Against Resistance of Law­ful POWERS.

AMongst all the stra­tagems of the De­vil, tending to the undermining of Religion, and the subversion of the souls of men, [Page 2] though there cannot be any more unreasonable, yet there was never any more unhappily successful, than the creating and fomenting an Opinion in the World, That Reli­gion is an enemy to Government, and the bringing Sincerity and Zeal in Religion into jealousie, and disgrace with the Civil Powers.

It was by this jealousie, blown into the heads of the High Priests, and the Sanhedrim amongst the Jews, and of Herod, and Pontius Pilate, that Christ himself (the Captain of our Salvation, the Autbor and Finisher of our Faith) was accu­sed, condemned, and executed on a Tree. By this the Apostles were haled before the Governours of Provinces, forced from one City to flee unto another: for this they endured bonds, and imprisonment, and sundry kinds of death. It was [Page 3] through this fancy, that the Chri­stians, for three hundred years to­gether, endured the rage of Hea­then Emperours; being destitutel, afficted, and tormented. Our Lord Christ was traduced as an ene­my to Caesar, a man refractary to the Roman Laws, and a Nonconfor­mist to the Religion, and Laws of his Country. The Apostles were charged as disturbers of the publick peace, with turning the world upside down. The Primitive Christians were accounted enemies to the Commonwealth, adverse, and ma­levolent to the Empire: and the Christian Religion it self was bruit­ed, and surmised to have something in it offensive, and dangerous to the Civil Government; as appears not only by the Edicts of Healthen Emperours, but also by the Apo­logies of Clemens Alexandrinus, Ju­stin [Page 4] Martyr, Tertullian, Athenagoras, &c.

Neither was it thus only of old, before the Roman Empire was be­come Christian, but even since the time of Constantine, down to our Fathers days, nay to our own, we shall find the Devil still managing the same pretence, carrying on the same Antichristian mystery of ini­quity, which began to work in the time of our Lord Christ, and his Apostles.

Those, that prosess to know the Arcana Imperii, and publickly pro­claim themselves to the World to be qualified for Molders of Com­monwealths, and Dictatours to Princes, are the Writers of Poli­ticks; Machiavel abroad, and o­thers nearer home: some of these, pretending discoveries of things un­known to all our Fathers, if they be [Page 5] strictly analysed, will be found to resolve their whole mystery into this one pretence, That Religion, in the height and exaltation of it, is prejudicial to Policy; and that, to be a thorow-paced, a sincere and zealous Christian, is to be dange­rous to the State.

As the remedy for which evil, they have thought fit and necessa­ry to enervate the Principles of all Religion so far, as to remove the Doctrine of Good and Evil, the Immortality of the Soul, the Re­wards and Punishments of the World to come; that so Religion may appear wholly to derive from Policy.

How destructive these Doctrines are, not only to the souls of men, in reference to the World to come; but to the interests of this life, (the regular and secure acquisition and [Page 6] enjoyment whereof, are entirely derived from the great and ever­lasting Ordinance of Government) I am not now called to speak. But surely it cannot be unnecessary to endeavour to state this Question, to search into the grounds of this pre­tence, to examine thorowly from whence all this clamour, these fears and jealousies; whence all this mighty scandal hath arisen.

The Gospel of our Saviour is not like the Alcoran, which hates the light, and abhors a strict exami­nation of the Principles whereon it stands. When the Jews con­tended with our Saviour, and op­posed his Doctrine, he desired to bring the matter in question to a rational decision, John x. The Que­stion there was, Whether he were the Son of God? And he pro­pounds them this fair [...], Verse [Page 7] 37. If I do the works of my Father, believe me: if I do not, believe me not.

And I verily, as a Minister of Christ, (though the meanest of ten thousand) am bold in the power, and through the evidence of the truth of the Gospel, to say, Let the Adversaries of Religion search and look; let them employ their Wit, their Industry, their Logick, if any thing can be found in the Principles of Christianity, prejudicial to the power of just and lawful Magi­strates: Nay moreover, if it be possible for Men or Angels to state the Rights of Civil Government upon clearer and firmer Principles, to secure them by more powerful Obligations, to urge them upon men by more efficacious Motives of Rewards and Punishments, than those are, which the very Founda­tions [Page 8] of Christianity do expresly propound: then let the Gospel, and the Ministers of it, endure all that contempt and obloquy which these men desire to cast upon them.

And for the Foundations of our Religion; there are those, that tell us, that Christianity is founded up­on Cephas, ( which is, indeed, by interpretation a Stone) but the Apo­stle tells us, ( Ephes. ii. 20.) that we are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone: wherefore by these the present Que­stion is to be decided.

If any men, at any time, taking upon them the sacred name of Chri­stians, have swerved from the Rule of their Profession, and (acting contrary to the Spirit of Christ) have made that holy Name to be blasphemed; it is reason that they [Page 9] be esteemed the utter enemies of Christianity, and that they them­selves should bear their condemna­tion: but to charge their exorbi­tancies upon that Profession which they have prophaned and injured, is such an injustice, as cannot con­sist with moral honesty, or Philo­sophical ingenuity.

So then, hîc Rhodus, hîc saltus. As Saint Paul (1 Cor. xv. 14, 17, 20.) concerning the Resurrection of Christ, If Christ be not risen, our preaching is vain, and your faith is vain: — but now is Christ risen: so I; If, within the compass of those Foundations, which I have mentioned, be found any colour or shadow of license for any per­son whatsoever, upon any pretence whatsoever, to entrench upon the power of lawful Magistrates; if any warrant at all for open Rebel­lion, [Page 10] or privy Conspiracies; for murthering or deposing of Princes, or absolving Subjects from their Allegiance: then let Kings cease to be our Nursing Fathers, and Queens to be our Nursing Mothers; let Da­vid look to his own house; let the Light of our Eyes, the Breath of our Nostrils, the Restorer of Religion, the Defender of our Faith, look ra­ther first to defend himself. It will then be reasonable to expect, that the Kings of the earth should stand up, and Psal. ii. 2 the Rulers take counsel to­gether against the Lord, and against his Christ, that they should break their bonds in sunder, and cast their cords from them: then our Preaching is vain, and your Faith is vain.

But now indeed the case is o­therwise, and that evidently. What the Laws of men could never do with all their Temporal Rewards [Page 11] and Punishments, in that they are weak; that Christianity, in the true Spirit of it, performs, to the ut­most height that is conceiveable.

The Foundation of Govern­ment and Obedience, is deeply and firmly rooted in the Foundation of our Religion. And, if the Scripture cannot be broken, if it be true, that Heaven and Earth shall pass away, be­fore one jot of it shall pass away: it is as true, that the Ordinances of the Sun and Moon shall fail, before this Ordinance shall be dissolved. For if by the Principles of our Religi­on we are obliged to believe con­cerning the Books of the Old Te­stament, that they have been deli­vered by holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 21. then the holy Ghost hath said, By me Kings reign, &c. Prov. viii. 15. If Christ be the Son [Page 12] of God, the Son of God hath said, Render to Caesar the things which are Caesars, Mat. xxii. 21. If the Holy Spirit did overshadow Peter, and the rest of the Apostles; then Peter, overshadowed and filled with the Spirit, commands us in the Name of God to submit our selves to every Ordinance of man, 1 Pet. ii. 13. If Saint Paul were called to be an A­postle by the miraculous appea­rance of our Lord Christ after his Ascension, and was by him im­mediately instructed in the pure and genuine spirit of Christianity; then Saint Paul's Theory concern­ing Government is an authentick Christian Theory, whereby the Doctrines and practises of Christi­ans are to be judged: and that Theory is delivered in the seven first Verses of this Chapter; Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers, [Page 13] &c. And they that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation.

I call it a Christian Theory of Government, because it is a brief and comprehensive Scheme, where­by all Questions concerning Obe­dience and Government, may, ac­cording to Christian Principles, he resolved.

The whole discourse of the Apo­stle consisteth of two general parts;

First, The Injunction in the first words, Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers, &c.

Secondly, The Motives in the words following, which are taken from

I. The Original and Institution of Government; it is ordained of God: hence follows

[Page 14]II. The Sinfulness of Resistance; They resist the Ordinance of God. And

III. The Danger of it; They shall receive damnation. Which is again enforced by

IV. The End of Government in respect of evil and good men.

V. The necessity of subjection; Wherefore ye must needs be subject. And

VI. The nature of that necessi­ty; it is not of prudence, but of Conscience.

After all which the Apostle (like a legitimate Demonstratour) re­sumes his Proposition, and con­cludes it with an [...], Verse 7. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour.

[Page 15]The words, which I have cho­sen, contain in them the danger of resistance to the Civil Powers. They relate both to the Antecedent and Subsequent part of the Apo­stle's Discourse, and are as efficaci­ous towards the pressing of the Injunction of Obedience, as it is possible for words to express, or men to conceive.

The strongest, and most opera­tive Arguments upon men (at least­wife — [...]) are Argu­ments of terrour. The most ter­rible thing within the compass of humane apprehension, is Damna­tion; which imports, besides the judgments of this life, the eternal privation of the enjoyment of God, utter darkness, and everlasting burn­ings.

Those that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation.

[Page 16] Those that resist] [...]. Resi­stance Expl. is a Relative Act, and it im­plies some person or thing to be resisted. What then is the Corre­late of [...]?

That is delivered in the first Verse, Those that resist [...], the Authorities set over them, Civil Authorities having jus Gladii, the Authorities supreme, or subordi­nate, justly obtaining over them. It is not [...], or [...], which is here used, (which signifie corpo­ral strength and power) but [...], which the Scripture distinguish­eth from both the other. From [...], Luke iv. 36. and ix. 1. 1 Cor. xv. 24. Ephes. i. 21. from [...], Jude 25. It answers the He­brew word [...], which the Septu­agint translates by all the names of Legal Authority; [...]. It is taken for [Page 17] the Persons of Governours, as well as for their Power: so Ephes. iii. 10. That to Principalities and Powers [...] might be known, &c. and [...], against Powers, and the Rulers of this World, Ephes. vii. 2. So that we may not separate their Personal and their Politick capacity.

It remains, that we enquire the meaning of [...], and [...], what it is to resist in the Language of the Gospel. Now,

1. That to oppose by force is to resist, it is so plain, that I need not speak to it. We meet both the words in that sence, James iv. 6,7. [...], God resisteth the proud; and [...], Resist the Devil.

2. But the word signifies Oppo­sition by subtilty, as well as by force. The Opposition of Elymas the Sor­cerer [Page 18] to Saint Paul, is expressed by this word, Act. xii. 8. [...]. and the opposition of Jannes and Jam­bres to Moses, [...], 2. Tim. iv. 15.

3. And lastly, it signifies oppo­sition by Words, as well as by Deeds. So [...], to gain­say, and to resist, are the same, Luke xxi. 15. and [...] is to contradict, Acts vi. 10.

The words then do clearly and plainly comprehend all manner of resistance or opposition.

This hitherto concerns the Pro­position taken materially: if we reflect upon the form of it, there will be two things to be consi­dered.

First, That the Proposition is in­definite, and equipollent to an Uni­versal; They that resist, that is, [...], every soul (as in the first [Page 19] Verse) that resists, without any ex­ception of persons.

Secondly, That the Act of Resi­stance is set down likewise abso­lutely without any restraint, in re­spect of any pretences or causes. whatsoever. So that the sence of the words resolved, and expounded by the Scriptures, is this; Every Soul, which upon any pretence whatsoever, in any manner what­soever, shall resist the lawful Au­thority that is over him, shall re­ceive to himself damnation, that is, he puts himself thereby into a state of damnation.

This I conceive to be the mean­ing of the Holy Ghost in the words of my Text. I must acknowledge, that two things have been question­ed in this Proposition by the men of this unhappy, viperous, and adulterous Generation.

[Page 20]I. The first is, Whether [...] ought to be interpreted so severely, as to signifie eternal damnation.

II. Whether that, which is said concerning all persons and preten­ces, can be made good upon the Principles of Christianity.

I. As to the former of these, I shall only say, that the Argument brought against this interpretation doth, in truth, exceedingly confirm it.

The Allegation is, that [...] is used in Scripture for Temporal Object. Judgment. The place produced is, 1 Cor. xi. 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh [...], damnation to himself: where the Apostle seemeth to ex­plain [...] by the following words, Verse 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly, and many sleep; viz. by Temporal Judgments.

[Page 21] Sol.And indeed this is true; but these things likewise ought to be observed.

1. That the same penalty is de­nounced in the Gospel to those, who resist Authority, and to those, that are guilty of the body of Christ, 1 Cor. xi. 27. and trample upon the blood of the everlasting Cove­nant. Heb. 10. 29.

2. That neither Ananias and Sapphira, nor yet the Corinthians, were by their Temporal Judgments exempted from Eternal.

3. And lastly, That seeing the great difference betwixt the Legal and Evangelical dispensation did consist in this, that the express Promises and Threatnings, under the Law, were Temporal; and under the Gospel, Eternal: if God shall, under the Gospel, besides Eternal punishments due to every [Page 22] sin, add moreover to some particu­lar sins the threatnings of tempo­ral Judgments, let these men con­sider what advantage they have gotten, and what can more be de­vised to contribute to the aggrava­tions of such a sin. I shall say no more to the first Question, nor to that part of the Text, which concerns the damnation of Resi­sters precisely considered: but shall apply my self to the resolution of the second.

II. It is impossible in half an hour, to speak concerning all those pretences for resistance of Magi­strates; which, being raised by Satan, and made use of by the children of disobedience, are falsly charged upon Religion. I shall single out some of the chief of them, and examine them by the Law and the Testimony, by the Old [Page 23] and New Testament; adding to them, as occasion requires, the judgment and practise of the Pri­mitive Christians; and afterwards make a brief Application.

Those, which have given the greatest scandal, as having troubled the Christian World, and almost turned it upside down, are redu­cible to the two Heads of Religion, and Civil Affairs.

First, Those which refer to Re­ligion, are such scandalous Tenets as these:

I. That Erroneous (suppose Heretical or Idolatrous) Powers may be resisted; especially if they endeavour to force men to their own Religion.

II. That Christian Magistrates have no power in matters of Religion: viz. None

[Page 24]1. In religious Causes.

2. Over religious Persons.

• By Orders.
• By personal Gifts.

Secondly, Those which refer to matters Civil, are reducible to such as these;

I. Harsh Administration.

II. Pretences of Competition of Power; and the like.

Now I shall not be afraid or backward to acknowledge, that if any one of these Tenets be agree­able to the Principles of Christia­nity, or to the practise of the Pri­mitive and purest Christians, who are to be presumed to have known the mind of Christ and his Apo­stles; then we are to admit, that there is reason in what is alledged to create a Jealousie upon Religion.

[Page 25]For, 1. If Erroneous, Heretical, or Idolatrous Magistrates may be resisted, (because they are so, or because they join oppression of god­ly men unto their errour in Reli­stion) how can any Kingdom stand? These are matters wherein every man makes himself a Judge; and it is not material, whether he judge righteous or unrighteous judgment, the matter once stated in Thesi, that in such cases men may resist, the Hypothesis is easily made, and men let loose to act according to their proper apprehensions, or the pretences of those, who have power with them.

What shall be done, when, at the same time, a Prince shall be judged by one part of his Subjects Heretical and prophane, for depart­ing from Superstition, and vindi­cating his power from unjust Usur­pations [Page 26] over it; while another part shall judge him to be Superstitious, and will never believe him to abhor Idols, so long as he will not com­mit Sacrilege? What shall be done, while some conclude him to be ir­religious, because he will not wor­ship Images; others Idolatrous, be­cause he kneels at the Communion? and both esteem him an Oppres­sour, because he restrains their Zeal, and hinders them from that excess of Riot, which they pant after, to the devouring of one another?

Supposing this Tenet to be true, it is indeed evident no Government can be. But now what colour can there be, to charge this Tenet upon Christianity? Doth the Old or New Testament give any occasion to this Doctrine? Is it counte­nanced (1.) by Moses, or (2.) by the Prophets? or (3.) by our Sa­viour? [Page 27] or (4.) by the Apostles? (5) That Cloud of Witnesses, (the Noble Army of Martyrs) did they give Testimony to this Assertion, or to the contrary? I may not insist: a word to each of these.

1. Moses was so far from the Doctrine of Resistance, that, not­withstanding the hardness of Pha­raoh's heart, the cruelty of the bon­dage, the weakness of the Egyptians by Plagues, the numbers of Israel, six hundred thousand, and three thousand five hundred and fifty fighting men above twenty years old; besides the Tribe of Levi: yet he would not lead them into the promised Land without Pha­raoh's positive and express consent to their departure.

2. As for the Prophets; in the third Chapter of Daniel we find three of Gods Children put to the [Page 28] trial (the fiery trial) of this Do­ctrine, by Nebuchadnezzar, an Ido­later, and a Tyrant, acting highly under both those Capacities toge­ther. They were cast into the fiery Furnace, because they would not worship the Golden Image which he had set up. And in the sixth, we find Daniel thrown into the Lions Den, only for praying to the God of Israel. Let us consider their Behaviour, did they resist, or mu­tiny, or labour to alienate, or dis­content, or (by denouncing threats or terrours) to discourage Subjects from Obedience? How had they been instructed by their Prophets? Jeremy (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13.) had taught them, that Zedekiah had turned from the Lord God of Is­rael, in rebelling against Nebuchad­nezzar, who had made him swear by God: and that they ought to seek [Page 29] the peace of the City whither they were carried Captives, and to pray unto the Lord for it, Jer. xxix. 7. And there­fore the three Children in the third of Daniel only refer themselves to God for deliverance; and Daniel, in the midst of the Lions Den, prays heartily for Darius, O King, live for ever! Dan. vi. 21.

3. In the next place, let us con­sider the case of Christ and his A­postles, and see whether any such Tenet may be collected from their Doctrine or Practice, their Speeches or their Actions. As for what concerns our Lord Christ, I have had the Honour formerly in this place more at large to vindicate him from such aspersions. He paid Tribute at the expence of a Mira­cle, Mat. xvii. 27. He submitted himself to all the Powers that were over him; to the Sanhedrim, and [Page 30] their Delegates, to Herod, to Pon­tius Pilate: he submitted himself to death by an unjust sentence, even to the bitter and accursed death up­on the Cross, Philip. ii. 8. This was his Practise: as for his Doctrine; He taught men to render to Caesar the things that were Caesars, Mat. xxii. 21. He acknowledged Pilate's power to be from above, John xix. 11. He rebuked Peter for smiting with the Sword; and told him, that Those that take the Sword, shall perish by the Sword, Mat. xxvi. 52. He taught his Difciples to pray for them which should persecure them, Mat. v. 44. And the utmost permission which he gave them, was, when they were persecuted in one City, to flee unto another, Matth x. 23.

4. As for the Apostles: They taught men to obey them that have the rule over them, Hebr. xiii. 17. [Page 31] To submit themselves to every Ordi­nance of man, 1 Pet. ii. 13. To do all things without murmuring or dispu­ting, Philip. ii. 14. To pray for Kings, and all that are in Authority, 1 Tim. ii. 2. Saint Peter hath told us, that such as despise Dominion, and speak evil of Dignities, are (in an espe­cial manner) reserved to Judgment, 1 Pet. ii. 9, 10. and Saint Paul, in my Text, that they shall receive dam­nation.

This Doctrine they Sealed with their blood. Saint Peter (according to Ecclesiastical Tradition) was crucified, and Saint Paul beheaded, James the Son of Zebedeus slain with the Sword, &c.

Now, as for the Powers, to which all these Instructions and Behavi­ours did refer, they were for Idola­try, and Tyranny, and Persecution, Humani generis portenta.

[Page 32]If it be objected, That all these Obj. submitted, because thev were not able to resist: the Answer, upon Christian Principles, might be; Sol. That He, which restrained the Flames, and stopped the mouths of Lions, could have given his Servants power to resist; that Christ could have prayed his Father, who would have given him more than twelve Le­gions Matth. 26. 53. of Angels for his relief; that the Apostles, who wrought migh­ty signs and wonders, could have rescued themselves: had it not rather pleased the great Ordainer of Powers, by their submission, to ratifie and establish the Doctrine of Obedience.

5. But the belief, and practise of the Primitive Christians will satis­fie this Objection even to common Sense and Reason.

The Instances in this kind are in­finite, [Page 33] where Christians, abound­ing in numbers, being in Arms, and abundantly able to make re­sistance, have chosen, with the ex­pence of their lives, to yield obe­dience to Idolaters, persecuting them for their Religion. I shall name but two Examples.

Tertullian Apolog. § 37. tells the Emperour, that his Cities, Islands, Castles, Coun­cils, Armies, Regiments, and Com­panies; the Palace, the Senate, the Courts of Judicature were filled with Christians: and yet they submitted to persecution.

And we read that the Thebean Legion consisted of six thousand, six hundred, sixty and six persons, every man Christian, when they submitted to the Decimation of Maximinian for Religion.

I shall say no more to the first Pretence.

[Page 34]II. Now the second is like un­to it, alike prejudical to Govern­ment; alike false, and scandalous to Religion.

An House, or Kingdom divided Mat. xii. 25. cannot stand: and God is not the Author of Confusion, but of Peace; 1 Cor. xiv. 33. and that especially in Religion. If none have this power to order mat­ters of Religion, there must be Confusion: if any other beside the Supreme Magistrate, there will be Division. The inevitable In­conveniences of the exemption of religious Things, and religious Per­sons, from the power of the Ma­gistrate, are abundantly set forth by such, as would improve them to the disadvantage of Religion. And, indeed, to go about to de­ny, or to diminish the dismal Con­sequences of such Pretences, were to endeavour to put out the eyes of [Page 35] all the men of Reason, and Expe­rience in the world.

My present Duty is to enquire, what relation these Pretences have to the Principles of Christianity; and that

First, As to religious Causes.

Secondly, As to Ecclesiastical Persons.

Thirdly, As to holy, or gifted Brethren; as they style them­selves.

Now, in order to a resolution in these Enquiries, I shall (as a Lemma) humbly propose one Ob­servation.

It is this, That, whereas there are two things, whereon all Po­litical administration doth depend: 1. Concerning the Rights, and Bounds, and regulation of Sove­reign Powers; 2. Concerning the Duties, and Obedience of Sub­jects: [Page 36] we find both Christ, and the Apostles, frequently labouring to settle in the Consciences of men that part, which concerns Obe­dience; but no where restraining, or limiting, or particularly regu­lating the Office of Sovereign Powers; but leaving them to those general Rules, which con­cern the Account and Duty of all men in their several stations, and to the terms, whereupon the Pro­vidence of God was wont to set­tle the Princes, and Governours of the World. Let the rights of Caesar be what they will (in refe­rence to Tribute, or other mat­ters) Christ will not determine them: This he will; those things, which belong to Caesar (according to Jus Gentium) must be rendered to him. He doth not examine Pilate's power, in case of Blasphe­my, [Page 37] or Treason; but acknowledges it, and submits. He falls not up­on sifting, or examining the power of the Sanhedrim; either their ori­ginal power, or the power left them by the Romans: They sit in Moses Chair, &c. Whatsoever therefore they bid you do, do it, Matth. xxiii. 2, 3.

And so likewise the Apostles, they seem to be unconcerned (as it were) in the governing part of Civil Policy. No word is found in all their Writings, enquiring into the Rights of the Roman Em­perours (who were sovereign) or limiting the Exercise of their Power. Only thus much they take for certain, such, as they were, they were ordained of God. And they spend all their labour in founding deeply, and firmly establishing that other part, which concerns Obedience.

[Page 38]From this Observation it will follow, That whatever Things, or Persons were not before the times of Christ, and his Apostles, exempt from the power of the Magistrate, are not by the Foun­dations, and Principles of Christi­anity exempted. ( Non eripit mor­talia, qui regna dat coelestia.) And it will only remain for us to en­quire, what was the manner of the Nations of the World, and of God's peculiar people, in reference to these Particulars, before, and at the times of Christ, and his Apostles. To which if we shall add the practice of the best, and most ancient Christian Empe­rors, I know not what more can be desired to clear the present Ar­gument.

I suppose it needless to put in a Caution, that while we speak [Page 39] of the Magistrate's power to or­der matters of Religion; we do not entitle him to the Priest's Of­fice (the Spiritual Function) or the Execution of it, in preaching the word, administring the Sacra­ments, exercising the power of Ordination, or of the Keys, &c. Blessed be the Lord God of our Fathers, who hath put it into our So­vereign's heart to be tender of the rights of the Church, as of the Apple of his Eye.

This is a Calumny insisted on generally by almost all our Adver­saries, but it is too rude, and gross, to be spoken to in this place. Ra­ther let us see whether the Sove­reigns among all people, Hea­then, Jews, Christians, have not claimed, and exercised power in all Causes, over all Persons, as well Ecclesiastical, as Civil.

[Page 40]1. For Causes. The New Te­stament sometimes divides the Gen­tiles Rom. i. 14. into Greeks, and Barbarians; sometimes into wise, and unwise: according to which division the Ro­mans are, I suppose, reckoned un­der the Greeks, from whence they were mostly extracted, and with whom they contended in Civility. Briefly, 1. the Greeks, 2. the Ro­mans, 3. the Barbarous Nati­ons did always exercise such a power.

(1.) Aristotle, the greatest a­mong the Greeks, tells us, that Polit. lib 7 cap. 8. the first, and principal thing in a Common Wealth is [...]. And, accordingly, if we con­sult the Fragments, which are left us, of the Laws of the most an­tient Grecian Common-Wealths, we shall find nothing so frequent, as the Ordinances concerning their Religion.

[Page 41]2. Amongst the Romans, Ci­cero (the wisest) saith, that Re­ligion is the Foundation of Hu­mane Society; as in truth it is. To say nothing of the Ordinan­ces of Numa, the Jus Pontificium &c. the Titles of the Twelve Tables are many of them concerning Re­ligion.

(3.) As for the Barbarous Nations, I shall not multiply Te­stimonies, nor go beyond the line of Scripture. In the third of Da­niel we find an Edict of the King of Babylon enjoyning all People, Languages, and Tongues to commit Idolatry; Vers. 4. 5. And, by and by, another Edict, that no man should speak amiss of the God of Sha­drach, Mesech, and Abednego Vers. 29. In the sixth we find Darius (the Persian) by the advice of his Coun­cil signing a Decree, against peti­tioning [Page 42] (for thirty days) any God besides himself; Verse 9. and short­ly another, that all men should trem­ble, and fear before the God of Da­niel; Verse 26. In the third of Jo­nah, the King of Nineveh, and his Nobles proclaim a publick Fast. In the first of Ezra, Cyrus puts forth an Edict to build the Temple at Hierusalem. In the fourth, Artaxerxes reverseth it. In the sixth Darius re-inforceth it.

I suppose it is now evident, that Greeks, and Barbarians did exer­cise this power.

To think to elevate the force of these Instances, because all these were Strangers from God, and aliens from the Common-Wealth of Israel, Ephes, ii. 12. is to mistake the purpose for which they are alledged.

However, it was not thus among [Page 43] the Kings of the Nations only, but among the holiest, and wisest of the Governours, and Kings of Israel, and Juda; who for abolishing false Worship, and ordaining the true, are often high­ly commended by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures. The time would fail me to speak distinctly, and particularly, of the Ordinances concerning Religion, which were made by Moses, Joshua, David Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Manasses also, and Josiah: con­cerning whom the Scripture gives these Characters. Moses was the Deut. 33. 1. man of God. Joshua the servant of the Lord. David a man after Josh. xxiv. 29. Gods own heart. There was none 1 Sam. xiii. 14. like unto Solomon. Asa his heart 2 Chron. ix. 22. was perfect with the Lord. The Lord 1 Kings xv. 14. was with Jehoshaphat. Hezekiah did 2 Chron. xvii. 3. that, which was right in the sight of 2Cron. 20. 2. [Page 44] the Lord. Manasseth was heard of 2 Chron. xxxiii. 13 God. Josiah did that, which was 2 Chron. xxxv. 26. right; and his Goodness was re­corded.

Now the Acts of every one of these concerning the Worship of God, and matters of Religion are recorded, and applauded in the Scriptures. For these all ordered, and regulated Services, and Sacra­ments, and Covenants with God; they erected Altars and Taber­nacles, and Temples, and dedi­cated them unto the Lord; they destroyed Idolatry, reformed a­buses in Gods Worship, settled both the standing Worship of God, and occasional Thanks-giv­ings, and Humiliations: to omit other matters.

The whole Aaronical Ministe­ry, which consisted in ceremonies, and Sacrifices, Typical, and Car­nal [Page 45] Ordinances, was not ordered by the hand of Aaron, but of Moses, who was King in Jesurun. Deut. xxxiii. 5.

The Tabernacle, and Temple­service (which, beside the Mosai­cal Institutions, consisted of Spi­ritual abiding Ordinances) was in­stituted by David: who, being the sweet Singer of Israel, and ac­quainted more then ever any man (for ought appears) with the ways, and helps of listing up the Heart to spiritual intercourse with God, to that end appointed the use of Musick in the Church; and (with­out fear of stinting the Spirit) he prescribed Set-forms of Praise, and Prayers for the use of the Temple; and ordered the service for every day. A Psalm, consist­ing partly of the one hundred and fifth, ninety sixth, and one [Page 46] hundred and eighteenth, he first delivered to Asaph, and his Bre­thren, at the reduction of the Ark from the house of Obed-Edom; 1 Chron. xvi. 7. And divers other Psalms were composed by him for the Service of the Church.

And what he had ordained, So­lomon put in practice. In the fifth Chapter of the second Book of Chronicles, we find the pattern of the Service of this Time, and Place, the Sons of Asaph, Heman, and Vers. 12. Jeduthun, arrayed in white Linen, with musical Instruments, praising the Lord, saying, For he is good, &c. viz. reciting the one hundred Vers. 13. and eighteenth Psalm: and, in to­ken of God's acceptance, a Cloud filled the house. Vers. 14.

The one hundred thirty and sixth Psalm likewise was wont to be sung in Thanksgivings. So [Page 47] we find also Hezekiah, and Josiah, 2 Chron. xxix. 25. praising the Lord in the words of Da­vid, 2 Chron. xxxv. 15. and Asaph.

Thus stood the matter under the Law; the ordering of mat­ters of Religion was not exempt­ed from the. Supreme Power. Hezekiah varied from Moses his Law, and was blameless. Nei­ther was it otherwise in the best, and purest Times under the Gos­pel.

It had been but a slender invi­tation to the Emperours to be­come Christian; if, by submit­ting to Christianity, they must lose so considerable a part of the So­vereign Power enjoyed by all their Predecessours, and be there­by exposed inevitably to Sediti­ons, and Rebellions, upon every Frantick eruption of religious Me­lancholy. The primitive Empe­rours [Page 48] understood themselves other­wise, and so did the Christians under them. I may not stand to recite the Annals of the Church.

If Constantine had not inter­posed for the composing of the Arrian Heresie, what had be­come either of Government, or Religion?

The drawing up of Canons for the regulation of Religion was by our Lord committed to the Apostles, and their Succes­sours, the Bishops, and other Ec­clesiastical Persons: but, that these Canons should be enforced as Laws by temporal Penalties it, was by sanction of Civil powers.

In the second Oecumenical Council, the Fathers, assembled at Constantinople, beseech Theo­dosius the Elder to ratifie the De­crees of that Synod.

[Page 49]Thus we find Justinian esta­blishing Novel. Coastit. 131. the Nomo-Canonicon, or Code of the Universal Church, consisting of the Canons of the four first General, and five ancient Provincial Councils; and com­manding them [...], to be kept as Laws. Briefly, to de­termine this Question, we need only to view the Titles of the sixteenth Book of the Code of Theodosius, the thirteen first Ti­tles in the Code os Justinian, Pho­tius's Nomo-Canon, and the like.

The Pretence of exemption of Ecclesiastical Causes, so as hath been intimated, as it is incon­sistent with Government; so it is also with the Principles of Chri­stianity.

2. Thus much having been spoken concerning the regulation [Page 50] of Matters of Religion, it will be needless to enlarge concerning the second Pretence of the exemption of Ecclesiastical Persons.

This Tenet is equally dange­rous with the former, and equal­ly contrary to the Principles of Christianity. It were to be wish­ed, that all men professing them­selves Ministers were thorowly convinced of the Doctrine of O­bedience: otherwise, as they grow popular, they become dan­gerous. Sacerdotum quidam eo sunt ingenio, ut, ni pareant, territent. And Saint Chrysostom commenting upon every Soul, &c. saith, [...]. Both the Apostle, the Evangelist, and the Propher. Our Saviour was both Priest, and Prophet; and the Apo­stles were Ecclesiastical persons: yet did not think themselves exempted. [Page 51] Such persons were not exempted, either before, or after the Times of our Saviour; neither in Kings ii. a Single, or 7. Ibid. 35. Joynt capacity. From the be­ginning Mat. xix. 8. it was not so.

1. As to Single persons under the Law, we find an Instance of the Exercise of the Sovereign power over an High-Priest of­fending, in Abiathar, whom So­lomon thrust out, and placed Zadoc in his room.

2. As to the calling of Assem­blies; before the Gospel-times, it did belong to the Supreme Magistrate. We find Moses, not Aaron; Joshuah, not Eleazar; Da­vid, not Abiathar; Solomon, not Zadoc; summoning the Priests, and Levites, to meet together. And

In the Primitive Times of the Christian Emperours, we do not [Page 52] meet with Councils, or Synods called by the Bishop of Rome, nor with Ministers, casting them­selves into Classical, and Syno­dical Meetings; nor with As­semblies of Divines, called a­gainst, or without the Prince's consent.

The indiction of Times, and Places, the convocation of Per­sons, the Presidency, the order of Debates, the dismission of the Assemblies, the roboration of Ca­nons (as to making them Laws of the Empire) in the General, and provincial Councils, were all the work of the Supreme Magi­strate. And

As for matters of Appeal, we find Paul appealing to Caesar: A­thanasius (from the Synod at Tyre) to Constantine; to whom three Appeals were likewise made [Page 53] in the Cause of Caecilianus, and Donatus: and many more in­stances of this, and the like na­ture.

3. I should now dismiss this Head concerning Religion, did there not remain one Pretence more, and that so wild, and mon­strous, that it looks as if it were the last effort of the enemy of man-kind ( ultimus Diaboli cona­tus) for it strikes at the Heart both of Government, and of Re­ligion. It is this, that Saints, and gifted Persons, (as they call them­selves) are exempt from humane Laws: and in effect resolves in­to this, that to reprobate others, and assume to themselves the Ti­tle of the Godly Party, to talk of Reformation, and the Power of Godliness, of advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ &c. [Page 54] is to justifie Sacriledge and Trea­son, and horrid Rebellion, and to qualify them for the Kings, and Priests, and Prophets of the world.

How far this Satanical mad­ness hath prevailed, to the con­fusion of all things Civil, and Sacred; to the scandal of Religi­on; the planting, and watering of Atheism, and Infidelity; I tremble to call to our remem­brance.

If my present business were to refute the men, that have given this ofsence, how easie were it to examine their Gifts, and their Saintship, and how hard to find them. But as the woman of Sa­maria said to our Saviour, Art thou greater than our Father Jacob? Joh. iv. 12. are they greater Saints, or better gifted, then Peter, and Paul, and [Page 55] the rest of the Apostles? He, that said, Let every Soul be subject to Rom xiii. 1. the higher Powers, had been wrap'd up (whether in the body, or out, he 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3. could not tell) to the third heavens: hath any of them been carried higher?

Christ the natural Son of God, the Brightness of his Glory, the Heb i. 3. Express Image of his Person, said, Render to Caesar the things that are Matt xxii. 21. Caesars: are they greater then Christ also?

But my present purpose being chiefly to remove these scandals from Religion; come, and let us reason together, What could Christ, and his Apostles have done more to prevent this scandal, then they have done? Their Do­ctrine, and practice hath been already shewn; and the Danger, and Heinousness of the Sin of [Page 56] Resistance (in all the kinds, and degrees of it) discovered; neither can any thing more be imagined, which might be desired to anti­cipate, and obviate this pretence, unless it be, that these things should have been particularly fore­told, and the Persons (at least their Party and Sect) described; that the world might be forewarned of them.

Will it then satisfy the enemies of our Religion, . concerning the Truth, and Infallibility of the Scriptures, and the abhorrency of the Christian Principle from this damnable Tenet; if it shall briefly appear, that these things have been punctually foretold by Christ and his Apostles?

Christ hath given warning of grievous Wolves in Sheep's cloa­thing. Matth. vii. 15.

[Page 57]More particularly Saint Paul hath told us, that in the last days perilous times should come 2 Tim. iii. 1. that there should be heady, high-minded Tray­tours, Ibid. Verse 4. 5. having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

Saint Peter, that there should 2 Pet. ii. 1. be false Teachers, which should pri­vily bring in damnable heresies, pre­sumptuous, Ibid. Verse 10. self-willed, not afraid to speak evil of Dignities.

Now, if all this be not suffi­cient, Saint Jude hath taken up this Prophesie of Saint Peter and given us two clear Characters of these Persons, whereby they might be known. He tells us, ^1. That they shall be Separatists from the Church, and ^2. false-pretenders to the Spirit. These are they, which se­parate Jude 19. themselves, being sensual, having not the spirit.

I shall say no more to the Pre­tences [Page 58] relating to that Head which concerns the matter of Religi­on.

2 ^ly. Neither shalll I enlarge upon that other Head referring to matters Civil, where I in­stanced in two Pretences taken from,

I. Harsh Administration in the Magistrate.

II. Competition as to power in Subjects.

I. Neither the Time, nor the Design, which I have propound­ed, nor (indeed) my Profession nor Abilities do allow me to enter into the depths of the Po­liticks, or to discourse of the limitations of Sovereign Powers. Thus much is obvious to every man.

That there is no Cruelty so great as laxness of Government, [Page 59] nor any Tyrany in the World like the rage of Subjects let loose; and that the little Finger of Li­centiousness is harder then the Loyns of the severest Laws, and strictest Government.

I shall briefly shew, that the Scripture, foreleeing the easiness (by reason of the Self-love, and partiality of men) of this Pre­tence, and the danger of it, hath directly opposed it self against it.

I shall not mention particular Commands: let us have recourse to the main Foundations; the Body, and Substance of Christi­anity, the MISHPATHAME­LEK (the Jus Regium) the Fundamental Law of the Kings of Israel.

1. Christianity obligeth us to believe not only, that Christ is [Page 60] God, and that the Gospel is from God: but that all the Circum­stances of the Ministery of Christ, and his Apostles, were ordered by his Providence. Why then were the times of Tiberius, and Cali­gula, and Claudius, and Nero (out of the Series of the Time spun out from the Creation) chosen, and selected for the promulgati­on of the Doctrine of Obedi­ence. If harsh Administration of Power will exempt men from Obedience; at that time, when Claudius, or Nero was Roman Emperour, why should the Holy Ghost move Saint Paul to write to the Romans, They that resist, shall receive to themselves Damna­tion? So much briefly for the Gospel.

2. As for the Jus Regium in the eighth of the first Book of Sa­muel [Page 61] we find the Israelites desiring a King: and God (though re­jected by this motion) commands Samuel to hearken to their voice. Verse 9. Yet, that they might know what they did, and not be surprized (believing they might cast of again their King at pleasure) he charges him to protest solemly, and shew them [...]. Our Translation renders it, The man­ner of the King. The Septu­agint, and all ancient Eastern and Western Translations ren­der it by words of signifying the Law, or the Right of the King, Jus Regium

This (saith Samuel) shall be Verse 11 12. &c. [...] He shall take your Sons, and Daughters, your Vine-yards, your Fields, and your Flocks, &c. He tells them of harsh Admini­strations.

[Page 62]Was it the meaning of the Holy Ghost, that ( de Jure) Princes ought to do, or that it was lawful for them to do after the manner there des­cribed?

In the seventeenth Chapter of Verse 14. Deuteronomy we find the Duty of the Kings of Israel described in a way directly contrary to this; they were to fear the Lord, and not to Verse 19. turn aside to the right hand, or to the left from his Commandments. Bewise now therefore, O ye Kings; be instructed, ye Judges of the Earth: Psal. ii. 10. 11. serve the Lord with fear, and re­joyce with trembling.

Was it a Prediction of what would be their condition, what would be the manner of their Kings?

Not that neither. We do not read of any of the Kings of Ju­dah, or Israel, that proceeded to [Page 63] the height there expressed. Even Abab, who sold himself to work wick­edness, 1 Kings xxi. 25. did not take Naboth's Vin­yard, by force; he would not seise on it, till Jezebel had brought about the pretence of a Legal For­feiture.

What then is the meaning of [...]? Surely it imports thus much, that, if all this hard usage should come upon them, they might cry unto the Lord; (Verse 18.) but that it would not dissolve Jus Regium (the right of Sove­reignty) or enable them to re­sist their Kings, or rebel against them.

II. There remains yet one Pre­tence to speak to, it concerns Com­petition of Power, either on

I. Pretences of Succession in­to the Magistrate's place in case of failour of Duty, or upon [Page 64] supposals of forfeiture of Power.

2. Pretences of the last resolu­tion of Power into the people, the diffused multitude, or the peoples Representative, and the like.

Concerning which kind of Pre­tences I must repeat what hath been said of the other. If they be admitted, they are distructive to Magistracy. If they be encou­raged by Religion, there will be reason, that Magistrates be jea­lous over it. But now is the Spirit of the Scriptures, and the tendency of it entirely bent ano­ther way.

The New Testament affords no Instance in this kind. As to the Old, I shall desire, that two Instances may be considered.

1. The Case of David, and Saul.

2. The Case of Corah, and Moses: [Page 65] which two Instances (if the time would bear it) would take in the Substance of all, that may be al­ledged in this kind.

1. It is (I conceive) impossible to carry the first sort of Pretences higher, then they were stated in the Case of David, and Saul. Saul was at first declared, and consti­tuted King by Samuel, acting in the Name of the Lord: and, when he had reigned two years, the same Samuel, in the Name of the same God, before the same people, denounces publickly, that his Kingdom should not continue; 1 Sam. xiii. 14. and that God had sought a man after his own heart, because he in­vaded the Priests Office. After this, he limits a certain day, he tells him, This day the Lord bath rent Chap. xv. 12. the Kingdom of Israel from thee, and given it to thy neighbour, because of [Page 66] his rebellion against God in the Case of Amalek.

The pretence of Failour, and Forfeiture can go no higher. Now for the pretences of David to step into his Government, and wrest it from him: He was anointed by Samuel, for ought appears, Chap. xvi. 13. without reservation for the life of Saul. He was qualified for Go­vernment; a valiant man, a man Ibid. Vers. 18. of War, prudent in matters, a comely Person, and the Lord was with him. He had received Testimony from God of his Election: the Spirit of God departed from Saul, and rested upon him. He had power in his hand, he was set Chap. xviii. 5. over the men of War, accepted by all the people all Israel, nd Judah loved him. After all this, you know his Provocations, his Ad­vantages, and his Behaviour; he [Page 67] durst not touch the Lords anointed; and, when another pretended to have done it at Saul's entreaty in ex­tremis, he revenged his death, and lamented over him, Ye mountains 2 Sam. i. 21. of Gilboa, &c.

2. But that other Pretence, that after a lawful Sovereign is esta­blished (according to the Suppo­sition of my Text, and my Dis­course) the power still remains in the people, (in the diffused body of them, or their Representatives) to alter the Government, as they please; it is in respect of Policy, and Government, what the Sin against the Holy Ghost is to Re­ligion, it destroys the foundations of the peace, and safety of men, and makes that to be the Arti­fice of man, which is the Ordi­nance of God. How much God abhorred this Pretence, will ap­pear [Page 68] in the Case of Corah, and his company. When God sent Mo­ses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, he sanctifyed him, and put his Name upon him; Thou shalt Exod. iv. 16. be to him instead of God: and when he had brought them forth, he Acts vii. 35. made him a Prince and a Law­giver over them. Deut. xxxi i. 4.

The supreme Power was in Moses, who called to his assistance a Senate, or Parliament, ( [...]) consisting of the Heads of the Tribes of Israel. In this Coun­cil Nature soon began to work, Num. xvi. some envied Moses, whom God had Psal. cvi. 16. chosen, and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. Dathan, and Abiram, the Sons of Eliab, Heads of Families, in the Tribe of Reuben, thought both the Civil Power, and (if that must be transferred, from the first-born, to one Tribe) the Priesthood also was [Page 69] due to them, being Eldest Bre­thren of the Eldest Tribe. Korah, an eminent man amongst the Levites, was offended, that the High-Priests Office went beside him, and was settled upon Aaron, and his Poste­rity.

These were their secret griefs; for a redress whereof they make a party in the Parliament, they gain to them two hundred and fifty men, famous in the Parliament, men of renown; and, in order to their ambitious Designs, they remonstrate against Moses, Vers. 13. and their Declaration was this Pretence, which we are upon; that all the Congregation [...] were Holy, and that Moses, and Aaron had lifted up themselves above them; that is, that their power was a contrivance of themselves, not an Ordinance of God; that, notwith­standing [Page 70] what God had done to settle the Civil, and Ecclesiastical power, it remained still in the peo­ple, or their Representatives assem­bled together. Now the Scripture tells us, that, since the world be­gan, God was never more high­ly provoked, then upon this oc­casion; when he heard this, he was wrath, and greatly abhorred them; he invented a new thing in the world for their sakes; for the Earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered Numb. xvi. 31. the Congregation of Abiram.

I have now done with these Pre­tences, and my endeavour hath Application. been to vindicate Religion from the charges of unbelieving Poli­ticians, and indeed to shew, that it is not a Spirit of carnal Com­pliance, but the true, and genuine Spirit of Christianity, which runs through the Doctrine, and Govern­ment [Page 71] of the Church of England. After what hath been spoken, I hope, I may presume to say with the Apostle, Do we now make void Rom. iii. 31. the Laws through Faith? yea, we establish the Laws.

We have seen the Christian Theory; doth the Philosophical Theory provide better for the safety of Princes, and the estabishment of Government?

It tells us in effect, that Might is Right; that every thing is just, or unjust; good, or evil accord­ing to the pleasure of the prevail­ing Force, whom we are to obey till a stronger then he cometh, or we be able to go through with re­sistance.

That, in reference to this life, Obedience is a matter of Wit, and Prudence, and after life there re­main for us no Concernments.

[Page 72]How stramineous is this The­ory compared with the Christian Theory, which speaks in this wise, Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers, &c?

That this is the genuine Chri­stian Theory, hath in some mea­sure been demonstrated; so that indeed it may be wondered from whence these Prejudices have ari­sen.

But alas! that my head were wa­ters! They have one grand Ob­jection, to which having spoken I shall conclude.

If this be the Doctrine of Chri­stianity, how comes it to pass, that those, who pretend the highest to Religion, and profess themselves the onely Christians, (the Bigot, and Jesuited Romanist; the fright­ed, and transported Reformist) have been authors of the most [Page 73] horrible Treasons, and Rebelli­ons?

On the one hand, what mean the Catholick Leagues? On the other, the Solemn League, and Covenant, forced upon Subjects, renitente Principe?

On one hand what means (shall I say the lowing of the Oxen, or ra­ther) the roaring of the Bulls, the thundring of Excommunications, the absolving Subjects from their Allegiance, the Actual Murthers of Princes, the attempts for blowing up King, Lords, and Commons at one clap? What is the mean­ing of the noise of the Bells, of the claps of Squibs, and Fire-works, which we hear? On the other hand what was the meaning of that black, and terrible dispensation, which will cause the ears of all Posterity to tingle.

[Page 74]It is but a little while since the anointed of the Lord, the holiest, the wisest, the best of Kings, was taken in the snares of men pre­tending to reformation, and sa­crificed to the fury of men pos­sessed by an evil Spirit from the Lord. He was offered as a Lamb that is dumb, or rather like the Lamb of God, to the rage of wild fanatical Enthufiasts.

It is but a very little while, since the Lamentation of Jeremy was in the mouth of all the faithful in the Land.

Our Kings, and our Princes were amongst the Gentiles (provoked to Lam. ii. 9. serve other Gods) the Law was no more, the Prophets also received no vision from the Lord. And all these things were brought to pass by men pretending wonders in Re­ligion.

[Page 75]And they would know the reason of all these Dispensations. But who art thou, O man! who pressest into the secret of Gods Pavilion? How unsearchable are his Judgments, and his ways past finding out; such knowledge is too wonderful, we cannot attain unto it.

It may be, these things have been done, that the Sayings of our Saviour might be fulfilled, It cannot be but offences will come but wo be to them, by whom they Matth. xviii. 7. Ibid. Verse 6. come; and, It were better, that a milstone, &c.

It may be, the Gunpowder-Treason was permitted to be de­signed, that the disappointment might be had in everlasting re­membrance, and celebrated, as it is this day: Son of man, write the name of the day, even of this same Ezek. xxiv. 2. [Page 76] day: the King of Babylon set him­self against Jerusalem this same day.

It may be, God fuffered the late Rebellion to prevail, that he might not leave himself without witness, but shew forth his wonders in our days, in the miraculous restitution of our gracious Sovereign, and the Church. If he had not been driven out, how could he have been restored? not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of our God.

It may be, this was done, that we might say no more, The Lord liveth, which delivered us from the Treason of pretended Catholicks: but The Lord liveth which hath deli­vered us from the Tyranny, and blood rage of the wild Fanatical Enthusiasts.

Surely, all these things have been permitted, that the Stone which, [Page 77] the Builders refused, might be made tried and precious, and that his Patience, his Piety, his Con­stancy in Religion, his Chri­stian Magnanimity being mani­fest to all the World, by the im­patient desire of all Nations, he might become the head of the Corner.

Surely, these things were suf­fered, that the Faith, and Pati­ence, and Loyalty of the Church of England might be made bright and glorious by the Flames of Persecution: and that in the day, when God shall have given our most Gracious Sovereign the hearts, or necks of all his Enemies, it may not repent him of the Kind­ness he hath shewn to Religion, and Government, in lifting out of the dust the despised Head of that only Church, (for ought I [Page 78] know) which makes Obedience without base restrictions, and li­mitations, an Article of its Re­ligion.

Lastly, these things, it may be, have been permitted, that by the Triumph of this day, and by the vengeance lately executed in the sight of this Sun, the Atheistical world might be convinced, that the Powers, that be, are ordained of God, and that, though the wicked do evil an hundred times, and God prolong their days; yet Vengeance is his, and he will repay it, and They that resist, shall receive to themselves Damnation.

Against the Antiscripturists.

IN the verse preceding it is said concerning the Scriptures of the old Te­stament, that they are able to make a man wise unto salvation, [...] (by the faith which is in Jesus Christ): And it follows immediately, All Scripture, &c.

[...] (the Faith) is often by a Metonymy taken for the Gos­pel, [Page 82] which is the Object of the Faith of Christians. We read often Gal. 1. 23. 3. 25. of the Preaching, and Hearing of Rom. 12. 6. Faith; of the Analogy of Faith, the common Faith which was once delivered Tit. 1. 4. Jud. 3. to the Saints (in the preaching of Christ, and the Writings of his Evangelists and Apostles) and so I conceive it is to be taken in this place. So that the meaning of the whole is this, The Old Testament understood and expounded accord­ing to the Analogy of the New, is able to make a man wise. And the Pen-men of the Canonical Books of the Old Testament (wherein Timothy had been in­structed [...]) and of the Books of the New Testament (which except those of St. John were ex­tant before the writing of this E­pistle) were inspired and directed by the Spirit of God.

[Page 83]The words of the Text are an entire Proposition, asserting the Di­vine Authority of the Canon of Scripture; and my endeavour shall be at this time to prove the truth of that Proposition. Wherein, that I may proceed with all plainness and clearness, I shall premise two words by way of

• Petition,
• Precaution.

1. By way of Petition, I suppose and take for granted;

1. The great principle of the power of God, and his provi­dence in governing the world.

2. That our Body of Canonical Books of the Old Testament, is the same with that which was in Use in the time of Christ and his Apostles, And our body of the New Testa­ment the same which was an­ciently received in the Church. [Page 84] So that what shall be pro­ved of those, is applicable to the Original Scripture used in our time.

3. That those Books of New Testament whose Authors were not anciently question­ed, were written by those Authors whose name they bear. And that those few others which were some­times questioned by some particular Churches, and af­terward Universally receiv­ed, contain in them no one point of Faith or Manners diffentient from the Con­tents of those Books which were never questioned.

2. By way of Precaution and Admonition I must intreat you to take notice, that I shall not now meddle with the Controversies [Page 85] concerning Apocrypha, Tran­slations, Keri and Chetib, He­brew points, various Lections, dubious Authors or parts of Scrip­ture.

But my endeavour at this time shall be to Assert the Divine Au­thority of the body and substance of the Original Books of the Ca­non of the Old and New Testa­ment: And this not in the way of common place, but in a par­ticular Examination or Refutation of the most dangerous Opinions of the Antiscripturists, which are these:

I. Of those who pretend to be­lieve the truth of the New Testa­ment, and yet they deny the Divine Authority of the Old.

II. Of those who pretend to be­lieve the truth, but deny the Divine Authority of the New Testament.

[Page 86]III. Of such as pretend to be­lieve matters of Fact to have been truly related in the New Testa­ment, but do not believe the truth of the Doctrinal parts relating to Faith and Manners.

IV. Such as deny the truth of the Relation of matters of Fact in the New Testament, and in con­sequence reject the whole Body of Scripture. Of these as briefly and plainly as I can.

I. The first Opinion is of those, who pretending to believe the Truth of the New Testament, de­ny the Divine Authority of the Old Testament. The Severians, and the Manichees, Basilides, and Carpocrates of old: The Catabap­tists of later times, some Ana­baptists, Antinomians, and other Fanatical Sectaries amongst our selves.

[Page 87]In opposition to these, I shall shew, that supposing the truth of the New Testament, the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is to be acknowledged: Because the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is asserted by Christ and his Evangelists and Apostles in the New.

1. Next to the Redemption of the world, the great business which Christ had to do upon Earth, was to Convince men that he was the Messias, and so to assert his Legislative Authority. And the great Argument which he used for the conviction of the world was this.

All the Marks and the entire Character of the Messiah, and of his Actions and Passions, were prefigured and foretold by the Law and the Prophets, and the Psalms, Luk. 24. 44 [Page 88] i. e. in the Volume of the Old Testa­ment.

And all things foretold or pre­figured concerning the Messiah, were accomplished by himself.

So that though the great Works of Christ, and the purity and ex­cellency of his Doctrine, and of his Life, were of themselves suffi­cient to justifie the Introduction of his Law into the World, yet he was pleased to resolve (as it were) his own Authority into the Di­vine Authority of the Old Testa­ment, and to make use of those other manifestations of himself, in a co-ordination with that principle.

And therefore we find him still pressing the Jews with this, that if they did believe the Writings of Moses, and their other Scriptures, they must of necessity believe him also.

[Page 89] Moses wrote of me (saith he) Joh. 5. 46. wherefore, did ye believe Moses, ye would believe me. The Scriptures testifie of me, therefore search them diligently, [...]. For the Joh. 5. 39. attaining of everlasting life he re­fers the Lawyer to the Law, What Luk. 10. 26. is written in the Law? how readest thou? For the avoiding of the place of torments, he makes Abraham re­fer the Relations of Dives to Moses Luk. 16. 29 and the Prophets.

In all his disputations with the Pharisees and Sadduces, the Law­yers and the Scribes, he makes his appeal to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And lest any one should think that in all this he did only argue ad homines (that dispu­ting with the Jews he only pro­ceeded upon their own Hypothe­sis) we find him in the course of his Ministration positively affert­ing, [Page 90] that the Scriptures must be ful­filled; Mar. 14 49. that they cannot be broken; Joh. 10. 35. that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them; Mat. 3 31. and that Heaven and Earth shall Mar. 5. 18. pass away, before one jot or title of these should perish, until all was fulfil­led. Thus he asserted the Authority of the Old Testament before his death.

And after his Resurrection he made a real demonstration that the Old Testament was given by inspiration of God; for on the day of his Resurrection, falling into company of two of his Dis­ciples, going to Emmaus: He be­gan at Moses and all the Prophets, Luk 24. 17. and expounded to them in all the Scrip­tures the things concerning himself.

And afterward when the Ele­ven were come together, as a re­capitulation of this his method, [Page 91] and that he might instruct his Disciples in it, he said unto them, These were the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, Verse 44. that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psams (in the Volume of the Old Testament) concerning me. He opened their understandings, and said, thus it is written, and thus it behoved: And as a short Idea of what they were to do, he tells them, and ye are Witnesses of these things.

2. In pursuance of this method we find the Evangelists very cu­rious, and very frequent in ob­serving the accomplishment of the predictions of the Old Testament, reciting sometimes the speeches of Christ, saying, that he did such, or such a thing, to the end that [Page 92] the Scriptures might be fulfilled: I will not eat of the fruit of the Vine till all things be fulfilled.

Sometimes in their own Persons observing the accomplishment of particulars, and noting either par­ticular portions of Scriptures which were fulfilled, or the fulfilling of the Scriptures cited at large, with­out any particular Quotation. Thus the Evangelists writing of the Conception, Nativity, Name Mat. 1 22. of Christ, of his coming out of Egypt, dwelling at Nazareth, mi­gration Mat. 2. 15. Mat. 2. 23. to Capernaum, riding to 4. 14. Jerusalem; Say, that these things were 21. 4. done that the Scriptures (or the say­ing of the Prophet) at large might be fulfilled: So likewise for the circumstances of his Passion, the flight of his Disciples, casting lots Mat. 26. 56. 27. 35. Joh 19. 24. Joh 19. 29. upon his Garments, Vinegar gi­ven him to drink, piercing his [Page 93] side, bones remaining unbroken, Vers. 37. 36. &c.

Other times they note the par­ticular Prophet, Christ healed Di­seases, spoke in Parables, that the Mat. 8. 17. Mat. 13. 15 saying of Isaiah the Prophet might be fulfilled. When Herod slew the Children, then was fulfilled that Mat. 2. 17. which was spoken by Jeremy the Pro­phet, Rachel weeping for her Chil­dren, &c. and once we find a quotation of the second Psalm, and the like: This for the Evan­gelists. Act. 13. 33.

3. Lastly, the Divine Authori­ty of the Old Testament is assert­ed by the Apostles: Whom we find every where in their Writ­ings, citing the Testimonies of the Law and the Prophets, and Gal. 3. 10. Act. 7 42. Act. 1. 22. & 13. 33. Rom. 43. Gal. 3. 24. the Psalms; appealing to them, what saith the Scripture? the Scrip­ture hath concluded so or so: Ar­guing [Page 94] out of them, oft times di­rectly; thus not only the Apostles but Apollos mightily convinced the Acts 18. 24. 28. Jam. 4. 5. Jews, sometimes ab absurdo, do ye think the Scripture speaks in vain?

In a word, the Apostles follow­ed the way and method which their Master taught them; they as­serted that the Gospel was promis­ed by the Prophets, witnessed by Rom. 2. 12. Rom 3.21. Act. 13. 18. & 10. 43. the Law and the Prophets: by all the Prophets. Affirming of them­selves, that they believed all things Act. 24. 14. written in the Law and in the Pro­phets: and that they continued testi­fying and saying no other things than Act. 26. 28. the Prophets and Moses did say should come.

Finally, lest any place should be left for doubting concerning any part of the Old. Testament, the Apostles have expresly assert­ed concerning the Law, that it is Rom. 7 12 [Page 95] holy, just, and good; that the Pro­phets Act 3. 21. Tim 3. 15. Rem. 3. 2. Act. 7. 38. Act. 3. 21. are holy, and the Scriptures holy; that they are the Oracles of God, lively Oracles; that God spake by the Prophets; that holy men of God 2 Pet. 1. 26. spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Lastly, (in the Text) that 2 Tim. 3. 15. the [...], wherein Timothy had been instituted by his Mother, were gi­ved by inspiration of God.

This is the sense of the New Testament concerning the Old Testament; supposing therefore the Truth of the New Testament, the Divine Authority of the Old Testament is to be acknowledged, contrary to the first Opinion of the Antiscripturists.

II. The Second Antiscriptural Opinion is of those who pretend to believe the Truth, but they deny or doubt the Divine Autho­rity of the New Testament, ei­ther [Page 96] of the whole body of the New Testament, or at least of that part which delivers the Speeches and Writings of the Apostles.

Of this sort there are said to be many, who by the power and influence of their Education are restrained from denying or dis-be­lieving the Truth of the New Te­stament, and yet through the in­felicity of corrupt conversation are fallen from that Veneration which is due to writings supposed to be of Divine Authority.

For the History of the New Testament they have the same respect which they have for Ta­citus or Sallust, or some such other History; for the Mystery of the Gospel, the same which they have for some part of Plato, or rem­nants of Pythagoras; for the pra­ctical parts, the same which they [Page 97] have for some parts of Cicero or Seneca, or Epictetus. All which writings they believe to be true, but no man believes them to be Divine. And some there are who pretend a great veneration for the speeches of Christ, but have a mean­er esteem for the words, and writ­ings of the Apostles.

In opposition to these opinions, I shall shew, that supposing the words of Christ and the Apostles to be True, it will follow, that they are to be esteemed to be of Di­vine Authority.

Because Christ and the Apostles did profess and declare, that what they delivered to the world, was of Divine Authority.

And because our Lord Christ did undertake not only for him­self, but for the Inspiration of his Apostles also.

[Page 98]1. In the examination of the next Opinion, I shall be obliged to lay before you some of the evi­dences of Divine Authority in Christ and his Apostles, here it is sufficient to produce their assertions of it.

The time of our Lord Christs ministration (betwixt three and four years) was spent in preach­ing and working, and his Au­thority was often questioned.

In Luke 20. 1. and in the paral­lel Matth. 21. 23. Mar. 11. 27. places, While he was in the Temple teaching the People, and preaching the the Gospel, the Chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders came upon him, saying, tell us by what Authority thou dost these things (preachest to the people,) and who gave thee that Au­thority?

Knowing the perverseness of their minds, he was not pleased [Page 99] to gratifie them at that time with a direct answer, but confounded them with a question concerning the Baptism of John.

But at other times, upon other occasions, we find the Divine Au­thority of his teaching abundant­ly declared and asserted by him.

I am the way, the truth and the Joh. 14. 6. Joh. 6. 63. life: The words which I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life. The words which I speak, I speak not John 14. 10. of my self, but of the Father which dwelleth in me. My Doctrine is not Joh. 7. 16. mine, but his that sent me. I do nothing of my self, but as my Father Joh. 8. 28. hath taught me so I speak. I have John 12. 49. not spoken of my self, but the Father that sent me, he gave me a Command­ment what I should say, and what I should speak. Whatsoever I speak there­fore; even as the Father said unto John 12. 50. me, so I speak. Heaven and Earth shall Matth. 24. 24. [Page 100] pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Thus did our Saviour afsert the Divine Authority of his Words.

2. And so likewise the Apostles are very frequent in asserting the Divine Authority of the things which they delivered.

In the 15. of the Acts, we find them assembled about the question of Circumcision; and they account­ed it no robbery to entitle their Decrees to the Holy Ghost, It seem­ed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, v. 18.

Nor do they pretend to revela­tion when gathered in Council on­ly, but each one severally for him­self.

St. Peter professes of himself, that he was a partaker of the glory which Pet. 5. 1. was revealed: And of his Gospel, that it was revealed from Heaven. Pet. 1. 5.

[Page 101]St. John declares that he had 1 John 1. 3. [...] with the Father and the Son; as for his other writings, that they contained the things which he had heard and seeen with bis eyes which 1 Joh. 1. 1. he had looked on, and his hands had handled of the Word of life.

As for the Apocalypse, he pro­fesses, Apoc. 1. 9. 10. that being in the Spirit in Isle of Patmos he received it, and was commanded to write it in a Book.

The greatest writer among the Ibid. 19. Apostles was St. Paul, and the greatest question hath always been (amongst Unbelievers) concerning his Calling and the Authority of his Gospel.

He knew this very well, and therefore we find him asserting both his Calling and his Gospel with abundant care and dili­gence.

He affims himself to have been [Page 102] an Apostle not of man, neither by man, Gal. 1. 1. but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father; That by God himself he was Rom. 1. 1. separated to preach, constituted a Preacher, an Apostle, and a defender 2 Tim. 11. Phil. 1. 17. of the Gospel. As concerning his Gospel, he professes to have receiv­ed Eph. 3. 1. it by Revelation of God.

As for the Spirit wherewith he wrote and preached, he professed himself ready to give a proof of Christ speaking in him. He appealed to the 2Cor. 13. 3. Prophetick Spirit then in the Church, If any man think himself a Prophet or Spiritual, let him acknow­ledge 1 Cor. 14. 37. the things which I write to be the Commandments of God.

Out of this assurance it was that he enjoyned his Epistles to be read in the Churches of Coloss, Laodicea, Col. 4. 16. Ibid. 2 Thes. 3. 14. Thessalonica, and excommunicates such as should be disobedient in that particular.

[Page 103]And lest any one should here repeat the Objection made against our Saviour, Thou bearest witness of thy self, thy witness is not true.

St. Paul speaking of all the A­postles, affirms that God had set them in the Church, and that the Eph. 4. 11. 3. 5. Mystery of the Gospel was revealed to the holy Apostles by the Spirit.

Particularly notwithstanding that dispute betwixt St. Peter and St. Paul (from the first Ages of the Porphyr. Hier. Pro­oem. Galat. & in c. 2. Celsus. Church to our own Times, ob­jected by Unbelievers to the pre­judice of Religion) it is remark­able, that, in the same place where St. Paul gives an account how Pe­ter was to be blamed, and how and Gal. 2. wherefore he withstood him to his face at Antioch, he doth expresly affirm, that the Gospel of the Cir­cumcision was committed to Peter, and that God wrought effectually in [Page 104] Peter to the Apostleship of the Cir­cumcision.

On the other side St. Peter, in that very place, where he may seem to complain of the [...] 2 Pet. 3. 15. of St. Paul, yet even there he owns him as his beloved Brother, acknow­ledges his Wisdom to have been gi­given him of God, and numbers all his Epistles, inter [...] amongst the other Scriptures.

3. Lastly, For such as would put a difference of degrees betwixt the Authority of the words of Christ, and the writings and Ser­mons of the Apostles, they may take notice, that the Authority of these resolves it self into the veraci­ty of Christ himself.

He it was who being to leave the World, promised his Disciples again and again, that he would send down upon them the Holy Spirit, Joh. 15. 26. Joh. [...] [Page 105] that should instruct them and teach 14. 26. 16. 13. them all things, that should Lead them into all truth, Bring to their 14. 26. remembrance all things which he him­self had spoken, that should shew them things to come, that with this 16. 13. Spirit they should not be lightly dash'd, or sprinkled, but that they should be Baptized, and as it were Act. 1. 5. plunged into it.

How all these promises were performed, and how the Asserti­ons of the Divine Authority of the Words of Christ, and the A­postles were proved to be true, I am next to shew. In the interim I conclude that supposing the truth of the words of Christ and his A­postles, they are to be esteemed of Divine Authority.

III. The third opinion is of such as pretend to believe matters of fact to have been truly related [Page 106] in the New Testament, but they do not believe the truth of the Doctrinal parts relating to Faith or Manners.

Of these there have always been too great a number, not only pre­tenders, who under a form of Chri­stianity deny the power thereof, but generally all forts of Hereticks. When Porphyrius had revolted from Christianity to Platonism, and had bent all his forces against the Scripture-History, he was refuted not only by Lactantius, and Me­thodius, men Orthodox in Do­ctrine, but by Eusebius and Apol­linaris; and of late days, Socinus and others have well asserted the truth of the Scripture-History, who yet have been offended at the dogmatical parts of the Gospel, and concerning the Faith have made shipwrack.

[Page 107]In Opposition to these I shall endeavour to demonstrate, that, Supposing Matters of Fact to be truly related in the New Testa­ment, it is unreasonable to sus­pect the truth of any of the Do­ctrines delivered by Christ or his Apostles.

Amongst the various fancies concerning Religion, wherewith the whole world hath been always embroiled: Two things there are wherein all the Sons of Adam have agreed; namely, 1. That that is to be believed which hath received the testimony of God. And 2. That this Testimony is to be gathered from instances of supernatural Wis­dom and Power.

In the study of natural and Phi­losophical Theology, the Specula­tivi amongst the Greeks and Ro­mans, and other Nations, sought [Page 108] after wisdom, (Reason, and De­monstration.) But, to reduce the People to the forms of religious Rites and Sacrifices prescribed them, they were made to believe the Epiphanies of the Gods, and the manifestations of their Wis­dom, and Power, by Oracles and Works supernatural.

To these even Mahomet pretend­ed, though his great Argument was from the Sword: and of the Jews I need not speak.

For a Foundation of Religion, and in our inquisition after that, short of this Testimony we ought not to stay; further we cannot go: And herein is the utmost of humane wisdom to consider well those Evidences upon which we adventure the interest of our eter­nity.

To this evidence therefore we ap­peal [Page 109] in asserting the Doctrine of our Lord Christ, and his Apostles; Namely to the instances of Super­natural Knowledge and Supernatu­ral Power, whereby their Doctrine was attested.

I shall not here wave the force, but I shall decline the repetition of what I have formerly spoken concerning the attestations given to it by Visible Signs, Audible Voices, Apparitions of Angels, Ful­filling the Prophecies, Evidences of Christs Resurrestion, Mission of the Holy Ghost.

In Joh. 7. 15. the Jews wondred at Christ that he knew any thing: How knoweth this man Letters, seeing he[?] never learned tbem? but if we mark the Scriptures, we shall find that[?] he knew all things, and that no­thing[?] was withdrawn from the reach[?] of his understanding.

[Page 110]He knew the sickness and death Joh. 11. 11. of Lazarus, though absent and at a distance; He saw Nathaniel under 4. 17. the Fig-tree, and convinced him that he was the Son of God, and the King of Israel: Come see a man (said Joh. 4. 29. the Woman of Samaria) which told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ?

He was [...]: The secret Joh. 6. 61. 64. murmurs at his hard sayings, the inward desires to ask him Que­stions; 16. 16. the Reasonings and dialo­gisms Luk. 9. 47. of the hearts of his Disciples; the secret Councils of the Scribes Mat. 12. 15. 25 Mat. 2. 8. and Pharisees, their evil surmisings, their treacherous intentions to in­trap Luk. 6. 8. Luk. 11. 17. him, their mental Blasphemy were all naked and manifest be­fore him.

He knew what was in man, and needed not that any one should tell[?] Joh. 2. 24. 25. him; He knew the various Kinds Mat. 17 21. [Page 111] of Devils, and how they were to be ejected: This Kind cometh not out but by Prayer and Fasting. Mat. 17. 21. Mat. 17. 27. He knew the Fishes of the Sea, and where they were, and what was in them.

He knew not only things past and present, but to come; He fore­saw Joh. 18. 4. 11. 11. 13. 11. all things that were to come upon him, who it was that should betray him, he foretold his Disciples all the circumstances of his Passion, how he was to be Betrayed, Con­demned, Mat. 20. 18. Mat. 10. 23. Mat. 16. 21. Joh. 14. 28. delivered to the Gentiles, mock­ed, scourged, spit on, kill'd and Crucified at Jerusalem.

Behold, saith he, I tell you be­fore; Luk. 19. 44. Let this saying sink into your hearts. He forewarned Peter of Mat 26. 34. 31. his denyal, and the Disciples of their flight.

He foretold things to come as­ter Luk. 21. 20. his death, the time and manner [Page 112] of the destruction of Jerusalem: The success of his Gospel, the Effect (unlikely) of his Crucifixion, that it should draw all men after him, that John 12. 32. Matth. 24. 14. Matth 13. 31. it should be preached and believed in the whole world, spreading it self like Lea­ven, and like a grain of Mustard­seed, that Satans Kingdom should Luke 10. 18. be destroyed suddenly like light­ning; notwithstanding the false Christs and false Prophets which should Matth. 24. 15. arise.

These and many more were in­stances of the supernatural know­ledge of Christ: And for his pow­er, the time would fail me to in­sist upon the many and various instances mentioned in the Go­spels.

I shall omit the exercise of his dominion over the Sun, Moon, and Stars, Plants, and Animals, Earth, and Water, the Wind and the [Page 113] Sea, and briefly mind you of those which concerned the bodies of men; how he 1. Fed their hun­ger, 2. Healed their distempers, 3. Raised their dead, and 4. Cast out Devils.

He fed 4000 at one time, and Matth 14. 19. 15. 36. Matth. 15. 30. 9. 27. 4. 23. 5000 at another, with 5 or 7 Loaves, and a few little Fishes.

He healed the blind, lame, deaf, dumb, maimed, feaverish, hy­dropical, Mat. 8 14. Mat. 14. 4. Mat. 4. 13. Mat. 17. 12. Mat. 4 23. Luk. 22. 51 paralytick, leprous, and lunatick persons. He cured not green wounds only, but ancient inveterate Maladies of 12, of 38 Mat. 9. 20. John 5. 5. years continuance, one that was born blind.

He used no Plasters nor Potions, no Telesmans or other Charms, but performed all these things by a touch of his Hand or of his Mulios. Mat. 9 20. Garment. He healed absent per­sons as well as present, he spoke Mat. t. 6. John 5. [...] [Page 114] the word only and they were healed.

He raised to life the Daughter Mar. 5. 41. Luk 7. 11. John 11. 39. Matth 27. 52. of Jairus, the Widows Son at Naim, his Friend Lazarus, and ma­ny bodies of the Saints. Many of which healed and raised persons liv­ed till about Trajan's time, as Qua­dratus Eus. Eccl. H l. 4. c. 3. 3 37. Annct p. 8 a Disciple of the Apostles af­firmed in his Apology to Hadrian the Emperour.

Like a strong man armed he cast out Devils, whatever kind they were of he quickly disloged them; that foaming and tearing De­vil Mat. 17. 18 which withstood the power of his Disciples, and threw down and tore the possessed person even as he was yet coming to Christ himself; he presently rebuked, and healed the child, and delivered him to hts Father.

Neither their long possession, [Page 115] nor their numbers could secure them, he cast seven at once out Mar. 16. 9. Luk. 8. 27. of Mary Magdalen, and an whole Legion out of a certain man of the Countrey of the Gadarens, who had been possessed by them a long time.

Moreover, for attestation to the truth of his Gospel, he delegated all this power to others, to the 12 Apostles, to the 70 Disciples: Mat. 10. 7. Luk 9. 3. Luke 10. 1.-9. Mat. 16. 17. He bequeathed it to Believers at his death, and they also received and exercised this supernatural power.

I have given a few instances of the Supernatural Wisdom and Power of Christ solitarily con­sidered: The History of the Go­spel affords us many Examples wherein they were gloriously com­bined.

By his Knowledge he foretold [Page 116] his Resurrection, he performed it Mattb. 16. 21. Mat. 28. 2. John 16. 16, 28. 20. 17. Luke 24. 57. by his Power. By his Divine Un­derstanding he foresaw his Ascen­sion, and by the Power of his Di­vinity he ascended.

He ascended, and by his power he fulfilled the Predictions and Promises which he had made. He sent down the Holy Spirit, and Acts 2. 4. shed forth the gifts of supernatu­ral Wisdom and Power upon his Apostles.

Not to mention the Apparition of Angels, and of Christ himself, Acts 9. Act 10. 10. 22. 17. Acts 16. 9. 16. 6, 7. the Bath Kol, the Extasies, Dreams, Visions, and Impulses which were given them for their own assu­rance: That they might be enabled to preach the Gospel to all Nati­ons, and deliver to the world those Scriptures whereof we are speaking, they had the word of Knowledge and of Wisdom and of Faith, and 1Cor. 12. 9 [Page 117] the gift of divers Tongues, and in­terpretation of Tongues bestowed upon them.

And to justifie their Doctrine to the Ages present and to come, they had the Gifts of Prophesie, and of Healing, and of Miracles.

John (the beloved Disciple) heard a voice as it were of a Trumpet, talk­ing Ap. 4. 1. with him, which said, Come up hi­tber, and I will shew thee things which shall be hereafter; and immediately he was in the Spirit, and received the Revelation.

Paul an Apostle (though born Acts 27. 10 22. 2 Cor. 121 out of due time) came to Visions and Revelation, he twice fore­told what should happen to the Ship wherein he was carried Pri­soner to Rome. He foretold the Apostacy of the latter times, the 2 Thes. 2. rising of Antichrist, the perillous times which should come upon the 2 Tim. 31. [Page 118] world in the last days. Agabus a Believer at large foretold the Fa­mine Act. 11. 8. 21. 10. Act. 5. 13 which was to come upon all the world, and the binding of Paul at Jerusalem, &c.

But the instances of supernatu­ral Power exercised in healing of Diseases, raising the dead, con­founding the Opposers of their Doctrine, and in several other kinds by the Apostles and their Companions and Adherents, the Preachers and Writers of the Do­ctrine of the Gospel, are so abun­dantly delivered in the New Testa­ment, that I shall not offer at par­ticulars.

In the 4. of the Acts we find all the Apostles praying [...] that God would stretch forth his hand to heal, and that signs and wonders might be done by the Name of his holy Child Jesus. And immediately [Page 119] the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Gost, and with Power.

The particular Miracles of par­ticular persons are recorded. In one word, they went and preached every where the Doctrines which are written in the Gospel; the Lord working with them, and confirming Marc. 16. 20. tbeir words by mighty signs and won­ders, and gifts of the Holy Ghost.

This is the state of the matter of Fact, as it is propounded in the New Testament: I conclude therefore, that, supposing matters of Fact to be truly delivered in the New Testament, there is no rea­son to doubt of the Doctrines de­livered by Christ or his Apostles, relating to faith or manners. And I come to the consideration of the last and extream Opinion of the Antiscripturists.

[Page 120]IV. The last opinion, is of those who deny the truth of the Relation of matters of Fact delivered in the New Testament, and in conse­quence reject the whole body of the Scriptures.

I could wish there were no such as these, and that what I have yet to say were altogether needless for that reason.

But what mean then the publick Rumors which we hear? and whence is an Opinion gone into the world, that some great Philosophers and men of generous reason are dis­satisfied concerning the truth of Scripture, and believe the Authority of it to be wholy derived from the Magistrate?

In reference to these I shall en­deavour,

1. Briefly, to shew that the ground upon which these Wisemen [Page 121] and Philosophers reject the Scrip­tures, is contrary to the Reason of mankind.

2. To evince, that the belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is most agreeable to Reason.

1. As for the Argument and ground of those (amongst us Christians) that reject the body of the Scriptures, I do not remem­ber to have heard of other than this.

They have often called upon Believers, Pastors perhaps, or Do­ctors in the Church, for a clear and undeniable evidence of the truth of the story of the Gospel, and they have not afforded it: therefore they conclude, the Scriptures are to be rejected.

But is this the reasoning of gene­rous wits? and men of mighty [Page 122] deeds in disputation, of men pre­tending to the depths of reason and Philosophy?

To give a man a clear and un­deniable evidence of any thing, there are but two ways, viz. To con­vince either his Senses or his Un­derstanding; the former where of is to be done by experiment, the la­ter by demonstration.

Would they have now an Ex­periment whether such or such a thing were done 16 or 17 hundred years ago? Would they have a de­monstration of particulars, in their nature indifferent to be done or not to be done, depending upon the li­berty of Causes?

Well were it for the world, if these Beaux Esprits would have the patience, and endure the fa­tigue of acquainting themselves with the ways of knowledge (Ex­periment [Page 123] and demonstration) it would not then be troubled with the dangerous impertinency of such Pretenders

Then these men would not call for Experiment in a subject unca­pable of it, and (being instructed that demonstration is only of U­niversal Propositions in materia ne­cessaria, whose contrary Positions imply a contradiction) they would know, that to demand this kind of evidence of the truth of the sto­ry of the Gospel, is to be absurdly injudicious, and to act contrary to the Reason of mankind.

For seeing we may not with ci­vility suppose this principle to be advanced only for the destruction of Religion, and the ruine (or at least undeniable hazard) of the Souls of men; We ought to believe that these Philosophers intend this [Page 124] as a General Maxim; that (in mat­ters at least of moment) men ought not to adventure to act, but upon clear and undeniable evidence, and (speaking pro­perly) that wise men ought to believe nothing at all. Where­fore let us suppose this for a ge­neral principle, and consider what will follow.

Setting aside the knowledge of the Affections of a few Lines and Numbers, is not all learning to be cast away? Must not the Ci­vil world of mankind be brought to swift confusion? must not man­kind it self, in a few days come[?] to an end?

Suppose a subject should not yield his Obedience, or a Tenant his Rent, till Titles be made out by Experiment or demonstation. Suppose the husbandman and the [Page 125] Merchant, the Artificer, the Soul­dier, the Banker, and the Judge Arist. polit. l. 7. c. 8. should not adventure, but stay for the assurance of Experiment or De­monstration, would not the whole world be confounded?

Suppose men should not marry, nor take Physick, nor eat or drink till they should have clear and un­deniable evidence, that all these things are what they suppose, and shall succeed according to expectati­on, would not mankind quickly be spent, and brought to an end?

If the management of all hu­mane concernments, Political, Oe­conomical, Personal, proceed upon the grounds of Belief and Hope, and rational (but not demonstra­tive) inference. If neither these Philo­sophers (if they would consider) nor any other Person, either ever did, or possibly could, perform any [Page 126] one action, upon such evidence, as these men require concerning the truth of the ftories of the Scripture; then to reject them for want of such evidence, is repugnant to the Rea­son of mankind.

I proceed therefore to my se­cond assertion, that the Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is most agreable to rea­son.

That the Divine Authority of all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, are undeni­ably concluded from supposition of the truth of the Relation or Hi­story of matters of fact in the New Testament, I have already shewn. And that the rejection of all History is against the Reason of mankind is evident, because all mankind receive some History or o­ther: wherefore I shall briefly shew,

[Page 127]1. That the History of the New Testament hath all those ad­vantages whereof any History is capable.

2. That it hath greater advan­tages than any other History.

1. The Arguments inducing men to the belief of any historical Rela­tion, are all of them

Either

• Ab intra, Internal, from the 1. Credibility and Scibility of the Object. 2. The Know­ledge and Integrity of the Writers. 3. The way and manner of writing.
• Ab extra, External, from the 1. Reception of it in the world. 2. Concurrent testi­monies of strangers. 3. Con­cessions of Adversaries, and the like.

In all which particulars, no Hi­story in the world can justly pretend [Page 128] any advantage above that of the New Testament.

1. For the credibility of the Object, and Cognoscibility of it.

1. To say that instances of su­pernatural Power and wisdom are Ob. sol. impossible, is to deny the power of God and his providence in go­verning the world: And to say that such things are incredible, as are and have been actually believ­ed, in all times, and by all sorts of persons, Jews and Gentiles, Chri­stians and Mahometans (a few A­theistical persons only accepted) is an absurdity.

The History that we speak of, pretends to no intrigues or Caba­listick Counsels, or Myisteries of State, but conteins it self within the limits of things Visible and Audible, things that were done or [Page 129] spoken; so that no History can have advantage over it, respectu objecti.

2. As for Knowledge in the de­liverers, I shall shew it by a brief Induction.

The whole New Testament consists of the Books of the Reve­lation, Epistles, Acts of the A­postles, and the Gospels.

The Authors of the Epistles and the Revelation, in the Narrative parts of them, deliver the things done or spoken to or by themselves, and could not be ignorant of their own experiences.

The Book of the Acts contains some things done by or to the rest of the Apostles, but chiefly the concernments of Paul; and it was written by Luke, who was an indi­vidual Companion of Paul, and intimately conversant with the rest of the Apostles.

[Page 130]For the things Related in the Gospel of St. Luke, he saith they were delivered to him by those who from the beginning were Eye wit­nesses of the works, and Mini­sters of the Word, and his Histo­ry agrees with the other Evange­lists.

The Gospel of St. Mark hath nothing which is not in St. Mat­thew or St. John, and was dicta­ted by St. Peter, the Head of the Apostles.

St. Matthew was an Apostle, and St. John the Bosom Apostle of Christ. The Apostles were chosen by him for Witnesses of his Words and Actions, they were with him from the beginning of his Ministry, continued with him till his death, couversed with him till his ascen­sion; That which they had heard, which 1 Joh. 1. 1. they had seen with their Eyes, which [Page 131] they had looked on, which their hands had handled of the word of life, that they delivered in writing to the World: And more than this no Writer or Relater of History can pretend to.

2. For Arguments of their sin­cerity, 1 Cor. 5. 8. 6. 4. 8. Phil. 4. 8. Jam. 3. 14. Eph. 4. 25. Apoc. 21. 8. 27. 22. 15. they have left Precepts of Veracity, and prohibitions of ly­ing, under pain of Hell torments, the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: They have pro­tested that they did not follow cun­ningly 2 Pet. 1. 16. 2 Cor. 2. 17 devised Fables; that they did things sincerely as in the sight of God.

They have appealed to the searcher of hearts: The God and 2 Cor. 11. 31. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ know­eth that I lie not. The things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lye not, Gal. 1. 20. saith St. Paul.

[Page 132]They have left behind them va­rious 1 Thes. 2. 3. 4. instances of their simplicity and Godly sincerity in represent­ing their failings to the world, and of candour and ingenuity in di­stinguishing the dictates of their own Reason from the inspirations of the Holy Spirit: I speak by per­mission, not by commandment of the Lord: This say I, not the Lord; Thus it is according to my judgment &c. 1 Cor. 7.

But besides all this, let the mat­ter be estimated according to com­mon reason: If these men did devise a Fable and impose it up­on the world, what end could they propound to themselves in so doing? was there any profit in being destitute of all things? or pleasure in being persecuted, af­flicted, and tormented? or honour in being counted Fools and Mad­men.

[Page 133]Before they began to publish the Stories whereof we speak, their Master was gone, and all worldly hopes were gone away with him: If they were not bound in Consci­ence, and in Spirit; what obliga­tion had he laid upon them to la­bour and suffer for his honour as they did?

To omit the severity of his be­haviour to them, He called them off from their Vocations, Peter, and Andrew, James, and John from their Fishing, Mattbew from his Customers place, the rest ac­cordingly. Mat. 9. 9.

They forsook their Nets, their Ships, Mat. 4. 20. 22. their Relations, and all their inte­rests, and followed him.

And this they did (clearly and plainly) believing that he was to be a Great Temporal Prince, and in hopes of preferment under [Page 134] him. In this Expectation they continued to the last minute of his conversation with them upon Earth, and he permitted them so to do.

Their last words to him were delivered in this question, Lord Act. 1. 6. wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom unto Israel? Of the thing it self they never doubted, they only desire to be informed of the time,

Now after so long expectation? Consider his Answer.

His Answer was this, It is not for you to know the times, &c. but ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnes­ses of me unto the utmost parts of the earth; and immediately he vanish­ed away.

Was this an answer to their Question? or a satisfaction to their [Page 135] expectation? Was this an Obligati­on laid upon them? If he had not sent down the Holy Ghost, this would have moved them indeed, but it would have been to rage and indignation; this would have ob­liged them indeed, but it would have been to detest and abhor the name and memory of him that had abused them. But for the honour of his name, not their own, they did and suffered all things, and glo­ried in it. An irrefragable argument of their sincerity in the things which they delivered.

3. Of the internal Arguments for the belief of History, there remains only the Consideration of the way and manner of wri­ting.

Histories then carry their own credentials in them, when the prin­cipal parts of them are delivered [Page 136] with such circumstances of times, places, and persons, as may ren­der them liable to Examination, and Refutation, if they contain any fal­shood in them.

And in this particular, no Hi­story hath any advantage over that History whereof we are speaking, as will be evident to him that consi­ders it throughout.

Concerning John the Baptist, it is recorded, that he was born some few Months before Christ, that his Luk. 1. 5. Mother was Elizabeth, that his Father was Zachariah, a Priest of the Course of Abia, that they lived in the Hill Countrey.

He began to preach in the 15. of Tiberius, Pilate being Governour of Judaea, Herod Tetrarch of Gali­lee, Luk. 3. 1. his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea, and of the Region of Tracho­nitis, and Lysanias Tetrarch of Abi­lene. [Page 137] Punctual and particular. Mat. 14. 3. Vide Jo­seph. Ant. 18. c. 9. 10. Luk 2. 1.

Soon after this he was Impri­soned and Beheaded by Herod, for reprehending him about Herodias, all which were matters of Fact, ve­ry easie, if false, to have been refuted.

Concerning Christ, his birth is stated to have been at a time the most remarkable that ever was, when the whole world was taxed by Augustus, in the days of Herod, when Cyrenius was Governour of Syria; the place easie to be enquired of, it was in a Manger, in an Inn, Mat. 4. 6. in a Town that was a little one Mic. 5. 2. among the thousands of Juda, easie to be examined.

When he was about 30 years old, he was Baptized of John, and Luk. 3. 23. within a few days after he called his Apostles; and in less than four yeears space he performed all his mighty Works, whereof I shall [Page 138] mention only some few particu­lars.

At Cana in Galilee he turned Wa­ter into Wine, at a Wedding, where Joh. 2. 1. 11. Mat. 9. 18. was much company. He raised the Daughter of Jayrus, the Ruler of the Synagogue, there was but Mat. 8. 6. one in that place, she was his only Daughter, and about twelve years Old. He healed the Servant Luk. 7. 2. of that Centurion that had built a Synagogue. Can any thing be more particular?

At Bethany, fifteen Furlongs from Jerusalem, a few days be­fore Joh 11. 18. his death, he raised Laza­rus after he had been dead four days. Could any thing be more examinable?

His death was at Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover, a time of greatest annual concourse in the world, and then it is said, that [Page 139] the Sun was darkened, the Veil rent, the Rocks torn in pieces, the Graves opened. Can any thing be more re­futable than these things, if they had been false?

So likewise for the Apostles. The healing of AEneas at Lydda, Act 9. 33. 40. 10. 1. raising of Dorcas at Joppe, the pas­sages with Cornelius Captain of the Band called the Italian Band at Caesarea, and many other acts of Peter. The increpation of Barje­sus 13. 6. at Paphos, in the presence of Sergius Paulus the Governour. The healing of a Cripple at Lystra, in 14. 13. the presence of the Priest of Jupi­ter, besides many other acts of Paul, and the rest of the Apostles, are so cirumstantiated in the Hi­story, that if false they might have been very easily contradict­ed.

But besides all these, this Hi­story [Page 140] contains a Narration of things done and said, not only by per­sons well affected but by Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Roman Governours, by the Pharisees, the Scribes, the High Priests, and the Sanhedrim; all of them Enemies both to the Historians and the Hi­story; and if any of these things had had been convicted of falshood, would not the credit of the whole Gospel have (at once) been utterly overthrown?

I conclude therefore, that in respect of internal Arguments for belief, no History hath, or in­deed can have any advantage a­bove the History of the New Te­stament.

2. As for External Arguments, I can but name them. Though the whole world interessed them­selves against the story (so exami­nable [Page 141] as you have heard) though the Books were extant, while the memory of things was recent, Mat­thew within seven years, Mark with­in eleven, Luke about twenty four, post mortem Christi; the Epistles of Peter and Paul within thirty years, all the rest intra unius hominis aetatem, yet no man could ever convince them of falshood.

The stories were received by men of the greatest Wisdom, Learn­ing, and vertue amongst the Greeks and Latines. Many of the hard­est passages were attested and con­fessed by Enemies and Unbelie­vers.

The Authors owned by Julian: Cyrill c. 10. c. Jul. Orig. c. C. Euseb. Tertio Hi­storiarum, Citat à Ju­lio Afr. 3. Chronogr. Orig c. C. l. 3. 15. 44. Annalium. the Miracles confessed by Celsus: the checking of the operation of the Devil by Porphyrius: the Dark­ness and Earthquake at the death of Christ by Thallus and Phlegon [Page 142] Trallianus: the Crucifixion of Christ (by Pilate under Tiberius) by Ta­citus: And in one word, The en­tire Volume of the Scriptures, the very same which our Church re­ceives (by vertue of the belief of the History of the Gospel) before Athanas. Synops. Const. ad p. p. Nicco. vide Theo­doret. l. 1. c. 5. Gr. Lat. Pan any general Council, or the time of Constantine, without any Con­vocation of the Clergy, or impe­rial Edict for that purpose, was instinctu quodam Christiano, gene­rally received by all Christians, and the world made Christians.

In respect of all these Argu­ments, internal and external, I might have justly said, that the History of the Gospel hath the advantage of any other History; but seeing there are some particulars where­in the advantages are super emi­nent, I shall speak a little of that distinctly by it self, and so conclude.

[Page 143]2. These advantages I shall reduce to two heads,

Testimonium

• Rei.
• Dei.

1. For the Testimonium Rei, consi­der,

1. Never any story was so much opposed as the Books and Histo­ry of the New Testament, by Jews and Gentiles, by the World and by the Devil.

The beginnings and propagation of the Gospel was by the Jews mali­ciously and strenuously opposed in the times of Christ and his Apostles, and in all succeeding Generations.

Lest all men should believe in Christ Joh 11. 48. (because of his Miracles) the Rulers took counsel to destroy him, the People cryed out to have him Crucified.

Lest the last errour (as they called it) should be worse than the first, they Matth. 27. 46. [Page 144] sealed up his Sepulchre, and set a watch upon it; and lastly, suborned the Souldiers to say, that his Disci­ples came by night while they were sleep­ing (how could they know this?) and stole him away.

That the first Miracle wrought Acts 4. 6. by Peter and John might not spread among the People, the Rulers and Elders and Scribes, Annas and Caia­phas, and John and Alexander, and all the Kindred of the High Priest, laid hands upon them, and put them in hold, and threatned and commanded them not to speak at all in the Name of Jesus.

When Stephen had uttered his testimony, the people cryed with a loud voice, and stopped their Ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the City, and stoned him. Acts 7. 58.

Wherever they met with Be­lievers, Acts 9. 2. [Page 145] Men or Women, they ha­led them into Prison, breathing out threatnings and slaughter. Where­ever they met with the Preachers, they opposed and blasphemed, they tumultuated, they stirred the Gentiles; Act. 13. 45. 14. 2. 13. 50. they enraged the chief men of the Ci­ties and the honourable women against them.

The instances of their malicious opposition, in all ages of the Church, are so many as are not to be numbred in a few Minutes, but would require many days only to name them.

They first stirred up Nero to per­secute the Christians, they contri­ved the death of Polycarpus, they Eus l. 4. 15 stood by, and insulted over the dy­ing Martyrs; in a word, whoever shall read the stories of primitive times, he will find that the Jews were generally the Setters and Infor­mers [Page 146] against the Martyrs, and the Brokers for their Goods after exe­cution: And the Histories of our own and other Nations will shew us the height of their malice, and the continuance of it.

Now, beside the little Nation of the Jews, the rest of the whole world, when this History began to be published and the Books written, were Heathen, universally devoted to the Devil, whom there­fore our Saviour styles, the Prince of this world.

And now that feud which had depended betwixt the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman 4000 years, was by the preaching and writing of these things brought to a Crisis.

The professed and declared de­sign of the Gospel, was to drive the Devil out of his Dominion, [Page 147] notwithstanding the antiquity of his possession, theuniversality of his Church, and the consent of all Na­tions, whereby he held his title. Notwithstanding his Empire was supported by Governours and Laws, and fortified by the Arms and actual strength of all the world, he saw, that if the Gospel were not suppressed, a little time would spoil the pride of all his glory, that in a moment he should fall like light­ning from Heaven.

That he should be exorcised out of the bodies which he possessed: That his famous Oracles should soon be put to silence: his gor­geous Deut. 7. Temples and Images should be torn down, his Mysteries and lying wonders set at nought: That Prayers and Vows would be made to him no more, and he should cease to be celebrated in the Songs [Page 148] of his Poets, and Hymns of his Hieropbantae

That his revelling Festivals would be turned to mourning, no more gifts would be present­ed, no beasts, nor children, wo­men or men sacrificed upon his Altars.

The Contention was de rerum summa (pro aris & focis) and his rage was kindled accordingly: He summons together all his wiles and stratagems, he musters all his forces, he sounds an Alarm to the world, stirs up young and old, rich and poor, all ages, sexes, con­ditions, the people wise and un­wise, the Common Souldiers and Commanders, Counsellors and Orig c C. l. 1. Judges, Senate and Emperors, by suppressing these Books, and de­stroying the Believers of them, to erase the memory of the Go­spel, [Page 149] and abolish it for ever.

The people were enraged against the Believers, as against the com­mon Enemy of mankind, and pro solenni suo, they slandered them with unthought of wickedness, they imputed to them all the calami­ties of the world: And required them to death: Si Tiberis ascen­dit in moenia—Christianos ad Leo­nes—

Against these Books, the Learn­ed employed their Learning, and the Witty employed their Wit. Celsus, Porphyrius, Jamblichus, Hie­rocles, and other Philosophers, en­deavoured to dispute them out of the world, Symmachus and Libani­us, and other Rhetors to declaim them away. Julian and Lucian and other Scoptick wits, endea­voured to jeer and droll away the credit of them.

[Page 150]Mean while the Senators and Lawyers employ themselves to de­stroy the Books, by stretching a­gainst them the ancient Laws a­gainst bringing in Foreign Reli­gions, and against Magical and Fatidical Books: and to de­stroy Books and Believers by New Laws made for that purpose a­gainst Combinations ( Hetaeriae) Sa­criledge, Plin. Ep. 10. 97. Treason, the Law that none should buy or sell, or draw water without Thurification to the Gods, and the like.

By force of these they persecute the Believers, as Enemies to the Commonwealth, and Traytors to the Emperour, as sacrilegious per­sons, and contemners of Religion.

The people sometimes rising up­on them without any edict, some­times by virtue of Edicts Imperial or Proconsular.

[Page 151]From the beginning of the Go­spel to the end of Dioclesian and Maximian, this was the state of Believers.

Their Scriptures were forbidden to be read, and required to be burned; their Oratories and (ob­scure) Churches were pulled in pieces; their Estates were plun­dered and confiscate; their bodies were imprisoned and tormented; Fire and Sword, hot Iron Chairs and Coffins, Gridirons, and Caul­drons, Hooks, Stakes and Gibbets, the Teeth of Lyons, and Tygers, &c. were their portion.

It cannot be shewed, that ever a­ny Book or story met with equal Opposition

2. Consider then how it pre­vailed, how quickly and largely, how deeply and effectually, al­though the Precepts were not con­trived [Page 152] to sollicit the Affections, nor the Doctrines to court the Reason of men.

At one Sermon of Peter three thousand, Act. 2. 41. at another five thousand were converted: Within a few years after the Death of Christ we find by St. Peter, that the Gospel was preached throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia; 1 Pet. 1. 1. and Paul had planted it from Jerusalem round about to Il­lyricum: Besides what was done Acts 15. by other Apostles, in the Provinces assigned them at the Council of Je­rusalem.

Within sixty six years this grain of Mustard seed was become a Tree, Pliny Proconsul of Bithynia (to whom the care of Religion, Lih. 10. Epist. 10. ex officio, did appertein) appointed by Trajan to suppress the Christi­ans, he writes to him, that this Be­lief [Page 153] was Longè late (que) diffusa, Civitates, Vicos, Agros, impletos Christi cultoribus.

During the second Century, it had shot out great branches, the boughs of this Tree were stretch­ed out, Hesterni sumus & vestra omnia implevimus. Tertullian reck­ons up the known parts of the World, in quibus omnibus Christi nomen regnat, and concludes, ubi (que) Adv. Ju­deos, c7, 8. porrigitur, creditur, colitur, regnat, adoratur.

And lastly, During the third (à morte Christi) the Fowls of the air, and Beasts of the field lodged under the shadow of it: The Net drew good and bad to shore; the Roman Em­perour and Empire declared them­selves Christians, i. e. Believers and Assertors of these Books: So migh­tily grew the word of God and pre­vailed. Act. 19. 20.

It went on conquering and to [Page 154] conquer, not by the Spirit of the Sword, but by the Sword of the Spirit; the powers of the Earth, and the gates of Hell could not withstand it; it drove the De­vil away with all his Temples, Idols, Oracles, Priests, Sacrifices, Services, like lightning: So fell the Dragon, the old Serpent that deceiv­ed the World, he was cast out with all his train.

So fell Lucifer the Son of the morn, his Friends and his Followers la­menting.

How art thou fallen from Hea­ven, O Lucifer the Son of the morn­ing! Desolata Templa, rarissimus Victimarum emptor! Pliny. Some com­plain of people forsaking of the Gods, others of the Gods forsak­ing their Oracles and Temples, and becoming useless to the World: Prophy. He said I will ascend into Heaven, [Page 155] and exalt my Throne above the Stars, but he was soon brought down to Hell.

For the Gospel like Leaven or Fire from Heaven, seised upon all that stood before it; it leaven'd Cities, Islands, Castles, Councils, Camps, the Tribes and Decuries, Tert. Ap. 37. the Palaces, Senate, Pleading-pla­ces.

It took possession of the Learn­ed, and the Wise, the greatest and noblest Wits of the Eastern and Western Nations: It raised up Philosophers to confound the Phi­losophy, and noble Orators to con­found the Rhetorick wherewith it was opposed.

Against Celsus it excited Origen, against Porphyrie Apollinarius, and Methodius; against Porphyrie and Hierocles, Lactantius and Eusebius (besides what was written sparsim [Page 156] Jerom, Augustine, Cyril, &c.) It set up Chrysostom against Libanius, Prudentius against Symmachus and the Rhetoricians.

And as it spread it self large and high, so where it took possession, it took a deep possession, Quantum vertice—tantum radice: Those that received it truly, received it in the love thereof, it took possession of their hearts: It penetrated their spirits, and took its lodging in the inmost recesses of the soul. The Contents of these Books was their most precious Pearl, and they hid it in their heart. The Books them­selves were their greatest worldly treasure, and rather than they would deliver them to be burned, they chose to suffer the loss of Honour, Liberty, Estate, Wives, and Chil­dren, nay even Life it self. When Di oclefian required the Scriptures that [Page 157] they might be burned, In one Province ( Egypt) in one Month 17000 persons chose rather to dye than to deliver them: In compa­rison Eus. l. 8. c. 3. of these they counted not their lives dear to them; the love of them was stronger than Death, many waters could not quench it, neither could the flouds drown it. This was Testimonium Rei, and an advantage above all other Histories, or Writings in the World.

2. Moreover they had Testimo­nium Dei. Indeed all that is already spoken is an evidence of a Divine assistance: But more particular­ly, God gave Testimony to these Books, by

1. Their operation upon Belie­vers of them.

2. His co-operation with Belie­vers of them.

[Page 158]1. The Gospel which they con­tein, was the power of God to every true Believer. That which no Institution in Philosophy, nor Initiation in the Mysteries of any Vide Orig. C. Ceis. l. 3. of the Gods, was ever able to ac­complish, that was every where atchieved by the belief of the Go­spel, in a moment. Like a charm from Heaven, it stilled the passions, and mortified the lusts of men. What a Beadroll doth Paul reckon up in the Corinthans: But ye are 1 Cor. 6. 9. washed (saith he) but ye are sancti­fied, but ye are justified, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.

Notwithstanding all the calum­nies thrown upon Believers, and the Lact. de fals. sap. l. 3. c 26. prejudice wherewith they were loaded, the unpropitious and re­lucting world were forcibly con­vinced that the Believers of these [Page 159] Books were effectually taught to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world: through the cloud of ignominy wherewith they were encompassed, their in­nocency broke forth as the light, and their just dealing as the noon day; the piety, loyalty, justice, charity, mag­nanimity, patience, meekness, and purity of believers of these Books, convinced the unbelieving world, that God was in them of a truth: for they taught as having Authority and Power, and not as the writings of other Scribes.

2. But beside the operation of these Books upon the Believers, God was pleased to give testimony to them by his co-operation with them in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds.

The History of the Gospel tells [Page 160] us, that when Christ was even now leaving the world, he left this Le­gacy to believers for confirmation of the truth of the Gospel; These signs (said he) shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast Mar. 16. 17 out Devils; Speak in new tongues; Take up Serpents; If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; They shall lay hands on the Sick, and they shall recover.

Now that this was made good, and that these signs (so long as there was need) were continued among Believers, we have as good assu­rance as we can have of any thing beyond our own memory or expe­rience.

They have been delivered to us by a Cloud of Witnesses; by men of the greatest Wisdom and Learn­ing in their Generations, by per­sons of such Integrity, that they [Page 161] laid down their lives in testimony of their veracity; delivered not by hear-say, but upon their certain knowledge; delivered in their Dis­putations with, and apologies to the Adversaries of Christianity, with a challenge to the examination of the truth, or a conviction of the falshood of them. Instances are very numerous, I shall produce only a very few.

Justin the Martyr (who suffered Dial. cum Tryphone. Anno 165) affirms to Trypho the Jew, that these supernatural gifts were found in his time among Chri­stians.

Irenaeus an Auditor of Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John (suf­fered circa 206) affirms upon his own knowledge, that the gift of Prophesie was then frequent in the Iren. l. 22. c. 56. Euseb. 5. c 7. item. c. 20. Church, that many had the gift of tongues, ipsi audivimus; Others cast [Page 162] out Devils, Others healed Diseases, Others raised the dead; and those raised persons continued many years amongst them, pro certo.

Tertullian in his Apologetica ad­versus Gentes affirms that Jam de vobis Daemonas ejiciunt.

Origen against Celsus, saith, that he himself had seen by invocation of God, and the name of Jesus very many that were delivered from L. 3. grievous maladies, [...] ( aliena­tione mentis) [...].

Not to mention others, St. Au­gustine in his Book de Civitate Dei (begun about 410, but many years in writing) l. 22, c. 8. gives an ac­count of very many Miracles done at Hippo, Carthage, and other pla­ces, of no great distance, noting times, places, persons, occasions, appealing to the Countrey, deli­vering them under terms of the [Page 163] greatest assurance; Scio ego; cog­nosco ego; nos interfuimus, & ocu­lis nostris aspeximus: And in his Retractations, Ea quae cognoscimus ne (que) referre ne (que) enumer are possimus.

Other Histories and Writings, and the Authors and Believers of them canpretend no higher than to the te­stimony of men, these have the testi­mony of God also: If we believe the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. I conclude therefore; that there is greater Reason to believe the History of the New Testament than any other History in the world.

The sum of all is this, The Di­vine Authority of the Scriptures is the great fundamental and compre­hensive Principle of Christianity, which being admitted it stands, and being removed it presently falls to the ground.

Against this therefore the great [Page 164] Enemy of Religion in these later days (under pretence of Reason and Philosophy) directs his Forces, and is said to have found a success very pernicious and deplorable.

I humbly conceive that the Re­solution of the belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures into the Decrees of Popes, or Deter­minations of Councils with those who call themselves Roman-Ca­tholicks, into private impulses and dictates of the Spirit with the En­thusiasts, and into the Laws and Edicts of Princes and Magistrates with our new pretenders to Rea­son and Philosophy, is that engine whereby the Devil hath prevailed to scandalize the world, and cast it into Antiscriptural infidelity.

It is for this cause that I have conceived it requisite (after many others who have done worthily) [Page 165] to have recourse (once more) to the Original Reason of things, and Vide Phi­los. Essay. the common grounds whereupon mankind doth proceed in matters of this nature.

Where (hoping that I have es­caped the absurdity of begging the matter in Question, discoursing in a circle, and the inconveniences of some other methods) I have endea­voured to demonstrate: That sup­posing the truth of the New Testa­ment, both 1. The Old Testament, and 2. The New Testament are to be received as of Divine Authority.

3. And supposing matters of fact to be truly related, the Doctrinal parts are to be believed.

4. For the Historical Relation of matters of fact, that there is no ground to dis-believe it.

That for the reception of it, it hath 1. All the advantages [Page 166] whereof an History is capable.

2. Far greater advantages than any other History.

Wherefore I conclude, that All the Scriptures (i. e.) the Canonical Books of the Old Testament and the Books of the New Testament) were Given by inspiration of God. Quod erat demonstrandum.

THE SINFULNESS OF INFIDELITY:

I Shall not spend time in a disputation concerning the Author of this Epistle, viz. whether it were Paul, or Barnabas, or Luke, or Clemens, [Page 170] or Apollos, &c. but shall with the Church of England, suppose St. Paul to have been the Author of it.

If the Author of it be not infal­libly known this ought not to de­tract from its Authority.

Most of the other Epistles have been acknowledged to be of divine Authority, because they were known to have proceeded from Apostolical writers.

This (on the contrary) hath been concluded to be an Aposto­lical Epistle, propter [...] Characterem, by reason of that di­vine and Apostolical Spirit, which to those who have had their Sen­ses exercised, hath manifestly ap­peared in it.

If it were lawful (in this sense) to compare spiritual things with spi­ritual; I should not fear to affirm, [Page 171] that this Epistle hath in it some pe­culiar advantages, compared with some other of the Epistles. (Ad­vantages, I mean, of usefulness, not of Authority, seeing all of them issued from the same Spi­rit.)

The design of it is General, Fun­damental, Comprehensive, not Private, Circumstantial, Occasi­onal: And it hath peculiarly con­veyed to the Church two great treasures. 1. A Compleat Model, or Systeme, of Christian Divinity. And 2. the way of that Analogy, and manner of ratiocination where­by the true Spirit, and meaning of the Types and Prophesies of the Old Testament is to be found out and applied.

It was directed to the Hebrews; That is, to those of the Jewish Nation, who had received the Go­spel, [Page 172] and made a profession of Chri­stianity. And the main Scope and design of it, is to preserve the Pro­fessors of Christianity from Apo­stacy and Infidelity.

The means used to this purpose are partly Didactical, and partly Protreptical; Demonstrating the truths of the Gospel, and then urging the professors of those truths, to be stedfast in the faith, and to beware of Infidelity.

The Method here used is a mixt method of Doctrine and Appli­cation; Dogmatical truths and pa­thetical Exhortations continually interwoven.

He begins with the Great foun­dation of our faith. Christ is the chap. 1 Son of God, the brightness of his glory; better then the Angels. Wherefore if the Word spoken by An­gels was stedfast, how shall we es­cape [Page 173] chap. 2 if we neglect so great salva­tion?

From the Comparison of Christ chap. 3 with Moses he concludes against Hardness of heart and Infidelity.

He demonstrates the Priesthood 5. 6. 7. 8. of Christ to be more Excellent then that of Aaron; and in the midst of his argument, he falls into an Application, or Corollary, con­cerning the dreadful Condition of them that fall away.

This is his design, and method throughout the Epistle; What­ever Doctrine he is upon, this is still the drift and aim of all his Ap­plications, namely to preserve the Professors of Christianity from Apostacy and Infidelity.

The words, which I have cho­sen, are a Reiteration or Reinforce­ment of an Application, or Co­rollary, arising from the Consi­deration [Page 175] of the Excellency of Christ above Moses. Moses was faithful in the house as a Servant; Christ as a Son, over his own house. This bouse are we, if we hold fast our faith.

Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Harden not your hearts.....

Take heed brethren, lest....

I say, the words are an Use of Exhortation, and in them are con­siderable,

1. The Persons to whom di­rected: Professors of Christiani­ty, expressed in the Word Bre­thren.

2. Matter or Object about which it is conversant, Unbelief: heart unbelief.

3. Form of Exhortation by way of Caveat. [...] take beed.

Now every Caveat implies,

1. Evil in the thing.

[Page 174]2. Danger of the thing.

3. That there are ways and menas to prevent it. This is imply­ed in the Caveat, and expressed in words following.

My design, at this time, will be to enforce the Exhortation of the Text: And seeing that every Application is a Consequence or Corollary arising from some An­tecedent Proposition, and the force of it is finally resolved into the truth and evidence and concernment of that Antecedent: Therefore it will be necessary to draw out that An­tecedent by reflecting briefly upon the Text as it lies in the Series of the Epistle.

I. Then, for the Persons. They are here styled Brethren, and else­where, Holy Brethren, Partakers 3. 1. 6. 4. of the heavenly Calling. They were [...], baptized into the profes­sion [Page 176] of the Gospel, they had tasted of the Word of God, and the powers of the worldto come.

II. The Matter. Unbelief, or ra­ther Disbelief, (not Negative Infidelity, but a positive Revolt­ing from the faith which they had professed) Generally, a Dis­belief of the Word of God; Par­ticularly, a Disbelief of the Go­spel, as to the Doctrines, or Pro­mises, or Threatnings Thereof.

III. For the Form; that which is here expressed by [...] (look to it) is in the other of forms Ex­hortation, throughout the Epistle, expressed by terms of the great­est Emphasis and earnestness imaginable, Let us Fear lest we fall short, 4. 1. Labour to enter, 4. 1. Use diligence, be not slothful, 6. 11, 12.

[Page 177] Press earnestly, draw near, hold fast, 10. 22.

[...]; Let us give more deligent heed lest by any means we should let it slip, 2. 1.

So that the Sum of the Apostles Argumentation is this: The last resolution of all the Obligation of men, is into reasons of Duty and of Interest.

If there be Wickedness in In­fidelity, it is matter of Duty; if there be Danger in it, and Dan­ger of it, it is matter of Interest and Concernment to Beware of it.

This Heart of Unbelief is an Evil heart ( [...]) there is Wickedness in it. It grieves the Spirit of God; It provoked him so, that he sware in his wrath, that he would take Vengeance for it: there is Danger in it. Yet it was a thing Ordinary and common [Page 178] amongst the Fathers of these He­brews, it was neque Novum, neque Rarum, there is Danger of it.

It is the Duty and Concern­ment of every one Professing Christianity, to take heed lest there be in them an heart of Un­belief; and to use all means to prevent it. This is the Antece­dent.

Wherefore take heed brethren, &c.—which is the Exhortation by way of Caveat; — — Exhort one another dayly, &c. which is the way to pre­vent it.

So then for the enforcement of the exhortation upon the whole matter, I am to speak

• I. Of the Evil of Infidelity.
• II. Of the Danger of falling into it.
• III. Of the means of preventing it. And then to conclude with
• IV. The Exhortation of the Text.

[Page 179]In speaking of the Evil of Infidelity, I shall not discourse at large, but confine my self to an enquiry into two pretences, (Which having been broached in the late times of Infidelity towards the King, are said to have operated ve­ry far towards a general Apostacy from the faith, and the production of Infidelity towards God) both which appealing to the tenor of the Scriptures, must be examined by them.

1. The first is of a famous Author, and it is this, That the Scriptures do not make Infidelity to be a Sin, at the time of the delivery of the Scriptures.

2. The second is of a Writer more 2. C. W. obscure, but in it self, so agreeable to the disposition of the present ge­neration, that it hath possessed the minds of many; it is this, that

[Page 180]Although Infidelity (according to the Scriptures) in the times of Christ and his Apostles, were sin­ful, and inexcusable; yet in our times, it is excusable. These are the pretences to be examined.

The Substance of the Gospel, as it immediately relates to Chri­stian duty, is summarily reduced to the Doctrines and Injunctions of our Lord Christ, and his A­postles.

The Author of Leviathan (cap. 42. pag 286.) tells us in plain terms, that ‘We do not read any where (in the Scriptures) that they which received not the Doctrine of Christ, did therein Sin.’

And again, that ‘the Injunctions of Christ, and his Apostles, men might refuse without sin.’

Now concerning this assertion, I cannot chuse but say, that had I [Page 181] not been acquainted with the works of that Author, (especially those relating to religion) I should exceedingly wonder at it, because it supposes men never to look in­to their Bibles, which is the thing it would perswade.

In the 21. of Matth. Our Sa­viour Mat. 21. 42 askes the Jews this questi­on, Did ye never read in the Scrip­tures such a thing? a question which I must repeat to the Assertors of this doctrine. Did they never read in the Scriptures the Sinfulness, the Danger, the Heinousness of Infi­delity? Surely he that runs may read it.

1. Our Saviour Christ before his death, did oftentimes vehemently rebuke his Disciples, for Infidelity, O Luk. 9. 41. faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I endure you? (Quousque tan­dem abutemini patientiâ nostrâ:) And [Page 182] after his Resurrection, he calls them fools and slow of heart, for unbe­lieving: Ch. 24. 25. Did they never read these Increpations?

2. The Author of this Epistle, and the rest of the Apostles, do eve­ry where vehemently and ear­nestly dehort from Unbelief. Did they never read these Dehortati­ons?

3. In the 8 of John, Christ tells the Jews, that if they believe not, they Joh. 8. 24. 3. 36. shall dye in their Sins. That the wrath of God abideth on them, that he that believeth not, is damned already. Did they never read these Denunciati­ons?

Yes! these last, it seems, this Au­thor had read, and as his manner is, thinking he could accomodate an answer to these, he hath pro­nounced securely of all the rest: To these he saith that they import [Page 183] only a non-remission of the sins committed against the Laws of their Countrey; (that they should dye in them;) but that they do not evince any sinfulness to be in In­fidelity; Wherefore I must crave licence to proceed.

4. The Apostle in the 21 of the Revelations, gives a Catalogue of 4. Rev. 21. 8. such sinners as are of the highest rank, Such as are most abomi­nable in the eyes of God, Such as are to have their portion in that lake which burneth with fire and brim­stone, and he puts Unbelievers in the head of this Regiment; The fear­fut, and Unbelievers, and Abominable, and Murtherers, and Whoremongers, and Sorcerers, and Lyars shall have their portion in that lake.

But it may be, perhaps, that the Scripture doth not in plain and ex­press Obj. 1. terms, affirm Infidelity to be Sinful!

[Page 184]The Text tells us plainly and Res. 1. expresly, that an heart of un­belief is [...] (not [...] but [...], not incommodious but wick­ed.) Obj. 2.

But Philosophers and Mathe­maticians (pretending strictness and demonstration in discourse) regard not general words; but have recourse to the Definitions of things, and from thence proceed to affirm or deny the Attribution which is under question. Let us Res. 2. therefore have recourse to the de­finition of Sin.

Those who have spoken most accurately concerning the nature of Sin, they have resolved, that the formal notion of it, consists in a departure from God. It is Aver­sio à Deo, & Conversio ad creatu­ram. Jer. 2. 12.

In the second of Jeremy, and the [Page 185] twelfth, we find the Prophet as it were in furore sacro (in a prophe­tick rage) breaking forth into this Exclamation, Be astonished, O ye heavens, be ye horribly afraid, be very desolate, saith the Lord! What ailes the Prophet to cry so loud? to make the heavens resound his Ex­clamation? My people (saith he) have committed two Great evils, they have Forsaken me, that's the first. An heart of unbelief, is an evil heart, in departing from the living God.

It is true that the Spirit of God in the Scriptures, doth not usual­ly descend to Logical accuracy, to the quatenus, or Causality, to the observation of the rules of [...].

And this makes it oft times, harder to deal with men of perverse minds, then many do imagine. [Page 186] But the more rare this is, the more you will take notice of the Provi­dence, when you shall consider, how accurately, and how fully, the Scripture hath determined that which is in Question.

In the 16. of John, v. 8. our Sa­viour Joh. 16. 8. tells them, that the Spirit shall rebuke the world of Sin, of righteousness, of judgment: Of Sin, Because they believe not on him. Joh. 3. 3. 18. 19. 18. he that believeth not is Condemn­ed, because he believeth not. [...], the rejection of the Gospel is said to be the very Condemnation, So expresly is the [...] deliver­ed to us, (by Causal and Iden­tical propositions) in the Scrip­ture; Who is it now, that can perswade us, that the Scriptures do not affirm any Sinfulness to be in Infidelity?

Yes verily! the Scriptures not [Page 187] only teach us, that unbelief is a sin, but they teach us likewise

6. The Heinousness and Aggra­vation, the Sinfulness and Punish­ment of this Sin.

It was this that brought all other sin into the World; and every Pre­meditated sin arises from it. It hardens the heart, and sears the Conscience, and makes it bid de­fiance to the Lord of Glory.

Concerning David we read in the Psalms, that once he said in his haste that all men are lyars, did he revoke it when he was at lei­sure? No, the more he thought of it, the higher he proceeds, and becomes the more assured in this charge; Surely (saith he) Men of P sal. 62. 9. low degree are Vanity, and men of high degree are (not lyars but) a Lie. Yet if one gives the lie to one of these lyars, it is the utmost [Page 188] provocation; it is the stated word of defiance, concluded fit to justi­fie Neh. 23. 19 the Duel or the Stab. On the other side, God glories in this, that he is not a man that he should lye, Numb. 23. 19. 1 Sam. 15. 29. that the strength of Israel will not lye, yet infidelity gives him the lye. He that believeth not God makes him a Lyar. (1 John 5. 10.)

7. I desire to know what is that [...], whereby the Heinousness of any sin is to be estimated.

Is it the denunciation of Fu­ture Vengeance? The Lord Jesus 1 The. 1. 7. shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon Vnbelievers, and they shall be punished with ever­lasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the presence of his power.

Is it Old or New, Past or Pre­sent Instances of Vengeance? Were [Page 189] not the body of this people newly Rom. 11. 20 cut off for unbelief? And of anci­ent days, whose were the Carcasses that fell in the wilderness; and to whom did God swear in his wrath, Heb. 3. that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

Consider but the story, from whence the Exhortation of the Text arises. How God was pro­voked through unbelief. The text tells us, that he was Moved, he was Tempted, he was Grieved, he was Provoked, till he sware in his wrath—

The words are taken out of the 95 Psalm, to which the 78. is pa­rallel. Psalm. 95. They were (saith the Psal­mist) a stubborn and rebellious Ge­neration; They tempted God, and spoke against him, Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth: So a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger against [Page 190] Israel; Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his Salva­tion— When God heard this, he was worth, and greatly abhorred Israel, he gave way to his Indignation, wrath, anger, displeasure and Jealousy.

I conceive now the first Que­stion to be stated, viz. Whether (according to the tenor of the Scrip­ture) Infidelity were sinful and dangerous, in the time of the de­livery of the Scriptures: I proceed to the second Question, viz. (How­ever it was in ancient times)

2. Whether Infidelity, be not in such times as ours Excusable?

My meaning is this: Whether (speaking according to the Scrip­tural grounds, and reason) Now that Miracles; extraordinary gifts and Prophesies are ceased, Infidelity be not become Excusable (how­ever [Page 191] it might be Sinful and inexcu­sable during the time when Pro­phesies and Miracles were in use?)

The first verse of this Epistle (to the Hebrews) tells us what powerful and noble motives to believe, God had afforded to the Fathers.

God himself was pleased to speak to them, [...], at sundry times, and in divers man­ners.

In the times of the Patriarchs, Judges, Kings, and Prophets, by the ways of Visions, Dreams, Voices, Similitudes, Urim, and by divers miracles and wonders.

So likewise, for those that are here exhorted; About the time of the Writing of this Epistle, God had spoken to them by his Son (the brightness of his Glory, the image of his person) And by the [Page 192] Apostles, to whom also he bare Witness, by mighty signs and won­ders, by divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost.

Now that such men as these, who had so great advantages to bring them to believe, should be severe­ly punished for Infidelity, I am perswaded there is hardly any man but thinks it very just and reasonable.

That such as had seen the won­ders of God, in Egypt and the Wil­derness, so manifestly miracu­lous, so often repeated, and yet for all this would not believe, that their Carcasses should fall in the Wilderness.

That Ananias and Sapphira, who had known the miracles which had been done by the A­postles, should think to Cousen the Apostles: it deserved the [Page 193] Judgment that befel them.

As for our selves had we lived in times of Miracles or Prophesies, we doubt not but we should have. believed. Or, as Philip said, shew us the father, and it sufficeth. Could we but once see a miracle, or talk with one returning from the dead; it should suffice, we would believe.

But seeing it is now many hun­dreds of years, since these things are ceased, and we have nothing left us, Praeter miraculorum famam; If we shall not believe the Gospel; by some it is openly pretended, and by many it is secretly imagined, that, in this case we may be Excused.

I could wish that the time would serve, clearly to rid away this phantasm; In order to it, I shall briefly doe three things.

[Page 194]1. Shew that this Phantastical imagination is no new inventi­on, but that it hath of old, been the conceit of abominable Hypo­crites.

2. 2ly. I shall inquire a little into the grounds of this Conceit, and shew the mistake of those sup­positions, into which it is resolv­ed.

3. 3ly. I shall shew, that our Sa­viour (Knowing the thoughts of men) hath taken particular care to prevent this Imagination; and hath clearly decided the matter in Question.

1. Though the present age be fruitful in inventions tending this way, yet this hath been Anticipated by the Wits of former times

In the 11 of Luke 47. We find Luc. 11. 47. the Scribes and Pharises, building the Sepulchres of the Prophets, whom [Page 195] their fathers had killed.

If we would know, what they pretended, in so doing, we shall Matth. 23. 30. find it in the parallel place of Mat­thew. They said, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them, in the blood of the Prophets.

That these men, did not believe the Prophets, it is manifest; Christ tells them, if they had believed the Prophets, they would have believed him; for they wrote of him.

But that they would have believ­ed the Prophets, (and not have murthered them) had they lived in their times, this they pretend­ed: and it is very probable they had that opinion.

Yes Verily! had they lived in the days of Miracles and Prophe­sies, they would have believed, the very conceit which is now Pre­tended!

[Page 196]But the Truth is, these men were abominable Hypocrites, and the cause of their Unbelief, was not the want of miracles and Prophe­sies, but Carnal prejudice, and in­terest, and the Vile affections of their hearts. Did not Christ work miracles? Was not he that Pro­phet which was to come? Yet they took him, and with wicked hands they slew him, and brought upon themselves the bloud of all the Prophets.

But 2 ly. If we shall examine the bottom of this fancy, and re­solve it into its Principles, we shall find that it supposes these things.

1. That the want of the sight of miracles, is sufficient to Justi­fie unbelief.

2. That to live in the very age of miracles, is apter to create be­lief, [Page 197] then to be born and educat­ed, in a believing nation, after the world hath been convinced by the miracles of former times (which is our Case.)

3. That the bare sight of mi­racles, is of it self alone, suffici­ent to create belief, in every person that should see them.

Of which suppositions, the first is contrary to common Reason, and the two later are contrary to Scriptural Reason, and to the ex­perience of the world

1. If the want of the sight of miracles were enough to justifie Infidelity, then for every Dogma to be believed, Every Individual person, were to expect the sight of miracles; which if it should hap­pen, the wonder should cease, and miracles become no miracles, by the frequency of the performances of [Page 198] them, and so they would be inept to create belief.

Every work of nature, is in it self a miracle; Who would not think it easier to recover a man, (who had all his parts and hu­mours already formed,) from the dead, then from that liquid prin­ciple whereof Job speakes, to raise up flesh and skin, bones and sinews: Joh. 10. 10. to advance an understanding crea­ture, capable of adoring or blas­pheming the maker of him? Yet that is a miracle, and this is none, only through the rarity of one, and frequency of the other.

Again, if every one were to see miracles, the merit of faith would Ic. 20. 29. be taken away. ‘Jesus said unto Thomas, because thou hast seen—thou hast believed, Blessed are they that have not seen, yet they have be­lieved.’ This for the first supposition.

[Page 199]2. The second is this, that to live in the very age of miracles, is apter to create a belief, then to live in a believing nation a good time after the times of Miracles.

But, contrary to this, we have instances both in Jews and Gen­tiles. After near 4000 years, how pertinaciously do the Jews adhere to Moses, against whom their fa­thers Murmured, and rebelled, not­withstanding the sight of all his mi­racles; and when he had wrought that great miracle upon Corah and for his rebellion, the next day they rebelled again.

And we find now all the whole world, (especially the wiser part) Converted to Christianity, where­as the Apostles complain of the paucity of professors, and the In­fidelity of the Jews, in the Age of Christ and his Apostles, was so [Page 200] great and resolute that it hath a fatal operation upon that nation unto this day.

I am sensible, that in the Com­parison of later ages with the days of miracles, I may be thought [...], and to advance a pa­radox, where that I may not lean on my own understanding, I be­seech you to consider our Saviours decision of the Question which we have in hand.

I suppose, I may take it for granted, that the condition of the Jews in our Saviours time, was in respect of Moses, the same (as to the matter in Question) with our Condition in respect of Christ.

The tradition of the law, was accompanyed with mighty Signs and wonders. And so likewise the tradition of the Gospel.

[Page 201]In the times succeeding Mo­ses, God for a Season continued the sensible manifestation of his pre­sence, by miracles. So he did likewise in the times succeeding Christ.

But before the time of our Sa­viour both miracles and Prophe­sies had a long time ceased. We Psal. 74. 9. see not our Tokens (saith the Psal­mist) there is not one Prophet left; as it is with us at this day.

Onely, they had the books of Moses and the prophets, Just so Conveighed and propounded to them, as our scriptures have been to us.

So that, if the Question be pro­posed concerning those Jews; whe­ther the present miracles of Christ, or the complexion of Motives which they had, to induce them to believe the writings of Moses, [Page 202] were apter to create belief, It is the same with our Question, Whe­ther the living in the time of Mi­racles, or our Motives; are more powerful to believing. To deter­mine which Question; we may observe; That the Apostles after the sight of all our Saviours mi­racles, continued in unbelief, till he had opened unto them the Scriptures, of Moses and the Pro­phets. That after many miracles, he refers the Jews to the searching of the Scriptures; (bringing them à notiori ad ignotius.) And in the 5 of John and the 47. he decides this Question by another ‘If ye do not believe the writings of Moses how shall yet believe my Words? John 5. 47.’

Thus much concerning the se­cond supposition.

3. The third is this, that the [Page 203] sight of miracles, is of it self alone, sufficient to bring every person to believing.

We ought indeed to own it, to the eternal glory of our blessed Redeemer, that the Faith of Chri­stians is founded upon his Miracles as well as on his Doctrine, and ex­ample. And he himself tells the Jews, that if he had not done mi­racles they should not bave had sin (i e. the sin of Infidelity.) But Joh. 15. 24. Now to dream of miracles, and hanker after them; or to think to Excuse our Infidelity, for want[?] of the sight of them, (as if that[?] alone would certainly make be­lievers of us all,) it argues that we have been sloathful readers of the Scriptures.

It hapned to our Saviours mi­racles as it did to his Preaching; according to his parable of the [Page 204] sower. Some of them lighted up­on hearts that were honest and good, and brought forth the fruit of believing. Others fell by the way side, or upon stony places, or among the Thorns.

The prepossession of their minds, by an expectation of a temporal Messiah, in the Rulers; The fear of persecution by them, in the Peo­ple; The Cares of the World, and deceitfulness of riches; The plea­sures and and lusts, to which the Austerities of the Gospel-rules, were opposite; and many other preju­dices, deeply rooted in the hearts of a perverse and froward Genera­tion, prevailed against the sight of miracles; and none were more pervers and resolute unbelievers; then some of those, who had the Advantage of this great argument for believing.

[Page 205]If the sight of Miracles alone, were sufficient to produce belief, in all kinds of Spectators, certain­ly the Scribes and Pharisees, (who by their learning were able to Judge of a miracle,) the Coun­trymen and Kinsmen of Christ (with whom he was most Conver­sant,) should have been most Emi­nent in believing.

But behold the inchantment of prejudice and Carnal Interest! In Luk. 5. 21. the 5. of Luke 21. The Pharisees and Doctors saw the miracles of Christ, and yet they concluded him a Blasphemer. And when he had healed him that was born blind; they (hypocritically) bad the man give Glory to God, and said they knew that Jesus was a sinner.

They turn'd his miracles into wantonness, fain'd themselves Just Joh. 9. 24. [Page 206] men that they might tempt him, i. e. put a trick upon him: demanding a sign for a sight, only to satisfy their wan­ton Luc. 20. 20. Curiosity.

As for his Countrey men, this Prophet had no honour there, he did not many miracles, among them be­cause Matth. 13. 58 of their unbelief. His friends said, he was beside himself, and went Mar. 3. 21. John 7. 5. to lay hold on him.

As for the People, In the sixth of John we find, that Christ fed five thousand men with five loaves Joh. 6. 10. and two small fishes, so that they said, this is of a truth that Prophet. But the very next day (ver. 22.) the Very men that had eaten of the loaves (26) Said unto him, what sign shewest thou that we may be­lieve? what dost thou work? (30) as if a miracle had not been a Sign!

He wrought a miracle among Mat. 5. 17. [Page 207] the Gadarens, and they besought him to be gone. Others were offended at him, and cast him out of their City. The issue of all his miracles, was Joh. 7. 12. this; Some said he was a good man, Others Nay! but he deceiveth the peo­ple. Joh. 10. 20. And many said he had a Devil and was mad.

Nay when he hung upon the cross they acknowledge his mi­racles, and jeered him with them; He saved others, himself he cannot Matth. 27. 42. save; let him do one more miracle, let him come down from the Cross. and we will believe him: So Vain is the pretence of those, who think to excuse their Infidelity, because they cannot see a miracle! So false are the Grounds of that opinion.

3. Briefly, to bring this Argu­ment to an issue.

If it were granted to these per­sons, [Page 208] to see a miracle, what kind of miracle would they chuse, to convince their understandings, and settle them in religion? We are here I confess in loco conjecturali, and no man can tell what miracle another man would chuse, but I am perswaded, that which most men would agree upon, as most con­ducing to that purpose whereof we are speaking, would be this; that to assure them of the Immor­tality of the Soul and of the rewards and punishments of the world to come, and to satisfie their Cu­riosity in some other doubts and scruples; They might once be al­lowed to see and converse with some one, that might rise from the dead, who might resolve their Questions, concerning the condition of those that are in Hades.

3. I say then, that our Saviour [Page 209] who knew, what was in man, and needed not that any one should tell him, foreseeing this Phantastical conceit, hath shewed the folly of it, and preoccupated this vain resort.

In the 16 of Luke 27. Dives makes it his request to Abraham; that he Luc. 16. 27. would send Lazarus from the dead; to testify to his brethren, those things which these men dream of.

Abraham refers them to the Scrip­tures, which were in the same man­ner recommended to them as our Scriptures are to us. They have Moses and the Prophets, &c. let them hear them.

He saith unto him, Nay father Abra­ham, but if one went to them from the dead, they would believe.

And he (Abraham) said If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead.

[Page 210]This I take to be a clear and a full Joh. 11. determination of the matter in Question; And if any one should magine, that this determination was but Conjectural, Our Saviour afterward tries the Experiment, and raises another Lazarus from the dead.

What was the effect of this mans coming from the dead, did it Con­vert the High Priest or the Scribes, the rulers or the people; nay, but from 53. that very day they took counsel together how they might put Jesus to death And the Chief Priests consulted, how they might put Lazarus to death also.

Upon these Considerations we may infallibly Conclude, that Infi­delity in Such times as ours, is no more excusable, then it was in the days of Christ or his Apostles; the times of mir cles and prophesies.

So much of the first Suppositi­on, in the Caveat of the Text, the [Page 211] Sinfulness of Infidelity in General, at all times, And the Inexcusable­ness in our times, which makes it our Duty to take heed of it.

II. I pass to the second supposition, concerning the Danger of falling into it, which makes it our con­cernment and Interest to beware of it. For if this be clear, the Ex­hortation will be powerful, take heed brethren, &c.

Now the Danger of falling in­to infidelity is in it self so conspi­cuous, and made so sensible by every day's experience, that I wish the proof of it were difficult, so as to Justify a studious and laborious demonstration of it.

At once to shorten my discourse, and to remove the suspicion of any Satyrical reflexion upon those that hear me; I shall shew, that the Greatest Advantages, have not [Page 212] preserved the best of men, from sometimes falling into Infidelity. Take heed therefore brethren.

The greatest Helps and Advan­tages against unbelief, I conceive to be these ensuing.

1. Evidences of Gods presence. 2. Or these lighting on a good un­derstanding. 3. At least upon the Ablest of men. 4. Such as have held Communion with God. 5. Or have been eminent for the habit and exercise of faith. 6. Or these with warnings to prevent the Dan­ger of falling. 7. And those reitera­ted. Yet all these, have not preserv­ed good men from sometimes fal­ling. A word of each.

1. First then, to begin with the persons in the Context, What greater Evidences of the Presence of God can be Imagined, then they enjoyed? In Egypt, in their passage [Page 213] over the red Sea; in the Wilderness, ‘my presence, saith God, shall go a­long with you,’ They were conduct­ed by a Pillar of a Cloud, &c. they were supported, and Corrected by Visible and palpable instances of Gods power and presence: Yet they tempted and grieved the Spi­rit of God, by their Infidelity, for they believed not for all his Wonderous Works.

2. But these Jews were a dull and stupid people. If God should once manifest himself, to a wise and understanding person (such as we take our selves to be) We may think it impossible to fall into un­belief.

I suppose it will be no disparage­ment to these Objectors, to say, that Solomon might be as Wise and Knowing, as Wary and Philoso­phical as they. And as for the ma­nifestation [Page 214] of Gods presence, the Scripture tells us Expresly, that God appeared to him at Gibeon: Where 1 Kin. 3. 5. he made a promise to him which he performed.

Yet Solomon fell into the grossest Infidelity; to think there were Gods and Goddesses, To worship Ashtaroth, the Goddess of the Sido­nians, and Milcom the Abomination of 1 Kin. 11. 5. the Ammonites.

3. But it may be yet Objected, that Solomon did this in the Do­tage of his years, and his Dotage upon his Idolatrous wives, which turned away his heart, but that it could not have proceeded from him before his understanding was impaired.

Behold then a greater then So­lomon! even Adam in his full strength, when he was newly made after the similitude of God, a little [Page 215] lower then the Angels. God se­veral times appeared to him in the Garden; Yet he fell through un­belief, and drew all his posterity in­to his ruine.

4. But Adam, though he had per­fection of Nature, yet he wanted Grace, whereby he might have held communion with God; which ha­ving been once enjoyed, would for ever have kept him from infidelity, or deliberate sin, which always pro­ceeds from it.

Consider then the case of Da­vid, of whom it is said, that the 1 Sam. 16. 13. Psal. 89. 4. Spirit of the Lord God came upon him; That God himself made a Co­venant with him, and Sware unto him by his holiness, that he would not fail him.

And as for David, who was like unto him, for Devotion and Zeal, for spiritual Communion and in­tercourse [Page 216] with God? He was the sweet singer of Israel; and how of­ten do we find his Spirit inebriat­ed and transported in the Cele­bration of his divine and ravishing enjoyments?

Yet we find him falling from all this height; and great and terrible was his fall; he went mourning for it all his days, and bowed down his head continually.

5. But perhaps it may be thought, that though David was an Excel­lent man, yet seeing his Eminen­cy lay not in the gift of Faith, but in Zeal, or in some other Grace, the danger may not yet be so very considerable.

Behold then even Abraham, the Darling of the almighty, who con­versed with God as a man converseth with his Friend: to whom God communicated his presence in [Page 217] Dreams, in Visions, in Appa­ritions, [...].

He was imbued with the Ha­bit of Faith; he exerted it in the no­blest exercise; he manifested it in the heroical degree; so that he became the Father of the Faithful.

Yet once we find him offend­ing (tripping) at this stone of stumbling; Equivocating through unbelief.

6. But all these instances were during the Ancient Dispensation, when the Communication of the presence of God was more Ob­scure; before the fulness of time was come, when the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst men, and they saw his glory as the glory of the only begot­ten Son of God.

Besides, we do not find that they were particularly and di­stinctly warned of their danger, [Page 218] which may lessen the Wonder of the fall.

Consider then the Case of Peter, the first of the Apostles. He had been closely conversant with Christ during all the time of his Ministry; Was a witness of his miracles, saw his Transfiguration, heard the Voyce which came to him from the Ex­cellent glory, saying this is my beloved 2. Pet. 1. 19. Son—

As for his faith; he it was, that made that confession, upon which the Christian Church is founded. And Christ had prayed for him that his faith should not fail.

He was a Valiant man; and he undertook that though he died, he would neither forsake nor deny his Master.

When Christ forewarns him plainly and punctually, that his faith would fail him, that very night, be­fore [Page 219] a certain hour; So that it was impossible he should be surprised.

You know his Undertakings, and of his Failings it is unnecessary to speak.

7. I know nothing now that can be alledged, against the gene­ral propensity of all men to Unbe­lief, but this; that Peter was now single and alone, that he failed only this time; when he was invironed with Bills and Staves, and in Dan­ger of his Life.

Wherefore let us call to mind the Case of all the Apostles, in the great Foundation of our Faith, the Article of Christs Resurrecti­on; when these temptations were away.

The resurrection of hte dead was in those times so commonly be­lieved, that it was conceived of Christ, that he was one of the Old [Page 220] Prophets risen from the Dead, and Herod said, he was John the Baptist ri­sen from the dead.

Of the resurrection, the Apostles had seen Experiments, in Lazarus, and in the bodies of the Saints which arose.

Concerning Christs resurrecti­on, how plainly and often were they forewarned? After he was ri­sen, how often were they told of it? Yet how grossely and often did they fail?

In they 8 of Mark 31 Christ tells his Disciples, that he should be killed, Mar. 8. 31. and the third day he would rise again: He spake this saying Openly; 32. So Openly that the Jews took no-of it ( this deceiver said that the third Mat. 27. 63. day he would rise again) moreover he promised them plainly that after he was risen, he would go before them Mar. 16. 11. 13. into Galilee; and appointed them a [Page 221] certain Mountain where they should see him.

Yet after he was risen; Mary Magdaten told them that he had appeared to her. But they be­lieved not Mary Magdalen. Joanna, and Mary the Mother of James, told them the same, But their Speech seemed to them as Idle tales. Luc. 24. 11.

The two Disciples told the rest, that he had appeared to them going to Emmaus, but they believed them not.

He appeared in the midst of ten of them at once, shewed them his hands and his side, But they believed not for joy.

Christ when he appeared to the Luc. 24. 41. Mar. 28. 7. Women, bade them tell the Disci­ples and Peter, that according to his promise, they should see him in Galilee.

And the eleven Disciples went into 17. Galilee, to a mountain which Jesus [Page 222] had appointed them, And when they saw him, they Worshipped; But some doubted.

So that Christ, almost in his last Mai. 16. 14. words, Upbraided them with their Unbelief — because they believed not them who had seen him, after he was risen.

So prone are even the best of men, after their highest attain­ments, under the best advantages, to fall sometime into Infidelity! So great is the danger of Unbe­lief!

It is true indeed, that all these, might say with the Prophet, Re­joyce Mic. 7. 8. not against me O mine enemy, for though I fall, I shall arise again. Yet all these things are written for our learning, that he that thinketh he stan­deth, may take heed lest he fall. If 1 Cor. 10. 11, 12. these things have been done to the green tree, what may be done to the [Page 223] dry? If the worthies and the migh­ty have fallen (how have the migh­ty fallen?) ought not the feeble to take care? Yes certainly they ought.

III. And to use all means to prevent their falling, which is the third thing, supposed in the Caveat, and expressed in the words following Take heed brethren least, &c. Ex­hort one another daily—

Now the Means to prevent the falling into Infidelity are the Ar­guments evincing the truth of the Gospel, which are very numerous. Whereof I cannot now speak par­ticularly.

The Apostle in this Epistle makes use of two sorts viz.

[Page 224]The Argument from Reason is delivered in the 2. Chap. v. 3. 4.

The Gospel was delivered by the Lord, and confirmed (to us) by them that heard him.

God also bearing them Witness with Signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost,

God bare witness to Christ the Author of the Gospel: And to the Apostles, the Promul­gers of the Gospel. Wherefore it is to be believed.

The Antecedent of this Enthy­mem is the sum of what I shall de­liver.

When the Pharisees said un­to Christ, thy Record is not true, Io. 8 13. because thou bearest record of thy self. I am one (saith Christ) that bear record of my self, and the Fa­ther that sent me, beareth witness of me.

[Page 225]Moreover he tells the Disciples 18. 15. 26. 27. that the Comforter should testify of him. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

So that beside the Witness of the Apostles, the Gospel had the Attestation of all the persons of the Trinity: viz.

of the

• 1. Father,
• 2. Son,
• 3. Holy Ghost.

1. God the Father bore witness to his Son; and that he did, by 1. Visible Signs, and 2. Audible Voices, 3. by Mission of Angels, 4. by Co-operating in his Miracles, &c.

1. At his Nativity a new Star appeared. At his Baptism they saw the heaven opened, and the Spi­rit [Page 226] sent from the Father in the vi­sible shape of a Dove, and lighting upon him. Before his Passion, he was transfigured in their sight. And At it the Sun was eclipsed when the Moon was full, the Veil, the Rocks, rent, so that the Cen­turion said, Surely this man was the Son of God; Bodies of Saints were seen of many: All these were visible signs.

2. As for the [...] ( the Daugh­ter of the Voice) In his Baptism Lo! Mar. 3. 17. 17. 5. a voyce from heaven, Saying, This is my beloved Son— At his Trans­figuration a Voyce came out of a cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son— hear him. A little before his death, as he was Praying, Fa­ther, glorifie thy Name, There came a voyce from heaven, Saying, I have Jo. 12. 2, 8. both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

[Page 227]3. For mission of Angels by the Father, We find them still ready up­on all occasions from before his Coming down, to the time of his Ascension into Heaven.

Before his Conception, the An­gel Luc. 1. 16. 19. Mar. 1. 20. Gabriel appeared to Zachary and to Mary, before his Nativity to Jo­seph, saying, fear not Joseph. At the time of his Nativity a whole Cho­rus appeared to the Shepherds. Luc. 2. 9. 31. Mar. 2. 13. 1. 9. 20. In his Infancy an Angel appeared twice to Joseph, admonishing him of his going to Egypt and his return from thence.

In his Adult age they ministred to him in his hunger; Before his 4 11. Luc. 22. 43. Mar. 28. 2. Mar. 16. 6. Jo. 20. 12. death, they strengthned him in his Agony; After it, they rolled away the stone from his Sepulcher; They declared his Resurrection; and in Act. 5. 16. his Ascension, they stood by, and foretold his coming again to Judg­ment. [Page 228] Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing? This same Jesus—

4. The Father co-operated with him, according to that of our Savi­our, The father worketh hitherto and I work — &c.

These are some of the Attestati­ons of the Father.

2. Christ bore witness of him­self. And this he did, by prov­ing himself to be the Messiah; viz. by fulfilling all the prophesies re­lating to the Person or Offices; the Life, and the Death of the Messiah.

His Generation was such as can­not be declared, he was born at Bethlehem, of the Tribe of Judah, of the Family of David, about 490 years after the return from Captivi­ty. When the Scepter was just now departed from Juda.

He performed not only the Sub­stance [Page 229] of the Prophesies, but all the Circumstances foretold, concern­ing the Life and Death of the Mes­siah.

1. He was to be a Prophet, and so he was. The Spirit of the Lord anointed him to preach, and he spake as never man spake. He foretold many things to come, they all bare him witness.

2. He was to be a King, and so he was. His Name was Wonderful; his Power was shewen throughout the universal System of the World; the Angels good and evil, the Hea­vens, Elements, Plants, Fishes, Brutes, Health and Sickness, Life and Death, were all obedient unto his Word.

3. He was to be a Priest, and so he was. He made an Atonement by his Obedience, and by his suf­ferings to the least punctilio (to the [Page 230] taking of a little Vinegar) and when all things were fulfilled, He cryed with a loud voice [...], it is fi­nished, and he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost. Joh. 19. 30.

Moreover, for the Justification of his Gospel (and that he might leave no place for Infidelity;) he rose again from the dead, appeared to many, convinced them by all their Senses; They saw him, They heard him, They felt his hands and his side, They Eat and Drank with him; They Conversed with him 40 dayes; He was seen by more then 500 at once; and (lastly) in the sight of Many of them, he Ascended Visibly into Heaven.

These were some of the Testi­monies, which our Lord Christ bare to himself.

3, The time would fail me, if I should speak of all the Testimonies [Page 231] given by the Holy Spirit.

In his Conception, to Mary, fulfilling the Promise of Gabriel.

Before his Nativity, to Zachary and Elizabeth, in his Infancy to Simeon and Hanna, in his Baptism to John. I knew him not, saith John, but he that sent me to baptize, said unto me, upon whom thou shalt Joh. 1. 31. see the Spirit descending and resting on him, that is he: and I saw the Spirit descending: Throughout his whole Ministry, till his Death, the Spirit gave witness to him.

Moreover, in his Resurrection he was declared the Son of God, with power by the Holy Ghost. After his Rom. 1. 4. Ascension, the Holy Ghost ful­filled all his undertakings, in that Grand Manifestation at Pentecost, at the time and place which Christ had undertaken for; A manifesta­tion made to all the Senses, and to [Page 232] men of every nation under heaven, Par­thians—besides a Multitude of other Act. 2. 5. Instances.

Such were the Attestations given to Christ ( the Author and finisher of our faith)

2. And for the Apostles (the Pro­mulgers of it) besides the Change of their Spirits from darkness to light, Whereby they were led out of Igno­rance and Infidelity, into all Truth. And from torpid and pusillani­mous persons, during thelife of their Master, they became, when he was dead, the most active and magnani­mousin the world. (I say, besides this Change) They had bestowed upon them, All things necessary, ei­ther for their 1. Own Assurance, or for the 2. Conviction of the World. (Concerning the truth of the Gos­pel which they delivered.)

1. As for themselves, besides the [Page 233] Conversation with their Master before and after his Resurrection; they had 1. Apparitions of Angels. And to one of them Christ himself appeared after he was ascended to his father.

2 They had the Bath Kol, (Voi­ces from Heaven.) In the 9 of the Acts, we find a Voice from Heaven maintaining a Dialogue with Paul; and at another time, a voice saying to Peter, Arise Peter, Kill and Eat.

3. They had extatical Visions. Act. 22. 17. 2 Cor. 12. 2. Peter was in a trance (Act 10. 10, 19.) Paul rapt up to the third heaven.

4. They had monitory Dreams. Paul saw a man in a Dream, say­ing unto him, Come into Mace­donia and help us.

5. They had Impulses of the Spirit; So Paul was forbid by the Act. 16. 9. Spirit, to preach the Word in Asia.

II. And for the Conviction of [Page 234] the unbelieving World,

They had diversities of gifts and 1 Cor. 12. different Administrations. To one was given the Word of Wisdom, to another the Word of Knowledge, to another Faith, to another the gift of Healing, to another Miracles, Pro­phesies, Discerning of Spirits, The gift of Tongues.

As it is in the words which I quoted, God bare them witness with gifts of the Holy Ghost, and with Signs and Wonders; and that he did, so far, that I shall be justified by Christ himself, if I shall affirm, that the Apostles after his death, Joh. 14 12. did greater miracles then he him­self did in his life.

Of the same kind with our Sa­viours, some they performed, by means having an appearance of greater strangeness, (Christ healed by his touch, his word, his spittle, [Page 235] Peter by his Shadow, Paul by Hand­kerchiefs taken from his body.) But one great thing there was, wherein they exceeded; The Great and Manifest, and frequent Effu­sions of the Spirit, the Reception of it upon themselves, the com­munication of it to others, by Prayer, Preaching, Laying on of Hands; By these it was that the unbelieving world was convinced, and even Simon Magus himself; It is by the power and Vertue of those effusions that we are here met together at this time, that the World continues Christian at this day. And these are some of those standing means and Arguments, whereby the proneness of our hearts to infidelity may be over­come; and faith may be begotten, confirmed, recovered at this day: These are therefore to be revolved, [Page 236] Exhort one another dayly. To come therefore to a Conclusion.

My text it self is an Application, by way of Exhortation; Exhorta­tions are enforced by Reasons of Duty and Concernment, and these I have hitherto endeavoured to lay before you.

If indeed there were no Sinfulness in Infidelity, Or, if in such times as ours, it were excusable. If there were no danger of falling into it, or no means left to remedy or pre­vent it; it would then indeed be to little purpose to Exhort men to beware.

But if the state of all these things is otherwise, if that be plain and evident; agreeable to Scripture, to Reason and to Experience; if the Speaker hath not beaten the Air, nor the heaters been careless and inattentive, I know not what can [Page 237] be required, to enforce and sharpen the exhortation.

If the time would suffer it, and I were speaking to a Common or Injudicious Auditory, I might think my self concerned, after all that hath been spoken to the under­standing, to Apply my discourse to your affections, I should take unto me the various forms of Applica­tion used in this Epistle. I would Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort; I would cry aloud, and would not spare. I would lift up my voice like a Watch­mans trumpet, warning you from the Lord, concerning the Spirit of irreligion and infidelity which is said to have overspread the land.

I would take to my self a La­mentation, yea it should be for a Lamentation, for the Professors of Infidelity, and the Infidelity of [Page 238] Professors, every where. But I may not now be permitted to en­large upon these things. I may only pray to God to give you un­derstanding in all things, and be­seech you earnestly to consider what hath been spoken, Conclud­ing in the words of the Text, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you, an evil heart of un­belief, in departing from the liv­ing God. Exhort one another dayly.—

A SERMON Preached before the House of Peers AT WEST MINISTER.

THE great and general design of the Ministry and preach­ing of the Gospel, is to bring men to Christianity; not in the outward profession, but in the true spirit and power thereof; to [Page 244] the end they may be justified and sanctified, and finally saved through Christ for ever.

The Particular design of this Dayes Observation is to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God, in Consideration of his Judgments, especially that late one in consum­ing with Fire the Ancient and noble Metropolis of this Nation; and to endeavour to appease the wrath of God gone out against us.

To compass both these designs (whereof the later is subordinate to the former) I know no better expedient, than to reason a while upon that important argument sug­gested in the Text.

Who can think upon the Con­flagration of our late Glorious City, and not call to mind the great and terrible day of Judgment?

Who can think seriously of [Page 245] Judgment, and not be compelled to come in, (driven to Christianity) that he may be saved from the wrath to come?

The great Instructor and Ex­ample of Christian Preachers (he who saith of himself, that Christ sent him to preach and not to baptize) found no means so power­ful to perswade men to Christi­anity, as to reason upon this argu­ment; as first to lay before them the terror of Judgment, and then (whilst that was warm upon their hearts) to make them a tender of the Gospel. This is the great ad­vantage and use the Apostle makes 2 Cot 5. 10, 11. of the Doctrine of the Text. We must all appear (saith he) before the Judgment-seat of Christ,—Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord, we perswade men.

Upon these Considerations I [Page 246] shall hope for the pardon of this Noble Auditory, if (without affectation of Science) I shall, in a practical and familiar way of reasoning, indeavour to imitate our Apostle in this particular.

If in the mean time it will be irksome and unpleasant to hear of the Judgment to come, we shall do well to consider what it will be to undergo it; we shall do well to reflect upon our Souls, and search out the ground of this avers­ness; Is it because we do not be­lieve a Judgment to come? or that we our selves shall be brought to Judgment? Is it because we ne­ver consider, who it is before whom me must appear? or, what things will be charged on our ac­count? Is it because we are so far gone in our arrears that it is to no purpose to call these things into [Page 247] our remembrance? —What ever it be, we may perhaps hear of that which may meet with and remove the prejudice and imposture that is upon us. It is neither our Neg­ligence nor Infidelity that will make void the Truth of God. Whether we will hear, or Whether we will forbear, the Words which I have read remain firm and unalterable, and they clearly contain these Pro­positions:

1. There is a Judgment to come.

2. Thou shall be brought to Judgment.

3. God will bring thee to Judg­ment.

4. God will bring thee to Judg­ment for these things, the ways of thy heart, &c.

5. God will bring thee to Judg­ment for All these things.

6. All this is certain and evi­dent; [Page 248] for it is not think, or be­lieve, but — Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment.

1. First then, There is a Judg­ment to come. This is no Poli­tick invention found out to fright thee from thy pleasures; this is no Engine of State devised to keep you in a subordination to your Bre­thren; this is no vain Thunder or foolish fire, to affright you in to a blind obedience, but it is the Tenor of the Scripture of the voyce of God, King Agrippa believest thou the the Prophets? I know that thou be­lievest, (saith St. Paul.) Brethren do we believe the Scriptures? I hope we do believe them; This we do all profess to believe, so often as we repeat our Creed; and I hope the dissolution of our times has not yet shatter'd that foundation of our faith, the ground work of our [Page 249] hopes, even the Salvation of our souls. Surely there are rewards for men; doubtless there is a God which judgeth the earth. What though the foundations of the world be out of course, the pillar of Faith remains unshaken; the Rod of the ungodly shall not for ever rest upon the back of the righteous: I desire to make a little use of your faith for that which anon will be obtained from your reason. There is a Judgment to come, it's as sure as death, nay far surer; they shall be judged which shall not dy, they have been judged which could not dy; the one at the end, the other at the beginning of the world.

There is a Particular and a Ge­neral Judgment; the one at the dissolution of the lester, the other of the greater world; the one at the hour of death, the other at the day [Page 250] of Judgment. A Judgment I say, a strict examination, an exact ac­count, a severe sentence; words which make no thundring noise, or tragical sound, and so they may pass our hardned hearts without any motion; wherefore let us judge of the tenor and moment of them by their antecedent signs.

Before one of them, the evil days come: The other is called the evil day. Before one, Solomon tells us, that the Sun, and the Moon, and the Light, and the Stars shall be darkned: Before the other, a greater than Solomon tells us, that the Sun shall be turned into Darkness, and the Moon into Bloud, and the Stars shall fall from Heaven. Before one, the Keepers of the House shall tremble, and the Strong men bow themselves; Before the other, the Mountains shall quake, and the Powers of Heaven [Page 251] shall be shaken: Before one, we shall rise at the voyce of the Bird; Be­fore the other, at the sound of the Trumpet. Before one, the silver Cord shall be loosed, and the golden Bowl broken, and the Pitcher broken at the Fountain, and the wheel broken at the Cistern: Before the other, the silver Zone of the ecliptick, and the golden Globe of the Sun, the Orbs, and the Vortices shall be confounded, (the wheel within a wheel) the Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl of Parchment, and the Earth and the Elements shall melt away with fervant heat. In the one, the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and and the spirit to God that gave it: At the other, the dust shall return from the earth to be as it was, and the spirit from God that gave it.

Come now and let us reason to­gether.

[Page 252]Are all these the fore-runners and symptomes of approaching Judgment? then why art thou so drowsre O my careless soul, and why are thou so secure within me? What strange Lethargy hath seised on thee? Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give the light. The time of thy dissolution is coming, and after death, the Judgment. Retire therefore a while into thy self, and commune with thy heart: Enter thou into thy Closet, and shut thy Door upon thee: Let us examine our selves before we come to that strict Examen: Let us make a Judgment of our expecta­tion before we come to Judgment. Do we believe a Judgment will come? Then how are we provided against that Day? Are our ac­counts ready? Art thou able to stand in Judgment? Shalt thou be [Page 253] clear when thou art judged? When Paul reasoned before Felix concerning the Judgment to come, Felix trembled; and because it was an unpleasant argument, he put him off to another time.

There is no doubt but our trea­cherous hearts would gladly put off these Considerations, and deferr them to a more convenient season. Nay! but there is no time so con­venient as the present, when we are wrought into some apprehen­sion of Judgment: if we stay till our present thoughts are over, we shall again be brought to lose the apprehension (to forget the import and moment) of the Judgment; we shall come again to hear the Name thereof, and to neglect it as an idle Noise, and empty Sound.

Let us therefore not neglect this opportunity; Let us search our [Page 254] seleves to the bottom; Let us make a discovery of our final Resolution, and secret Reserves in reference to Judgment. We profess openly to believe that Christ shall come with Glory, to judge both the Quick and Dead; What are our inward thoughts in that particular? and how are we provided against the Day of Judgment?

There is a Judgment to come, that Judgment terrible, the Exami­nation strict, the Condemnation insupportable, and most of us ut­terly unprovided; yet for all this, it's possible it may be avoyded. All these things are true in Judgments here below, and we see the proof of them at every Assizes; yet all Offenders are not brought to Judg­ment, but many Thieves and Mur­derers escape it: It may be thus in the Judgment to come; it's [Page 255] possible it may be avoidable.

II. A miserable hope, if this be all; for Thon shalt be brought to Judg­ment: That's the second Propo­sition.

And it contains the Universality or Particularity of the Judgment, (which you please:) thou, and every man, singuli generum, & genera singulorum; all sorts of men, and every man of every sort, from Him that sitteth on the Ihrone, to Her that grindeth in the Mill: For we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ. It is appointed for all men once to dy, and after death the Judgment. Death shall deliver up our Souls to the first, and death shall deliver up our Bodies to the second Judg­ment. The Grave shall deliver up her spoils, and the bodies of all men, devoured of Beasts, consumed of Fire, swallowed by the Sea, scat­tered [Page 256] to the four Winds, in a mo­ment, in the twinckling of an eye, shall be brought to Judgment.

And here shall I bewail the infir­mity, or inveigh against the negli­gence of us Men, that suffer our selves to be hurried headlong by the power of our imaginations a­gainst the striving of our Conscien­ces; that suffer our Senses to carry away the crown from our Under­standing, and give over our selves to the impetuous stream of our pas­sions: That when we have a full information, a compleat judgment, a clear dictate of conscience, we will suffer all these to be overborn in us by the Idola Specûs, Tribûs, &c. which are brought into our imaginations: That having clear and evident Principles, we can yet doubt of their immediate conse­quences; or whilest we profess an [Page 257] universal truth, never descend to think of the particulars.

We know there is a vast diffe­rence between the things present, and those to come; and yet we form our thoughts of those, according to the analogy of these, deluding our selves with idle and childish imaginations. God keeps silence; we think he is such an one as we: Ven­geance is not presently executed, we set our hearts to do wickedly. We profess that all men must die, and come to judgment; yet we do not really believe that we our selves shall dy, and come to judgment. This is the fountain of our misery, and the original of our spiritual miscarri­ages: the discovery of the causes and remedy whereof, lies deep in the Philosophy concerning Hu­mane Nature; but the thing it self is of every days observation: we [Page 258] may recount it in these authentical examples. David knew full well what belong'd to Murder and Adultery, and what himself had done in the matter of Uriah; yet he cried not out that he had sinned, till Nathan had charged him, Thou art the man.

Ahab undoubtedly had read the Law of Moses, and knew the guilt of Murder and Oppression; yet he goes on triumphantly, he kills, and also takes possession: but when Elijah charges hime home, In the field of Jezreel shall Dogs lick thy blood, even thine, then he cries out, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? (1 Kings 21.) and having applyed things to his particular, he Rent his Cloaths, and put on sackcloth, he fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

Once more: 'Tis likely Belshaz­zar [Page 259] had a general Judgment, and an universal Maxime in his mind, That it was unlawful to spoil the House of God, to plunder those things which were dedicated to the Lord, and to debauch in the Bowls of the Temple, and probably he had seen the hand-writing of the book of God to that purpose: yet all this does not restrain him: But when the Fingers write upon the Wall, Mene, Mene, &c. thou art weighed, &c. then his countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, the joynts of his loyns were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. This then is the Office of this second Proposition, it charges us home, it lays down the Universal, and it brings it down to the Particular.

Thou shalt be brought to Judg­ment. Thy Judgment is unavoida­ble.

[Page 260]O but then thy Evasion is crossed, O my stupid Soul! Thou art spoyl­ed of thy frivolous ground of hope: Thou shalt surely be cited, and thou must appear, if thou refuse to come thou shalt be brought to Judgment. Return then again into thy self, and take a review of thy condition; what will the issue be of that Judgment to which thou must be brought? What hopes are now remaining that thou shalt not be condemned? when the Officers have haled thee before the Judge, that thou be [...] delivered to the Executi­oners.

If thou art called to Examina­tion, Canst thou elude thy Judge by thy wily Answers? or Canst thou baffle or suborn the Witnesses? Canst thou work off thy Jury not to find the Verdict? or bribe the Judge to favour thee in thy Doom? [Page 261] Canst thou withdraw him from the Rigour of Justice by the medi­ation of thy friends, or melt him into compassion by the loudness of thy cries, the sadness of thy lamen­tation? Canst thou procure a Re­version or Reprieve of thy sen­tence, or appeal from thy Judge unto another? Canst thou make an escape from thine Executioner? Or lastly, Canst thou stoutly en­dure the sentence of Condemna­tion? These are the hopes of men here brought to Judgement, and why may not some of them be mine? No, thou knowest, O trea­cherous heart, all these to be fond impossibilities, dreams, and sug­gestions of a childish fancy; If once this day be over, and that time come, thy hopes are barely these, that Omniscience and Wisdom it self may be deluded by stupidity, that [Page 262] Omnipotence and Power it self may be evaded by poor contemptible in­firmity, that Severity and Justice it self may be perverted by iniquity; all this is evident by that which fol­lows: For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ.

III. God will bring thee to Judg­ment.

And here we are concerned to raise our thoughts, and employ the utmost of our attention, lest by the prejudice which our Idleness hath brought upon us, we treasure up wrath to our selves against that day of Judgment. 'Tis true, we daily hear of God, and receive the names of his Attributes into our ears, but we pass over his Name as if he were like to us, and never bestow so much labour as to attain to a considerable notion of those names. O that the God of Heaven [Page 263] would afford us here some glimpse of himself; That he would illustrate us with some beam of his Majesty; That he would be pleased to visit every unprovided soul, and insi­nuate into it a full and clear appre­hension of this Proposition — God will &c —

But how shall we endure to see his face? No man can see my face and live, (Exod. 33.) if the Israelites durst not hear him proclaim the Law, how shall we endure to hear him denounce the Judgment? If the Angels veil their faces, not able to behold his Excellency, how shall we be affected with his terrors? If the Cherubims are oppressed with the sight of his glory, what shall we be with the sense of his fury? If we find our selves con­founded and swallowed up into inextricable Labyrinths, when we [Page 264] set our selves to consider of his im­manent Attributes, of his eternal Duration, his unbounded Essence, his unconfined Presence: With what disposition can we entertain the terror of his Judgment, the search of his Omniscience, the stroke of his Omnipotence? If the best and choicest of the Saints of God, have been afraid and trembled at the thoughts of Judgment, if they have been surprised with horror and confusion at the meer imagi­nation of that Dreadful voice, Arise and come to Judgment, what shall the worst and most obdurate sinners, when they shall be stript of this cloud of flesh and error, and cited before the great tribunal, there to render an account of their Creation, Preservation, and Redemption?

What fear, what horror, what agony will possess thee, O sinful [Page 265] soul, when thou shalt be brought into a perfect apprehension of thy Judge, and of thy self, and he shall begin to order out before thee the things which he hath done; when the whole Trinity shall begin to unfold its common work, and that sacred Person blessed for ever, upon whose shoulders the Judgment is laid shall unfold to thee his peculiar, and thou must render a severe ac­count of thy returns?

When the mystery of thy Creati­on shall be unveiled to thee: When thou shalt apprehend through­ly, what it is to have been fetcht out of the dark and barren shade of an eternal privation to be put in a capacity of glory. When he shall recount to thee the proceedings of his handy work, the method of thy making, the several articles and gradations of his Providence in the [Page 266] formation and information of thee. How at first he poured thee out like milk, and crudled thee cheese; How he spun out thine arteries and veins, and whilst thou wert yet in thy blood, he said unto thee, live: How he guarded thee with muscles, and strengthened thee with sinews, and propt thee with bones, and co­vered thee with skin, furnished thee with organs, endowed them with senses, invested thee with reason, crowned thee with freedom, en­lightned thee with principles of Science and Conscience, bounded thee by his Precepts, encouraged thee by his Promises, restrained thee by his threatnings. When he shall run over the benefits of thy daily preservation, and rigorously exa­mine what thou hast done for him.

When God the Son shall dis­play to thee what he hath done and [Page 267] suffered for thee, and shall set be­fore thine eyes the great mystery of thy Redemption; When he shall bring thee to apprehend the price that he has paid, that ransom which thou hast not regarded: When it will not be in thy power to pass over these considerations as now thou dost; but they shall be forced into the essential center of thy Soul: When thou shalt have a clear sight of the abasement of a God incar­nate: When thou shalt know how to be moved at the sight of a despis­ed and an abused Godhead.

When he shall charge thee with the blewness of those stripes, and the ghastliness of those wounds which thou hast made: When he shall rehearse to thee the miseries of his life, and the circumstances of his death: When he shall recount to thee the woundings of the taunts [Page 268] and reproaches, the smart of the whips, the terrour of the agony, which made him sweat great drops of blood, the pricks of the thorns, the piercing of the nails, the laun­cing of the spear, and the ineffable horror of the dereliction, when he cried out in the bitterness of his soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And when he shall fiercely call upon thee to an­swer for the wounds that thou hast made, to render him his blood that thou hast spilt, to account to him for that life which thou hast bereft, to shew him the fruit of all his pains and sufferings, to present him thy returns for all these bene­fits and favours; then tell me what thou wilt answer, O stupid soul. How art thou provided to reply?

Wilt thou deny that he has done [Page 269] these things for thee? or canst thou shew as much for him? Hast thou returned him that being which he hath given thee, and so been even with him in a form of words, though that come infinitely short indeed? Hast thou sacrificed thy self for his benefit, or abased thy self for his commodity? What wilt thou plead when thou art called? The time is coming, thy Judgment hastning, thine account is unavoidable, thy Judge inexo­rable.

Alas! what could I have done for him? what profit could I have brought him? if I should have pined away in the exercise of Devo­tion, and been eaten up with zeal? If I should have spent my sabstance in Burnt-Offerings, or Calves of a year old? If I should have presented him with thousands of Rams, or ten thou­sand [Page 270] Rivers of Oil? To what purpose then should I end eavour that, which I could not have performed? Why should I trouble my self with vain attempts, and spend my strength about that, which I never could accomplish? neither if I be righte­ous is he the better; nor if I be wicked is he the worse: our good­ness extends not to him; if thou sinnest, what dost thou against him? if thou be righteous, what receiveth he at thine hand? Is this then the evasion? I need not stand to unfold the dis­ingenuity, the stupor and madness of this evasion. However though these things shall be urged upon us, they are not all; these offer themselves in the consideration of the per­son of the Judge, but are not all the matter of thy Judgment.

IV. For Thou shall be brought to Judg­ment [Page 271] for these things; there is the matter of thy Judgment.

V. For All these things; there is the extent. Because this latter adds only a Modality to the former, and I desire not to be over tedious, we will put these two together.

And now we are descended from those less familiar Considerations, to which we were forced to strein our understandings in the contem­plation of our Judge, into the com­pass of our own sphere, to the survey of our own operations; we are come from the incomprehen­sible ways of God, to the ways of our own hearts. Walk in the ways of thy heart, &c. and, But know, &c. In the judgment of this life men are tryed by the works of their hands, or the words of their mouths; for theft or murder, for slander or Treason men may [Page 272] be brought to Judgment, but thought is free, he has lived well that has carried his crimes close, the crafry Politician and the conceealed Hypocrite escape: There the case is quite contrary, the Judgment takes in primarily the ways of the heart, and the words and actions as they proceed from them. Where­fore let us withdraw a space into our selves, and endeavour to mete out the extent of that Proposition. For all the ways of the hearts of men, God will bring them to Judgment.

How would it trouble us to re­count and bring to memory every thought but of one only day? and how many disorders and irregulari­ties should we find in such a re­flection? How do our thoughts flote upon our brains, and we know neither whence they come, nor [Page 273] what becomes of them? When they are broken in upon our minds we cannot hold them, and when they are gone from us (as it was with Nibuchadnezzar's dream) it is not in our power to recover them. How many roving fancies present themselves unto us in a mo­ment; and how many sudden and imperfect Complacencies and di­stastes are raised by them? Leave but thy self unbound, unfixed (by hearing, or reading, or business, &c.) for an hour, and then tell me what suppositions and conse­quences, and resolutions thou hast made? And how thou hast felt thy self to strein upon the borders of Lust or Envy, of Pride or An­ger, of Discontent or Melancholy. O that you would but reflect a little upon your souls, and consi­der how many wandring thoughts [Page 274] have broken in upon your minds since I began to speak of this im­portant Subject. You might save me the labour of further speaking and raise your selves to that which I endeavour: I fear you might find among your sacred thoughts, a mixture of others very unsuitable; your envious, your ambitious, your covetous, your idle thoughts All these are the matter of our future Judgment, and however they slightly pass us here, they are noted in the Book of God; and when that Book shall be opened, they will be charged on our account. Thou tellest my wanderings, (saith the Psalmist) Are not these things noted in thy Book? I have already said enough to take up the consi­deration of the remainer of our time: But our hearts being too heavy, and our ears too dull of hear­ing [Page 275] to be moved with generals, I must crave leave that I may be per­mitted to run over the heads of some particulars.

Thou must give an account of all things committed to thee, In­ward or Outward, Natural or Spi­ritual, thy senses and thy under­standing, thine Outward and thine Inward faculties.

If thou hast been at a constant covenant with thine eyes, and hast never suffered them to rove in loose disorders: If thou hast bowed thine ears to discipline, and never let them open to vain entertainments: If thy taste hath been moderated by the necessities of nature, and the laws of temperance, and never let loose according to the lust of Riot: If thy hands have been wholly im­ployed in the works of God, and never been instruments to the [Page 276] machinations of the Devil: If thy speech have never uttered any idle words, but ever administred grace to the hearers: If thy feet have only traced the ways of God, and never stood in the way of sinners.

What hath been the exercise of thine inward faculties, thine Ap­prehensions and thine Appetite? If thy fancie hath ever been im­ployed in administring help to thine understanding, and never afforded incentives to thy vile affections: If thy memory have been taken up with the things which God hath done, and Christ hath suffered for thee, and hath afforded no place to Ribaldry and vanity: How thou hast ordered thine Anger and Con­cupiscence: What have been the object, measure, and end, and circumstances, of thy love, hatred, desire, aversion, delight, sadness, [Page 277] hope, despair, fear, boldness, an­ger, envie, jealousie, and com­passion.

How thou hast managed thine understanding, and improved thy contemplative and active princi­ples. If thou hast advanced in the discovery of eternal verities, or herd­ed with the beasts that perish: If thou hast cherished the principles of thy Synteresis, and the dictates and reflections of thy conscience, and never rebelled against them: How thou hast determined the free­dom of thy Will, in thy volition and intention, thine election and consent, fruition and duse, when Good and Evil, Life and Death have been set before thee.

How thou hast behaved thy self in Spirituals, in gifts and graues. If thou hast accepted that which hath been offered, and improved [Page 278] what thou hast accepted, or hid it in a Napkin. In outward things, how thou hast acquired, and how thou hast managed thine Estate: How thou hast behaved thy self in thy Relations publick and pri­vate, in thy charge, and in thy duty. —But the time would fail me to reckon up a considerable part of the exercises and objects of the wayes of the hearts of Men: And now all these and many more, are but the simple elements, and common heads of our account.

Consider then, O negligent and incogitant soul! if thou couldst reckon up the ways of thy heart, in any one of these kinds; if thou couldst call to mind but every idle word whereof thou must give an ac­count, or thy motions upon every thing thou hast heard, and remem­ber in any one of these elements, [Page 279] what thou hast done or else omitted. Then tell me how wouldst thou find thy self possessed, and how wouldst thou be disposed to Judg­ment? Wouldst thou deem it need­less or idle to call it betimes to thy remembrance? Wouldst thou drive off thy thoughts of it to the time of sickness, to the hour of death, and rudely throw thy self upon it? —But then try, and examine all these to­gether, contemplate a little upon the mixtures and combinations of them; these will afford us many millions of millions of wayes (far exceeding the varieties of the corpo­real nature, which proceed from the mixture of fewer elements) so many as will utterly confound our thoughts to number. Who can reckon up the wayes of the hearts of the children of Men? Who can understand his errours?

[Page 280]And now, that he that hath the World to uphold, the Planets and Stars to guide, the course of nature to maintain, should keep a Register of our impertinencies, and bring to Judgment all the wayes of Men; (the traces of a Ship in the Sea, of a Serpent upon a Rock) who hath believed our report? we are apt to think it cannot be. Surely he sees not these things: Tush he cares not for them. This is indeed the last resort of the treacherous hearts of men, the grand imposture which resolves into a species of Atheism and Infidelity. O but then, if I shall use the language of the Scri­ptures, I must call thee fool and beast, to doubt of that which is plain and evident, to disbelieve that which may be known. This Article con­cerning the Judgment to come, is not a problem of Philosophy to be [Page 281] disputed this way and that way with equal probability; neither is it only an Article of faith, but it is a princi­ple of natural Theology, the Scri­pture speaks of it under terms of greater evidence St. Paul reasoned with Felix, he disputed with the Philosophers concerning it, he speaks of the terror of Judgment under terms of certainty, and of a kind of Demonstrative evidence; Knowing the terror of the Law, &c. and hear in the Text, it is not said, Think, or believe; But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment.

VI. He is a fool that hath said in his heart there is no God, and he that thinks he hath no understanding may well be compared to the beasts that perish & so sure as there is a God, and that man hath an understand­ing soul, so surely it may be known, [Page 282] That for all these things, &c. For if there be a God, he must be infinitely just; and if so, he must render to every one according to their actions; and if not here, then hereafter; and if so, he must bring them to Judg­ment. But he doth it not here: The ways of Providence seem to be promiscuous, there is a wicked man to whom it happens according to the way of the righteous, and a righteous man Eccles 8. 14. to whom it happens according to the way of the wicked. Dives receives pleasure, Lazarus pain; therefore so sure as there is a God, there will be a Judg­ment.

Again, If man have an under­standing soul, he must have freedom in his actions; and if so, he deserves either good or evil; and if there be deserts, there must be rewards; and if there be rewards, there must be a Judgment. So then, so sure as thou [Page 283] art an understanding creature, so sure there is a Judgment to come.

Once more, Reward is answerable to desert; and desert is only in what is free; and what is free in man is the ways of his heart: wherefore they are to be brought to Judgment, and if any, then all: for no reason can be fancied, why some should be brought to Judgment, and others not. Wherefore, if it be sure that God is in Heaven, and that Man hath an understanding soul, then it is also sure that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment, that God shall bring to judgment every secret thing.

And now how sure and evident are these things? more sure and more plain, if we will attend, than any other truths in the world; for there is not any known truth which doth not evict the truth of these [Page 284] things. We know a truth, because we plainly and evidently understand the composition or division of the notions in a Proposition, or the De­duction of a Proposition from some others; therefore if we know any truth, we presuppose that we have souls which understand the noti­ons of things, and if souls which un­derstand these notions, then to be sure they are not bodies, (no com­bination of fire and air, and earth, and water, no disposirion of insensi­ble atomes can cause the subject to apprehend and judge, to reason and discourse) and if they be no bodies, then they are not subject to corrup­tion: It is evident therefore that our souls are understanding and also immortal, deserving and capable of future Judgment.

And as evident it is also that there is a soveraign Power, a God that go­verns [Page 285] and will Judge the Earth.

This is not a Rhetorical under­taking, but a just and measured truth; there is not anything in the world from whence these two may not be plainly and evidently evi­cted, viz. a Godhead from the Crea­ture, and thine own Immortality from the discovery of a Godhead. The world which thou seest, had it a beginning, or had it not? if it had a beginning, he is thy God that made it; if it had no beginning, then there are past as many myriads of years as minutes of time, which is infinitely more absurd to grant, than to say, thou hast as many hands as fingers, as many wholes as parts.

If then at any time we find our selves to doubt of these things, it is not because we are the beaux esprits, or forts esprits; our doubting pro­ceeds from dulness, and the want of [Page 286] that strong reason to which we do pretend, the things are certain in themselves and evident. He is not far from any one of us, in whom we live, and move, and have our being; and the Light of nature discovered our Immortality not only to Philoso­phers, but even to the Heathen Poets, to him that fung to us, that, We are also his off-spring.

So that now thy pretences are all taken off, and every imposture of the heart discovered.

Return then once again into thy Applic. general. bosome, and take account of thy ap­prehensions; The day of the Lord is coming and stealing upon thee as a thief in the night, the day of Judg­ment, the great and terrible day. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of a whirlwind and a tem­pest, a day of anguish and tribula­tion: Where wilt thou hide thy self? [Page 287] O that's impossible, Where shall we go then from his presence? shall we call to the Mountains to fall upon us? How wilt thou appear? O that's intole­rable, for our God is a consuming fire. What wilt thou do when the day of Judgment comes, and this may be the hour, this minute thou mayest be smitten and hurried hence to Judgment? Thousands have fallen besides us, and ten thousands at our right hand, and why may not we be next?

The time of our particular Judg­ment cannot be far away, and why may we not reasonably apprehend the approach of the General Judg­ment, either of this World, or at leastwise of this sinful Nation?

Our Lord Christ indeed tells us, that of the day and hour of the final Judgment, Knoweth no man. Yet he hath given us the signs of his [Page 288] coming: The Apostles have left us Characters of the last days, the Pro­phets have declared the manner and apparatus of the coming of the Lord to Judgment.

We read that when the Disciples admired the stones and the build­ings of Herod's Temple at Jerusalem; Christ told them, That the day was coming when there should not be left one stone upon another: upon this the Disciples ask him (privately) three Questions. 1. When shall these things be? 2. What shall be the sign of thy second coming? And 3. of the end of the World?

As for the precise moment of these things, he denies to tell it them; (Nay, he professes, that as he was the Son of Man he did not know it.) But for the other two he conde­scends to their curiosity, he tells them the signs of his coming, and [Page 289] of the end of the World, and that they shall be such as these;

You shall hear, saith he, (Matth 24.) of Wars and rumours of Wars, Nation rising against Nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom. There shall be Traytors and false Prophets, Saying, Lo! here is Christ, Behold! (a new Messias) in the Wilderness: Lo! there is Christ, Behold! he is (at a Con­venticle) in the secret Chambers: He tells us, that iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold, that he shall hardly find faith on the earth, as it was in the dayes of Noe, they ate, they drank, till the floud came and swept them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

He tells us ( Luke 21.) there shall be Famines and Earthquakes, Pestilence, and fearful sights, great signs from Hea­ven; in the Earth distress of Nations, great perplexities, the Sea and Waves [Page 290] roaring; Mens hearts sailing them for fear, looking after those things that are coming upon the Earth.

Concerning the last dayes, St. Paul tells us, that there shall be pe­rilous times; that on one hand there shall be a sort of men, that shall be lovers of themselves, Covetous, Proud, Boasters, Ranters, and Blasphemers.

On the other hand there shall be a Race of heady, high minded Traytors, having a form of godliness, creeping into houses, leading captive silly women. They shall despise Dominion, and speak evil of Dignities; they shall be Separatists from the Church, and false pretend­ers to the Spirit. These, saith St. Jude, are they that separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit,

St. Peter tells us, that in the last times there should be a loose, pro­phane, a bold Atheistical Gigantick race of scoffers, walking after their own [Page 291] lusts, saying, Where is this God of Judgment? let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it. Where is the promise his of coming? since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were before.

And for the manner and Appa­ratus of his coming, Our God shall come (saith the Psalmist) and shall not keep silence, there shall go before him a devouring fire, and a mighty Tempest shall be stirred up round about him.

Behold! the Lord will come with fire (saith the Prophet) and with his Cha­riots Esai. 66. 15. like a Whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire. The streams of Zion shall be turned into Pitch, and the dust thereof into Brimstone; the Earth thereof shall be burning Pitch, the smoke thereof shall ascend day and night, and shall not be quenched, [compare Revel. 6. with Esai. 34.]

[Page 292]The Kings of the Earth shall tremble, the Captains and the mighty shall be horribly asraid, the great men and the rich men shall hide themselves, all the bond-men and all the freemen shall fly to the Rocks of the Mountains. And soon after all this, The Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl, the Earth and the Elements shall melt away; for God shall arise to judge terribly the Earth.

Have not all these things come upon us, the men of this Generati­on? Is it weakness, is it a vain and superstitious scrupulosity to call these things to our remembrance? Have we no reason at all to appre­hend the approach of a General Judgment, either upon the World, or upon our sinful Nation?

Do we not now envy those des­pised souls which have made their accounts ready? We thought it [Page 293] madness to see them pine away with poenitential exercises, and macerate themselves with mourning. We thought it folly which they called Conscience, for which they denyed themselves the pleasures and enjoy­ments of the World We fools counted their life madness, and their latter end to be without honour. But the time is coming when they shall be comforted, and we shall be tormented. Because he hath called and we have refused, he hath stretched out his hand, and we have not regarded, He will laugh at our calamity, and mock when our fear cometh. When our destruction cometh as a Whirlwind, when distress and anguish comes upon us.

May we not therefore give up our selves to the torments of our hearts, and surrender up our souls unto Despair? so Israel said, there is no hope, we will follow every one the devices of his heart: after 20, 30 or 40 [Page 294] years continuance in our courses, 'tis in vain to think of turning from them. Our arrears are so far gone, that there is no hope to discharge them; and why should we trouble our selves with the thoughts of our Account? Nay, that which must come, let it come, and what is a few days respite to Eternity? Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall dye. Let us go forth as at other times, and shake our selves and scatter these troublesom apprehensions of future Judgment. What if we should drink a little to drive away Melancholy?

Yes! and fall perhaps, and spew, and rise no more.

Nay, but I beseech you, stay a little, and consider, consider at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; Who among us can dwell with a de­vouring [Page 295] fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?

Such careless and desperate re­solutions are the advantages which the Devil aims at, that he may sear our Consciences, and seal us up in a final obduration. But there is another kind of advantage, which God and our Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit, and the Gospel, and the Ministers aim at, That advantage, which I told you of in the beginning of my Discourse. That knowing the terror of the Lord they may perswade men.

And now what is it that they would perswade us? that we will be contented to part with the tor­menting fears of Judgment, that we will condescend not to be miserable to all Eternity: That we will accept of deliverance from the wrath to come, that we will not neglect so [Page 296] great salvation, nor trample on the bloud of the everlasting Covenant.

Behold! God calls upon us, Turn you, turn you at my reproof, why will you dye, O House of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of sinners. Our Lord Christ calls upon us, Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will ease you In the last day of the Feast of Taber­nacles, he stood and cried, Saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. The Spirit sayes come, and who­ever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely The Gospel assures us, That God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso­ever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Behold! I set before you this day life and death, blessing and cursing, and as an unworthy Ambassadour in Christ's stead, I pray you be recon­ciled [Page 297] to God, take his yoke upon you, his yoke is easie, and his burden light; embrace now the tender of the Go­spel, only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, accept him for your Saviour and your Lord. Your Prophet to instruct you, your King to govern you, your Priest to save you, and you shall be saved. Saved from the fears and horrours of a Guilty Conscience condemned by, its own witness. Saved from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. You shall meet the Lord with Con­fidence. We shall be able to stand with boldness in the Judgment, to lift up our heads with joy, because our redemption draweth near.

This is the way of save our own souls from perishing, which is the General design of all our Preaching. And this is the way to appease the wrath which is gone out against us; [Page 298] and to preserve our Nation from destruction, which is the particular and more immediate end of our present Humiliation, whereof I am yet to speak.

THe hand indeed of the Lord hath been heavy upon us, Applic. particu­lar. his wrath hath been kindled, it hath waxed hot against the Sheep of his pasture, and he hath plagued our Nation very sore; His Judgments have been multiplied, his strokes have been redoubled; and for all this his anger [...] not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Wars and Pestilences, and those other fore-runners of Christ's com­ing to Judgment have been seen and felt amongst us, and now when these have not been able to prevail,

To awaken a drowsie people, to rowse up a Lethargic Nation, to [Page 299] ferment a people setled upon their Lees: God has made a new thing in the midst of us, he hath wrought a work in our dayes, which makes the ears of all that hear it to tingle. A work not to be parallel'd perhaps in all the circumstances since the Creation of the World.

How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of our Zion with a cloud in his anger, and hath cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of Israel, and remembred not his footstool in the Day of his Anger? he hath swallowed up the habitations of his people, he hath taken away his Tabernacles, and destroy­ed his places of Assemblies, the Ramparts and the Walls lament and languish, ber Gates are sunk to the ground, her Barrs are destroyed.

Who can express the terror of this fatal Judgment, the unexpected eruption, the sudden increase, the [Page 300] irresistible force, the remorsless rage, the insatiable voracity of this fiery Judgment? the present sufferings, the lasting miseries of private per­sons are inexpressible; the publick damage, the dangerous conse­quences (it may be) unconceivable.

What thing shall I liken to thee O Daughter of my People? Where­unto shall I compare the day of thy Visitation? To the destruction of Jerusalem? to the great and terrible day of Judgment?

O the terrors and affrightments, the shriekes and lamentations, the agonies, the confusions of that Day! They that were on the house top, durst not stay to take any thing out of their houses; nor he that was in the field return back to take his Cloaths; they that were in the City betook themselves to the Fields and Mountains, where they beheld [Page 301] their flaming habitations, where they trembled to behold the abomi­nation of desolation raging in the holy places.

How were the wise men amazed, and the strong men terrified? despair seised them, counsel and strength fled away from them, there was no help in them, they presently gave all for lost; they stood affrighted at a distance gazing at the dreadful spectacle: in vain they thought it to contend, it looked so like the coming of the Son of Man.

The breath of the Lord kindled the fire, he rode upon Cherub, he came flying upon the wings of the wind. He made the winds his Messengers, and the flames of fire his Ministers: He brought the Winds out of his Treasure, and (to point the flame directly upon the bulk and body of the City) through his power he brought in [Page 302] the South-East wind: as a thief in the night, as pains upon a woman in travel, as the lightning that cometh from the East and passeth to the West; so came this flaming Judgment; and so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. I cannot endure to dilate upon this Argument; Sorrow and an­guish are in the consideration of it: Animus meminisse borret luctu (que) refu­git. Great is the Judgment, and there is reason for us to fear that it may be portending and symptomatical.

YEt who can tell, but God may have mercy upon us, but he may yet save us from destruction? though our breach be great as the Sea, yet is not in it self irreparable; though our wounds be deep and gaping, they are not desperate or uncurable; hitherto we may say with the Apostle, We are chastned, [Page 303] but not killed; afflicted, but not in despair.

The signs and symptoms of an approaching final Judgment are not so decretory and peremptory that we should despair. God's signal Judgments have hitherto been accompanied with signs of mercies, and this is a plain case, that he is not fond of our destructi­on, and that he had rather that we should live: He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. He stands pausing and hesita­ting, as he did once before, O Ephraim, how shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? O England, How shall I give thee up, O England?

What mean else those Alternati­ons and those mixtures, and combi­nations of wonderful Judgments, and of wonderful deliverances and mercies which our ears have heard, [Page 304] and our eyes have seen?

We have heard with our ears, and our Fathers have told us what wonder­ful deliverances he wrought in their time of old.

We have seen vicissitudes great and prodigious, mixtures and com­binations, marvellous in our eyes, horrible destructions and wonder­ful restitutions, succeeding one ano­ther, raging Plagues at home, and signal Victories abroad.

God hath filled us with bitter­ness, and covered us with ashes: But it is his mercy that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. If the arm of his Justice and Severity hath been made bare, that it might be seen of all the people, He hath not left his mercy without witness. If his Judgment hath been great and terrible, in that which is consumed, his Mercy is wonderful [Page 305] and miraculous in that which is pre­served. Plainly! except the Lord had left us a Remnant, (and visibly interposed to do it,) we should not have had this place wherein to humble our selves before him. We should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

It was he that in the midst of Judg­ment remembred mercy; when the flaming vengeance was in its height, when in the opinion of all men it had arrived at the state of irresisti­bility, and when every mans heart failed him, when the hopes of all men were sunk into despair; He checked the domineering venge­ance, he put up the flaming Sword, he controul'd the streaming waves of fire, and said thus farr shall ye come and no further.

In a wondeful manner he pre­served the Goods and Persons of [Page 306] the poor Inhabitants of the City.

He restreined the rage of our enemies, that cryed concerning our Jerusalem, Down with it, Down with it, Aha! so would we have it.

He suffered not a foreign Enemy to land, nor our domestick foes to make a head in our confusi­ons.

He was a wall of fire about the the persons of our Gracious So­vereign and his Royal Highness, and of those valiant Noble Persons which adventured boldly and strenuously, and indefatigably la­boured the publique preservation.

He hath given signal Preserva­tions and Victories to our Fleets abroad, he hath restored our High­born and Noble Generals, and our Fleet in health and safety.

He hath given us plenty of all things necessary for the life of man.

[Page 307]In one great word, to sum up an aggregation of great and vari­ous mercies, he hath upheld our Religion and our Government in peace; and for an earnest of his further preservation, he hath given us this seasonable opportunity with health and safety in this place to attend the Publique Service, to advise and assist in this arduous Juncture of affairs

Arduous and difficult indeed it is, to restore our City and defend our Country, to restore the Houses of God, and Publique Buildings, to re-edifie ten Thousand private ha­bitations; to sustein the poor and needy, to preserve the rights, and properties of men; to find such a temper of Justice and equity, that there be no decay, no just com­plaining in our Streets. To up­hold the Traffick of the Nation, and [Page 308] to keep it in order and security, free from private Robberies and publick Insurrections; and there­fore in order to all those ends, to uphold our religion in the zealous and effectual exercise, in the sincerity and uniformity there­of, to preserve it from encroach­ments and undermining Tolera­tions, ruinous to Religion, de­structive to the Government of the Nation. And all this while to make provision against our dan­gerous and cruel enemies, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, the French, Dutch, and the Dane, who have conspired to our destruction.

These things are arduous, but not insuperable; difficult, but not to be despaired of.

Concerning Jerusalem burned and laid wast by the Assyrians, Daniel foretold, that the streets and [Page 309] the walls thereof should be rebuilded even in troubleous times; and when the time came that they were re­edified, we read in Nehemiah, that the labourers in one hand held the trowel, and the other held a weapon; one half of the people laboured in the work, and the other half held the Spears and the Shields, the Bows and the Habergeons, because of their cruel enemies on every side.

If God shall be pleased to give us a spirit of Understanding, and teach our Senators Wisdom; If he shall pour out a publick spirit upon our Councils, a spirit of tenderness and compassion, of Justice and Equity, Temperance and Frugality, Fortitude and Mag­nanimity; If all Orders and De­grees amongst us, Civil, and Military, and Ecclesiastical shall [Page 310] take to themselves the spirits of Christians and of men.

If our Counsels and endeavours shall be answerable to the care and benignity, to the servour and strenuous industry of our graci­ous Sovereign, and to the ala­crity and magnanimity of our couragious and generous Country­men; then (speaking humanely, and abstracting from our Deserv­ings) we need not greatly fear, but we may yet subdue the pride and insolence of our barbarous Enemies; we may yet behold our City rising out of its ashes in greater splendour than we have seen it heretofore.

Wherefore arise, and gird your selves O ye Princes, ye Nobles, ye Rulers of our Israel! Con­sult, Consider, and give sen­tence. Men, Brethren, and Fa­thers, [Page 311] let us arise and labour; let us up and be doing, be strong and of good courage, and the good hand of our God shall be upon you; he shall give you the ho­nour to be the defenders of your Country, he shall make you re­pairers of the breaches, restorers of our City to dwell in.

Yet I cannot, I may not for­bear to put you in remembrance of this one thing; Except the Lord build the City, their labour is but lost that build it. It is not our wisdom or industry, much less our confidence, that will do it, unless God be for us; nei­ther will God be for us, unless we turn from the evil of our ways: except we repent, we have reason to fear, that what we have seen hitherto, will be no more but the beginning of our [Page 312] sorrows. The Prophet Esay tells us, That the Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it lighted on Is­rael; and all the people shall know that say in the pride and stoutness of their hearts, the Bricks are fal­len, but we will build with hewn Stones; the Sycamores are down, but we will change them into Cedars. Therefore the Lord will set up their adversaries, and joyn their Ene­mies together, the Syrians before, and the Philistims behind, and they shall devour Israel with open mouth; Because this people turneth not to him that smiteth them.

Wherefore turn you, turn you every one from the evil of his ways. Let us search our hearts, and try our ways, and turn to him that hath smitten us. Turn unto him with all our hearts, with fasting and with weeping, and mourning; be [Page 313] hath smitten us, and he will heal us, because his compassions fail not. Come and let us reason together, saith God, though your sins were as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

There is yet a way open to take away the terror of our Parti­cular Judgment, and to prevent a final Judgment from falling upon the Nation. We are yet in the Land of hope, and space is given for Repentance, the door of mercy is not yet shut upon us, nor the ears of our Judge sealed against us.

O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness, and de­clare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men! that hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our Iniquities; that hath not cut us off in the midst of our sins, nor in the height of our impenitencies [Page 314] snatched us away to Judgment; that hath not dealt with us as with the Apostate Angels, and with Thousands of our Brethren, who were better and more righte­ous than we.

Let us once more then re­turn into our selves. Let us consider our condition, let us veiw over and ballance the grounds of our hopes, and the reasons of our fears: Let us take an exact account of our whole estate and interest in re­ference to all our concernments, National and Personal, Tem­poral and Eternal. Let us de­liberate and advise what is to be done, and what is to be avoided.

Did I say deliberate? Whether we shall save our souls from utter darkness and everlasting [Page 315] burnings? Whether we shall save the Nation from final ruine and desolation? — Nay ra­ther,

Let us break off our sins by re­pentance, and our Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor.

Let us make our selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteous­ness, that when we fail, we may be received into everlasting habita­tions.

Let us lend unto the Lord, that we may have treasure in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal.

Let us fast the fast that the Lord hath chosen; Loose the bands of wickedness, feed the hungry, cloath the naked; he that hath two Coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath [Page 316] meat let him do likewise.

Such an occasion scarce hap­pens in many hundreds of years; and for motives to charity, they are all comprised in that great ar­gument of the Judgment to come.

When the Son of Man shall come to Judgment, and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory: When all Nations shall be ga­thered before him, and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand, and the Goats on his left: This shall be the mark of their discrimi­nation,

He shall say to those on his right hand, I was hungry, and ye fed me; thirsty, and ye gave me drink; naked, and ye cloathed me; sick and in prison, and ye visited me; Come ye blessed of my Father, re­ceive the Kingdom prepared for you.

[Page 317] And he shall say unto them on the left hand, I was hungry, and ye fed me not; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink, &c. Where­fore go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels.

The way is short and com­pendious to save all our inte­rests. What doth the Lord require of us but to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly before the Lord our God? Let us be merciful therefore as our heavenly Father is merciful, and let us humble our selves under the Almighty hand of God, as we pretend to do this day. Let us betake our selves afore-hand to our Judge, and pour out our complaints before him. Let us confess our wicked­ness, and be sorry for our sins. Let us lay hold on the feet of our [Page 318] Blessed Redeemer, and give him no rest till he hath sealed our pardon. Let us bathe with our tears the wounds that we have made. Let us cry mightily to the Throne of Grace. Let us wrestle and strive with our Redeemer, and not let him go until he bless us: Until he open our eyes to see the dangers we are in, and through his mercy shew us a way to escape them. Till he quicken us up to resolutions of amendment, and carry us strongly through these resolutions. Until he heal our backslidings, and make up our breaches: Until he save our souls from death, and our Nation from destruction.

To work our selves to these Resolutions, and to fix us in them, to make them abide upon us all our days, let us remem­ber [Page 319] what hath been spoken, and let us frequently meditate upon that Sarcastical Concession of the Text,

Rejoyce O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth; walk in the ways of thy heart, and the sight of thy eyes; But know, that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment.

A SERMON, Containing The Strangeness, Frequency, and Desperate Consequence OF IMPENITENCY.

ALthough I am not with­out apprehension, that the frequencie of pe­nitential discourses, and the seeming easi­ness of repentance may indispose [Page 324] some persons for such an attenti­on as is necessary both to spea­ker and hearers, for a due per­formance of the Offices, which we are about; yet I shall not spend time in making Apologies for the Argument, which I have chosen.

Among all the aggravations of our sins, there is none more hei­nous, than the frequent hearing of our duty: Among all the er­rors of our lives, there is none more fatal, than that concern­ing the easiness of the duty of Repentance.

To discover the fallacy, and to prevent the dangerous conse­quences of this imagination, I have chosen at this time to treat of this instructive instance of the Text.

[Page 325]If Repentance were so easie as is imagined, why did not these men repent, that are mentioned in the words, which I have read?

They had not only the Di­ctates of Nature, and the advan­tage of the Scriptures to move them to it; they had the Mi­nistry of Angels to perswade them; they had Thunders and Trumpets to awaken them, and rouze them up: they had signs and wonders in the hea­ven above, and in the earth below: they had providenti­al instances of prodigious judge­ments, and wonderful mer­cies.

They were spectators of grie­vous Plagues brought upon their neighbours; they were Monu­ments of singular mercies and [Page 326] deliverances a long time con­tinued to themselves.

When thousands fell beside them, they were a remnant kept alive; when others were destroy­ed, they were preserved; for ex­periment, to try whether yet they would repent.

I say the persons in the Text were [...], the rest of the men that were not killed by those Plagues: And the rest of the men that were not killed, yet repented not of the works of their hands.

My endeavours at this time will be, by shewing the danger and fatal consequences of impe­nitence, to move my self and o­thers to repent. And to deter­mine precisely who these per­sons were, of what Nation, of what Church, of what condi­tion, [Page 327] in what time they lived, what were the Plagues brought upon them, when and how they were executed, and such other particulars, I am no way obliged by the design which I have pro­pounded.

About these particulars Ex­positors extremely differ; in this they all agree, that they had the advantage of the Scri­ptures to bring them to repen­tance.

Whatever is the exact, either liberal, or mystical meaning of this vision of the seven Angels, and the seven Trumpets; and of that losty tragical Scheme, where­in it is represented, thus much is evident, that notwithstanding all Gods dealings with men to bring them to repentance, they will sometimes continue in im­penitence, [Page 328] and that this is an hor­rible provocation.

The words which I have cho­sen contain the sad result of the labours of six Angels, the warn­ing of six Trumpets, the opera­tion of six Plagues, and six De­liverances.

And they are the common node, or term, connecting the Antecedent parts of the vision (beginning at the 8th. Chapter) with the Catastrophe thereof (delivered in the 10th.)

They are to be considered two ways.

• 1 Absolutely, where we have

  • I Matter, containing the character of their persons described by

    • 1 Gods dealing with them: not kil­led; remnant of others killed; killed by grievous plagues.
    • 2 Their dealings with God; repent­ed not; not of the works of their hands; worship of Devils, Idols, (first Table:) Sorceries, Mur­thers, Fornications, Thefts, (second Table.)

  • • 2 Form and manner: in the form of an Epiphonema, express'd by the par­ticle, yet, repetible upon every part of their character, (not killed, yet repented not; yet repented not of the works of their hands.)

    • Yet is vox

      • Admirantis,
      • Accingentis advindictam;

    • It first implies the strangeness of the case, and secondly, the desperate­ness of the provocation: for the words are to be considered not only absolutely; but also

• 2 Relatively; as they look backward and forward; and are the connexion of the Antecedent parts of the Vision with the Catastrophe. Six Angels sounded six Trumpets, and executed six Judgements; yet they repented not— They repented not, and the seventh Angel sounded and swore, that time (ie. Time of repentance, & respite of vengeance should be no longer.

[Page 330]The words thus resolved would afford many considerable observations; I shall take up three that lye uppermost.

1. From the form and manner of the words (as they are an E­piphonema expressing a kind of wonder, and admiration) I shall observe the strangeness of the impenitency, of such men as these, considered in common rea­son.

2. From the matter of them, I shall observe the frequencie of such impenitencie in common experience.

3. From the relative conside­ration of the words (as they con­nect the Catastrophe of the Vi­sion with the Antecedent parts of it) I shall observe the lamen­table consequence of this impe­nitency: And

[Page 331]4. Conclude with a few words of Application.

I. First then to bring to our apprehension the strangeness of impenitencie of such men as these (considered in Thesi, and in Theory) it will be needful on­ly to reflect upon the causes of admiration, and to lay before you some of their advantages, and Motives to Repentance.

Things wonderful in their nature are those, whose causes are unsearchable; things strange and admirable to common rea­son are such as happen contrary to the Laws of Nature, and of Reason.

From the former cause the motion of the heavens is wonder­ful; from the latter it was pro­digious and admirable, that the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the [Page 332] moon in the valley of Ajalon.

That God should take advan­tage upon the lapsed Angels, that upon their offence he should bind them up in chains, that he should exclude them from the benefit of Repentance, and re­serve them to the Judgement of the Great Day.

That he should allow this pri­viledge to lapsed men; that he should reveal himself to them; that he should make them under­stand their duty, and their inte­rest; that he should set before them good and evil, happiness and misery, the desire and the detestation of humane nature; that he should by all means court and wooe them to that which all men naturally desire; and dis­courage, and divert them from that which they naturally ab­horr: [Page 333] That after all this he should not prevail in such a case as this; that they should scornful­ly reject the end of all their hopes; that they should studi­ously pursue the object of all their fears; This is that rational wonder that I am now to lay be­fore you.

To manifest this wonder a little more explicitely, let us con­sider the advantages of Nature, and the Motives from Scripture to bring men to repentance.

The grounds and fundamental elements of the Doctrine of Re­pentance are these: The Being & Attributes of God; The immor­tality of the Souls of men; The principles of Synteresis; The terrours of natural Conscience; The forecasts of vengeance; The apprehension and desire of [Page 334] an Attonement: And all these are manifest from the Dictates and discoveries of the Light of Nature.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shew­eth his handy work: They speak it loud, they spread it largely, they proclaim it constantly, Their Psal. 19 sound is gone out into all the world—there is no speech, or language, but their voice is heard among them.

The invisible things of God Rom. 1. 20. from the creation of the world are clearly seen;—even his eternal power and God-head.

Concerning his providence in governing the world, St. Paul tells the men of Lyftra, and the Priest of Jupiter, that he did not Act. 14. 17. leave himself without witness a­mongst the Heathen.

[Page 335] The whole earth is full of his righteousness, and all the people see his glory: So that a man shall Psal. 97. 6. say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtless there is a God, that judgeth the earth.

He is not far from any one of us; Act. 17. 28. in whom we live and move, and have our being.

He is the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12. 9. and we are his off-spring. Surely Act. 17. 28. there is a spirit within a man, and that spirit immortal, deriving Job 32. 8. from Him, who only hath immor­tality. 1 Tim. 6. 16.

And these things have assert­ed themselves with so great evi­dence, that they have been ge­nerally acknowledged by all sorts of heathen Authors, Philo­sophers, Historians, Orators and Poets.

Moreover, they shew the Lam Rom. 2. 15. [Page 336] (of Synteresis) written in their hearts; they have consciences ac­cusing, or excusing; they find themselves concluded under sin, and are perplexed and torment­ed under the apprehensions of an offended God.

For Conscience condemned by its own witness is very timo­rous, and always fore-casteth grievous things.

The starting of Alexander, when he had killed his friend; and of Nero, when he had destroy­ed his mother: The confusions Tacit. of Tiberius, when he wrote from Capreae to the Senate concerning the death of Sejanus: The fore tastes of an avenging Nemesis de­scribed by heathen Orators, and Historians: The passions ascrib­ed to Medea, and Hercules, and Orestes, &c. by the Poets: The [Page 337] Rites and Sacrifices of all the Pagan world: The prodigious ways of expiations devised to make their attonement with their imaginary Deities offend­ed: They were all of them the products of natural Conscience, exerting it self in such a disquisi­tion, as is delivered by the Pro­phet; Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord, or bow my self be­fore the high God? shall I come fore him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? will the Lord be pleased with thousands Mic. 6. 6. of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oyl? shall I give my first­born for my transgression? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

All these, and many more are the Indications of Nature; the incitements and provocations of [Page 338] natural Conscience to bring men to repentance.

But beside these common Mo­tives, the persons of the Text (whether they were the Grot. Dr. Ham. Jews, and Inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time of the destruction of it by Titus and Vespasian, or any that called themselves Christi­ans) they had a clearer, and more glorious light to guide them; they had far more effica­cious, and noble Motives to [...] and urge them to repentance, the Light and Motives of the Holy Scriptures.

There it is, that the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness, and Severity of God are glori­ously displayed; the immortal Nature, and sinful condition of the souls of men; the rewards and punishments of this life, and [Page 339] of the world to come are clearly discovered.

The elements of the Doctrine of Repentance, the Motives to it are there explained and apply­ed, mixt and combined a 1000 several ways.

The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, are nothing else but a Systeme of various powerful Methods to bring men to repentance.

This is the general aim, and common scope of all the Do­ctrines, the Histories, the Logick, and Rhetorick of the Book of God.

This was Noah's Text upon 1 Pet. 3. 20. which he preached to the, old world 120 years: Upon this er­rand God sent all the Prophets, rising early, and sending them; they said, Turn again now every Jer. 7. 25. [Page 340] one from his evil way.

This was the message of him that was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Repent, for the Matth. 3. 2. kingdom of God is at hand. Our Lord Christ, and his seventy Disciples, and his twelve Apo­stles, Marc. 6. 12. they all with one voice in­fisted upon this Theme; and when the Holy Ghost himself descended, he likewise drove at this conclusion; Repent therefore, Act. 3. 19. and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

The time would fail me, if I fhould attempt in any measure to lay before you the declarations, promises, threatnings, exhortati­ons, dehortations, reasonings, ex­postulations, instances of mer­cies, and of judgements delivered [Page 341] in the Scriptures to bring men to repentance.

To this end God hath de­clared himself, slow to anger, gra­cious Psal. 145. 8. and merciful; He hath said, that he would have no man perish; 2 Pet. 3. 9. He hath sworn that he doth not desire the death of the wicked, Ezek. 33. 11. but had rather that he should turn and live.

He considers our frame, and his Psal. 103. 14. ways are equal: He is ready to pardon; to pardon iniquity, trans­gression Ezek. 33. 17. and sin; though they are as scarlet, to make them white as Isai. 1. 18. snow; if they be a cloud, to scat­ter Isai. 44. 22. them like a cloud. Wherefore let the wicked forsake his ways, Isai. 55. 7. and the unrighteous his ima­ginations, and return unto the Lord.

On the other side, to break the hardness of the hearts of men, [Page 342] to rouze them up from their im­penitency, he declares his ju­stice, and asserts his propriety in vengeance; Vengeance is mine, Rom. 12. 19. and I will repay it. He protests, that he will by no means acquit Nah. 1. 3. the guilty; that he is of purer Hab. 1. 13. eyes, than to behold iniquity; that Psal. 68. 21. he will wound the head of his ene­mies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his wick­edness.

If a man will not turn, he Psal. 7. 10. will whet his sword, and bend his bow.

If a Nation will not repent, then smite with thy hand, & stamp with thy foot, and say, alas! for Ezek. 6. 11. it shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Now the general inference of all these is still the same; this is still the Logick of the [Page 343] Scriptures: Our God shall come, Psal. 50. 3. and shall not keep silence—where­fore Psal. 50. 22. consider this ye that forget God. We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ—Know­ing Rom. 14. 10. therefore the terrour of the 2 Cor. 5. 11. Lord we perswade.

To this end we find the Lord sometimes disputing logically to convince, and sometimes with divine and noble Oratory en­deavouring to perswade; some­times by signal instances of par­doning mercies, and of aveng­ing judgements to induce men to repentance.

He speaks to their reason, to their affections, to their very senses, [...].

Come now, and let us reason to­gether, saith the Lord, if ye be willing, and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; if ye rebel, Isai. 1. 18. [Page 344] ye shall be devoured. Are not Ezek. 18. 39. my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Again,

He expostulates with them sometimes upon the principles of ingenuity: Thus saith the Lord, Jer. 2. 5. What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone a­way from me? O my people, what have I done unto thee? wherein have I wearyed thee? Testifie a­gainst Mic. 6. 3. me, O Israel; what doth the Lord thy God require of thee?

Sometimes he expostulates up­on the point of interest; How Jer. 4. 14. long shall vain thoughts lodge in your hearts? How long ye sim­ple Prov. 1. 22. ones will ye love simplicity? what will ye do in the end Jer. 5. 31. thereof?

Again, he sets before us a mul­titude of glorious instances to shew that never any penitent was [Page 345] rejected, however heinous, how­ever numerous were their sins. The prodigal devoured his sub­stance with harlots: Mary Mag­dalen had seven Devils: Peter denyed his Master with horrid oaths, and imprecations: Saul was Act. 26. 11. exceedingly mad against him; yet upon their repentance were ac­cepted.

He had delivered Israel seven times, and they forsook him; and he said, he would deliver them no more; but they repented, Jud. 10. 10, &c. and his soul was straight-way grieved, and he delivered them.

Instead of many, consider that one instance of Manasses, the evil son of good King Hezekiah: He 2 Chron. 33. set up altars for Baalim, and wor­shipp'd all the host of heaven: Altars in the court of the temple; an idol in the very temple; he [Page 346] caused his sons to pass through the fire; he observed times, used in­chantments, dealt with familiar spirits, and with wizards; made Judah, and Jerusalem to do worse than the heathen. And the Lord spake to him, and he would not hear. After all this, in his affli­ctions he humbled himself, and then God was intreated, and heard his supplication.

His ways are not as our ways: Isa. 55. 8. He forgave Nineveh, and Jonah was displeased exceedingly; he taxes him with easiness in relent­ing, he charges him as if he had an ancient known infirmity of flexibility to his veracity, and the honour of his Prophets: Lord (saith he) was not this my saying? Jon. 4. 2. and therefore I prevented it to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that thou art merciful;—therefore take, I [Page 347] beseech thee, my life from me.

His thoughts are not as our thoughts: when Nathan had told David a story of a poor man, who had his ewe Lamb ravished from him, then David was ex­ceeding wroth, and he swore, As 2 Sam. 12. the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely dye: But when David, who had ta­ken Bathsheba, and murthered Vriah, said, I have sinned; Na­than said unto David, The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not dye.

On the other side, we have in­stances of horrible judgements for Impenitency; whereof I shall after take occasion to speak.

Now considering all these things, is it not strange, that men should not repent? That no consideration of ingenuity, or of [Page 348] interest should move them to it? That neither the Law written in their hearts, nor that which was delivered by the mediation of Angels, nor the Gospel given us by the Son of God should bring them to it? That neither reason, nor experience; neither mercies nor judgements; neither the sweetness of a good conscience, nor the torments of a bad; the beauties of vertue, nor the de­formity of sin; the shortness of life, nor length of eternity; the lightness of things present, nor the exceeding weight of those which are to come? That nei­ther Death nor Life, nor Angels, nor Trumpets; nor things present, nor thing to come; nor height nor depth, nor any other thing should be able to separate men from the love of sin?

[Page 349]Is it not strange? The Apo­stles, the Prophets were astonish­ed at this; nay, God himself seems to be affected with wonder: Hear, Oheavens, and give ear, O Isai. 1. 2. earth! Be astonished, O ye heavens, Jer. 2. 12. and be horribly afraid; they have for saken me.

This is that wonder consider­ed in it self according to com­mon reason, the object of our first observation, drawn from the form and manner of the words by way of Epiphonema, expressed by the particle yet; yet they re­pented not.

II. The second Observation was taken from the matter of the words: However such impeni­tency is very strange to common reason (considered in the Theo­ry) yet it is too frequent in pra­ctice, and in common experi­ence: [Page 350] The rest of the men repent­ed not.

This is that grand contradi­ction, that fatal paradox of the life of man: His very being consists in rationality; his acting is contrary to all the reason in the world: Man only was created under the Law of Reason; man only maintains a constant oppo­sition to the law and reason of his creation.

He appointed the moon for cer­tain Psal. 104. 19. seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down. The blustring winds, the raging storms, the un­ruly Ocean; the Lyon, the Ti­ger, and the Bear, these all pur­sue the law of their creation, these all are obedient unto his word; charmed to it by that Psal. 148. 8. powerful voice, whereby they were created.

[Page 351]Man only stops his ears, and refuses to hear the voice of this Almighty charmer; charm he ne­ver so wisely, so loudly, or so variously.

The general ways and me­thods of his charming have been already mentioned; I am now to lay before you the general success of those methods: The success

1. Of his word, and his mes­sengers.

2. Of his works of. 1. Mercy, 2. Judgement, Single, Intermixed.

1. For the success (or rather the unsuccessfulness) of his word, for the entertainment (or rather the barbarous usage) of his mes­sengers; how often do we find God, and his Prophets, Christ and his Apostles complaining [Page 352] and, as it were, fretting them­selves with indignation?

As for the word, sometimes they will not hear it. More than seven times Jeremy complains al­most in the very same words: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the Jer. 7. 21. God of Israel, since the day that your fathers came forth of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily, rising early and sending them; yet they hearkned not to me, nor inclined their ear.

Whereunto shall I liken this generation? Matth. 11. 17. I have piped—

Sometimes they hear it as a song: Loe thou art unto them as a Ezek. 33. 12. very lovely song.

Sometimes they refuse it posi­tively: They say to the Seers, see Jer. 44. 16. not; and to the Prophets, prophe­fie not unto us. As for the word of [Page 353] the Lord, which thou hast spoken in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.

They endeavour to suppress, and to destroy it. When Jehudi had read three or four leaves in Jeremies roll, he cut it with a Jer. 36. 20. pen-knife, and cast it into the fire, until all the roll was consumed in the fire.

Instead of faith and obedi­ence, it meets with infidelity, and atheistical opposition, and con­tradiction: Who hath believed our Esa. 53. 1. report? saith one; All the day Esa. 65. 2. long have I stretch'd forth my hands to a gain-saying people, is the complaint of another.

They say unto God, depart from Job 21. 14. us; for we desire not the know­ledge of his ways. Speak to them in the name of Lord, they say, Who is the Lord, that I should Exod 5. 4. [Page 354] fear him? discourse to them of the Almighty, they say, What Job 21. 15. is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What can the Al­mighty do? What profit shall we have if we pray unto him?

Speak to them of God's search­ing Eye; Surely say they, God sees it not; Tush, God cares not Ps. 10. 11, 13 for it: of his over-ruling Pro­vidence; nay, say they, but all things come alike to all; there is one event to the just, and to the Eccl 9. 2, 3 unjust.

Tell them they must appear before the Judgment-seat of God, and of Christ; they scof­fingly reply, Where is the Pro­mise of his coming? since the Fa­thers fell asleep, all things conti­nue 2 Pet 3. 4. as they were before. Where Mal. 2. 17. is the God of Judgment? let him Isa. 5. 29. make speed, and hasten his work, [Page 355] that we may see it. This is the general entertainment of their message; and for the persons of the Messengers, they devise de­vices Jer. 18. 18. against them; they smite them with the smiting of the tongue; they threaten them, they beat them sometime, they take away their Liberty, and some­time their Lives; this was the portion of Jeremiah; ‘the men of Anathoth sought his life, saying, Prophesy not by the Name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand. Jer. 11. 21.’ ‘They charged him falsly, they smote him, they imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan; they cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah; they let him down with chords into the mire. Jer. [...]. 13. 38. 6, 9.’

What do I instance in one par­ticular; since at once we read the general entertainment of the [Page 356] Prophets, that were of old? That they had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings; yea moreover of bands and imprisonment; they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandred about in Hcb. 11. 37. sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.

Moreover they scourged and crucified the Lord of Glory; they put him to an open shame. Nei­ther were the disciples above their master, or the servants a­bove their Lord; after scourgings, and bands, and imprisonments, and many a sad and barbarous usage, St. James was knocked on the head, S. Peter was cruci­fied, S. Paul was beheaded, and the rest were used according­ly.

Behold (saith God) I send un­to [Page 357] you Prophets, and wise men, Mat. 23. 33 and some of them ye shall scourge in your Synagogues, and some of them ye shall kill and crucifie.

If we diligently search the Scriptures, and histories of the Church, we shall find this to have been generally the success of the Word of God, and of his Messengers; instead of trembl­ing, and penitence, and reforma­tion, to be enterteined with scorn, and contempt, and persecution.

2. But it may be the Works of God may have better success upon the hearts of the children of men; his works of 1. Mercy, or of 2. Judgment. The Apostle tells us, that God's patience and forbearance leadeth men unto re­pentance; Rom. 2. 4. And the Prophet, that when his judgments are a­broad, Isa. 26 9. the inhabitants of the [Page 358] World will learn righteousness.

Indeed a Logical man, reason­ing upon Principles, will be apt so to conclude: But alas! it is not so with men; alas! that so clear reasoning should be contra­dicted by evident experience and observation!

Nay they despise the riches of God's mercy, and treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. Ro. 2. 4, 5.

From the patience, and lon­ganimity of God they make per­verse, and Atheistical conclusi­ons; when thou sawest a thief Ps. 50. 21. thou consentedst unto him, and hast been partaker with the adul­terer; —these things hast thou done and I kept silence, and thou thoughtest wickedly that I am such an one as thy self.

Because sentence against an e­vil Eccl. 8. 11. work is not executed speedily, [Page 359] therefore the heart of the Sons of men are fully set in them to do e­vil.

Solomon tells us, that the pros­perity Prov. 1. 36 of Fools shall destroy them; and there are few so circumspect and wise, as not to stumble at this stone of stumbling. Neither Sa­lomon's Wisdom, nor his Father's Piety could preserve them up­right amidst the snares of pros­perity. The danger as well as wickedness of this is intimated in Nathan's exprobration to Da­vid: Thus saith the Lord the God 2 Sam. 12. of Israel; I anointed thee King over Israel; I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, I gave thee thy Ma­sters house, and thy Masters wives into thy bosom; I gave thee the house of Israel, & of Judah, where­fore hast thou killed Uriah, and ta­ken his wife to be thy wife?

[Page 360]This was a temptation, which the Israelites never could with­stand, notwithstanding all the Caveats given them by Moses: When the Lord shall bring thee Deut. 6. 12 into the good land; and shall give thee cities and houses, which thou buildedst not, Vineyards, and Olive trees which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten, and be full; Then beware lest thou for­get the Lord thy God.

But Jeshurun waxed fat and Deu. 32. 15 kicked; as the Lord multiplied his mercies, so they multiplied their transgressions: his prodi­gious and wonderful deliverances were answered with prodigious and wonderful ingratitude; for they sinned yet the more and light­ly esteemed the God of their Sal­vation. Deu. 32. 1

But if the mercies of God will [Page 361] not prevail to draw men to re­pentance, surely his judgments cannot fail to drive them to it; whether they are sent upon a ci­ty, or upon a man only: Shall the Lion roar, and shall not the Amos 3. 6. forest tremble? shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?

Behold therefore and tremble, and be afraid all ye that look upon Repentance as a slight and an easie duty; and that deferr it for that reason: It is not every horrour and shaking, that will bring a man to Repentance. And the instances are many, wherein the judgments of God, instead of softning, or breaking the hearts of men, have harden­ed them yet more in a course of desperate impenitency.

Felix trembled, and said, Go thy way—.

[Page 362]When Belshazzar had plun­dered the house of God, and was making a debauch in the bowls of the Temple, the finger wrote upon the wall MENE. —We read that his countenance was changed, and an horrible trembling Dan. 5. 6. seised upon him: The joynts of his loyns were loosed, his knees smote one against another; But we do not read that he repented.

As plagues were multiplyed, so Pharaoh's heart was hardned, and he vowed he would not let the people go.

When the King of Moab was in anguish, and in great distress, it was a warning to repent; but he took his eldest son, and offered him for a sacrifice upon the 2 King. 3. 26. wall.

When the Philistines made war upon Saul, and God was [Page 363] departed; when he was sore a­fraid, 1 Sam. 28. and his heart greatly trem­bled; who would not expect, that he should have turned unto the Lord? But he betook him to the witch of Endor.

Of Ahaz it is said, that in the time of his afflictions he trespassed 2 Chron. 28. 22. yet more (this is that King Ahaz.)

And we read, that when a great hail fell from heaven, Men Apoc. 16. 21. blasphemed God because of the hail.

But if single mercies and judg­ments will not do, perhaps an intermixture of them may pre­vail; and indeed for a rational and probable means to bring men to repentance, the imagina­tion and apprehension of man can go no higher than to such a case, where signal and remarka­ble [Page 364] judgements are brought up­on some; and others are reserved, and set, as it were, upon a Scaf­fold, or a Theatre, in safety to behold the destruction, and plagues brought upon their Neighbours;

So Israel beheld the Egyptians drowned in the Sea; and Corah Numb. 16. and his complices swallowed in the Land.

This is the case of those, whom God preserves from plagues, and famines, and desolations, making them survivors and spectators of the destructions brought upon the world. And this was the case of the persons in the Text; this [Page 365] one would think should never sail.

When he slew them, then they, (i. e. the remnant) sought him, Psal. 78. 38. and turned them early, and sought after God. Nay! but even this hath also too often failed; for e­ven these did but flatter him with their lips, and dissemble. The Is­raelites, that were spectators of the drowned Egyptians, within three days fell to their wonted murmurings. The Spectators of Corah within one day returned to their rebellion. The Prophet Amos in the name of God com­plains of those that had escaped famine, and pestilence, and sword: I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom, Amos 4. 6. and Gomorrha; and ye mere as a fire-brand snatched out of the burning; yet have ye not turned un­to [Page 366] me, saith the Lord. And this was the case of the persons in the Text; they were a remnant of men, which were not killed by the plagues brought upon others; yet they repented not.

Notwithstanding the wonder according to reason, we have seen the truth, and observed the fre­quency of such mens impeniten­cy in common experience; it remains that we consider the consequence and issue of it, ob­servable from the Text, as it stands in relation to the Antece­dent parts, and the Catastrophe of this Vision: They repented not—And the seventh Angel sware, that there should be time no more (no more time for repentance, no longer reprieve of vengeance.)

III. Such an obstinate impe­nitency is the great provocation [Page 367] of the wrath of God; such a fi­nal impenitency is the certain forerunner of final ruine, and destruction.

Though the Lord be patient, he is not of wood, or of stone; though he be slow to anger, yet he can be angry; and who can stand before him, when he is an­gry? Psal. 76. 7.

It is true, that the Lord is strong, and patient, and our God Psal. 7. 12. is provoked every day; he is long­suffering, and abundant in for­bearance; though we do evil an Fccles. 8. 12. hundred times, he prolongs our days.

He is not extreme to mark what is done amiss: He considers that Psal. 130. 3. we are but dust; and as a wind Psal. 103. 14. that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Many, and many a provocati­on [Page 368] he passes by; for, He doth not Lam. 3. afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

Behold, he stands at the door and knocks; By his word, and by his works, and by his spirit striving to reclaim the sons of men; that he may keep their life from the pit, and their soul from perishing.

But if all this cannot prevail, what can reasonable men ex­pect? or what would they have him do?

His Spirit shall not alway strive with men; his abused lenity, and his affronted longanimity will be turned into jealousie, and fiery indignation. For to him belong­eth vengeance as well as mercie; and the God to whom vengeance, the God to whom vengeance be­longeth will shem himself. Psal. 94. 1.

[Page 369] God will arise, and his ene­mies Psal. 68. 1. shall be scattered. He will awake as one out of sleep, he will Psal. 78. 65. rouze himself up as a Gyant re­freshed with wine. He will smite his enemies in the hinder parts, and put them to a perpetual shame. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel; Ah! I will ease me of mine ad­versaries, and avenge me of mine Isai. 1. 24. enemies.

Concerning persons the A­postle tells us of a certain state, wherein there remains no more sa­crifice Heb. 10. 26. for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement.

Concerning Nations our Sa­viour tells of a certain measure of iniquity; Fill ye up the mea­sure of your fathers; so false is Math. 23. 32. that conceit, fo dangerous is that imagination, that men can repent [Page 370] at any time (at leastwise, when­soever they shall have a mind to it) They shall call (saith God) but Prov. 1. 28. I will not answer, they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. As I live (saith the Lord) I Ezek. 20. 31. will not be enquired of by you. Saul enquired of the Lord, he an­swered him not, neither by pro­phets, nor by Vrim, nor by dreams.

Esan sought for repentance, Heb. 12. 17. but he he found no place for repen­tance, though he sought it even with tears.

I gave her space to repent, but she repented not; behold I will Apoc. 2. 21. cast her into great tribulations.

This is a case, which I tremble to insist upon: What tongue can express the misery of such a per­son, or such a people? How dreadful is this place! surely this is none other, than the gate [Page 371] of Hell; the entrance of all the miseries of this world, and of the world to come: 1. Temporal, 2. Spiritual, and 3. Eternal.

1. The Lord shall send upon Deut. 28. 20. them cursing, and vexation, and rebuke, until they be destroyed, and perish quickly. They shall be cursed in all their interests and concernments, in their estates, in their credit, in their relations, in their persons: Cursed shall they be in the city, and cursed in the field; cursed in the basket, and in the store. They shall become an astonishment, and a proverb, and a by-word, and a reproach among all their neighbours round about. Cursed shall they be in the wife of their bosom, and cursed in the fruit of their body. The Lord shall smite them with a consumption, and with a feaver, with an inflam­mation, [Page 372] and with an extreme burning. He shall smite them with the botch of Egypt, and with the Emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch (with a botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head.)

Their carcase shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

2. Moreover, he shall pour out spiritual judgements upon them; he shall give them over to the wickedness of their hearts; he shall let them alone, that they may commit sin with greediness.

He shall send upon them a spirit of blindness, and hardness of heart, a spirit of slumber and carnal security.

[Page 373]Then, when they have filled up the measure of their enormi­ties, he shall smite them with Deut. 28. 28. madness and astonishment, with terrours of conscience, and de­speration.

His arrows shall stick fast in Psal. 38. 2. them, and his hand shall press themsore; there shall be no health in their bodies, because of his displeasure; nor any rest in their bones by reason of there sin.

The iniquity of their heels shall take hold upon them; the terrours of death shall compass them about, and the flouds of their ungodli­ness shall make them afraid.

Every man that sees me, shall Gen. 4. 14. slay me, said cursed Cain: my pu­nishment is greater than I can bear: I have slain a man in mine anger, and a young man to my wounding. If Cain shall be a­venged [Page 374] seven fold, surely Lamech Gen. 5. 23. seventy times seven. Hearken un­to me, ye wives of Lamech.—

They shall be weary of life, and wish for death; and hasten sometimes to break off their tor­ments by tragical and fearful ends: Fall thou upon me, and 1 Sam. 31. 4. slay me, saith desparing Saul; Be­hold anguish is upon me, because my life is whole in me: Away with the wages of iniquity, cryed despairing Judas; and he be­took himself to the fatal halter and the tree.

3. Yet all these are to the fi­nally impenitent but the begin­nings of sorrow; the praeludium to those unutterable miseries, which are eternal; to the worm which dyeth not, to the fire which never shall be quenched, to utter darkness, and everlasting burn­nings. [Page 375] For they go down quick in­to hell.

As it is with persons, so it is with Nations, when their ini­quitie is full; when once they have filled up the measure of their abominations; if none of all his methods will bring them to repentance; if they will not humble themselves; if they will not fear, if they will not turn from their evil ways, he will set his face against them to destroy Jer. 44. 11. them.

He will pour out blindness upon them also, and the things be­longing Jer. 7. 12. to their peace shall be hid from their eyes: He will do to them as he did to Shilo; he will take away their light; he will come quickly, and remove the candlestick out of its place.

He will give them over to the [Page 376] career, and swinge of their abo­minations: Ephraim is joyned Hos. 4. 17. to idols, let him alone.

Though it be with violence to his nature, though it be with re­luctancy to his inclination ( O Ephraim; how shall I give thee up O Ephraim! Hos. 11. 8.) yet their num­bers shall not defend them, their privileges shall not excuse them from destruction,

Though Coniah were as the sig­net Jer. 22. 29. upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence. Though E­phraim Jer. 31. 20. is his dear son; though Israel be a pleasant child; though Hos. 5. 4. Judah is a pleasant plant; yet if they will not frame their do­ings to turn unto the Lord, there­fore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquities, and Judah also shall fall with them.

Though Noah, Daniel, and Ezek. 14. 20. [Page 377] Job were there, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, but their own souls only.

For unnatural and extraordi­nary rebellions, he hath super­natural and extraordinary judge­ments: The windows of heaven were opened, the cataracts were poured forth, and drowned the old world. Fire descended, and brimstone came down from hea­ven, and consumed the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha. The earth, opened, and swallowed up Dathan, Psal. 160. 17. and covered the congregation of Abiram. The Sun stood still, till Joshua was avenged of the Lords enemies. The stars in their courses Jud. 5. 20. fought against Sisera.

For the usual, and ordinary im­penitency of Nations, he hath his three fold national scourge, his judgements in ordinary; The [Page 378] famine, the pestilence, and the sword.

Sometimes he breaks the staff of bread; and they shall eat bread Ezek. 4. 16. by weight and with care; and they shall drink water by mea­sure, and with astonishment; that they may want bread and water, and consume away in their iniquity.

Their seed shall be rotten un­der the clods, their garners de­solate, their barns broken down; their beasts shall groan, their cattle shall be perplexed; the Joel 1. 17. flocks of sheep shall be made de­solate.

They shall eat their children of a span long; they that did feed delicately, shall be desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet, shall imbrace dunghils. Lam. 4. 5.

[Page 379]Sometimes he sends forth his Plague [...], the raging and the noisome pestilence, the pesti­lence that walketh in darkness, Psal. 91. 6. the plague that destroyeth at noon day.

He scatters infection like light­ning; Psal. 144. 6. he casts forth his Con­tagion, and tears them in a moment; he shoots his poy­son'd arrows, and consumes them.

Sometimes he gives commissi­on to the sword to revenge the quarrel of his covenant, by in­testine rebellions, or forreign in­vasions.

He suffers a fawning Absalom to steal away the hearts of the 2 Sam. 15. 6. people from their Sovereign; or a cursed Sheba to blow a trum­pet, and cry, To your tents, O 2 Sam. 20. 1. Israel.

[Page 380]He permits a spirit of giddi­ness, of fears and jealousies, and of fanatick wildness to inrage whole Nations, to tear the womb that bare them, to destroy them, and their king.

He causes nation to rise against nation, and kindom against king­dom: He calls in the families of the North, he hisses for the Assy­rian, the rod of his anger. Isai. 10. 5. 7. 15.

Behold (saith our Saviour) the day is coming, when thine enemies Luk. 19. 43. shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee on every side. Then all things shall be filled with plunder, and confusion, and garments roll'd in bloud.

Her stately Palaces, her good­ly Temple shall be destroyed. The thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the for­tresses Esa. 34. 13, 14. thereof, and it shall be an [Page 381] inhabitation for dragons, and a court for owls: —The satyre shall cry to his fellows; the owle, and the vulture to his mate: the scrichowle shall make its nest there. Faunes and satyres shall Esa. 13. 21. dance there.

Babylon is fallen, it is fallen! Jerusalem is a place for dragons! Behold the reward of obstinate, and final impenitency; behold the portion reserved for the persons in the Text.

When neither interest nor ingenuity, judgements nor mer­cies could work upon them; when six Angels could not con­vert them; nor six Trumpets awaken them; nor six Judge­ments subdue them; nor six preservations allure them to re­pentance.

[Page 382]Then John beheld, and he saw another mighty angel, cloath­ed Apoc. 10. 1, 2, 6. with a cloud; and he set his left foot upon the earth, and his right foot upon the sea; and he cryed, as when a lyon roareth; and he lifted up his hand to hea­ven, and sware by him that liveth for ever—That there shall be time no longer.

A SERMON AGAINST Ingratitude.

THese words are part of a Song made by Mo­ses; and both the song it self, and these par­ticular words are so very consi­derable, that I should think it a disrespect put upon the judg­ments of a venerable intelligent auditory, to be very laborious in gathering arguments to perswade [Page 404] your attention to them: the mat­ter, the antiquity, the penman, do all render it considerable.

For as for the subject matter of the song, it contain in it (as the Hebrew writers have observed) a summary of the law, or penta­teuch of Moses.

Consider it as a piece of An­tiquity, there is hardly any poem so venerable: it was written be­fore Homer, or Hesiod, Orphens, or Linus, David's or Asaph's poems; and except a piece of the same hand, it is the most antient song, that is extant in the world.

It was penn'd by one of the most considerable persons: look upon him humanely, and he was very remarkable, for his abstruse learning; ( He was learned in all Acts7. 22. the learning of the Egyptians) for his military conduct; for his [Page 405] policy in administration of Go­vernment; for his felicity in gi­ving a law so suitable to the ge­nius of the people; that after so many thousand years it alone of all antient laws continues in ve­neration to this day.

But if we look upon him in re­ference to God, there was none like unto him; he conversed with God face to face; he was admit­ted to his secrets, he was entrust­ed with the administration of his powers in signs and wonders, in the sight of Egypt, and of Israel.

It was inspired and dictated not by the Muses, or Apollo, but by God himself; Write thee this song, and he wrote this song the 32. 19. v. 22. same day whilest he was yet Deo plenus; before the divine afflatus, before his transport and rage had left him: and therefore although [Page 406] he was the meekest, and most modest man upon the earth; al­though he resolutely declined his Embassy (till God was angry) because he was not eloquent, but Exod. 4. 10. of a stammering speech, yet now being conscious of that Spirit, which moved within him; he com­mends and justifies this song; he undertakes for the fluency, and Deut. 31. 30, 32. smoothness, and the exuberance of it; he summons the tribes to record the expressions of his rage; he calls upon heaven and earth to hear the verses made by indigna­tion; by indignation kindled and conceived by the contempla­tion of the greatness, and excel­lency of God, and his goodness in his dealings with this people of Israel; and of the unworthiness of their return: Give ear, O Hea­vens, saith he, and I will speak; [Page 407] and hearken O earth to the words of my mouth, my doctrine shall drop as the rain, &c.

The song indeed it self is large and very satyrical; but the great argument or burthen of it is in the words of my text: Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?

The words are (as I said) the burthen or argument of the song applicable to every part of it, repetible at the end of every stanza, and indeed of every pe­riod.

God is a rock, his work is per­fect, his ways are judgment: They have corrupted themselves, they are spotted, perverse, and crook­ed: Do ye thus requite the Lord?

But more particularly, God hath been good to Israel, he [Page 408] raised him from nothing, he re­deemed him from bondage, he was his Protector, his Guide, his Proveditore, his food was of the most delicious, his drink was ge­nerous, of the pure blood of the grape, and he grew fat upon it— But Jeshurun waxed fat and kick­ed: Do ye thus requite, O popu­le ingrate ( [...])?

Again; well; but will God en­dure this base ingratitude? doth he not see it, or not resent it? doth it not move him? can he not, will he not revenge him­self upon them? Yes, the Lord saw it, and was moved to Jealou­sie; a fire was kindled in his an­ger. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?

This is the Interest, which these words have in the song; and they consist of two general parts:

[Page 409]1. An expostulation; Do ye thus requite the Lord?

2. A censure; O foolish peo­ple, and unwise.

The former of these needs no explication, being an ardent and vehement exprobration of the ingratitude of this people; where­in every word is weighty, and very Emphatical. The manner of the retribution, the parties Re­quiting and Requited. Ye men! Ye men of Israel! do ye make such a requital? such a requital to the Lord?

To requite evil for good a­mong Equals is against the light of the sons of Noah, and much more against the light of Israel. But for Israel after their instru­ction, and their experiences to do despight to the great and the gracious, and the terrible, jea­lous [Page 410] and avenging God, it implies so much ingratitude, and so high a degree of wick­edness, and madness as is not to be measured. And there­fore he doth not attempt to deli­neate or describe it, but like one astonished at it, he expostulates with them in a vast abrupt Inter­rogation; Do ye thus requite the Lord?

But now the latter general part, which contains the censure of them, may perhaps require a little explication: Foolish and Unwise may possibly seem to some to have a little flatness in it, and tautology.

Here therefore we must be take our selves to the Original; and there we shall find a considerable difference, betwixt the notions of those two words, which are thus translated.

[Page 411]The words for Unwise is [ [...]] which signifies, that they were imprudent, and acted a­gainst their interest and concern­ment.

The words translated foolish people, are [ [...],] Interlin. Ingrate popu­le, signifying base unworthiness, and perverseness.

They were Am Nabal, such for a people, as Nabal (after­wards) for a man. Now con­cerning Nabal the Scripture tells us, that the Character of his per­son was answerable to the notion of his name; As is his name, so 1. Sam. 25. 25. is he; Nabal is his name, [...] vilitas cum eo, Interlin. Dedecus cum ipso, Syriac.

A base, unworthy, dishonou­rable v. 3. person; churlish and e­vil in his doings; surly and morose; such a man of Belial, [Page 412] that one might not speak to him; v. 17. v. 10, 37, 26. v. 21, Insolent, and, as such persons use to be, cowardly, and dead hear­ted, a drunken, stupid, sottish, and, to sum up all, an ungrateful wretch, that requited evil for good. This was the Character of Nabal, and this the folly bound up in the heart of the Children of Israel; so that there is no tauto­logy in the text: The first word signifies the Wickedness, the se­cond the imprudence of Israel's Requital. And these are the things, which I am to speak of.

I. Israels requital towards God; implyed in the expostulation; Do ye thus requite?

pressed in the censure.

IV. Application.

[Page 413]1. Requital is a word of a re­ciprocal notion, it signifies a re­turn made for something done: And to set forth Israel's requi­tal to the Lord, we are to consi­der 1. Gods dealings with Is­rael, and 2. Israel's return to God.

1. Of the former we have va­rious instances in the following words. God hath prevented them with Grace, and favour; and followed them

with mercy and loving-kindness.

He contrived advantages for them before their Original; he designed them great, and glori­ous privileges long before they had any being. The Scripture computes their Original from Ja­cob, who was called Israel (A [Page 414] Syrian ready to perish was their Father;) but long before Jacobs Gen. 25. 23. time, The most high divided to the Nations their inheritance Deut. 32. 8. when he separated the Sons of A­dam, the Lords portion was his people, and Israel the lot of his in­heritance. He chose Jacob for himself, and Israel for his pe­culiar treasure; before Jacob or Esau had done good or evil: he chose them, because he loved them; to shew his prerogative, and manifest his absolute Sove­reignty.

When Abraham was an hun­dred years old, and Sarah nine­ty Gen. 15. 5., and they had no child be­twixt them, he contracted with Abraham both for their being and their inheritance: He brought him forth, and said: Look to­ward Heaven, and tell the Stars, —so shall thy seed be.

[Page 415]And the same day he said, Vn­to thy Seed (yet in Idea) have I v. 18. given this land from the River of Egypt to the great River Eu­phrates.

So that he was their Father, and maker in a peculiar manner, even as if from stones he had rai­sed children unto Abraham.

Seing that from one, and him Heb. 11. 12. as good as dead, there sprang so Deut. 10. 22. many as the Stars.

Nay far more than the Stars which Abraham could see, when he looked up into the Sky; the number of all the Stars visible to the naked eye upon all the vari­ous positions of the Sphere, not exceeding eleven hundred; whereas there were numbred of this people at one time 603550 fighting men above twenty years old, beside the tribe of Levi, [Page 416] and beside women and chil­dren.

As was their first creation, such was their conservation and propagation, instances of the u­nited forces, of the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, when he saw them in their blood, Ezek. 16. 6. he said unto them, Live; when he found them in the howling wil­derness, Deut. 32. 20. he kept them as the apple of his eye. He protected them from all the storms, which pas­sed over them (when they passed through the water, when they went through the fire) he provided for them when there was famine in their land. In a prodigious way of mercy he made use of their own wickedness, and turned it to their preservation. When they sold Joseph into Egypt, Joseph saith, God sent him to preserve [Page 417] them a posterity and to save their lives: (ye thought evil against Gen. 45. 7. Gen. 50. 20. me, but God meant it for good.) He sent them down into Egypt for their preservation; he preserved them there 430 years; and when the Egyptians were turned a­gainst them, the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied Exod. 1. 12. and grew. Doubtless he was their father, though Abraham was ignorant of them, and Israel knew them not: for in their affliction his Esay 63, 15, 16. bowels sounded towards them.

And 2. he was their Redeemer as well as their Maker; he bought them; for so saith the text [...] possedit, acquisivit eos, (i. e. as­seruit in libertatem.) When by the rigour of the Egyptians their lives were bitter, God heard their groanings, and he remembred the Covenant made with Abra­ham, [Page 418] and his prediction that they should serve and be afflicted 400 Gen. 15. 13. years; and that then he would Exod. 2. 24. judge that nation whom they should serve. Surely I have seen, saith he, the affliction of my people; Exod. 3. 7. I have heard their cry, I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them: He sent Redem­ption to his people by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

He gave Commission, and Power, and Command to Moses, to make known his Omnipotence and his favour to his people, and his vengeance upon their enemies; & they wrought a trein of migh­ty signs and wonders in the land of Egypt for their deliverance. And all Israel saw the great works which the Lord did upon Pharaoh Exod. 14. ult. and his host, and they sang with Moses that [...], He hath trium­phed Exod. 15. 1. [Page 419] gloriously, the horse & his ri­der hath he thrown into the Sea, for he brought forth his people with joy, because he had a favour for them.

3. He was not their maker and their redeemer only, but their establisher; he perfected de­liverance, and followed them with all things perteining unto life and godliness: He was their conductor in the wilderness; in the day time he led them with a Ps. 78. 14. cloud, and all the night with a pillar of fire: He was their Protector, As an Eagle flut­ters Deut. 32. 11. over her young ones and spreads abroad her wings, so he stretched out his everlasting arms for their defence; he suffered no man to do them wrong, and drove out the nations before them: He was their provider of meat, drink and cloathes; he smote the stony [Page 420] rock and the waters flowed; he gave Ps. 78. 15. them Quails and Manna from Hea­ven so, that they did eat Angels food; Deut. 29. 5. he led them 40 years in the wil­derness, & in all that space their cloaths did not wax old upon them, nor their shooes upon their feet.

And lastly, he was their establish­er; formed them into a Church and State, and dictated to them laws for their perpetual establish­ment; he gave testimonies unto Jacob, and appointed a law in Is­rael, a law written by the finger of God, delivered by the medi­ation of Angels. He set be­fore them life and death; he con­firmed the Covenant made to their fathers; he entred into a Cove­nant with themselves; he spake to them sundry wayes and divers manners; and finally to take a­way all pretences of ignorance [Page 421] or infidelity, he appeared often to their fathers by the name of El-shaddai; to Moses, by his name Jehovah; to themselves he came Exod. 19. 11. down (in the sight of all the peo­ple) upon mount Sinai, he often filled the Tabernacle with his glory, and the glory of the Lord Num. 14. 10. appeared to all the people. Lev. 9. 23.

These are some few instan­ces of Gods dealing with this people. Now for their requital the Scripture tell us their beha­viour toward Moses and Aaron the instruments, and toward God himself the Author of all their mercies, of their deliverance. Many a time they murmured a­gainst Exod. 14. 11. Moses and Aaron in Egypt, Exod. 15. 24. and in the wilderness: before they were out of Egypt, they quarreled at Moses for attempting their de­liverance: within three days after [Page 422] their triumphal song they mur­mured at Marach: about six weeks after the whole congregation murmured again, and wished, that they had died by the hand of the Exod. 16. 3. Lord in the land of Egypt: they murmured at their very Manna, and cried out in remembrance of the fisb that they did eat in Egypt, the Cucumers, and the Melons, Numb. 11. 5. the Leeks, and the Onions, and the Garlick. When the spies re­turned from Canaan, they made a down right mutiny; they said one to another, Let us make us a Ca­ptain, Num. 14. 4. and let us return into Egypt.

They sided with Corah, Dathan, and Abiram in their rebellion; and after the earth had opened and swallowed them up, they still owned the rebels and ad­hered to the good old cause; on the morrow all the congregation [Page 423] murmured against Moses and Aa­ron, Numb. 16. 41. saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord: still persist­ing in an opinion that they were Patriots and godly men.

But what do we speak of Mo­ses, or of oblique and conse­quential actings against God? the Scripture tells us of their stu­pidity and infidelity; they under­stood Ps. 106. 7. not his wonders in Egypt: How long, saith God, will it be ere they believe me, for all the Numb 14. 11. signs which I have wrought a­mong them? neither signs among them nor signs upon them could cause them to believe. He smote them for their unbelief, and for all this they sinned still, and belie­ved Ps. 78. 32. not for all his wondrous works. It tells of their forget­fulness; they forgot God their Ps, 78. 11. Saviour, which had done so [Page 424] great things for them; they soon forgot his works, and his won­ders: of their falseness and trea­chery, their heart was not set a­right, their spirit was not sted­fast; Ps. 78. 37. when he slew them they would seek him for a while, but they did but flatter him with their Ps. 78. 36. lips, and dissemble with their double hearts. It tells of their base idolatry; they changed their glory for the similitude of a calf, yea, they offered their sons and Ps. 106. 24. daughters unto devils: of their pride and scornfulness; they de­spised the pleasant land: they were a provoking generation, a stubborn and rebellious na­tion. How often did they provoke God in the wilderness, and grieve Ps. [...]8. 40. him in the desart? Many a time did he deliver them, but they provo­ked him with their Counsels. He [Page 425] divided the Sea for their passage, and clove the rocks for their sustenance, and covered them with a Cloud for their protecti­on, and they sinned yet the more. They tempted him, they spoke a­gainst him, they provoked him at the sea, even at the red Sea: they turned back and tempted God, and limited the holy one of Israel. In one word; they were a rebellious house, a stiff-necked people; they kept not the Covenant which Ezek. 44. Ps. 78. themselves had made; they would none of his precepts, they de­spised his promises, and his threat­nings, their neck had an Iron sinew, Is. 48. 4. and they had a brow of brass.

This was their behaviour, e­ven then when Gods miracles were fresh, and Moses was still among them. And God foresaw that after his decease they would [Page 426] provoke him yet more. This was that requital, which stirred and inflamed the spirit of Moses; and quickned him to that abrupt Expostulation, the first general part of the text, whereof I have hitherto been giving an account, Do ye thus requite the Lord?

You have seen some part of Israels ingratitude; it follows that we consider the Turpitude and the Imprudence of this ingrati­tude, which gave occasion for the censure here passed upon them, (O foolish people and un­wise.) And first of the Turpitude II. of their ingratitude, whereby it will appear that they were [...] Now to set forth the unworthi­ness of their in gratitude against God in all the aggravations of it, it is a task too heavy for me (nay, even for Angels;) and Moses [Page 427] when he was inspired, and in the height of his rapture, did not at­tempt it; but making a chasme, and drawing a veil over that part, insinuates it to be unexpressible. I shall not therefore offer at im­possibilities, but follow the me­thod, which the Scriptures have provided for us in like cases. It is the manner of the Scriptures in things concerning God, which are incomprehensible, to bait the mind, and train it on by exer­cising it in the Analogy of things familiar. The love of God to his chosen people is incomprehensi­ble; to give us therefore a little notion of it, the Prophet brings men to the consideration of the love of a mother to her child; can a Mother forget her Child &c? The love of Man to God holds no proportion to his Excellency, and [Page 428] his goodness; and the heart in judging of it is obnoxious to mistakes, and very deceitful; therefore the Apostle helps us towards an apprehension of it. He that loves not his neigh­bour; 1 Joh. 4. 20. whom he hath seen; how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? So seeing the turpi­tude of mens ingratitude to­wards God is ineffable and in­conceivable, it will be requisite to speak a little of the unworthi­ness of Ingratitude towards men, and leave you to work out this proportion; Look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth, so great, nay infinitely grea­ter is the unworthiness of ingra­titude towards God.

And here I shall not go about to Philosophize, or to demon­strate the turpitude of ingratitude, [Page 429] from the nature of it, à pri­ori. The immediate and evident corollaries of natural principles, admit only of jejune and incon­siderable reasonings in that kind of demonstration. The odious­ness of ingratitude is such a co­rollary, naturally and immediate­ly flowing from that universal maxim, quod tibi fieri non vis, Matt. 7. 12. &c. which runs thorow all mo­rality; and is not only the last resolution of Philosophy, but of the Law and the Prophets, and of the Gospel. Luke 6. 31. As therefore, when an abstruse pro­position in matter of speculation is resolved into an evident prin­ciple, or the contrary position into a plain absurdity, the de­monstrator goes no further, but hath said all that can be perti­nently spoken: so when a piece [Page 430] of doubtful Morality is once re­solved into this grand absurdity, Omnia dixeris, there is no more to be added, all the rest is dimi­nution.

It is said that Lycurgus made no law against ingratitude, be­cause Nature had made one to his hand. So some Divines have ob­served, Prov. 17. 13. that there is no direct precept against ingratitude in the Scripture, though many te­stimonies in effect against it, be­cause it was needless, as being supposed from the light of na­ture, and below the Majestie of the spirit breathing in the Scrip­tures, to insist upon it (according to that of our Saviour, If ye love and do good, and lend to them Matt. 5. 48. that love and do good to you, what Luc. 6. 32, 34. thanks, or reward have you? do not Sinners or Publicans even the [Page 431] same?) To that spirit which com­mands us to return good for evil, to love our Enemies, &c. it were a kind of whiffling to command the return of good for good, or prohibit the return of evil to those that have obliged us. Now of these two sorts of ingra­titude, the former is branded in Scripture with an everlasting brand, in the case of Pharaoh's Butler to Joseph, the Israelites Gen. 10. 23. to Jerubaal, and the like: But Jud. 8. 35. the ingratitude in the text being of the latter kind, and of a deep­er die, and because the easiest Criterion of turpitude is the de­testation of all the sons of men, I shall endeavour à posteriori by some Scriptural instances of the resentments of that kind of in­gratitude, to shew the turpitude of it in the judgment of mankind.

[Page 432]We read when Joash had com­manded Zachariah to be stoned 2 Chron. 24. (who was the son of Jehojada, who had preserved him in his mi­nority from Athaliah, and made him King,) his own servants con­spired against him, and kill'd him in his bed, because he remem­bred not the kindness of Jehoja­da, but slew his son. When Abner apprehended ingratitude in Ishbosheth, whom he had made 2 Sam. 29. King, consider his resentment, he was very wroth, he said, am I a Dogs head, who do shew kind­ness 2 Sam. 3. 8, 9. to the house of Saul? God do so to Abner, and more also, ex­cept I translate the Kingdome from the house of Saul; He swore he would do it, and he did perform it.

It may be objected that the resentment of these men was not so considerable, as that the Judg­ment [Page 433] of Mankind should be col­lected from it; those that con­spired against Joash were Zabad the son of an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of a Moabi­tess; and we read not any great praise, either of the piety or morality of Abner. Consider then the resentments of Gideon; of whom it is said, the Lord was with Gideon, and of David, the man after God's own heart. When the men of Succoth dealt ungratefully with Gideon; he said, that he would tear their flesh Jud. 8. 7. 16. with the thorns of the Wilderness, and he took the Elders of the City, and the thorns of the Wilderness, and with them he taught the men of Succoth, i. e. he taught them better Morals.

When Nabal had (upon a good day, the shearers feast) refused [Page 434] to give a little something that should come to hand, and put a scorn upon David ( who is Da­vid, &c.) then David said, Sure­ly in vain have I kept the goods of this fellow, and he hath re­quited me evil for good: so and more also do God to the enemies of 1 Sam. 25. David, if I leave of all that per­teineth to him before the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

But it may be said that these be men of war, and those enraged, and these might be the resent­ments only of their passions: Proceed we therefore to the re­sentments of Prophets and righ­teous men; let us have recourse from David the Captain to Da­vid the Prophet, and the Psal­mist (when he was composed, and when he was composing.)

[Page 435] Had it been my open enemies then Ps. 55. 12. I could have born it; but it was thou my friend, and my acquain­tance; it was an act of Treachery and Ingratitude; let death seise v. 15. upon them, and let them go down quick into hell. And again; They Ps. 35. 12. rewarded me evil for good; let them be confounded, let them be as the dust before the wind, let their way be dark and slippery; and the Angel of the Lord persecute them.

Shall evil be recompensed for good? (saith Jeremy) I stood be­fore Jer. 18. 20. thee to speak good for them, and they have digged a pit for my soul; Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by force of the sword, &c.

Briefly, because it may be ob­jected that all these were the re­sentments [Page 436] of a legal, and Mo­saick spirit, consider the resent­ment of the lamb of God, the son of man, the man Christ Je­sus, when he denounced a woe upon Corazin, &c. Woe unto thee Corazin, woe unto thee Bethsaida; Luk. 10. 13. for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre, &c. Therefore it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for thee. Consider his re­sentment, when he pronounced a judgment upon Jerusalem; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem; thou that killest the Prophets, and Luk. 13. 34. stonest those, that are sent unto thee; How often would I have ga­thered thy children—? and ye would not. Behold now your house is left unto you desolate.

From what hath been spoken of the resentments of men, the wick­edness [Page 437] of Israels ingratitude a­gainst God, though it cannot be perfectly, yet it may in some measure be collected.

It remains that we consider the imprudence of it: O foolish people and unwise.

III. I may not, I need not insist long upon this Argument. There are (as I conceive) but these five suppositions, which possibly might exempt them from the censure of the text. 1. If their God were like the gods of the heathen, and did not know their behaviour toward him. Or 2. If he were the God of Epi­curus, and did not resent it. Or 3. If they could escape from him. Or 4. If they could ex­cuse themselves to him. Or 5. If they were able to support themselves against him. If none [Page 438] of these were in the case, they will stand convicted of horrible imprudence; it will then be ma­nifest, that they were a foolish people, and unwise. Of these things briefly.

1. Did not God know their behaviour? The Psalmist indeed tells of a brutish people, which wrought all manner of wicked­ness, and yet they said, The Lord shall not see it, neither shall the Ps. 94. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. God of Jacob regard it: But, O ye fools, saith he, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall not he see? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the Zach. 4. 10. whole earth, beholding the evil & the good. For the ways of man, are Prov. 5. 21. [Page 439] before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. He penetrates all things, and search­es all things. If they say, per-adventure the darkness shall co­ver Ps. 139. 11. them, then shall the night be turned into day: the darkness is no darkness with him, but the night is as clear as the day.

2. But it may be, though he knew their behaviour, yet he did not concern himself about them; it may be he did not much resent their dealings with him; Neither if they be righte­ous is he the better; neither if they be wicked is he the worse. Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the son of man; but if thou sinnest, what dost thou a­gainst him; and if thy transgres­sions be multiplied, what dost thou [Page 440] unto him? Nay but did not he concern himself for them? what meaned then the sounding of his bowels toward them? what mean such pathetical exclamations as these; O that there were such an heart in them, that they would Deut. 5. 29. keep my Commandments always; that it might be well with them, and with their seed for ever. A­gain, O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they Deut. 32. 29. would consider their latter end. O that they had hearkened—what ini­quity have they sound in me?

Did not he resent it, when they made the calf? He said, Behold I have seen this people, and it is a stiff-necked people; Exod. 32. 9. let me alone, that I may blot out their name from under Heaven. Deut. 9. 13.

When they murmured; I will come in the midst of them in [Page 441] a moment, and consume them at once.

When they rebelled against Moses; Get you up from among Num. 16. 25. them, that I may consume them in a moment.

When they tempted him and questioned his power; He heard it and was wroth, and greatly ab­horred Ps. 106. 40, 23. Israel. Many a time would he have destroyed them, had not Moses stood in the gap to turn a­ways his anger.

3. But possibly for all this there might be some way to e­scape from him, and to conveigh themselves out of the sphere of his activity.

There have been those, who have conceived the God of Is­rael to be a topical God; a God of the mountains only, and that 1 Kings 20 23, 28, 29. the valleys were out of his [Page 442] power and jurisdiction: true; but because the Syrians said that he was not God of the valleys, he delivered them into the hands of Israel, who slew a hundred thousand foot-men in one day.

Nay but, Behold the Heaven of Heavens cannot contein the God of Israel; he filleth all things. Shall they escape for their wicked­ness? Whither can they go then from his Spirit? or whither can Ps. 139. 7. they flee from his presence? If they could ascend into Heaven, he is there; if they could make their bed in hell, behold he is there?

4. But though they cannot escape out of his reach, possibly they may plead something in ex­cuse of their doings, which may mitigate his indignation; per­haps they were ignorant, that [Page 443] God was concerned, ignorant of his will, and of his ways, they had no instruction, they had no warning of their danger. But I say unto them, Had they no Caveats? Take heed (saith Mo­ses) keep thy soul diligently, lest Deut. 4. 9. thou forget the things, which thine eyes have seen. When thou Deut. 8. 11. shalt have eaten, and be full, then bew are lest thou forget the Lord thy God.

Had they no memento's? How often doth God command them to bind his precepts, and his prodigies for a sign, and a to­ken, and a memorial upon Exod. 13. 9. their hands, for frontlets be­tween Deut. 6. 9, 11. their eyes; to write them upon their posts, and their gates, to teach them their chil­dren, lest they should forget them?

[Page 444]Did they not know? I call heaven and earth to record this Deut. 30. 19. day against you (saith Moses) that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cur­sing.

Had they no warnings of their danger? If thou do forget, I denounce this day, that thou Deut. 30. 18. shalt surely perish; and this song was made to testifie against them.

Had they not heard? had they not seen? Yes, that which had not been heard, and seen, since the foundation of the world from one side of the heavens to another. Did ever people hear the voice of God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, and live?

They saw Thundrings, and Lightnings, Noise, Trumpet, Exod. 20. Ex. 24. 9, 10, 11. Mountain smoaking, Moses and [Page 445] Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, the Seventy Elders, the Nobles, the People saw the Lord; and the sight of the glory of God was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. so that they were without excuse.

5. And the only remaining consideration is this; whether they were able to resist the Lord, to support themselves against him, or at leastwise to endure the utmost of his in­dignation.

What is their hope, that they behave themselves proudly, that they kick against the Lord? or wherein lies their confidence that they rebell against him? Who art thou, O man, that stri­vest against God? Canst thou overturn immensity, or circum­vent [Page 446] omniscience, or grapple with omnipotence? The Lord is a man Exod 15. 3. of war, great, and terrible is his name; who can stand before him, when he is angry?

Behold the Nations are as the drop of the bucket, and are coun­ted as the small dust of the bal­lance: he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing: all Nations are Es. 40. 15, 22. counted to him as Grashoppers, nay less than vanity, and no­thing.

Where were they, when the foundations of the world were Job 38. 4, 5. laid, and a line was stretched up­on it? Can they command the thunder, or furnish out the lightnings, or bring to their assi­stance the stormy wind and tempest?

Can they Marshal out the host of heaven, or put the Con­stellations [Page 447] in array, or command the stars in their courses to make resistance for them? Can they bind the influences of Pleiades, Job 38. 31, 32. or loose the bands of Orion; or bring forth Mazzaroth, or conduct Arcturus and his sons?

Are they able to stand before a jealous God; and to support themselves in the presence of a consuming fire? When a fire is kindled in his anger, and shall burn to the lowest Hell, and shall consume the earth, and set on fire the mountains.

Are they able to sustein the fierceness of his anger? Who among them can dwell with the Es. 33. 14. devouring fire? who among them can dwell with everlasting burn­ings?

Briefly and plainly to lay the case before you; This people [Page 448] had heard with their ears of the drowning of the old world; Their fathers had told them of the fire and brimstone, which devoured the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha; They had been witnesses of the plagues brought upon Egypt; They beheld the fire that consumed Nadab and A­bihu; They stood by, when the earth opened and swallow'd up Dathan, and covered the congre­gation of Abiram; Thousands had fallen beside them, and ten thousands at their right hand for their ingratitude, and rebelli­on; and yet they behave them­selves so as hath been represen­ted. Judge in your selves, was it wisdome thus to requite the Lord? Were they, or were they not a foolish people, and un­wise?

[Page 449]We have now seen the case of Israel; the wickedness of their folly, and the folly of their wic­kedness hath been in some mea­sure displayed before us. And who is it that doth not feel his indignation rise against this peo­ple? Ah sinful people! ah people laden with iniquity! ah Seed of evil doers! O ingrateful, stiff­necked, brutish nation! do they thus requite the Lord that made, that redeemed, that established them? Shall not his soul be aven­ged on such a nation as this? Let God arise, let his enemies be scat­tered: It is but just, and equal, That he should consume them in a moment, and blot out their remem­brance from under heaven.

Nay! but who art thou, O man, that judgest another, and dost the same things? thinkest thou that thou [Page 450] shalt escape the judgment of God? Alas! how easy is it in a figure to transfer all that hath been spoken to our selves, to our selves of this Auditory, to our selves of this Kingdome, in every capacity, private and publick, Ecclesiastical and Civil.

1. Hath not God dealt with us as he dealt with Israel?

2. Have not we requited him as they requited him? come now, and let us briefly reason to­gether.

For Gods dealing, let us exa­mine our selves upon the heads of enquiry here propounded by Mo­ses in this song. Hath he not

• 1 made
• 2 redeemed
• 3 established

us in every sence and e­very capa­city.

1. Hath he not made us? is not [Page 451] he the Creator and preserver of every individual person? is not he the disposer of nations? the ordainer and orderer of Go­vernments? the framer of Chur­ches in the world? In every one of these respects it is evidently true, which is delivered by the Psalmist, It is he that hath made Ps. 100. 3. us, and not we our selves, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. As for our personal being, and better being, was it not from him that we received our bodies, our Souls, our Chri­stianity (all things pertaining unto life and Godliness?) His eyes did see our substance yet be­ing Ps. 139. 16. imperfect, and in his book were all our members written. He poured us out like Milk, and cur­dled us like Cheese, cloathed us with skin and flesh, fenced us with [Page 452] bones and sinews: he breathed into us life and spirit, saying un­to us, Live: he stamped his Image upon us, and made us live the life of men; he commanded, and we were born of Christian Parents, and baptized, and re­generated into the life of Chri­stians. Hath he not made us? Nay, doth he not make us, and that every moment, by sustein­ing and upholding our being by the word of his power; by re­teining our spirits, and preserv­ing our souls and life by his per­petual visitation, by his protecti­on, and by his provision? There is no man that hath power over Job 10. 12. the spirit, to retein the spirit. All the wit and industry and a­bility of all men upon earth, nay of all creatures in Heaven and earth, cannot make one [Page 453] grain of any one of that infinite variety of things, which are of necessity or of convenience to the being or preservation of men. And this is so evident upon the shallowest consideration, that S. Paul at Lystra, when the Priest of Jupiter (supposing him to be Mercurius) would have sacri­ficed to him, appealed to this in­stance, as Gods witness against the depth of heathenish darkness. He left not himself without witness in that he gave rain from Act. 14. 17. Heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness. So that in this respect our case is parallel. Hath not God dealt with us as with Israel? Hath he not made us as to our personal and private condition?

Again, if we consider our selves in our national publick capacity [Page 454] in reference to the political frame of our Government, Civil and Ecclesiastical, hath he not made us?

It was in reference to this that Moses asked this question; and to help their understandings in the consideration of it for an an­swer, in the words immediately following he calls upon them to search into their antiquities, to re­flect upon their original, and their progress. Remember, saith he, the days of old, and consider the years of many generations. Ask thy Fathers and they will tell thee, thy Elders and they will shew thee.

And now I say unto you, Have you not heard long ago how he hath done it, and of ancient days how he hath formed it? How he hath formed the state of this [Page 455] Island, and reformed it; how he never gave over working, hewing, and fabricating the in­habitants thereof, till he had fra­med them into a glorious Chri­stian Kingdom, from a most bar­barons, savage, scattered, heathen people. How oft did the Almigh­ty Potter bring the stubborn matter to the wheel; overturn­ing, overturning, overturning? To civilize the Britains he brought in the Romans, then tried the Britains again. When that would not frame to his hand, he brought in the Saxons, and upon them the Danes; then tried the Saxons again; and last­ly he brought in the Normans; nations os various tempers, cu­stoms, religions, languages; caused nation to rise against na­tion, &c. he committed them [Page 456] one with another, and among themselves; he mixed and blended them by many a terrible combat and collision; he polish'd the roughness of them; by the lea­ven of the Gospel he fermented and matured and sweetned them, till by his powerful word light was brought out of darkness; out of a multitude of disorders and confusions sprang forth a noble well-tempered form of Govern­ment & System of Laws Civil & Ecclesiastical, equal at least to those of any other people; har­moniously conspiring (if duly executed) to conserve all estates, orders, and degrees in the great­est happiness whereof any socie­ty is capable; conducting us by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and their subordinate Ministers, to the great ends of the great or­dinance [Page 457] of God in the world, and apt to enable and to dispose well-minded men (by the means of grace, and motives to sobrie­ty, righteousness, and godliness, which we enjoy) by peace and plenty, by liberty and prospe­rity (in all which we exceed all others) to produce effects of no­ble courage and magnanimity, such as we read of in the stories of our Ancestors; and of Piety, and Devotion in proportion an­swerable to those of our glorious Predecessors (that is not inferi­our in their kind to any nation in the world.) Surely this also hath been of the Lords doing, in refer­ence to Society Civil and Sacred: it is he that hath made us, and not we our selves. Now let us pass to the second enquiry.

2. Hath he not redeemed us? and [Page 458] that also in both capacities, per­sonal and national.

1. For our persons spiritually and temporally; hath he not bought our souls at a price; hath he not offered us a plenteous re­demption by the blood of the everlasting Covenant, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, the bondage of Sin, the power of Satan, the wrath of God? Again, is there any one single person to whom he hath not gi­ven many a temporal deliverance (known and unknown, or at least-wise unconsidered?) Hath not he redeemed us from the prison of the womb, from the hazards of our infancy, from the perils of our childhood, from the wildness and precipitancy of youth, from the snares and entanglements of our riper years? [Page 459] Is there any one whom he hath not redeemed from six troubles and from seven, in our bodies, estates, liberty, reputation? whom he hath not powerfully and frequently rescued from the folly and perverseness of our selves, from the malice of our neighbours, from the rage of De­vils? Hath he not redeemed us in our personal capacities?

2. Hath he not redeemed our nation again and again, in all its interest civil and sacred? Who else was it that delivered our fa­thers and our selves from Barba­risme and Idolatry, from Ty­ranny and Superstition, from fanatical Anarchy, and Irreli­gion.

To omit former deliverances, can we forget how it is but a lit­tle while since the wrath of God [Page 460] was poured out upon this King­dome to the uttermost? since our Sun was turned into dark­ness, and our Moon into blood, our stars ravisht from their Orbs, the Royal father Martyred, the Son banished, the Nobles con­founded; the State dissolved, the Church destroyed, our Re­ligion, Laws, Liberty, Proper­ty, torn away; our bones were dryed, our hope was gone, and we thought we had been clean cut off. Then when we cried unto the Lord in our trouble, he delive­red us out of our distress: He sent redemption to his people, he turn­ed our captivity as the Rivers of the South; then was our mouth fil­led with laughter, and our tongue with Joy. The Symptoms of joy and triumph were heard, and seen in all the corners of the [Page 461] land; nay the Sea roared, and the floods clapped their hands, the hills and the heavens resounded because of the redemption; for he cometh, for he cometh- &c. And now I say unto you, hath he not redeemed us?

3. Hath he not established us? that is to say, the Estalish­ment, which we enjoy, is it not all from him? and hath not he done his part for our establish­ment? our spiritual and tempo­ral, our private, our publick e­stablishment?

Doth not the God of all grace continually press upon us the means of grace, calling us to his Eternal glory; endea­vouring to make us perfect, to establish, strengthen, and settle us in his truth, to establish us in the faith, and in holiness, to [Page 462] strengthen our inward man, that we may be rooted and grounded and built up in him, to a lively hope, and an humble assurance of eternal life.

All spiritual Establishment, is it not from God? is there any per­son within the verge of his Ma­jesties Dominions, for whom God hath not provided plentiful means for this Establishment?

Again, for our temporal pri­vate condition, is there any one of us destitute of some sort of provision, subsistance; some sort of settlement, or Establishment? Is there any one that hears, or hears me not, for whom God hath not provided some honest way of E­stablishment by donation of pi­ous Founders and Benefactors, by legal descent, by voluntary Bequest, ( houses which they Deut. 6. 11. [Page 463] builded not &c.) by labour of the hand, or contrivance of the brain; by assistances of Allian­ces, or friends; by charitable be­nevolence, by the bounty of contingency or the like? Are not every one of these from the Lord? is any one destitute of one or more of these ways of e­stablishment, or that can answer', that God hath made no provisi­on for them? hath he not gi­ven us our temporal establish­ment?

Lastly, hath not God done his part towards a National and a publick establishment of this Church and Kingdom?

Hath he not in order thereun­to resetled our gracious Sove­reign in the throne of his Royal Predecessors? Re-established the Church upon its rightful Basis [Page 464] and foundation? Restored all or­ders and degrees to their legal rights, proprieties, privileges and liberties? Reinforced our Religi­on and our Laws in the due ad­ministration of Discipline and Justice? Reduced all things into that ancient frame and constitu­tion, which had from many Gene­rations derived happiness and glory to the people of England?

Finally, for preservation and continuance of all these, hath he not restored the actual strength of the Kingdom, our Forts and Castles, our stores and magazines, our Towns and Cities, our Ar­mies and Navies, lately rescued out of the hands of rebellious U­surpers to those Royal hands, to which they do of right belong? In one word therefore to conclude this first enquiry, hath not God [Page 465] dealt with us as he did with Is­rael; hath he not made us, redee­med us, established us?

The next consideration ought to be, whether we have not so re­quited the Lord as they requited him. Whether our behaviour hath not been answerable to that of Israel, in reference both to the foolish part, and the unwise. And here alas! how clear and conspi­cuous is the parallel in respect of

their

• ingratitude, and
• imprudence.

Have we not dealt, do we not deal ungratefully with the Au­thor and instruments of all our mercies? Have all Gods me­thods and various dealings with us prevailed so far as to bring our persons to repentance, or our Kingdom to a Reformation? Have we been convinced, or have [Page 466] we not been hardened by his wonders, converted to his fears or sealed up into a sottish stupi­dity and senseless contempt of Religion, a spirit of Atheism, and downright infidelity?

Do we not murmur against Moses and Aaron? do not some amongst us still abet the cause of Corah, Dathan and Abiram? are not some of us ready to make them a Captain, and to return in­to Egypt?

Have we not soon forgot God our saviour? have we not flat­tered him with our lips, and dis­sembled with him in our double heart?

Do we not despise our very Manna; and wish again for the Garlick of Egypt? ready to change our glory for the Calves of Egypt or the confusion of Ba­bylon? [Page 467] In a word, are we not a sinful people laden with iniquity, as ingrateful and Nabalistical as Israel, a foolish people?

Again, for matter of impru­dence, wherewithal can we purge our selves from it?

Doth not God know our miscar­riages also? doth he not under­stand us & our ways? and doth he not interest himself in us? doth he not resent our provocations? can we escape for our wickedness? With what apologies shall we come before the Lord, and bow our selves before the high God? Have we had no caveats from the Ministers of God, no warnings, no Alarms from God himself? have we not heard, have we not seen, hath it not been told us? The thunders, and the light­nings, the trumpets sounding, [Page 468] the mountain smoaking, the Angel destroying, the Sword de­vouring. Are we able to contest with a jealous God? are we stronger than he? are we able to tear him out of his Throne, or to devest him of his Thunder, or to stand the storm of his fi­ery indignation? Have we not been a foolish people & unwise!

What then remains, but that God should execute upon us the sentence which we our selves have been ready to pass upon the people in the text, that he should do thus, and thus, unto us; that he should consume us in a moment, and blot out our names from under Heaven?

Nay, rather it remains (men and brethren) lest he should do thus, and thus, unto us, that we prepare to meet the Lord our [Page 469] God; that we rouze up the spirit of our minds, and discuss and scatter that Lethargic stupor that is upon us: Awake, awake, De­borah; and arise, Barak, the son of Ahinoam.

Who can tell but God may yet have mercy upon us, may have mercy upon our souls, and speak peace to our land!

When I say to the wicked, thou Ezek. 33. 14, 15. shalt surely dye; if he turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die: he hath done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live.

Wherefore let every one of us examine himself and find out the plague of his own heart, and be deeply sensible of his own in­gratitude; let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto [Page 470] the Lord; let us make haste to escape, before the decree bring forth, and we be surprised by the stormy wind and tempest; let us lose no longer time, but make haste in this our day, before the things belonging to our peace are hid from our eyes. Let speaker and hearers (O let my self and all this assembly, let every soul here present, let all the people of the land) turn unto the Lord with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping, mourning. And let the priests (my Joel 2. 12, 17. brethren) the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the al­ter, and say, spare thy people, O Lord; be favourable, O Lord be favou­rable; O Lord deal not with us af­ter our sins, nor reward us accor­ding to our iniquities, though we have thus requited the Lord, be­ing a foolish people and unwise.

AN APOLOGY FOR THE Mysteries of the GOSPEL.

THE former part of this Text (being delivered in terms unusual) hath af­forded matter of Disputation to Interpreters.

[Page 2]The Question is, Whether it be to be taken for a [...]; or to be understood simply, and plain­ly, according to the usual import and meaning of such expressi­ons.

That St. Paul, so long after his Miraculous Conversion, (a little before his Appeal to Caesar) drawing near to the finishing of his Course.

That St. Paul, after he had planted the Gospel, from Jeru­salem round about unto Illyri­cum, Rom. 15. 19. after the composing of all those excellent Epistles written before his bonds, whereof this Epistle to the Romans was the last.

That St. Paul (I say) after all this, should descend to so poor an Expression as might insinuate, that there was something in the [Page 3] Gospel, whereof it was possible, that some of the Romans might imagine that he ought to be asha­med.

(That in the judgement of St. Paul the Gospel should ad­minister occasion for the Antici­pation and Amolition of so con­temptible a Prejudice,)

It seems to many very impro­bable, and therefore they say that the words are a [...], and that the Apostle in saying that he was not ashamed of the Gospel, intended to signifie that he ex­ulted and gloried in it.

Indeed, we finde our Apostle, not only in his other Epistles 1 Tim. I. II. (and in his Apologies) but in 1 Cor. 4. 4. 3. 7. 10. 8. this Epistle to the Romans, often magnifying his Office, and glo­rying in the Ministry of the Go­spel which he had received; he [Page 4] styles it the light of the glorious Gospel, a Ministration exceed­ing glorious, and professes that if he should boast of his Authority, he should not be ashamed.

Yet (with submission to better Judgements) I humbly conceive that he is not so to be understood in this place.

Though the Epistle was di­rected to those at Rome, which were already Christians; yet this passage was put in with reference to others, to whom the Epistle was to be communicated (per­sons not yet converted to Chri­stianity.) To them who were Ver. 8. bu­jus. already called to be Saints, whose Faith was spoken of throughout the World; to talk of not being ashamed of the Gospel, had been a [...] very incongruous.

But (on the other side) for [Page 5] him who (by his original Com­mission) was constituted the Apo­stle Act. 22. 21. of all the Gentiles, made a debtor to them all (as he sayes;) Ver. 14. to the Wise as well as unwise, to the Greeks and Romans as well as the Barbarians.

That he, who in pursuance of this Commission, had already planted the Gospel amongst the more Barbarous Nations, from Antioch in Syria as far as Lystra Acts 14. and Derbe, Cities of Lycaonia; and among the Greeks, in all the chief Cities of Macedonia and Achaia (from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum) so that nothing now remained but to Preach at Rome (as he speaks Emphatically) at Rome also.

That he, whose Preaching 1 Cor. 2. 1. was not in a way of Humane wisdom or excellency of speech [Page 6] (in the way either of Rhetorical Harangue or Philosophical argu­mentation) intending to preach at Rome (the Seat of the Empire of the World) the Resort of the Noble, the Mighty, and the Wise, of all those who in the Phrase of our time, are styled the Beaux esprits, the Wits and Braveries of the World.

Briefly, that St. Paul, who knew the Prejudices which these men had against the Gospel, and with what Contempt and Scorn they generally looked upon it (as a Dispensation whereof a man ought to be ashamed.)

That St. Paul, who (as it appears by all his Epistles and Orations) well understood (the [...]) the Congrui­ty and decency of speaking or of writing; intending, before he [Page 7] should conclude, (after he should have evinced the Excellency of the Gospel) to take strength and confidence, and glory in his Rom. 15. 17. Ministration; Being yet in his Prooemium only, whose Office is ( [...]) by a modest and smooth insinuation, to make way for his Discourse which was to follow;

I say, that in this place of his Epistle, he should take notice of the Prejudices which lay against the Gospel, and plainly and clearly (without a [...]) An­ticipate and Obviate the imagi­nation that he ought to be asha­med of it; This, I humbly con­ceive to be most agreeable to the design and Character of St. Paul, and that according to this inter­pretation we ought here to con­sider,

[Page 8]I. A supposal in the Romans, intimating the prejudices against [...]e Gospel. And therein,

1. A thing imagined; that Paul would not adventure to Preach the Gospel at Rome.

2. The reason of the imagina­tion, an Opinion that he would be ashamed.

II. A removal or Amolition of that supposal, intimating the Iniquity of those Prejudices: viz.

A Removal of

1. The thing that was imagi­ned, I am ready to preach the Gospel, even at Rome.

2. And of the imaginary rea­son of the supposition, For I am not afhamed of the Gospel.

III. The Grounds and Rea­sons of this Amolition.

[Page 9]And these are drawn from two heads and adjuncts of the Gospel:

1. Necessarily implied and presupposed, and that is Veritatis evidentia, (if the Gospel were not the truth of God it could not be the power of God.)

2. Explicitely and expresly proposed, and that is Vir­tutis excellentia, it is the Power of God to Salvati­on (and that [...]) to every one that believ­eth. ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth.’

So that I am to speak of these two general Heads:

I. Of the Prejudices against the Gospel.

[Page 10]II. Of the Iniquity and un­reasonableness of those Preju­dices.

From whence it will follow that we ought to Preach the Gospel, and not to be asha­med.

Concerning which things I shall not endeavour at a Rheto­rical Harangue, but crave leave that I may be admitted to speak in a plain and humble Analyti­cal and Didactical way of dis­course.

I. Then, I am to speak of those Prejudices against the Gospel, from whence it is (by some per­sons) imagined, that the Mini­sters of the Gospel ought to be ashamed of it.

And herein I shall

1. Shew that there alwayes have been, and alwayes will [Page 11] be such Prejudices against the Gospel.

2. Enquire what it is in the Systeme of the Gospel, which is the special object of these Prejudices.

3. Then make a brief reflecti­on upon the nature and symptomes of the Preju­dices.

4. And upon the Characters of the persons most ob­noxious to them.

1. First, That there alwayes have been, and alwayes will be, Prejudices against the Gospel (and an imagination in some per­sons, that Ministers and Chri­stians ought to be ashamed of it) is so deplorably manifest, that I need not insist upon either the proof or declaration of it.

That it is, and hath been al­wayes [Page 12] so, it is not only the un­happy complaint of the present Age, but hath been of every Age and Generation since the first Promulgation of the Gospel; And that it will be so, we have an infallible assurance from Christ and his Apostles; That the latter dayes shall be times of Infideli­ty and departure from the Faith, that there will be Scoffers at the 2 Tim. 3. 1. Gospel, and cruel Mockers, we have the assurance of the Apo­stles 2 Pet. 3. 3. Jude 18. St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Jude.

That when the Son of man shall come to judge the World, Luke 18. 8. he shall hardly finde Faith on the Earth, we have the Prediction of our Lord Christ himself.

Briefly and summarily, our Lord Christ in several places of the Gospel, declares and suppo­ses [Page 13] that many will be offended at Mat 23. 3. Mar. 8. 38. him, that they will be ashamed of him, and of his words, both of his Person, and of his Gospel.

Our Apostle declares that he himself is not ashamed, exhorts 2 Tim. 1. 8, 12, 16. Timothy not to be ashamed, com­mends Epaphroditus that he was not ashamed; St. Peter exhorts 1 Pet. 4. 16. those that suffered for the Gospel not to be ashamed. If there had not been an imagination in the world that they ought to have been ashamed, to what end were all these Declarations, Commen­dations, Exhortations concerning being not ashamed?

2. I pass therefore to the se­cond thing propounded, to en­quire what is the special Object of these Prejudices, or what are those things contained in the Gospel, whereof (in an especial [Page 14] manner) it is imagined that we ought to be ashamed.

Though the whole System of the Gospel lies under Prejudices, yet not all parts of it alike, some more than other, and some by reason of the other.

The whole Gospel is generally dividable into

1. Historical Narrations.

2. Moral Institutions and Mo­tives.

3. Dogmatical Mysteries.

These are delivered sometimes distinctly and severally, and some­times they are combined and mixed together.

That there was such a person as Christ, that he was born of Mary, that Joseph was his re­puted Father; The manner of his Life and of his Death, his Actions, and his Teachings, [Page 15] are matters meerly Historical.

That this reputed Son of Joseph was indeed the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of a Virgin, and the like, have in them a Com­bination of the Mystery toge­ther with the History of the Gospel.

[I stand not to shew, how the Morality is sometimes simply de­livered, and sometimes in Com­bination with the Mysterious parts of the Gospel]

1. Now concerning those parts of the Gospel which are merely and simply Historical, and Moral, I suppose they cannot be here intended; Because that to such persons, as the Romans were, (men pretending to Reason and Philosophy) they afford no co­lour for an imagination that a [Page 16] Minister or Christian ought to be ashamed.

Supposing the truth of what is there delivered (whereof In Serm. against Antiscri­pturists. I have spoken heretofore) what was there in the Birth, or Life, or Death; the Conversation, or Actions, (ordinary, or extraor­dinary) of Christ, or his Apo­stles, whereof in the opinion of a Philosopher, a Christian ought to be ashamed?

Was it the meanness of Christs Nativity? That he was the re­puted Son of Joseph, who was of a mean and despicable Occupa­tion.

Was it that he lived an Ambu­latory kinde of life? teaching and disputing concerning good and evil, happiness and unhap­piness, in the Synagogues and in the Temple, and the Streets [Page 17] and Markets, and in the Wilder­ness (every where) Preaching the Doctrine of the Kingdom.

Or lastly, Was it because of the occasion and manner of his Death? because he was Con­demned, and Executed by his Countrey-men, upon an accusa­tion of corrupting the People, and making an Innovation in Re­ligion, upon pretence of holding intercourse with God?

Every one of these circum­stances had been coincident in Socrates long before the time of the writing of this Epistle to the Romans.

He was the Son of Sophro­niscus, as poor a man as Joseph (a Carver of Images in Stone) his Mother was a Midwife.

His Conversation was Ambu­latory, discourfing and reason­ing [Page 18] at all times, and in all pla­ces, (in Academia, in Lycaeo, in Foro, in places of walking, and of publick Exercise; (when he ate, or drank, or played) in the Camp, the Market, or the Pri­son) with all the men he met withall concerning Virtue and Vice, and the summum bonum; concerning Wisdom and Folly.

Vide Xe­noph. in Soc. Apo­logia. And he had been condemned and executed by the Athenians, upon the very same pretences which were objected against our Saviour.

Yet all these disadvantages had not hindred Socrates (at that time, after about 500 years) from the Admiration, and al­most Adoration of all men pre­tending to Philosophy and Wis­dom, not only amongst all the rest of the Gentile World, but [Page 19] even amongst the Romans also.

And therefore the mere Histo­rical part of the Gospel could mi­nister no colour of suspicion why a Minister or a Christian should be ashamed of it.

2. Moreover, the same may be said of those parts of the Go­spel which are merely Practical, and Moral, (The Precepts con­cerning Piety and Justice, and Temperance in all the several branches of them, and the motives to them.)

The Morality of the Gospel infinitely excells the Institutions of any of the Heathen Philoso­phers, all that they could object against it, was its too great pu­rity and holiness, that it puts a violence, and stretch upon Hu­mane Nature, causing men to strain after degrees of purity and [Page 20] sanctity unpracticable and unat­tainable. It excells all the Pre­cepts and Institutes of the Jews, Christ made a [...] even of the Moral Law of Moses, and tells us, that the Righteousness of Christians must exceed the Mat. 5. 20. Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees; and the Apostle (com­paring the entire Systems of the Heb. 8. 6. Mosaical and Christian Oeco­nomies in reference to Christian Duties and the motives to them,) justly pronounces, that the Chri­stian hath received a better Co­venant, founded upon better Promises.

3. It remains therefore, that the peculiar and special Object of those Prejudicate imaginati­ons (whereby it is concluded, that Ministers and Christians ought to be ashamed) are the [Page 21] Articles of mere Belief, Dogmati­cal Mysteries of the Gospel.

At the expence of your time and patience (in a long dis­course) to tell you what are the Mysteries of the Gospel, were to suppose that (in compliance with the barbarity of later times) you had neglected to be in­structed in your Catechism, and had need that one should teach you what are the first Elements of Christianity. My design en­gages me no further than only to name them, and that also very briefly.

In the two first Chapters to the Corinthians, we finde our Apostle handling this Argument largely and ex professo.

And there he reduces the whole mystery to two words, namely, the Cross of Christ, he [Page 22] tells them that he was sent to Preach and not to Baptize, that this was that which Christ sent him to Preach; and that he de­termined to know nothing else among them, but Jesus Christ and him Crucified, and in Chap 1. v. 23. he declares this to have been the occasion of the Scan­dal, taken both by Jews and Gentiles; I Preach Christ Cru­cified to the Jews a stumbling-block, &c.

The Scandal taken, was a­gainst the Mysteries of the Go­spel, and the Nature, and Me­diatorian Office; the Character and Personal Concernment of Christ, and work of Redem­ption by his blood spilt upon the Cross, are the two great and comprehensive heads to which the whole Mystery of the Gospel [Page 23] is easily, naturally, and immedi­ately reducible.

The Justification, Sanctificati­on, entire Oeconomy of the sal­vation of man, depends immedi­ately upon the work of Redem­ption by the blood of Christ.

The value and efficacy of his blood, resolves into the Excel­lency of his Person, and of his Nature; That he was the Son of God the Father, Conceived by the Holy Ghost, which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one.

So that in the last resolution, the conjunction of the Divine and Humane Natures in the Unity of the Person of Christ, and the Tri­nity of Persons in the Unity of the Nature of the Godhead, is the [...] of the Gospel.

And this is also the [...], that great thing whereof it [Page 24] is imagined that a Christian or a Preacher ought to be asha­med.

Which will be yet more evi­dent if we shall make a brief re­flection upon the Nature and Symptoms of the Prejudices a­gainst the Gospel, and the Cha­racter of the persons more espe­cially obnoxious to these Preju­dices.

3. Beside the consideration of Interest, (real or imaginary) and the disappointment of mens desires and expectations, (an or­dinary, eminent and predomi­nant ingredient in the prejudices of all men) there are two things which (in men pretending to prudence and vertue, or to rea­son and understanding) are apt to create a distaste against any way of Institution, or any Do­ctrine [Page 25] wherein they are supposed or presumed to be.

1. [...], an apprehension of Turpitude or dishonesty, ei­ther intrinsecally contained in that which is propounded, or consequentially involved with it.

2. [...] or [...], an appre­hension of some Absurdity or unreasonableness in it.

1. Of the former sort, are Principles of Atheism, Irreligi­on, Immorality, the Doctrines of Diagoras, who denyed the being of God; of Carneades, concern­ing good and evil; of Diogenes, concerning Incest, &c. (which have an Intrinsick and immedi­ate turpitude;) The Doctrine of Epicurus concerning the Mortality of the Soul, a conse­quential Principle of all Impie­ty, [Page 26] Injustice, and Debauchery, if that be the case, Let us eat and 1 Cor. 15. 32. drink, &c.

These are injurious to the In­terest of Mankinde, and they put an indignity upon the pra­ctical reason and principles of men, and are apt to be distaste­full and offensive, instances whereof there are very many among the Heathens, (as among others that of the Athenians, who banished Protagoras, and caused his Books to be burnt in the open Market-place, because he wrote doubtfully concerning the being of a God) But as for these, it hath not been in the power of malice to fasten them upon the Gospel, or in the com­pass of mistake to suppose them in it; so that it hath been clear­ly exempted from this Prejudice.

[Page 27]2. The other thing that cre­ates an aversion against any Do­ctrine is [...] or [...] (an Ap­prehension of absurdity or un­reasonableness in the things pro­pounded) wherein the Wit and Theoretick Reason or Under­standing of men takes it self (no matter whether it be justly or unjustly) to be affronted, and this is as distastefull as the for­mer.

An Instance whereof we have in the sixth of St. John, where when Christ told those that fol­lowed him of eating his flesh and drinking his blood (speaking in a figure not obvious to their vul­gar understanding) they cryed out [...], (that was a hard saying) and taking themselves to be abused they fi­nally forsook him.

[Page 28]I say, that the apprehension of Moral turpitude, or Logical absurdity are equally distasteful, But in their more peculiar Sub­jects, and Symptoms, and Apti­tude to mistake and Prejudice, they differ.

The former aversion hath its peculiar seat and residence in Vertuous and Prudent men, (the [...] and [...]) and dis­covers it self in Zeal and Indig­nation, as against things dange­rous and pernicious; the later is subjected in persons, who are (or take themselves to be) men of Wit and Learning (the [...], and the [...],) the Symptoms of it are scorn and contempt, as of things absurd and nonsensical, foolish and irrational.

And in matters of this nature men are more inclinable to fall [Page 29] into mistake and Prejudice than in the former.

The Notions of Truth and Falshood lie more abstruse than those of Good and Evil, and men are more apt to be deceived in their wit, than in their honesty.

No Truths are so liable to mistake and prejudice as the pro­fessedly Mysterious, and without controversie great is the Myste­ry of Godliness. The ground of this Prejudice is an Impotency to distinguish betwixt [...] and [...] and [...], be­twixt Truth and Clearness, Ob­scurity and Absurdity, Being in­conceivable and incredible, Be­ing incomprehensible, and Being unaccountable.

4. This Impotency is an In­firmity to which the Brisk and the sudden, the forward and im­patient, [Page 30] the talkative and dispu­tatious, (all such as scorn the dulness of consideration, and think themselves above the drudgery of thinking) that is to say the Wits and Beaux esprits are of all men living the most obnoxious.

And from hence it is, that by persons of this Character to be despised, hath alwayes been the fortune of the Gospel.

The condition of the Gospel amongst our selves, I shall not in this place, at this time labour to declare, I come not hither to accuse my Nation; But that it was thus in the Apostles time we have sufficient assurance.

He tells us that the most emi­nent despisers (the Contempto­res legitimi) of the Gospel, were the [...], and the [...], [Page 31] and the [...]. The Tropical Rhetorician, and the Flanting Orator, the Jibing Satyrist, and Scurrilous Come­dian, the Sophistical Philosopher, and Everlasting Disputant, the Conceited Scribe, and Pharisai­cal Opiniator. Where (saith the 1 Cor. 1. 20. Apostle) is the Wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the disputer of this World?

The entertainment which the Gospel found at the hands of such as these was generally that of scorn and contempt.

Speaking in the person of men of this Character (whe­ther Jews or Gentiles) our A­postle in the compass of two 1 and 2 of 1 Ep. to Cor. Chapters doth nine times call the Mysteries of the Gospel foolishness, and foolish things, things weak, ignoble, and de­spised, [Page 32] and things which are not.

The sum of the whole Myste­ry of the Gospel is contained in two words, ( Christ Crucified) I preach (saith he) Christ cruci­fied, Chap. 1. 23. to the Jews a scandal, to the Greeks foolishness; the opinion they had of it was that it was an absurd and a foolish dispensation, a dispensation whereof a Chri­stian, a Preacher ought to be ashamed.

Thus much of the first gene­ral part of my Discourse con­cerning the Prejudices against the Gospel.

II. I come now to the second part,

To shew the Iniquity and un­reasonableness of these Preju­dices.

[Page 33]And here I shall endeavour to evince two things.

1. That there is reason for the Contemners of the Gospel to be ashamed of their Preju­dices.

2. That there is no reason for Christians or Ministers to be asha­med of the Gospel.

1. First, There is reason for the Contemners of the Gospel to be ashamed.

Because their Contempt of it doth not proceed from any Ge­nerous or Noble Principle or qualification, it comes not from height of Spirit or Wit, from depth of Reason or Judgement, from largeness of Learning or Knowledge.

But from the want of all these [Page 34] qualifications, and is finally re­solved into an ungentile, and (if I may be permitted to speak plainly) a kinde of Rustical Ig­norance and want of Ingenui­ty.

In Acts 17. 11. St. Paul com­paring the Thessalonian Jews with the Beraeans, saith that the Berae­ans were more Noble ( [...],) because they did not precipi­tously, and temerariously reject the Gospel, as the others did, but were diligent in searching of the Scriptures daily, and in a strict enquiry concerning the Grounds and Motives to Belief alleadged by the Apostles (whether they were of that weight which was pretended) whether they were so or no.

In matters of so great moment as the Gospel doth pretend to be [Page 35] (in reference to this world, and that which is to come) to de­spise, or to reject the Proposals, without a just consideration of them, and without an imparti­al and ingenuous examination (and full understanding) of the Grounds and Reasons, upon which they are propounded, sa­vours not of Prudence or Wis­dom, Wit or Learning, Ingenie or Ingenuity; in one word, it savours neither of a Gentleman, nor a Scholar.

Now that this is the Case in the Contempt of the Gospel, I think it will appear if we shall attentively consider,

1. What was the Judgement of Christ (who was the Author of the Gospel) concerning this matter.

2. The signal Instances of the [Page 36] contempt and neglect of the Gospel mentioned in the Scri­ptures

3. If we shall make a rational enquiry into the Principles and Postulata, into which the con­tempt of the Gospel is finally re­solved.

1. First, this will receive evi­dence from the Judgement of Christ himself, concerning the resolution of the rejection and contempt of the Gospel.

I suppose none will be so Jewish as to object, the bringing of Christ to be a Witness in his own behalf, seeing his case is not the case of an ordinary witness, but resolves it self (as after­wards will be briefly shewed) into attestation of the greatest credit.

I say then, that Christ himself [Page 37] (who knew what was in man, and needed not that any man should teach him) hath resolved the contempt and rejection of the Gospel into want of under­standing, and of due and inge­nuous consideration, into Igno­rance, and want of Candour and Ingenuity.

In the Parable of the Sower we finde this Argument largely and profoundly handled by our Saviour, the Parable is three Mat. 13. 3. Mar. 4. 3. Luk. 8. 5. times delivered in the Gospel, and is very well known, so that I need not stand upon the de­claration or repetition of it. The [...] concerning the bad, (that is the high-way, the stony, the thorny) and the good, (that is, the fruitfull) ground, I shall not mention; He that shall harmo­nize the triple Narration, and [Page 38] Analyze the ' [...] of this Parable, shall finde, that our Sa­viour therein propounds and in­timates the causes immediate and mediate; Mediate, nearer and remoter, of the reception and re­jection of the Gospel, whereof (as to the point in hand) the sum is this:

That the irregular endeavour after the attainment of temporal good things, and the avoidance of temporal Evils, The lust of the Flesh, the lust of the Eye, and the Pride of Life, the Cares of the World and Deceitfulness of Riches, the lust of other things, Pride and conceitedness of Wis­dom, and other Carnal Interests, are the cause of the want of an attentive, and patient, an inge­nuous and impartial considera­tion; And that the want of such [Page 39] a consideration, is the cause of the want of a thorow Under­standing; and that the want of a thorow Understanding, this is the cause of the Contempt, or Rejection, or neglect of the Go­spel.

In the Gospel of Luk. 8. 15. [...]. St. Luke he resolves the causes of the Re­ception of the Gospel into ho­nesty and goodness of heart (sin­cerity, and ingenuity) into a pa­tient and constant attention to (hearing and keeping of) the word.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew Mat. 13. 23. he resolves the whole matter in­to this one point of a perfect and thorow Understanding. The good ground, says he, is he that [...]. hears the Word and brings forth fruit with understanding.

A fair and honest, a candid [Page 40] and ingenuous attention and Consideration, and a full Un­derstanding, are the causes of the Reception; Therefore an At­tention hypocritical and unsin­cere, An ignoble ignorance, per­versness, and want of candour and ingenuity, are the causes of the contempt of the Go­spel in the judgement of our Sa­viour.

2. The same also will further appear if we might be permitted to examine the several Instances of contempt and neglect of the Gospel, and so go thorow the various degrees of the Symptoms of Infidelity mentioned in the Gospel. I shall only touch them very briefly, and the heads of them are such as these:

1. The egregious hesitation or slowness in believing.

[Page 41]2. The refusal or rejection of the Gospel.

3. The Offence or Scandal at it.

4. The quarrelling and dispu­tation against it, and opposition to it.

5. The down-right scorn and contempt of it.

6. And lastly, the Persecu­tion for it.

I say, if we might stay upon this Argument, it would appear, that as the Remoter causes of e­very Case, are easily reducible, to the lusts and interests men­tioned by our Saviour, so the more immediate Causes, whether in Jews or Gentiles, will be found to resolve into want of Ingenuity and Understanding.

1. The Apostles were slow in believing before the Resurrecti­on [Page 42] and Mission of the Spirit. Christ tells them, that then they were Fools, and slow of heart (inconsiderate and inadvertent, stupid and Disingenuous.)

2. The most eminent Reject­ers of the Gospel were the Scribes and Pharisees: if we shall enquire after the Vertue or Mo­desty, Candour or Ingenuity of these men, we will finde them the most barbarous and covetous, proud and supercilious, insin­cere and hypocritical in the world, (how often doth our Sa­viour charge them with all these things?) And if we enquire af­ter their Knowledge and Under­standing, we shall finde them to have been meer Braggadocio's and pretenders; Christ often calls them blinde Pharisees, and blinde guides; he tells them that [Page 43] they were blinde leaders of the Mat. 23. 16, 26. blinde: that seeing they did see and not perceive, hearing they did hear and did not under­stand.

3. In the sixth of John we finde a mighty Scandal taken at the Gospel among the Auditors of Christ, they murmured, they strove amongst themselves, they finally revolted, upon a word, because they judged it to be, [...] a hard saying; They judged it so, because they did not understand it; they did not un­derstand it, because they had not the Modesty and Meekness, Pa­tience and Ingenuity to enquire the meaning of it, or to attend to that Explication which our Saviour made of that expressi­on.

4. In the 22 of St. Mathew, Ver. 6. 3. [Page 44] and the parallel places, we finde the Pharisees, the Scribes, the Lawyers, the Herodians, coursing our Saviour, charging him with questions about paying Tribute unto Caesar, the Resurrection, the Great Commandment, &c. If now ye will judge of the In­genuity of these men, consider there how thick and threefold, how furiously and how rudely, they fall upon him, how stupid­ly they persist, every one judge­ing that he was too hard for all the rest, ( and answered them well,) but every one adhering to his own Conclusion; Consi­der how before they set upon him, they took counsel to en­tangle him, and sent spies to en­trap (or trepan) him; And for their Understanding, consider how ignorant they were, not [Page 45] knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

Neither was it thus among the Jews only, but among the Gen­tiles also; nor only in these, but in the two remaining degrees of the down-right scorn, and the contempt of the Gospel, and Per­secution for it.

5. In the 26. of the Acts we finde the opinion that Festus had concerning the Gospel, (with what contempt and scorn he speaks of it, how roundly he pronoun­ces that Paul was mad.) If you should judge of his Ingenuity in pronouncing, by his skilfulness in understanding of the Gospel; Consider how profound an ac­count of Paul's case, and of the Gospel he renders to Agrippa; Act. 25. 19. how that it was a (trifling) que­stion concerning the Jewish Super­stition, [Page 46] and concerning one Jesus which was dead, whom Paul af­firmed to be alive.

In the 17 of the Acts we finde Ver. 32. the Athenians [...], Making a mock at Paul, and scorning his Gospel as a most ridiculous thing; If you will know their manners and ingenuity, you may observe, that they condemned him for a Babler before they heard him Ver. 18. speak, and if you will measure the depth of their Understand­ing of that which they despised, you may observe, that as they imagined Jesus to be a strange God; so they understood Ibid. Ana­stasis (the Resurrection) to be a Goddess. He seemeth (say they) to be a setter forth of strange Gods, because he Preach­ed unto them Jesus and the Re­surrection.

[Page 47]6. The utmost degree of Contempt of the Gospel, is Per­secution for it; and the highest imaginable instance of this, was the betraying and murdering of Christ himself; Concerning the Ingenuity or disingenuity of the contrivance, management, and execution of this prodigious Action, it were no less than madness to undertake to speak proportionally; And that this also proceeded not only from wickedness and want of Ingenui­ty, but from Ignorance and want of Vnderstanding, we have an irrefragable assurance. Christ himself saith, that they knew not what they did; and our A­postle, Luk. 23. 34. that if they had under­stood themselves, they would 1 Cor. 2. 8. not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

[Page 48]So that by all these instances, and many others of like nature, it doth appear, that (agreeably to the Sentence and Judgement of our Saviour) the contempt of the Gospel is finally resolved into a shamefull Ignorance, and want of Ingenuity; which will yet be more evident from Rea­son.

3. I come therefore in the third place to a consideration of the

(1) Principle into which the contempt of the Gospel is resol­ved, and of

(2) The Postulata upon which it is grounded. And from the Absurdity of one, and the Un­reasonableness of the other, to make it appear, that there is rea­son for the Contemners of the Go­spel to be ashamed.

[Page 49]1. From the consideration of their Principle: After what hath been spoken in the former part of this Discourse, and what is attested by experience, I take it for granted,

1. That the special Object of the Contempt of the Gospel is the Mystical part of it.

2. That the immediate reason of the contempt of these Myste­ries is an Imagination, or Opinion of the falshood of them.

3. That this Opinion of the falshood of them, is derived from the Obscurity and Difficulty of them.

Because they are inexplicable, incomprehensible, unintelligible, they conclude them to be false and incredible, merely Fantasti­cal and Chimerical Imaginations, and so to be despised.

[Page 50]So that the Principle into which these Scorners do resolve themselves, is this; That what­soever is Inexplicable, Incompre­hensible, Unintelligible is (by Philosophers at least and Wise men) to be accounted incre­dible, fantastical, fictitious, and so to be despised.

If this be not the Ratiocina­tion, and this the Principle of those Virtuosi, of whom we are speaking, I desire to be better in­formed. But if it be, I would in­treat them to stand a little, and consider whither they are going, and whither this Principle and reasoning will lead them.

Will it not lead them to cast off not only Christianity, but even all natural Religion, and force them (with the wise man in the Psalmist) to say in their [Page 51] hearts that there is no God? Because the Nature, and Essence, and Attributes of God are inex­plicable, incomprehensible, and un­intelligible; He dwells in a light which no mortal eye can ap­proach unto, such knowledge is too wonderfull and excellent for us, and we cannot attain unto it.

But this I fear they do not ac­count an inconvenience, but ra­ther that this is that they would be at.

Again therefore, I entreat them to consider;

Will not this Principle lead them to deny the most obvious things in nature? Will it not take away the very grounds of all that wisdom, to which they do pretend, (the force even of Ex­periment and Demonstration?)

Nay, Will it not finally bring [Page 52] upon themselves, that horrible inconvenience, that they are not to be offended if it shall be doubted or affirmed that they are not such Wits as they pre­tend?

The most obvious things in Universal Nature, are Continued Quantity, and Local Motion: These are either infinitely divi­sible, or they are not. Will they deny this Disjunction, (and say, that they neither are so, nor not so?) Or will they make choice of either Member? Will they clear the difficulties that are in it? Or answer the Objections that may be made against it?

I presume they may have heard of that famous Argument of Ze­no ( AEliates) called Achilles, How whilest that mighty Dispu­tant (by the impossibilities and [Page 53] absurdities on either side) was demonstrating that Local Mo­tion was a thing impossible, one of his Auditors rose up and silently and sliely walked about the School, and so confu­ted him.

The most previous, most clear, and comprehensible of all hu­mane Sciences are the pure and unmixed Mathematicks, yet even in Geometry and Arithmetick how many things are forceably concluded to be true, which are inexplicable, unimaginable, in­comprehensible? I shall instance in a very few; So few as not to need an Apology to the un­learned in those Sciences: So trivial, as not to admit of an Ex­plication to the Learned.

That the least imaginable space should be equal to another (upon [Page 54] the same Base of the same Alti­tude) whose sides are protracted in infinitum, or a Finite greater than an Infinite. The equality of all Circular Angles of Con­tact. The everlasting approxima­tion and impossible concourse of Asymptots. The affections of surd and irrational Quantities, &c. are undeniably demonstrated to be true, yet all these (and many more) are inexplicable, incompre­hensible, unintelligible.

They say they cannot expli­cate or imagine, (they cannot conceive or comprehend) the Mystery of the Trinity, and Uni­ty of the Godhead, and therefore they despise it as a mere fictitious imagination.

Do they therefore clearly un­derstand, and fully comprehend, and can they express and expli­cate [Page 55] the Affections of Unity and Trinity in Numbers? That there should be a Quantity in Nature (one and not another) which with its infinite q. c. qq. &c. ascending pow­ers and q. c. qq. &c. descending roots are all of them equal, or rather one and the same among themselves? Can they explicate, or imagine, or comprehend any one of the infinite potential roots of the Number Three? q. c. &c.

They say, they cannot un­derstand how Christ should be conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a Virgin, and there­fore they deride it.

Can they therefore under­stand how they themselves have been conceived, and born, and nourished up? And are they able to explain how, and by what progress from a little wa­ter [Page 56] spilt upon a too luxurious ground there should spring forth such a Race of Titans, such a Gigantick brood of fighters a­gainst Heaven, of Scoffers at Re­ligion?

Briefly, they say they cannot comprehend how God and Man should be one Christ, and there­fore they contemn the Gospel, and the Believers of it.

Can they therefore under­stand how the reasonable Soul and Flesh should be one man?

Either they themselves consist of two natures (the one Corpo­real, the other Spiritual and In­corporeal) or they do not. If they have nothing in them In­corporeal, can they understand and explain how sensless Atoms, how stupid Matter, and Local Motion should work themselves [Page 57] up to Sense and Cogitation, Re­flection and Discourse, to Wit and Gallantry? (so as to make Jests and Ballads upon the Go­spels.)

If they consist not only of a Body, but of a Soul (a spiri­tual Soul) also; Can they ex­plain by what [...], these two natures have been brought together; by what bands and ligaments they are united, and how the Communication be­twixt them is performed? In one word, Can they explicate the Phenomena of Sense, Imagi­nation, Memory, Reason, Wit and Bravery?

If they are able to perform these things, let the world be made happy by their labours, and let them receive the Paeans, and Acclamations, the Crowns [Page 58] and Garlands denyed to all that were before them. But if they must be forced to confess that all these things are inexplicable, un­imaginable, unintelligible, and in­comprehensible, and will yet con­tinue to despise the Mysteries of the Gospel only for that reason, because they are inexplicable, un­intelligible, incomprehensible, let them not be offended at a poor despised Minister of the Gospel; if he shall declare and testifie to all the World, that these are not the Wits, or Beaux Esprits, or Forts Esprits; that they are Flesh and not Spirit, mere ordi­nary mortal Wights as others are; that all their boasting is but empty noise, and all they have to shew is a mere Deceptio visus; that they may be Masters of some devices that are pretty, [Page 59] skilfull in the Arts and Myste­ries of Circulation and disguise, but they are not such dreadfull Archimago's, such mighty Con­jurers as they pretend. Let them therefore abandon their unrea­sonable Principle, and be asha­med.

2. But secondly, as is the Prin­ciple upon which they contemn, such are their Postulata, (the [...], or [...], as the Phi­losophers and Mathematicians call them,) that is to say, the terms or demands upon which they pretend that they would cease to despise the Gospel, and for want of which they do con­temn it.

These Postulata are reducible to two Heads:

1. Philosophical Demonstra­tion. Or,

[Page 60]2. The sight of Miracles, Signs and Wonders (at their de­mand.)

This is the pretence of the Wits of these Times: if the truth of the Mysteries of the Gospel might be proved to them by Demonstration, or if they might see a Sign they would believe; This was the pretence at the time of the writing of my Text; ( [...]) The Jews required a Sign, 1 Cor. 1. 23. the Greeks ( i. e. the Gentiles) sought after Wisdom ( [...], i. e. [...],) and because they were disappointed of these, the mystery (of Christ Crucified) was to the Jews a Scandal, to the Greeks foolishness. For brevity let us name these two:

1. The Grecanick or Philoso­phical Postulatum.

[Page 61]2. The Judaick or Semiotical Postulatum.

Now that the former of these proceeds from Ignorance, and want of Learning and Under­standing; the later from Pride and Arrogance joyned with a blockish Stupidity; That the for­mer is disingenious, the later disingenuous, that both of them are irrational and absurd is evi­dent.

1. And first for the Grecanical Postulatum;

In the case of any Doctrine or question, to refuse a proof that is Cogent, and sufficient, (the only proof whereof a thing is capa­ble) and to hanker or seek after a Proof impossible, or improper, (such as implies a Contradicti­on, or such as the nature of the question will not bear;) This [Page 60] [...] [Page 61] [...] [Page 62] (I say) proceeds from Ignorance, from want of Learning and Un­derstanding, and this is the case of the Grecanick or Philosophical Postulatum.

To give a rational or Philo­sophical Demonstration of the truth of the Gospel, there are but three wayes imaginable in Nature: By Arguments, either,

1. A Priori, from the common Principles of Intelligence. Or,

2. A Posteriori, from experi­ment and sensible observa­tions.

And this latter way of arguing must be drawn either,

1. From instances of things Novel and Anomalous in Nature, things purposely designed for such Arguments: Or else,

2. It must be taken from the [Page 63] common and ordinary, the stand­ing and perpetnal Phenomena of Nature.

A Demonstration à posteriori by particular Instances of the Divine Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, purposely designed for that end, was the proof offer­ed by Christ and his Apostles; This they rejected; To prove par­ticular Mysteries, Mysteries hid­den from Ages, (and so decla­red and professed to be by the Promulgers) by general and per­petual Phenomena of Nature, is in nature impossible to perform, and senceless to require: To prove any thing concerning the Essence and Nature of God per causas, by Arguments à Priori supposes causes precedent to the Essence of God himself, and im­plies a Contradiction; So then, [Page 64] the Grecanick or Philosophical Postulatum proceeds from Igno­rance and want of Learning, and is at best disingenuous, and Theo­retically absurd.

2. Again secondly, (concern­ing the Judaical or Semeiotical Postulatum) After numerous, or rather innumerable Attestations by Signs and Wonders notori­ously known (and by themselves acknowledged) or sufficiently and authentically proved, or de­livered down by uncontroulable and irreproveable Tradition, yet still to demand and require more Signs, Signs of their own electi­on, accompanied with circum­stances of their own prescripti­on; Is not this to tempt and limit the Almighty? To make themselves Arbiters of the Ema­nations of his Power and Wis­dom? [Page 65] To suppose that those ought to be subservient to their wanton curiosity; Is it not to expect that God himself should Lacquey after them, to make him a doer of Tricks at their senceless and impudent demand? Is not this an A sinine and an impious stupidity? A composition of the highest degrees of Intellectual and Moral Absurdity which is imaginable?

Now (therefore) that this was, and is, (and to the end of the world must ever now be) the case of the Jewish or Semeiotical Postulatum, is a so plain and evi­dent.

In Confirmation of the Go­spel, Christ and his Apostles wrought far more (and more con­siderable) Signs and Wonders, than before (or since) that time [Page 66] were ever wrought since the Cre­ation of the world, yet all this will not content them: Not­withstanding all this, [...], (they require a sign) the mean­ing whereof is better interpreted by their Practice and behaviour to our Saviour than by the Di­ctionary; And of this their be­haviour I shall only produce two or three instances.

In the sixth of John we finde that Christ fed 5000 men with five Loaves and two Fishes, and when they had seen the Miracle, they were so taken with it, that they Ver. 14. [...]. Ver. 15. said that he was that Pro­phet which should come, and they would have taken him by force and made him a King.

But the very next day, these very men, that had seen, and felt, and tasted of, the Miracle (be­cause [Page 67] he told them that they fol­lowed him for the Loaves) take a miff at him, they pirk up them­selves, and come boldly and ma­lepertly to him, saying, Ver. 30. [...]; What Sign shewest thou, that we may see and believe? What do'st thou work? As if the former Mi­racle had not been now a Sign.

When Christ hung upon the Mat. 27. 40, 41, 42. Cross, the Noble and the Mighty, the Grave and Wise amongst them, (the chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the Elders) came, and offered him a bargain, if he would then (just then) come down from the Cross, they would believe; but our Lord Christ had just then something else to do.

In the eighth of Mark the Pha­risees Ver. 11. vide Mat. 16. 1, 4. 12. 38, 39. Luk. 11. 16, 29, 30. came forth, and began to question him ( [...], to cavil, and dispute with him) [...], [Page 68] ( requiring a sign) seeking of him a sign from Heaven tempting him; They would have (and that pre­sently upon the spot) a sign, not [...], but [...], or that which is properly [...]; not from Vide Joh. 4. 48. Winde, or Sea, or Earth, but from Heaven; not that they in­tended to be his Disciples, but for a trial of his skill and abili­ty; was not this a Gallant and a Wise, a Noble and a Worthy Postulatum? Could it chuse but move him to a compliance?

This moved him indeed, to comply so far with his own de­fign, as to promise them a sign; the sign of the Prophet Jonas (that irrefragable [...] of his Gospel) which should render them inexcusable; But though he was meek and lowly of heart, the soft and gentle Lamb of God, [Page 69] so that he snffered himself to be accused, condemned, buffeted, and spit upon, and yet held his peace (as a Lamb that is dumb so opened he not his mouth) Yet the nobleness and ingenuity of this Postulatum kindled a fire within him, so that he spake with his tongue. This moved him to scorn and indignation, so that in effect he called them bastards for for their labour, telling them that they were (no sons of Abra­ham, Isaac and Jacob, but) a wic­ked and adulterous Generation; and that no sign should be given Mat. 12. 38, 39. them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas.

I suppose I shall need to say no more concerning the absur­dity and unreasonableness of the Jewish or Semeiotical Postulatum. And

[Page 70]I have now done with the for­mer part of my undertaking, which was to endeavour to make it appear,

That the Comtemners of the Gospel have reason to be asha­med of their Prejudices.

2. I come now to the second, which is the last part of what I have propounded, viz. to shew,

That there is no reason for Christians or for Preachers to be ashamed of the Gospel;

And that upon two Conside­rations:

1. Propter veritatis Eviden­tiam.

2. Propter virtutis Excellen­tiam.

The former of which is im­plied (if it were not the truth of God, it could not be the Pow­er of God.)

[Page 71]The later is expressed, For it is the Power of God to sal­vation to every one that believ­eth.

The evidence of the Truth is so great that whosoever duly considers it will certainly be­lieve the Gospel.

The Virtue and Excellency of the Gospel is so great, that whosoever truly believes the Go­spel shall infallibly be saved.

1. First, I am to speak of the Evidence of the truth of the Gospel. But because it is here only implied, and because I have Serm. a­gainst An­tiscript. formerly employed my poor endeavours upon that Argu­ment, I shall only briefly touch upon it.

The Mysteries of the Gospel, though they are inexplicable and inconceivable, yet are they [Page 72] not incredible, though incom­prehensible, yet they are not un­accountable; Nor was the Au­thor and Finisher of the Chri­stian Faith so severe upon the understanding of his followers, as to exact a Belief without a sufficient proof and Demonstra­tion of the truth of that which he delivered.

Though he would not offer at the Grecanick way (which he knew to be impossible to grant, to be absurd and unrea­sonable to require) yet he would afford it that Demonstration whereof it was capable (a De­monstration properly so called, accommodate to the Understand­ing of all Mankinde, Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Barbarians, Noble and Ignoble, Learned and Unlearned) [...].

[Page 73]He that refused to gratifie the impudent Scribes and Pharisees in their way, would not leave the truth of the Gospel unde­monstrated in his own.

And of the truth of all the Mysteries which he delivered, this is the Analemma Catholicon, the Common, the Universal, the Comprehenfive demonstration.

He that made himself the Son of God (as the Jews express it) That said he was one with God ( I and the Father are one) that Joh. 10. 30. 14. 11. he was in the Father, and the Father in him; That declared the Mission and Emanation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son, and that always spoke of him as a person distinct; And that these three are one.

In a word; He that was the 1. Joh. 5. 7. Author of these and all other [Page 74] Mysteries whereof we have been speaking, did not put the issue of believing upon his [...], but upon an undeniable and un­refuseable Criterion.

If I do not the works of my Fa­ther believe me not; but if I do, Joh. 10. 38. though ye believe not me, believe the works, ( [...]) that ye may know (by Demonstrati­on) as well as believe, that I am in the Father, and he in me.

He did not only bear witness to himself, (although he died in testimony of his Doctrine) He had not only the glorious Com­pany of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, the noble Army of Martyrs for his Witnesses; But he called Hea­ven and Earth to witness, He subpena'd whatever was in Hea­ven, and Earth, and in the Sea, [Page 75] and in all deep places, to bear testimony to him.

There were three that bore witness in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, those three which he affirmed to be one. The Angels ministred unto him; The Devils trembled and fled before him; Plants and Ani­mals, the Winde and Sea obeyed him; The Stars in their courses, or rather out of their courses mi­litated for him. To give testimo­ny to Consummatum est, at the time of his Death, the Sun was eclipsed, the Moon being at the Full. To indicate the place of his Nativity, at the time of his Birth a new Star was made on purpose. Health and Sickness, Life and Death, and Hades, gave in their testimonies by their obe­dience to his word. Yet once [Page 76] more, he shook the Heavens, and sent down the Holy Spirit upon his followers: he shook the Earth also, he tore the Rocks and open­ed the Graves, and at his power­full voice the bodies of the Saints arose: And lest it should be said, He raised others but himself he could not raise; As he finished the Great Mystery of Christia­nity by his Death, so also he proved the truth of it by his Re­surrection; As he died for our Sins, so he rose again for our Justi­fication, Rom. 4. 24. for our Justification is in the Belief of that, and all other, the Mysteries of Christianity.

These and many more, are heads of Arguments, which who­ever duly considers and under­stands, will certainly believe the Gospel propter veritatis Eviden­tiam.

[Page 77]2. It remains only to shew, that whosoever doth truly believe the Gospel, shall infallibly be sa­ved Propter Bonitatis, or Virtu­tis Excellentiam; Because it is the Power of God to salvation to every one that believeth.

In speaking of which Argu­ment, I need not go about to prove, that the Power of the Go­spel is the Power of God, (in which respect it is called the Act. 11. 21. Hand or Isa. 53. 1. Arm of the Lord, Rom. 10. 16. Eph. 6. 17. the Sword of the Spi­rit, Tit. 2. 11. the Grace of God, bring­ing Salvation, and the like.)

Neither shall I stand upon a Comparison of the Gospel, with the Grecanical or Judaical Insti­tutions, (a man may believe all that ever was written by Philo­sophers, and yet doubt whether there is, (or can be) such a [Page 78] thing as Salvation, yea or no. A man may believe, whatever is explicitcly and expresly deliver­ed in the Law of Moses, and yet not be saved) But my intention is (barely and nakedly) this, By a short Reflexion upon the Way and Method of the Actions of Mankinde, and the Discoveries and Contents of the Gospel (well known to those that hear me) to manifest the truth of this Pro­position, That, every man that believeth the Gospel (i. e. that truly and actually [...]. Luk. 8. 15. [...] Rom. 1. 28. abideth in that belief) shall infallibly be saved.

Because whosoever frames his Actions according to the Rules and Principles (the Precepts and Prescriptions of the Gospel,) shall infallibly be saved.

And because, it is of the na­ture of man, to frame his Actions [Page 79] according to his Actual and per­severing Judgement and Belief.

The Nature and Essence of man consists in his Understand­ing; and for a man not to fol­low the stedfast and constant, the actual and final dictate of his Understanding, is impossible in Nature, and indeed implies a Contradiction.

He that believes, that there is neither God nor Devil, Heaven nor Hell, Salvation nor Damna­tion; And that he hath not an Immortal Soul ( i. e.) a Soul to save; such a man (If at least he hath attained to those great ac­complishments of Rudeness and Incivility) will make it his bu­siness to fill up his measure of Debaucheries, and Impieties; will think it Brave (perhaps) and Witty, to Blaspheme God, and [Page 80] scoff at Religion; will make it a matter of Gallantry and noble Courage and Resolution, to challenge God to damn him, or bid the Devil take him Body and Soul; will spend his time in Revelling and Drunkenness, in Chambering and Wantonness; Expecting and hoping to die like a beast, he will be sure to live like one; And in conclusion will finde himself disappointed of this glorious hope (this goodly, noble, manly expectation) and that his Miscreancy and the errour of his Judgement hath betrayed him into eternal misery.

Whilest (on the other side) he that believes the Declarations, and Promises, and Threatnings, of the Gospel, will have his fruit unto holiness, and the end ever­lasting life.

[Page 81]He that firmly and stedfastly believes, that the Soul which Actuates his body is an Immor­tal Being (a subsistence which shall and must endure to all eter­nity;)

That after Death he must ap­pear before the Tribunal of God 2. Cor. 5. 10. and Christ, to answer for the things done in the body;

That from thence he shall be transmitted to a state either of Eternal Happiness, or Eternal Misery; either to be entertain­ed (in the Vision of God, in the fellowship of Saints and Angels) with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory: Or secluded from the sight of God, and treated with the Devil and his Angels, with tor­ment unconceivable, unexpres­sible, and that to all Eternity.

This man, if he might gain all [Page 82] the Profits, and Honours and Pleasures, if he might decline all the afflictions of this world, will not lose his own Soul: Frustra blanditiae venitis ad hunc, frustra nequitiae venitis ad hunc. Consi­dering that light and momenta­ny things bear no proportion to the exceeding weight and mo­ment of those which are Eternal, he will forthwith endeavour to lay hold upon Eternal Life, and make haste to escape the Wrath to come; And to that end he will devour all difficulties, and neg­lect no means or opportunities.

He that believes, that the only way to Happiness is the way to Holiness; That without holiness Heb. 12. 14. no man shall see God; That no unclean thing shall enter there, 1 Cor. 6. 9. That the Impious, the Unjust, the Intemperate, the Lascivious [Page 83] (continuing so) shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

This man will endeavour to purifie himself, to mortifie all his carnal lusts and affections, to cleanse himself from all filthi­ness of Flesh and Spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

Again, he that believes and considers the Corruption and Impotence of his natural Con­dition, and the design of Christs coming into the world, what he hath already done, and what he is still in doing for him;

How that himself (and every Eph. 2. 3. man) is by nature a childe of wrath, that Sin reigns in his mor­tal Rom. 7. 24. body, that he lies under a bondage from which he cannot redeem, a Guilt from which he cannot acquit himself;

[Page 84]That no flesh is justified in the Rom. 3. 20. sight of God.

Whosoever, I say, doth believe this concerning himself; and (on the other side) concerning Christ, that to this end was he born, and for this cause came he into the world, 1 Tim. 1. 15. that he might save sinners; Joh. 3. 17. That the world through him might be saved;

That to this end (and this end only) he descended from Hea­ven; This was the end of his Conversation upon Earth, his Life and Doctrine, his Preaching and Example; This was the end of his Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Session at the Right hand of God; That by the sufferings of his Life, and the in­estimable value of his Blood, the world might be Justified and Redeemed from the Guilt of their [Page 85] sins, rescued from the miseries of the world to come.

And that by the operation of his Doctrine, and Example, and the power of his Intercession, the world might be sanctified, Deli­vered from the Dominion of sin, purified and prepared to be ad­mitted to the Vision of the most holy God, Fruition of the Life to come.

I say, that the man that firmly, and stedfastly, and actually be­lieves these things, will not (nay, indeed that he cannot) neglect so great Salvation; That he will not trample upon the blood of the everlasting Covenant, or de­spise the Spirit of Grace, or cru­cifie afresh the Lord of Glory, and put him to an open shame. But that for his continual cleans­ing, from his past transgressions, [Page 86] he will daily resort to the foun­tain which Christ hath opened for sin and for uncleanness, of­fering and presenting his head and his heart (his minde and his affections) to the blood of sprink­ling; And that for the obtaining of preventing, and following Grace, to preserve him from lapsing for the time to come, He will throw himself daily at the feet of that High-Priest, which is sensible of his Infirmities, and which sits at Gods Right hand, making Intercession for him, and with sighs and unutterable groans he will implore the Assi­stance of that Spirit which help­eth our infirmities:

And that continuing, and per­severing in this Course, (by the Grace of God which never fail­eth them that seek him) he will [Page 87] certainly conform himself to the Commands of Christ, and com­pose himself to his Example, till at length he be transformed to his Image; He will add to his Faith Vertue, and to Vertue Know­ledge—and so onwards, He will goe on from strength to strength untill he appear before God in Glory.

I say, that such a man, by de­nying Tit. 2. 12. ungodliness and worldly Lusts, and living Soberly, and Righteously, and Godly in this present world, will work out his Salvation with fear and trembl­ing, and in the end of his dayes will certainly and infallibly at­tain to the end of his hopes, name­ly, the Salvation of his Soul. So that the Gospel is indeed the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation to all men: It is the [Page 88] power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth.

TO come therefore to a Con­clusion: Judge now in your selves Brethren, and judge Righteous Judgement; Is this a Gospel which is to be despised? A Dispensation whereof a Mini­ster or a Christian ought to be ashamed? Are the Mysteries of this Gospel to be derided and drolled upon? To be travestied or turned into Burlesque or Ma­caronique? Is this to be a Brave and a Gallant person? A Spark and a Wit? Or is it indeed to have never a spark of Wit or Gallantry?

Men, Brethren, and Fathers; If the time, and your patience, and my strength would bear it, I would take unto me boldness, [Page 89] and freely speak unto you con­cerning the Gospel of our Savi­our; I would Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort.

I would severally and distinct­ly address my self to every sort, and every Degree of those that hear me, Ecclesiastical and Civil, Young and Old, Wise and Un­wise, Noble and Ignoble.

I would speak unto you young men of the Clergy, that you would not be offended at the Mysteries of the Gospel, or think it a matter of Wit or of Learning, either to despise or to go about to mend them.

That you will neither be Drolled nor Disputed, Cajoled, nor faced out of your Religi­on, or suffer the Mauvais hont (the evil shame) to be put upon you.

[Page 90]That you will not believe that it hath been only dull formality, a want of the smartness of your Wit, or depth of your Learn­ing, which hath retained your Fathers and Predecessors, in the belief and the Profession of the plain, and simple Articles of the Catholick Faith. Be not deceiv­ed Brethren; Vixerunt fortes ante Agamemnona—

Be not seduced by those who pretending to remove the Scan­dal of the Cross of Christ (which thing St. Paul counted an ab­surdity Gal. 5. 11. in Christianity) would rob you of a most divine and excellent Religion, and substitute in its place a rotten and depraved Philosophy; Those I mean who never have been able with all their Wit, Reason, and Learning, to explicate or com­prehend [Page 91] the Mysteries or Me­chanies of a Mite, or of a Flea, of a Plant or Stone, or any one of the innumerable things which are before them, and yet they take upon them to controul the plain literal, designed and reite­rated Declarations of Christ and his Apostles concerning the Mysteries of the Godhead. Those who Grammaticizing pe­dantically, and Criticizing spu­riously, upon a few Greek Par­ticles or words, would cozen the World of the benefit of the blood of Christ, and Christ him­self of his Divinity; and put him off with a fantastical and Poeti­cal Apotheosis.

I would speak unto you Fa­thers, because ye have known the Father and the Son, ye un­derstand the effect and conse­quence [Page 92] of the Mysteries of the Gospel to the Salvation of men, that ye will continue to strive earnestly to retain that faith (which is thought by some to be upon the wing, that Faith) which was once delivered to the Saints.

I would speak unto you ( [...]) Wise men or Philosophers; Paul speaking to the men at Athens, Act. 17. 28. puts them in minde of a saying of a Poet of their own: I would call to your Remembrance a Saying of a Philosopher of our own, (a Philosopher of great renown) which is to this effect: That a profound consideration of the reason, and comprehen­sion of the circumstances of things (a deep dose of Philo­sophy) will make a man Reli­gious; And that the contempt [Page 93] of Religion is an infallible argu­ment of one that is a smatterer only, and half-witted.

I would speak unto ye Nobles, that ye would be Noble as the Beraeans were, That ye will search, examine, and consider, whether the case of the Gospel be such as hath been represent­ed, yea or no: And then I am sure ye will continue zealously and vigorously to support the Gospel.

I would take heart and cou­rage, and improve in an hum­ble confidence, so far as to pre­fer a Petition to King, Lords, and Commons (the Noble, the Mighty, and the Wise) that (at this time especially) they will be carefull of Religion, and tender of the Interests of the Gospel.

[Page 94]I would humbly endeavour to bring to remembrance, who it is by whom Kings Reign, and Princes decree Justice; And what it is to be Defender of the truly Antient, Catholick and Apo­stolick Faith.

I would endeavour to De­monstrate that neither Forts nor Castles, Armies nor Navies, Arms nor Ammunition, Money nor Men, (to say nothing of Allies or Confederates, or the Staff of Egypt) are so power­full a support of the Crowns of Princes as the Gospel; Nay, not as a few lines of this one Epistle of our High nosed Gali­lean (as the Scoffers have been wont to call him) duly imbi­bed into the Souls and Consci­ences of men, namely, that say­ing at the beginning of Chap. 13. [Page 95] Let every soul be subject to the Rom. 13. 1, 2, &c. Higher Powers, for there is no power but of God, the Powers that be, are Ordained of God—And they that Resist shall receive to themselves Damnation; the belief of this would be sure to compose the mindes of all Dis­senters so as to keep peace and obedience at home.

And the belief of that which follows would defend us from our enemies abroad; this would raise, Taxes and Contributions, Subsidies and Royal Aids, pro­cure all things necessary for the maintenance of Just Wars abroad; For for this cause also pay ye Ver. 6, 7. tribute, because they are Christs Ministers, &c. So powerfull and usefull is the Gospel, where it is believed, to maintain all the parts and Interests, and to com­mand [Page 96] all the succours and neces­sary supplies of Government, to bring fear to whom fear, ho­nour to whom honour, tribute to whom tribute belongeth.

Wherefore I would not fear humbly to make an Application in the words of King David: Be wise now therefore O ye Kings, Psal. 2. 12. be learned ye that are Judges of the Earth, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoyce unto him with reverence; kiss the Son left he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way.

But I can only be permitted to make one common and pro­miscuous Application, to high and low, rich and poor, one with another, namely, To charge upon your memory (and pray that it may rest upon my own) one saying of Christ himself, [Page 97] that dreadfull saying in Mark 8. ‘If any one shall be ashamed of me, or of my words in this adul­terous and sinfull Generation: Of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the Glory of his Father, with his holy Angels. Mar. 8. 38.’ And without any Apology for my boldness or in­discretions, to conclude in the words of the Text: