvantages they were under for coming to the knowledge of the truth, and make allowance to men for their invincible errors, and forgive them upon a general repentance: so, on the other hand, he who sees the insincerity of men, and that the errors of their understandings did proceed from gross faults of their lives, will deal with them accordingly. But if men be honest and sincere, God, who hath said “if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine,” will certainly be as good as his word.

It now remains only to draw some inferences from this discourse, and they shall be these three:

First, From this text, and what hath been discoursed upon it, we may infer how slender and ill-grounded the pretence of the church of Rome to infallibility is; whether they place it in the pope, or in a general council, or in both. The last is the most general opinion; and yet it is hard to understand how infallibility can result from the pope’s confirmation of a general council, when neither the council was infallible in framing its definitions, nor the pope in confirming them. If the council were infallible in framing them, then they needed no confirmation: if they were not, then infallibility is only in the pope that confirms them, and then it is the pope only that is infallible. But no man that reads these words of our Saviour, “if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine,” would ever imagine that the bishop of Rome (whoever he shall happen to be) was secured from all fatal errors in matters of faith, much less that he were endowed with an infallible spirit, in judging what doctrines are from God, and what not. For it cannot be denied, but that many of their popes have been notoriously wicked and vicious in their lives: nay, Bellarmine himself acknowledged), that, for a succession of fifty popes together, there was not one pious and virtuous man that sat in that chair; and some of their popes have been condemned and deposed for heresy; and yet, for all this, the pope, and the governing part of that church, would hear the world in hand that he is infallible. But if this saying of our Saviour be true, that “if any man will do his will, he shall know of his doctrine, whether it be of God;” then every honest man, that sincerely desires to do the will of God, hath a fairer pretence to infallibility, and a clearer text for it, than is to be found in the whole Bible for the infallibility of the bishop of Rome. What would the church of Rome give, that there were but as express a text in Scripture for the infallibility of their popes, as this is for the security of every good man in his judgment of doctrines; which makes infallibility needless? What an insufferable noise, and what endless triumphs would they make upon it, if it had been any where said in the Bible, that if any man be bishop of Rome, and sit in St. Peter’s chair, he shall know of my doctrine whether it be of God? Had there been such a text as this, we should never have been troubled with their impertinent citation of texts, and their remote and blind inferences, from Pasce Oves, and super hanc petram; “Feed my sheep;” “and upon this rock will I build my church;” to prove the pope’s infallibility. And yet no man of sense or reason ever extended the text I am speaking to, so far as to attempt to prove from it the infallibility of every good man, but only his security from fatal errors and mistakes in religion. The largest promises that are made in Scripture of security from error and mistake about Divine things, are made to good men, who sincerely desire to do the will of God. And if this be so, we must conclude several popes to have been the farthest from infallibility of any men in the world. And, indeed, there is not a more compendious way to persuade men that the Christian religion is a fable, than to set up a lewd and vicious man for the oracle of it.

Nay, I will go farther yet; that there are no other promises made in Scripture of direction or assistance, or security from mistake, to any church; but the same are made in as full and express terms to every good man that sincerely desires to know the truth, and to practise it. Is it promised to the church, or to the pastors of it, “I will be with you always?” And hath not our Saviour promised the same to every one that is obedient to his word? (John xiv. 23.) If any man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him?” And does not the apostle apply the same promise to every good Christian: (Heb. xiii. 5.) “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee?” For where is the difference between these expressions, “I will be with you,” and “I will make my abode with him;” “I will be with you always,” and “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee?” Is it not promised to the church, that “the Spirit shall lead her into all truth?” And is not the same promise made to every good man? (John xiv. 21.) “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him;” that is, God will reveal his will to those that love him, and keep his commandments. Hath God promised to build his church upon a rock? And doth not our Saviour use the same metaphor concerning every man that doth the will of God? (Matth. vii. 24.) “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doth them, is like a wise man that built his house upon a rock.” So that if to be built upon a rock signifies infallibility, it belongs to every good man who sincerely practiseth what he knows, as much as to any church.

When men are enabled by God to work miracles for the confirmation of the doctrines which they deliver, there is great reason to believe that they are infallibly assisted in the delivery of those doctrines; but without this, it is the vainest thing in the world for any person or church to pretend to it, because they offer no evidence fit to satisfy any man that they are so assisted: and I do not hear that the pope, among all his privileges, does pretend to the power of miracles.

Secondly, From hence, likewise, we may infer the great reason of error and infidelity in the world. If any man be an infidel, it is not the fault of his understanding, but of his will; it is not because there is not sufficient evidence that the Christian religion is from God, but because men’s interests and lusts make them partial and incompetent judges of matters of religion. The evidence of the Christian religion is such as recommends it to every man’s reason and conscience; so that (as St. Paul argues) “If the gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.)

If men did but stand indifferent for the entertainment of truth, and were not swayed by the interest of any lust or passion, I am confident that no man that hath the gospel fairly proposed to him would continue an infidel. If men did but truly live up to the principles of natural religion, they would easily be convinced that the Christian religion, which is so suitable thereto, is from God.

Thirdly and lastly, What hath been said is a great argument and encouragement to obedience and holiness of life. Do we desire not to be mistaken about the mind of God? let us heartily endeavour to do his will. If we would not be seduced by the error of the wicked, let us take heed of their vicious practices. The best way certainly to preserve a right judgment in matters of religion, is to take great care of a good life. God’s goodness is such, that he will not suffer any man’s judgment to be betrayed into a damnable error, without some vice and fault of his will. The principles of natural religion are born with us, and imprinted upon our minds, so that no man can be ignorant of them, nor need to be mistaken about them; and as for those revelations which God hath made of himself to the world, he hath been pleased to accompany them with so much evidence, that an honest and sincere mind may easily discern them from error and imposture. So our Saviour hath assured us, that if any man desire to do his will, “he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.”

SERMON LXXXIX.

THE NATURE OF COVETOUSNESS.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.—Luke xii. 15.

AMONG all the irregular appetites of men, there is none that is more common and unreasonable, and of a more universal bad influence upon the hearts and lives of men, than this of covetousness; and therefore, in speaking of this vice, I shall strike at the root of a great many others; even of apostacy from God’s truth and religion, of which covetousness, and the love of this present world, is one of the most common causes. So that if I can contribute any thing to the cure of this great distemper of men’s minds, I “hall, in .so doing, remove that which is the cause and occasion of a great part of the evils and mischiefs which are in the world. And to this end I have pitched upon these words of our blessed Saviour to his hearers: “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

In which words are these three things observable:

First, The manner of the caution which our Saviour here gives, “Take heed and beware;” he doubles it, to shew the great need and concernment of it.

Secondly, The matter of the caution, or the vice which our Saviour here warns his hearers against, and that is covetousness: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.”

Thirdly, The reason of this caution, “because a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Human life is sustained by a little, and therefore abundance is not necessary either to the support or comfort of it. It is not a great estate and vast possessions that make a man happy in this world; but a mind that is equal to its condition, whatever it be.

First, The manner of the caution which our Saviour here gives, “Take heed and beware.” This is a peculiar kind of caution, and no where else, or upon any other occasion that I know of, used in Scripture; in which, for the greater emphasis and weight, the words of caution are doubled, as if the matter were of so much concernment, that no caution about it could be too much, to signify to us both the great danger of this sin of covetousness, and the great care men ought to use to preserve themselves from it.

I. The great danger of this sin; how apt we are to fall into this vice, and of how pernicious a consequence it is to those in whom it reigns.

1. How apt are we to fall into this vice: and, excepting those vices which are immediately founded in a man’s natural temper and constitution, there is none that men have a more universal propension to than this of covetousness. For there are two things which human nature docs more especially desire to be secured against, which are want and contempt: and riches seem to be a certain remedy against both these evils. And because men think they can never be sufficiently secured against these, therefore their desire of riches grows endless and insatiable; so that, unless men be very jealous and watchful over themselves, this desire will grow upon them, and enlarge itself beyond all bounds.

2. As men are very apt to fall into this vice, so is it of very pernicious consequence to those in whom it reigns. The mischief of it is very great and very extensive: so Paul tells us, (1 Tim. vi. 8, 9, 10.) where he presseth men to be contented with a small competency of the things of this life, because of the great danger and mischief of a covetous mind; “having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich (that is, they that are bent and resolved upon being rich) fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil.” But this I shall speak more fully to, when I come to shew the great evil and unreasonableness of this vice.

II. This earnest kind of caution, as it signifies the great danger of this sin of covetousness, so likewise the great care that men ought to use to preserve themselves from it; for the greater the danger is in any kind, so much the greater care should be used for the avoiding of it. Men are not so solicitously concerned to defend themselves against a slight mischief; but when a terrible one threatens us, we should be continually upon our guard against it, and summon all our strength and force to resist it. Thus much for the manner of the caution.

I proceed to the second thing to be considered in the text; viz. the matter of the caution, or the vice which our Saviour here warns his hearers against, and that is covetousness; “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.” And in speaking of this, I shall consider these two things:

SERMON XC.

THE EVIL AND UNREASONABLENESS OF COVETOUSNESS.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.—Luke xii. 15.

I HAVE made entrance into a discourse upon these words, in which I told you there are three things observable.

First, The manner of the caution which our Saviour here gives, “Take heed and beware.”

Secondly, The matter of the caution, or the sin which our Saviour here warns his hearers against, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness:” and,

Thirdly, The reason of this caution, because “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

In discoursing of the second of these, viz. the matter of the caution, I proposed,

1. To consider wherein the nature of this vice of covetousness does consist.

2. To shew the evil and unreasonableness of it. The first of these I have dispatched, and now go on to the second; viz. To shew the great evil and unreasonableness of the vice of covetousness.

Now covetousness will appear to be very evil and unreasonable upon these following accounts.

I. Because it takes men off from religion and the care of their souls.

SERMON XCI.

THE EVIL AND UNREASONABLENESS OF COVETOUSNESS.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a mans life consisteth not in the^ abundance of the things which he possesseth.—Luke xii. 15.

AFTER I had, in my first discourse upon this subject, given you an account of the nature of the vice of covetousness, I proceeded in the next place to represent the great evil and unreasonableness of it.

First, Because it takes men off from religion and the care of their souls.

Secondly, Because it tempts men to many things which are inconsistent with religion, and directly contrary to it.

Thirdly, Because it is an endless and insatiable desire. Thus far I have gone; I proceed to the

Fourth thing, whereby the unreasonableness of covetousness will yet farther appear: namely, because the happiness of human life doth not consist in riches and abundance. And this I shall insist upon somewhat the more largely, because it is the argument which our Saviour makes use of here in the text, to take men off from this sin: “The life of man consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Therefore, take heed, and beware of covetousness.” And this, certainly, is one of the best and most reasonable considerations in the world to moderate our affections to wards these things. For every reasonable desire propounds some end to itself. Now to what purpose should any man desire to increase his wealth so vastly, and beyond the proportion of his necessities and real occasions? What benefit and advantage can it be to any man, to have a hundred or perhaps a thousand times more than he knows what to do withal?

And as for the other world, no man ever pretended that the heaping up riches here would be useful to him there; “riches will not deliver him in the day of wrath.” No man was ever so senseless as to imagine that he could take his estate along with him into the other world; or if he could, that heaven was to be bought with money; or that a great estate, or a great many lordships, would recommend him to the favour of God. It is true, indeed, a man may so use riches in this world, as thereby to promote and further his happiness in the next. But then it is likewise as true, that a man may so demean himself in a poor and low condition as thereby to render himself as acceptable to God, and capable of as great a reward, as the richest man can do. The poor woman’s two mites, cheerfully given to pious and charitable uses, will go as far in the other world, and find as great a reward there, as the rich man’s thousands of gold and silver. And a man may be as truly generous and charitable out of a little, as out of the greatest fortune. Besides that, the poor man’s contentedness in a mean condition is more admirable in itself, and more valuable with God, than for a rich man to be so. So that the great use of riches respects this world, and the best use of them is in ways of charity; and the poor man’s charity, though it cannot be of so great an extent in the effects of it, yet in the degree of its virtue and merit it may be equal to it.

Now the two great designs of men, in regard to this world, are these:

1. To maintain and support our lives as long as we can.

2. To make our lives as truly happy and comfortable as we can.

To the first of these ends, namely, the support of our lives, a very little will suffice; and it is not much that is necessary to the other, to render our lives as truly comfortable as this world can make them; so that a vast estate is not necessary to either of these ends; for a man may live by having what is necessary, and may live comfortably by having that which is convenient.

No man lives the longer by having abundance; it is many times an occasion of shortening a man’s life by ministering to excess and intemperance, but seldom of prolonging it. And, setting aside the vain fancy and conceit of men, no man lives the more happily for having more than he hath real use and occasion for.

These two heads I shall at present speak to, to make out the full force of this reason which our Saviour here useth; namely, that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

I. That riches do not contribute to the support of our lives; nor,

II. To the happiness and comfort of them. That is, they are not necessary to either of these ends. For by riches, I mean whatever is beyond a competency of those things which are requisite to the real uses and occasions of human life.

First, Riches and abundance do not contribute to the support of our lives. And this our Saviour very well represents to us in the parable, immediately after the text, of the rich man who was continually increasing his estate, so that “he had goods laid up for many years;” but he lived not one jot the longer for being provided of the conveniences of life for so long a time beforehand; for whilst he was blessing himself as if he had secured his happiness sufficiently for this world, he was uncertain of his continuance in it; God having decreed to take him out of this world, at that very time when he had determined to enter upon the enjoyment of those things which he had been so long laying up. God says to him, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee, and then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” that is, what good then will all these things do thee, when thou hast no further use of and occasion for them? So that if he had been the poorest man in the world, and had not been provided for the next meal, he might have lived as long as he did with all his stores. You see, then, that in this sense, “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” For, notwithstanding all his great barns, and the abundance of fruits he had stowed in them, he did not live one jot the longer than the poorest man might have done.

Secondly, Nor do riches contribute to the happiness and comfort of our lives. Happiness is not to be bought and purchased together with great lord ships; it depends upon a great many causes, among which a competency of the things of this world is one; but riches and abundance is none of them. The happiness of this world consists in these two things.

1. In the enjoyment of good. And,

2. In a state of freedom from evil.

Now riches do not necessarily make a man happy in either of these respects.

First, For the enjoyment of good, a competent estate suitable to the condition and station in which God hath set us in this world, will give a man what ever nature and reason can desire, and abundance cannot make a man happier. If a man had a hundred times more than he needed, he could but enjoy it according to the capacity of a man; for if he consulted his own happiness, and would truly enjoy what he hath, he must eat and drink within the bounds of temperance and health, and must wear no more clothes than are for his convenience. It is true he hath wherewithal to put on a new suit every day, which is to be uneasy all the days of his life; and may drink, if he pleases, every time out of a new cup, which would be a vain expense and a great trouble to his servants, without any manner of convenience to himself.

But then if riches fall into the covetous man’s hands they can be no happiness to him, because he hath no heart to enjoy them. He hath indeed the estate of a rich man, but he wants the comfort of it, because he hath the mind of a poor man, and enjoyment is all the felicity that is in a great fortune; what we enjoy is ours, but what we lay up is, from that time, not ours but somebody’s else. He that heaps up riches, and enjoys them not, is rich only for his heir, but a beggar for himself.

SERMON XCII.

THE EVIL AND UNREASONABLENESS OF COVETOUSNESS.

And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness; for a mans life consist eth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.—LUKE xii. 15.

IN my two last discourses on this subject, I have represented the evil and unreasonableness of the vice of covetousness in four particulars. I proceed now to the fifth and last particular, whereby I told you the evil and unreasonableness of it would appear; viz.

That riches are so far from being the happiness of human life, that they usually contribute very much to our misery and sorrow; as will evidently appear, if we consider these four things:

First, The labour and care which the covetous man is at in getting of a great estate.

Secondly, The anxiety of keeping it, together with the fears of losing it.

Thirdly, The trouble and vexation of having lost it.

Fourthly, The heavy and dreadful account which every man must give of a great estate.

First, The labour and care which the covetous man hath in getting a great estate. He that will be rich must sweat for it, and refuse no pains and trouble; he must “rise up early and lie down late, and eat the bread of carefulness.” A slave that digs in the mines, or rows in the galleys, is not a greater drudge than some covetous worldlings are; only, with this difference, that the covetous man thinks that he labours and takes all these pains for himself; whereas the slave understands the matter more truly, and thinks that he does it for another.

But besides the pains he takes, he is full of care and anxiety. How is he, through the greedy desire of having, racked between the hopes of getting and the fear of missing what he seeks? The apostle observes what tormenting cares accompany this vice: (1 Tim. vi. 10.) “The love of money (saith he) is the root of all evil;” not only of the evil of sin, but of the evil likewise of trouble and disquiet. For it follows, “which, while some coveted after, they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows:” variety of troubles attend them that will be rich.

Secondly, If we consider the anxiety of keeping what they have got, together with the fear of losing it again, this is another great part of a covetous man’s infelicity. The rich man here in the parable after the text, when he saw his estate coming upon him so fast, cries out, “what shall I do?” Poor man! who would not pity his condition, to see him put to this difficulty and distress, and to hear him make as heavy a moan as the poorest man could do! Now that he hath a plentiful harvest, and his crop hath answered, if it were possible, his covetous desire, he is in a great deal of perplexity, and almost at his wits end how to dispose of it: he was horribly afraid lest any of it should be lost for want of a secure place to store it up in: “what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” Where was the difficulty of this? Why, he was loath to lose his fruits, and he was loath to lay out money to secure them. But, upon farther consideration, he resolves of the two evils to choose the least: “and he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all ray fruits and my goods.” But why could he not let the barns he had stand, and build more? No, that he did not think so well, he loved to see all his good things at one view, and what a goodly show they would make together. Besides that, it is the humour of covetousness, when it breaks out into expense, to over-do; the miser’s buildings are like his feasts, always extravagant. The covetous man (as to the business of expense) is like a coward as to lighting, he declines it as long as he can; but when he is pushed to the last necessity, he grows desperate and lays about him.

Riches, which are got with so much trouble, are not kept without greater fear and care. A covetous man is in nothing more miserable, than in the anxiety and care of disposing and securing what he hath got. When a man’s desires are endless, his cares and fears will be so too.

Thirdly, As great an evil as any of the former, is, the vexation of having lost these things. If by any accident the man happens to be deprived of them, then he takes on heavily, hangs down his head and mourns, “as a man would do for his first-born;” and is ready to cry out with Micah, “they have taken away my gods, and what have I more?” Upon every little loss the covetous man is undone, though he have a hundred times more left than he knows what to do withal. So deeply are the hearts of earthly-minded men many times pierced with earthly losses, as with Rachel to “refuse to be comforted.” Nay, St. Paul observes, that “the sorrow of the world sometimes worketh death/ (2 Cor. vii. 10.)

Fourthly, But the saddest consideration of all is, that heavy and dreadful account that must one day be given both of the getting and using of a great estate. They that have got an estate by fraud and falsehood, or by oppression and grinding the face of the poor, may read their doom at large: (James v. 1-5.) “Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you; your riches are corrupted, and your garments moth-eaten; your gold and silver are cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire: ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth; ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.”

And we must be accountable likewise for the using of our estates. God gives them to us in trust, and the greater they are the more we are to account for; so much as we need is ours, but beyond what will support us, and be a convenient provision for our families, in the rank God hath placed them; all that is given to us, that we may give it lo others . and indeed it is not ours; we are the proprietors of it in respect of men, but in respect of God we are but trustees and stewards, and God will require an account of us how we have disposed of it.

SERMON XCI1I.

RELIGION, OUR FIRST AND GREAT CONCERNMENT.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and Ids righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.—Matt. vi. 33.

IN the latter part of this chapter, our Saviour doth, in a long discourse, caution his disciples against an inordinate care about the things of this life, which he concludes with a strict charge to make religion their first and great concernment, and above all things to take care to secure to themselves the happiness of another life; “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” &c. In the handling of which words, I shall do these four things.

First, I shall explain what is here meant by the “kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”

Secondly, What by seeking of these.

Thirdly, I shall lay down some necessary and plain directions, which if we observe, we cannot miscarry in this matter.

Fourthly, I shall set before you some of the most proper and powerful motives and encouragements to the minding of this great interest and concernment: among which, I shall particularly consider the argument or encouragement here used in the text, “and all these things shall be added unto you.”

First, I shall explain to you what is here meant by “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”

SERMON XCIV.

RELIGION, OUR FIRST AND GREAT CONCERNMENT.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.—Matt. vi. 33.

THESE words, which I began to discourse upon the last day, are a strict charge and command to all Christians, to mind the business of religion in the first place, and to take all imaginable care to secure the happiness of another life; “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” In the handling of which argument,

First, I explained what is meant by “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”

Secondly, I shewed what is meant by seeking these, and what by seeking them first.

Thirdly, I laid down some rules for our direction and furtherance in this great business.

I shall now proceed to represent to you, in the

Fourth and last place, some of the most proper and powerful arguments and encouragements, to engage us to the minding of this great interest and concernment; amongst which I shall, in the last place, particularly consider the encouragement here given in the text, “Seek ye first the kingdom; of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

First, My first argument shall be from the worth excellency of the things we seek, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” which are certainly the greatest and best things we can seek. “The kingdom of God” is the eternal salvation of our souls, everlasting life and happiness in another world, which, to animate our endeavours, and to tempt our ambition the more, are set forth to us under the notion of a kingdom. And what will not men do to obtain that? what pains will they not take? what hazards will they not run? what difficulties will they not grapple with and break through, if they can, to come tea kingdom? which, when they have obtained, they are exposed to as many, and commonly to more cares and fears, to greater difficulties and dangers in the keeping, than they were for the getting of it: and yet all this men will do for a corruptible crown, for one of the petty kingdoms and principalities of this world, which are continually tottering and ready to be overturned by open violence, or to be undermined by secret treachery. But “the kingdom” which I am speaking of, and persuading you and myself to seek after, is not like the kingdoms of men, and of this world; it is called “the kingdom of God,” to signify to us the excellency and stability of it; as much beyond any of the kingdoms of this world, as the heavens are high above the earth, and as God is greater than man; “a kingdom which cannot be shaken, a crown which fadeth not away,” a sceptre which cannot be wrested from us.

But to quit the metaphor, and speak to the thing: “The kingdom of God” imports the eternal salvation of our souls; I say of our souls, which, both in respect of the dignity of their nature and I heir immortal duration, are infinitely more valuable than any of the perishing things of this world, and ought to be Hindi dearer to us. Other things art; without us, they neither constitute our being, nor are essential to our happiness; but our souls are ourselves, and the loss of them is our utter ruin and destruction. So that nothing is to be regarded by us with equal care and concernment as the salvation of our immortal souls; that is, that we may be rescued from eternal misery, and everlastingly happy in another world. And can we be at too much cost and pains upon such a design, to escape so dismal a condition, so dreadful a ruin, as that of body and soul to all eternity? Can any man be concerned enough to bring about so great a good to himself? or, can he purchase it too dear, whatever he give or part with for it? a good so desirable and so durable as our being happy for ever. When we purchase the things of this world, the riches and honours of it, at the expense of so much time, and care, and trouble, we pay dear for trifles and fancies; but eternal happiness is a jewel of so inestimable a price, that a wise merchant will have it at any rate, and sell all that he hath to purchase it.

Of such value is “the kingdom of God;” and next to it is righteousness, which is the only way and means whereby this kingdom is to be attained, and therefore to be sought by us with the greatest diligence and earnestness: for that which is the only means to a great and desirable end, and which alone can make us capable of that end, and which in truth is a degree of it, is valuable next to the end, and almost equally with it; and such is righteousness in respect of “the kingdom of God;” it is the only means to it, it is that alone which qualifies us, and makes us capable of happiness; nay, it is an essential ingredient into it, and that which does in a great measure constitute the happiness of heaven; for that temper of mind, that conformity and likeness to God, which holiness and righteousness brings us to, is the true foundation of our happiness, and, according to the best apprehensions we have now of it, is the very formal cause and essence of our blessedness. So St. John tells us: (1 John iii. 2.) “It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;” that is, we do not now distinctly understand wherein the happiness of the next life consists, we are not able to frame a clear and perfect idea of it; but this we know, in general, that it consists in our likeness to God, in a conformity to the moral perfections of the Divine nature, which are expressed by the name of purity and holiness; and therefore every one that hopes for the happiness of heaven must endeavour after holiness: “Every man that hath this hope in him must purify himself, oven as he is pure.”

So that the things which I am pressing you to seek after are most effectually recommended, by telling you what they are; “the kingdom of God” is eternal life and happiness, and “his righteousness” is universal holiness and goodness, without which no man is qualified for this blessed state. Now if there be any thing better than goodness, any thing more desirable than a happiness which hath no bounds, nor no end; do not mind them, nor look after them; but if there be not, then certainly these are worthy of the care and endeavour of our whole life.

Secondly, Another consideration that should very much excite, and quicken our endeavour and diligence, in seeking these things, is the difficulty of obtaining them.. This, I confess, is no encouragement, but it is a very good motive and argument to whet our industry in seeking these things, when we plainly see that they are not to be had upon other terms. And this consideration our Saviour useth to quicken us to strive and to contend earnestly for eternal life: (Matt. vii. 14.) “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few there be that find it.” And, (Luke xiii. i24.) “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”

Seeking here, in opposition to striving;, is a faint and weak endeavour, which will not carry us through this narrow and difficult passage; and this is the reason why many miscarry, who made some attempts towards heaven; but they do not strive, they do not put forth any vigorous endeavours to get thither.

Now the difficulty of attaining eternal happiness ariseth from the difficulty of the way and means to it; and it is then fore hard to attain “the kingdom of God,” because it is hard to attain “his righteousness.” As desirable as it is, it must be acknowledged very difficult for a man to raise himself to that temper and disposition of mind, so to subdue his lusts, and govern his passions, to bridle his tongue, and order all the actions of his life, as is necessary to qualify him for happiness, and to make him fit to be admitted into “the kingdom of God.”

And this difficulty is chiefly in ourselves, but greatly increased by temptation and opposition from without. Chiefly, I say, in ourselves, from the strong bias of our evil and corrupt inclinations, and the strong power of vicious habits and customs, which, when they are grown inveterate, do tyrannize over us, and make us perfect slaves, and lead ns captive at their pleasure; so that our nature must be quite changed, and, as the apostle expresseth it, we must be “renewed in the spirit of our minds,” our souls must be new moulded and fashioned, we must be, as it were, created and born again, before we can “enter into the kingdom of God.” In this our Saviour is positive and peremptory: (John iii. 3.) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This difficulty, indeed, is greatest at first, but it is considerable afterwards, until a thorough change be made, and new inclinations planted in us, and the contrary habits of grace and virtue be superinduced.

And that which increaseth the difficulty is out ward temptation and opposition from the world and the devil; which to withstand and resist, requires great courage and resolution, great watchfulness and guard over ourselves. But yet, for our comfort, these difficulties are not insuperable to that grace and assistance which God is always ready to afford to us upon so good an occasion, and to so good a purpose; “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” And this, I am sure, is matter of great encouragement to us, that, though the difficulty of working out our salvation be great, yet, if we do in good earnest set about it, God is ready to assist and second our sincere endeavours, “to work in us both to will and to do of his own goodness,” and so to prevent us with his gracious favour, and to further us with his continual aid, that finally by his mercy we may obtain eternal life.

Thirdly, Another powerful argument to care and diligence, is, the fatal danger of miscarriage in a matter of so great concernment. We may do many things in religion, and take some pains to get to heaven, and yet fall short of it. The rich young man in the gospel, our Saviour tells us, was “not far from the kingdom of God;” and he broke with our Saviour only upon one point—he was too much addicted to the world, and loath to part with his great possessions, and distribute them in charity to the poor; and thereupon he left our Saviour, and, for any thing we can find, never returned to him again.

If the world govern and bear sway in our hearts, if we mind earthly things first, and make these our chief care and design, the kingdom of God and his righteousness shall not be added unto us; if we will not mind them in the first place, they are too good to be accessaries.

And if upon any one point we miscarry, either out of love to the world, or affection to any other lust or vice that we are loath to part withal, our miscarriage is fatal, and the ruin which we bring upon ourselves irreparable; for the soul once lost, is lost for ever. If we have neglected the opportunity of working out our own salvation, while we are in this world, it will never return into our power again; death will shut the door against us, and we shall never see the kingdom of God.

Fourthly, It is a mighty encouragement to us to consider, that, if we sincerely seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, there is not only a fair probability of obtaining them, but all the security We can desire. Men may be in good earnest for the things of this world, may love them with nil their hearts and souls (as we see too many do) and seek them with all their might and strength; and yet, after all their endeavours, may be shamefully frustrated and disappointed of their end. There are many examples of this kind daily before our eyes, and yet men are not discouraged from seeking these things. A fair probability, nay, almost a possibility of attaining them, is enough to a worldly-minded man to drudge and toil for them. Why, the same affection, the same zeal, the same unwearied endeavour to please God, and to save our souls, would infallibly bring us to heaven. It was a sad but true saying of Cardinal Wolsey, when he was leaving the world, “Had I been but as careful to please God, as I have been to serve my prince, he would not have forsaken me now in the time of my grey hairs.”

Nay, it is to be hoped, that less diligence and care about the concernments of our souls and another life, than many men use about the things of this life, will secure our eternal happiness, or else it is to be feared that but very few would be saved: and who would not place his industry, and endeavour upon a design in which he is sure not to miscarry, if he do but heartily and in good earnest pursue it? especially when it will be of infinite greater advantage to him, than any design he can propound to himself for this world. If a man may be certainly happy for ever, upon the same or easier terms, than he can ordinarily compass any of those little designs which men propose to themselves in this world, who would not seek that which is most worthy the having, and which he is surest to maintain?

Fifthly and lastly, The encouragement here in the text is not inconsiderable; that if we “seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto us.” This certainly is a very tempting consideration; for who would not be glad to reconcile the enjoyment of this world with the hopes of heaven and eternal happiness? But men do not generally like our Saviour’s method—they would seek the things of this world in the first place, and get to heaven at last; they would be content to seek the one, and have the other cast in and conferred upon them without their seeking. But this will not be granted, this way will not do. And yet our Saviour has gone as far as one would think could in reason be desired; he hath promised, that if we will make religion, and the salvation of our souls, our first and chief care, that “all these things shall be added unto us.” So that the design of going to heaven, and being happy for ever, is no ways inconsistent with a competent portion of the things of this life. Godliness (the apostle tells us) “hath the promise of this life, and of that which is to come.” The business of religion, the practice of a holy and virtuous life, is no hinderance to a man’s thriving in his temporal estate: nay, in many respects, it is apt to promote and advance it; by engaging us to diligence in our calling, and by deriving the blessing of God upon our honest and lawful endeavours; by obliging us to the strict and constant practice of truth, and justice, and fidelity, in all our dealings and commerce, which are the best way to establish a clear and solid reputation, and good esteem among men, which is an unspeakable advantage in business, and, at the long run, one of the best and most lasting instruments of prosperity and success.

Besides that, religion frees a man from those passions and vices which do naturally tend to dissipate and ruin men’s estates; as intemperance and lewdness, which are every way chargeable vices, and do not only take men off from business, and render them unfit for it; but waste their estates, and bring many other inconveniences upon their persons and families. Religion makes men meek and peaceable, and inoffensive in word and deed, which is a great security against chargeable suits and contentions, and all sorts of injuries and affronts from others. Among all the beatitudes of our Saviour, he only promiseth temporal happiness to meekness: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” They who provoke and offend nobody, are likely to be least disturbed and disquieted by others in their possessions and enjoyments; “Who will harm you, (saith the apostle, 1 Peter iii. 13.) if ye be followers of that which is good?” Some may be so perverse as to persecute a man for his goodness; but it rarely happens; most men have not only a kindness, but a veneration for true goodness.

By all these ways religion naturally tends to the temporal prosperity of men, and the promoting of their welfare and happiness even in this world; besides that, the providence of God is very peculiarly concerned for good men, and a special blessing at tends them in all their undertakings. So that, excepting the case of persecution (which God will particularly consider and reward in another world), the religious and good man, who sincerely “seeks the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” stands as fair, and is upon as good terms for all the lawful enjoyments of this world, as he that makes it his only design to be rich and great in this world; nay, as to the necessaries of this life, and a competency of outward things, he hath a much greater and better security from the providence and promise of God, than the men of the world have by all their care and pains.

SERMON XCV.

THE WISDOM OF RELIGION.

I have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad.—Psal. cxix. 90.

THIS psalm seems to have a great deal more of poetical number and skill in it, than at this distance from the time and age in which it was written, we can easily understand; the main scope and design of it is very plain and. obvious; namely, to magnify the law of God, and the observation of its precepts, as that wherein true religion doth mainly consist. And, indeed, if we attentively read and consider it, every part of this psalm does with great variety of expression, and yet very little difference of the sense, des cant upon the same ground; viz. the excellency and perfection of the law of God. And the words of the text seem to be as full and comprehensive of the sense and design of the whole psalm, as any one sentence in it; “I have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad.”

These words are variously rendered and under stood by interpreters, who yet in this variety do very much conspire and agree in the same sense. The Chaldee paraphrase renders the words thus: “I have seen an end of all things, about which I have employed my care; but thy commandment is very large.” The Syriac version thus: “I have seen an end of all regions and countries (that is, I have found the compass of this habitable world to be finite and limited); but thy commandment is of a vast extent.” Others explain it thus: “I have seen an end of all perfection;” that is, of all the things of this world, which men value and esteem at so high a rate; of all worldly wisdom and knowledge, of wealth, and honour, and greatness, which do all perish and pass away; “but thy law is eternal, and still abideth the same;” or, as the Scripture else where expresseth it, “the word of the Lord endureth for ever.”

Thy law; that is, the rule of our duty natural and revealed; or, in a word, religion, which consists in the knowledge and practice of the laws of God, is of greater perfection than all other things which are so highly valued in this world; for the perfection of it is infinite, and of a vast influence and extent; it reacheth to the whole man, to the happiness of body and soul; to our whole duration, both in this world and the next; of this life, and of that which is to come. And this will clearly appear, if we consider the reasonableness and the wisdom of religion, which consists in the knowledge of God, and the keeping of his laws.

First, The reasonableness of religion, which is able to give a very good account of itself, because it settles the mind of man upon a firm basis, and keeps it from rolling in perpetual uncertainty; whereas atheism and in6delity wants a stable foundation; it centres no where but in the denial of God and religion, and yet substitutes no principle, no tenable and constituent scheme of things, in the place of them; its whole business is to unravel all things, to unsettle the mind of man, and to shake all the common notions and received principles of mankind; it bends its whole force to pull down and to destroy, but lays no foundation to build any thing upon in the stead of that which it pulls down.

It runs upon that great absurdity which Aristotle (who was always thought a great master of reason) does every where decry, as a principle unworthy of a philosopher; namely, a progress of causes in infinitum, and without end; that this was the cause of that, and a third thing of that, and so on without end, which amounts to just nothing; and finally resolves an infinite number of effects into no first cause; than which nothing can be more unskilful and bung ling, and less worthy of a philosopher. But this I do not intend at present to insist upon, having treated largely on the same subject upon another

See Sermon I. Vol. i.

Second place, to consider the wisdom of religion. “The fear of the Lord is wisdom,” so saith the psalmist; it is true wisdom indeed, it is the beginning of wisdom, caput sapientiae, the top and perfection of all wisdom. Here true wisdom begins, and upon this foundation it is raised and carried on to perfection; and I shall, in my following discourse, endeavour to make out these two things:

First, That true wisdom begins and is founded in religion, in the fear of God, and in the keeping of his commandments.

Secondly, That this is the perfection of wisdom; there is no wisdom without this, nor beyond it.

First, True wisdom begins and is founded in religion, and the fear of God, and regard to his laws. This is the first principle of wisdom, and the foundation upon which the whole design of our happiness is to be built. This is, in the first place, to be supposed, and to be taken into consideration in all the designs and actions of men: this is to govern our whole life, and to have a main influence upon all the affairs and concernments of it. As the first principle of human society, and that which is to run through the whole frame of it, is the public good; this was always to be taken into consideration, and to give law to all laws and constitutions about it: so religion is the first principle of human wisdom, by which all our actions are to be conducted and governed; and all wisdom which does not begin here, and lay religion for its foundation, is preposterous, and begins at the wrong end; and is just as if, in the forming of human society, every one in the settlement of the constitution, and the framing of laws, should have an eye to his own private and particular advantage, without regard to the public good, which is the great end of society, and the rule and measure of government and laws, and, in the last issue and result of things, the only way to procure the settled welfare, and to secure the lasting interests of particular persons, so far as that is consistent with the public good. And it would be a very preposterous policy to go about to found human society upon any other terms, and would certainly end in mischief and confusion.

And such is all the wisdom of men, in relation to their true happiness, which does not begin with religion, and lay its foundation there: which does not take into consideration God and his providence, and a future state of rewards and punishments after this life. All wisdom which does not proceed upon a supposition of the truth and reality of these principles, will certainly end in shame and disappointment, in misery and ruin; because it builds a house upon the sand, which when it comes to be tried by stress of weather, and assaulted by violent storms, will undoubtedly fall, and the fall of it will be great.

And this error every man commits who pursues happiness by following his own inclination, and gratifying his irregular desires, without any consideration of God, and of the restraint which his laws have laid upon us, not for his own pleasure but for our good. For when all things are duly considered, and all accounts cast up, it will appear, upon a just calculation of things, that all the restraints which the laws of God lay upon men are highly reasonable, and greatly for their benefit and advantage, and do not abridge us of any pleasure or happiness; but are wise and merciful provisions of heaven, to prevent our harm and mischief; so that we are not wise, if we act without regard to God, and his laws, and are not willing to be governed by him, who loves us better than we do ourselves, and truly designs our happiness, and commands us nothing but what directly tends to it. For the laws of God are not arbitrary constitutions, and mere in stances of sovereign will and power; but wise rules and means to procure and advance our happiness.

And, in like manner, all that wisdom which men use to compass their worldly designs, of riches and greatness, without consideration of the providence of God, and dependance upon it for the success of our affairs, is all perfect folly and mistake. For though the design be never so well laid and vigorously prosecuted, and no means, which human wisdom can devise for the attaining of our end, have been omitted by us; yet, if we leave God out of the account, we forget that which is principal, and signifies more to the success of any design, than all other things put together. For if God favours our designs, the most improbable shall take effect; and if he blow upon them, the most likely shall miscarry. Whenever he pleaseth to interpose to cross the counsels and designs of men, “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; but time and chance happens to all.”

So that it is great folly not to consider the providence of God in all our designs and undertakings, not to implore his favour and blessing, without which nothing that we take in hand can pros per. That which is principal to any purpose, ought to be considered in the first place, nothing being to be attempted either without or against it. And such is the providence of God in all human affairs; it is more considerable to the promoting or hindering of any event, than all things in the world besides; and therefore all policy, which sets aside God and his providence is vain; because there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel, against the Lord.

So likewise all that wisdom which only considers and regards this short life, and the narrow concernments of it, and makes provision only for our welfare in this world; and therefore can only be tempted with the hopes of temporal advantages, and terrified only with the danger of temporal evils and sufferings; but hath no sense of an immortal spirit within us, no prospect of a life after death, no consideration of a happy or miserable eternity, of rewards and punishments, infinitely greater than all the temptations and terrors of time and sense: I say, all this is a preposterous and pernicious wisdom, and proceeds upon a false supposition, and a quite contrary scheme of things to what really is; and consequently, our whole life, and all the designs and actions of it, do run upon a perpetual mistake, and a false stating of our own case; and whatever we do pursuant to this mistake is foolish and hurtful, and so far from conducing to our true interest, that it is all either besides it or contrary to it; because we act upon a supposal only of this life, and a being only in this world, and that there is nothing either to be feared or hoped for beyond it; and being thus grossly mistaken, we set our hearts only upon temporal things, and study our present security and satisfaction; and, in all our counsels and actions, are swayed only by the consideration of temporal good and evil, of the present ease and pleasure, the disturbance and pain of our fleshly and sensual parts; without any sense of our own immortality, and of that everlasting state which remains for us in another world.

But there is (my brethren) most certainly, there is another life after this; we are not beasts, if we do not make ourselves so; and if we die, we shall not die like them, neither shall our last end be like theirs. For whatever we may think or wish, it shall not be in our power to extinguish our own beings when we have a mind to be rid of them, and to choose whether or no we shall live for ever.

And if this be a false scheme of things which we have framed to ourselves, and proceed upon (as undoubtedly it is), then our whole life is one great error, and a perpetual mistake, and we are quite wrong in all that we design to do. Our wisdom hath begun at the wrong end, and we have made a false calculation and account of things, and have put our case otherwise than it is; and the farther we proceed upon this mistake, our miscarriage will be so much the more fatal in the issue. But if our wisdom begin at the right end, and our case be truly stated, that God hath put into these frail and mortal bodies of ours immortal spirits that shall live for ever; and hath sent us into this world to sojourn here for a little while, and to be disciplined and trained up for eternity; and that, after a short proof and trial of our obedience, we shall be translated into an everlasting state of unspeakable happiness or misery, according as we have demeaned ourselves in this world; if we believe this to be truly our case, our interest is then plainly before us, and we see where our happiness lies, and what remains for us to do, in order to the obtaining of it, and what we are to expect to suffer if we do it not.

Now this foundation being laid, it is evident, that the best thing we can do for ourselves, is to provide for our future state, and to secure the everlasting happiness of another life. And the best way to do that is, to live in obedience to those laws which our Maker and our sovereign hath prescribed to us; and according to which he will one day sentence us to eternal rewards or punishments.

It is evident, likewise, that all our sensual appetites and desires are to be bounded by the rules of reason and virtue, which are the laws of God; and that no present ease and pleasure, trouble and suffering, are to be considered and regarded by us, in competition with the things which are eternal; and that sin is of all other the greatest evil, and most mischievous to our main interest, and therefore with all possible care to be avoided; and that the favour of God is to be sought, and the salvation of our souls to be provided for, at any pains and expense whatsoever, and even with the hazard and loss of our dearest interests in this world, yea, and of life itself.

And now, if this matter hath been rightly stated, then religion and the fear of God is the first principle and foundation of true wisdom, and that which we are to consider, and take along with us in all the designs and actions of our lives; and all wisdom which does not begin here is preposterous, and will prove folly in the issue.

Secondly, As religion is the beginning of wisdom, so it is the perfection of it; it is the highest point of wisdom in which we can be instructed: “The fear of the Lord (says Solomon, Prov. xv. 33.) is the instruction of wisdom.” “A good understanding (says David, Psal. cxi. 10.) have all they that do his commandments.” The practice of religion is the perfection of wisdom; and he understands himself best who lives most according to the laws of God. And this I might shew, by instancing in particular virtues, the practice whereof is much wiser, and every way more for our interest, than the contrary vices; but this is too large an argument to engage in, and therefore I shall content myself at present, briefly to shew, that the chief characters and proper ties of wisdom do all meet in religion, and agree to it.

The first point of wisdom is to understand our true interest, and to be right in our main end; and in this religion will best instruct and direct us. And if we be right in our main end, and true to the interest of it, we cannot miscarry: but if a man mistake in this, he errs fatally, and his whole life is vanity and folly.

Another property of wisdom is to be steady and vigorous in the prosecution of our main end; to oblige us hereto religion gives us the most powerful arguments—the glorious happiness, and the dismal misery of another world.

The next point of wisdom is, to make all things stoop and become subservient to our main end. And wherever religion bears sway, it will make all other things subordinate to the salvation of our souls, and the interests of our everlasting happiness; as the men of this world make every thing to submit and give way to their covetous, and ambitious, and sensual designs.

Another part of wisdom is to consider the future, and to look to the last end and issue of things. It is a common folly among men to be so intent upon the present, as to have little or no regard to the future, to what will be hereafter. Men design and labour for this present life, and their short continuance here in this world, without taking into serious consideration their main duration, and their eternal abode in another world. But religion gives us a clear prospect of a life after death, and overlooks time, and makes eternity always present to us, and minds us of making timely provision and preparation for it. It takes into consideration our whole duration, and inspires us with wisdom, to look to the end of things, and to what will be hereafter, as well as to what is present.

It is likewise a great property of wisdom to se cure the main chance, and to run no hazard in that. And this religion directs us to take care of, because the neglect of it will prove fatal.

Another mark of wisdom is, to lay hold of opportunities, those especially which, when they are once past, will never return again. There are some seasons wherein great things may be done, which, if they be let slip, are never to be retrieved. A wise man will lay hold of these, and improve them: and religion inculcates this principle of wisdom upon us, that this life is the opportunity of doing great things for ourselves, and of making ourselves for ever; this very day and hour may, for aught we know, be the last and only opportunity of repentance, and making our peace with God: therefore “to-day, whilst it is called to-day,” let us set about this necessary work, “lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin;” to-morrow it may be too late to begin it, and the justice of God may cut us off whilst we are wilfully delaying it; and the opportunities of saving our immortal souls may vanish, and be for ever hid from our eyes.

The next property of wisdom is, to foresee dangers, and to take timely care to prevent them. “The prudent man (saith Solomon) foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself;” that is, shelters and secures himself against it; “but the simple pass on and are punished;” that is, the evil overtakes them, and their folly is punished in their fatal ruin. Now, the greatest danger is from the greatest power; even from “Him who is able to save and to destroy:” “I will tell you (says the wisdom of God) whom ye shall fear: fear him who, after he hath killed, can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

Again, another main point of wisdom is, to do as little as we can to be repented of, trusting rather to the wisdom of prevention, than to that of remedy. Religion first teacheth men innocency, and not to offend; but in case we do (as in many things we offend all), it then directs us to repentance as the only remedy. But this certainly is folly to sin in hopes of repentance; that is, first to make work for repentance, and then run the hazard of it; for we may certainly sin, but it is not certain that we shall repent. And if it were, yet it is great folly to lay in beforehand, and to make work for trouble; Nae tu stultus homuncio es, qui malis veniam precari, quam non peccare, was a wise saying of old Cato: “Thou art (says he) a silly man indeed, who choosest rather to ask forgiveness, than not to offend.” If a man had the best remedy in the world, he would not make himself sick to try the virtue of it; and it is a known comparison, and a very fit one, that repentance is tabula post naufragium, “a plank after shipwreck.” But I am greatly afraid that thousands of souls, who have trusted to it, have perished before they could get to land, with this plank in their arms.

The last character of wisdom I shall mention is, in all things to consult the peace and satisfaction of our own minds, without which nothing else can make us happy: and this, obedience to the laws of God does naturally procure. “Great peace have they (says David) that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” “The work of righteousness (says the prophet) shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” The fear of God, and the keeping of his commandments, is the best preservative against the troubles of a guilty conscience, and the terrifying apprehensions of a future judgment. And this is the great wisdom of religion; that whosoever liveth according to the rules and precepts of it, prevents the chief causes of discontent, and lays the surest foundation of a perpetual satisfaction of mind, a jewel of inestimable price, which none knows but he that has it, and he that hath it knows the value of it too well to part with it for the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season, and which always prove bitterness in the end, and, for the little sweetness which they yielded, leave a terrible sting behind them.

Thus I have briefly represented the reasonableness and wisdom of religion. It is of infinite perfection, and of a vast influence and extent; it reacheth to the whole man, the happiness of soul and body; and to our whole duration, the happiness of this world and the next; for godliness, that is, true religion and piety, hath the promise of this life, and of that which is to come.

But, now, where are the effects of true religion, in the full compass and extent of it, to be found? such real effects as do, in any measure, bear a proportion to the power and perfection of their cause? for nothing, certainly, is more excellent and amiable in its definition than true religion is; but, alas! how imperfect is it in the subject! I mean in us, who ought to shew forth the power and perfection of it, in the practice and actions of our lives, the best demonstration of the excellent frame and temper of our minds.

What a conflict and struggling do the best men find between their inclination and their duty! how hard to reconcile our practice and our knowledge, and to make our lives to agree with the reason of our minds, and the clear conviction of our consciences! How difficult for a man, in this dangerous and imperfect state, to be, in any measure, either so wise or good as he ought! How rare is it for a man to be good-natured, gentle, and easy to be entreated, without being often betrayed into some weakness and sinful compliances, especially in the bad company of our betters! How next to impossible is it to be strict and severe in our lives, without being sour! to govern our lives with that perpetual caution, and to maintain that evenness of temper, as not to be sometimes peevish and passionate! and, when we are so, not to be apt to say with Jonah, “we do well to be angry!”

There are two precepts in the New Testament, that seem to me to be the nicest of all other, and hardest to be put in practice. One is that of our blessed Saviour, “be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.” How hard is it to hit upon the just temper of wisdom and innocency; to be wise, and hurt nobody; to be innocent, without being silly! The other is that of the apostle, “be angry and sin not.” How difficult is this—never to be angry but upon just cause! and, when the cause of our anger is just, not to be transported beyond due bounds, either as to the degree of our anger, or as to the duration and continuance of it: this is so very nice a matter, that one would be almost tempted to think, that this were, in effect, a prohibition of anger in any case: “be ye angry, and sin not:” be ye so, if ye can, with out sin. I believe whosoever observes it, will find that it is as easy to suppress this passion at any time, as to give way to it, without offending in one kind or other. But to proceed,

How hard a matter is it to be much in company, and free in conversation, and not to be infected by it? to live in the midst of a wicked world, and yet to keep ourselves free from the vices of it? to be temperate in the use of things pleasing, so as neither to injure our health, nor to lose the use of our reason, nor to offend against conscience? to fast often, without being conceited of it, and bargaining, as it were, with God for some greater liberties in another kind; and without censuring those who do not tie up themselves to our strict rules, cither of piety or abstinence? when, perhaps, they have neither the same opportunities of doing it, nor the same reason to do it that we have; nay, perhaps, have a much bet ter reason for not doing just as we do: for no man is to prescribe to others his own private method, either of fasting or of devotion, as if he were the rule, and his example a kind of proclamation, en joining all his neighbours the same days of lasting and prayer which he himself, for reasons best known to himself, thinks fit to observe.

And, then, how hard is it to be cheerful without being vain? and grave and serious, without being morose? to be useful and instructive to others in our conversation and discourse, without assuming too much authority to ourselves? which is not the best and most effectual way of doing good to others; there being something in the nature of man which had rather take a hint and intimation from another, to advise himself, and would rather choose to imitate the silent good example which they see in another, than to have either his advice or his example imposed upon them.

How difficult is it to have a mind equal to every condition, and to be content with mean and mode rate things? to be patient in adversity, and humble in prosperity, and meek upon sudden and violent provocations? to keep our passions free from getting head of our reason, and our zeal from outrunning our knowledge? to have a will perfectly submitted and resigned to the will of God, even when it lies cross and thwart to ours, so that whatever pleases God should please us? to be resolute when our duty happens to be difficult and dangerous; or even to believe that to be our duty (though it certainly be so) which is very inconvenient for us to do? to hold out and be unwearied in well-doing? to be careful to preserve our lives, and yet, upon a great occasion, and whenever God calls for them, to be content to lay them down?

To be wise and innocent; men in understanding, and yet in malice children? to have many great virtues, and not to want that which gives the great lustre to them all, I mean real and unaffected modesty and humility? In short,

How difficult is it to have regard to all God’s commandments, and to hate every evil and false way? to have our duty continually in our eye, and ready to be put into practice upon every proper occasion? to have God and the consideration of another world always before us, present to our minds, and operative upon our practice? to live as those that know they must die, and to have our thoughts perpetually awake, and intent upon the great and everlasting concernments of our immortal souls?

These are great things, indeed, easy to be talked of, but hard to be done; nay, not to be done at all without frequent and fervent prayer to God, and the continual aids and supplies of his grace; not with out an earnest endeavour on our parts, a vigorous resistance of temptations, and many a sore conflict with our own perverse wills and sensual inclinations; not without a perpetual guard and watchfulness over our lives, and our unruly appetites and passions.

Little do inexperienced men, and those who have taken no great pains with themselves, imagine, what thought and consideration, what care and attention, what resolution and firmness of mind, what diligence and patient continuance in well-doing, are requisite lo make a truly good man; such an one as St. Paul describes, that is, “perfect and entire, and wanting nothing;” that follows God fully, and fulfils every part of his duty, having “a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.” Who is there among us, that is either wise enough for his own direction, or good enough for the peace and satisfaction of his own mind; that is so happy as to know his duty, and to do it; as to have both the understanding and the, will to do in all things as he ought?

After our best care, and all our pains and endeavours, the most of us will still find a great many defects in our lives, and cannot but discern great and manifold imperfections in our very best duties and services; insomuch, that we shall be forced to make the same acknowledgment concerning them, which Solomon does concerning the imperfection of all things under the sun; “that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.” And, when all is done, we have all of us reason to say, not only that “we are unprofitable servants, having done nothing but what was our duty to do;” but have cause likewise, with great shame and confusion of face, to acknowledge that we have been in many respects wicked and slothful servants; and so very far from having done what was our duty to do, that the greatest part of the good which the most of us have done, is the least part of the good which we might and ought to have done.

The practice of religion, in all the parts and in stances of our duty, is work more than enough for the best and greatest mind, for the longest and best ordered life, “the commandment of God is exceeding broad;” and an obedience, in any good measure equal to the extent of it, extremely difficult. And, after all, as the man in the gospel said, with tears, to our Saviour, concerning the weakness of his own faith, “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” (Mark ix. 24.) So the best of men may say, and say it with tears too, concerning every grace and virtue wherein they excel most; “Lord, I aspire, I endeavour after it, be thou pleased to assist my weakness, and to help me by thy grace continually to do better.”

The sum of all is this: if we be careful to do our best, and make it the constant and sincere endeavour of our lives to please God, and to keep his commandments, we shall be accepted of him: for God values this more than “whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices,” more than “thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil;” because this is an essential part of religion, “To love God with all our hearts, and minds, and strength, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.” The duties comprehended in these two great commandments, sincerely practised by us (though with a great deal of imperfection), will certainly be acceptable in the sight of God, in and through the merits and mediation of “Jesus Christ the righteous.” “Blessed are they (saith St. John very plainly, in the conclusion of that obscure book of his Revelation), blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.” (Rev. xxii. 14.)

I speak now to a great many who are at the upper end of the world, and command all the pleasures and enjoyments of it; but the time is coming, and (whether we think of it or not) is very near at hand, when we shall see “an end of all perfection,” and of all that is desirable upon earth, and upon which men are apt to value themselves so much in this world; and then nothing but religion, and the conscience of having done our duty to God and man, will stand us in stead, and yield true comfort to us. When we are going to leave the world, how shall we then wish that we had made religion the great business of our lives; and, in the day of God’s grace and mercy, had exercised repentance, and made our peace with God, and prepared ourselves for another world; that, after our departure hence, we might be admitted into “the presence of God, where is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore?”

Let no man, therefore, of what rank or condition soever he be in this world, think himself too great to be good, and too wise to be religious, and to take care of his immortal soul, and his everlasting happiness in another world; since nothing but this will approve itself to be true wisdom at the last. All other things will have an end with this life; but religion and the fear of God is of a vast extent, and hath an influence upon our whole duration; and, after the course of this life is ended, will put us into the secure possession of a happiness, which shall never have an end.

I will conclude this whole discourse with those words of our blessed Saviour, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Which thou, who art the eternal spring of truth and goodness, grant that we may all know and do in this our day, for thy mercies’ sake in Jesus Christ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, dominion and power, now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON XCVI.

THE NATURE AND INFLUENCE OF THE PROMISES OF THE GOSPEL.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature.—2 Pet. i. 4.

THE connexion of these words with the former is somewhat obscure, but it seems to be this: the apostle had, in the verse before, said, that “the Divine power of Christ hath, by the knowledge of the gospel, given us all things that pertain to life and godliness;” that is, by the knowledge of the gospel, w are furnished with all advantages which conduce to make men happy in the next life, and religious in this; and then it follows, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.—“Whereby;” this seems to refer to the whole of the foregoing verse; as if it had been said, Christ, by the gospel, hath given to us all things that conduce to our future happiness; and, in order thereto, all things which tend to make men holy and good. Or else, life and godliness are, by a Hebraism frequent in the New Testament, put for a godly life. And then, among all those things which conduce to a godly life, the apostle instanceth in the promises of the gospel, which do so directly tend to make men “partakers of a Divine nature.”

In the handling of these words, I shall,

First, Consider the promises here spoken of; “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.”

Secondly, The influence which these promises ought to have upon us; “that by these ye might be made partakers of a Divine nature.”

First, We will consider the promises which are here spoken of; “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” And, because the chief promises of the gospel are here intended, I shall take occasion from this text to handle the doctrine of the promises, which is frequently discoursed of in divinity, but not always so clearly stated. And to this purpose it will be proper to take into consideration these four things:

I. What the promises are which are here spoken of; “Whereby are given unto us promises.”

II. Why they are said to be so great and precious; “exceeding great and precious promises.”

III. We will consider the tenor of these promises.

IV. When men are said to have a right to them, so as they might apply them to themselves. These four heads will comprehend what I have to say upon this argument.

I. What the promises are which the apostle here speaks of; “Whereby are given unto us promises.” And, no doubt, the apostle here intends those great and excellent promises which Christ hath made to us in the gospel. So that to satisfy ourselves in this inquiry, we need only to consider, what are the principal promises of the gospel. Now the great promises of the gospel are these three.

1. The promise of the free pardon and forgiveness of our sins, upon our faith and repentance.

2. The promise of God’s grace and Holy Spirit to assist our obedience.

SERMON XCVII.

THE NATURE AND INFLUENCE OF THE PROMISES OF THE GOSPEL.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature.—2 Pet. i. 4.

I MADE entrance into these words the last day, in the handling whereof I proposed to do these two things:—

First, To consider the promises here spoken of: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.”

Secondly, The influence which these promises Ought to have upon us: “that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature.”

The first of these I have done with, and proceed now to the

Second, viz. The influence which these promises ought to have upon us: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature.” Not that we can partake of the essence and nature of God, as some have blasphemously affirmed, pretending, in their canting and senseless language, to be Godded with God and Christed with Christ. In this sense it is impossible for us to “partake of the Divine nature;” for this would be for men to become gods, and to be advanced to the state and perfection of the Deity. But the word φύσις doth frequently, in Scripture, signify a temper and disposition; and to be “partakers of a Divine nature” is to be of a Divine temper and disposition, to have our corrupt natures rectified and purged from all sinful lusts and irregular passions, and from all vicious and corrupt affections; and therefore it follows in the text: “Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and, besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness charity.” So that we are “made partakers of a Divine nature,” as the apostle here explains it, these two ways: by cleansing ourselves from the lusts of the flesh, which the apostle here calls the “corruption or defilement which is in the world through lust;” and by a diligent endeavour after all Christian graces and virtues, faith, and temperance, and patience, a sincere love of the brethren, and an universal charity and good-will towards all men.

And that this is the proper influence and efficacy of the great promises of the gospel upon the hearts and lives of men, the apostle St. Paul fully declares to us: (2 Cor. vii. 1.) “Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit;” that is, from the lusts of the flesh, and of uncleanness, and from all evil and corrupt affections of the mind, such as wrath, envy, malice, hatred, strife, revenge, cruelty, pride, and the like; “perfecting holiness in the fear of God;” that is, continually aspiring still more and more after further degrees of holiness, and virtue, and goodness, which are the great perfections of the Divine nature. And thus, by a constant and sincere endeavour “to cleanse ourselves from all impurity of flesh and spirit,” and by “practising all the virtues of a good life,” we shall, by degrees, raise and advance ourselves to a godlike temper and disposition, imitating in all our actions the goodness, and mercy, and patience, and truth, and faithfulness of God, and all those other perfections of the Divine nature, which are comprehended under the term of holiness. This is that which the apostle here calls “partaking of a Divine nature;” or, as our blessed Saviour expresseth it, “to he perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

This the gospel designs to raise us to; and one of the great instruments whereby this is effected, are those “exceeding great and precious promises” which I have insisted upon; and they are capable of (fleeting it these two ways:—

First, By way of internal efficacy and assistance; and,

Secondly, By way of external motive and argument: both these ways some or other of these promises have a mighty influence upon us (if we he not wanting to ourselves) to raise us to a godlike temper and disposition; that is, to the greatest perfection of virtue and goodness which we are capable of in this life.

First, By way of internal efficacy and assistance. And this influence the promise of God’s Holy Spirit, and of his gracious help and assistance thereof, hath upon the minds of men, inclining them to that which is good, and enabling them to do it. For the Holy Spirit is promised to us, in consideration and commiseration of that impotency and weakness which we have contracted in that degenerate and depraved condition into which mankind is sunk; to help us, who are without strength, to recover ourselves out of that evil and miserable state into which, by wilful transgression, we are fallen; to “quicken us who are dead in trespasses and sins (as the Scripture expresseth the condition of unregenerate persons), to raise us to a new life,” and to cherish this principle of spiritual life, which is commonly weak at first, and to carry it through all discouragements and oppositions; to excite us continually to our duty, and to enable us to the most difficult parts of obedience, such as are most contrary to our natural inclinations, and against the grain of flesh and blood; to bear down the strength of sin and temptation; and in all our conflicts with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and all the powers of darkness, to make us victorious over them; and, in a word, to be a principle within us more mighty and powerful than the lusts and inclinations of our evil hearts, than the most obstinate and inveterate habits of sin and vice, and than all the temptations and terrors of sense. So that if we w ill make use of this assistance, and lay hold of this strength which God affords us in the gospel, and (as the apostle expresseth it) “be workers together with God,” we need not despair of victory and success; for our strength will continually increase, and the force and violence of our lusts will be abated; God will give us more grace, and we shall “walk from strength to strength,” and “our path will be (as Solomon says of ‘the way of the righteous’) as the light which shines more and more unto the perfect day.”

For the Holy Spirit of God conducts and manageth this great work of our sanctification and salvation, from first to last, by opening our hearts to let in the light of Divine truth upon our minds, by representing to us with advantage such arguments and considerations as are apt to persuade us to embrace it and yield to it; by secret and gentle reprehensions softening our hard hearts, and bending our stiff and stubborn wills to a compliance with the will of God and our duty. And this is that great work which the Scripture calls our regeneration and sanctification, the “turning us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” a new creation and a resurrection from the death of sin to the life of holiness. And then by leading mid directing us in the ways of holiness and obedience, by quickening our devotion, and stirring up in us holy desires and dispositions of soul, rendering us fit to draw near to God in prayer, with a due sense of our own wants and unworthiness, and an humble confidence in the goodness of God, that he Mill grant us those good things that we ask of him, in supporting and comforting us in all our afflictions and sufferings especially for truth and righteousness sake; and by sealing and confirming to us the blessed hopes of eternal life. Thus the Spirit of God carries on the work of our sanctification, and makes us partakers of a Divine nature, by way of inward efficacy and assistance.

Secondly, The promises of the gospel are apt likewise to have a mighty influence upon us by way of motive and argument, to engage and encourage us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God.” For,

First, A full pardon and indemnity for what is past, is a mighty encouragement for us to return to our duty, and a forcible argument to keep us to it for the future. For since God, who hath been so highly injured and affronted by us, is so willing and ready to forgive us, as not only to provide and purchase for us the means of our pardon, by the grievous sufferings of his dear Son, but to offer it so freely, and invite us so earnestly to accept of it, and to be reconciled to him; the consideration of this ought in all reason, ingenuity, and gratitude, to melt us into sorrow and repentance for our sins, and a deep sense of the evil of them, and to inflame our hearts with a mighty love to God, and our blessed Redeemer, “who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood;” and to make us extremely unwilling, nay, most firmly resolved never more to offend that merciful and gracious God, who is so slow to punish, and so forward to forgive; and effectually to engage us to a dutiful, and constant, and cheerful obedience to God’s holy laws and commandments, lest by our wilful transgression and violation of them, we should run ourselves into a deeper guilt, and aggravate our condemnation. Now that by the tender mercies of our God we are made whole, we should be infinitely afraid to sin any more, lest worse things should come to us; lest we relapse into a more incurable state, and bring a heavier load of guilt and misery upon ourselves.

Secondly, The promise of God’s grace and Holy Spirit is, likewise, a very powerful argument and encouragement to holiness and goodness, engaging us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,” that our souls and minds may be a fit temple for the Holy Ghost, which will not dwell in an impure soul: and likewise encouraging us hereto by this consideration, that we have so unerring a guide to counsel and direct us, so powerful an assistant to “strengthen us with all might in the inner man, to stand by us in all our conflicts with sin and Satan, and make us (as the apostle expresseth it) “more than conquerors” over all our spiritual enemies. For though we be weak, and our lusts strong, our enemies many, and temptations mighty and violent; yet we need not be disheartened, so long as we know that God is with us, and the grace of his Holy Spirit sufficient for us, against all the strength of sin and hell; though our duty be hard, and our strength small, yet we cannot fail of success, if we be sure that the omnipotent grace of God is always ready to second our sincere, though never so weak, endeavours. So that, when we see all the enemies of our salvation drawn up in array against us, we may encourage ourselves, as the prophet Elisha did his servant, when he told him, that an host compassed the city with horses and chariots, and said, “Alas! my master, how shall we do?” And “he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them;” (2 Kings vi. 10.) or, as Hezekiah comforted the people, when they were afraid of the mighty force of the King of Assyria: (2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8.) “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight for us.” This is the case of every Christian; the force that is against us is finite and limited; but the Almighty God is on our side, and fights for us; and every one of us may say with St. Paul, (Phil. iv. 13.) “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Thirdly, The promise of eternal life and happiness, if duly weighed and considered, hath a mighty force in it, to take us off from the love and practice of sin, and to encourage our obedience and patient continuance in well-doing. The assurance of enjoying unspeakable and endless happiness in another world, and of escaping extreme and eternal misery, is a consideration of that weight, as one would think could not fail of its efficacy upon us, to put all temptations to sin out of countenance, and to bear down before us all the difficulties and discouragements in the way of our duty. And if this make no impression upon us, if heaven and hell be of no weight with us, it will be in vain to use any other arguments, which, in comparison of this, are but as the very small dust upon the balance. For if, on the one hand, the hopes of perfect comfort, and joy, and felicity, perpetual in duration, and vast beyond all imagination, such as “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive:” and if, on the other hand, the dread of the terrible wrath of God, and of the vengeance of eternal fire, together with the insupportable torments of a guilty conscience, and the perpetual stings of bitter remorse and anguish for the wilful folly of our wicked lives, and the rage of horrible despair of ever getting out of so miserable a state; if neither of these considerations, if both of them will not prevail upon us to cease to be evil, and to resolve to be good, that we may obtain one of these conditions, and may escape the other; there is no hope that any words that can be used, any arguments and considerations that can be offered, should work upon us, or take place with us. He that is not to be tempted by such hopes, nor to be terrified by such fears, is proof against all the force of persuasion in the world.

SERMON XCVIII.

THE SUPPORT OF GOOD MEN UNDER THEIR SUFFERINGS FOR RELIGION.

Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of Go l, commit the, keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.—1 Pet. iv. 19.

THIS Epistle was written by St. Peter, who was the apostle of the circumcision to the dispersed Jews, who were newly converted to Christianity; and the design of it is to confirm and establish them in the profession of it; and to instruct them how they ought to demean themselves towards the heathen, or gentiles, among whom they lived; and, more particularly, to arm and prepare them for those sufferings and persecutions, which he foretels would shortly overtake them for the profession of Christianity, that, when they should happen, they might not be surprised and startled at them, as if some strange and unexpected thing were to come upon them; at the 12th verse of this chapter—“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you;” that is, do not wonder, and he not astonished at it; as if “some strange thing happened unto you.”

And then he instructs them more particularly, how they ought to behave themselves under those trials and sufferings, when they should happen; not only with patience, which men ought to exercise under all kind of sufferings, upon what account and cause soever; but with joy and cheerfulness, considering the glorious example and reward of them: (ver. 13.) “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy:” and at the 14th verse he tells them, that besides the encouragement of so great an example, and so glorious a reward, they should be supported and assisted in a very extraordinary manner by the Spirit of God resting upon them in a glorious manner, as a testimony of the Divine power and presence with them: (ver. 14.) “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;” or as it is in the best copies, “for the Spirit of glory and of power, even the Spirit of God, resteth upon you;” that is, the glorious power of the Divine Spirit is present with you, to comfort and bear up your spirits under these sufferings. But then he cautions them, to take great care that their sufferings be for a good cause, and a good conscience: (ver. 15.) “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer;” (that is, as an offender in any kind against human laws, made to preserve the peace and good order of the world:) “or as a busy-body in other men’s matters;” (that is, as a pragmatical person, that meddles out of his own sphere, to the disquiet and disturbance of human society:) for to suffer upon any of these accounts, would be matter of shame and trouble, but not of joy and comfort; but if they suffered upon account of the profession of Christianity, this would be no cause of shame and reproach to them; but they ought rather to give God thanks for calling them to suffer in so good a cause, and upon so glorious an account: (ver. 16.) “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian (if that be his only crime) let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf; for the time is come, that judgment must begin at the house of God; (that is, the wise and just providence of God, hath so ordered it at this time, for very good reasons and ends, that the first calamities and sufferings .should fall upon Christians, the peculiar people and church of God, for their trial, and a testimony to the truth of that religion, which God was now planting in the world:) and if it first begin at us (that is, at us Jews, who were the ancient people of God, and have now embraced and entertained the revelation of the gospel), what shall the end be of them, that obey not the gospel of Christ? (that is, how much more severely will God deal with the rest of the Jews who have crucified the Son of God, and still persist in their infidelity and disobedience to the gospel:) and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” (that is, if good men be saved with so much difficulty, and must through so many tribulations “enter into the kingdom of God,” what will become of all ungodly and impenitent sinners? where shall they appear? how shall they be able to stand in the judgment of the great day?) From the consideration of all which, the apostle makes this inference or conclusion, in the last verse of this chapter: “Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”

Thus you see the connexion and dependence of these words upon the apostle’s foregoing discourse. I shall explain the several expressions in the text, and then handle the main points contained in them.

The expressions to be explained are these: what is meant by those “that suffer according to the will of God;” what by “committing the keeping of our souls to God, as unto a faithful Creator;” and what by “well-doing.”

First, What is meant by “suffering according to the will of God.” This may be understood of suffering in a good cause, such as God will approve; but this is not so probable, because this is mentioned afterwards, in the following expressions of “committing the keeping of our souls to God in well doing;” that is, in suffering upon a good account: and therefore the plain and genuine sense of this expression seems to be this; that those who, according to the good pleasure of God’s will, and the wise dispensation of his providence, are appointed to suffer for his cause, should demean themselves so and so: “let them that suffer according to the will of God;” that is, those whom God thinks fit to call to suffering. And this agrees very well with the like expression, (chap. iii. of this Epistle, ver. 17.) “For it is better, if the will of God be so, (that is, if God have so appointed it, and think it fit) that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing.”

Secondly, What is here meant by “committing the keeping of our souls to God, as to a faithful Creator.” That is, to deposit our lives, and all that belongs to us; in a word, ourselves, in the hands and custody of his merciful care and providence who made us, and therefore we may be sure will faithfully keep what we commit to him: for, as we are his creatures, he is engaged to take care of us, and will not abandon the work of his own hands. Besides that, he hath promised to be more especially concerned for good men, to support them in their sufferings for a good cause, and to reward them for it; “and he is faithful that hath promised.”

And therefore, there is great reason and great encouragement, in all our sufferings for God’s cause and truth, to commit our souls to his care and custody; our souls, that is (as I said before) our lives, and all that belongs tons; in a word, ourselves: for so the word soul is frequently used both in the Old and New Testament: (Psal. vii. 5.) “Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it;” that is, my life; for so it follows in the next words: “yea, let him trend down my life upon the earth.” And, (Psal. liv. 3.) “Oppressors seek after my soul/ And, (Psal. lix. 3.) “They lay in wait for my soul;” that is, my life. And, (Psal. xvi. 10.) “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;” my soul, that is, myself; thou wilt not suffer me to remain in the grave, and under the power of death, but wilt raise me up to life again. And so likewise in the New Testament: (Mark viii. 33.) “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” The same word which is here rendered life, in the very next verse is rendered soul: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” that is, his life. And so, likewise (John xii. 25.) “He that loveth his life, shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world (in the original the word signifies soul), he that hateth his life in this world (that is, who neglecteth and exposeth his life in this world, for the sake of Christ), shall keep it unto life eternal.” And, (Luke ix. 25.) that which the other evangelist renders by the word soul, or life, he renders himself: “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself?” and so here, in the text, to commit “the keeping of our souls to God,” is to commit ourselves to his care and providence.

Thirdly, What is here meant by “committing ourselves to him in well-doing:” by “well-doing” is here meant, a fixed purpose and resolution of doing our duty, notwithstanding all hazards and sufferings; which is called by St. Paul, (Rom. ii. 7.) “a patient continuance in well-doing.” It signifies, some times, acts of goodness and charity; but in this Epistle it is taken in a larger sense, for constancy and resolution in the doing of our duty; as chap. ii. 15. “For so is the will of God, that with well-doing (that is, by a resolute constancy in a good course) ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” And, (ver. 20.) “But if when ye do well, and suffer for it;” that is, if when ye “suffer for well-doing, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” And (chap. iii. ver. 6.) “As long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement;” that is, are resolute and constant in doing your duty, notwithstanding all threatenings and terrors. And, (ver. 17.) “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing;” that is, for your religion and constancy in so good a cause, as Christians, and not as criminals, upon any other account.

So that the plain meaning of the words is, as if the apostle had said—Wherefore, being forewarned of suffering and persecution for the cause of religion, the sum of my direction and advice upon the whole matter is this—that since it is the will of God that ye should suffer upon this account, commit yourselves, in the constant discharge of your duty, and a good conscience, to the particular care and providence of Almighty God, as your “faithful Creator.”

And now I come to handle the particular points contained in the words; and they are these three:

First, That when men do suffer really and truly for the cause of religion, they may, with confidence, commit themselves (their lives and all that is dear to them) to the particular and more especial care of the Divine Providence.

Secondly, Always provided, that we do nothing contrary to our duty and a good conscience; for this the apostle means, by “committing ourselves to God, in well-doing.” If we step out of the way of our duty, or do any thing contrary to it, God’s providence will not be concerned for us, to bear us out in such sufferings.

Thirdly, I shall consider what ground of comfort and encouragement the consideration of God, as “a faithful Creator,” affords to us in all our sufferings for a good cause and a good conscience.

First, When men do suffer really and truly for the cause of religion and God’s truth, they may, with confidence and good assurance, commit themselves (their lives and all that is dear to them), to the particular and more especial care of his providence. In the handling of this, I shall consider these three things:

I. When men may be said to suffer really and truly for the cause of religion; and when not.

II. Mow far they may rely upon the providence of God, to bear them out in these sufferings.

SERMON XCIX.

THE SUPPORT OF GOOD MEN UNDER THEIR SUFFERINGS FOR RELIGION.

Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.—1 Pet. iv. 19.

FROM these words I proposed to consider these three points:

First, That when men do suffer really and truly for the cause of religion, they may, with confidence, commit themselves (their lives, and all that is dear to them) to the peculiar and more especial care of the Divine Providence.

Secondly, This we may do, always, provided that we be careful of our duty, and do what is required on our part; and that neither to avoid sufferings, nor to rescue ourselves out of them, we do any thing contrary to our duty and a good conscience; for this is the meaning of committing ourselves to God in well-doing.

Thirdly, To shew what ground of comfort and encouragement the consideration of God, under the notion of “a faithful Creator,” does afford to us, under all our sufferings for a good cause and a good conscience.

The first of these points I have treated on, at large, in my former discourse; I proceed now to the

Second, namely, When, in all our sufferings for the cause of religion, we may, with confidence and good assurance, commit ourselves to the peculiar and more especial care of God’s providence: this is to be understood, always provided that we be careful of our duty, and do what is required on our part; and that neither to avoid sufferings, nor to rescue ourselves out of them, we do any thing contrary to our duty and a good conscience. And this, I told you, was the meaning of committing ourselves to God in well-doing: for if we either neglect our duty, or step out of the way of it by doing things contrary to it, the providence of God will not be concerned to bear us out in such sufferings. So that in our sufferings for the cause of God and religion, to commit ourselves to him in well doing, may reasonably comprehend in it these following particulars:

1. Provided always, that we neglect no lawful means of our preservation from sufferings, or our deliverance out of them: in this case, men do not commit themselves to the providence of God, but cast themselves out of his care and protection; they do not trust God, but tempt him, and do, as it were, try whether he will stand by us when we desert ourselves, and bring us out of trouble when we would take no care, would use no endeavours to prevent it. If we will needlessly provoke trouble, and run ourselves upon sufferings; if we will neglect ourselves, and the lawful means of our preservation; if we will give up, and part with those securities of our religion which the providence of God and the laws of our country have given us; if we ourselves will help to pull down the fence which is about us; if we will disarm ourselves, and by our own act expose ourselves naked and open to danger and sufferings; why should we think, in this case, that God will help us, when we would not help ourselves by those lawful ways which the providence of God hath put into our hands?

All trust in God, and dependance upon his providence, does imply that we join prayer and endeavour together; faith in God, and a prudent and diligent use of the means: if we lazily trust the providence of God, and so cast all our care upon him, as to take none at all ourselves, God will take no care of us. In vain do we rely upon the wisdom, and goodness, and power of God; in vain do we importune and tire Heaven with our prayers to help us against our enemies and persecutors, if we ourselves will do nothing for ourselves; in vain do we hope that God will maintain and defend our religion against all the secret contrivances and open assaults of our enemies, if we, who are united in the profession of the same religion, and in all the essentials of faith and worship, will for some small differences in lesser matters, which are of no moment, in comparison of the things wherein we are agreed: I say, if for such slight matters we will divide and fall out among ourselves; if, when the enemy is at the gates, we will still pursue our heats and animosities, and will madly keep open those breaches which were foolishly made at first, what can we expect, but that the common enemy should take the advantage and enter in at them; and, whilst we are so unseasonably and senselessly contending with one another, that they should take the opportunity which we give them to destroy us all.

2. Provided, likewise, that we do not attempt our own preservation or deliverance from suffering, by evil and unlawful means: we must do nothing that is contrary to our duty and to a good conscience, nor comply with any thing, or lend a helping hand thereto, that apparently tends to the ruin of our religion, neither to divert nor put off sufferings for the present, nor to rescue ourselves from under them; because we cannot with confidence commit ourselves to the providence of God, but in well-doing.

This is an eternal rule, from whence we must in no case depart: that men must do nothing contrary to the rules and precepts of religion, no, not for the sake of religion itself: we must not break any law of God, nor disobey the lawful commands of lawful authority, to free ourselves from any sufferings whatsoever; because the goodness of no end can sanctify evil means and make them lawful: we must not speak deceitfully for God, nor lie, no, not for the truth; nor kill men, though we could thereby do God and religion the greatest service. And though all the casuists in the world should teach the contrary doctrine (as they generally do in the church of Rome), yet I would not doubt to op pose to all those the single authority of St. Paul, who expressly condemns this principle, and brands it for a damnable doctrine—that evil may be done by us that good may come. (Rom. iii. 8.) “And not as we be slanderously reported, and, as some affirm, that we say, Let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just.” St. Paul, it seems, looked upon it as a most devilish calumny to insinuate that the Christian religion gives the least countenance to such damnable doctrines and doings as these; and pronounceth their damnation to be just, who either teach any such principle, as the doctrine of Christianity, or practise according to it.

Let those look to it, who teach that a right intention and a good end will render things, which are otherwise evil and unlawful, not only lawful to be done by us, but in many cases meritorious; especially where the good of the church and the extirpation of heresy are more immediately concerned. Of this nature are the doctrines of equivocation and mental reservation, and the lawfulness of such artificial ways of lying to avoid the danger of the law, when they are brought before heretical magistrates; and this is the common doctrine of the most learned casuists of all orders in the church of Rome: and such, likewise, are their doctrines of the lawfulness of extirpating heretics by the most barbarous and bloody means, and of breaking faith with them, though given by emperors and princes in the most public and solemn manner: both which are the avowed doctrines of their general councils, and have frequently been put in practice, to the destruction of many millions of Christians, better and more righteous than themselves. But we “have not so learned Christ,” who have heard him, and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. They, who are rightly instructed in the Christian religion, are so far from thinking it lawful to do any thing that is evil to bring others under suffering, that they do not allow it in any case whatsoever; no, not for the cause of God and religion, and to free themselves from the greatest sufferings that can be inflicted upon them.

.3. Provided, also, that we do trust the providence of God, and do indeed commit ourselves to it; relying upon his wisdom and goodness, and entirely submitting and resigning up ourselves to his will and disposal, both as to the degree and the duration of our sufferings; believing that he will do that for us which, upon the whole matter, and in the final issue and result of things, will be best for us. That blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the people of Israel before his death, doth belong to all good men in all ages: “He loveth his people, and all his saints are in his hand.” (Deut. xxxiii. 3.) Innumerable are the promises in Scripture concerning the merciful providence and goodness of God towards those who trust in him, and “hope in his mercy.” (Psal. xxxii. 10.) “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” (Psal. xxxiii. 18-22.) “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him; upon them that hope in his mercy: to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him: because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” (Psal. xxxiv. 22.) “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” (Psal. xxxvii. 39, 40.) “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them because they trust in him.” (Psal. xxxi. 19.) “O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.” (Psal. lv. 22.) “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” (Psal. cxxv. i.) “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” (Isa. xxvi. 3, 4.) “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”

4. Provided yet further, that we pray earnestly to God for his gracious help and assistance, for his merciful comfort and support under sufferings; that he would be pleased to strengthen our faith, and to increase and lengthen out our patience, in proportion to the degree and duration of our sufferings.

All the promises which God hath made to us are upon this condition, that we earnestly seek and sue to him for the benefit and blessing of them. (Psal. l. 15.) “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” (Ezek. xxxvi. 37.) After a great deliverance, and many blessings promised to them, this condition is at last added, “Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” And this, likewise, is the tenor of the promises of the New Testament: (Matt. vii. 7.) “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” And in this very case that lam speaking of, God expects that we should apply ourselves to him for spiritual wisdom and grace, to behave ourselves under sufferings as we ought: Jam. i. 2, 3, 4. Where speaking” of the manifold temptations the Christians would be exercised withal, he directs them to pray to God for wisdom to demean themselves under persecutions, with patience, and constancy, and cheerfulness. “My brethren, account it all joy, when you fall into divers temptations; (meaning the temptations and trials of suffering in several kinds) knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have its perfect work.” And because this is a very difficult duty, and requires a great deal of spiritual skill, to demean ourselves under sufferings as we ought, therefore he adds in the next words, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

And this earnest application we are to make to God, for his grace and seasonable help in time of need; not to put him in mind of his promise, but to testify our dependance upon him, and expectation of all good from him. And we must likewise use great importunity in our prayers to God, to assist us and stand by us in the day of trial, and the hour of temptation. And therefore our Saviour heaps up several words, to denote the great earnestness and importunity which we ought to use in prayer, bid ding us to ask, and seek, and knock. And, to shew that he lays more than ordinary weight upon this matter, and to encourage our importunity, he spake two several parables to this purpose: the first, (Luke xi. 5.) of the man who by mere importunity prevailed with his friend to rise at midnight to do him a kindness, which our Saviour applies to encourage our importunity in prayer: (ver. 9.) “And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The other is the parable of the importunate widow and unjust judge, related by the same evangelist, (Luke xviii. 1.) with this preface to it; and “he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” And, to speak the truth, they seem, at first sight, two of the oddest of all our Saviour’s parables; as if the design of them were to insinuate to us, that God is to be prevailed upon by the mere importunity of our prayers to grant our requests: but our blessed Saviour, who best knew his own meaning, tells us, that all that he designed by it, was only to signify, that we “ought always to pray, and not to faint;” that is, to “continue instant in prayer,” and not to give over after once asking, as if we despaired of prevailing. Not that mere importunity prevails with God to give us those things which he is otherwise unwilling to grant; but because it becomes us to be fervent, and earnest, to testify our faith and confidence in the goodness of God, and the deep sense we have of our own weakness, and wants, and unworthiness; and, likewise, that we set a true value upon the blessings and favours of God, as worth all the earnestness and importunity we can use: and, in this decent and sober sense, the success of our prayers may truly be said to depend upon our importunity; not that it is necessary to move God to grant our requests, but that it becomes us to be thus a fleeted, that we may be the more fitly qualified for the grace and mercy which God is willing to confer upon us.

I have been the longer upon this, to give us a right notion of this matter, and that we may the more distinctly understand the true reason why our Saviour does require so much earnestness and importunity of prayer on our part; not at all to work upon God, and to dispose him to shew mercy to us (for that he is always inclinable to, whenever we are fit for it), but only to dispose and qualify us to receive the grace and mercy of God with greater advantage to ourselves.

5. Provided, moreover, that we be not confident of ourselves, and of the force and strength of our resolution. We know not ourselves, nor the frailty mid weakness of our own revolution, till we are tried. It is wise advice which Solomon gives us, and never more seasonable than in the day of trial: (Prov. iii. 5, 6, 7.) “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths; be not wise in thine own eyes;” that is, be not conceited and confident of thine own wisdom and strength, or ability in any kind; there is a secret providence of God, which mingles itself with the actions and spirits of men, and disposeth of us unknown to ourselves; and what we think to be the effect of our own strength and resolution, of our own wisdom and contrivance, proceeds from a higher cause, which, unseen to us, does steer and govern us. So the wise man observes: (Prov. xx. 24.) “Man’s goings are of the Lord, how can a man then understand his own ways?” And therefore we have reason every one to say with the prophet: (Jer. x. 23.) “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Our feet will soon slip, if God do not uphold us by his hand. Remember how shamefully the chief of our Lord’s disciples miscarried, by too much confidence in himself—I mean St. Peter; in whose fall we may all see our own frailty: if God do but permit the devil to have the winnowing of us, there will be a great deal of chaff found in the best of us. What St. Paul said of himself, (2 Cor. xii. 10.) “When I am weak, then am I strong;” we shall all find true, when it comes to the trial: we are then strongest, when, in a just sense of our own weakness, we rely most upon the strength and power of God.

6. Provided furthermore, that, according to our ability, we have been much in the exercise of alms and charity. For well-doing, or doing good, is sometimes taken in a narrower sense, not improper here to be mentioned, though perhaps not so particularly intended here in the text for works of charity and alms. As, (Heb. xiii. 16.) “But to do good, and to communicate (that is, to the necessities of the poor) forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” This kind of well-doing is a special preservative in times of evil; there is no kind of grace or virtue to which there are in Scripture more special promises made, of our protection and preservation from evil and suffering, of support and comfort under them, and deliverance out of them, than to this of a charitable and compassionate consideration of those who labour under want or suffering. (Psal. xxxvii. 3.) “Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed:” and (ver. 19.) speaking of righteous or merciful men, “they shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” (Psal. xli. 1, 2.) “Blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble; the Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth; and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies.”

There are, likewise, in the apocryphal books, excellent sayings for the encouragement of charity, as that which will be particularly considered and rewarded to us in the times of danger and distress, in the days of affliction and suffering. (Tob. iv. 7-10.) “Give alms of thy substance, and turn not thy face from any poor man, and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee; if thou hast abundance, give alms accordingly; if thou hast but a little, be not afraid to give according to that little, for thou layest up for thyself a good treasure against the day of necessity, because that alms do deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into darkness.” (Ecclus. iii. 31.) Speaking of him that gives alms, and is ready to do kindness to others: “He is mindful of that which may come hereafter; and when he falleth he shall find a stay.” And, (chap. xxix. 11, 12, 13.) “Lay up thy treasure according to the commandment of the Most High, and it shall bring thee more profit than gold; shut up alms in thy store-houses, and it shall deliver thee from all affliction; it shall fight for thee against thine enemies, better than a mighty shield and strong spear.”

I have often said it, and am verily persuaded of it, that one of the best signs of God’s mercy and favour to this poor nation is, that God hath been pleased, of late years, to stir up so general a disposition in men to works of alms and charity, and thereby to revive the primitive spirit of Christianity, which so eminently abounded in this grace, and taught those who believed in God to be “careful to maintain and practise good works.” And nothing gives me greater hopes that God hath mercy still in store for us, than that men are so ready to shew mercy: there are great objects to exercise our charity upon in this time of the general suspension of trade and business, from an apprehension of approaching troubles; by reason whereof, both the numbers and necessities of our poor are greatly and daily increased among us; and, besides, the poor of our own nation, God has sent us great numbers from abroad, I mean those who are fled hither for shelter from that violent storm of persecution which hath lately fallen upon them for the cause of our common religion. According to the compassion we shew to them, we may expect that God will either preserve us from the like sufferings, or graciously support us under them. What do we know but that God is now trying us, and hath purposely put this opportunity into our hands of preventing, or mitigating, or shortening, our own sufferings, according as we extend our charity and pity to those who have suffered so deeply for the cause of God and his truth?

7. Provided, in the last place, and above all, that we be sincere in our religion, and endeavour to be universally good, and “holy in all manner of conversation,” and “to abound in all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.” This is the largest sense of well-doing, and the most necessary of all the rest, to prepare us for sufferings, and to give us courage and constancy under them; and likewise to engage the providence of God to a tender care of us, and concernment for us, if he shall see it fit to bring us into a state of suffering.

But if we live in open contempt and violation of God’s laws, if we make no conscience of our ways and actions, we cannot possibly have any well-grounded trust and confidence in God; for he hates all the workers of iniquity, and his providence sets itself against them for evil. Bad men draw many mischiefs and inconveniences upon themselves, as the natural consequences of their actions; but, besides this, the vengeance of God haunts and pursues evil-doers; and his just providence many times involves them in many difficulties and dangers, besides and beyond the natural course of things. “Upon the wicked (says David) he will rain snares:” so that, as ever we expect the comfortable effects of the Divine care and providence, we must live in a dutiful obedience to God’s holy will and laws.

Bad men may make a profession of the true religion, and may in some sort believe it, though they do not live according to it; and yet, perhaps, for all this, out of a mere generosity and obstinacy of mind, they cannot bear to be threatened and terrified out of the profession of the truth; and will endure a great deal of trouble and inconveniences before they will renounce it, knowing themselves to be so far in the right that they stand for the truth, and hoping, perhaps, thereby to make some amends for their bad practice. But, when all is done, nothing gives a man true courage and resolution like the testimony of our own hearts, concerning our own sincerity, and the conscience of well-doing. And, on the contrary, he that hath not the resolution and patience to mortify his lusts, and to restrain his appetites, and to subdue his irregular passions for the sake of God and religion, will not easily bring himself to submit to great sufferings upon that account. There is considerable difficulty in the practice of religion, and the resolute course of a holy life; but surely it is much easier to live as religion requires we should do, than to lay down our lives for it; and (as I have told you upon another occasion), he that cannot prevail with himself to live like a saint, will much more hardly be persuaded to die a martyr. I proceed to the

Third point, namely, What ground of comfort and encouragement the consideration of God, under the notion of a faithful Creator, does afford to us, under all our sufferings, for a good conscience and a good cause. “Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” And in this I shall be very brief.

And this is a firm ground of comfort and encouragement to us, under all our sufferings for God, to consider him as the Author of our beings, or as it is expressed in the text, as “a faithful Creator;” one that is not fickle and inconstant in his affection and kindness to his creatures, but is true to his own design, and will not abandon and forsake the work of his own hands: so great a benefit as that of our beings, freely conferred upon us, is but an earnest of God’s further kindness to us, and future care of us; if, by our ill carriage towards him, we do not render ourselves unworthy and incapable of it; that we are God’s creatures, is a demonstration that he hath a kindness for us: if he had not, he would never hare made us; as it is excellently said in the Wisdom of Solomon: (chap. xi. 23, 24.) “Thou hast mercy upon all, for thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made; for never wouldst thou have made any thing if thou hadst hated it.” And, (ver. 26.) “Thou sparest all, for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.”

To whom then may we with so much confidence commit ourselves, as to him who freely gave us our being? From whom may we expect so tender a regard and consideration of our case, and all the circumstances of it, as from this great founder and benefactor? For he that made us knows our frame, and whereof we are made, and how much we are able to bear; he considers our strength, or rather our weakness, and what courage and resolution he hath endued us withal, and what comfort and support we stand in need of in the day of tribulation. And as they who make armour are wont to try that which they think to be good and well-tempered with a stronger charge not to break and hurt it, but to prove and praise it, so God exerciseth those whom he hath fitted and tempered for it, with manifold temptations, “that the trial of their faith,” as St. Peter expresseth it, (1 Pet. i. 7.) “being much more precious than of gold tried in the fire, may be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

So that this consideration, that we are God’s creatures, does (as I may say) oblige him in faithfulness to his own act, and in consequence of his bringing us into being at first, to be concerned for us after wards, so as never to abandon us, nor quite to take away his loving-kindness and mercy from us, till we are good for nothing, and do in a manner cease to be what he made us, that is, reasonable creatures. A person or people must have proceeded to the utmost degree of degeneracy, when God will consider them no longer as his creatures, nor shew any pity or favour to them; things must be come to extremity, when God deals thus with us, as he threatened the people of Israel: (Isaiah xxvii. 11.) “When the boughs are withered, they shall be broken off, and set on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.”

And now I have done with the three points which I proposed to handle from this text; and the discourse which I have made upon them, does all along apply itself, by directing us how we ought to commit ourselves to the providence of God in all cases of danger and suffering, especially for the cause of God and his truth; viz. in the faithful discharge of our duty and a good conscience, and by a firm trust and confidence in the wisdom and goodness of the Divine Providence, not doubting but that he who made us, and knows our frame, will have a tender care of us, and “not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able.”

And as to our present danger, and that terrible storm which threatens us, let us pray to God, if it be his will, to divert it; but if otherwise he hath determined, to tit and prepare us for it. And let us be fervent and earnest in our prayers to him, not that he is moved by our importunity, but that we may thereby be qualified and made fit to receive the mercy which we beg of him.

And let us take this occasion to do that which we should have done without it, to break off our sins by repentance, and to turn every one of us from the evil of our ways; that hereby we may render God propitious to us, and put ourselves under the more immediate care and protection of his providence; that we may prevent his judgments, and turn away his wrath and displeasure from us, as he did once from a great and sinful city and people, upon their sincere humiliation and repentance, (Jonah iii. 10.) where it is said of the people of Nineveh, that “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not.” Above all, let us be sincere in the profession of our religion, and conscientious in the practice of it; no thing will bear us up under great trials and sufferings, like “the testimony of a good conscience, void of offence towards God and towards men.”

SERMON C.

OF THE WORK ASSIGNED TO EVERY MAN, AND THE SEASON FOR DOING IT.

1 must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.—Johnix. 4.

THESE words our blessed Saviour spake of himself, whilst he was upon earth; in which he tells us, that he was sent by God into the world, and had a certain work and employment appointed him during his abode in it. A great work indeed! to instruct, and reform, and save mankind. A work of great labour and pains, and patience, not to be done in a short time; and yet the time for doing it was not long after he came into the world: it was a good while before he began it; and, after he began it, the time of working was not long before the night came, and put an end to it: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

But this which our Saviour here speaks of himself, and which properly belongs to him, and no other, may yet be accommodated to every man, with some allowance for the difference and disproportion. For though every man be not sent by (Jud into the world after so peculiar a manner, and upon so particular and vast a design; yet upon a general account, every man is sent by God into this world, and hath a work given him to do in it, which he is concerned vigorously to mind, and to prosecute with all his might. And though every man be not sent to save the whole world, as the Son of God was, yet every man is sent by God into the world, to work out his own salvation, and to take care of that, in the first place, and then to promote the salvation of others, as much as in him lies. So that every one of us may, in a very good sense, accommodate these words of our Saviour to himself: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

I shall therefore, at this time, take the liberty to handle these words according to this moral accommodation of them, and apply what our Saviour here says of himself, to every man that cometh into the world; and this I shall do, by shewing these three things:

First, That every man hath a work assigned him to do in this world, by him that sent him into it; and may in some sense say, as our blessed Saviour did of himself, “I must work the works of him that sent me.”

Secondly, That there is a certain and limited time for every man to do this work in. “While it is day.”

Thirdly, That after this season is expired, there will be no further opportunity of working. “The night cometh, when no man can work.”

First, Every man hath a work assigned him to do in this world, by him that sent him into it, and may in some sense say, as our blessed Saviour did of himself, “I must work the works of him that sent me.” God, who made man a reasonable creature, and hath endowed him with faculties, whereby he is capable of knowing and serving him, hath appointed him a work and service suitable to these faculties; and, having infused an immortal soul into this earthly body, hath certainly designed him for a state beyond this life, in which he shall be for ever happy or miserable, according as he useth and demeans himself in this world.

So that the work which every one of us hath to do in this world, is to prepare and fit ourselves for that eternal duration which remains for us after death. For the life which we live now in this world, is a time of exercise, a short state of probation and trial, in order to a durable and endless state, in which we shall be immutably fixed in another world. This world into which we are now sent for a little while, is, as it were, God’s school, in which immortal spirits, clothed with flesh, are trained and bred up for eternity: and therefore the best, the only sure way to be happy for ever, is so to improve the short and uncertain time of this life, that we may approve ourselves to God in this world, and enjoy him in the next: or (as St. Paul expresseth it) that “having our fruit unto holiness, our end may be everlasting life.”

And this work consists in these three things:

I. In the care of our own salvation.

II. In doing what we can to promote the salvation of others.

III. And, in order to both these, in the careful improvement and good husbandry of our time.

I. In the care of our own salvation. And this consists in two things:

1. In the worship of Almighty God.

2. In the careful and conscientious practice and obedience of his holy laws.

1. The care of our own salvation consists in the pious and devout worship of Almighty God; that we honour him, and pay him that homage and respect, which is due from creatures to him that made them, and is the great Sovereign and Judge of the world; that we have an inward reverence and esteem of him, and that we express this by all solemn external acknowledgments of him; as by praying to him for the supply of our wants; by praising him for all the blessings and benefits which we hare received at his hands; and that we set apart constant and solemn times for the performance of these duties; and that, when we are employed in them, we be serious and hearty, and attentive to what we are about, and perform every part of Divine worship with those circumstances of reverence and respect, which may testify our awful sense of the Divine Majesty, and our inward and profound veneration of him, with whom we have to do: and this is that which is directly and properly religion.

2. This care of our own salvation does consist, likewise, in the conscientious and constant obedience and practice of all God’s holy laws, in the conformity of our lives and actions to the laws which he hath given us, whether they be natural, or written upon our hearts, or made known to us by the revelation of his word; that we govern our passions by reason, and moderate ourselves in the use of sensual delights, -so as not to transgress the rules of temperance and chastity; that we demean ourselves to wards others, and converse with them with justice and fidelity, with kindness and charity.

These are the sum of the Divine laws, and the heads of our duty towards ourselves and others; all which are more powerfully enforced upon us by the revelation of the gospel, and the plain promises and threatenings of it; the faith of Christ being the most firm and effectual principle both of piety to wards God, and of universal obedience to all his particular commands.

And this is the great work which God hath sent us to do in the world. So the wise man sums up our duty: (Eccles. xii. 13.) “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” The fear and reverence of the Divine Majesty is the great foundation and principle of religion; but obedience to God’s laws is the life and practice of it. God does not expect that we should spend the greatest part of our time in the immediate acts of religion, and in the solemn duties of his worship and service; but only that we should allot a fitting proportion of our time to these, according to the circumstances of our condition in this world, and the example of holy and good men that are in the like circumstances with ourselves. For such is the goodness of God, that he does not only allow us to provide for the necessaries and conveniences of this life, but hath made it our duty so to do. It is one of the precepts of the gospel, which the apostle chargeth the bishops and teachers of the gospel to inculcate frequently upon Christians, “that they which have believed in God, should be careful to maintain good works;” that is, to employ themselves in the works of an honest calling: for necessary uses; that is, for the support of their families, and the relief of those who are in want and necessity. And the apostle lays great weight and stress upon this as a very great duty: (Tit. iii. 8.) “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men;” that is, of general benefit and advantage to mankind.

So that no man’s calling is a hinderance to religion, but a part of it; and by performing the duties of piety in their proper seasons, and spending the rest of our time in any honest and useful employment, we may make our whole life a perpetual serving of God; we may glorify God in our eating and drinking, and in all other lawful and useful actions of life. In serving the occasions and necessities of life with sobriety and temperance, and in managing our worldly commerce with justice and integrity, we may serve God, and perform consider able duties of religion.

So that provided we do nothing that is sinful, and manage the actions and concernments of this life with a due regard and subserviency to the great interests of eternity, we may do the work of God all the while we are providing for ourselves, and employed in the works of an honest calling: for God, who hath designed this life in order to the other, considers the necessities of our present state, and allows us to make provision for it.

There are some persons, indeed, whose birth and condition sets them above the common employments of life, and the works of an ordinary calling: but these also have a work given them to do: for God hath sent no man into the world to no purpose, and only to take his pastime therein; neque enim ita generati sumus a natura, ut ad ludum et jocum facti esse videamur; sed ad severitatem potius, et quaedam studia graviora atque majora: “For we are not (says Tully de offic. lib. 1.) so framed by nature, as if we were made for sport and jest, but for more serious employments, and for greater and weightier business;” and those who are tied to no particular calling, may allow so much larger portions of their time to religion, and the service of God: and God likewise expects from them, that they should be useful to mankind in some higher and nobler way, according to the publicness of their station and influence. Such persons may be serviceable to their country, and the affairs of government, and in the care of public justice, and may employ their time in preparing and rendering themselves more fit for this service. They may find a great deal of work to do in the good government of their families, and in the prudent care and management of their estates, and in reconciling differences among their neighbours, and in considering the necessities of the poor, and providing for their supply.

So that, besides the proper work of religion, and the more immediate service of God, every man in the world, how exempt soever his condition be from the common care and drudgery of human life, may find work enough wherein he may usefully employ all his time, and provide for his own, and for the common benefit of mankind; and God expects it as a duty from such, that every man should employ himself in some work or other, suitable to the station in which God hath placed him in this world.

II. The work which God hath given us to do in the world, consists in doing what we can to further and promote the salvation of others. This chiefly lies upon us, who are the ministers of God, and to whom the word of reconciliation is committed. We are more especially commissioned and appointed for this work, and are ambassadors for Christ, to beseech men in his stead to be reconciled to God. We are sent by God in a more peculiar manner, and appointed for this very work, to watch for men’s souls, and to be instruments and means of their eternal happiness. And therefore we who are sent by God in a more peculiar manner, and have this work as signed to do in the world, ought to be very vigorous and industrious in it: and this, whether we consider the nature of our employment, or the glorious reward of it.

1. If we consider the nature of our employment, both in respect of the honour and the happiness of it. It is the most honourable work that mortal man can be employed in; it is the same in kind, and in the main end and design of it, with that of the blessed angels; for we also are “ministering spirits, sent forth” by God to minister for the good of those “who shall be heirs of salvation.” We are the messengers and ambassadors of God to men, sent to treat with them about the terms of their peace and reconciliation with God, to offer salvation to them, and to direct them to the best ways and means of procuring it. Nay, we have the honour to be employed in the very same work that the Son of God was, when he was upon the earth, “to seek and to save them that are lost;” and “to call sinners to repentance;” and to carry on that work, whereof he himself laid the foundation, when he was in the world. And what greater honour can be put upon the sons of men, than to help forward that glorious design and undertaking of the Son of God for the salvation of mankind?

And it is an employment no less happy than honourable; it is not to drudge about the mean and low concernments of this life, a perpetual toil and care about “what we shall eat and drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed,” which is the business of a worldly employment; but it is a direct and immediate “seeking the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” and a continual endeavour to promote these. It does not consist in the labour of our body, and in bodily toil; but in the delightful exercise of our minds, about the best and noblest objects, God, and heaven, and eternity; in an earnest and faithful endeavour, by all wise ways and means, to gain souls to God, and to turn sinners from the errors of their ways, and to prevent their eternal ruin and destruction; and, next to the procuring of our own happiness, to be instrumental to the happiness of others, which is certainly the most pleasant and noble work that we can possibly be employed in; especially if we consider that, by the very nature of our employment we do at the same time, and by the very same means, carry on both these designs, of the salvation of ourselves and others. So St. Paul tells Timothy, when he exhorts him, upon this very consideration, to give himself wholly to this blessed work; because, says he, “in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (1 Tim. iv. 16.) And when two of the greatest and best designs in the world, our own happiness in the salvation of others, do so happily meet in one, and are jointly carried on by the same labour: this ought to be a great spur and incitement to us, to be vigorous and unwearied, and “abundant in the work of the Lord;” and a mighty encouragement to us “to preach the word, to be instant in season, and out of season,” and “to be examples to others, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity;” as St. Paul chargeth Timothy in the most solemn and awful manner, “before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom.” (1 Tim. iv. 12. and 2 Tim. iv. 1.) And then,

2. If we consider the glorious reward of this work; if we be faithful and industrious in it, it will advance us to a higher degree of glory and happiness in the other world. “They that be wise (says the prophet, Dan. xii. 3.) shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.” They that are industrious in this work, as they are worthy of double honour in this world, so they shall shine with a double glory and lustre in^the other.

But though this work of promoting the salvation of others be chiefly incumbent upon those whose office it is to attend upon this very thing, yet we are all of us concerned in it; according to the advantages and opportunities we have for it. Every man is concerned to help forward the salvation of his brother, and not to let him perish, if he can help it; and it is in every man’s power to contribute something to this blessed work of saving others, by seasonable counsel and advice, by kind and gentle reproof, but especially by a holy and exemplary conversation, by a shining virtue, which hath a silent power of persuasion, and I know not what secret charm and attraction to draw and allure others to the imitation of it.

III. And in order to both these, the saving of ourselves and others, this work which God hath given us to do in the world, consists in the careful use and good husbandry of our time; for without this, neither the one nor the other can be promoted and carried on to any purpose. Time is the season and opportunity of carrying on of any work, and for that reason is one of the most valuable things; and yet nothing is more wastefully spent, and more prodigally squandered away by a great part of mankind than this, which, next to our immortal souls, is of all other things most precious; because, upon the right use or abuse of our time, our eternal happiness or misery does depend. Men have generally some guard upon themselves, as to their money and estates, and will not with eyes open suffer others to rob and deprive them of it: but we will let any body almost rob us of our time; and are contented to expose this precious treasure to every body’s rapines and extortion, and can quietly look on, whilst men thrust in their hands, and take it out by whole handfuls, as if it were of no greater value than silver was in Solomon’s days, no more than “the stones in the street.” And yet when it is gone, all the silver and gold in the world cannot purchase and fetch back the least moment of it, when perhaps we would give all the world for a very small part of that time, which we parted with upon such cheap and easy terms.

Good God! what a stupid and senseless prodigality is this! do we consider what we do, when we give away such large portions of our time to our ease and pleasure, to diversion and idleness, to trilling and unprofitable conversation, to the making and receiving of impertinent visits, and the usual and almost inseparable attendants thereof, spiteful observations upon them that are present, and slandering and backbiting those that are absent, (for the great design of most people in visits, is not to better one another, but to spy and make faults, and not to mend them; to get time off their hands, to shew their fine clothes, and to recommend themselves to the mutual contempt of one another, by a plentiful impertinence;) when we part with it by wholesale in sleep and dressings, and can spend whole mornings between the comb and the glass, and the after noon at plays, and whole nights in gaming, or in riot, and lewdness, and intemperance; in all which, people commonly waste their money and their time together!

Nay, how do even the best of us misplace this precious treasure; and though we do not employ it to wicked purposes, and in works of iniquity, yet we do not apply it to the best and noblest use—to the glory of God, and the good and salvation of men; by thus laying out this treasure, we might “lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven,” and help others on in the way thither.

Thus our blessed Saviour employed his precious time, in “going about doing good,” in all kinds and upon all occasions, healing the bodies and enlightening the minds, and saving the souls of men: this was his business, and this was his delight; it was his “meat and drink,” and his very life, he spent himself in it, and sacrificed his ease, and his safety, and his life, to these great ends for which he came into the world: he considered the goodness and the greatness of his work, and the little time he had to do it in, which made him incessantly industrious in it, and to run the race which was set before him with great speed, and to “work while it is day,” because he knew the night would come “when no man can work.” And this brings me to the

Second thing I observed from the text; namely, that there is a certain and limited time for every man to do this work in; “while it is day—I must work the works of him that sent me, whilst it is day.” And this day comprehends all the opportunities of our life, which will be soon over, and therefore had need to be well spent. A great part of our rife is past before the season of working begins: it is a great while before the use of our reason begins, and we come to have our senses exercised to discern between good and evil; before our understandings are ripe for the serious consideration of God and religion, and for the due care of our souls, and for the eternal concernment of another world; so that this first part of our life is in a great measure useless and unprofitable to us, in regard to our great design. For infancy and childhood are but the dawnings of this day, and no fit time to work in; and youth, which is as the morning of this day, though it is the flower of our time, and the most proper season of all other for the remembrance of God and the impressions of religion; yet it is usually possessed by vanity and vice; the common custom and practice of the world, hath devoted this best part of our age to the worst employments, to the service of sin and of our lusts. How very few are there that lay hold of this opportunity, and employ it to the best purposes? And yet the following course of our lives doth in a great measure depend upon it; for most persons do continue and hold on in the way in which they set out at first, whether it be good or bad. And those who neglect to improve this first opportunity of their lives, do seldom recover themselves afterwards. God’s grace may seize upon men in any part of their lives; but, according to the most ordinary methods of it, the foundations and principles of religion and virtue are most commonly laid in a pious and virtuous education. This is the great opportunity of our lives, which settleth and fixeth most men, either in a good or bad course; and the fortune of their whole lives does usually follow it, and depend upon it.

It is true, indeed, our day continues many times a great while longer, and we are to work while it continues^ and it is never too late to begin to do well, and to enter upon a good course; but there is no such proper and advantageous season for the beginning of this work, as in our youth and tender years. “This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation.” God’s grace is then most forward and ready to assist us; and we are then least of all in disposed for the receiving of the impressions of it; and the impressions of it do then go deepest into our minds, and are most lasting and durable. But if we neglect this opportunity, we provoke God, by degrees, to withdraw his grace, and to take away his Holy Spirit from us, and by degrees we settle in vicious habits, and are every day more and more hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. It is never too late to work while the day lasts; but the sooner we begin this work, and set about it in good earnest, the easier we shall find it; if we defer it late, every step. will be up the hill, and against the grain.

Thirdly, After this season is expired, there will be no further opportunity of working; when this day is once at an end, then cometh the night “when no man can work.” The night is a time unfit for work, when we can hardly do any thing, if we had never so great mind to it; and there is such a night coining upon every one of us, and woe be to us if we have our work to do when the night overtakes us.

There is usually an evening before this night, when it will be very difficult for us, and next to impossible, to do this work; and this is the time of sickness and old age, in which men are commonly unlit for any work, but most of all, that which requires the whole force and vigour of our minds, the business of religion. If we attempt this work then, we shall go very heartlessly about it, and do it very imperfectly, and be forced to slubber it over, and to huddle it up in great haste and confusion, and so as we can hardly hope that God will accept it. For how unfit are men to do any thing, when they are full of the sense of their own infirmities, and life itself is become so great a burden to them, that they are hardly able to stand under it! How incapable shall we then be of doing the greatest and most momentous work of our lives, when our faculties are almost quite spent and worn out, and all the powers of life are decayed in us; when our understandings are dark and dull, our memories frail and treacherous, and our hearts hard and “deceitful above all things!” When sickness and old age overtake us, we shall then find to our sorrow, that “sufficient for that day is the evil thereof;” we shall have need then of nothing else to do, but to bear our infirmities with patience and decency; and it is well if we can rally together, of the broken forces of our reason, so much as may be a sufficient guard to us against peevishness and discontent; we had need then have nothing else to do, but to be old and weak, to be sick and die.

Besides, how can we expect that God should accept of any work that we do at such a time? With what face can we put off God with the dregs of our life? or how can we hope that he will be pleased with the service of those years, which we ourselves “take no pleasure in? if we offer the lame in sacrifice, is it not evil? and if we offer the blind, is it not evil? offer it now to thy governor, and see if he will be pleased with thee.”

And sickness is commonly as bad a time as old age, and usually encumbered with greater difficulties, and clogged with more indispositions. If a violent distemper seize upon us, it many times takes away the use of our reason, and deprives us of all opportunity of consideration; it makes us both insensible of the danger of our condition, and incapable of using the means to avoid it. And if we have neglected religion before, and have put off the great work of our life to the end of it, our opportunity is irrecoverably lost; for there is nothing to be done in religion when our reason is once departed from us; the night is then come indeed, and darkness hath overtaken us; and though we be still alive, yet are we as unfit for any work, as if we were naturally dead.

And this is no such rare and extraordinary case; for it happens to many; and every man that wilfully defers the work of religion and repentance to a dying hour, hath reason to fear that he shall be thus surprised in his sin and security, and by the just judgment of God deprived of all the opportunity of life and salvation, while he is yet in the land of the living.

But if God be more merciful unto us, and visit us with such a sickness as leaves us the use of our understandings, yet all that we do in religion, at such a time, proceeds from so violent a cause, from the present (error of death, and the dreadful apprehension of that eternal misery which is just ready to swallow us up, that it is one of the hardest things in the world, not only for others, but even for ourselves, to know whether our resolutions, and this sudden and hasty fit of repentance, be sincere or not: for it is natural, and almost unavoidable, for a man to repent, and be sorry for what he hath done, when he is going to execution; but the great question is, what this man would do if his life were spared? whether his repentance would hold good, and he would become a new man, and change his former course of life, or relapse into it again? And it is by no means certain that he would not be as bad as he was before: because we see many, who, when they lie upon a sick bed, give all imaginable testimony of a deep sorrow, and a hearty repentance for their sins, who yet, upon their recovery, return to their former sins with a greater appetite, and make themselves ten times more the children of wrath than they were before. So that all the work that we can do at such a time ought not to be much reckoned upon, and can give us little or no comfort; because it is so infinitely uncertain whether it be real and sincere, and whether the effect of so violent a cause would last and continue if the cause were removed. Therefore we should “work while it is day;” for whatever we do in this evening of our lives, will be done with great difficulty, and with very doubtful success.

But, besides this evening, there is a night coming, “when no man can work: death will seize upon us, and then our state will be irrecoverably concluded: after that it will be impossible for us to do any thing towards our own salvation, or to have any thing done for us by others; the prayers of the living will not avail the dead; “as the tree falls, so it lies; there is no wisdom, nor counsel, nor device in the grave” whither we are going; therefore, according to the counsel of the wise man, “what our hand findeth to do, let us do it with our might.”

This counsel concerns all ages and persons. I will apply it to the young, in the words of the wise preacher: (Eccles. xii. 1.) “Remember, now, thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when them shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” To them who are in the vigour of their age, in the words of the prophet, (Isa. lv. 6.) “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” And, to them that are old, in the words of another prophet, (Jer. xiii. 16.) “Give glory to the Lord your God, before he causeth darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.” And let us, every one of us, of what age or condition soever, apply it to ourselves, in the words of our blessed Saviour here in the text: “I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

SERMON CI.

OF THE GREAT DUTIES OF NATURAL RELIGION, WITH THE WAYS AND MEANS OF KNOWING THEM.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but, to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?—Micah vi. 6, 7, 8.

IN the beginning of this chapter, the prophet tells the people of Israel, that the Lord had a controversy with them; and, that he might direct them how to take up this quarrel, he brings in one making this inquiry in the name of the people: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and how myself before the high God: That is, by what kind of worship or devotion may I address myself to him in the most acceptable manner? by what means may I hope to appease his displeasure? To satisfy this inquiry, he first instanceth in the chief kinds of sacrifices and expiations that were in use among the Jews and heathens: “Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings?” the constant sacrifice that was offered to God by way of acknowledgment of his dominion over the creatures; “with calves of a year old?” which was the sin-offering which the high-priest offered for himself. Or, will he rather accept of those great and costly sacrifices which were offered upon solemn and public occasions, such as that was which Solomon offered at the dedication of the temple? “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?” Or, if none of these will do, shall I try to atone him, after the manner of the heathen, by the dearest thing in the world, the first-born of my children? “Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” If God was to be appeased at all, surely, they thought, it must be by some of these ways; for, beyond these, they could imagine nothing of greater value and efficacy.

But the prophet tells them, that they were quite out of the way in thinking to pacify God upon these terms? that there are other things which are much better and more pleasing to him than any of these sacrifices. For some of them were expressly for bidden by God, as “the offering up of our children;” and, for the rest, they were not good in themselves, but merely by virtue of their institution, and because they were commanded. But the things which he would recommend to them are such as are good in their own nature, and required of us by God upon that account. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

So that in these words you have,

First, An inquiry which is the best way to appease God when he is offended? “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?”

Secondly, The way that men are apt to take in this case; and that is, by some external piece of religion and devotion; such as were sacrifices both among Jews and heathens. “Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,” &c. By which question the prophet intimates, that men are very apt to pitch upon this course.

Thirdly, The course which God himself directs to, and which will effectually pacify him. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee,” &c.

The first being a mere question, there needs no more to be said of it; only, that it is a question of great importance: what is the most effectual way to appease God when we have offended him? For who can bear his indignation; and who can stand before him when once he is angry? Let us consider, then, in the

Second place, The way that men are apt to take to pacify God; and that is, by some external piece of religion and devotion; such as were sacrifices among the Jews and heathens. “Shall I come before him with burnt-offering?” This is the way which men are most apt to choose. The Jews, you see, pitched upon the external parts of their religion; those which were most pompous and solemn; the richest and most costly sacrifices; so they might but keep their sins they were well enough content to offer up any thing else to God; they thought nothing too good for him, provided he would not oblige them to become better.

And thus it is among ourselves, when we apprehend God is displeased with us, and his judgments are abroad in the earth, we are content to do any thing but to learn righteousness; we are willing to submit to any kind of external devotion and humiliation, to fast and pray, to afflict ourselves and to cry mightily unto God; things some of them good in themselves, but the least part of that which God requires of us.

And as for the church of Rome, in case of public judgments and calamities, they are the most inquisitive and (as they pretend) the most skilful people in the world to pacify God; and they have a thousand solemn devices to this purpose. I do not wrong them by representing them inquiring after this manner: “Shall I go before a crucifix, and bow myself to it, as to the high God? And because the Lord is a great King, and it is, perhaps, too much boldness and arrogancy to make immediate addresses always to him; to which of the saints or angels shall I go to mediate for me, and intercede on my behalf? Will the Lord be pleased with thou sands of paternosters, or with ten thousands of Ave-Marias? Shall the host travel in procession, or my self undertake a tedious pilgrimage? Or shall I list myself a soldier for the holy war, or for the extirpation of heretics? Shall I give half my estate to a convent for my transgression, or chastise and punish my body for the sin of my soul?” Thus men deceive themselves, and will submit to all the extravagant severities that the petulancy and folly of men can devise and impose upon them. And, indeed, it is not to be imagined, when men are once under the power of superstition, how ridiculous they may be, and yet think themselves religious! how prodigiously they may play the fool, and yet believe they please God; what cruel and barbarous things they may do to themselves and others, and yet be verily persuaded they do God good service.

And what is the mystery of all this, but that men are loath to do that, without which nothing else that we do is acceptable to God? They hate to be reformed; and for this reason they will be content to do any thing rather than be put to the trouble of mending themselves: every thing is easy in comparison of this task, and God may have any terms of them, so he will let them be quiet in their sins, and excuse them from the real virtues of a good life. And this brings me to the

Third thing which I principally intended to speak to: The course which God himself directs to, and which will effectually pacify him. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” In the handling of which I shall

First, Consider those several duties which God here requires of us, and upon the performance of which he will be pacified towards us.

Secondly, By what ways and means God hath discovered these duties to us, and the goodness of them: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good,” &c.

I. We will briefly consider the several duties which God here requires of us, and upon the performance of which he will be pacified towards us. “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

It was usual among the Jews to reduce all the duties of religion to these three heads: justice, mercy, and piety; under the first two, comprehending the duties which we owe to one another; and, under the third, the duties which we owe to God.

1. Justice. And I was going to tell you what it is, but I considered that every man knows it as well as any definition can explain it to him. I shall only put you in mind of some of the principal instances of it, and the several virtues comprehended under it. And,

First, Justice is concerned in the making of laws, that they be such as are equal and reasonable, useful and beneficial, for the honour of God and religion, and for the public good of human society; this is a great trust, in the discharge of which, if men be biassed by favour or interest, and drawn aside from the consideration and regard of the public good, it is a far greater crime, and of worse consequence, than any private act of injustice between man and man.

And, then, justice is also concerned in the due execution of laws; which are the guard of private property, the security of public peace and of religion and good manners. And,

Lastly, In the observance of laws and obedience to them; which is a debt that every man owes to human society.

But more especially, justice is concerned in the observance of those laws, whether of God or man, which respect the rights of men, and their mutual commerce and intercourse with one another. That we use honesty and integrity in all our dealings, in opposition to fraud and deceit; truth and fidelity, in opposition to falsehood and breach of trust; equity and good conscience, in opposition to all kind of oppression and exaction. These are the principal branches and instances of this great and comprehensive duty of justice; the violation whereof is so much the greater sin, because this virtue is the firmest bond of human society, upon the observation whereof the peace and happiness of mankind does so much depend.

2. Mercy, which does not only signify the in ward affection of pity and compassion towards those that are in misery and necessity, but the effects of it, in the actual relief of those whose condition calls for our charitable help and assistance; by feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and visiting the sick, and vindicating the oppressed, and comforting the afflicted, and ministering ease and relief to them if it be in our power. And this is a very lovely virtue, and argues more goodness in men than mere justice doth. For justice is a strict debt; but mercy is favour and kindness. And this, perhaps, may be the reason of the different expressions in the text, that when God barely commands us to do justly, he requires we should love mercy; that is, take a particular pleasure and delight in the exercise of this virtue, which is so proper and agreeable to mankind, that we commonly call it humanity; giving it its name from our very nature. In short, it is so excellent a virtue that I should be very sorry that any religion should be able to pretend to the practice of it more than our own.

3. Piety; “To walk humbly with thy God.” “To walk humbly in the fear of the Lord;” so the Chaldee paraphrase renders these words. And (his phrase may comprehend all those acts of religion which refer immediately to God; a firm belief of his being and perfections; an awful sense of him as the dread Sovereign and righteous Judge of the world; a due regard to his service, and a reverent behaviour of ourselves towards him in all acts of worship and religion, in opposition to atheism and a profane neglect and contempt of God and religion; a new and monstrous kind of impiety! which of late years hath broke in upon us, and got head among us, not only contrary to the example of former ages, but in despite of the very genius and temper of the nation, which is naturally devout and zealous in religion.

Or else this phrase of “walking humbly with God,” may refer more particularly to the posture and condition of the people of Israel at that time, who were fallen under the heavy displeasure of God for their sins. And then the duty required is, that being sensible how highly God hath been offended by us, by the general corruption and viciousness of the age, which, like a leprosy, hath spread itself almost over the whole body of the nation, and by that open lewdness and those insolent impieties which are daily committed amongst us; I say, that, being deeply sensible of this, we do, with all humility, acknowledge our sins to God, and repent of them, and implore his mercy and forgiveness, and resolve by his grace to turn every one from the evil of our ways, and from the wickedness that is in our hands; which God grant we may every one do this day

This Sermon was preached upon occasion of a public fast.

SERMON CII.

INSTITUTED RELIGION NOT INTENDED TO UNDERMINE NATURAL.

But go ye and learn what that meaneth; I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.—Matt. ix. 13.

ONE of the most successful attempts that have been made upon religion, by the devil and his instruments, hath been by setting the laws of God at variance with themselves, and by dashing the several parts of religion, and the two tables of the law against one another, to break all in pieces, and, under a pretence of advancing that part of religion which is instituted and revealed, to undermine and destroy that which is natural, and of primary obligation.

To manifest and lay open the mischievous consequences of this design, I shall at this time (by God’s assistance) endeavour to make out these two things:

First, That natural religion is the foundation of all instituted and revealed religion.

Secondly, That no revealed or instituted religion was ever designed to takeaway the obligation of natural duties, but to confirm and establish them.

And to this purpose, I have chosen these words of our Saviour for the foundation of my following discourse: “But go ye and learn what that meaneth; I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” The occasion of which words was briefly this: the pharisees found fault with him for keeping company, and eating with publicans and sinners. He owns the thing which they objected to him, and endeavours to vindicate himself from any crime or fault in so doing; and that these two ways:

1. By telling them that it was allowed to a physician, and proper for his office and profession, to converse with the sick, in order to their cure and recovery. He may abstain, if he pleaseth, from the conversation of others; but the sick have need of him, and are his proper care, and his business and employment lies among them: “he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance: they, who were already good, needed not to be called upon to amend and reform their lives; and they that were so conceited of their own righteousness, as the pharisees were, and so confident that they were sound and whole, would not admit of a physician, and thereby rendered themselves incapable of cure; and therefore he did not apply himself to them; but to the publicans and sinners, who were acknowledged, on all hands, both by themselves and others, to be bad men; so that it could not be denied, to be the proper work of a spiritual physician to converse with such persons.

2. By endeavouring to convince them of their ignorance of the true nature of religion, and of the rank and order of the several duties thereby required; “But go ye and learn what that meaneth; I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;” which saying is quoted by him out of the prophet Hosea, (chap. vi. 6.) “I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings;” which text our Saviour cites and applies upon two several occasions; the considering and comparing of which will give full light to the true meaning of it.

The first is here in the text, upon occasion of the pharisees finding fault with him, for conversing with publicans and sinners; the other is, (Matt. xii. 7.) where the pharisees blaming the disciples of our Saviour for plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath-day, our Saviour tells them, “If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless;” that is, if they had understood the true nature of religion, and what duties of it are chiefly and in the first place to be regarded, they would not have been so forward to censure this action of his disciples.

So that the plain meaning of this saying is this: that, in comparing the parts of religion and the obligation of duties together, those duties which are of moral and natural obligation are most valued by God, and ought to take place of those which are positive and ritual. “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;” that is, rather than sacrifice, according to the true meaning of this Hebrew phrase, which is to be understood in a comparative sense, as is evident from the text itself, in Hosea—“I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings;” if they cannot be observed together, let sacrifice be neglected, and the work of mercy be done.

And the reason of this seems very plain; because shewing mercy, or doing good in any kind, is a prime instance of those moral duties, which do naturally and perpetually oblige; but sacrifice is an instance of positive and ritual observances, and one of the chief of the kind: so that when moral duties and ritual observances come in competition, and do clash with one another, the observation of a rite, or positive institution, is to give way to a moral duty; and it is no sin, in that case, to neglect the observation of such a rite, yea, though it were commanded and appointed by God himself. And though this may seem to be a breach of the letter of the law, yet it is according to the true mind and meaning of the law; it being a tacit condition implied in all laws of a ritual and positive nature, provided the observance of them be not to the hinderance and prejudice of any duty, which is of a higher and better nature; in that case, the obligation of it does for that time give way and is suspended.

And this will appear to be the true meaning of this rule, by comparing more particularly the in stances to which our Saviour applies it. His disciples passing through the corn on the sabbath-day, and being hungry, plucked the ears and did eat: this our Saviour doth justify to be no breach of the law of the sabbath; because, in that case, and in such circumstances, it did not oblige: for the disciples being called to attend upon our Saviour, to be instructed by him in the things which concerned the kingdom of God; that is, in the doctrine of the gospel, which they were to publish to the world this attendance hindered them from making necessary provisions against the sabbath, they, in obedience to their Master, being intent upon a better work; but that they might not starve, the necessities of nature must be provided for; and therefore it was fit, that the law of the sabbath, which was but positive and ritual, should give way to an act of mercy and self-preservation: “if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice , ye would not have condemned the guiltless.”

SERMON CIII.

CHRISTIANITY DOTH NOT DESTROY, BUT PERFECT, THE LAW OF MOSES.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.—Matt. v. 17.

THERE is no saying in the whole gospel which the Jews did so frequently object to the Christians as this of our blessed Saviour, as if his words and actions were plainly repugnant and contrary to one another: for when it is evident, say they, that he took away so many ceremonies, purifications, distinctions of meats, sacrifices, judicial laws, and many other things; yet he says, he came not “to destroy the; law or the prophets;” so that it is plain that he did throw down the law of Moses, and in so doing contradicted his own saying, that he did not intend “to destroy the law. To clear our Saviour’s words of this objection, it will be requisite to consider the scope and design of his discourse in this chapter, by which we shall fully understand the sense and meaning of these words in the text.

Our Saviour, in this sermon (which contains the sum and substance of his religion) doth earnestly recommend to his disciples and followers, and strictly enjoins the perfect practice of, all goodness and virtue, declaring to them, that he came to bring in and establish that righteousness which the Jewish religion indeed aimed at, but, through the weakness and imperfection of that dispensation, was not able to effect and accomplish. And to take away all suspicion of a design to contradict the former revelations of God, made to the Jews by Moses and the prophets, or to destroy their Divine authority, by carrying on a design contrary to them; I say to prevent any imagination of this kind, he does here, in the text, expressly declare the contrary: “Think not,” &c. intimating that some either did, or at least might be apt to suspect, that his design was to destroy the obligation of the law, and to undermine the authority of Moses and the prophets: to free them from this jealousy, he declares plainly, that he had no such thought and intention—it was far from him.

“I come not to destroy,” καταλῦσαι, to abrogate, or dissolve the law, to encourage men to the breach and violation of it; for the word is of the same sense with λῦειν, at the nineteenth verse. “Whoso ever shall break one of these least commandments;” and with καταργῆσαι, (Rom. iii. 31.) νόμον οὖν καταργοῦμεν; “Do we then make void the law by faith?” which is the same question with that of the same apostle, (Gal. iii. 21.) “Is the law then against the promises of God?” that is, are the law and gospel contrary? do they contradict one another? So that the meaning of our Saviour’s declaration is this: that he was not come to dissolve and abrogate and make void the law, or to encourage men to the breach of it; that the precepts of his religion were in no wise contrary to those of the law and the prophets, did not thwart and oppose them, or any ways contradict the main design and intention of the law and the prophets, that is, of the Jewish religion; for so “the law and the prophets” do frequently signify: (Matt, vii. 12.) “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets;” that is, this is the main scope and intention of what your religion, contained in “the law and the prophets,” teacheth concerning your duty to one another. So, likewise, (Matt. xxii. 40.) “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets;” that is, this is the sum of all the duties of religion; to these two laws, all that the Jewish religion teacheth may be referred. “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil;” to carry on the same design which was intended by the Jewish religion, and to perfect and accomplish it; to supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of that dispensation: this is the plain meaning of this caution and declaration of our Saviour’s—“Think not, &c.

For the clearing of this matter, viz. That the design of our Saviour’s doctrine and religion is not contrary to those former revelations, which God made to the Jews by Moses and the prophets; this will evidently appear, whether we consider the prophecies and predictions of the Old Testament, or the laws and precepts therein contained.

First, The prophecies and predictions of the Old Testament: our Saviour came not to contradict and overthrow these; but to fulfil them. The chief predictions of “the law and the prophets” were concerning the Messias and his spiritual kingdom. In the law it was foretold, that—God would raise to them a prophet like unto Moses, whom they ought to hear and obey; and to him all the prophets of the Old Testament gave witness—foretelling the time of his coming, his extraction, the manner and circumstances of his birth, the purity and efficacy of his doctrine, the actions and miracles of his life, his passion, death, and burial, with the particular circumstances of them, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into heaven, and exaltation at the right hand of God; so that this part of “the law and prophets” he did accomplish and fulfil in a most eminent and remarkable manner: all things that the prophets had foretold, concerning the Messias, were punctually made good in the person, and actions, and sufferings of our Saviour.

Secondly, As to the laws and precepts of the Jewish religion, the doctrine and the laws of Christianity did not clash with them; nor properly abrogate them, and make them void, especially as to the moral precepts, which were the very life and spirit, the ultimate scope and design of that religion; nay, so far was it from doing so, that the main and proper intention of Christianity, was to clear and establish that which was the main design of “the law and prophets,” to perfect the law in this part, and to raise and advance morality to its highest pitch, to supply all the defects and imperfections of the Jewish religion, and to make men much better than that weak and imperfect institution was able to do. This was the great design of Christianity; and it is very probable that our Saviour had a principal if not a sole respect to the precepts of the moral law, when he here says, that “he came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to perfect and fulfil them;” as I shall have occasion by and by to shew more at large.

But that we may give a full answer to the objection of the Jews against this saying of our Saviour’s, I shall shew that he did not come to thwart and contradict, and properly to abrogate and make void the Jewish law, in any part of it, neither the civil and judicial, nor the ritual and ceremonial, much less the moral and natural precepts of it. This is more than I think to be absolutely necessary, to reconcile this saying of our Saviour with the rest of his doctrine and actions; for though he had properly abrogated the ceremonial law, and in no sense fulfilled it; yet, notwithstanding this, it may be true, that “he came not to destroy the law and the prophets;” that is, to destroy the obligation of moral duties, which he speaks of in this chapter, and elsewhere declares to be the ultimate scope, the sum and substance of “the law and the prophets;” for if the ceremonial law was not designed by God to be perpetual, but to give way to a more perfect dispensation; then our Saviour did no way thwart and contradict “the law and the prophets;” by abrogating the ceremonial law, at that time, when God designed that a period should be put to it. But yet, for the fuller satisfaction to this objection, I shall shew that our Saviour did not properly abrogate any part of the Jewish law, no, not the ritual and ceremonial part of it; but did fulfil it.

First, Not their civil and judicial laws. These, in the original intention of them, were not laws designed for mankind, but suited and fitted to the disposition and temper, the condition and circumstances, of a particular people and nation; to these our Saviour taught obedience, and paid it himself, and never did any thing contrary to them, nor in the least weaken the obligation of them; but they continued in full force, until that nation and commonwealth was dissolved. So that these laws were no way impeached or abrogated by the Christian religion; but they fell for want of a subject to exercise their power upon, and because the people that were to be governed by them were destroyed or dissipated; and though they neither are, nor ever were, obligatory to other nations, as given by Moses, and as they were the peculiar laws of a particular nation; yet the natural reason and equity of them, so far as it concerned mankind, is duly considered and regarded by us, and many of these laws are adopted into the laws of most Christian nations. It is plain, then, that this part of the Jewish law received no prejudice by Christianity, but continued in full force, so long as that nation and commonwealth lasted, which was to be governed by it.

Secondly, As to the ritual and ceremonial part of the Jewish law, which consisted in circumcision, and purifications, and sacrifices, in distinction of meats, and times, and innumerable other rites and observances; this was not properly abrogated and made void by the coming of Christ, but fulfilled and made good by him. The rites and ceremonies of the law, were the types and shadows of those future good things which were promised under the gospel; a kind of rude draught of a better and more perfect institution, which was designed, and at last finished and perfected by the Christian religion. This account the apostle gives of the legal rites and observances: (Col. ii. 10, 17.) “Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ; “that is, he is the substance and reality of all those things, which were shadowed and figured by those legal observances. And so the apostle to the Hebrews calls the priests and sacrifices of the law, the “examples and shadows of heavenly things, (chap. viii. 5.) and (so chap. x. 1.) “the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things; “that is, being but an obscure type, and not a perfect representation of the blessings and benefits of the gospel, which we now have in truth and reality. Now reason will tell us, that the laws concerning these types and shadows, were only to continue till the substance of the things signified by them should come, and that they would be of no longer use, when that more perfect institution, which was figured by them, should take place, and then they would expire, and become void of themselves; because the reason and use of them ceasing, they must necessarily fall.

But they did not expire immediately upon the coming of Christ, and therefore he himself submitted to these laws, so long as they continued in force; he was circumcised, and presented in the temple, and performed all other rites required by the law; that first covenant to which these laws and ordinances belonged, continuing in force till the ratification of the second covenant by the death of Christ, and then these laws expired, or rather were fulfilled, and had their accomplishment in the sacrifice of Christ, which made all the sacrifices and other rites of the Jewish religion needless, and of no use for the future; Christ having, by this “one sacrifice of himself, perfected for ever them that are sanctified,” as the same apostle speaks. (Heb. x. 14.) So that Christ did not properly abrogate and repeal those ritual and ceremonial laws; but they, having continued as long as they were designed to do, and there was any use of them, they abated and ceased of themselves.

And that the death of Christ was the time of their expiration, because then the new covenant took place, St. Paul expressly tells us: (Eph. ii. 15.) “having abolished or voided in his flesh the law of commandments contained in ordinances;” and this, (ver. 16.) he is said to have done by his cross; and y more plainly, (Col. ii. 14.) “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, which was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”

So that ye see that even the ceremonial law was not so properly abrogated by the sacrifice and death of Christ, but rather had its accomplishment, and attained its end, in the sacrifice of Christ; which by the eternal efficacy of it to the expiation of sin, and the purifying of our consciences, hath made all the sacrifices and washings, and other rites of the ceremonial law, for ever needless and superfluous.

Thirdly, But especially as to the moral law, and those precepts which are of natural and perpetual obligation, our Saviour did not come either to dissolve, or to lessen and slacken the obligation of them.

And of this I told you our Saviour doth principally, if not solely, speak here in the text, as will appear to any one that shall attentively consider the scope of his discourse. In the beginning of his sermon he promiseth blessing to those, and those only, who were endowed with those virtues which are required by the precepts of the moral law, or comprehended in them; and then he tells them, that Christians must be very eminent and conspicuous for the practice of them: (ver. 16.) “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven: “and then he cautions them not to entertain any such imaginations, as if he intended to dissolve the obligation of the law, and to free men from the practice of moral duties, which probably some might have suggested against him: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; 1 as if he had said—you cannot entertain any such conceit, if you consider that the precepts, of which I inculcate upon you, and those virtues, the practice whereof I recommend to you, are the same which are contained in the law and the prophets. So that I am so far from crossing the main design of the law and the prophets, and taking away the obligation of moral duties enjoined by the Jewish religion, that I come purposely to carry on the same design to further perfection, to give a more perfect and clear law, and to give a greater enforcement and encouragement to the practice of moral duties: these were always the sum and substance of religion, the ultimate design of the law and the prophets; and therefore I am so far from discharging men from the obligation of the moral precepts of the law, that I come to bind them more strongly upon you. And, “verily I say unto you,” that is, I solemnly declare, “that whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven;” that is, he shall in no wise enter therein. You think the scribes and pharisees very pious and excellent men, and to have attained to a high pitch of righteousness; “but I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” And then he instanceth in several precepts of the moral law, which in the letter of them, especially as they were interpreted by the teachers of the law among the Jews, were very much short of that righteousness and perfection which he now requires of his disciples and followers. So that his whole discourse is about precepts and obligations of the moral law, and not a word concerning the ritual and ceremonial law; which makes me very prone to think, that our Saviour’s meaning in the text is this, that his religion was so far from thwarting and op posing that which was the main design of “the law and the prophets,” that is, of the Jewish religion, that the principal intention of Christianity was to advance the practice of goodness and virtue, by strengthening the obligation of moral duties, and giving us a more perfect law and rule of life, and offering better arguments and greater encouragements to the obedience of this law. Therefore, for the fuller explication and illustration of this matter, I shall endeavour to clear these three points:

First, That the main and ultimate design of “the law and the prophets,” was to engage men to the practice of moral duties; that is, of real and substantial goodness.

Secondly, That the law of Moses, or the dispensation of the Jewish religion, was comparatively very weak and insufficient to this purpose.

Thirdly, That the Christian religion hath supplied all the defects, and weaknesses, and imperfections of that dispensation. These three particulars will fully clear our Saviour’s meaning in this text.

First, That the main and ultimate design of “the law and the prophets,” was to engage men to the practice of moral duties; that is, of real and substantial goodness, consisting in those virtues which our Saviour mentions at the beginning of this sermon; humility, and meekness, and mercy, and righteousness, and purity, and peaceableness. This our Saviour more than once tells us was the sum and substance, the main scope and design of the whole doctrine of “the law and the prophets:” (Matt. vii. 12.) “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto yon, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets.” (And Matt. xxii. 40.) That the love of God and our neighbour, those two great commands, to which all moral duties are reduced, are the two great hinges of the Jewish religion; on these two hang all “the law and the prophets.” St. Paul calls love, “the fulfilling of the whole law;” (Rom. xiii. 10.) St. James, “the perfect and the royal law,” as that which hath a sovereign influence upon all parts of religion. And therefore the apostle (Rom. iii. 21.) tells us, that this more perfect righteousness which was brought in by the gospel, or the Christian religion, is witnessed by “the law and the prophets.” And, indeed, the prophets every where do slight and undervalue the ritual and ceremonial part of religion, in comparison of the practice of moral duties: (Isa. i. 11.) “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? bring no more vain oblations; your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth.” But what then are the things that are acceptable to God? He tells us at the 1 6th verse: “Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” And by the prophet Jeremiah, God tells that people, that the business of sacrifices was not the thing primarily designed by God, but obedience to the moral law; the ritual law came in upon occasion, for the prevention of idolatry, and by way of condescension to the temper of that people; and thus Maimonides and the learned Jews understood these words: (Jer. vii. 22, 23.) “I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices; but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and walk in all the ways that I have commanded, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” So likewise, in the prophet Hosea, God plainly prefers the moral before the ritual part of religion, as that which was principally designed and intended by him: (Hos. vi. 6.) “I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings; “but most plainly and expressly, (Mic. vi. 6.) “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings? will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, and ten thousand of rivers of oil? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? “These, it seems, were the great things which God stood upon, and required of men even under that imperfect dispensation; and these are the very things which the Christian religion doth so strictly enjoin and command; so that this righteousness, which the gospel requires, was witnessed to by “the law and the prophets.” I proceed to the

Second point, That the law of Moses, or the dispensation of the Jewish religion, was comparatively very weak, and insufficient to make men truly good, and for the promoting of real and inward righteousness: it gave laws, indeed, to this purpose, but those not so clear and perfect, or at least not so clearly understood, as they are now under the gospel; and it made no express promises of inward grace and assistance, to quicken and strengthen us in the doing of our duty; it made no explicit promises of any blessing and reward to the doing of our duty beyond this life; so that the best and most powerful arguments and encouragements to obedience, were either wholly wanting, or very obscurely revealed under this dispensation.

And this insufficiency of the Jewish dispensation, both to our justification and sanctification, to the reconciling of us to God, and the making of us really good, the apostle frequently inculcates in the New Testament: (St. Paul, Acts xiii. 38, 39.) “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses; and, (Rom. viii. 3.) “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh;” that is, by reason of the carnality of that dispensation, consisting in the purification of the body: (Gal. iii. 21.) he calls it a law unfit to give life: “If there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness had been by the law.” And the apostle to the Hebrews, (chap. viii. 6, 7, 8, &c.) finds fault with the dispensation of the law, for the lowness and meanness of its promises, being only of temporal good things; and for want of conferring an inward and a powerful principle to enable men to obedience; “but now hath he obtained (speaking of Christ) a more excellent ministry, by how much, also, he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises; for if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for a second;” and this second and better covenant, he tells us, was foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament; for, finding fault with them, he saith, “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers. For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts. And (chap. x. 1. 4.) he shews the inefficacy of their sacrifices for the real expiation of sin: “The law having but a shadow of good things to come, and not the lively representation of the things themselves, can never, with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect; for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”

I should now have proceeded to the third particular; namely, that the Christian religion hath supplied all the defects, and weakness, and imperfection of the Jewish dispensation; but that I shall not now enter upon, but make one plain inference from the substance of what I have already discoursed upon this argument.

If our Saviour came not to dissolve and loosen the obligation of moral duties, but to confirm and establish it, and to enforce and bind the practice of these duties more strongly upon us, then they do widely and wilfully mistake the design of Christianity, who teach that it dischargeth men from the obligation of the moral law, which is the fundamental and avowed principle of the antinomian doctrine, but directly contrary to this declaration of our Saviour in the text: “That he came not to destroy the law and the prophets,” but to perfect and fulfil them; (for to take away the obligation of a law, is plainly to destroy and make it void;) and contrary to the apostle’s solemn resolution of this matter: (Rom. iii. 31.) “Do we then make void the law through faith?” that is, does the gospel destroy and take away the obligation of the law? “God forbid; yea, we establish the law; the Christian religion is so far from designing or doing any such thing, that it gives new strength and force to it.

But surely they that teach this doctrine, did never duly consider that terrible threatening of our Saviour, after the text, which seems to be so directly levelled at them: “Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven;” for how can men more effectually teach the violation, not only of the least, but of the greatest of God’s commandments, than by declaring that the gospel hath set men free from the obligation of the moral law? which is, in effect, to say, that Christians may act contrary to all the duties of morality; that is, do the most impious things in the world without any offence against God; and, not withstanding this, continue to be his children, and highly in the favour of God.

And all the security they have against this impious consequence is, that weak and slender pretence, that gratitude and love to God will preserve them from making this ill use of the grace of the gospel, and oblige them to abstain from sin, and to endeavour to please God as much as any law could do. But then they do not consider the nonsense of this: for there can be no such thing as sin, if the obligation of the law be taken away; for “where there is no law there can be no transgression,” as the apostle, and common reason likewise, tell us; so that the law being removed and taken away, all actions become indifferent, and one thing is not more a sin, or offence against God, than another. And what, then, is it they mean, that gratitude will oblige men to, or preserve them from? when there can be no such thing as sin or duty, as pleasing or offending God, if there be no law to oblige us to the one, or restrain us from the other.

And what is, if this be not, “to turn the grace of God into wantonness,” and to make Christian liberty a cloak for all sorts of sins? A man cannot do a greater despite to the Christian religion, nor take a more effectual course to bring it into contempt, and to make it to be hissed out of the world, than to represent it as a lewd and licentious doctrine, which gives men a perfect discharge from all the duties of morality, and obligeth them only to believe confidently, that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will; and that, upon these terms, and no other, they are secured of the favour of God in this world, and eternal salvation in the other. This is the sum, and the plain result, of the antinomian doctrine, the most pernicious heresy, and most directly destructive of the great end and design of Christianity, that ever yet was broached in the world. “But ye have not so learned Christ,” if so be ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, “as the truth is in Jesus; that ye put off, concerning your former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

SERMON CIV.

CHRISTIANITY DOTH NOT DESTROY, BUT PERFECT THE LAW OF MOSES.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.—Matt. v. 17.

I HAVE considered this saying of our Saviour’s with respect to the moral law, and those precepts which are of natural and perpetual force, and that our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or loosen the obligation of them; for the illustration of which, I propounded to clear these three points:

First, That the main and ultimate design of “the law and the prophets,” was to engage men to the practice of royal duties; that is, of real and substantial goodness.

Secondly, That the law of Moses, or the dispensation of the Jewish religion, was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make men truly good, and ineffectual to promote and reward real righteousness. These two points I have spoken to. I shall now proceed to the

Third, namely, That the Christian religion doth supply all the defects, and weaknesses, and imperfections of the Jewish dispensation.

The Jewish religion had very considerable advantages above the mere light of nature, which was all that the heathen world had to conduct them to wards eternal happiness; the Jews had the knowledge of the one true God, and very signal and particular testimonies of the Divine Providence, which did naturally tend to beget in them good hopes of a future life, and the rewards of another world; they had the natural law revealed, and the main precepts of it written with God’s own hand, and by Moses delivered to them; by which means they had a more certain and distinct knowledge of their duty: they had prophets frequently sent to them, to admonish them of their duty, and to exhort them to repentance, and to warn them of approaching judgments. They had good encouragement given to hope for the pardon of sin, by God’s appointment of several ways^of expiation; which, how unlikely soever they were to be available to the effectual expiation of sin, yet they did signify, that the Divine nature was placable, and did seem to figure some more effectual way, designed by God for that purpose, that should be exhibited in due time. And, finally, they had most express promises and threatenings of temporal blessings and judgments, to en courage them in their obedience, and to deter them from the transgression of God’s laws. These advantages the Jews plainly had above the rest of the world; God did not deal so with other nations, neither had the heathen such a knowledge of God’s laws.

But notwithstanding this, the Jewish religion was very short and defective, very weak and ineffectual to the great end of righteousness and true holiness, and to raise men to that perfection of goodness, of which human nature, through the grace of God, is capable; and therefore there wanted a more perfect institution, to supply the defects, and weakness, and imperfection even of that Divine revelation which God had made to the Jews, and really to effect and accomplish that which the Jewish religion attempted and aimed at, and was but, as I may say, rudely begun, under that imperfect institution. And this the gospel, or the Christian religion revealed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, hath fully effected, as will evidently appear by a particular survey and consideration of the main defects of the Jewish religion, which I shall shew to be all perfectly made up by the revelation of the gospel, and the doctrine of Christianity, in these following particulars.

First, It was a great defect of the Jewish religion, that a considerable part of it was merely external, concerning the purification of the body and the flesh, and only figurative of that inward purity and real righteousness, which renders men truly good, and like to God; for which reason the Jewish institution is by the apostle to the Hebrews called the law of a carnal commandment: (Heb. vii. 16; and chap. ix. 10.) is said to consist only (that is chiefly) “in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation;” that is, till the Messias should come and give such laws as should really tend to reform the hearts and lives of men; and therefore these laws and ordinances are called poor pitiful elements, and the rudiments of the world, fitted rather for children in understanding and goodness, than to bring men to any maturity and perfection in goodness. All their rites of purification did only sanctify to the purifying of the flesh; but did not purge the conscience from dead works, as the apostle to the Hebrews speaks, (chap. ix. 13, 14.) “they could not make those that performed and observed them perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;” (ver. 9.) that is, these laws had no effect upon the minds of men, to make them really better, to cure them of their moral defects and impurities, their sins and vices.

But the Christian institution doth perfectly supply this defect, by taking us off from those carnal and external observances, and principally requiring that we “worship God in spirit and in truth;” by giving us such laws as wholly tend to advance real and substantial goodness, purity and holiness of heart and life, such as mainly tend to reform the minds and manners of men, and to make us like to that holy and perfect Being whom we worship: and besides an external, humble, and reverent demeanour of ourselves in the worship of God, (to which natural religion doth likewise direct,) Christianity hath only instituted two solemn external rites; viz. baptism, and the Lord’s supper; whereby we solemnly oblige ourselves to the practice of all virtue and goodness; I say only these two, that, by the multitude of external observances, Christians might not be taken off from the minding of the real and substantial duties of religion.

And therefore the church of Rome have extremely abated and weakened the force of Christianity upon the hearts and lives of men, by amusing them with external rites, which they have multiplied to that excessive degree, as to make the yoke of Christ really heavier than that of Moses, and the Christian religion a more external and carnal commandment than that of the law; and by this means have diverted and taken off the minds of men from the main design of Christianity, insomuch that they are so employed and taken up with matters of external ceremony, that they have no leisure to think of being good men, and to mind the great and substantial duties and virtues of the Christian life; so that they have spoiled the Christian religion of one of its chief excellences and perfections, I mean the simplicity of its worship, which they have now en cumbered with so many foolish and frivolous rites and observances, as do not only render it more burthensome, but less apt to make men inwardly and substantially good, than even Judaism itself. This is so true and so visible, that the wiser and better sort of them have complained of it for several ages, and still do, as much as they dare for fear of the inquisition, or some other censure.

Secondly, Another defect of the law of Moses was, that it did not give encouragement enough to repentance, by declaring and assuring to us any certain way and method for the expiation and forgiveness of sin. This the rites of all religions aimed at, and pretended to; but were very ineffectual to that end. The heathen sacrifices, and all the cruel and barbarous rites belonging to them, did all pretend to be so many ways of appeasing the offended Deity, and of making atonement and expiation for sin: and the sacrifices of the Jews were instituted by God himself, to make an external and legal expiation, and to be the types and shadows of a better and more perfect sacrifice, which should really expiate sin: but even this was very darkly and imperfectly discovered to them; besides that, the expiations of the law did only extend to the least sort of sins, those of ignorance and inadvertency, but not at all to presumptuous sins, and such as were committed with n high hand, nor to wilful and deliberate sins, except in some very few and rare cases particularly mentioned in the law; so that though a great part of the religious rites, both of the pagan and Jewish religion, aimed at the expiation of sin, yet were they really ineffectual to that end; and, upon the whole matter, mankind, though they conceived good hope of God’s mercy and forgiveness in case of repentance, (“Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his anger?”) yet they were unacquainted with any certain and effectual means to that purpose.

It remains, then, that this great blessing of the forgiveness of sins, was never sufficiently declared and assured to mankind, but through Jesus Christ in the gospel. So St. Paul expressly asserts: (Acts xiii. 38, 39.) “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” The gospel hath provided an expiation for all sins in general, and that by a sacrifice of inestimable value,—the blood of the Son of God. And this is a mighty encouragement to repentance, and one most effectual means to reclaim men from their sins, to be assured that they are indemnified for what is past. And this the apostle means when he says, (Gal. iii. 13.) that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;” that is, whereas the law left sinners, as to those sins which stood most in need of pardon, under a curse, having provided no expiation for them, Christ hath redeemed them from that curse by making a general expiation for sin; and in this sense it is that the author to the Hebrews says, (chap. ix. 15.) that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant; that is, for those sins for which the covenant of the law had provided no way of forgiveness; and therefore St. John says emphatically, (1 John i. 7.) that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.”

Thirdly, The law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain rules and directions for a good life. As the corruption and degeneracy of mankind grew worse, so the light of nature waxed dimmer and dimmer, and the rule of good and evil was more doubtful and uncertain, and that in very consider able instances of our duty. The law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews: and even to them, who only had the benefit and advantage of it, it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to moral duties, and those things which are of an eternal and immutable reason and goodness. And therefore our Saviour in this sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews, or the letter of it seemed to intend, and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that law, as divorce and retaliation of injuries; but hath heightened our duty in several instances of it, requiring us to love our enemies, and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations, though never so often repeated, and not only not to revenge them, but to requite them with good turns; which were not understood by mankind to be laws before; but yet, when duly considered, are very agreeable to right reason, and the sense of the wisest and best men. So that the Christian religion hath not only fixed and determined our duty, and brought it to a greater certainty, but hath raised it to a greater perfection, and rendered it every way fit to bring the minds of men to a more Divine temper, and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God, than ever the world was instructed in before.

Fourthly, The promises and threatenings of the law were only of temporal good and evil things, which are, in comparison of the endless rewards and punishments of another world, but very languid and faint motives to obedience. Not but that the Jews under the law had such apprehensions of their own immortality, and of a future state of happiness and misery after this life, as natural light suggested to them; which was in most but a wavering and uncertain persuasion, and consequently of small efficacy to engage men to their duty; but the law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those natural notions concerning a future state, and the strengthening of this persuasion in the minds of men; it did rather suppose it, than give any new force and life to it. And for this reason more particularly the apostle tells us, that the law was but weak to make men good; because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of men by the weight of its promises, and the terror of its threatenings; and that for this weakness and imperfection of it, it was removed, and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in the place of it: (Heb. vii. 18, 19.) “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment that was before (that is, of the Jewish law) for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof; for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did;” that is, the covenant of the gospel, which promiseth eternal life. And, (chap. viii. 6.) for this reason, more especially, the apostle says, that Christ had “obtained a more excellent ministry, being the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” And (Rom. i. 16, 18.) St. Paul tells us, that for this reason “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation,” because “therein the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” The clear revelation of a future judgment, was that which made the gospel so proper and so powerful an instrument for the salvation of men. The great impiety of mankind, and their impenitency in it, was not so much to be wondered at before, while the world was, in a great measure, ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked life; and therefore God is said, in some sort, to overlook it; “but now he commands all men every where to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts xvii. 30, 31.) The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future judgment, calls loudly upon all men to leave their sins and turn to God.

Fifthly, The covenant of the law had no spiritual promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God’s Holy Spirit for the mortifying of sin, and enabling men to their duty, and supporting them under sufferings; but the gospel is full of clear and express promises to this purpose. Our Saviour hath assured us, that “God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him,” (Luke xi. 13.) and this the apostle tells us is actually conferred upon all true Christians, those who do sincerely embrace and believe the gospel: (Rom. viii. 9.) “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Hence the gospel is called, by the same apostle, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus:” (ver. 2, of that chap.) “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death;” and in the next words he tells us, that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the law, that it left men destitute of this mighty help and advantage (at least to any special promise of it): “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and, by making him a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit;” that is, that that righteousness which the law aimed at and signified, but was too weak to effect, might be really accomplished in us, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;” that is, who are acted and assisted by a higher and better principle than men either have in nature, or the carnal dispensation of the law did endow men withal. And because of this great defect the law is said to be a state of bondage and servitude; and, on the contrary, the gospel, by reason of this mighty advantage, is called a state of adoption and liberty: (ver. 15.) “For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father;” and (2 Cor. iii. 17.) “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” And to this very thing St. Paul appeals, as that whereby men might judge whether the law or the gospel were the more excellent and powerful dispensation: (Gal. iii. 2.) “This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” As if he had said let this one thing determine that whole matter; were ye made partakers of this great privilege and blessing of the Spirit, while ye were of the Jewish religion, or since ye became Christians? And (ver. 14.) he calls it “the blessing of Abraham;” that is, the blessing promised to all nations by Abraham’s seed, namely, the Messias; “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

And then, for the supporting us under afflictions, the gospel promiseth an extraordinary assistance of God’s Holy Spirit to us: (1 Pet. iv. 14.) “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.”

But were there no good men under the dispensation of the law? Yes, certainly there were, and they were so by the grace and assistance of God’s Holy Spirit; but then this was an effect of the Divine goodness, but not of any special promise, contained in that covenant, of Divine grace and assistance to be conferred on all those that were admitted into it. But thus it is in the new covenant of the gospel, and therefore the law is called “a dead letter,” “the oldness of the letter,” and “the ministration of the letter;” in opposition to the gospel, which is called the “ministration of the Spirit.” And this the apostle lays special weight upon, as a main difference between these two covenants, that the first gave an external law, but the new covenant offers inward grace and assistance to enable men to obedience, and hath an inward and powerful efficacy upon the minds of men, accompanying the ministration of it: (Heb. viii. 7-10.) “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them he saith, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, &c. For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.”

And of this inward grace and assistance we are further secured, by the powerful and prevalent and perpetual intercession of our High Priest for sinners at the right hand of God; not like the inter cession of the priests under the law, who, being sinners themselves, were less fit to intercede for others; but “we have an High Priest that is holy, harm less, undefiled, and separate from sinners; who, by the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,” to purchase for us those blessings which he intercedes for. The priests under the law were intercessors upon earth; but “Christ is entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Heb. ix. 24.) The priests under the law were removed from this office by death; but Christ, because he continues for ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, and is an everlasting advocate and intercessor for us, in the virtue of his most meritorious sacrifice continually presented to his Father, where he is always at the right hand of God, to present our prayers to him, and to obtain pardon of our sins, and grace to help in time of need, and by his intercession in heaven, to procure all those blessings to be actually conferred upon us, which he purchased for us by his blood upon earth; “wherefore he is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,” as the same apostle speaks, Heb. vii. 25.

And thus I have, as briefly as well I could, shewed how the Christian religion doth supply all the weaknesses and imperfections of the Jewish religion; and, consequently, does in no wise contradict or interfere with the great design of the law and the prophets, but hath perfected and made up whatever was weak or wanting in that institution, to make men truly good; or, as the expression is in the prophet Daniel, “to bring in everlasting righteousness;” that is, to clear and confirm those laws of holiness and righteousness, which are of indispensable and eternal obligation.

And if this be the great design of our Saviour’s coming, and the Christian doctrine be every way fitted to advance righteousness and true holiness, and to make us as excellently good as this imperfect state of mortality will admit, since it hath many advantages incomparably beyond any religion or institution that ever was in the world, both in respect of the perfection of its laws, and the force of its motives and arguments to repentance and a holy life, and in respect of the encouragements which it gives, and the examples which it sets before us, and the powerful assistance which it offers to us, to en able us “to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God;” what a shame is this to us, who are under the power of this excellent institution, if the temper of our minds, and the tenor of our conversation, be not in some measure answerable to the gospel of Christ! The greater helps and advantages we have of being good, the greater things may justly be expected from us; for “to whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required.”

Christianity is the fulfilling of the righteousness of the law, by walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, by mortifying the deeds of the flesh, and by bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, which are “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, and temperance.” The righteousness of faith doth not consist in a barren and effectual life of the gospel, in a mere embracing of the promises of it, and relying upon Christ for salvation; in “a faith without works,” which is dead; but in “a faith which worketh by love,” in becoming “new creatures, “and in “keeping the commandments of God, the righteousness of faith speaking on this wise.” “This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment;” (1 John iii. 23.) and “this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also,” (1 John iv. 21.) “That we approve the things that are excellent, being filled -with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God,” (Phil. i. 10, 11.) “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, what soever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, mind these things,” (chap. iv. 8.)

And then, considering what abundant provision the gospel hath made for our attainment of everlasting salvation, we are altogether without excuse, if we perish. Since God hath raised up so mighty a salvation for us; how shall we escape? If we die in our sins, it is not because God would not forgive them, but because we would not repent and be saved; the fault is all our own, and we owe it wholly to ourselves, if we be lost and undone for ever. If when life and death, heaven and hell, are so plainly set before us, eternal misery and perdition fall to our lot and portion, it is not because we were not warned of our danger, or because happiness and the things of our peace were hid from our eyes, but because we have made death and destruction our obstinate and final choice.

“But, beloved, I hope better things of you, and things which accompany salvation, though I thus speak. Only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ;” and if we be careful to perform the conditions which the gospel requires on our part, we shall not fail to be made “partakers of that eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, hath promised to us, for his mercy’s sake in Jesus Christ.”

SERMON CV.

OF THE NATURE OF REGENERATION, AND ITS NECESSITY, IN ORDER TO JUSTIFICATION AND SALVATION.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.—Galat. vi. 15.

THERE are two Epistles of St. Paul, namely, that to the Romans, and this to the Galatians, which are principally and particularly designed to confute a false persuasion, which had prevailed amongst many Christians, especially those who were converted from Judaism—that it was not enough for men to embrace and confess the Christian religion, unless they kept the law of Moses, or at least submitted to that great precept of circumcision; the neglect whereof, among all the affirmative precepts of the law, was only threatened with excision, or being cut off from among the people. And of the prevalency of this error, and the great disturbance which it made in the Christian church, we have a particular account, Acts xv. where a general council of the apostles is called, and a letter written, in their names, to all the Christian churches, to rectify their apprehensions in this matter (ver. 24. of that chapter): “Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us, have troubled you with words, subverting your souls saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment,” &c.

And upon this occasion likewise it was, that St. Paul wrote this Epistle to the Galatians, as likewise that to the Romans; in the former of which, after he had at large confuted this error, (which he calls the preaching of another gospel, than what the apostles had preached, and the Christians first received;) in the beginning of the fifth chapter he exhorts them to assert the liberty, which Christ had purchased for them, from the obligation of the law of Moses: (ver. 1, 2.) “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing;” not that hereby he condemneth circumcision, as a thing evil in itself; for God never instituted or commanded any thing that was so; but he opposeth the opinion of the necessity of it to our justification and salvation, when the gospel had so plainly taken away the obligation and use of it; and consequently to affirm still the necessity of it, was really to renounce Christianity. For if Judaism was still the way to salvation, Christianity was to no purpose; and if Christianity be now the way, then the obligation to the Jewish religion was ceased. To avoid the force of this reasoning, it was not enough for the false apostles to say (as it seems they did) that Christians were not obliged universally to the whole law of Moses, but principally to the law of circumcision; because circumcision being the sign and badge of that covenant, whoever took that upon him, did thereby own his obligation to the whole law: (ver. 3, 4.) “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law: Christ is become of no effect to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace;” that is, whoever of you expect and profess to be justified by the law of Moses, ye take away the necessity and use of the Christian religion; and are fallen from grace; that is, do in effect renounce the gospel; for “we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith,” (ver. 5.) we by the Spirit, in opposition to circumcision, which was in the flesh, do expect to be justified by the belief of the gospel. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;” (ver. 6.) that is, now under the dispensation of the gospel by Christ Jesus, it signifies nothing to a man’s justification or salvation, whether he be circumcised, or not circumcised, whether he be a Jew or a gentile. All that the gospel requires as necessary to these purposes, is, that we perform the conditions of the gospel, that so we may be capable of being made partakers of the blessings of it.

Now as the great blessing and benefit of the gospel is variously expressed, as, by the forgiveness of our sins, by our acceptance with God, or (which comprehends both) by our justification, sometimes by adoption, and our being made the sons and children of God, sometimes by redemption, and (which is the consummation of all) by salvation and eternal life: I say, as the blessing and benefit of the gospel is, in Scripture, expressed to us by these several terms, which do in effect all signify the same thing; so our duty, and the condition the gospel requires on our part, is likewise as variously expressed; sometimes, and that very frequently, by the word faith, as being the great source and principle of all religious acts and performances; but then this faith must not be a bare assent and persuasion of the truth of the gospel, but such an effectual belief as expresseth itself in suitable acts of obedience and holiness, such as the apostle here calls πίστις δι᾽ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη, “a faith which worketh by love,” a faith that is inspired and acted, or rather consummate and made perfect by charity (for so the word doth often signify), and then this phrase will be just of the same importance with that of St. James: (chap. ii. 22.) “By works is faith made perfect.” Sometimes, and that also very frequently, the condition of the gospel is expressed by words which signify the change of our state, as by repentance, conversion, regeneration, renovation, sanctification, the new creature, and the new man, which expressions are all so well known, that I need not refer to particular texts; sometimes the condition of the gospel is expressed by the visible and sensible effects of this inward change in our outward life and actions; as, namely, by obedience and keeping the commandments of God. So (Heb. v. 9.) Christ is said to be “the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him;” where obedience is plainly put for the whole condition of the gospel, the performance whereof entitles us to eternal life and happiness.

Now that by these various expressions, one and the same thing is certainly intended and meant, viz. the condition of the gospel; that which is required on our part, in order to our full and perfect justification and acceptance with God, is evident beyond all denial; by comparing the three different ways whereby St. Paul doth express the same proposition for sense and substance; in which he tells us what it is that will avail to our justification under the gospel; that is, according to the terms of the Christian religion; that is, neither here nor there, that it signifies nothing whether a man be circumcised or not, but that we be so qualified as the gospel requires, that the conditions upon which the blessings of the gospel are promised be found in us. And there are three texts wherein the same thing is plainly intended in three very different expressions. (Gal. v. 6.) “In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision: but faith, which is consummate, or made perfect by charity.” (Gal. vi. 15.) “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision: but a new creature.” (1 Cor. vii. 19.) “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing: but the keeping of the commandments of God.” It is evident, that in these three texts the apostle designs to say the same thing; and consequently, that faith which is made perfect by charity, and the new creature, and keeping of the commandments of God, are the same in sense and substance, viz. the condition of our justification and acceptance with God under the covenant of the gospel, or in the Christian religion.

I shall at present, by God’s assistance, handle the second of these texts. “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision: but a new creature.” And here the condition of the gospel is expressed to us, by the change of our state, which in Scripture is called our regeneration, or becoming new creatures, and new men. Circumcision was but an outward sign and mark upon the body, and the flesh, though it did indeed prefigure and typify the inward circumcision of the heart, the giving of men new hearts, and new spirits, under the more perfect dispensation of the gospel: but now in Jesus Christ, that is in the Christian religion, the presence or the want of this outward mark will avail nothing to our justification: but that which was signified by it, the renovation of our hearts and spirits, our becoming new creatures, is now the condition of our justification and acceptance with God.

The false apostles, indeed, did lay great stress upon the business of circumcision, not so much out of zeal to the law of Moses, as to avoid persecution: (ver. 12.) “They constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” For, at that time, though the Christians were persecuted, yet the Jews by the Roman edicts had the free exercise of their religion, and therefore they gloried in this external mark of circumcision, because it exempted them from suffering; but St. Paul gloried in his sufferings for Christ, and the marks of that upon his body, (ver. 14.) “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and (ver. 17.) “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He tells them, what necessities soever they might pretend of circumcision, either for their justification or salvation, the true ground of all was to save themselves from temporal sufferings; and that in the Christian religion it signifieth nothing to recommend them to the favour of God, whether they were circumcised or not; nothing would be available to this purpose, but the renovation and change of their hearts and lives. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but a new creature,; καινὴ κτίσις, a new creation, to intimate the greatness of the change, which Christianity, thoroughly entertained, made in men.

Having thus cleared the occasion and meaning of these words, I come now to consider the particulars contained in them; namely, these two things.

First, That the gospel had taken away the obligation of the law of Moses. “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision.”

Secondly, That, according to the terms of the Christian religion, nothing will avail to our justification and acceptance with God, but the real renovation of our hearts and lives; “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision: but a new creature.”

I. That the gospel hath taken away the obligation of the law of Moses. In Christ Jesus, that is, now under the dispensation of the gospel, “neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision.” There was never any general obligation upon mankind to this rite of circumcision, but only upon the seed of Abraham; but yet upon the preaching of the gospel, many of the Jewish Christians would have brought the gentiles under this yoke; pretending that Christianity was but a superstructure upon the law of Moses, which, together with the gospel, was to be the religion of the whole world; and there was some colour for this, because our Saviour himself submitted to this rite, and was circumcised; which the apostle takes notice of in the 4th chap, of this Epistle, (ver. 4.) “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law;” that is, circumcised. And it is true, indeed, that our blessed Saviour was circumcised; but. not to signify to us the perpetuity of circumcision, and the continuance of it under the Christian religion, but for a quite different end; as a testimony of his obedience to that law, which, though afterwards it was to expire, yet was to be obeyed whilst it was in force, by all that were born under it; he was “made under the law,” and it be came him, who came to teach mankind obedience to the laws of God, “to fulfil all righteousness” himself: and therefore the apostle, in this .Epistle, where he takes notice of this, that Christ was “made under the law,” gives this reason of it, that he might be the fitter to free those who were under it from the servitude of it; he was “made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law;” and that those who were in the condition of servants before, might be set at liberty, and “receive the adoption of sons.”

But how did his being “made under the law,” qualify him “to redeem those who were under the law?” Thus—by submitting to it himself, he shewed that he owned the authority of it, and that he had no malice nor enmity against it; or, as he himself expresses it, that he “came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.” And being fulfilled, and having served the time and end for which God intended it, it expired of itself; like a law which is not made for perpetuity, but limited to a certain period. And our blessed Saviour, who came with greater authority than Moses, and gave greater testimony of his Divine authority, had sufficient power to declare the expiration of it; and by commissioning his disciples, before and after his death, to preach the gospel to the whole world, he put an end to that particular law and dispensation, which only concerned the Jewish nation, by giving a general law to all mankind.

SERMON CVI.

OF THE NATURE OF REGENERATION, AND ITS NECESSITY, IN ORDER TO JUSTIFICATION AND SALVATION.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.—Galat. vi. 15.

IN these words are contained these two things:—

First, That the gospel hath taken away the obligation of the law, having taken away the sign of that covenant, which was circumcision.

Secondly, That, according to the terms of the gospel, and the Christian religion, nothing will avail to our justification and acceptance with God, but the real renovation of our hearts and lives. For the full explication of this, I propounded to do these three things:

I. To shew what is implied in this phrase of “a new creature.”

II. That this is the great condition of our justification and acceptance with God, and that it is the same in sense and substance with those other expressions, in the two parallel texts, of “faith perfected by charity,” and “keeping the commandments of God.”

III. That it is very reasonable that this should be the condition of our justification, and acceptance to the favour of God.

I began with the first of these; viz. To shew what is implied in this phrase of “a new creature;” as to which I shewed,

SERMON CVII.

OF THE NATURE OF REGENERATION, AND ITS NECESSITY, IN ORDER TO JUSTIFICATION AND SALVATION.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.—Galat. vi. 15.

THE point which I am upon from these words is, that, according to the terms of the gospel, nothing will avail to our justification, but the real renovation of our hearts and lives.

For the full explication of this, I propounded to shew,

First, What is implied in this expression of the “new creature.”

Secondly, That this is the great condition of our justification and acceptance with God.

Thirdly, That it is highly reasonable that this should be the condition of our justification.

In speaking to the first of these, I have shewed, first, what this metaphor doth certainly import; and secondly, that it doth not import what some would extend it to, whereon to found such doctrines as these:

First, That as the creation was an irresistible act of the Divine power, so is this new creation, or the conversion of a sinner.

Secondly, As creatures were merely passive in their being made, and contributed nothing at all to it, no more do we in our conversion and regeneration.

SERMON CVIII.

OF THE NATURE OF REGENERATION, AND ITS NECESSITY IN ORDER TO JUSTIFICATION AND SALVATION.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.—Galat. vi. 15.

IN discoursing on these words, that which I was last upon, was to shew, that this metaphor of a new creature doth not import what some would extend it to, and that so as to found doctrines of great consequence upon the single strength of this, and other like metaphors; viz. such doctrines as these three:

First, That as the creation was by an irresistible act of the Divine power, so is this new creation, or the conversion of a sinner.

Secondly, That as creatures were merely passive in their being made, and contributed nothing at all thereto, no more do we to our conversion and regeneration.

Thirdly, That as the creation was in an instant, only by the powerful word of God, so this new creation is in an instant, and admits of no degrees. The two first of these I have spoken to, and shewed, that as they had no necessary foundation in this and the like metaphors of Scripture, so they are contrary to reason and experience, and the plain and constant tenor of Scripture, which is the rule and measure of Christ’s doctrine. I proceed, now, to consider the

SERMON CIX.

OF THE NATURE OF REGENERATION, AND ITS NECESSITY, IN ORDER TO JUSTIFICATION AND SALVATION,

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.—Gal. vi. 15.

THE observation I am still upon from these words is this: viz. That in the Christian religion nothing will avail to our justification, but the renovation of our hearts and lives, expressed here by “a new creature.” In treating of which, I proposed the doing of three things:

First, To shew the true import of this metaphor of “a new creature.”

Secondly, To shew that this is the great condition of our justification; and,

Thirdly, That it is highly reasonable that it should be so.

In treating of the first of these particulars, I have considered some doctrines as founded upon this metaphor, which I have shewn at large not only to have no foundation in Scripture, or reason, or experience,; but also to be very unreasonable in themselves, and contrary to the plain and constant tenor of Scripture, and to the ordinary method of God’s grace in the regeneration of men, whether by a religious and virtuous education, or in those who are reclaimed from a notorious wicked course of life. And that I have so long insisted upon this argument, and handled it in a more contentious way than is usual with me, did not proceed from any love to controversy, which I am less fond of every day than other; but from a great desire to put an end to these controversies, and quarrellings in the dark, by bringing them to a clear state and plain issue, and likewise to undeceive good men concerning some current notions and doctrines, which I do really believe to be dishonourable to God, and contrary to the plain declarations of Scripture, and a cause of great perplexity and discomfort to the minds of men, and a real discouragement to the resolutions and endeavours of becoming better. Upon which considerations I was strongly urgent to search these doctrines to the bottom, and to contribute what in me lay, to the rescuing of good men from the disquiet and entanglement of them.

I will conclude this matter with a few cautions, not unworthy to be remembered by us: that we would be careful so to ascribe all good to God, that we be sure we ascribe nothing to him that is evil, or any ways unworthy of him; that we do not make him the sole author of our salvation, in such a way, as will unavoidably charge upon him the final impenitency and ruin of a great part of mankind; that we do not so magnify the grace of God, as to make his precepts and exhortations signify nothing; such as these: “Make ye new hearts, and new spirits, strive to enter in at the strait gate;” where, if by the strait gate be meant the difficulty of our first entrance upon a religious course, that is, of our conversion and regeneration, I cannot imagine how it is possible to reconcile our being merely passive in this work, and doing nothing at all in it, with our Saviour’s precept of striving “to enter in at the strait gate; unless to be very active and to be merely passive about the same thing be all one, and an earnest contention and endeavour be the same thing with doing nothing. Again, that we do not make the utmost degeneracy and depravation which men ever arrived at by the greatest abuse of themselves, and the most vile and wicked practices, the standard of an unregenerate state, and of the common condition of all men by nature. And, lastly, that we do not make some particular instances in Scripture, of the strange and sudden conversion of some persons, (as namely, of St. Paul and the jailor, in the Acts) the common rule and measure of every man’s conversion; so that unless a man be, as it were, struck down by a light and power from heaven, and taken with a lit of trembling, and frighted almost out of his wits, or find in himself something equal to this, he can have no assurance of his conversion; whereas a much surer judgment may be made of the sincerity of a man’s conversion, by the real effects of this change, than by the manner of it. This our Saviour hath taught us, by that apt resemblance of the operation of God’s Spirit to the blowing of the wind, of the original cause whereof, and of the reason of its ceasing or continuance, and why it blows stronger or gentler, this way or that way, we are altogether ignorant; but that it is, we are sensible from the sound of it: (John iii. 8.) “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound of it, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” The effects of God’s Holy Spirit in the regeneration of men are sensible, though the manner and degrees of his operation upon the souls of men are so various, that we can give no account of them; by winch, one would think, our Saviour had sufficiently cautioned us, not to reduce the operations of God’s grace and Holy Spirit in the regeneration of men, to any certain rule or standard, but chiefly to regard the sensible effects of this secret work upon the hearts and lives of men.

And, after all, it is in vain to contend by any arguments against clear and certain experience. If we plainly see that many are insensibly changed, and made good by pious education “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;” and that some who have long lived in a profane neglect and contempt of religion, are by the secret power of God’s word and Holy Spirit, upon calm consideration, without any great terrors and amazements, visibly changed and brought to a better mind and course; it is in vain, in these cases, to pretend that this change is not real, because the manner of it is not answer able to some instances which are recorded in Scripture, or which we have observed in our experience; and because these persons cannot give such an account of the time and manner of their conversion, as is agreeable to these instances; which is just as if I should meet a man beyond sea, whom I had known in England, and would not believe that he had crossed the seas, because he said he had a smooth and easy passage, and was wafted over by a gentle wind, and could tell no stories of storms and tempests.

And thus I have fully and faithfully endeavoured to open to you the just importance of this phrase or expression in the text, of the “new creature,” or the new creation. I proceed to the

Second particular I propounded; namely, That the real renovation of our hearts and lives, is, according to the terms of the gospel and the Christian religion, the great condition of our justification and acceptance with God, and that this is the same in sense and substance with those phrases in the parallel texts to this, of faith perfected by charity, and of keeping the commandments of God.

That, according to the terms of the gospel, the great condition of our justification and acceptance with God, is the real renovation of our hearts and lives, is plain, not only from this text, which affirms, that, in the Christian religion, nothing will avail us but the “new creature;” but, likewise, from many other clear texts of Scripture; and this, whether by justification be meant our first justification upon our faith and repentance, or our continuance in this state, or our final justification by our solemn acquittal and absolution at the great day, which in Scripture is called “salvation” and “eternal life.”

That this is the condition of our first justification; that is, of the forgiveness of our sins, and our being received into the grace and favour of God, is plain from all those texts where this change is expressed by our repentance and conversion, by our regeneration and renovation, by our purification and sanctification, or by any other terms of the like importance. For under every one of these notions, this change is made the condition of the forgiveness of our sins, and acceptance to the favour of God.

Under the notion of repentance and conversion. (Acts ii. 38.) “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.” (Acts iii. 19.) “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” Upon the same account, the penitent acknowledgment of our sins, which is an essential part of repentance, is made a condition of the forgiveness of them. (1 John i. 9.) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Under the notion of regeneration and renovation. (2 Cor. v. 17.) “If any man be in Christ, (that is, become a true Christian, which is all one with being in a justified state) he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new:” (Tit. iii. 3-7.) where the apostle declares at large what change is required to put us into a justified state, and to entitle us to the inheritance of eternal life: “for we ourselves were also sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, (that is, not for any precedent righteousness of ours, for we were great sinners) but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” So that the change of our former temper, and conversion, and regeneration, and “the renewing of the Holy Ghost,” is antecedently necessary to our justification; that is, to the pardon of our sins, and our restitution to the favour of God, and the hope of eternal life. So, likewise, under the notion of purification and sanctification, (1 Cor. vi. 9-11.) where the apostle enumerates several sins and vices, which will certainly exclude men from the favour and kingdom of God, from which we must be cleansed before we can be justified or saved: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,” (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.) where the apostle, likewise, makes our purification a condition of our being received into the favour of God, and reckoned into the number of his children: “touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” And that by not touching “the unclean thing,” is here certainly meant our sanctification and purification from sin, is evident from what immediately follows in the beginning of the next chapter; “having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God;” that is, having this encouragement, that upon this condition we shall be received to the favour of God, let us purify ourselves, that we may be capable of this great blessing.

And our continuance in this state of grace and favour with God, depends upon our perseverance in holiness; for “if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”

And, lastly, This is also the condition of our final justification and absolution, by the sentence of the great day: (Matt. v. 8.) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (John iii. 3.) “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Heb. xii. 14.) “Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (1 John iii. 3.) The apostle there, speaking of the blessed sight and enjoyment of God, tells ns what we must do if ever we hope to be partakers of it: “Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

And this condition here mentioned in the text, of our being new creatures, is the same in sense and substance with those expressions which we find in the two parallel texts to this, where faith, which is perfected by charity, and keeping the commandments of God, are made the condition of our justification and acceptance with God. (Gal. v. 6.) “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which is consummate” or “made perfect by charity;” and (1 Cor. vii. 19.) “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God.” It is evident that the design and meaning of these three texts is the same, and therefore these three expressions of the “new creature,” and of “faith perfected by charity,” and of “keeping the commandments of God,” do certainly signify the same thing. That the “new creature” signifies the change of our state, from a state of disobedience and sin, to a state of obedience and holiness of life, I have shewn at large; and the apostle explaining this new creation, most expressly tells us, (Ephes. ii. 10.) “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them;” and, (Colos. iii. 10. 12-14.) where the apostle tells them, that they ought to give testimony of their renovation, and having put on “the new man,” by all the fruits of obedience and goodness; u ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another; and above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfection.” And the apostle St. Peter tells us, that our regeneration, which he calls sanctification of the Spirit, is unto obedience.” (1 Pet. i. 2.) So that our renovation consisteth in the principle and practice of obedience, and a good life; and what is this but faith perfected by charity? And charity, the apostle tells us, “is the fulfilling of the Jaw;” and what is “the fulfilling of the law,” but “keeping the commandments of God?” And “keeping the commandments of God,” or, at least, a sincere resolution of obedience, when there is not time and opportunity for the trial of it, is in Scripture as expressly made a condition both of our present and final justification and acceptance with God, as faith is; and in truth is the same with a living and operative faith, and a faith that is consummate, and made perfect by charity. (Acts x. 34, 35.) “Of a truth I perceive (saith St. Peter) that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him;” which speech does, as plainly as words can do any thing, declare to us upon what terms all mankind, of what condition or nation soever, may find acceptance with God. (Rom. ii. 6-10.) “Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life; but to them who are contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil; of the Jew first, and also of the gentile: but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the gentile.” As to our acceptance with God, and the rewards of another world, it matters not whether Jew or gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised; that which maketh the difference, is obeying the truth, or obeying unrighteousness; working good, or doing evil; these are the things which will avail to our justification, or condemnation, at the great day. To the same purpose is that saying of the apostle to the Hebrews, (chap. v. 9.) that “Christ is the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him.”

I will conclude this matter with two remarkable sayings; the one towards the beginning, the other towards the end of the Bible; to satisfy us that this is the tenor of the Holy Scriptures, and the constant doctrine of it from the beginning to the end. (Gen. iv. 7.) It is God’s speech to Cain, “If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted?” and (Rev. xxii. 14.) “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

And thus I have done with the second thing I propounded; which was to shew, that according to the terms of the gospel, and the Christian religion, the real renovation of our hearts and lives is the great condition of our justification and acceptance with God, and that t his in sense and substance is tin same with faith “made perfect with charity,” and keeping the commandments of God.

The third and last particular remains to be spoken to; namely, That it is highly reasonable that this should be the condition of our justification and acceptance to the favour of God; and that upon these two accounts:

First, For the honour of God’s holiness.

Secondly, In order to the qualifying of us for the favour of God, and the enjoyment of him, for the pardon of our sins, and the reward of eternal life.

First, For the honour of God’s holiness. For should God have received men to his favour, and rewarded them with eternal glory and happiness, for the mere belief of the gospel, or a confident persuasion that Christ would save them, without any change of their hearts and lives, without repentance from dead works, and fruits meet for repentance, and amendment of life; he had not given sufficient testimony to the world of his love to holiness and righteousness, and of his hatred of sin and iniquity. The apostle tells us, that God in the justification of a sinner declares his righteousness; but should he justify men upon other terms, this would not declare his righteousness, and love of holiness, but rather an indifferency, whether men were good and righteous or not. For a bare assent to the truth of the gospel, without the fruits of holiness and obedience, is not a living, but a dead faith, and so far from being acceptable to God, that it is an affront to him; and a confident reliance upon Christ for salvation, while we continue in our sins, is not a justifying faith, but a bold and impudent presumption upon the mercy of God, and the merits of our Saviour; who indeed justifies the ungodly; that is, those that have been so, but not those that continue so. And if God should pardon sinners, and reward them with eternal life, upon any other terms than upon our becoming new creatures, than upon such a faith as is “made perfect by charity;” that is, by keeping the commands of God; this would be so far from declaring his righteousness, and being a testimony of his hatred and displeasure against sin, that it would give the greatest countenance and encouragement to it imaginable.

Secondly, It is likewise very reasonable, that such a faith, that makes us new creatures, and is perfected by charity, and keeping the commandments of God, should be the condition of justification, in order to the qualifying of us for the pardon of our sins, and the reward of eternal life; that is, for the favour of God, and for the enjoyment of him. To forgive men upon other terms, were to give countenance and encouragement to perpetual rebellion and disobedience. That man is not fit to be forgiven, who is so far from being sorry for his fault, that he goes on to offend; he is utterly incapable of mercy, who is not sensible that he hath done amiss, and resolved to amend. No prince ever thought a rebellious subject capable of pardon upon lower terms than these. It is in the nature of the thing unfit that an obstinate offender should have any mercy or favour shewn to him.

And as without repentance and resolution of bet ter obedience, we are unfit for forgiveness, so much more for a reward; as we cannot expect God’s favour, so we are incapable of the enjoyment of him without holiness. Holiness is the image of God, and makes us like to him; and, till we be like him, we cannot see him, we can have no enjoyment of him. All delightful communion and agreeable society is founded on a similitude of disposition and manners; and therefore so long as we are unlike to God in the temper and disposition of our minds, and in the actions and course of our lives, neither can God take pleasure in us, nor we in him, but there will be a perpetual jarring and discord between him and us; and though we were in heaven, and seated in the place of the blessed, yet we should not, nay we could not, be happy; because we should want the necessary materials and ingredients of happiness. For it is with the soul, in this respect, as it is with the body; though all things be easy without us, and no cruelty be exercised upon us, to give torment and vexation to us, yet if we be inwardly diseased, we may have pain and anguish enough; we may be as it were upon the rack, and feel as great torment from the inward disorder of our humours, as if we were tortured from without. So it is with the soul; sin and vice are internal diseases, which do naturally create trouble and discontent, and nothing but diversion, and the variety of objects and pleasures, which entertain men in this world, hinders a wicked man from being out of his wits, whenever he reflects upon himself; for all the irregular appetites and passions, lust, and malice, and revenge, are so many furies within us; and though there were no devil to torment us, yet the disorder of our own minds, and the horrors of a guilty conscience, would be a hell to us, and make us extremely miserable in the very regions of happiness. So that it is necessary that our faith should be “made perfect by charity,” and that we should become new creatures; not only from the arbitrary constitution and appointment of God, but from the nature and reason of the thing; because nothing but this can dispose us for that blessedness, which God hath promised to us, and prepared for us. Faith, considered abstractedly from the fruits of holiness and obedience, of goodness and charity, will bring no man into the favour of God. All the excellency of faith is, that it is the principle of a good life, and furnisheth us with the best motives and arguments thereto, the promises and threatenings of the gospel; and therefore in heaven, when we come to sight and enjoyment, faith and hope shall cease, but “charity never faileth;” for if it should, heaven would cease to be heaven to us, because it is the very frame and temper of happiness; and if this disposition be not wrought in us in this world, we shall be altogether incapable of the felicity of the other.

You see, then, what it is that must recommend us to the favour of God; the real renovation of our hearts and lives, “after the image of him that created us.” This must be repaired in us, before ever we can Lope to be restored to the grace and favour of God, or to be capable of the reward of eternal life. And what could God have done more reasonable, than to make these very things the terms of our salvation, which are the necessary causes and means of it? How could he have dealt more mercifully and kindly with us, than to appoint that to be the condition of our happiness, which is the only qualification that can make us capable of it?

I will conclude all with that excellent passage in the Wisdom of Solomon: (chap. vi. 17, 18.) “The very true beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline, and the care of discipline is love, and love is the keeping of her laws, and taking heed to her laws is the assurance of incorruption.” The sum of what I have said upon this argument amounts to this, that upon the terms of the gospel we can have no hope of the forgiveness of our sins and eternal salvation, unless our nature be renewed, and the image of God, which is defaced by sin, be repaired in us, and we be created in Christ unto good works; that no faith will avail to our justification and acceptance with God, but that which is made perfect by charity; that is, by fulfilling of the law, and keeping the commandments of God: by sincere obedience and holiness of life, which, notwithstanding the unavoidable imperfection of it in this state, will nevertheless be accepted with God, through the merits of our blessed Saviour, “who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. To whom be glory for ever.” Amen.

SERMON CX.

THE DANGER OF ALL KNOWN SIN, BOTH FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND REVELATION.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them.—Rom. i. 18, 19.

IN the beginning of this chapter, the apostle declares that he was particularly designed and appointed by God to preach the gospel to the world, and that he was not ashamed of his ministry, not withstanding all the reproach and persecution it was attended withal, and notwithstanding the slight and undervaluing opinion which the world had of the doctrine which he preached, it being “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness;” for though this might reflect some disparagement upon it in the esteem of sensual and carnal men, yet to those who weighed things impartially, and considered the excellent end and design of the Christian doctrine, and the force and efficacy of it to that end, it will appear to be an instrument admirably fitted, by the wisdom of God, for the reformation and salvation of mankind.

And therefore he tells us, (ver. 16.) that how much soever it was despised by that ignorant and inconsiderate age, he was “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ;” because “it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first; and also to the Greek:” that is, the doctrine of the gospel sincerely believed and embraced, is a most proper and powerful means, designed by God for the salvation of mankind; not only of the Jews, but also of the gentiles.

The revelations which God had formerly made, were chiefly restrained to the Jewish nation; but this great and last revelation of the gospel, was equally calculated for the benefit and advantage of all mankind. The gospel, indeed, was first preached to the Jews, and from thence published to the whole world; and as this doctrine was designed for the general benefit of mankind, so it was very likely to be effectual to that end, being an instrument equally fitted for the salvation of the whole world, gentiles as well as Jews; “it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

And to shew the efficacy of it, he instanceth in two things, which render it so powerful and effectual a means for the salvation of mankind.

First, Because therein the grace and mercy of God, in the justification of a sinner, and declaring him righteous, is so clearly revealed, (ver. 17.) “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” This is very obscurely expressed, but the meaning of this text will be very much cleared, by comparing it with another in the third chapter of this Epistle, (ver. 20, 21, 22, &c.) where the apostle speaks more fully and expressly of the way of our justification by ^he faith of Jesus Christ; that is, by the belief of the gospel. He asserts, at the 20th verse, that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God.” To this way of justification, “by the deeds of the law,” he opposeth “the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ, to all, and upon all them that believe,” which is the gospel way of justification: (ver. 21, 22.) “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all them that believe.” “The righteousness of God without the law is manifested;” that is, the way which God hath taken to justify sinners, and declare them righteous “without the deeds of the law;” that is, without observing the law of Moses, “is manifested;” that is, is clearly revealed in the gospel, (which is the same with what the apostle had said before, that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel) “being witnessed by the law and the prophets;” that is, “the righteousness of God,” or the justification of sinners by Jesus Christ, is clearly revealed in the gospel, being also in a more obscure manner attested or foretold in the Old Testament, which he calls “the law and the prophets;” and this fully explains that difficult phrase of “the righteousness of God being revealed by the gospel, from faith to faith;” that is, by a gradual revelation, being more obscurely foretold in the Old Testament, and clearly discovered in the New; so that these two passages are equivalent: in the gospel, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; and the righteousness of God without the works of the law is manifested, bring witnessed by the law and the prophets.” There is the first and more imperfect revelation of it, but the clear revelation of it is in the gospel; this the apostle calls a revelation “from faith to faith;” that is, from a more imperfect and obscure, to a more express and clear, discovery and belief of it. And then the citation which follows is very pertinent, “as it is written, the just shall live by faith;” for this citation out of the Old Testament plainly shews, that the way of justification by faith was there mentioned; or, as our apostle expresseth it, was “witnessed by the law and the prophets;” and consequently, that this was a gradual discovery, which he calls a revelation “from faith to faith.” “The just shall live by faith;” that is, good men shall be saved by their faith; shall be justified and esteemed righteous in the sight of God, and finally saved by their faith. And so the apostle in the fifth chapter of this Epistle, (ver. 18.) calls our justification by the faith of the gospel, the justification of life, in opposition to condemnation and death, which very well explains that saying of the prophet, “the just shall live by faith.” I have been the longer upon this, that I might give some light to a very difficult and obscure text.

Secondly, The other instance, whereby the apostle proves the gospel to be so powerful a means for the recovery and salvation of men, is, that therein also the severity of God against impenitent sinners, as well as his grace and mercy in the justification of the penitent, is clearly revealed: (ver. 18.) “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” because that which may be known of God is manifested in them, for God hath shewn it unto them. The first, viz. the grace of God in our justification and the remission of sins past, is a most proper and powerful argument to en courage us to obedience for the future; nothing being more likely to reclaim men to their duly, than the assurance of indemnity for past crimes; and the other is one of the most effectual considerations in the world to deter men from sin, that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” &c.

From which words I shall observe these six things:

First, The infinite danger that a wicked and sinful course doth plainly expose men to. “The wrath of God” is here said to be “revealed against the impiety and unrighteousness of men.”

Secondly, The clear and undoubted revelation which the gospel hath made of this danger, “The wrath of God” against the sins of men is said to be “revealed from heaven.”

Thirdly, That every wicked and vicious practice doth expose men to this great danger. “The wrath of God is” said to be “revealed against all ungodliless and unrighteousness of men.”

Fourthly, That it is a very great aggravation of sin, for men to offend against the light of their own minds. The apostle here aggravates the impiety and wickedness of the heathen world, that they did not live up to the knowledge which they had of God, but contradicted it in their lives, which he calls “holding the truth in unrighteousness.”

Fifthly, The natural knowledge which men have of God, if they live wickedly, is a clear evidence of their “holding the truth in unrighteousness. The apostle therefore chargeth them with “holding the truth in unrighteousness,” because that which may be known of God is manifested in them, God having shewed it to them.

Sixthly and lastly, That the clear revelation of the wrath of God in the gospel, against the impiety and wickedness of men, renders it a very powerful and likely means for the recovery and salvation of men. For the apostle proves “the gospel of Christ” to be “the power of God to salvation;” because “therein the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” that is, against all impenitent sinners.

I shall, at the present, by God’s assistance, speak to the three first of these particulars.

First, The infinite danger that a wicked and sinful course doth plainly expose men to. If there be a God that made the world, and governs it, and takes care of mankind, and hath given them laws and rules to live by, he cannot but be greatly displeased at the violation and transgression of them; and certainly the displeasure of God is the most dreadful thing in the world, and the effects of it the most insupportable. The greatest fear is from the greatest danger, and the greatest danger is from the greatest power offended and enraged; and this is a consideration exceeding full of terror, that by a sinful course we expose ourselves to the utmost displeasure of the great and terrible God; for “who knows the power of his wrath? and who may stand before him when once he is angry? According to thy fear, so is thy wrath,” saith the psalmist. There is no passion in the mind of man that is more boundless and infinite than our fear; it is apt to make wild and frightful representations of evils, and to imagine them many times greater than really they are; but in this case our imagination must fall short of the truth and terror of the thing; for the wrath of God doth far exceed the utmost jealousy and suspicion of the most fearful and guilty conscience; and the greatest sinner under his greatest anguish and despair, cannot apprehend or fear it more than there is reason for; “according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.”

If it were only the wrath and displeasure of men that the sinner were exposed to, there might be reason enough for fear; because they have many times power enough to crush an offender, and cruelty enough to fret every vein of his body, and to torment him in every part: but the wrath and vengeance of men bears no comparison with the wrath of God. Their passions are many times strong and blustering; but their arm is but short, and their power small; they have not an arm like God, nor can they thunder with a voice like him. They may design considerable harm and mischief to us; but it is not always in the power of their hand to wreak their malice upon us, and to execute all the mischief which their enraged minds may prompt them to; the very utmost they can design is to torment our bodies, and to take away our lives; and when they have designed this, they may die first, and return to their dust, and then their thoughts perish with them, and all their malicious designs are at an end: they are always under the power and government of a superior Being, and can go no farther than he gives them leave. However, if they do their worst, and shoot all their arrows at us, we cannot stand at the mark long, their wrath will soon make an end of us, and set us free from all their cruelty and oppression; they can but “kill the body, and after that they have no more that they can do;” their most refined malice cannot reach our spirits, no weapon that can be formed by the utmost art of man can pierce and our souls; they can drive us out of this world, but they cannot pursue us into the other; so that at the worst the grave will be a sanctuary to us, and death a safe retreat from all their rage and fury.

But the wrath of God is not confined by any of these limits. “Once hath God spoken, (saith David, by an elegant Hebrew phrase, to express the certainty of the thing) once hath God spoken, and twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God.” (Psal. lxii. 11.) He hath a mighty arm, and when he pleaseth to stretch it out, none may stay it, nor say unto him, What dost thou?” he hath power enough to make good all his threatenings, whatever he says he is able to effect, and whatever he purposeth he can bring to pass: for “his counsel shall stand, and he will accomplish all his pleasure;” he need but speak the word, and it is done; for we can neither resist his power, nor fly from it: if we fly to the utmost parts of the earth, his hand can reach us; for “in his hands are all the corners of the earth: if we take refuge in the grave (and we cannot do that without his leave) thither his wrath can follow us; and there it will overtake us; for his power is not confined to this, world, nor limited to our bodies; “after he hath killed, he can destroy both body and soul in hell.

And this is that “wrath of God which is revealed from heaven,” and which the apostle chiefly intends; viz. the misery and punishment of another world. This God hath threatened sinners withal: to express which to us, as fully as words can do, he heaps up in the next chapter so many weighty and terrible words “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doth evil;” in opposition to that great and glorious reward of “immortality and eternal life,” which is promised to a “patient continuance in well-doing.”

So that “the wrath of God,” which is here denounced “against the impiety and unrighteousness of men,” comprehends all the evils and miseries of this and the other world, which every sinner is in danger of whilst he continues impenitent; for as, according to the tenor of the gospel, “godliness hath the promise of this life, and of that which is to come;” so impotency in sin exposeth men to the evils of both worlds; to the judgments of “the life that now is,” and to the endless and intolerable torments “of that which is to come.” And what can be more dreadful than the displeasure of an almighty and eternal Being? who can punish to the utmost, and who lives for ever, to execute his wrath and vengeance upon sinners; so that well might the apostle say, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

“Consider this all ye that forget God,” that neglect him, and live in continual disobedience to his holy and righteous laws; much more those who despise and affront him, and live in a perpetual defiance of him. “Will ye provoke the Lord to jealousy? are ye stronger than he?” Think of it seriously, and forget him if you can, despise him if you dare; consider this, lest he take you into consideration, and rouse like a lion out of sleep, and “tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” This is the first observation; the infinite danger that a wicked and sinful course doth expose men to, the wrath of God, which doth not only signify more than all the evils that we know, but than all those which the wildest fears and suspicions of our minds can image.

SERMON CXI.

THE DANGER OF ALL KNOWN SIN, BOTH FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND REVELATION.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them.—Rom. i. 18, 19.

I HAVE handled four of the observations which I raised from these words; and shall now proceed to the other two that remain.

The fifth observation was, That the natural knowledge which men have of God, if they live contrary to it, is a sufficient evidence of their holding the truth of God in unrighteousness. For the reason why the apostle chargeth them with this, is, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest, in that God hath shewed it unto them.”

There is a natural knowledge of God, and of the duty we owe to him, which the apostle calls τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, that of God which is obvious to be known by the light of nature, and is as much as is absolutely necessary for us to know. There is something of God that is incomprehensible, and be yond the reach of our understandings; but his being and essential perfections may be known, which he calls his “eternal power and godhead;” these, he tells us, “are clearly seen, being under stood by the things which are made;” that is, the creation of the world is a plain demonstration to men, of the being and power of God; and if so, then God is naturally known to men; the contrary whereof Socinus positively maintains, though therein he be forsaken by most of his followers; an opinion in my judgment very unworthy of one, who, not without reason, was esteemed so great a master of reason; and (though I believe he did not see it) undermining the strongest and surest foundation of all religion, which, when the natural notions of God are once taken away, will certainly want its best support. Besides that, by denying any natural knowledge of God, and his essential perfections, he freely gives away one of the most plausible grounds of opposing the doctrine of the Trinity. But because this is a matter of great consequence, and he was a great man, and is not to be confuted by contempt, but by better reason, if it can be found; I will consider his reasons for this opinion, and return a particular answer to them.

First, He says, that if the knowledge of God were natural, it would not be of faith; but the apostle says, that “we must believe that he is.” The force of which argument, if it have any, lies in this, that the object of faith is Divine revelation, and therefore we cannot be said to believe what we naturally know. The schoolmen indeed say so; but the Scripture useth the word faith more largely, for a real persuasion of any thing, whether grounded upon sense, or reason, or Divine revelation. And our Saviour’s speech to Thomas, “Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed,” does sufficiently intimate, that a man may believe what he sees; and if so, what should hinder, but that a man may be said to believe what he naturally knows; that is, be really persuaded that there is a God from natural light?

SERMON CXII.

KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE NECESSARY IN RELIGION.

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.—John xiii. 17.

Two things make up religion, the knowledge and the practice of it; and the first is wholly in order to the second; and God hath not revealed to us the knowledge of himself and his will, merely for the improvement of our understanding, but for the bettering of our hearts and lives: not to entertain bur minds with the speculations of religion and virtue, but to form and govern our actions. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

In which words our blessed Saviour does, from a particular instance, take occasion to settle a general conclusion; namely, that religion doth mainly consist in practice, and that the knowledge of his doctrine, without the real effects of it upon our lives, will bring no man to heaven. In the beginning of this chapter, our great Lord and Master, to testify his love to his disciples, and to give them a lively in stance and example of that great virtue of humility, is pleased to condescend to a very low and mean office, such as was used to be performed by servants to their masters, and not by the master to his servants; namely, to wash their feet: and when he had clone this, he asks them if they did understand the meaning of this strange action. “Know ye what I have done unto you? ye call me Master, and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet; for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than the Lord, neither he that is sent, greater than he that sent him; if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” As if he had said, This which I have now done, is easy to be understood; and so likewise are all those other Christian graces and virtues, which I have heretofore, by my doctrine and example, recommended to you; but it is not enough to know these things, but ye must likewise do them. The end and the life of all our knowledge in religion is to put in practice what we know. It is necessary, indeed, that we should know our duty, but knowledge alone will never bring us to that happiness which religion designs to make us partakers of, if our knowledge have not its due and proper influence upon our lives. Nay, so far will our knowledge be from making us happy, if it be separated from the virtues of a good life, that it will prove one of tin heaviest aggravations of our misery; and it is as if he had said, “If ye know these things, woe be unto you, if ye do them not.”

From these words, then, I shall observe these three things, which I shall speak but briefly to.

First, That the knowledge of God’s will, and our duty, is necessary to the practice of it; “If ye know the these things,” which supposeth, that we must know our duty, before we can do it.

Secondly, That the knowledge of our duty, and the practice of it, may be, and too often are, separated. This likewise the text supposeth, that men may know their duty, and yet not do it; and that this is very frequent, which is the reason why our Saviour gives this caution.

Thirdly, That the practice of religion, and the doing of what we know to be our duty, is the only way to happiness; “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” I begin with the

First of these; namely, That the knowledge of God’s will and our duty is necessary, in order to the practice of it. The truth of this proposition is so clear and evident, at first view, that nothing can obscure it, and bring it in question, but to endeavour to prove it; and therefore, instead of spending time in that, I shall take occasion from it justly to reprove that preposterous course which is taken, and openly avowed and justified by some, as the safest and best way to make men religious, and to bring them to happiness; namely, by taking away from them the means of knowledge; as if the best \\ay to bring men to do the will of God, were to keep men from knowing it. For what else can be the meaning of that maxim so current in the church of Rome, that “ignorance is the mother of devotion?” or of that strange and injurious practice of theirs of locking up from the people that great storehouse and treasury of Divine knowledge, the Holy Scriptures, in an unknown tongue?

I know very well, that, in justification of this hard usage of their people, it is pretended that knowledge is apt to puff men up, to make them proud and contentious, refractory and disobedient, and heretical, and what not; and, particularly, that the free and familiar use of the Holy Scriptures permitted to the people, hath ministered occasion to the people of falling into great and dangerous errors, and of making great disturbance and divisions among Christians. For answer to tins pretence, I desire these four or five things may be considered.

First, That unless this be the natural and necessary effect of knowledge in religion, and of the free use of the Holy Scriptures, there is no force in this reason; and if this be the proper and natural effect of this knowledge, then this reason will reach a great way farther, than those who make use of it are willing it should.

Secondly, That this is not the natural and necessary effect of knowledge in religion, but only accidental, and proceeding from men’s abuse of it; for which the thing itself is not to be taken away.

Thirdly, That the proper and natural effects and consequences of ignorance, are equally pernicious, and much more certain and unavoidable, than those which are accidentally occasioned by knowledge.

Fourthly, That if this reason be good, it is much stronger for withholding the Scriptures from the priests and the. learned, than from the people.

Fifthly, That this danger was as great, and as ell known in the apostles times, and yet they took quite contrary course.

First, I desire it may be considered, that, unless this be the natural and necessary effect of knowledge in religion, and of the free use of the Holy Scriptures there is no force in this reason, for that which is necessary, or highly useful, ought not to be taken away, because it is liable to be perverted, and abused to ill purposes. If it ought, then not only knowledge in religion, but all other knowledge ought to be restrained and suppressed; for all knowledge is apt to puff up, and liable to be abused to many ill purposes. At this rate, light, and liberty, and reason, yea, and life itself, ought all to be taken away, because they are all greatly abused, by many men, to some ill purposes or other; so that unless these ill effects do naturally and necessarily spring from knowledge in religion, the objection from them is of no force; and if they do necessarily flow from it, then this reason will reach a great way farther than those that make use of it are willing it should; for if this be true, that the knowledge of religion, as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, is of its own nature so pernicious, as to make men proud, and contentious, and heretical, and disobedient to authority; then the blame of all this would fall upon our blessed Saviour, for revealing so pernicious a doctrine, and upon his apostles for publishing this doctrine in a known tongue to all mankind, and thereby laying the foundation of perpetual schisms and heresies in the church.

Secondly, But this is not the natural and necessary effect of knowledge in religion, but only accidental, and proceeding from men’s abuse of it, for which the thing itself ought not to be taken away. And thus much certainly they will grant, because it cannot with any face be denied; and if so, then the means of knowledge are not to be denied, but only men are to be cautioned not to pervert and abuse them. And if any man abuse the Holy Scriptures to the patronizing of error or heresy, or to any other bad purpose, he does it at his peril, and must give an account to God for it, but ought not to be deprived of the means of knowledge, for fear he should make an ill use of them. We must not hinder men from being Christians, to preserve them from being heretics, and put out men’s eyes, for fear they should some time or other take upon them to dispute their way with their guides.

SERMON CXIII.

PRACTICE IN RELIGION NECESSARY IN PROPORTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE.

And that servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes: but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.—Luke xii. 47, 48.

IN prosecution of the argument which I handled in my last discourse; namely, that the knowledge of our duty, without the practice of it, will not bring us to happiness, I shall proceed to shew, that if our practice be not answerable to our knowledge, this will be a great aggravation both of our sin and punishment.

And to this purpose, I have pitched upon these words of our Lord, which are the application of two parables, which he had delivered before, to stir up men to a diligent and careful practice of their duty, that so they may be in a continual readiness and preparation for the coming of their Lord. The first parable is more general, and concerns all men, who are represented as so many servants in a great family, from which the lord is absent, and they being uncertain of the time of his return, should always be in a condition and posture to receive him. Upon the hearing of this parable, Peter inquires of our Saviour, whether he intended this only for his disciples, or for all? To which question our Saviour returns an answer in another parable which more particularly concerned them; who, because they were to be the chief rulers and governors of his church, are represented by the stewards of a great family: (ver. 42.) “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?” If he discharge his duty, blessed is he; but if he shall take occasion in his lord’s absence to domineer over his fellow-servants, and riotously to waste his lord’s goods, his lord, when he comes, will punish him after a more severe and exemplary manner.

And then follows the application of the whole in the words of the text: “and that servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” As if he had said, and well may such a servant deserve so severe a punishment, who having such a trust committed to him, and knowing his lord’s will so much better, yet does contrary to it; upon which our Saviour takes occasion to compare the fault and punishment of those who have greater advantages and opportunities of knowing their duty, with those who are ignorant of it; “that servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to it, shall be beaten with many stripes: but he that knew not, but did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” And then he adds the reason and the equity of this proceeding: “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

SERMON CX1V.

THE SINS OF MEN NOT CHARGEABLE UPON GOD, BUT UPON THEMSELVES.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.—James i. 13, 14.

NEXT to the belief of a God, and his providence, there is nothing more fundamentally necessary to the practice of a good life, than the belief of these two principles: that God is not the author of sin; and that every man’s sin lies at his own door, and he hath reason to blame himself for all the evil that he does.

First, That God is not the author of sin, that he is no way accessary to our faults, either by tempting or forcing us to the commission of them. For if he were, they would neither properly be sins, nor could they be justly punished. They would not properly be sins, for sin is a contradiction to the will of God; but supposing men to be either tempted or necessitated thereto, that which we call sin, would either be a mere passive obedience to the will of God, or an active compliance with it, but neither way a contradiction to it. Nor could these actions be justly punished; for all punishment supposeth a fault, and a fault supposeth liberty and freedom from force and necessity; so that no man can be justly punished for that which he cannot help, and no man can help that which he is necessitated and compelled to. And though there were no force in the case, but only temptation, yet it would be unreasonable for the same person to tempt and punish. For as nothing is more contrary to the holiness of God, than to tempt men to sin; so nothing can be more against justice and goodness, than first to draw men into a fault, and then to chastise them for it. So that this is a principle which lies at the bottom of all religion, that God is not the author of the sins of men. And then,

Secondly, That every man’s fault lies at his own door, and he has reason enough to blame himself for all the evil that he does. And this is that which makes men properly guilty, that when they have done amiss, they are conscious to themselves it was their own act, and they might have done otherwise; and guilt is that which makes men liable to punishment; and fear of punishment is the great restraint from sin, and one of the principal arguments for virtue and obedience.

And both these principles our apostle St. James does here fully assert in the words which I have read unto you. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

In which words these two things are plainly contained:

First, That God doth not tempt any man to sin. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”

SERMON CXV.

THE SINS OF MEN NOT CHARGEABLE UPON GOD, BUT UPON THEMSELVES.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.—James i. 13, 14.

WHEN I made entrance upon these words, I told you, that, next to the belief of a God and a providence, nothing is more fundamentally necessary to the practice of a good life than the belief of these two principles—That God is not the author of the sins of men; and that every man’s fault lies at his own door. And both these principles St. James does clearly and fully assert in these words.

First, God tempts no man to sin.

Secondly, Every man is his own greatest tempter.

The first of these I have largely spoken to in my former discourse; and from what I then said, I shall only draw a few useful inferences, before I proceed to the second; viz. these which follow.

First, Let us beware of all such doctrines as do any ways tend to make God the author of sin; either by laying a necessity upon men of sinning, or by laying secret designs to tempt and seduce men to sin. Nothing can be farther from the nature of God than to do any such thing, and nothing can be more dishonourable to him than to imagine any such thing of him; “he is of purer eyes than to be hold evil;” and can we think, that he who cannot endure to see it should have any hand in it? We find that the holy men in Scripture are very careful to remove all thought and suspicion of this from God. Elihu, (Job xxxvi. 3.) before he would argue about God’s providence with Job, he resolves, in the first place, to attribute nothing to God that is unworthy of him. “I will (says he,) ascribe righteousness to my Maker.” So likewise St. Paul, (Rom. vii. 7.) “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.” “Is the law sin?” that is, hath God given men a law to this end, that he might draw them into sin? Far be it from him. (Gal. ii. 17.) “Is Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.”

You see then how tender good men have always been of ascribing any thing to God, that might seem to render him the author of sin. So that we have reason to take heed of all doctrines that are of this tendency: such as are the doctrines of an absolute and irrespective decree to damn the greatest part of mankind; and in order to that, and as a means to it, efficaciously to permit men to sin. For if these things be true, that God hath absolutely decreed to damn the greatest part of men; and, to make good this decree, he permits them to sin, not by a bare permission of leaving them to themselves, but by such a permission as shall be efficacious; that is, he will so permit them to sin as they cannot avoid it: then those who are under this decree of God are under a necessity of sinning, which necessity, since it does not proceed from themselves, but from the decree of God, does by consequence make God the author of sin. And then that other doctrine, which is subservient to this, that God does, by a physical and natural influence upon the minds and wills of men, determine them to every action that they do, to bad actions as well ns good. I know they who say so tell us, that God only determines men to the action, but not to the evil of it. For in stance, when Cain killed his brother, God deter mined him (they say) to the natural action of taking away a man’s life, which in many cases may be done without sin. Very true: but if in these circumstances the natural action could not be done with out committing the sin, he that determined him to the natural action determined him likewise to the sin.

I am far from any thought that those that maintain these doctrines had any intention to make God the author of sin: but if this be the necessary consequence of these doctrines, there is reason enough to reject them, how innocent soever the intention be of those who maintain them.

Secondly, Let not us tempt any man to sin. All piety pretends to be an imitation of God; therefore let us endeavour to be like him in this. It is true, indeed, we may be tempted with evil, and therefore we are likely enough to tempt others: but we ought not to do so. It is contrary to holiness and goodness, to the temper and disposition of the most perfect Being in the world. God tempts no man; nay, it is the proper work and employment of the devil, it is his very trade and profession: he goes about seeking whom he may betray into sin and destruction. To this end he walks up and down the earth, waiting all opportunities and advantages upon men to draw them into sin: so that we are his factors and instruments whenever we tempt men to sin.

Let those consider this, who are so active and busy to seduce men into any kind of wickedness, and to instruct them in the arts of iniquity; how tempt men into bad company and courses, and take pleasure in debauching a virtuous person, and make it matter of great triumph to make a sober man drunk; as if it were so glorious an action to ruin a soul, and destroy that which is more worth than the whole world. Whenever you go about this work remember whose instruments you are, and whose work you do, and what kind of work it is. Tempting others to sin is in Scripture called murder; for which reason the devil is said to be “a murderer from the beginning,” because he was a tempter. “Whosoever committeth sin is of the devil;” but whosoever tempts others to sin is a sort of devil himself.

Thirdly, Since God tempts no man, let us not tempt him. There is frequent mention in Scripture of men’s tempting God; i. e. trying him, as it were, whether he will do any thing for their sakes, that is misbecoming his goodness, and wisdom, and faithfulness, or any other of his perfections. Thus the Israelites are said to have “tempted God in the wilderness forty years together,” and, in that space, more remarkably ten times. The meaning of which expressions is, that when God had promised Abraham to bring his seed into the land of Canaan, that people, by their great and repeated provocations of God, did often provoke him to have destroyed them, and consequently to have failed of the promise which he made to the fathers. The devil likewise tempted our Saviour to tempt God, by casting himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, in confidence that the angels would take care of him: but our Saviour answers him, “It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” From which instance it appears, that men are said to tempt God, whenever they expect the protection of his providence in an unwarrantable way. God hath promised to take care of good men, but if they neglect themselves or willingly cast themselves into danger, and expect his providence and protection, they do not trust God, but tempt him; they try whether God’s providence will countenance their rashness, and provide for them, when they neglect themselves; and protect them from those dangers to which they wilfully expose themselves.

So likewise if we be negligent in our callings, whereby we should provide for our families, if we lavish away that which we should lay up for them, and then depend upon the providence of God to supply them, and take care of them, we tempt God to that which is unworthy of him; which is to give approbation to our folly, and countenance our sloth and carelessness. We cannot seduce God, and draw him to do any thing that misbecomes him, but we tempt him in expecting the care and protection of his providence, when we wilfully run ourselves into danger, and neglect the means of providing for our own safety. And thus I have done with the first great principle contained in the text; viz. That God is not the author of the sins of men. I proceed now to the

Second; That every man is his own greatest tempter. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn aside of his own lust, and enticed.” God does not tempt, any man to sin: but every man is then tempted, when by his own lust, his irregular inclination and desire, he is seduced to evil, and enticed; καὶ δελεαζόμενος, is caught, as it were, with a bait, for so the Greek word signifies.

SERMON CXVI.

PROVING JESUS TO BE THE MESSIAS.

Now, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them: and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.—Matt. xi. 2-6.

ABOUT the time of our Saviour’s appearing in the world, there was a general expectation of a great Prince that should come out of Judea, and govern all nations: this the gentiles had from the prophecies of the sybils, which speak of a great King that was to appear in the world about that time. So Virgil tells us, that the time of Augustus was the utmost date of that prophecy:

Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas:

And Suetonius tells us, that “all over the eastern countries there was an ancient and constant tradition, that such a Prince should spring out of Judea:” and for this reason it is, that our Saviour is called by the prophet, “the expectation of the nations.”

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