DIATRIBAE; OR Discourses UPON SELECT TEXTS: Wherein Several weighty Truths are handled and applied against the PAPIST AND THE SOCINIAN. By HENRY BAGSHAW, D. D.  
LONDON, Printed by T. H. for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1680.   

TO The Right Honourable and Reverend Father in God, Nathaniel, Lord Bishop of Durham.  
My Lord,  
I Have been long doubtful in my thoughts what Subjects to handle under so great a variety of Christian Truths; but I do not doubt in the least where I should fix my Dedication; since your Lordship may challenge all my endeavours, whether I be barely considered as a Member of your Diocese, or farther as planted by yourself under the noble Influence of your Favour. As a Member, there is due from me all the Reverence of an Esteem: as one planted, there is requisite the peculiar tribute of a thankful mind in a return of some Fruit to your hands.  
The Discourses I here offer to your Lordship's view, and from thence to the World (how weakly soever they are written) yet I am sure they have weight of matter and worth of Patronage to defend them. I here open from Scripture, First, that heinous sin of Imprisoning Truth, and the justness of God's vengeance revealed: Next, the natural Inference from Divine Promises, which is the exercise of all Piety: Thirdly, the cogent reason of adhering to our Lord Christ, because He has words of Eternal life for his followers: Last of all, the proper Benefit of his Death in that work of Justifying us, and the Peculiar Advantages of his Rising: In all which points I have strictly confined myself within my Circle; and (as occasion led me) reflected upon Two great Enemies to Christianity, which are the Papist and the Socinian; the one crying up his Diana (which is the Church) the other magnifying as false a Goddess (which is his own Reason) to overthrow it.  
I need not here publish your Lordship's Zeal for our Protestant Church, which you have abundantly demonstrated to your own Clergy, nor the prudence of your Government, which we all taste of: but since I am made so singular an Instance of your kindness both as to present and future encouragement, I take leave to mention it to the world, and withal to acquaint your Lordship, That the great Temptation I had to write was my Sense of it; where I hoped I might erect some lasting Memorial; or (if the poorness of what is written should hinder life,) yet the Candid Reader might give it one by considering your Lordship's Name, and the Gratitude of the Writer.  
I am, my Noble Lord, Your Lordship's Most obliged and ever faithful Servant, Henry Bagshaw. Houghton le spring, Sept. 30. 1679.   

The First Discourse.  Rom. 1.18. 
For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.  
THese words have reference to the sixteenth verse of the Chapter, wherein the Apostle stoutly defends the Charge of his Ministry, because the Gospel he preached, though it might seem to have a weak Subject (a Crucified Saviour) and as weak a Deliverer of that Subject (a despised Messenger) yet was the Power of God to Salvation. How it proved such an effectual Instrument in God's hands to convert the World, He farther illustrates by the Methods and Rules of it, as being a full revelation of his Will, both to accept the imperfect righteousness of men, and to punish their wilful disobedience. In the one it suits itself to our highest Hopes, by that blessed Life it propounds; in the other it is applied to our greatest Fears, by that cursed Death it threatens: so that none can possibly escape the force of Religion, except at the same time their own passions be destroyed.  
Now what is God's rule of saving men by, he tells us in the Verse foregoing my Text; and with what clearness of discovery the Gospel lays open the Justifi-fication of a Sinner, and Faith the condition prescribed: but lest this Faith should be mistaken (as if Heaven were the reward of a naked Belief, and a bare reliance on Christ might buy out his purchase) he checks our confidence by another Manifestation of God's Justice against Sinners, As the Just shall live by Faith, (whereby He means Faith that is the Principle of a new life,) so the Wicked shall die for their Impenitence; and both these states the Gospel reveals; a Light sent us from above to work doubly upon Earth, in refreshing the Saint, and consuming the Malefactor. For the wrath of God, etc.  
Whether the scope of these words be directed against the Gentiles, who were such Rebels to Nature, or against a mongrel sort of them (the Gnostics) who were such corrupters of the Gospel, I shall not here examine, but consider them barely in themselves as they point out to us a General Truth, which is this,  
That the wrath of God against all kind of sin, but especially the sin of those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness, is plainly discovered in the Gospel.  
In the management of this Truth it will be necessary to inquire into these particulars.  
1. Into the Nature of God's Wrath, what it implies.  
2. Why the Revelation of his Wrath is more peculiarly ascribed to the Gospel?  
3. How justly it is exercised upon those Sinners who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness.  
I. Into the Nature of God's Wrath, what it implies.  
The holy Penmen of Scripture that borrowed our Passions to express the manner of Gods dealing with us, teach us withal to abstract from the weakness of them. Passions in us show the imperfectness of our beings, that we need such Principles to act by; and the imperfectness too of our State, in that Trouble follows their Motion: And particularly this passion of Wrath is attended with a double one; either if you regard the disturbance it raises in the Soul upon the sense of an Injury, or the poor limiting of it to Time in its effects of punishing: in neither sense can it belong to God; for could He be disturbed when provoked, He would lose the Happiness of his State; could He be limited in his Vengeance, He would lose the Glory of his Power.  
Therefore his Wrath in this place can signify nothing else but a settled decree, or fixed will of punishing sin eternally. This is a revenge proper to God, and it is this alone makes the Transgressor fear: In this sense it is taken by John the Baptist, when he warns his hearers to flee from the Wrath to come; and by St. Paul when he speaks of the day of Wrath; styled so with an Emphasis, to distinguish it from Gods other days of Execution in this world.  
Here a Day of Justice may rather be termed Night for its darkness, and Providence itself seems to be clouded even in those Thunderbolts that come down; but the Day wherein the sinners eternal Portion will be assigned, is a clear one; for it derives its distinguishing light from the scorching Flame that preys on him. Did not God thus punish the Offender, all his other Judgements would not bridle us, nor could there be a sufficient Evidence of his wrath, did it only light on the party, but not stay nor abide on him: Then Justice appears to be his, when it is not common with man's; but man can temporally punish and be mocked to by the Sufferer, since that Death he inflicts as his highest punishment, is but an end and escape from it. We all foolishly burn in our wrath, and the fires we prepare for oaths carry a vain heart in them; they scorch and heal together, they dissolve the body to ashes, and cool it by doing so; but when Eternal Wrath seizes on us, when Everlasting Burn break forth, this is to give the substance of pain, and no shadows. In this way God rewards men's evil deads', and by the terror of it keeps his infinite mercy from being abused; which is an Attribute that wicked men naturally stick to, and as hardly quit their hold of it in pursuit of their wickedness, were they not shaken off by another notion of Infinite Justice.  
I proceed to my second Query,  
II. Why the Revelation of Divine Wrath is peculiarly ascribed to the Gospel? This is intimated in my Text; For the wrath of God (says the Apostle) is revealed from Heaven, that is immediately by the God of it, who descended upon earth to teach the world, and in an heavenly manner confirmed what He taught, sealing by his Works the Truths He delivered.  
In handling this point I shall premise two things, which are here necessarily employed.  
1. That the eternal punishment of evil doers was a Truth decreed by God, before it was revealed: for Revelation gives no Essence to things, but only an Appearance to us: it is not a creating but a discovering work; not a saying, let it be, but let it be with full Evidence. He that opens the earth, and produces those stores it shuts up, does not thereby cause them to exist, but to be known; so when God's wrath is said here to be manifested, it imports this, That it was first prepared. His decree was passed from all eternity against sin; having determined with himself to create Man, and govern him by Law, determined likewise a Punishment answerable to the Majesty of the Lawgiver; from whose infinity Man's guilt should swell up, so as to deserve infinite Wages.  
The Wrath then of God was sure beforehand; only the benefit we have by his revealing it is the applying of that Truth to us, whereby we are warned to seek out and provide a remedy of the Judgement.  
2. The second thing I shall premise is, That till the Gospel came, the nature of God's Vindictive Justice was much hid and concealed.  
It is true the Gentiles had a Light from Heaven (which was the Light of Nature, the Candle of the Lord) and the Jews a more special one, which was the Light of the Law to direct them; yet neither of them contained a like evidence of this Truth which the Gospel affords us.  
1. For the Light of Nature the Gentiles were led by;  
I confess they had unalterably this dictate from it, that Wrath was the due pay of Offenders; and because men lived not up to the Principles of their Creation, they were therefore justly liable to the Curse; but how far that Judgement should certainly extend, herein the Light failed to guide them. Reason itself taught them to conclude the Wicked deserved punishment; but the Reason did not suffice to confirm that punishment in another World; for how Man could eternally subsist in a course of misery they understood not, nor what consistency there was of an immortal being with perpetual Torments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Speech of one of their chief Philosophers; as if to Suffer and to be Mortal were one and the same thing.  
I need not mention the grossness of their mistakes about the Nature of him they worshipped, which is palpable to all from that Idolatry they invented; but their Error also is alike notorious as to those Motives they failed in, for urging Religion upon men. For when they denied the Resurrection of the Body as Impossible, they must consequently deny an Eternal Reward that was built on it. What we read in the Acts to be the professed Mockery of the Epicureans and Stoics (when St. Paul preached to them upon this Theme) was indeed the sport of all the rest; who scoffed at any thing above Nature, and minding only the constant course of its operations, made accordingly their Estimate of God's Power. But perhaps they delivered somewhat concerning the Life of the Soul; but then they did it very uncertainly (as Socrates in his Apology for himself before his Judges sufficiently witnesses) and if any of them were so positive as to affirm it, yet they made that state after death so Airy and so Romantic, that neither the Just man could be refreshed, nor the Wicked frighted with that opinion.  
Go to their Stories of the Dark Regions below, and the Fiery Lake the Bad should be cast into; the Stone, the Wheel and the Vulture that was appointed them; these were the reports of their Poets, fit Priests for such Worshippers. Little did they work upon men's Faiths to believe them, who with their fabulous mixtures corrupting Truth, hindered thereby the conviction of their Hearers. Hence their great ones were not moved with what was related to them; and the Vulgar did but consider them as Tragedies upon a Stage; where Fears perhaps were raised in them from the Apprehension of an Evil, and again easily cured with the conceit of a Fiction. In a word whatever Religion they had concerning another life, it was made by Fancy a wild Speculation, and had no check upon conscience to bind practice; so that to them the Wrath of God here in my Text proved still a Doctrine unknown.  
2. Let us examine the Doctrine of the Jews, and that Light of Special Revelation which they enjoyed.  
It must be granted by all Christians, that the Jews had their Covenant established upon promises and threaten of an Eternal Condition. God who chose them out of all Nations to be his People, and governed their State peculiarly by his Laws, did by this too distinguish them from the rest of the World, that they had their Religion advanced by those Prophets He sent amongst them: whence we find it vindicated by Christ in a Dispute, by Paul in a Defence, by Abraham in a Parable. Christ's proves from thence his Doctrine of the Resurrection, Paul his hope of the Promise, and Abraham the different state both of good and bad; which one would think were enough to stop the mouths of our Modern Saducees when the Old were put to silence. And indeed whoever shall assert that the Jews had no such benefit of Revelation, he must at once charge their Lawgiver with weakness, and their own Faith with absurdity in cleaving to him.  
Yet however, this Law of the Jews (if compared with the Christian in the manner of its evidence) came not up to the excellency of that discovery. For the whole Mosaïck Oeconomy was made up of Types and Figures, and a thick Night continually overspread their Tabernacle: Their Promises and Curses literally concerned the things of this life, and it required a piercing Faith spiritually to interpret them: a vulgar eye would surely stay upon the Surface; but for to be able to take in the depth, this must proceed from a strong enlightening, which we read only a few were blest with, that like Moses were carried up to see the hidden things of the Mount, when the generality stood below and saw nothing but Clouds.  
There was then great need of a Saviour to appear, whether we regard Jew or Gentile; and that not only for the work of saving Mankind, but for redeeming Truth, which was so obscured by the one, and lost by the other. Now Christ has discharged his Office in this particular; and for this Prophet alone was reserved all the glory of Divine Revelation, who being the express Image of his Father's Person, was the Signifier also of his Will in the brightest Character.  
We know in the Creation Light was God's first work, but in restoring of Religion his last He judged it not fit to bring bright day on his People at first, but by degrees to prepare their weak sight that it might be the better confirmed; and when the full time came, the Gospel was published, which put an end to farther discoveries and sealed up the Vision.  
This being premised, it remains I should speak one word to show how God's wrath by way of eminency is revealed in the Gospel: which will appear by considering, 

1. The Cleverness of it in the Letter.  
2. The Public Promulgation of it to the World.    
1. For the Clearness of the Letter; nothing can be more lively shown than the Sinners Hell, whose Worm is said not to die; neither is his Fire quenched: Nor does the Second Death cease from hurting him. Should we now conclude with the Socïnian, Eternal Punishment to be nothing else but Perdition or a Negation of Existence, we must flatly deny those phrases of Scripture before mentioned; for the Worm itself dies if its prey does so; the Fire is put out if the matter it feeds upon be not lasting; and the Second Death is not in the least hurtful; if it imply nothing of torment. But besides (were this granted them) what's become of the fierceness of God's wrath, when neither felt nor endured? Where is his Judgement and severe reckoning with evil doers, if they partake with Brutes in their end? It is folly to fear where Justice is not known; and consequently a wide gap is opened by such men to all impiety, when they take off the Terrors of Death, leaving men as unconcerned to be nothing an hundred years hence, as an hundred years past to be unborn. O the vanity of that Reason they pretend to, which breaks the Authority of God's Laws! O the cruelty of their Compassion to Man's nature, whereby Religion itself is destroyed! But Christ has otherwise instructed the World, and knowing it needful that Everlasting Punishment should be equally set before us with Life Eternal; He has joined them both in the Sentence, that we might be every way convinced Eternity is our lot, and therefore a full motive to Duty.  
In the Old Testament Tophet or the Valley of the Children of Hinnom (where their Sons and Daughters were sacrificed to Moloch) was used by the Prophet Isaiah as his greatest Type and Representation of Hell: But how short it fell of a Gospel-description will be made evident, if we consult the place, the number it was prepared for, and the time of its burning: the place though deep, yet had bottom: the number though great, yet was limited to one People; and the time of its burning though fierce, yet had end. On the contrary the Gospel reveals a bottomless Gulf, a multitude of all Nations that enter, and a perpetual duration of their torments. So that here we have a clear light of the Letter, wherein the Jews were defective.  
Neither does the excellency of a Revelation stop here, but we may consider in the second place:  
2. The Public Promulgation of it to the World; and the Seal it carries of an Universal Publishing, answerable to the Majesty of him that came to set up an Universal Kingdom. Behold, the Sentence of Divine Wrath was before hid with the Jews; but now the knowledge of it spreads into all parts, and so it proves a new Light in regard of its extent through all quarters. That Sun of righteousness, that has risen, shines round about, not only with healing under his wings to preserve, but with Flames too of vengeance to consume. And this He manifested here on Earth, when he proclaimed the Glad-tydings of Salvation, and pronounced many a Blessing upon his People; yet lest they should forget the Justice of a Saviour, Woes and Threaten were ushered in, to allay and temper all his Ministry. Therefore those that heard him, had reason to fear, and not think themselves freed from Legal terrors, since the Thunder of Sinai continued still, though the Darkness of it was gone.  
And as He thus awed them with his own Teaching, so He commissioned his Servants to do likewise, when He sent them abroad to teach all Nations. Mercy alone was not their Theme, nor the riches of Divine Grace in man's Redemption (which is such welcome news to the receiver) but the Curse was also annexed, and the Charge of future Judgement; that if the former did please, the latter might bind. Before this, Ignorance might be some way pleaded by the Gentiles, that they obeyed not God's Law, when Life and Immortality were not known; but after these were cleared up in the Gospel, than their Condemnation was perfected. For now they could be no longer termed unhappy for sitting in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death, which is a kind of Sanctuary to the Pleader, but Wicked for loving the Shadow which is the beginning of Hell. Upon this account He no more winks or spares, but judicially eyeing their steps, denounces against them his heaviest Judgement.  
I know many refer the Revelation of God's Wrath to the Experiments of it in the world, and make his outward Judgements upon sinners as so many Witnesses to confirm it. But were no higher meant than those Instances, we should be still in the dark; convinced perhaps he was wroth, but not wroth to a distinction, wherein Justice is revealed. None can spell out Characters of Providence, nor read the special Handwriting upon the Wall without the benefit of Vision. What is all our sight of a just God here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Riddle, a Riddle that has busied Philosophers to resolve, and hardened their doubts by the enquiry? If Wrath be manifested, let the bad feel its burden; but alas! God's Tempests here seem only to fall upon his own Chosen: They may call it Grace thus to suffer, but it is Grace not seen, nor acknowledged by others, all the face of it being spoiled in the Storm.  
On the other side the calm and lustre of outward good, this is generally the wicked man's share; we may call it Punishment thus to flourish, but it is a Punishment desired. Now to break up the Pit and show those Treasures of vengeance shut up there; to search into a wicked man's Fate, and discover the Miseries that follow it; to represent him naked in his Grave, and awaked afterwards in that nakedness for scourging, this is properly to reveal Wrath, and to the Gospel we must owe such a Discovery.  
Thus much for my Second Particular. There remains the Third to discuss, which is this.  
III. How justly it is exercised upon those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness?  
In discussing this Head I shall first open the Charge, and then it will be easy to prove the justness of the Sentence.  
The Charge laid against the Sinner is not error of mind, nor weakness of passion, nor decay of nature (which are Gild attended with an Apology) but the tyranny of a corrupt heart; That hating the Empire of Truth, takes it prisoner to be freed from its Government: for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies, namely forcibly to withhold or detain Truth, that is, to obstruct the power of Religion.  
What a high piece of injustice this is, will be evidenced if you regard, 

1. The Act in itself.  
2. The Motives that lead men to it.  
3. The Effects that flow from it.    
1. As to the Act; it is no less than the seizure of a Sovereign Prince; for such Truth, is; and therefore justly demands to have Jurisdiction in the soul, and like Light to spread in its full liberty. What have Subjects to do with fettering Princes, whom they are bound to obey, or keeping them in the dark when they ought to be visible in the Throne? King's are only at Babylon led captive: There they have their eyes put out, and their feet bound, that they can neither see nor walk abroad: So the Christian Law (that aught to rule in the World) is at Rome barbarously used; a place eminent for kindling of Lamps, and for smothering of Light; for adorning of Altars, and for corrupting the Sacrifice. What I beseech you is all their Worship but blind and lame, Truth being so ill racked with their handling, that they can only acquaint us with the deformities of its body? The Prison it suffers in is that of One Language, hardly revealed to the Priests themselves; the Eyes it has are those Figured one's of an Idol, that need the gildings of Art to be owned: the Feet are the supports of a Tradition which requires an Implicit Faith, that is, Faith of the same lameness. Who that sees Truth in this shape will not say it is vilifyed by its professors, when the bare withholding it from others is a high Act of Injustice? For that Act is a withholding of the Birthright and Inheritance of Men, and a frustrating of God's purpose in the gift of it; who as he has designed the Elements of Nature to be commonly enjoyed for our Bodily sustentation, so he has also designed the Elements of Truth to be with a like commonness imparted for preserving the Soul.  
Yet these kind of men (that lead Scripture captive) dare plead the Infallibility of their own Church; a word wherein the Mystery of Iniquity is summed up, and from whence they have fetched all their Artillery to beat down every thing that opposed them: which puts me in mind of that famous Engine Demetrius contrived, and is mentioned by Plutarch in his Life, that had several Rooms and Partitions in it to hold Soldiers; and the men that lodged there did fight with all sorts of weapons. Such is their Engine of an Infallible Guide; but certainly of itself it would little prevail, were it not for its many Cells and the Forces that fill them. For behold! what Bands of Friars, what Companies of Priests lie there armed and prepared to defend their Cause! This word (Infallible) has strength enough with them to solve all Arguments for Truth, to remove all objections against Error; and withal it so blinds their whole party, that they can neither discern any compounded mixtures in Faith, nor notorious scandals in practice; though the one proceeds from all the grossness of Humane Invention, and the other from all the licentiousness of Corrupt Nature.  
But the falseness of that Title they pretend to, is sufficiently laid open in the world; and they themselves too might be convinced of the arrogance of their claim; since whatever promise they may plead for such an assistance, concerns only the leading of the Universal Church, and is limited too in its sense to points necessary for its salvation; whereas they (being only a part of that Body, and a part wretchedly fallen in Christian Principles) cannot truly be said to be upheld by the Spirit, but rather Judicially forsaken, by reason of their banishing the Word of Truth, which can only secure the Spirits Conduct. But I pass from hence to the Second Aggravation of this sin; wherein I shall consider,  
2. The Motives that lead men to it.  
Can men urge some powerful Temptation for the reason they had to hinder the Authority of Religion over them, they might fetch an excuse from it; but when a base lust, a sordid appetite shall get strength to prevail, this heightens the Crime because of the shamefulness of that Conquest. In all Irreligion we are poorly mastered, or rather betrayed. The Will quits its allegiance to the Understanding (which by nature it is a servant to) for a mean, narrow, shrunken object, that cannot so much as bribe it by a Reward. Atheism is built upon gross dictates of Sense, and Lust forms to its self principles to resist Conscience; wherein Man (pretending to live free) is left miserably bound by his Slave. Consult the whole Method of an Atheistical discourse: In Flesh it gins and ends with it; but take once out of Man's mind carnal Hopes, and sensual Imaginations, than the Soul comes to do itself right, by being filled with proper Ideas of God and Eternity. Devotion is the genuine birth of our Thoughts while the streams of them are pure; but Impiety is a Monster, that out of mud and stime is form. We may know its Original by its Fruits, and the debauchery of an Atheist's reason by his practice, whose love of Drink, Whoredom, Gluttony, and other foul Uncleannesses, furnishes him with Arguments to defend them. Upon the same score the Heathens maintained their Idol-Temples, because their inclinations led them to vice, and the Gods of those Temples showed them the way.  
The like Reason may be given for that exact care and diligence in the Roman-Church to suppress Truth, which is Lust and Interest. These are the Two commanding Principles they are swayed by, and Unrighteousness is served by them for low wages. They hid the true doctrine of a present Repentance, that their followers may sin all their life-time without fear, and at last purge by Confession: They conceal the True Tenet of Christ's full satisfaction (whereby both sin and punishment are taken off) that they may make an Exchequer of Man's Pardons: They destroy the nature of Good works, and make them to be nothing else but an Art of Compounding: The Creature is set up by them (as it was by the Gentiles) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the Creator: They drive at Universal Empire and Sovereignty, and in order to this all worldly Stratagems are made use of; so that it is hard to judge whether their Capitol or their Church be better founded. A Man's Head (we know) did denominate the one, and I am sure it lies at the Foundation of the other; except you'll say the Old Serpent gets in to help the Subtlety of it, and to mix his poison with the Invention. Indeed they may boast of their Politics thus improved. But whoever will survey the whole Model of their Religion, or impartially view their Discipline and Practice, he shall find Truth is hid by them for carnal ends, which adds new height to the sin.  
3. The third and last aggravation is drawn from the effects that follow this violence offered to Truth.  
Whoever shall suppress the power of Religion in himself, does thereby contract a hardness in his soul to commit iniquity, and lives a continued scandal to his Brethren; but whosoever shall suppress Truth by a Law, he thereby proclaims his defiance of it, and employs all his force to six Error and Corruption in the World. How can Injustice rise higher than this case! for it is a flat war against Heaven; a public Invasion of each man's privilege; it is a digging of the Eyes out of that Head, which should be general in its shine; and a reducing of things to a strange Chaos; where the confusion is far worse (when Truth and Falsehood, Good and Evil are not known) than when Heaven and Earth lay undistinguished. O how sad and deplorable is men's case, to be left in ignorance of their way to Eternal Happiness! Who can possibly attain to Life without a knowledge of it before hand, or be brought from the power of Satan unto God, except their eyes be first opened, and their Spiritual Blindness removed? There is no altering of God's Methods to save, nor of the course of his Spirit to convert men; who gins in an act of Conviction upon the Understanding, and conveys by it to the Will its sanctifying operation; so that without enlightening there can be no renewing of the inner man, and by consequence no fitting or preparing of him for Glory. So then look where Truth is hid, there so many souls are buried, and descend by degrees from one Gulf into another. Till the Prison be broke, and light again restored, a recovery is impossible. Therefore when such a General ruin is the issue of Religion's Captivity, the crime of detaining it must needs be heinous, and arise in proportion to those mischiefs that are caused.  
I could allege the same instance I before mentioned, as a pregnant proof to show how destructive it is to a people that Truth should be withheld, and an Inquisition established to keep off that Trial. Hence multitudes perish for lack of Knowledge, and wanting a requisite Faith (which a blind Credulity takes the place of) are in all the folly of it condemned. But light they pretend wounds men, and Scripture (if public) deceives, many wresting it to their own destruction; a liberty (say they) of Christian knowledge is but a Curse and a rank Field for several Heresies to spring up; whence it is better to root it out, and thereby hinder the growth of tares. But an Objection of this kind is easily answered: for there was never any thing of great esteem and use for man's Life, but it bred a difference in opinion. As Physick intended for the cure of Bodies, and Philosophy for the health of Souls, are both fruitful of many questions; yet none in his wits would avoid Physic or Philosophy, because of different Sects and Parties they breed; so neither should the free use of Scripture be condemned, in regard of differences amongst men; which proceed not so much from their study of contention, as from a variety in their abilities to understand. Farther, were this charge of theirs valid to null the force of the rule, let then the great Eye of the Firmament be pulled out, because he raises vapours as well as enlightens: The vapours that are raised he owes to the Earth, but enlightening must be ascribed to his own Body. Would we certainly know the reason why the Gospel is hid? It is jealousy and fear of being reform: An evil eye will not bear Light, nor a diseased Conscience retain it: Light reproves and convinces where it comes; for this cause they keep it close, dealing with Truth as the Tyrians did with their God, whom they fettered with a strong Chain, lest (if free) he should leave their City, and take the Enemy's side.  
Hitherto I have spoken of the Charge; whose greatness does appear from the treason that is in the Act, from the baseness of the motives, and from the murdering nature of the effects: proceed we to speak a little of the justness of the Sentence that is here denounced against those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness.  
It may perhaps be counted a disproportionable reward by some, that wicked men's finite Acts should be everlastingly punished: But did they farther regard them as Acts of Strength where the Will governs, Acts of Enmity where Revelation is opposed, they would not so readily complain of the rigour of that Judgement. Besides there is an absolute necessity for such a Sentence to secure Religion in the World, since the bounds of Christianity would be quickly passed over, were not infinite terrors the fence to keep Travellers in. And what seems more loudly to call for it, than the sin I have already discoursed of? or how shall the authority of Truth be maintained, the honour of God vindicated, and the injuries done to our Brethren avenged, but by so signal a punishment? Take thy measures of the offence from the Object: in that Glass thou mayst discern its full stature. He that quenches Light; strives to destroy the God of it; which being so high a provocation, the same God is solicited to exercise his Omnipotence in a revenge. The Princes of this World would be satisfied to the utmost, when their Subjects daringly rebel; only their want of power causes a weakness in their blows: God that can take the extremity of a payment when an affront is offered him, pursues but the will of a Sovereign in doing so.  
Did he indeed hid Truth from us, we might likewise be hid from his Justice: but when he clearly propounds it to us, and enables our Wills to close with it, here we inexcusably offend. Now we say we see, therefore our sin remains; now we confess we are assisted by Heaven, therefore Heaven is absolved when it punishes. May we not with shame own that reproof which God delivered against Israel, Your destruction is of yourselves? May we not apply what he had spoken against Jerusalem, What could have been done more for my Vineyard that was not done? For he has taught us by his Word, awakened us by his Rod, invited us by his Bounty, offered himself to us by his Grace, while we desperately forsake our own mercy. Even the worst of men taste of his Goodness; They find his Spirit in their Consciences to check, in their Minds to guide, in their Wills to allure them; he woos, he solicits, he waits, all our Faculties he besets, that he might draw us over to the Government of his Laws. He is always free and communicative of his Treasures, but it is man's guilt cuts off the spring. Tax not then the Method of God's proceed, that summons into an extraordinary Court the gross abuser of his Talents; but reflect sadly upon the sinfulness of thine own ways, that causes Grace to alter its shape, and the face of a Saviour to be transfigured with darkness.  
I shall close this point with an Inference from the whole.  
I suppose none will expect in this place I should attempt a description of Divine Wrath, which though it be revealed from Heaven, is yet hid in the manner of execution. So Lightning is discerned by its brightness when it strikes, though the way of its working is not seen. How the Fire below by an Almighty breath will be kindled, and yet kept by the same breath from consuming the Sinner, it is not for us to explain; but certainly the Wound, the Smart, the Plague is intolerable, wherever the weight of God's Justice falls. And they of all men will feel its burden, that bring Light to their punishment; whereby they are forced to acknowledge the double calamity they are pressed with, namely Wrath not to be shunned, and Sin not to be pleaded for. Here the Sword cuts deep, enters the very marrow and spirits, and renews continually its edge with piercing. Who is able to meet Vengeance in its assaults, and Light in its convictions? Is not their force strong, nay irresistible where they come? Behold! the one makes, and the other quickens our Hell; the one binds us fast, and the other heats our Furnace.  
I know the Theme I now insist on is not suited to a Scoffers ear, because not suited to his designs. What have we to do (says an Epicure) with a warning of God's Justice, that chastises all our delights, and mingles gall with our pleasures? If Religion must be preached up, let Grace and Mercy be revealed: Those have a healing quality in them, and like Beds of spices refresh with their opening; but Treasures of Wrath, and the Pains of another World, these like noisome pits do punish us in our searching. Thus he would secure his way of sinning to himself, and remove all sting from his conscience.  
But alas! his arts are in vain; were he freed from any outward sounds of the Ministry of the Word, yet his mind is still checked with a future Judgement, and by fits submits to the Revelation. Indeed how can it be otherwise? for the notions of God and his Justice are twisted together in our Souls; and the same impression that convinces us of his Being, convinces us too of his Wrath against sin: nothing remains but that the eternity of it appear, and when that is effected, the Soul necessarily yields, and witnesses its surrender by those pungent acts of reflecting.  
We suppose now adays Atheism to abound, and fortify that supposition by our frequent discourses to confute it; but if there be such a Leprosy amongst Christians, it does not so much seize the head as the heart, which is the seat of the Devil's Disease; and he cares not to spread it farther in his Children. All our crime is, not that Divine Characters in us are lost, but only hid in our souls: Truth we bury by our practice, though we feel it lives to our torment. And God grant we be not punished for our Ingratitude with outward darkness by a removal of his Candlestick from amongst us. Do we now pride ourselves in this, that we enjoy mercy? but let us also regard the dangerous neighbourhood of Vindictive Justice, when that Mercy is despised. What Attribute is there can rescue us from the stroke, when Goodness will not defend? Is it Power we may flee to? but that determines itself to destroy: Is it Wisdom? but that contrives the way of destroying: Is it Holiness? but that justifies the proceeding; whence Goodness alone is the security of the Sinner: That Altar of Refuge God himself has set up to stop the course of his own Vengeance. And yet even here we are not safe, because our abuse forfeits the Privilege; all the protection of it is lost through our stubbornness of offending; whereby we become guilty of a mad Sacrilege, when we pull down the Sanctuary that might save us. There is no sin so aggravating as what strikes at God in an Evangelical Revelation: for here we offend against his last and best method of drawing us to him.  
You are all diggers in Truth's Mine, and have your toil paid with those pleasures you find there; but where ought it to be seen in its greatest beauty, if not amongst those that chief discover it? All kind of Truth has charms upon its face to get Lovers, but the Truth of Religion has a Divine Image upon it to win Souls, and an Eternal Dowry to hold them: Blind are we if we resist, absurd if we refuse such a Temptation. The Duty I here press is very seasonable; for the Object you see deserves Love, ay and the courage of Love to pursue it. How can Lusts or Fears take room in a Christian, that has such high Motives to govern him! Propound to thyself Good and Evil in their full latitude here; swell them to their biggest bulk; dress them in their choicest colours and shows, they sink to nothing with a religious comparison: Heaven melts away all the paint of a present delight, and Hell renders all the Vizards of outward danger contemptible; so that neither the one, nor the other, can stir a passion in the Soul when our thoughts are well planted.  
Therefore if either the Mercy of a God can move, or the Wrath of Almighty can bind us; if the Sceptre of Grace can persuade, or the Lightning of Justice terrify, if Life, if Death be of any moment to us, let us be fast maintainers of the Truth, and commend our Profession to the world by that Infallible stamp of our lives.   

The Second Discourse.  2 Cor. 7.1. 
Having therefore these Promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit, perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God.  
IN the last verse of the preceding Chapter (to which these words chief refer) we find what a gracious promise God makes to his People, when He assures them (if they separate from sin) in what a glorious manner He will receive them; allowing them the noblest Privilege a Creature can have, and the best security to maintain it. For the Promise runs thus, I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters, saith the Lord Almighty  
Now the former of these Titles speaks not only the nearness of our Creator, but all the bounty of his Grace: the latter declares not only a height our Natures are raised to, but an equal advancement of our Hopes; and the Lord Almighty (added in the close) is the best Security against Fear, since a Father assuming it to himself, does thereby direct its influence to save us.  
I grant Power to be dreadful of itself, and Omnipotence much more; but let the name of Mercy be joined, all the pleasantness of its lustre is cast on it: we can then view it as a calm Sea, where breadth and depth grow delightful, by reason of the gentleness of the Current: so when an Almighty Lord confirms this to us, that He will treat us like Sons, we can then cheerfully contemplate the Attribute of his Greatness, because all the Majesty of it is allayed with his condescending goodness to Mankind. This then being everywhere offered in the Gospel (that perfect Model of Divine love) what is the Fruit we should return to our God, but such a work of obedience that prepares and fits us for what is promised; that stamps upon us God's Image in our Souls, and conveys with that Stamp our right to Glory? Having therefore these Promises, etc.  
We may observe in the words three particulars.  

1. A Motive.  
2. A Duty.  
3. The Manner of performing it.   
The Motive answers our utmost desires; for it consists of Divine Promises.  
The Duty contains the best preparatives; for it lies in purifying of Flesh and Spirit.  
Lastly, The Manner of performing it affords the surest marks to undeceive us; for it is a Perfecting of Holiness in God's Fear.  
The First persuades, the Second qualifies, and the Third distinguishes our Religion from the Worlds.  
I begin with the Motive, as it powerfully persuades to Christian Practice: Having therefore these Promises— Where we may note by the way, how allowable it is in our Christian Profession to regard the Titles and Privileges of it for the better encouragement of our service. It is not a mercenary, but a rational act to eye a reward in any action we perform; much more the reward of eternal Blessedness; since the very End of our Faith (with St. Peter) is the Salvation of our Souls. Moses (the greatest Prophet of the Jews, and a Type of our Lord Christ) had a respect to the recompense of reward; and this our Apostle St. Paul commands us in another place to run that we may obtain: so that to bid us do Gods Commandments merely for the Beauty of Holiness which is in them, without looking upon the Promises for our support, is to make all our Religion a poor thin Speculation, when it affords us no prospect; and to turn our Obedience into an uncomfortable slavery, by cutting off those helps the Gospel propounds for our Devotion.  
But for the better handling of the Motive (here laid down) I shall consider Two things.  
1. The Nature of Man's will that is to be moved.  
2. The fitness of Gods Promises to inflame it.  
1. For the nature of man's Will; How free soever it be in its acting, yet it has always Good for the object of its choice; nor can Evil (as such) be possibly desired. Nay, it is Truth of Good Man properly seeks; but that Appearances and Colours should more often allure us, it is rather the effect of error and weakness, than the genuine product of our Wills. As the Understanding affects what ought to be known, so the Will affects what ought to be coveted; only the sensual part in us overrules, that stops the one in its proper pursuit, and spoils the motion of the other.  
We all find in ourselves, how earnestly we desire some chief Good, and therefore presently close with Happiness proposed; but if this Happiness be enquired into what it is, than indeed we fall off and divide; which arrises from the corruptness of men's affections, that inclining them several ways, teach them to set up several Objects, where they wretchedly wander and turn aside, and so miss of that which in the general notion they seek after. Yet for all this the Will of Man as it follows Reason (for so it differs from Appetite) is disposed by it to follow the best grounds, and allow particularly of that Good which does most conduce to its perfection.  
And so I proceed to show in the second place.  
2. The fitness of Gods Promises to inflame Man's Will.  
This will appear in that they contain all those Topics of persuasion that can possibly belong to any Promise: such are Excellency of Good, Infallibility of Obtaining, and a Miserable defect as to both these in any other offer besides.  
Now we need not prove in the First place the intrinsic Excellency of what is promised, since that rich offer of Adoption includes in it whatever Gift an All-sufficient Being can bestow. For hereby we are translated into Gods own Family, and invested with suitable Privileges as his Children. All things are here allowed us that can be hoped for from a Father of Love, and from a Lord of Power; which combining together their proper acts, complete the Riches of a Christians Inheritance. In the Old Testament Father is not a name that God was styled by, but only Lord; and the Title the Jews had was that of a Servant: which though it take honour from their relation to such a Master, yet it imports in itself all the Burden of Duty: But in the New, where Father and Lord are both joined, and to become Sons and Daughters, is the Privilege of his People; this speaks at once the Ease of their Service, and the Comfort of their Hopes as to a future enjoying. Indeed God shows in this Covenant of Grace his utmost contrivance to draw us to him. As it was the Consultation of his Wisdom at first to make, so it is here the labour of his Love to invite us; for which end He reveals his Treasures, opens his Stores, sets out Heaven in its chief Lights; any, converts himself to a Reward. He desired emptiness to become Man, that He might take again fullness to enrich him. Is it then Life, Joy, Liberty, Glory, or any other Good we count excellent? Behold! the Purchase of it by him who propounds to us these blessings; and having already widened our Faculties for desire, He farther enables our Natures to receive.  
Next let us regard the Infallibility of Obtaining, which cannot but render a Promise as exceeding worthy to be prized.  
The worth and excellency of any Good is a sure foundation of our esteem; but our certainty of having it is that which fixes our Love, and crowns our Endeavours in pursuing it. Now this certainty of ours, as to what God promises, is built upon two great Attributes, Truth and Omnipotence; which are like Buttresses to support our Faith and our Hope; the one freeing us from all jealousies of a deceit, the other from all dread of a disappointment. How can we distrust or fear Gods failing us, that is every way qualified to save! First, the Covenant He makes is framed by his Love; then Truth writes it down; afterwards Power comes in to seal up the Assurance; so that no room is left for any doubt or scruple, since all his Promises are sure; nor will Man's expectation ever shame him, if Sin does not, the only blot of our hopes, as well as the stain of our pleasures. Nothing but Sin can possibly defeat us: it is Sin which undermines all our Blessings, altars our claim and property in Bliss, and gives the Threaten in Scripture Authority to succeed. In him the Promises are Yea and Amen, that is, firm and steadfast: and when we fall off by a wilful Apostasy, their steadfastness still remains in their own nature; only the benefit of Application is lost to Us. But if we once turn to our God by a true Repentance, if we approve our worship of him by the sincerity of our hearts, and the holiness of our lives, lo! they are firm and steadfast to us also: God cannot in that case exclude us from Heaven; for we bring him the condition of happiness he requires from us; we produce the Grace that leads thither, and know it is impossible He should either deny his own terms, or refuse the likeness of his Perfections.  
The last thing to be considered in God's Promises, is, That He has provided against all Temptations from other offers, by dispersing a Vacuum in things, and leaving nothing here below fit to stir or move us, except you'll say defect of Substance, and want of Certainty are charms. Were any Good upon Earth adequate to our souls, had it worth and certainty to attract our desires, than I grant we might justify the bias of our inclinations that way; because the vifibleness of what is offered us is a farther motive to turn them thither; but when vanity, nay, vanity of vanities is superscribed upon all the Creation, here is not the least colour for our adherence. What is there I pray in this World can be exhibited to us, but some Scenes of Good, and Images of an Inheritance? Thus Christ by the Great Tempter was entertained with Landscapes and Shows, and Kingdoms that were drawn in Airy Figures, where the Delight could not recompense the Emptiness of the Prospect. The like emptiness is spread through every thing here; and for any one to reckon upon a settled Possession, it is like casting anchor upon a wave, or binding the wheels of Time's motion: In a word, such a Task that has an impossibility in the Act to baffle the Design. But where the Promises are of God there is weight and steadfastness to persuade us: weight that can fix all the extravagancy of desire, and steadfastness strengthen our patience of expecting. Thus you see the force of the Motive to confirm that Inference he makes from it.  
I proceed now to handle in the second place.  
2. The Duty which contains in it the best Preparations for receiving those Promises: Let us cleanse ourselves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit.  
Where we may take notice,  
1. Of the Act, Cleanse.  
2. Of the Subject about which it is employed, Flesh and Spirit, that is Body and Soul; so that a thorough Baptism of the whole man is required; and such a washing in the Fountain of Repentance that purges away inward and outward defilements.  
1. The Act is remarkable, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Let us cleanse: a word mentioned in the Heathen Schools by way of Speculation, but prescribed to the Jewish and Christian Church as a rule of Practice.  
The Heathens were not altogether ignorant of it, when they styled Virtue itself to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Cleansing; which the Platonists give us this account of, namely, That it is a retirement of the Soul within, and a separating from the Body in its motions, when Reason acts freely and undisturbedly, nor has any tincture from the Passions to defile it: such a state say they of the Soul is pure and divine. This I confess may in some sort be called a Purgation, but it is very defective in another sense, where they suppose no guilt to be washed off, which both Soul and Body have contracted: They regard only a refining of the Intellectual Powers, but seek no purifying of any sinful uncleanness. And this must be chief imputed to that natural pride they all had, that they would not allow of a corrupt spring; as we must owe it wholly to their ambition, that they studied to advance Reason in its actings; therefore the Fountain of sin being unsearched, we cannot admit them for Judges here; but aught to consult the Jewish and Christian Church for the true notion of Cleansing.  
In the Jewish Church the outward Ceremony was enjoined, but withal Typical of the inward: whence we read in Exodus of an express Command before the delivery of the Law, That they should sanctify themselves and wash their clothes; from which Precept their Doctors gather that Tenet and Custom they had for Baptising all whom they admitted to their Church and Covenant.  
Now that they should thus be washed in order to receive the Law that was published, it argued both a greatness of guilt in the parties, and an absolute necessity of repenting, when not so much as a spotted Garment was allowed to be near that Mount that quaked and trembled; lest the Lightnings of the place should break forth to consume, and the Trumpet (there heard) proclaim nothing but Execution. If such a preparation were requisite for hearing Gods Will, much more was it for obeying: whence those Sacrifices of old (He commanded) were first to derive their cleanness from the Offerer, and so had their force of Legal Atonement. Were the Offerer not sanctified beforehand, all his Worship was spoiled by reason of the spots and blemishes that overspread it: The foulness of his hand laid a Curse upon the Expiation, and by slaying the Beast, he destroyed the Sacrifice. Therefore a strict way of Cleansing was observed in the outward man, whereby God led them to the Spiritual Duty; as he taught them by Temporary Promises to have a taste and relish of the Heavenly. And lest they should at any time forget what was signified, their Purifying were frequently repeated on them: representing to them in the same washing New Gild, and a New Obligation.  
But the Christian Purifying is of a higher nature, as being outwardly but once; to show We are buried with Christ by Baptism into Death, that likeas He was raised from the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of Life. Here is no need of sprinkling Garments, and Vessels, nor of separating from the Camp upon an Uncleanness, when the whole work of Holiness is fully exhibited, and one solemn Rite introduces the performance.  
The work divides itself into two parts, according to the division of man's nature, whereof the first is  
1. A cleansing from the Filthiness of the Flesh.  
And good reason is there to begin with it: For though Sin be properly the Souls act, yet by the Body it first appears; nay, this Body of ours, being joined with the Soul, becomes rather a Minister than an Instrument in its working; such a Minister that continually provides fuel for the Heart's lusts, and makes the corruption of them visible to the world. If then the Murdering Sword be justly cast off, and the Cup broke whereby the man hath been poisoned, how much more ought this Principle of Flesh to be cleansed and subdued, that so deeply shares in the Souls guilt, and proves an active Executioner in it ruin! I need not mention the several works of it, which the Apostle tells us are manifest, because they discover themselves with outward stains and inward impressions upon the consciences of men. Those acts of the outward man, that express themselves in worshipping an Idol, in Murder, Sacrilege, Revellings, Lasciviousness and the like, pollute the Body that commits them, and convey farther the taint of that pollution to the Soul. Nor can Men with all their art so colour and disgrace what is conveyed there, as that the nature of its deformity should be changed; but the Corruptions of Flesh will still abide frightful even in the midst of their Conquest. Sin then carrying its own Conviction, the great Query is, How we should purge it? But to this the Assistance of Grace, and Man's Resolution is required: the former will not fail if the latter be present; nor will the latter be wanting if Gods Promises be the Object. Where these are steadfastly beheld, they will surely melt and dissolve us, powerfully break our rocky hearts, and engage us anew in a Life of Holiness.  
Goodness is commanding in its own nature, and enthrones itself in Man's Will; nor needs it other force for keeping its Sovereignty, but what it continually carries by charming the affections. And this Goodness is fully seen in God's Promises: all the Veil is taken off, which is generally cast upon Providence; and instead of glimpses and half-lights we are allowed a full discovery of their glory; such a one in its working that can join surprise, delight and victory together. For all the Graces of a Saviour are here shown, and all the Riches of Eternity are here manifested; which must needs take away the resistance of Flesh, provided we be fixed in our Contemplations.  
Why then are we not serious in weighing these things? why does not Love, nor Mercy constrain us? I am sure no carnal Temptation can be endued with such strength: It is seated in Flesh, which is weakness, and only conquers that Heart which is unprepared. The Question that was put to Pyrrhus when he had in his head the design of conquering many Kingdoms, may be put to the pursuers of Sin in those various forms and fashions of Appetite, what it is they intent by all the Travel they make through a World of Corruption. Perhaps they will say (as he did, when we have compassed our designs we will the be quiet, and live to ourselves: but to this the reply is strong and forcible; why will they not be quiet now, and live to themselves in a service of their God, when that knowledge of evil they seek after is purchased with trouble, and manifest danger of their Souls? Therefore whether we would consult our own Interest, or witness our Gratitude to God for his Promises, we are bound to be resolute and speedy in the cleansing of this Flesh, which at the best is but a burden, and sin gives it a farther weight to crush and destroy us.  
But that we may perform this Duty aright, Two Rules are to be observed by us, which are here intimated in my Text.  
1. That the Object of our cleansing be all. Filthiness of the Flesh.  
2. That the work which refers to it, be so effectual, as that no Filthiness should return.  
The first of these is necessary, because indeed without it there is no cleansing; for wherever Filthiness is but in part washed off, the whole is still denominated impure. Who will call that Body sound, where the disease shifts places, but is not altogether removed? No more can we call that Flesh cleansed, where Vice changes its seat, but never loses its commanding power. It is true an Hypocrite may look fair in the world's eye after a superficial purging of some corruption; but that cheat he puts upon others altars not the uncleanness of his own temper. The Character of things remain fixed how changeable soever be men's Judgements. It is said of Myriam the Leper, that she appeared white as snow; but none could conclude from that whiteness any thing, except the malignancy of her disease; where the mass of blood being tainted, the Body became wan and pale like a Dead Carcase. Such is the whiteness of some Professors in those half-acts of outward Purity; It is but a Leprous Hypocrisy, which argues deadness and rottenness within. But in Gods and Scripture account none are truly clean in the outward man, but those that purge out every thing which defiles it: in whom the health and complexion is found by a vigorous expelling of all corruption. In these the Spirit truly worketh; and they show their sanctifying Principle to rule in them by an universal effect that follows it: For thus God's Spirit acts in Believers, diffusing its virtue through all parts, nor can any deed pass it uncleansed: But when men solely act by their own spirit (which has a partial influence) than they single out some enormous Vice, some provoking Goliath to kill; which were a happy Conquest, did it make an impression upon the gross of an Army; but alas! here execution is done, and not at all followed with any weakening in the Body.  
Again, the second is necessary, because a Relapse into Filth spoils the fruit of the former cleansing, and withal doubles the stain. Therefore to prevent a guilt of that kind in this Body of flesh, it must be our continued work to subdue it: The only way to assure us of Sins Death, is by persevering to destroy its Dominion: that Samson within must be continually shaved; nay the razor must pierce deep to the very roots, otherwise his strength is not gone. Little severities upon a remorse are no better than a Drunkard's soberness in his qualms; which he then dies to, but not to his sin: short penances upon check are but an Adulterers Whip, whereby he lets out Blood to cool a present Burning, but not to end the Disease. O the Art of a Professor in thus subduing his carnal motions; when he chooses for a while the method of Rigour, only to give him ease in new sins! Many can turn Hermits that way; with whom a suspense of their lust is but a preparative to fresh vigour: they endure much to sin more; and make use of hardship to become helpful to their corruptions, as Frosts and Snows are to Seed; which they seem to lock up and bury in the ground, but indeed improve it for multiplying. If this be a cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh, then let them that study an increase of their lust be styled the only Champions to overcome it. But wouldst thou have the true glory of it? then deny thyself constantly in a Temptation, and hold out to the last in the discipline of Repentance: So this Body of Sin will appear utterly defeated when thou bringest Time as a witness of thy Victory.  
But there remains in the second place another sort of cleansing.  
2. From all filthiness of the Spirit. This is not so much considered in the world; but surely there is in some respects more of sin, and consequently more of defilement than in Carnal corruption. Such are those inward spots, of Pride, Malice, Envy, Hypocrisy, Distrust of God; to conclude, all those sinful motions which it is proper for Spirits to be guilty of.  
The Enormity of them will appear upon Three accounts.  
1. In that they are the spring of all outward filthiness. For from the Heart it is (or the spiritual part in man) that Fornication, Drunkenness and Blasphemy flow; whence if these and the like sins have all the foulness of tincture on them, the Sink whence they issue must be much more defiled. Were evil Thoughts effectually restrained in us, all the stream of carnal wickedness would be cut off; which made Solomon call for our greatest care over the Heart, where sinful Imaginations are cherished. Keep thy heart (says he) with all diligence; for out of it are the Issues of Life; ay and of Death too when it is not rightly governed in its motions. An evil Heart makes an adulterous Eye, a deceitful Tongue, a violent Hand: All outward crimes are the Offspring of the Thoughts; therefore these (being the Parent-sins) are the more aggravated in their guilt, as the cause of others.  
2. In that they are purely the Souls work, and that in its strength, without the dregs of matter, or the weakness of flesh to interpose.  
What Jacob said to Reuben, Thou art my Firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power, the same may be applied to those actions which primarily issue from the Soul. And so when they prove sinful, they derive from the Dignity of those noble faculties the greater shame. It is the Devil's way thus to offend; and howsoever he may tempt us to deeds of Flesh, yet he is as to himself only an Agent in such sins that pollute the mind, and defile the conscience, so that he is a Rebel in all the height and excellency of Being, and knowing no Body to defile him, as an Unclean Spirit, he dishonours his nature, and against the God of Spirits does immediately make war. So then when our hearts are alike stained, when our Filthiness becomes spiritual, we then bear his Image in the true Character. Now what can be greater disgrace to our Natures than this is? For the highest Perfection we can ever arrive to is to be like God; and that is to resemble him in Holiness, which chief consists in the purity of our minds; On the other side the greatest Fall we can be ever condemned to, is to be like Satan, and that is to resemble him in Uncleanness, which chief consists in the foulness of our Souls; whence these Souls of ours must needs contract a great guilt, when bad thoughts do defile them; wherein we carry the very picture of the Father, and bear his stamp in the crime.  
3. As they are the work, so they are the full delight of the Inward man. Here the Soul centres within itself, and uncontrollably embraces its own actings; and the secretness of those stains renders them difficult to be cleansed; whereas these fleshly motions cannot breed any fullness of pleasure; and their pollutions being evident, do often check the committer with those Three restraints to a Rational Being, which are Law, Conscience, and Fame. And therefore changes are many times wrought in the greatest Sinners; but when Sin once retires to Invisible Garrisons, it is seldom destroyed, because neither Law nor Fame have here place, and Conscience is too weak to overcome. Upon this account the labour of cleansing is here necessary, and the Soul must be brought to encounter itself in all the subtlety of a reforming, that we may present to our God in Pure Flesh a mortified Spirit.  
Now should Uncleanness be inwardly cherished, whatever the outward acts of sanctity be, they are to be reckoned no better than Pilat's purifying before the Multitude, when he washed his hands, but suffered the guilt of the most innocent Blood to pass uncleansed. Yet how many are there that rest in a Shape and Outside of Piety! a Privilege (if they will call it one) which the Old Serpent can challenge; who in the midst of his Curse does yet gild his Spots with fair Light, and in a form of Blessedness lays his Sting. But a Bodily purging (take it at the best) is only the Preface to a new Life: an introductory part to true Holiness: It is a Dedication of the Court to prepare the Offering upon the Altar; and 'tis the Altar you know sanctifies the Gift; so 'tis the Heart that qualifies the performance. If we go no higher than bare Flesh, we are but like the Bullocks that were cleansed; but if besides that Purifying we are spiritually Holy, we become like the Priest that sacrificed.  
Now to attain such a state as that is, a watchful jealousy is requisite over our Souls: and here, as we must doubtfully suspect, so we ought immediately to suppress any springing Temptation. It is easy to cast out the Adversary while he is weak; such are all Filthy Thoughts in their Infancy; but let them once spread and grow in the mind, than it is difficult for any one to check and subdue them. Who knows not what easiness there is in quenching a spark, or turning as one pleases a little current? But if the Spark gets fuel to feed on, and enlarges itself into a great Flame, how often does it mock men's labour and pains to hinder the mischief of its progress? So likewise a little current, if it be supplied from Floods, and allowed to swell with fresh streams, how ungovernable is its course! After the same manner do Spiritual Lustings prove furious and wild, when they get their fuel and supply from the will and affections flowing in. It is very needful then for thee to guard thy Heart, which is so apt to breed sin, and so ready to strengthen an evil purpose. But for the better securing of it, oh labour steadfastly to apprehend thy God, not only as the accurate Beholder, but as the severe Judge and Punisher of the Inner man. Indeed God does not exercise such a Visible Judgement upon any spiritual filthiness in this World, because He is mainly concerned here (as a Governor) to prevent the mischiefs of outward actions, for the better defence of humane Fellowship; but when all worldly Societies shall cease, and every one be summoned to his Tribunal, He will then proceed as a Lawgiver, demanding a strict account according to the full extent and compass of his Laws; and so these Spiritual Sins will be visibly punished, in that they are such evident breaches of his Spiritual Commands. It is my duty then chief to prepare for that Day; nor am I so much to examine the manner of this Government in this life, as how He will deal with me in another: Since that is the proper state, wherein I shall be ever fixed and determined, and wherein his Justice (that summons me) will be clearly revealed. Thus should every one employ his Meditations, and whoever busies himself in them, he will find this to be the fruit and success of them, that he will thereby get armour of defence within, and discourage the Tempter from assaulting.  
Thus much for the Duty.  
The Third Particular I am to handle is  
3. The Manner of performing the Duty enjoined us; namely a Perfecting of Holiness in God's Fear: where we may note Two things.  
1. The Degree or Measure we should contend after, namely Perfection.  
2. The Inward Principle that ought to quicken us, a Godly Fear.  
The former shows we need a continual Progress in a Religious course; the latter shows we need a faithful direction to a right object.  
1. For the Degree or Measure we should contend after, this imports no less than a summoning of all the Powers of the Soul, and the setting of a Task to our outward members, that both in Mind and Body we may render to our God an unspotted Sacrifice. Such an Offering (as this is) is not in an instant to be performed; nor does God so sit any Saint, as that his Initials should be full. His Justification of a Sinner may be complete in one act, when he gives him a Legal discharge; but his Sanctifying of us is not thus perfected; because it is such a work of his Spirit in us, that gradually proceeds to the expelling of Sin, and takes in our Endeavours to grow up and increase in holy duties. There is first an Infancy in the new nature, where (all the parts being formed) Innocence is written as a Character to be kept, but not its Weakness: for a farther advancement is still looked for; whence the strength of Men and perfectness of Stature is required in a Christian.  
Truly how can we imagine beginnings should suffice, or that we safely can rest in them, when the remainders of concupiscence within, the temptations without to which we are subject, the proper fruits and effects of a Faith justifying, lastly, the necessity of imitating our Divine Pattetn, do all call for labour, strife and diligence in our Christian race, that we fall not short of Heaven by but a little entering the way thither? Naaman's washing in Jordan seven times, as it represented to him the Greatness of his Leprosy, so it represents to us those repeated acts God expects from us of a naked search into our ways, and that accompanied with a frequent purging of all the filth we contracted. Here is an evidence of Gods adopting us that we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, finish and bring to end the work of Holiness: otherwise we are as unsafe in our cleansing, as those Swine were which the Devil hurried into the Sea, making their first cleanness and their last destruction to go together.  
But we must observe in the second place,  
2. The Principle that ought to quicken us, a Godly Fear; and this is the Point I shall conclude with.  
But some may ask why is Fear brought in when God's Promises are the motive? Is not Love the natural consequent of such offers, and a Principle too of itself more binding?  
I answer, Love is not the sole consequent, but Fear also, by reason of those conditions upon which the Promises hang; and this Fear of the Two is more binding; as urging upon us a sense of danger, and thereby quickening us unto action; whereas Love without is faint, and altogether languishes in its working.  
Now this Principle of Godly Fear excludes utterly the Heathens way of purifying, as a Rite in its using unclean: For so every thing becomes to an Unbeliever: It excludes likewise those seeming religious acts of Pretending Christians, who in the good things they do, have either a dread of Punishment, or the vanity of Opinion for their Object. The one consists not with this in my Text, which purely terminates in God alone, and the other destroys all the notion of a true Worship, when it sets up an Idol of Applause.  
Yet thus do Hypocrites boast of Holiness; to some parts of which perhaps Legal Terrors, or the regard of Men may constrain them; nothing is natural in their Religion but forced; and the spring of their motion is without them; so that they are rather to be counted artificial Engines (produced to cast forth water upon an open burning) than Christians that are free and active at all times to extinguish the Flame. But if such as these be excluded, how much more the loosely profane! who cannot be thought to have a touch of this Passion when they defy God and his Laws. Did a right fear once rule and sway the Conscience, it were neither possible for vice to be barefaced, nor for Hypocrisy to be disguised: The awe of a God would shame the one, and strip the other of its Covering. But behold! the mask, the disguise is not so much the danger of this Age; we are fallen from shows to a contempt of Christianity, from colours to open war: our paint is turned to rottenness; and the perfume of our Profession is become like the air of snuffs, nay the noisome smell of corrupted Bodies, that can kill at a distance, and by their power of Execution sadly manifest Death has not destroyed them. O the extremes of Sin! whither is the triumph & glory of our Religion departed! Is it not now a matter of boasting to kick at Heaven, while the head at the same time knocks the Earth, and calls for the opening of a Grave? Is it not the triumph of wit to sport at a Lust, when it reproaches the Committer in the act, and tells him farther by its sting that his own scoffs are revenged? But what is it we trust to in this our offending? God we know is above, has a hand of Justice to strike, nor can any promise tie it up, when once forfeited by our transgressions. All our shift for sinning is to hinder Conscience from interposing, by cutting off all seriousness of thought, and desperately throwing ourselves into a Gulf of pleasure. In the mean time, while we are sunk in ways of iniquity, Judgement is ripening over us; clouds gather about us thicker and blacker, and the lightning of God's wrath is fitted and prepared; nor can we escape the force of it, except we remove the Seeds of our ruin by a speedy and universal repentance.  
The Spartans' we read were great Worshippers of the Passions; and therefore had Temples erected to them; but Fear was the Goddess they chief worshipped in regard of its use and influence to preserve States. Certainly though they erred in thus dedicating their Temples, yet they did not err in their notion of the advantage of Fear: but had a godly one fully possessed them, they would much more have concluded the safety of a Nation to depend on it; as being the surest Bond of Law, and the only preventer of God's Plagues. I need not endeavour to prove either of these; for where such a Fear has due place, it will in the closest secrecy oblige men to obey, and engage God openly to defend them. But whether outward prosperity be always the fruit, I shall not inquire: I am sure the success is of the last day, and the sentence of mercy waits only upon those that religiously fear to offend. To these no death can be sudden nor untimely, which alone is the portion of impenitent sinners; who fall often to the earth with their Youth and with their Sins too as full blown: and being cast down by a Judgement, are not allowed a space to recover them. Why then will we abuse the promises that are offered us? There is a Golden thread of them let down from Heaven, but tied to a Sword with the point over us; and while we are rioting and indulging the Flesh, the thread is ready to break, and the Sword to fall on us.  
Pardon the harshness of denouncing these things; for soft words are not for Ministers to deliver: It is your conscience we are bound to strike, whereas your eyes are enough enlightened. And the Corruption of men's natures requires this Method, that Promises and Threaten should be joined, to chastise and temper our hopes, and settle upon our spirits a right frame. Otherwise we should boldly presume, and learn no Holiness in God's Fear, but that Good and Evil possessing our thoughts, help to quicken us in our Obedience.  
So then I beseech you contemplate Divine Love, as withal fatal to the refuser: join the Father with the Judge, and the Adoption he offers with his Severity in condemning: farther consider how the Dignity of Humane Nature lies in the pureness of its faculties, as a Reward follows their Exercise: First you are advanced by it to be like God, next in that likeness to enjoy him: Last of all, search out every motive to press you to Holiness, which if you enter upon and persevere in, the same God (who was Gracious in making, and is Faithful in performing what He has promised) will enstate you in the Inheritance of Sons, and add Eternity for its Crown.   

The Third Discourse.  St. John 6.68. 
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.  
IF you examine the scope of these words, they are a full and passionate reply to that Question Christ made in the verse foregoing, where He tries the Faith of his Apostles, whether they would constantly adhere to his Laws, or with the rest of the Multitude forsake him? For we read in this Chapter how that great Crowd of people which followed him, began now to shrink and fall off, because his Doctrine was (like his Person) no ways suited to a carnal Apprehension. And the colour they had for this their Apostasy was some supposed absurdity of what he taught; as when He styled himself the Living Bread which came down from Heaven, 
vers. 51.  and whoever eat of that Bread should live for ever: So that we find upon an enquiry that a bare Metaphor was the quarrel, and a Figure of Speech the foundation of the Controversy.  
But waving the subject matter of their Dispute (which is at large described in the Chapter) it will not be impertinent to observe the strange levity and ingratitude of the Vulgar, who being the worst judges of a discourse, will yet presume to sit upon it; and if it once crosses their fancy, they are ready to throw off the Authority of their Lord; ay and such an Authority, that was before highly commended to them in all the Wonders of Mercy. Hence it is said (v. 66.) That many of his Disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  
Upon so general a revolt He appears at that accident unconcerned: whatever pity He had for their persons, yet He leavs them to be punished by that flight they had made; but as for the Twelve (whom He had particularly chosen for his Attendants) these He deals with as a Friend, sounds their Loyalty, and by his very seeming to doubt of it, shows all the Tenderness of a Saviour. Then said He to the Twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.  
In this Answer of St. Peter's we may consider Two Particulars.  
1. The Sense of all the Apostles delivered by one of them, which was plainly this, That they ought not to seek another Master.  
2. The Reason of their Choice drawn from the singular excellency of his Teaching, Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.—  
I begin with their General Sense, Lord to whom shall we go? which kind of speech does imply, that should they offer to leave Christ, yet a Master was needful to be their Guide in Religion. For such is man's weakness and poverty by nature, that he requires somewhat without him to rest on for Happiness: but it here farther signifies, that they were already fixed upon a Teacher, and could find out nothing comparable to him they heard. This is the scope and meaning of the Question.  
From the Matter thus declared and from the Occasion of doing it we may note Two things.  
1. The Nobleneness of a right Faith when once seated in the Soul.  
2. The Authority of Truth notwithstanding the Opposition of the World.  
1. The Nobleness of a right Faith, etc.— And it is this, That it sets upon Difficulties and conquers them: Let the times of Profession be bad and reproachful too for those numbers that backslide, yet he that is well grounded in his Belief, has his thoughts higher planted. He is above the Poor Circumstance of time, and beyond the Contagion of an Example. Now the rules that govern most men in their course are Private Interest and Public Opinion; so that like Puppets they move, and the principle of their acting is without them; but he that is led by neither of these, but makes Religion his Interest, and obedience to it his Fame, he may be called a Believer indeed: for he expresses the Man and the Christian together. Others are but Reeds in their Station, shaken with every wind, and marked for their barrenness while they stand: but he is a Tree set by the Rivers of water, that has depth of root and fruitfulness to crown it. Yet the constancy he has is not any stiffness of mind, that proceeds from the prejudice of Education; for that is no better than the stiffness of earth, which is senseless in that condition; but it is a vigorous judgement sways him to the act, and confirms his faculties in working.  
I grant it very difficult at first to believe, because of the Enmity of Flesh, and the Sophistry of Reason, which is Flesh set out in another figure; but where Faith gets an entrance, there flesh is subdued and reason answered, & the heart comes prepared to embrace Christianity in its hardest terms. For this is a Principle that humbles and lays us low, and discovers our weakness to ourselves: It forces us to confess that God has depths of his own we cannot fathom; and since we allow our assent to Mysteries in Nature, no less ought we to do so to Mysteries in Religion, though not to be explained by our narrow understanding. This was the Apostles case, who learned to submit to the Doctrine that was preached, and derived from that submission a courage to adhere. Let us consider next  
2. The Authority of Truth notwithstanding the Opposition of the World.  
God never left himself without witness in the midst of the greatest Apostasies. He had Noah to be his Champion in the Old World, Elijah in Israel, and Apostles in the Infancy of the Christian Church, that kept up Religion from perishing. Truth and Light have this property common to them both, that as they are apt to be clouded, so they have virtue to break through those Mists that interpose. There is a natural Sovereignty in them both, and they seem to be born to an Universal Inheritance: though they may be as Strangers and Exiles in some lands, yet in others they take the Possession.  
We all know the force of a good title, how it prevails. If a Prince of undoubted right be cast off by the vile treachery of his own Subjects, yet his Title will still rule; powerfully possessing the people's hearts, and as strongly warring in the conscience of an Usurper. The like command has the Cause of Truth amongst Men, and a surer too; for a People may be scourged by a total loss of their Prince; but God's Faithfulness is engaged to maintain the Dominion of the other. He that created and established all things by the word of his power, has spoken this, that Truth shall for ever endure; and in order to accomplish what He has spoken, he employs his Spirit to work; gives us natures inquisitive and reflecting, whereby we are stirred up to the duties of Piety; so that as long as the Spirit abides (which is eternal) as long as Reason and Conscience last (which are essential to our frame) the Characters of Religion must for ever remain. Whether it be of the Essence of God's Church to be always visible, I shall not discuss; but the foundation upon which it is built, can certainly never fail, since He is God that is laid there. For other Foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  
Should we now on the other side consider the growth of Error, and the fair show it makes in the world, we cannot conclude hence that it has strength to continue. For strength presupposes a real existence in the Subject; whereas Error is of itself a mere nothing, and owes to Ignorance that it appears. It is a Ghost that walks in the dark, whose body is framed by our fancies, and when day comes, it vanishes with them. But to Truth a being pertains, and it constantly strives to open its way into Light, to reveal that Being to others, which when effected, it gloriously spreads, and enlarges its Empire with that discovery.  
Before I pass to the second Head of my Discourse, I shall briefly dispatch one Quere, which is this: Why Simon Peter (that singly spoke here) should so readily proclaim his own Faith, and undertake likewise for the Faith of the Apostles, though a Judas was of their number.  
Now the reason of this I can only resolve into those Two Graces, wherein he excelled Zeal and Charity. The one made him forward in a public Confession of himself, the other in a Defence of his Brethren. Zeal is a fire that will be sure to get uppermost; whence our Apostle being heated with it, comes out first for his Lord; but than lest the ambition of that act should urge him to pursue his own Glory, he religiously suppresses it by his Charity to others. It is the nature of Charity to be kind, and free from envy; not to seek her own but another's praise: It treats all persons alike, except some visible fruits do distinguish them; and brings a Garment along with it of an equal breadth to hid every right Professor; in a word, it is a generous Virtue, enobling our works of piety, and making us beneficial to the world.  
This was the temper of our blessed Apostle, whom many are prone enough to imitate for his Zeal; but if this latter Grace be wanting, they ought to suspect the birth of that flame; since the true Gospel-fire that comes down from Heaven has a comforting warmth in it that heals, and tends not to kill, but to save.  
I come now to my Second Head, where we have  
2. The reason of their choice drawn from the singular Excellency of Christ's Teaching— Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.  
It might be expected that poor Fishermen (as these were) should have had Souls as low as their Trade: that they should be far from conceiving, and farther yet from pursuing a state of eternity; whose great end and business before was but the small gain of a draught; neither knew they how to prise any greater wealth, than what a Lake or a Brook contains. But see how Religion exalts them; what high thoughts are now formed, and what vast desires are raised in them by the force of their Master's Discipline; so that they begin to despise a present Good, and breath after nothing but a future Reward. Temporal Dominion was below their aim; for who can imagine they should propound to themselves an Earthly Monarchy, that stuck only to Christ for an Invisible Crown? Truly the manner of his appearance in this our Flesh, and the nature of his Doctrine taught them no other: His appearance was so mean that it was but the form of a Servant which He assumed; Again, his Doctrine was so spiritual, that He challenged only a Kingdom distinct from the World, 
Joh. 17.36, Luke 9.2.  and sent only his Disciples upon that Errand to preach it.  
But the Pretended Successors of St. Peter (who here follows his Lord for his Heavenly Ministry) can arrogantly pursue a worldly claim; as if Earth were in their Charter as well as Heaven, and therefore they ought to take both by violence, pull down Kings and Princes, and advance themselves to an arbitrary Greatness. Whose Apostles I pray are they that would thus rule? or by what right of donation do the Kingdoms of the world belong to them? For we do not read they were any of those Gifts Christ gave unto men, but only the Devils offer, 
4 Mat. 8.  which He rejected. I am sure such as these are the Greatest Persecutors of our Lord. The putting of a Reed into his hand before he should suffer, was but the mocking of his Power; but to put a Sword into his hand that is come to save us, is a flat denial of his Goodness, and so they impiously number him with the Transgressor's. I need not farther enlarge on this Subject, nor demonstrate the wildness of their Tenet, which both our Saviour's Life, and manner of Government, the Commands and Practice of the Apostles, the Examples of primitive Martyrs, and in a word, the Profession of the best Saints has condemned. But this by the way— It here lies upon me to prove how Christ's words are the proper words of Eternal Life; which may be easily made out from that Gospel he has delivered to his Church; wherein we find him.  
1. A Minister, in that He has fully revealed it to the World.  
2. A Purchaser, in that he has acquired a right to bestow it.  
3. A Worker, in that He has made the Doctrine of it effectual to Salvation.  
I. A Minister, in that he has fully revealed it to the World, as He did also the Doctrine of Eternal Death, which I before handled. And He has revealed this Life in a way of Authority and Sweetness proper to himself, at once forcing us to assent to the truth of that evidence, and raising our affections to pursue it. He therefore delivered it in such a Style that might powerfully engage us both ways: as when He did not only expressly mention the thing itself, but likewise described it by such inviting Characters, as Joy, Glory, the Kingdom of Heaven; nay, in a peculiar Emphasis, the Kingdom where Life and Immortality are enthroned.  
Now who is there but must acknowledge the blindness that covered the Gentile World, till this Great Prophet came to enlighten us? For we sat in darkness, and in the very shadow of Death, which encompassed us round and beset us, and took away from us any farther Prospect; not to be opened nor enlarged, till this Light came, which gave us Knowledge and Salvation. What force soever there may be in Natural Religion (which some boast of) yet the great Masters of those Schools which taught it, were miserably dim-sighted as to any future state of Life and Happiness, except we'll say a walk in Elysium for Wand'ring Souls, or a wretched Pilgrimage through several Bodies, be a proper Condition to be desired. Yet thus did the best of those Writers dream, who apprehended well enough a God and his Worship; and though they might deliver fine notions of both, yet fancy came in to corrupt all with gross devices and foolish mixtures in their Reward. Hence the morality even of their Chiefest was suited to their Principles; that is, They had the Shadow of a Good Life, as they had the Shadow of Immortality. The greatest height of virtue they ever arrived to, was but to disguise their Passions, and by stopping some foul effects of them to consult a Fame of well-doing, whereas the seed and root of a corruption was still cherished, and lust secretly ruled in their hearts and lives, for want of a discovery which we Christians enjoy about the eternal Wages of our deeds. Upon this account Tertullian and the rest of the Ancients had sufficient ground to condemn their choicest Philosophy, since the study of it was followed with no other fruit than this, That it served for Paint to hid Vice, but proved no Antidote to expel it.  
But if Natural Reason did thus fail, must we also complain of any defect in those Inspirations which Gods own Prophets were assisted with? No; for the words they delivered were words of life: only the Jews that heard them were in their nonage, bred up at first with milk and honey, and that Infant-food of a Carnal Promise: and therefore it was judged fit by Divine Wisdom to wean them by degrees from these outward things, and not allow them a Spiritual Diet of perfect happiness, till they arrived at the strength of a Masculine Understanding. But the Prophets themselves had that state revealed to them in all its clearness; only that Discipline, which their Hearers were under causied it to be dispensed to them by a Figurative application.  
But Christ came in the very fullness of time, when Life and Immortality were to be shown; and He answered that fullness by his own Teaching: so that all those Prophets who went before him, served but like the light of a Morningstar to usher in the brightness of that discovery. Let us consider him in the next place.  
II. As a Purchaser, in that He acquired a right to bestow it. And this Title He has to such a donation by that Price he laid down for his own People, when He bought them out of their old Thraldom, and cancelled that forfeiture they had made of Life Eternal, by the merits of his Death, and the infinite Satisfaction of his Sufferings. His Gospel is the Evidence of this his Purchase, wherein Eternal Life and our Lord's Propriety is declared; whereby He is qualified not only to possess it in himself, but to confer that Inheritance upon others. And therefore to him we must have recourse in all our Devotions, and upon his Merits alone ground our addresses, 
Heb. 7.25.  who is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.  
But the Romanists seem to have found out other Purchasers, at least many Sharers with him in that Prerogative; when dividing the Virtue of his Mediation, they fly to Saints and Angels by a solemn invocation of them to intercede. What is this else but an Idolatrous act, when the Creature is set up by them for a peculiar Object they must adore, and for a Meritorious Helper they should trust to? or wherein do they differ from the old Heathens, who worshipped their Demons or Inferior Gods as intermediate Agents with the Supreme? If they upon that score were condemned as Idolaters by the ancient maintainers of our Religion, certainly a like charge does most deservedly fall upon such Worshippers that parcel out and communicate Divine Glory; nay, the Charge is much heavier in this respect, because the Heathens were ignorant of Gods will; but for Christians this way to beg life, it is to libel God's Word that speaks otherwise; it is to exclude his Son from his own Office and Royalty, in whose Name we are bid to pray, and by whom alone we have access to our Heavenly Father; nay it is repugnant to the condition of those Spirits above, who can neither hear every man's prayers throughout the world, nor look into the hearts of those that call on them. Yet O ye blessed Saints and Angels (if ye can behold such Worshippers as these men) see with what wicked Plots and bloody hands they offer Incense: Can ye possibly accept their Prayers. No, none can accept them but their own Martyrs. But all Worship (how innocent soever) is rejected in Heaven, where the God of it alone is not sought to: therefore the right ask of Life is from him, who can only give Grace, and lift us up to his own Glory.  
III. The third and last way we are to consider him is, As a Worker, in that he has made the Doctrine of Eternal Life effectual to Salvation.  
For this Word (He has commissioned us to preach) is the great Instrument of the New-birth: It is a means to beget in us a true Faith, and being once steadfastly embraced, it gives us the first-fruits of Eternal Life, till we are fully invested in the Inheritance. What was heretofore the virtue of his Word at the creation of all things, when he spoke out a World, and called it forth into an actual Being, the same is the virtue of his written Word, whereby he calls Us to an Eternal one. For the All-quickning Spirit is mixed with it; whence it becomes fruitfully strong and mighty to save those that hear. What Rock is there so hard, or Ground so barren, that can resist the influence of its power? How does it cut through a heart of stone, and cultivate the De sart of wild passions! How does it mould and fashion us to become a people acceptable to the Lord! If natural inclination or carnal interest should stand up to oppose it, these are but like Muddy Fortresses that are quickly battered and dissolved; and a new frame is set up in the soul, that is pure and heavenly; which expresses the Agent in the Divinity of his work, and shows the beauty of those Promises he applies, in such motions that bend wholly towards them. This Spirit of old (which worked by the Word) drew multitudes of men to Christianity, beating down in them the strong holds of sin and Satan, fanctifying their natures, and so giving them a new relish of things; raising their love to a Christ crucified, and their desires after a distant reward; whence they would not so much as receive their good things here, in hopes of a richer treasure hereafter. Truly even the Word itself did much persuade: but the Spirit came in with a Demonstration; whereby they gave up their private interests, surrendered their darling lusts, and casting out every thing that resisted, yielded themselves absolutely to his conduct.  
These things considered, who can deny the fullness of his Ministry, that sees Heaven and Hell in their distinct lights set before him, which heretofore were either quenched by Fables, or under Shadows concealed? Who can deny the right of his Purchase, that beholds the merit of his Sufferings, for which his Humane nature was lifted up, and vested in full power to sit on the Throne and pronounce life to his followers? As little can we deny the Third way, namely the Efficacy of his Doctrine to lead us thither, if we either reflect upon it as the Power of God, or the natural tendency of it to work in us a spirit of Holiness, and so fit us for Glory. These things St. Peter had respect to when he so emphatically tells his Master, Thou hast the words of eternal life.  
This Phrase (Eternal Life) is a short description of the good man's future estate; nor is it otherwise ever mentioned in Scripture than as signifying the Saints Portion: so that for Christ to have words of that kind, is to have in store for him a double Blessing: For when He speaks life, he puts him into possession of an Inheritance; when he speaks an Eternal Life, he gives him a security of enjoying: whence he mercifully joins them in his Sentence of bliss, as they are necessarily joined in the notion.  
I shall not trouble my Reader with a farther Comment, nor run into a controversy whether there be indeed such an estate that we from Scripture are assured Christ speaks of, it being no way pertinent to this Text I discuss, nor I presume to him that peruses it; of whom I ought to suppose that Principles are believed, which neither imply in them a contradiction for Reason to cavil at, nor hazard for Wisdom to fear.  
It remains I should show the force of the Argument why we should stick close to our Lord and Master from St. Peter's supposition that the Doctrine of Eternal Life proceeds from him.  
It were much to be wished that the rules he lays down for our Course upon earth might bind followers to him without such a proposal as that is; since they yield us a present pay in Honour, Ease, and Bleasure, that do certainly wait upon virtuous actions: But if Flesh be so strong as to reject those motives by reason of the narrowness of their limits, how can we exclude an Eternity of all these, where it adds another Good, safety to perfect them? Behold! there is in that state of Eternal Life a complete answer to those two Passions that govern us here, and make our life a torment to us except they be satisfied. For  
1. The Gift is so vast that it swallows up Hope.  
2. So durable that it removes Fear.  
Now in all Hope there is want, and desire is nothing else but a craving emptiness in the Soul. That hungry Guest is often called to an Epicures Feast, and as often spoils it, turning his Plenty into Penance since it cannot fill. The like vanity of Imperfection cleaves to other worldly enjoyments, because the eye of our mind (being too big for them) has an unquiet Appetite of looking farther. But it is impossible there should be any place for that restless Passion where an Infinite Good is enjoyed: For this is an Object which transcends even our thoughts, surpasses our fancies that our desires are founded on, and so delightfully keeps us within its Circle: All that we can imagine is there present, and therefore all we can hope for has in that presence an end. Hence we come settled to those Joys, and bring a spirit full and entire to feed on them: so that there is no colour for a departure to a lesser Good, that leaves us still dissatisfied in our fruition. Such are all Temporal Objects we pursue: they naturally tempt us to fall off from that chase, because they do not answer our expectation, I mean while another is in our view, that (being eternal) commands our desires, fulfils our hopes, and cures the defect of both with the satisfying wideness of its compass.  
Next for Fear: this inseparably attends us in life; and argues not only want and emptiness, but the misery and pain of it. Hope may afflict us for the absence of a Good, but than it some way cheers us for the likelihood of attaining it; but Fear is a passion that eats into our delights, and devours all our Contentments. Neither can we possibly be freed from it, while we reflect upon those changes which the Stage of this World exposes us to; States and Kingdoms being shifted there like Scenes, and almost with the same quickness. But the Doctrine of Eternal Life (Christ promises) is a Sovereign remedy against all trouble; for it shows us a fixed point, an unchangeable instant; nor can we be afraid with that contemplation, no more than we are with the prospect of Shores and Havens, that receive us safe from a Storm. How is the soul quieted to think that those evils it suffers are passing away, and a settled rest is prepared! With what peace does it apprehend a moment's danger when a perfect Liberty is the recompense! This and much more does a blessed Eternity import, and through that encouragement is a Christian armed to encounter any affliction.  
And so we read what a stoutness of spirit was raised in the Primitive Professors, that preached up Christianity and ventured all upon it. A bare Faith did not carry them to that act, but a Faith that was grounded upon the Heavenliness of the Doctrine, Courage of Martyrs, and Power of Miracles; strong Promises that will infer as strong Conclusions, except we'll say Heaven and Earth were combined together in a plot to abuse, and the abuse too must be this, viz. a cheating of an Idolatrous world into good living. Let the Scoffer count it madness to quit Sense for a Good that is yet hid from him; I could tell him that even a Present Good is invisible; for we want time to discern it for its shortness, we want a Substance to be discerned for its emptiness; whereas an eternal one is invisible for its transcendent fullness. Thither does right Reason drive us, and a true principle of Self-love, it being our interest to seek a Treasure that will not fail us.  
But should we take the opposite state to This Life, namely Eternal Death which is the Curse he threatens to those that deny him) here we are tied to our Master's service by a sure chain, which the dread of Omnipotence puts on. Earthly Powers can awe their Subjects, and justly too, with what they are able outwardly to inflict; yet Death (being the utmost stroke of that Justice) seems indeed but a retreat from it. But the Grave (how free and quiet soever it be) is no Sanctuary to keep us from God's hand: It dissolves our Bodies, but not his Government; who watches every particle of our dust, and locks it up safe for an after-summons; but the Soul He makes the the immediate subject of his Tribunal. Therefore the highest homage may be well demanded of us, upon whom the highest Sovereignty is shown.  
I confess none come up from the dead to tell us this news: no, they cannot; for the Judge's Sentence binds them to their seats, where their great part is suffering; and if they could, 'tis useless, no ways tending to settle our Faith, but rather confirming our suspicion that in Satan's Errand some Ghost may be employed. If Scripture (which St. Peter calls a light that shineth in a dark place) be with all its evidence of Divine Witnesses disowned, how can we believe a testimony from the Damned, that would be sure to bring with them all their night to deceive? This than can be no objection. The true one is formed by our own corrupt hearts; and we are apt to question the Evil-day, because we would not be checked nor controlled in our finning. In the mean time we baffle that design by starting such a doubt; which unsettling the soul in its pleasures, does thereby hinder it from enjoying them. We labour to be Sceptics that we may offend, and after we are so, we find ourselves pained with that Uncertainty. Oh let us be wise for our latter end, and choose to serve our God by a true Faith, since our endeavouring to shake it does but wake Conscience to torture us.  
Hitherto I have handled the Argument St. Peter lays down for following his Lord, and by the way touched upon the Sinners Judgement: I have shown the nobleness of Faith, the authority of Truth, and the excellent manner of revealing it by Christ above all those discoveries that were made: The natural result from all is this, that we would seriously inquire whether we can better our life under another service, and if that be not possible, then immediately list ourselves his Disciples in all the watchfulness of Devotion.  
As to the matter of Inquiry, it becomes us as men not to take any Master upon trust, or the custom of others: Credulity is proper to Children that are weak and want sinews; but the strength of Wisdom consists in this, to prove all things, and not be easily governed in our actings. Yet this childish weakness are most men subject to in their main end, when they relinquish their own Faculties that would lead them to Christianity; and suffer themselves to be led by a Customary Discipline that destroys it. What that teaching is, and how far it extends, every one knows: The mind is not taught here, but the brutish part and some transient reward propounded to encourag it: Transient I call it with respect to those two Masters that rule over us, Flesh and the World, which pretend to nothing higher in their offers of Good; for all the colour they have to invite us is only the gratifying of our senses for a few moments; only Satan makes bold to counterfeit our Lord, and wears his shape in a full promise, that so his hook may the better fasten and catch our appetite when he tempts us. He has therefore in readiness for his followers words of Eternal Life (as he had for Eve) but those very words prove fatal; for with the same breath he kills the Sholar that hears him. What other effect can be looked for from a Serpent condemned? who delights in the spreading of his plague, and knows no other liberty from torment, than that pleasure he takes in enlarging his Hell. To this end he continues down the poison of that Doctrine (Eat and live, sin and be happy) in the mouths of his False-Prophets; who are very busy to reconcile Faith with an Evil Conscience, and would fain compound up a Religion of Flesh; which are arts indeed to draw many after them in regard they bribe their Sensuality: But let us see the issue of all this, and what fruit there is in obeying such Doctrines, when the Good (there promised) is blown away with our breath, and instead of light we find darkness.  
On the contrary under Christ's rule we have an Eternal Life tendered to us in all certainty; and the condition He requires of us is an excellent part of that Life, since it gives us a proper Eye to enjoy it: The condition I mean is Purity of Heart, a Grace that doubly profits the Soul, first in refining our natures, next in strengthening us to see Glory. Who would not endeavour to be thus qualified for Heaven? Can any corruption move us to forfeit Security? and can there be greater security than the Good here promised? Man's Knowledge you will grant is much exalted in foreseeing future things, but his Reason is more advanced in pursuing them. And whither would we go from our Lord? Other Offerers of happiness do betray us; He only can save. To him Nature has subjected us as being made; Gratitude as being redeemed; Interest as expecting a reward: so that to deny him our hearts is to join Sacrilege and folly together, when we rob God and impoverish ourselves.  
We are all covetous of Life, and of Life too in its best estate. For though sin has corrupted men's choice of the way, yet it has not blasted their desires of the end. But our Lord has farther provided those desires should not be frustrated, if we follow his rule, and strictly adhere to his Commands in mortifying our affections and lusts, and as it were spirituallizing the whole man to be thereby fitted for his Kingdom. It is from us he expects this work should be performed, and not from age: Age may indeed prove the mortifier of a Lust, but withal it kills the service. Little is the glory of overcoming the Tempter when he does not assault us; but to break fleshly motions in all their strength this is a true Conquest. Neither should it be thought strange for any Disciple to deny thus self in Christianity; for Heaven being the object of that work will easily destroy the Miracle of doing it. How can any of us contemplate the happiness above, and yet not be willing to forsake his proper sins, sins (how coloured soever) yet in the midst of their Varnish deformed! Where is true beauty but that of Life, which only in the Counterfeit we admire? where is true wealth but that of Immortality, which only in the Glitter we esteem! since then such a fair and substantial Treasure is there offered us, we ought like wisemen to determine our choice; and forsaking the vanities of other objects, become fixed and settled in our endeavours, that we may obtain and compass that Good which yields so bright, so weighty, so glorious a recompense to the Pursuer.   

The Fourth Discourse.  Rom. 8.34. 
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again.  
THe Justification of a Sinner, and the way God has prescribed to save men by, is so mistaken in the world, that no Point has begot more disputes, nor is there any Theme wherein Scripture has more suffered. Yet this quarrel amongst men cannot be charged upon any want of evidence in this particular; but either an humour of pride to contradict, or the interest of a Party to pursue, or the prejudice of Opinion to defend, have been the main cause of that contention. Would we come with a sincere mind to the reading of the Word, especially the Writings of this Apostle, we should find the difficulty of that Truth cleared, and the glorious effects of Christ's Mediatorship laid open, upon which our Justifying does depend.  
Now for the better handling this Text (which I have here chosen to discuss) I shall a little explain the verse before it, by reason of their necessary connexion together. In which verse we may observe  
1. The Triumphant Challenge he makes, summoning any Adversary to appear in Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who will charge or accuse?  
2. The Ground of his confidence how little that Accusation would avail, because of the mercy of the Judge that acquits the offendor.— It is God that justifies.  
3. The limitation of the Charge in respect of the party against whom it is drawn, and the limitation of the act of Justifying Grace in respect of the party to whom it belongs— Who will lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifies, that is those Elect: where by Gods Elect he means the same that are spoken of in the first verse of the Chapter, namely such as are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit: that is, who perform all the conditions required in the New Covenant: For these alone are the chosen of God, whom He has decreed to reward with Eternal Life.  
But because the grace of Justification does necessarily suppose a work of Satisfaction (since the goodness of God could have no place for justifying a sinner, were not the way first made by atoning his Justice) he therefore proceeds in my Text to clear that point, and show whence Pardoning Mercy springs, namely from Christ's undertaking our Cause, and reconciling us to his Father by the virtue of his Mediatorship. 
Acts 4.11, 12.  He indeed is the Stone upon which all our salvation is built, so that without him there neither is nor can be given either Pardon of sin here, or Glory hereafter. Hence the Apostle with regard to his satisfaction does further urge, and more strongly confirm what he laid down in the former verse, Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again.  
The words contain in them a True Believers full discharge; and the Reason or Ground of it. The fullness of the discharge is held forth in that Question, Who is he that condemneth? The reason of it is expressed in that double work of our Redeemer, but one of them more dignified than the other. It is Christ that died; yea, rather is risen again.  
The sense of the whole may be resolved into these Three Propositions.  
1. That there is a Proper and Peculiar Virtue to be ascribed to Christ's Death in the act of redeeming us.  
2. That there are Proper and Peculiar Advantages in Christ's Rising above that Death.  
3. That Christ's Death in particular, but more eminently his Rising, has procured the Saint's freedom from Condemnation.  
1. That there is a Proper and Peculiar Virtue to be ascribed to Christ's Death in the act of Redeeming us.  
In the handling of it I shall premise some Truths.  
First, I take for granted what Scripture so clearly reveals, that the breach of a Positive Law (which was given to Adam in Paradise) did not only involve him but his Posterity too in the Curse there threatened; so that the propagation of Mankind from him was but the propagation of persons condemned; all of us being liable thereby to Death Temporal and Eternal.  
Secondly, though God considered in his Absolute Power could forgive Man the sin he had committed, yet considered in the Decree he had made of punishing his Sin, and as a Governor bound to maintain it, so he was hindered from the exercise of that power.  
Thirdly, No creature could possibly reverse that Decree, nor expiate the violation of this Governors' Authority, for want of a Satisfaction which He demanded. For where was the Creature that could give it? Angels withdraw from the brightness of God's Glory, how then would they flee from the Fire of his wrath! Man cannot bear the punishment due to one of his own, how then would he sustain the sins of a World! Had either of them been deputed to this Task, they had sunk under it, poor Mankind had been lost, and God still unreconciled: For to the work of Satisfying him Srength as well as Innocence is required; but the Creature at best is too weak to intercede; the price of its suffering too mean, the merit of which cannot extend to another; and so Divine Justice instead of accepting would quite devour the Sacrifice.  
Therefore it was necessary to our recovery one should undertake for us, that could answer the rigour of the Decree by his Sufferings, and supply the defects both of Men and Angels by the Innocence and Worth of a Sacrifice; Innocence to prepare, and Worth to crown the Oblation.  
Now that Christ was thus qualified to appear in our stead, may be easily evinced, if we will but consider either the purity of his Humane nature, which was without spot, 
1 Pet. 1.19. Rom. 9.5.  or the Majesty of his Person, who is God blessed for ever. The first of these would serve to make his Offering holy; the latter would give it infinite value; by both which he was fitted to pay our debt, and bear all the wrath of his Father due to our sins.  
And that He actually did what He was so qualified to perform, we have the like evidence from Scripture. The whole Oeconomy of the Jews, and the strain of the Gospel confirms it. The Sacrifices of the Old Law were Types and dark Images of this Great one that was once to be offered for the sins of the people: The Gospel-phrase points altogether to this Truth; and therefore when it speaks of Christ, 
Mat. 20.28.  it calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of ransom, nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is a price by way of exchange, 
1 Tim. 2.6.  in supplying our place: again we are said to be justified by his Blood, reconciled through his Death, and to have redemption by his Sufferings: all which expressions signify the proper effect of his Death was the remission of our sins. This He himself testifies, how that his Blood was shed for the remission of sins; 
Matt. 26.28.  whence we may take comfort in his Death, and rejoice in the virtue of his Atonement, whereby our pardon is obtained.  
Should we now with the Socinian make plain words that express all this, to be mere Metaphors and Figures, we may as well join with the old Heretics (the Valentinians) that made a Figure of his Living, Dying and Rising; in that they denied the reality of his Flesh: nor can their Opinion be more contrary to the Faith than this: For as to hold. He was but the Image of a Man destroys a Christ, so to hold He was but the Image of a Priest destroys a Saviour. Thus to wrest the Scripture is to wrest it to our destruction: for what follows upon it? If he be not in a true sense offered for us, we are still in our sins, the Curse of the Law yet abides, and his Death becomes altogether unprofitable, when it brings us deliverance but in shadow. I might add how his suffering upon any other account than in our stead to redeem us, has nothing of justice in it, and therefore cannot demonstrate the justice of another; whereas his Blood and the declaring of God's righteousness are joined together: 
Rom. 3.25.  but if He who was all innocence in himself, did not bear our guilt when He suffered, the Death He underwent (being properly a punishment because sins wages) would be so far from declaring God's righteousness, that it could only manifest the Tyranny of the Inflicter.  
Yet these kind of men are the great pretenders to Reason, who reject the Doctrine of Satisfaction; but cannot maintain what they deliver without laying their groundwork in impiety; which is to assert He was no God that suffered; where how grossly they renounce their reason will appear in this, that denying him to be God, they deny themselves to be True Worshippers, and proclaim to the world their Idolatry in adoring Man. But their absurdity farther appears, when denying the Meritoriousness of his Satisfaction, they can yet make his Sufferings to be meritorious of Divine Power; as if there were any proportion betwixt mere humane actions and so high a reward. Now what Merit is this that could raise him to be the Head of Angels, and Governor of all created Being's; nay to be adored and worshipped equally with the Father; which Honours the collected services of the whole Creation cannot reach to? May not the Heathens scoff at their Idolatry, who pretending to Christianity, set up a made God to pray to; and expect Salvation from One who is exalted for the virtue of his sufferings in maintaining his Religion, as they consecrated theirs for the Gallantry of public actions? Behold! this is only to refine, but not to change the nature of Gentilism: as likewise it utterly overthrows the Mystery of Godliness, and destroys the Greatness of Divine Love; which consisted chief in abasing the Deity for Man's sake, whereas this makes it ridiculous and dishonourable in thus exalting the Humanity.  
But I leave them to their Judge above, and their Books to Judges below: I shall now only briefly inquire into Two things for the better opening this Point, and so proceed to my Second Observable.  
1. How Christ's Death is the Cause of the remission of our sins.  
2. From what Time we should date the Benefit of that remission, as it is made ours.  
1. How Christ's Death is the Cause, etc.— I answer thus; God the Father was moved for that price his Son laid down (which was his precious Blood) to free us from that punishment we deserved in our own persons; and to enter into a New Covenant with us; offering us Pardon of sin and Eternal Life upon new easy terms of faith and sincere obedience: whereas before rigorous Justice bore the sway, and shut us all up under a a sentence of condemnation without hope of mercy. Therefore He is called the Mediator of a better Covenant; and whereas in the old League we were used as Gibeonites and made slaves, in this New one (procured by Christ) we are treated as a free People, and made capable of the Privileges of his Kingdom. This He ratified in his own Blood; whence his Blood is called the Blood of the New Testament, wherein all his promises of Grace are confirmed, and the Legal Curse done away.  
See here the Love of a Saviour, that would thus die to restore us; buy our peace at the price of himself, and bring us terms of salvation so dearly purchased, which before we could not hope for. This shows the wretchedness of our state, and the need we stood in of such an Expiation, when He who could create us at first with the ease of a word, is not allowed to create us anew but with the pain of suffering. The Cross upon which He did this work, is a sad spectacle to Sense, but a glad object of Faith: the one presents him naked in our Flesh, but the other covered with our Sins; the one shows him in his Blood, but the other in our Gild, the burden of which He carried up thither, encountered his Father's wrath, and at the very point of death proclaimed his Victory, It is finished; which is all one with this, The Atonement is wrought, because the Victim is slain.  
2. From what time we should date the Benefit of that Remission, when it is made ours? I answer not immediately from his Satisfaction, but from the time of our rightly believing in him. We are justified by his Blood in one sense, and we are justified by faith in his Blood in another: His bloody Death procured for us the Pardon, which is nothing else but putting us into capacity of being pardoned; but True Faith applies the Pardon to the Soul, whereby we actually enjoy it. How Faith here will be understood, may be found out by comparing two places of Scripture, namely Acts 10.43. with Acts 3.19. In the one it is said, Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins: in the other, Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out: so that True Faith is the Principle of a new life, the beginning of Sanctification; when the Heart is resigned up to God, and with sincere resolutions turns to him. No Faith can justify us but as Faith that thus worketh: for as God will take no unsanctified person to his Glory, so neither will He seal to him in that condition pardon of sin here, which is the earnest of that Glory.  
Trust not then to his Wounds if thou bearest not the marks of them in thy Soul; rely not on his Death, if sin in thee be not crucified. They were Reprobate Jews that turned his Passion into a Sight, and came off not wounded, but true Christians are pierced with beholding him, and find it operative upon their lives. Should we be justified without doing any thing on our part, obedience to God's Commands would rather be a Gift than a Debt; whereas the Gospel enjoins it us as necessary to please Him; let us then so come to his Grave, as not idly to bury ourselves there; for we are but dead men in doing so; neither will our Master be found, since the Angel can tell us, He is not there but is risen; whence we ought not to rest in that place, but go forth to seek him. All the virtue that is in the Sepulchre comes out to those that rise and resemble him who is risen, That like as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so they likewise might walk in newness of life. Thus much for the First Observable.  
I proceed to handle the Second Proposition.  
II. That there are proper and peculiar Advantages in Christ's rising above that death— yea rather is risen again.  
All the time Christ slept in the Grave was a time of gloominess and thick darkness: but here God speaks as he did in the old Creation, Let there be light: His rising bring us day and the joys of it; wherein Death has lost all its spoils, and Life his victory; Sin has spent all its force, and Mercy triumphs; the Synagogue itself ends, and our Church gins. A Day very pleasant in the speculation! but may no doubt come in, that it is artificially framed and devised by Christians? Truly doubts cannot be hindered, where corruption and infidelity so much reigns; but the reason of our doubting is taken away by the clear evidence that is given us of his Resurrection.  
If you ask what that is, behold! it is grounded upon Prophets that foretell; Eye-witnesses that confirm, and God himself attesting the truth of both by the power of his Spirit that worked in the Preachers, to make this Point undeniable. To the Prophets St. 
Acts 2.  Peter appeals for convincing the Jews; and St. Paul makes it a standing proof, how He risen again according to the Scriptures. 
1 Cor. 15.4.  Eye-witnesses are produced to convince the Gentiles, not only a few Women and Apostles whom he had chosen, but Five hundred Brethren at once: and those He appeared to were not so much considerable for their number as for their nicety in believing; men that had scruples of sense which kept them from being deceived, as well as scruples of conscience, which kept them from deceiving others. The first of these is manifest from hence, That they would not thoroughly believe He was risen (though they saw him) till they were convinced by the very touch: the latter is clear from that Doctrine they embraced, which forbade the least sin; and how can we imagine they durst propagate a Cheat under all discouragements, when they knew they not only ran the hazard of losing their Lives (as they did by professing him) but their Hopes too of a better life (the only Anchor of their Profession) from which a Lie would certainly exclude them. Add to this the Spirit they received, the Wonders they wrought, and the Success they had in their Ministry, when their Doctrine spread through the world from poor naked beginnings merely by the force of this Article, it shows the Body of their Master was not stolen away (as the Keepers absurdly reported) but that God himself was risen to defend them. These things well considered (if they amount not to Demonstration) yet afford so rational a proof, as will engage our assent to the Truth, and convince us of folly in denying it.  
Now the Advantages of Christ's Rising above his Death have a double aspect; for they either relate to Christ or to Us.  
First to Christ, and so the Dignity of his Resurrection is seen in these Particulars.  
1. It justified the Innocence of his Humanity.  
When Christ was laid hold of, and carried away to be condemned by the Jews, than his very Cause seemed to be given up: It was counted criminal with them that He would submit to an Arrest, and a sufficient evidence to make him a Malefactor, that He did so tamely yield to the Trial. But when He endured the Sentence to be pronounced, went patiently to his Cross, and suffered his Body to be fastened with the nails, as if He had the guilt of a Slave with the punishment, here was the Hour to overcome Truth, and the Power of darkness to cover him, who is the light of the world.  
But his Rising from death removed that Eclipse, cleared that Innocence, by the distinction it made of his Fate, when the Vileness of his Execution gave Authority to the Charge. This caused such boldness in Peter to plead for his Master, and return the fault upon his Persecutors (which He was so guilty of himself) Ye have denied the holy one and the just; 
Acts 3.14.  and he proceeds farther to aggravate their Crime, and maintain the righteousness of his Cause by that convincing Argument of Gods raifing 
Vers. 15.  him from the dead. Now it is easy for any one to conclude, that had our Lord been an Impostor, or an evil doer, he could not rise; such kind of men would surely rot in the Grave, and know no other Resurrection than that of the last Day to a worse Judgement; because for God to punish them with Death here, and allow them presently to rise, that so they might confirm their own followers in those Errors they taught, and those Evils they practised; here a work of Divinity would be employed to destroy the true worship of it, which is a flat contradiction to his Goodness. Christ therefore by his rising had a Testimony from Heaven of his uprightness, and the Evidence sealed by Omnipoteoce itself, That He was the True Prophet which came into the world.  
2. It declared the Divinity of his Power; For He raised up himself. Now to raise the Dead is beyond the strength of a Finite Agent; and to restore things as well as create them does equally require an Almighty hand; both which works not being to be found in Nature, the Heatheris (thence taking their measures) judged them Impossible to be done: which is an unreasonable limiting of the God of Nature, when Men will not consider what reserves of Power He ought to have that is the Fountain of all the actions of his Creatures.  
That Christ would thus raise up himself, He in his life-time foretold, and He particularly appeals to the Divinity of that act (He would one day show) as a sign of his Authority to purge that Temple which they profaned. 
2 Joh. 19  And the Apostle S. Paul expressly tells us how by his resurrection from the dead He was declared to be the Son of God with power; 
Rom. 1.4.  that is with power He had in himself to give life, not with power his Father alone put forth in quickening him; for than his Rising would be common to him with others. But did not the Miracles He wrought (when living) declare him likewise to be the Son of God? Not so convincingly as this: for the Wonders He then did, mere men (such were the Prophets) had the Privilege of doing before him; but none except the Son of God could thus rise; much less did his dying reveal him in that Majesty, which could only declare him to be the Son of Man with weakness. For what more argues it then to die? what greater scandal of that weakness than to die on the Cross? wherein the Godhead stooped to the lowest infirmities of Flesh, and the worst malice of his Persecutors. Then his Enemies could grow bold, and scoffingly demand some proof of his Power, and the contemptibleness of that state He was in (which hide all his Greatness) made them ask such a sign of it as that was of saving himself; which, if granted, had kept the world from being saved.  
But his Rising from death had all marks of glory in it; the breaking up of the Sepulchre, the Ministry of Angels, the shaking of Earth, and the trembling of Keepers; which were but several ways of Homage due to the Power of his Resurrection. Here He discovered himself to be truly God, and confirmed the Faith of his Disciples with the Reason they had to worship him;  
3. It invested him in his Rights, and put him into actual possession of his Kingdom.  
This was the Covenant betwixt Him and his Father, that He should first make atonement for sin by his Death, and receive afterwards the reward of that work in Dominion. Hence we read how for becoming obedient to Death, 
Phil. 2.9.  even the Death of the Cross, He was therefore highly exalted; 
Psa. 110.7.  for drinking of the brook of the way he should therefore lift up his head. King He was indeed from his very birth, but He received not then the oil of gladness above his fellows: the Honour of his Anointing was as imperfect as the Form He assumed, which was the Form of a Servant, where He was put under subjection to the Law and the Curse, but after He risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He was made perfect, that is, actually crowned. This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Matt. 19.28.  the Regeneration or New state mentioned, namely the Kingdom of the Messiah, which takes its date from the time of his Resurrection; for than He showed his Conquest of the chief Rebel Satan, by overturning the Foundation of his Empire, which was laid in the Grave; so that whereas all other Prince's Glory ends in that place, this Prince's Triumph there began; then He commissioned his Disciples to Preach every where and Baptise, to gather him a Church made up of Jews and Gentiles, where He would always rule and preside, when as before they continued Members of the Synagogue. And his Authority to do this He grounds upon that Universal power that was given him both 
Mat. 28.  in Heaven and in Earth, whereto He had right in his Flesh as the Heir, but the exercise of it as a Possessor was suspended till his rising.  
Should we compare his condition under death with this his condition after it, we shall find a vast difference; for at his death He was so far from having the Ensigns of Sovereignty, that He bore only the looks and wore the chains of a Captive: The great mark of his Kingship appeared in the Title of his Charge, King of the Jews; which being set over his head, and He crucified under it, it showed He was the object more of men's Mockery than Fear. But when He risen, He put on Greatness, took the Sceptre in his hand, and made his way as a Prince by victory. Here He manifested the Virtue of his Kingly Office, and convinced the World of his right to command, and what obedience is due to his Laws.  
Hitherto I have insisted upon the Dignity of the Resurrection as it relates to Christ, I shall next consider the Advantages of it as it relates to us— Yea rather is risen again. And they are these:  
1. It manifested a full discharge of our Debt, and Gods ready accepting of that price which was paid.  
When a Surety that undertakes another's Debt is cast into prison by the Creditor, if he comes out of it, it argues the Creditor is fully satisfied: so Christ's coming out of the Grave (whether He was delivered by the Judge for our offences) declares the obligation is taken off, and no more left for Him to suffer. To this purpose the Apostle speaks, 
Rom. 4.25.  That He risen again for our Justification, or in other terms, to give us assurance by the Satisfaction of his Death that our Acquittance is obtained. The work of Redemption was performed in the dark when He died; all the time He was held in the Grave, we could have no sense of a deliverance; but when He who was slain for a Sin-offering, presented himself afterwards alive before the Lord, this brought us light to behold the Perfection of that Atonement.  
Look then on his Death as the cause of thy freedom, but on his Rising as the ground of thy comfort: in the one He was the Priest to offer, in the other the Messenger to assure us; a preceding requisite to give us the joy of a Saviour, and complete our notion of his performance, when we should see his love in the strength of it, find out the Price He laid down for us by Death in the Power of that Evidence He gave us by Life. The Scape-goat under the Law was but a poor uncomfortable Type, that had all the iniquities, sins, and transgressions of Israel put upon his head, and was after this sent away into the Wilderness, whence he never returned: but Christ that bore the sins of the World, and entered the Wilderness not inhabited (the Grave) came out thence to bring us the news of his Expiation, and so made us certain of the benesit. It was not enough with him to work our Redemption, except we were further enlightened to know it: Thus He doubled the mercy of that act, when we whose state He recovered by dying, had our Fears too healed by his Resurrection.  
2. It is an efficient cause of our rising with an identity of Body as He risen; for we fall not in respect of our Souls, but our Bodies; if therefore the same Body does not rise, the notion of a Resurrection is destroyed. This power and right He has to raise us, is part of that Dominion he received when He risen; whereby He became Lord of the Dead as well as the Living; 
Rom. 14.9.  and He gave a pregnant instance of it at his rising, when He caused the Stone to be removed not only from his own, but from others Sepulchers; for He had many Bodies of Saints with him. They had long before slept in the dust, and perhaps were so far from being dry bones, that the question might be put, Can this dust live? yet were they quickly fashioned in the earth, and built up by virtue of their Master's breath to attend him in his Triumph.  
If our rising be later than theirs, yet it is as sure; for in him (says the Apostle) shall all be made alive; He is become the First-fruits of them that slept; Now the First-fruits do not so go before other Fruits but that they are in being, though not brought to the same maturity; so though the Resurrection of the Dead be not ripe, yet it really is begun, because Christ is risen. Whatever alterations befall us in death, they are but changes of Figure; no particle of us is lost; the very lest mite of our Frame is put into the Treasury, whence it will be one day taken out and restored. An excellent privilege Christ's Members enjoy, to be thus quickened by their Head! otherwise the benefit of their reconciliation were small, had he not proved their Life as well as their Sacrifice. It is a poor stopping of the Plague to enter the Gulf, and not keep it by that Entrance from swallowing; but to open it that it shall yield up its dead, and no longer devour them, here is a rich Atonement, All our hopes depend upon the success of such an Undertaking; which we have confirmed to us by the rising of our Lord, who has abolished Death, broken the tyranny of that Oppressor, and made it a Servant to convey us to Glory.  
But this is all upon supposition that we are qualified for his Members; then we are raised by a Power inherent in us, whence we receive the influence of salvation; if we are no part of his Body, we shall however be raised, but by a power without us, the power of a Judge, that will sit over us as Slaves, and pronounce the Sentence of Execution. Therefore the carnal liver can take no pleasure in this word (Rise): 'tis like a Rack to stretch his limbs on, and represents to him all his parts new set that they may be fitted for torment. All his joys are placed in a life here, which is the Senses Portion; but the life of another world cuts him in reflecting on it, as a Curse that is attended with pain. Would we then make it our interest to rise, let us live like Children of the Resurrection, purge out all corrupt humours of Flesh and Blood, mortify our lusts, keep our Souls pure, and our Bodies clean, that when they are quickened, they may be raised to those Heavenly Mansions, where the Honours of the Place, the delights of Vision, and the clothing of Immortality, will satisfy our utmost desires, and show us the vanity of this World's good that holds us.  
3. It has procured the Assistance of God's Spirit whereby we are sanctified, and enabled to obtain the Promises of Eternal Life.  
Had not Christ risen, the Comforter had not been sent; indeed the promise of the Holy Ghost was made before, but it was shed upon none till after his Rising. Then we read of his breathing upon the Apostles, 
Joh. 20.22.  which showed the Authority He had to bestow it, and the Gifts that should afterwards follow upon his Ascension. How necessary the coming of the Spirit was, and consequently how great the Advantage of his Rising, will appear in this, That thereupon Ministers were empowered, Wonders wrought, a Church gathered, and the Word made so powerful in the hearts of the hearers, that they were not able to resist the Doctrine of the Resurrection, whereof the Apostles were ordained to be Witnesses. See this exemplified in St. 
Acts 1.22.  Peter's first Sermon on that Subject; which the Spirit accompanied with such efficacy, that those who heard it were pricked to the heart, and the same day there were added to them about three thousand Souls: Where by the way the Temper of these new Converts is remarkable; for it is said, They continued steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship, and and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers. They were no lovers of Novelty or Schism, but close adherers to the Truth, and united together in Worship: A rich Draught this! which Peter had figured out to him in a former one, when he drew the Net to land full of great fishes; and for all there were so many, yet was not the Net broken.  
By the same Spirit Christ still rules in his Church in order to men's Conversion; whose work is to enlighten and convince us by the Word, to prevent us by his Grace in all our do; to incline our wills and further them in good; without which assistance we could never by any natural strength of our own either rightly believe or repent, and so be made capable of the Promises.  
I have here given a short view of the Benefits of Christ's rising, which if we compare with the Virtue of his Death, we shall find good reason for that Emphasis in the Apostle— Yea rather is risen again.  
What are the proper effects of each I have already mentioned: How his Death in particular contributes, but more eminently his Rising, to the Saints freedom from Condemnation, may be easily collected from what I have said, so that I need not handle my Third Particular; therefore I shall now only in a few words apply this Truth to ourselves.  
God's Justifying Grace we read in the former verse is restrained to his Elect, or which is all one, his peculiar people that are zealous of Goodworks; the Benefits of Christ's dying and rising are restrained likewise to the same persons: For He is become the Author of Salvation to all them that obey him: 
Heb. 5.9.  Others are excluded from that Purchase; whence this Point obliges us to a duty of working, that as He died to Nature, and risen again in the Body, so we might die to Sin, and live unto Righteousness, which is the Souls Resurrection. The great design of his rising was to bless us in turning away every one from his iniquities; 
Acts 3.26.  which implies the very nature of his Blessing consists in the cleansing of us from sin; as our Taste of hereafter consists in being purified. No unclean liver can enter Heaven; for he wants the condition of Bliss; no nor relish it (if granted him) because of the unsutableness of that Glory: For the vast disproportion which is betwixt those objects that are pure and spiritual, and such a man's desires that are filthy and carnal would turn the very Joys of Heaven into a Punishment; so that either way he is miserable; in the Denial of Heaven he has no hope; in the Gift no pleasure. We see a sanctity of nature is necessary to the fruition of Happiness; and need we motives from some powerful example to encourage our obedience? I can produce no greater than in my Text; the manner of Christ's love to us when He died, and the manner of his acting for us when He risen, are sufficient arguments to quicken us.  
If we consider his love to us when He died, it is the Picture of strength in weakness; which could carry him cheerfully to submit to God's wrath, the Jews malice, and Human frailty; and worked too his end by that submission; for he nailed our sins to the Cross, when He was nailed there himself, and by death cancelled our Bond. Such was the virtue of his Sacrifice, that it did not require a Second Offering; what is this else but a Pattern to our Mortification, that we would die to sin, as He did for it, that we need not kill it a Second time?  
If we consider the manner of his Rising, here strength of love is visible in the activity of the Conqueror. He rose from the dead before day; so He would often rise in his life-time; He loved Early Devotions, and Early Conquests; the one to show his speed in interceding for us, the other in comforting. How is this a Lesson to us for following his steps, and rising to a life of Righteousness in the very dawn of our Time, when the Morn is fresh, and our day gins; that as He made haste to do us good, so we might to fit ourselves for him. Youth is as much consecrated to his service, as the Morning was to his rising; if we come late to him, we are unthankful Worshippers; and besides, the feebleness of such a course takes off from the value of the performance.  
But his early leaving of the Sepulchre (wherein the quickness of our Redeemer is manifested) does not so much instruct us in duty, as the perfectness of his Resurrection, which discovers the absoluteness of his Conquest. All others that were raised, dropped again into their Graves; had not life so properly as death restored to them; but Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death hath no more dominion over him: That glorious Body of his has put off mortality, and all signs of it, except we'll say the wound in his side, and the prints of the nails are; which yet He bears for another use, which is this: that whereas before they were Characters of his Weakness, they might now be Trophies of his Strength; whereas before they were marks of the Enemy's Victory, they might now prove marks of his own. With the like strength of Perfection should we live to him; so quit the deadness of corrupt nature, as never to admit its return; infuse such a Soul into our Good works, that may make them vigorous and lasting. Thus we shall copy out his Death and Life in ourselves, and bring that comfort home, Who is he that condemns? To think salvation for us is so wrought that we need not work it out ourselves, is miserably to delude our expectation, since all those glorious effects which issue from his Dying and Rising, are appointed to be Mercies to the doers, but Wonders only to lookers on. Let us then put off the Old man with his deeds, and keep up the memory of our Master in the Newness of our lives, that when our Earthly Tabernacle is dissolved, we may have a Building of God not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.  
FINIS.   

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