/6 '-'• Jo fuOi^^ (J:-^^- th .U LIBRARY PRINCETON, N. J. No. Case, No. Shelf, No. Book, -A BR 45 ,B35 1700 ■ - / p-v/. ^■^ K •/' h-t^'-^J EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, In the year 1780, At the lecture founded by the late Rev, and Pious JOHN BAMPTON, M. A. U^^xru CANON OF SALISBURY. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A VINDICATION OF ST. PAUL From the Charge of wishing himfelf accurfed, A SERMON Preached likewise before the University, on Sunday, March 14. 1778. By JAMES BANDINEL, D. D, OF JESUS COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. OXFORD; Printed forD. P5.INCE and J. Cooke, J. and J, Fletcher; J. F. and C. Rivington, and T. Cadell, London* M Dec LXXX. Imprimatur, GEO. H O R N E, Mat: 6. 1780. Vice-Can. Ox on, TO THE REVEREND The heads of COLLEGES; THESE SERMONS, PREACHED AT THEIR APPOINTMENT, ARE, WITH RESPECT AND AFFECTION, DEDICATED. ExtraSl from the laji Will and Tef- tament of the late Rev. JOHN BAMPTON, C^;/^;/ ^ Salifbury. ** I give and bequeath my Lands ** and Eftates to the Chancellor, Mailers, <* and Scholars of the Univerfity of Ox- ** ford for ever, to have and to hold all " and Angular the faid Lands or Eftates ** upon truft, and to the intents and pur- ** pofes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to <« fay, I will and appoint, that the Vice- *« Chancellor of the Univerfity of Oxford ** for the time being fhall take and re- " ceive all the rents, iffiies, and profits *« thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, " and neceflary deductions made) that he ** pay all the remainder to the endow- ** ment of eight Divinity Lefture Ser- «^ mons, to be eftablifhed for ever in the ** faid Univerfity, and to be performed in " the manner follov^ring : « I diredl and appoint, that, upon the ** firft Tuefday in Eafter Term, a Lec- a *^ turer '* turer be yearly chofen by the Heads of ** Colleges only, and by no others, in the *« room adjoining to the Printing-Houfe, '' between the hours of ten in the morn-' '^ ing and two in the afternoon, to preach '^ eight Divinity Ledture Sermons, the '* year following, at St. Mary*s in Ox- '* ford, between the commencement of *^ the laft month in Lent Term, and the '' end of the third week in Aft Term. ** Alfo I direfl: and appoint, that the '* eight Divinity Le6ture Sermons fhall be *^ preached upon either of the following *' fubjedts — to confirm and eftablifh the <* Chriftian Faith, and to confute all he- ** retics and fchifmatics — upon the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures — upon the authority of the writings of the primitive Fathers as to the faith and pracflice of the primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord and Sa- viour Jefus Chrift — upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghoft — upon the Articles of the Chriftian Faith, as comprehend- ed in the Apoftles* and Nicene Creeds. '^ Alfo << rig ttavn^ru^ j 7TbTc» ecl>TU9 ;(^7KJt|a^«/ j rhi " Id.Difert, I. tioos S E R M O N I. 21 tions and poffeffed of all perfeftions what- foever in the highefl degree ; it afcribes to him every thing that is great and glorious, good and amiable. The worihip it en- joins is fuitable to the idea of fo excellent and pure a deity : it confifts of an awful fenfe of his majefty and our dependence upon him, love of his perfedlions, faith in his veracity, gratitude for his benefits, recourfe to his goodnefs, frequent medita- tions upon him, communion w^ith him and an inward defire to pleafe him. Thefe things are required to be performed by us with fervency and zeal, with reverence, humility, and fincerity. — "^ GoJ is a fpirit^ and they that worfloip him mujl worjhip hint in fpirit a77d in truth. With this fuperior excellence of the fpeculative part of our religion the pra5lical entirely agrees. It is not, like the morality taught in the fchools of the heathen, made up of fhreds and patches, modelled according to the different genius and interefl of different ftates and ages, furnifhing in one century perhaps one truth and in another century ^ John iv. 24. B ^ another 22 S E R M O N I. another truth : It is one fimple, uniform, and perfeft rule of life ; built upon the moft folid foundation, the authority of God and our obedience to his will ; it is fuited to all times and all places, produc- tive of the univerfal good of every human fociety. The lav^s which it enjoins pro- ceed not from mere power and authority, but are evidently ads of wifdom and goodnefs. There is no precept delivered, no duty recommended, but what is highly rational and ufeful, worthy of God and beneficial to man ; from the obfervance of them will naturally refult peace and tran- quillity of mind, good will from all men, and the favour and acceptance of God ; who to our fincere though imperfedl obe- dience has been moreover gracioufly pleaf- cd to annex the glorious promife of Joys, fuch "" as eye has not feeuy ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to con-' ceive. Thefe dodlrines are peculiar to Chriftianity ^ philofophy never taught them in her fchools, neither are they to be read in the book of nature 5 for, after * 1 Cor, ii. 9, all S E R M O N I. 23 all the glorious things which are fpoken of reafon, it never furnifhed mankind with more than a bare furmife of futurity, a feeble hope of that ^ moji defirable thing which Seneca obferves their great 7nen pro^ mifed, hut could not prove : It is revelation alone that can impj^ove conjedure into knowledge, and doubt into certainty. Thus does the gofpel of Chriji in oppo- fition to paganif?n claim the title of truth on account of the intrinfic excellence and fublimity of its dodlrines. It moreover challenges it with refped: to thtjewijh re^ ligion y it is the body of its fhadows, the lubftance of its figures, the completion of its promifes. And here a new fcene opens, a comprehenlive view of a vaft, uniform, and coniiftent plan ; which could not be carried on under different difpenfations for fuch a length of time, with the utmoft analogy and harmony, by any thing lefs than the fore-knowledge and providence of God. Every part of the mofaical y Credebam opinionibus magnorum virorum rem gratif- fimam promittentium magis quam probantium. Senec^ Ep, 102. See Whitby upon 2 Tim. i. lo.' B 4 ©economy 24 S E R M O N I. oeconomy was typical of that more perfeft one, which was to be eftabUflied when "^the Lord would make a new covenant with the houfe of Ifraely when * the figures for the time then prefenty ^ the jJoadows of things to comey were to have their accomplifhment in Qhrifly the true ark "" in whom dwelleth all the fulnefs of the godhead bodily , as it did fymholically in the tabernacle and after- wards in the temple; the true mercy-feat "^j through which God Jhews himfelf gracious to his people 'y the true pafchal lamb% whofe blood protects us from the deftroying a77gel y the true piacular vidtim \ whom God hath fet forth to be a propitiation for the remijjion of fins y the true high prieft ^, who having obtained an eternal redemptiony is not entered into the holy places made with hands which. are the figures of the truCy but into heavejz it- felf now to appear in the prefence of God for us. Thefe are but few out of the num- berlefs typical analogies which might be produced ; yet fufficient, I truft, to {hew that the foundations of the gofpel were * 7^^' 3*- 3i« * ^^^' vlli. g. *» CoIt>f li. 17. *= Colojf. n. 9. ^ Exod. 20, &c. * Exod. 12. ' Rom. iii, 25. s Heb, ix. 12, 24, laid S E R M O N I. i^ laid in the law. ^ Every part of the ritual worfhip bore an emblematical relation to the fpiritual one which was to fucceed it ; every external difpenfation of Providence to the Jews had a myftical refped: to the everlafting covenant with all nations, and the whole people was figurative of the fpiritual Ifrael or the church of the Mef- Jiahy who was ihadowed forth to them under types and ceremonies ; the amazing correfpondency of which with that dif- penfation, which they prefigured fo many ages before its appearance, clearly demon- ftrates them to have been the efFe6t not of chance but of wildom power and fore- fight, and fully ratifies and confirms the veracity of God ' wbofe promifes in Chriji are yea and amen. Here let us paufe awhile to admire how God is pleafed to accommodate the ope- rations of his grace to the courfe of nature. Nothing arrives to its full age and maturity but by gentle fucceflive degrees. Even man himfelf, the Lord of the creation, comes *• See Berriman'z Sermons at Bojies Le^ure, * 2 Cor. i. 20. on 26 S E R M O N I. on flovvly to his perfedtion through the im- becillity of childhood and the defed:s of youth. Analogous to this order of things he brought us to the day-light of the gof- pel through the dark night of paganifm and the twilight of the law. When he took his church from under the hand of nature, he trained and tutored it in elements fitted for a weak capacity ; elements of a fenfible and material nature, yet fo admirably con- trived as to be emblematical of that true fpiritual doctrine, the fplendor of which being too ftrong for its infancy was veiled at firft under the cloud of the mofaical ad- miniftration, but in fulnefs of time brought to light by the gofpel. ^ It is an objection as old as the time of Celfus (which, however falfe and repeatedly fliewn to be fuch, has yet never failed to be urged with great confidence by all his fucceffors in infidelity) that Chriflianity debars its profeflbrs from all enquiries about religious truths, and demands of them a full and implicit aflent without a previous ^ Ml) l^im^i i«^«f mfivazv. Origen, L, I. exami- S E R M O N I. 27 examination of the ground on which they are to build that affent. But furely never was objedion railed upon fo flight a foun- dation. Chriftianity with a candour pecu- liar to itfelf earneftly folicits a trial at the barof reafon, invites and exhorts every man, before he embraces its dodlrines, fairly and impartially to examine itspretenfions.^Pr^i;jv;(^. Gods, S E R M O N II. 41 Godsy have tranfmitted down this tradition. The force of this reafoning is tacitly ac- knowledged by that univerfal confent, with which all mankind feem to confpire in paying refpedl and reverence to antiqui- ty. And to this inartificial argument, reafon readily fufcribes ; for truth is the elded born of heaven, evidently and of neceflity prior to falfhood ; becaufe falf- hood is nothing elfe but a corruption of the truth : and therefore ^ among the cha- racters and criteria of heavenly writings antiquity defervedly has its place; for from thence they acquire much dignity and au- thority above all human books and re- cords, ^ which (as has been fully proved by a learned writer of our own) borrowed all their choiceft notions and contempla- tions as well natural and moral as divine from the facred oracles, in that refpedl bearing teflimony to the truth of them ; and, where they differ, it is but juft to give credit to the elder who drew their dodrines from the fountain-head. *" Bochart't Phaleg. 8 See Gale'^ Court of the gentiles. I fliall 42 S E R M O N 11. I fhall not pay fo bad a compliment to this audience as to attempt a laboured proof of the antiquity of Mofes : he was in faft prior to moft of the fabulous dei- ties 5 and having in his youth converfed with men who were cotemporaries with Jofeph^ perhaps with Jacobs might have had thofe fadls, which he was not an eye witnefs of himfelf, tranfmitted by a regu- lar chain of traditions connected but by very few links with the inhabitants of the antediluvian world. The matter of his hiftory, and the manner in which it is re- corded, fuit entirely with this antiquity. There is no account in any other writer of the creation or the fall of man ; fome- thing indeed like the fall is here and there obfcurely hinted ; but Mofes alone gives us the hiftory and the caufe of it. He alone teaches us the age of the world, the ori- gin and difperfion of mankind, the begin- ning and fucceflion of kingdoms. This account is embellifhed with no fhew of learning ; it is written with a majeftic fe- curity, fhort and plain ; as we may well fuppofe the firft memoirs to have been, whilft S E R M O N II. 43 whilft religion was wifdom, iimple truth philofophy ; and therefore ^ T'atian, a man well verfed in all kinds of human litera- ture, ingenuoufly acknowledges that one of the chief reafons of his embracing the chriflian religion was the rational account he there met with of the creation of all things. Varro confeffes the firft period of profane hiftory to be entirely unknown, and the fecond fabulous ; thofe therefore among the heathens, who treat of primi- tive antiquity, conceal their ignorance un- der the fpecious veil of myftical allego- ries ; and fo efFedlually envelop themfelves within an infinite multitude of incoherent generations, that it is impoffible for the mod fagacious interpreter to trace either their hiftory or philofophy. But with Mofes there is nothing unknown or fabu- lous ; he is every where clear and confif- tent, particularly fpecifies every minute circumftance as well known and frefh in his memory, and conneds all the remark- able periods but by a very few links ; which* on account of the long lives of the ^ Orat, contra Gnec, €. 464 patriarchs 44 S E R M O N IL patriarchs touch each other, and made it very eafy for his cotemporaries to have detected him, if in fads fo recent and fo arranged he had been guilty of any falf- hood. Even in thofe books which were written after the Hebrew volumes had been tranflated into Greek, and which treat of the Egyptian, ChaldeaUy and Phceiikian anti- quities, you have nothing but a heap of undigefted fables and confufed traditions for fome ages fubfequent to Mofes him- felf ; and yet the motive of their authors evidently was to prove, in contradiction to MofeSi that the Jews were by no means fu- perior in point of age or origin to their refpedtive nations ; a plain proof of the refpeft which men in general have for an- tiquity, and how ftrongly they conned it with the idea of dignity and reverence. The argument from antiquity acquires a very confiderable degree of ftrength, when joined to \h2X0i a perpetual and uninterrupt- ed tradition. To have been in quiet poflef- lion fo long is no mean prefumptive proof in favour of the poiTeflbr. The authenti- city and authority of the old tejiament has been S E R M O N II. 45 been allowed by the Chrijiians for near two thoufand years ; and if we afcend higher we fhall find the "Jews univerfally and without any chafm acknowledging it for above fourteen hundred years more. Now two people, entirely differing in other refpedls, could not poffibly have entered into a combination ; the appeal therefore, which they both make to Mofes and the prophets^ not only prefuppofes but is a con- firmation of their unqueftioned veracity. * When the defcendants of 'Jacob left Egypfy the men exclufive of the women and children amounted to above ^;c hun- dred thoufand : they were all witnefles of the fads recorded in four of the books written by Mofes : Is it credible, is it pof- fible, that fo many perfons could, againft the teftimony of their fenfes, believe the account of numberlefs miracles faid to have been performed, and in confequence of that belief fubmit to a rigorous and painful law, every part of which was im- prefTed with charadlers of feverity and fer- vitude ? Their ceremonies and folemn fef-^ » Exod. xii. 37. Numb, i. 46. tivals. 46 S E R M O N II. tivals, though typically looking forwards to thtir fpiritual accomplifhment yet, had a retrofpedt to former temporal deliver- ances ; and having been inftituted in me- mory of them, bore a conftant and un- biafled teftimony to the truth of the hiflo- rian. Thefe were flridtly enjoined under heavy penalties ; and ^ at feveral of them all the males were obliged to leave their affairs, their homes, and families, and ap- pear from every part of the kingdom be- fore the Lord at Jerufalem, Would a peo- ple, famous for obftinacy and rebellion, have fubmitted for fo long a time as they did to the bondage of a law, the obferv- ance of which was attended with fo much inconvenience, if they had not been thoroughly convinced of the reality of thofe tranfadtions which the feftivals were appointed to commemorate ? From the time of Mofes downwards the hiftory is (if poffible) ftill carried on with greater precifion and accuracy through the ^ At the three grand fefllvals, the pajfo'ver, x\\efeaji of the fweeksy and l\iQfeaJi of the tabernacle, Deuter, xvi. 1 6, feveral S E R M O N II. 47 feveral fucceffions oi judges and kings^ thq length of their refpe6tive governments af- certained, and the chronology every where fettled till the BabylonijJ: captivity ; their deliverance from which, and re-fettlement in yudea^ are particularly defcribed by Ezra, an eye witnefs of every circumftance, a writer of an unimpeached character ; and, though the laft in the 'Jewijlo canon, cotemporary with Herodotus the father of Grecian hiftory : a remarkable circum- fiance, which fixes beyond all difpute the right which the ads and monuments of the old tejlament have to fuperior antiqui- ty j and, when joined with another flill more remarkable circumflance, may juf- tify a conjediure that it was not without the appointment of providence, that in hijiorical as v/ell as religious truths all na- tions lighted their candle at the fire of the fandtuary. For furely it was owing to fomewhat more than chance, that cer- tainty fhould difdain to dwell in other lands till it had been baniflied from j^«- dea, that all the famous epochs of other people though entirely unconnedled (fuch as the oera of Nabonajfar^ the olympiads of Greece^ 48 SERMON II. GreecCy and xh^ foundation of Rome) ihould all begin at the fame time ; and that time be the period marked out for the deftruc- tion of the jewifli nation ; when God was pleafed to raife up two mighty em- pires to be his inflruments for the punilh- ment of his own people, and the over- throw of the kingdoms of IJrael and fudah. But to return.— We have the fame uni- V erf a I and uninterrupted tradition for the authenticity of the new tejiament ; and if the validity of this evidence is called in queftion there is an end of public faith, human converfe muft fublift without hu- man confidence. We have received thefe facred volumes from our forefathers, they from theirs, and fo on backwards in a continued feries up to thofe who lived in the time of the Apofles^ who heard them deliver the fame dodrines, and knew for certain that they publifhed them in thofe writings which go under their names. They are univerfally quoted by all the fa- thers without intermiffion, and by them affigned to thofe authors whofe names they ROW S E R M O N II. 49 now bear. And what other authority, than the evidence of thofe who were co- temporary with or lived near the times of the writer, and the perpetual confent of learned men, can we have for affigning particular books to particular authors ? But in this the fcriptures have a very An- gular advantage over every other compo- sition whatfoever; they can alledge for th^ir genuinenefs what no other volumes have the leaft pretenfion tOj a judicial fane- tion : they have been approved and con- firmed by men of the greateft learning in different ages, folemnly aflembled in more than a thoufand provincial^ and not lefs than twenty general councils. Add to this the confirmation which they receive from the tejiimony of heretics ; the writings of Mofes from the Samaritans irreconcileable feparatifts from the Je^ws : and the books of the new tefament from fe^taries of all ages and denominations, who have always pretended the authority of fome part of fcripture for the dodrines which they endeavoured to propagate. D We 50 S E R M O N 11. We have moreover the fuffrage of pro^ fejjed enemies. To require that the truth of Mofeis hiftory fhould be attefled by •heathen writers of the fame or nearly the fame antiquity v^ith himfelf would be ab- furd ; fmce we know that thofe who af- fected to fix upon other nations the odious name of barbarians were in his time, and for feveral centuries afterwards, themfelves barbarians. ^ Yet is his authority legible in the few fragments that remain of the earliell writers, ^ and fubfequent hiftorians have fully confirmed it by the account which they give, though apparently mixed with depravation, of the hiftory of the yews and his legillation. With regard to the new tejlament -, it is an undeniable fadl that neither Cel/iis, Porphyry, nor jfu/ian, nor any other who formerly wrote againft Chrijlianity, ever called in queftion the hiftories or the fads recorded. If they had, the public regijlers of the Jlate would have convided them. T^hat Chriji did per^ * See among others Grotius de verit, "^ Tacit. Jujiin. Diodor. Strab, form S E R M O N II. 51 form thefe miracles y (fays " yujiin Martyr in his Apology to Antoninus Pius) you may know from the records that were written under Pilate s government. To thefe com- mentaries kept in the public archives Tl?r- tullian conftantly and confidently appeals; which he could not have done v^ithout a certainty of being expofed, if they had not been then extant, and the facSs which he advanced therein recorded. If any one notwithflanding fhould think that the zealous apologifts might quote at random, and throw the proof upon their adver- faries ; let him examine the acciijations brought againft the primitive Chriftians, and their confejjions before pagan tribunals; let him read carefully the account which "" Pliny y appointed by T!rajan to take cog- nizance of them, gives the emperor of their religious affemblies, their dodlrines, and civil praftices ; he will in all of them find the fubftance of our holy religion, as contained in the evangelical and apoftoli- cal writings now extant. I fhould be endlefs were I to profecute this argument, -» P. 93. Ed. Oxon. "?//>. 1. 10. Ep. 97. D 2 and SZ S E R M O N II. and point out the different parts of the gofpel narratives, which are fo ftrongly confirmed both by pagan and jewifli hif- tories as neceffarily to enforce and demon- ftrate the truth of the reft. So powerful is this evidence, and the force of it was fo fenfibly felt by Ju/ian, one of the bit- tereft enemies Chriftianity ever had, that ^ he forbad its profefTors the ufe of profane literature ; left their apologifts fhould foil pagans at their own weapons, and confute them out of their own authors ; ' whicb method (fays La5lantius ) y if learned men would take^ falfe religions would quickly vaniJI^, I fhall not repeat what I have already faid concerning the excellency of the doc- trines contained in the fcriptures ; I barely now mention it for the fake of obferving, P Amm. Marc, xxii. lo. 9 He fimJs fault with Cyprian for arguing with Demetrianus out of the fcriptures which he did not believe ; and ob- ierves that he ought to have produced human teftimonies— thofe of philofophers and hiftorians — ut Juis poujjtmum refw taretur auSloribus, And then he adds— S; hortatu nojiro doSi homines ac di/erti hue fe conferre cceperint—^e'vanituras bre'vi re- ligionti falfas et occafuram ejfe ommm philofophiam nemo dubita- ^irit» LaSiant* 1. 5,. c. 4. that SERMON IL 53 that It is by no means confonant to reafon to fuppofe that fuch fublime and pure ideas of the nature, attributes, and wor- fhip of God could have been invented by a people of fuch grofs intelledtuals as the Jews are well known to have been, famous for no kind of learning, utter ftrangers to philofophy and fcience, ever prone to fu- perftition and idolatry. Their religion they could not borrow from their neigh- bours ; for they were feparated from thenx by every diftinguifliing circumftance ; by language, rites, and manner of life; nay they were by their laws abfolutely forbid- den having any commerce with other na- tions : If this had not been the cafe, yet how could they have learned the worfliip of the only true God from thofe, who paid adoration to as many deities as there were ftars in the firmament ? The fame obfervation may be made with regard to thofe by whom Chrijiianity was firft preached ; they were mean and illiterate, fifhermen and publicans ; and yet there is more true fublimity and fcience in one page of their writings than D 3 ixi 54 S E R M O N II. in all the volumes of all the philofopher^ put together. The precepts in the mean while and injundtions were harili, and de- clared open war to all worldly pleafures ; the profeffion was attended with great felf denial, perils, and fuffcrings. As there- fore nothing lefs than the fpirit of wifdom and revelation could difcover to them a religion which exceeds all human capa- city, fo nothing but the invincible power of truth could induce them to adhere to it in fpite of public hatred and all kinds of injuries and tortures, which malice could invent and cruelty execute '. ' when mention is made of their regard to truth, it would be unjuft to forget that ingenuous honefty with which they tranfmit to pofterity their own faults and dif- graces. Witnefs the account which they all give of the rebellions, idolatries, and apoftacies of their own nation, the noble lincerity with which Mo/es records the crimes of his progenitor L.enji^ his fiji^rs murmurings, his brother''s inr famous yielding to the Ifraelites, and his o center and terminate in him who was prefigured by their rites and ceremonies, of whom all the patriarchs were types, ail the priefts and prophets reprefentations. The truth of the fads recorded is proved beyond the poffibility of a doubt by feveral internal marks, and externally by the length of time in which their authenticity has been allow- ed, by a confiant uninterrupted tradition confirmed by the acknowledgement of our adverfaries 74 S E R M O N II. adv erf arte s themfehes. The doBrines by their excellency bear ample teflimony to themfelves. They have moreover received the fandlion of a direSl and folemn attejia- tion from heaven ** by the mediation of ** figns and works fupernatural beyond the *^ power of any creature to effed: or coun- *^ terfeit." Thefe works were confeffedly performed by the blefled fefusy and in his name and by his appointment by thofe alfo whom he commiffioned to carry on the great fcheme of falvation begun by himfelf. The divinity of thefe miracles themfelves are in a peculiar manner con- firmed by their having been foretold \ in him whom we acknowledge this together with all the other prophetical marks and characters by which the Meffiah was to be known exadly concur. He was to be ^ born at Bethlehem^ "^ of the tribe of Judahy of the ' royal houfe of David-, circumftances afcertained by the providence of God, 8 Micahv. 2. Matth. ii. 7. ^ This is clearly figniiied by the patriarch Jacob. Gene/, xlix. 7. Heb. vii, 14. * Ifa. xi. 1,10. Jer. xxiii. 5, &c. — Hence our Saviopr is in the Revelations, v. 5. called the lion of the tribe of Ju" dah, the root of Da■ Dan, ix. 24, 26. deftrudion 76 S E R M O N II. dellrudion of the city and fandluary, within a determined period of time, which, however computed, falls within the compafs of the age wherein he lived and the deftrudlion of Jerufalem, To pre- pare the Jews for this period God had been pleafed to wean them by degrees from the law of Mofes : he built them in- deed a temple after the captivity ; but withdrew the ark of his prefence and the urim and thummim from among them, and accepted of offerings made by ftrange fire 5 thus abrogating one ceremony after the other as the time approached wherein Chrijl was to cancel all the ordinances. When he appeared upon earth he con- firmed what the prophet had foretold con- cerning the abomination of defolation, the demolition of this fecond temple, their woeful tragedy, captivity and difperfion. It accordingly came to pafs, and then their peculiarity vifibly ceafed; their polity both civil and eccleliaftical was totally deflroy- ed ; and they have ever fmce remained miferable exiles, without the diftindion of tribes or genealogies, ' without prince, ' Song of the three children, v. 14. prophet S E R M O N 11. ^^ prophet or leader y without burnt -offerings fa-- crifice, oblatioriy incenfe, or place to facrijice before God. That polity, during the con- tinuance of which Shiloh was to come, is now diffolvcd ; the temple, which the de^ Jire of all nations was to fill with his glory, is laid even with the ground ; the period, in which the Mefjtah was to make an atonement for fin, is expired ; and the whole nation of the Jews a (landing monument of the * defolation which was to come at the end thereof. If therefore the Mefjiah foretold by the prophets be not already come, he can never come ; the place, the time, and all other circum- ftances affigned to him, are now no more. But the Mefjiah foretold by the prophets is come, and therefore is ^ the 'vifion and prophecy fealed up ; all the predictions of foregoing ages concerning him are accom- plifhed, and therefore neither the place, nor the time, nor any other circumftance affigned to him is or can be any more. " Wherefore holy brethren partakers of the • Dan. ix. 26. < Dan, ix. 24. ° Heb, iii. i. heavenly 78 S E R M O N 11. heavenly callmg let us not ^ rebel againjl the lights "" let us take heed lejl there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief -y for ^ how floall we efcapey if we neglect fo great falvation^ which at thefrji began to be fpoken by the Lordy and has been confirmed unto us by them that heard him ; God alfo bearing them wit-- nefs both with figns and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghofi ? * Job xxiv. 13. « Heb» iii. 12. x Heb. ii. 3, 4. [ 79 ] SERMON III. Isaiah Ixi. i, 2. ihe Spirit of the Lord is upon me ; becaufe the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath fent me to bind up the broken-hearted^ to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the openi?2g of the prifon to them that are bound i, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. * ^¥^ HERE have not been wanting 3l men of piety and abilities who have endeavoured to overthrow the evangelical * See Mr. Lo^th*s excellent preface to his learned Commentaries on the prophets. 8o SERMON III. fenfe of the prophecies of the old tefta- ment, confining them merely to what is improperly called their primary meaning, and appropriating them wholly to the per- fons of whom or to whom they were proximately fpoken, and their accompliflh- ment to or near the times in which they were delivered. It may indeed be doubted whether the prophets themfelves fully underftood the chief and ultimate defign of ^ what they /pake when they were moved by the Holy Ghoji ; but it is matter of aflonifhment that any intelligent and unprejudiced rea- der of the fcriptures can call into queflion the typical meaning of the prophecies, which thofe authentic records allure him were fulfilled in the promifed Mejtah. * The fpace of time from Ifaiah to Malachi was furely too narrow a boundary * 2 Pet. il. 21. * Jfatah\ firft vifion was in the year that king Uzziah died. c. vi. i . Malachi was cotemporary, if not the fame, with Ezra : the fpace between them can therefore but very little, if at all, exceed three hundred years. to SERMON III. 8i to confine the plenitude of divine revela- tion ; the captivity of the Jev^s and their return from thence, though under the di- re(5tion of Providence, were certainly of themfelves events too inconfiderable to merit all the pomp and folemnity with which the vifions are introduced and the adlors in that glorious fcene, even Cheru- bim and Seraphim and the God of Ijrael himfelf. Such fpecial interpoiitions could not have temporary occurrences only for their objeds, but through them extended their view to ^ "what JJjould cowe to pafs at the lajly and fbewed what fiould come to pafs for ever. The exultation and triumph of the prophetical promifes were particularly defigned to raife in the minds of the Jews an expectation of far greater bleffings than their deliverance from the Babylo7iip cap- tivity, and return to Judea. Thefe were only preludes to their deliverance from the dominion of fin, and title to the heavenly Canaan ; blefllngs, which fuch among them as believed have obtained, and we through the tender mercy of our God this ** EccJuf. xlviii. 24, 25. F * day 82 SERMON III. day enjoy. And accordingly we read throughout the infpired writings that the Apoftles looked upon ' the tejlimony ofjefus Xoh^ the fpirit of prophecy -y always confirm- ing, when they difputed with the Jews, the doftrines of the new by the writings of the old tejiament. But we have ftill greater authority than theirs, even that of our bleffed Saviour ; who in his expofition of the prophecy, which I have chofen for my text, has applied it to himfelf faying after he had read it — ^ T'his day is fulfilled n ^ctcp^n ewT'/j iv wf oo(t)v v^iodv this very fcripture which you have juji now heard. The prophet Ifaiah from whom the words are taken, having in the foregoing chapters defcribed under feveral fymbols and allegories the fate of the church from the beginning to the end of time, at laft introduces the Meffiah manifefling himfelf to the Jewifii nation, and explaining his own office together with the benefits and privileges of the oeconomy of grace in fa^ miliar phrafes by an eafy allufion to a * Re'vel. xix. lo. ^ Luke iv, 21. folemn SERMON III. 83 folemn feftival, defigned to put them in mind of a temporal and prefigure 2ifpiritual deliverance. This was the ^ 'Jubilee cele- brated with the greateft tokens of joy by God's own exprefs appointment ; every particular circumftance of which was ana- logous to fome part of the gofpel difpen- fation, and the whole a lively adumbration of the ^ mercy promifed to our forefathers through the redemption that is i?i Chrijt Jefus. God in the beginning created man up* right, and bellowed upon him many Angu- lar marks of efpecial regard and favour, dignifying him \vith the prerogative of dominion over the reft of the creation, and placing him in a delightful garden which he honoured with his own imme- diate prefence, condefcending to have fre- quent intercourfe with man. The tree of life was planted in the midft -, the fruit of which was appointed by a natural ox fa-- cramental virtue to preferve and prolong his life in this ftate of blifs and glory. 5 Le-vit. 25. ^ Luke i, 72. Eom. in. 24. F 2 But 84 SERMON III. But he was difobedient to the divine command, and eat of the only fruit which God had forbidden him, having exprefsly faid, ' in the day that thou eateji thereof tJiou jl:)alt furely die, ^ In the penalty of death annexed to difobedience was virtually implied the promife of life upon obedi- ence ; but the conditions of the covenant being broken, all title to the reward was forfeited ^ the punifhment denounced muft be inflidled, or the honour of the law and the authority of the lawgiver trampled upon. The covenant had been by the goodnefs of God accommodated in every refpedl to the nature of man ; his reafon and underftanding, his appetites and paf- fions, were interefted in his obedience : the injunBion of a pojitive com?nand was founded on that duty, which reafon could not but tell him he owed to his creator and bene- fadlor ; the promife had an efpecial regard to the defire of happinefs interwoven in his very frame ; and the threatning to the i * Gtn. ii. 17. ' ^ This is proved at large by our excellent bifliop Bull in his learned di/courfe concerning the frj} co'venant and the Jlate of man before thefalL prevailing SERMON III. 85 prevailing afFedion of fear, which ftarts at every obje(It deftrudlive of his being. If after fo fignal and ungrateful an abufe of God's kindnefs man had gone totally unpunifhed, w^hat idea could he have formed to himfelf of God's veracity, pu- rity, and abhorrence of iniquity ? Would not an abfolute and unconditional pardon of this firft, and therefore moft heinous fin as being the caufe and origin of all fubfequent ones — v/ould it not have oc- cafioned fecurity under guilt, and made man fay in his heart, ^ 'Tujh the Lord does not fee y neither does God regard it ? Would it not have deftroyed the neceflity of reli- gion and holinefs, and fruftrated the fo- lemnity of divine laws and divine com- mands ? for if pardon is arbitrary, punifh- ment muft likewife be arbitrary ; and every thing of courfe refolved into the defpotic power of God, which necefiarily fuperfedes if not totally annihilates his truth, juftice, mercy, and other effential attributes. Man was amply provided for a continuance in his original redtitude, | » Pf. xciv. 7. F 3 furniflied 86 SERMON III. furniflied with powers fufficlent to per- form the moil fpiritual obedience ; he could therefore plead no excufe, neither could God confiftently with his righteouf- nefs and veracity difpenfe with fo diredl a violation of his pofitive command, but was obliged to vindicate the facrednefs of his laws by putting into execution the puniihment denounced againft the tranf- greffion. To apprehend rightly the nature, and confequently form a true judgement, of this punifhment we muft confider it in three diftindt points of view ; for the death denounced in the fentence is threefold, — • Firft, A fpiritual deathy a deprivation of that purity and holinefs derived from the divine image imprinted on the foul of man. — Secondly, A temporal deathy 2. fub- jeftion to the miferies of a corrupt and depraved nature, to labour and pain, in- firmities and difeafes, and at lad a fepara-r tion of the foul from the body. — Thirdly, An eternal deathy a future llate of endlefs mifery in the feparation of the foul frorn Qod. All thefe kinds of death were in- cluded SERMON III. eluded in the penalty annexed to the vio- lation of the covenant of works. But " God had not forgotten to be gracious ; " in the midjl of wrath he remembered ?nercy : of the three parts of which the punifhment confided the frji only was immediately felt. And this perhaps may not fo pro- perly be faid to have been a punifhment inflided as the natural cfFed: of a natural caufe, not fo much d. Judicial as a necefary confequence of man's difobedience. There is no ° communion between light and darknefs, neither could holinefs dwell in what was fmful and corrupt. Man having once parted with his innocence, his thoughts, defires, and affections, his whole frame and conftitution, became difordered and vitiated ; and this degeneracy and depravi- ty was, by the natural law of propagation, unavoidably tranfmitted by him to his unhappy pofterity. This I apprehend to be the true meaning of what is called orir ginalfn, the abfence of original righteouf- nefs ; that darknefs in the underftanding Pf. Ixxvii. 9. ° Uahak, iii. 2. ® 2 Cor. vi. 14. F 4 and 88 SERMON III. and obliquity in the will, which fucceeded that original light and reditude by vv^hich Jidaniy if he had continued in his obedi- ence, would have been enabled to have led a Jpiritual life here on earth ; but, having fuffered himfelf to be delpoiled of them by the wiles of the tempter, both he and thofe, who with their being de- rived the infed:ion from him, became Jpiritual ly deady ^ dead in trefpajfes and Jins, This fad effeft of their difobcdience our firfl: parents, 1 fay, immediately and very feverely felt : ^ they knew that they were naked', they perceived the foul degradation of their nature and ^ hid themfelves from the prefence of the Lord God. Confcioufnefs of their guilt brought upon them the dread of God*s juft anger and refentment, and anticipated all the horrors and tor- ments of punifliment even before fentence was pronounced. The other parts of the penalty though God did not, could not, abfolutely dif- ♦ P Ephef, ii. I. ^ Genef. iii. 7. ' Genef » iii. 8. penfe SERMON III. 89 penfe with; yet he did not direftly or rigoroufly exadt them ; he granted the of- fenders a long reprieve from temporal death, and even before he paffed fentence conveyed to them by the prcmife of a re- deemer the comfortable hopes of their being totally delivered from eternal death, and recovering the title to life which they had forfeited by their difobedience. That Adam underflood the promife in this fenfe is, I think, plain from his changing the name of his wife, and henceforth calling her Eve ; clearly alluding to the promifed ^JeeJ of the woman by whom all mankind (now under fentence of death) were to be reftored to life. And that £^?f's hopes likewife were eredt is evident from her fond and fanguine expectation of this great deliverer in her firft-born. ^ / have gotten^ fays fhe, a man from the Lord -, or as " fome learned men (who think that in the original the particle T)^ denotes, as it ' Genef. iii. 20. * Genef. iv. I. " Among others Ijidorus Clarius, who adds. Nam et caha- lijlica traditio neminit promijjionis de MeJJiah primis parefiiibus faSlre, See Berrimans fourth fermon at Boyle's ledlures and the authorities he quotes. often 90 SERMON III. often does, tlie accufative cafe) render the words by appofition, I have gotten the Man-God, Together with moral, phyfical evil alfo was introduced into the world ; whether by a natural connexion between them arif- ing from the original conftitution of things, or by a fpecial interpofition of providence at this period, lies within the bofom of the Almighty; but that the earth did ac- tually fympathize with man, and that the promife of deliverance from corruption was expefted to extend to the material world, the prophecy of Lamech at the birth of Noahy the typical reftorer of mankind, is a direft and pofitive proof. He gave him the name of Noah which fignifies comfort faying, "" this fame fjall comfort us co7icerning our work and toil of our hands becaufe of the ground which the Lord hath curfed, God whofe every dif- penfation is founded on mercy, and has always a refpeft to that amazing inftance of it the redemption of man through *' Gene/, v. 29. Chrift, SERMON III. 91 Chrift, was pleafed to keep this aflurance alive by various methods, by promifes de- claratory and emblematical ; never leaving his fallen creatures without hope, nor his gracious intentions without witnefs. ''That he continued to favour them with feveral, if not manifeftations of his prefence, at leafl: revelations of his will has been con-? eluded from fome hints given by Mo/es in his fhort hiftory of mankind before the flood. Of this point the prophecy of La^ mech juft mentioned feems to me clearly decifive. It is however worthy of obfer- vation that he makes mention only of the curfe, which the Lord had pronounced and infli(fled on the ground ; whereas Adams prophetical impolition of the name of 'Eve upon his wife has plainly a refpedt only to the reftoration of mankind to life by the promifed feed. It feems therefore not unreafonable to fuppofe that there had been a fubfequent revelation, in which God made known his gracious purpofe of re- lieving man's temporal mifery, by an abatement of that fterility, malignity, and general x)i SERMON III. general depravation which had on the fall infeded the whole inanimate creation. Adam poflibly might not feel this part of the curfe in its full rigour ; that it was encreafed upon the murder of Abel is more than probable; for the ^ Lord f aid unto Cain-, When thou tilkjl the ground it JJjall not hencefortli yield unto thee her jirength ; which words furely imply that it had hitherto in fome degree yielded her ftrength, in a degree fuperior to that in which it fhould do it for the future. As men increafed in wickednefs we may, from the analogy eftablilhed between moral and phyfical evil, venture to fuppofe that the curfe increafed in proportion, till at laft impiety having attained its utmoft height it was fully compleated by the total de- ftruftion of the earth. When Noah took poffeflion of the new world his father's prophecy began to take place. — ^ T'he Lord f aid in his heart, I will y Genef. iv, 12. For this obfervation and others adopted in this difcourfe I am indebted to Dr. Worthington\ EJ/ay on 'Redetnption, * Genef, viii. 21, not SERMON III. 93 not again curje the ground any more for mans Jake. — While the earth remaifieth, feed time and ha7^vef, ajid cold and heat, and fummer and winter^ and day and night, Jhall not ceafe^ plainly intimating that *the temperature of the air and the variety of feafons, which by their irregularity were inftruments of correftion ia the antediluvian world , fhould for the future by their regularity and conftant fucceffion be inftruments of mercy, and the means of removing that curfe of which the flood had been the effedt and confequence. Noah being typical of our Saviour and the deluge of baptifm the bleflings, con- tained in the covenant made with him in confequence of the flood, are likewife typical of the bleflings promifed by the evangelical covenant in confequence of our fpiritual regeneration by the waters of baptifm. But the type is always inferior to the antitype ; the bleflings covenanted * See Bifhop Sherlock's fourth difcourfe on prophecy ^ and his fecond dijjertation annexed to the difcourfes, with 94 SERMON III. with Noah were merely temporal, and even that in a lower degree 5 by them indeed the feverity of the curfe was great- ly foftened, but by no means totally re- moved : yet did this relief adminifter great comfort upon his entrance into the new world -, it was a pledge of and a pre- lude to the reftitution of nature to its original ftate, in the fame manner as Enoch was to his forefathers an earned of their deliverance from that far greater penalty of the curfc, fubjeftion unto death. Thus did God by different revelations at different periods preferve man from defpair, and provide for his prefent com- fort by giving him frequent affurances that he fhould in time be raifed from that deplorable degradation into which he was funk, and reftored to his primitive righte- oufnefs and of courfe to his primitive happinefs. For there is, as we have be- fore obferved, a correfpondence between moral and phylical evil ; the world, hav- ing been made for man, felt together with man the eifedls of God's difpleafure ^ it fell. SERMON III. 95 feH, and by confequential reafoning will rife with man ; it has been made an in- flrument of mifery to fin, and will by the blefling of God be made an inftru- ment of felicity to righteoufnefs ; when according to the eftablilTied rules of its fubferviency to moral caufes it fhall here- after together with man recover its former excellence and perfection : ^ 7'iou Jhalt judge the folk righteoiijly and govern the natiofis upon earth : then Jhall the earth bring forth her increafey and God even our own God fiall give us his blefjing. The removal of the curfe is with great probability fuppofed to have commenced immediately after the deluge, and con- tinued ever fince by flow degrees in pro- portion to man's advancement in virtue and piety. And hence I prefume may in fome meafure be conceived one reafon why God, in his dealings with our fore- fathers, made temporal rewards and punifh- ments the only fanftions of his laws. The whole fcheme of redemption was too ex- * ?f, Ixvii. 4. 6. tenfive 96 SERMON III. tenfive and fublime to be comprehended by men, whofe intelledual as well as moral faculties had not yet recovered the fhock they had received by the fall ; the myfteries therefore of a Jpiritual deliver- ance (though by far the moft excellent part, nay, properly fpeaking the whole of the promife becaufe natural bleffings are the genuine etfedts and neceffary confe- quence of Jpiritual ones) the myfleries, I fay, of 2i Jpiritual deliverance, not being accommodated to the infirmities of an infant capacity, were not fully revealed \ but fuggefted only by general hints, re- prefented by perfonal types, and fhadowed under ceremonial figures : whereas the removal of temporal evils, the fad effeds of which' they could not but perceive and feel, being more likely to operate upon them was exprefsly made the "" bafis ^ If ye 'walk in my ftatutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I day is this Jcripture fulfilled. The Jubilee was the moft confiderable of all the folemnities which God enjoined to the Ifraelites. It was a year of rejly they were neither to fow nor to reap ; of liberty, all (laves were releafed ; of rejiitu- tion of every tlmig to its prijiine Jlate, all debts were remitted, and all lands how- ever alienated reftored to their original proprietor. It began on the day of expia^ iiofiy a day of falling, humiliation, and confeflion of fms ; therefore a time of penitence : " it brought men hack, fays Mai- monides, to their primitive flat e which is the effedl of repentance. And who knows not that repentance is the firft evangelical duty? It was the fum and fubftance of what our Saviour's fore-runner preached as prepara- tory to the reception of the gofpel, ** re- pent y for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ; what our Saviour himfelf firft enjoined ^ repent and believe the gofpel : it is always; •* Maim, de poena > C. 7. See Voijin de juliJao, o Matth, iii. 2. p Mark i, 15. men- SERMON III. 103 mentioned previous to the remiflion of fins as an indifpenfible condition for obtaining mercy, it behoved y fays St. Lukey '^ that repentance and remijjion of Jins Jhould be preached in his name. The analogy between the remijjion of debts in the Jubilee and the remijjion of fins under the gofpel covenant is obvious to every underftanding \ and the releafe of all flaves, the total celTation of the toil and labour of agriculture, and the reftoration of every man to his pofl!effions, tribe, and family, were plainly fymbolical of that acceptable year of the Lordy where- in man was to be delivered from the fer- vitude he was held under by fm and Sa- tan, and reftored to all the bleffings which had been loft by the fall. If a Hebrew had fold himfelf to a ftranger or profelyte, even he had the benefit of the Jubilee ; but a price v^as to be paid for his re- demption, by himfelf if he was able; if not, ' one of his brethreuy fays the law, may redeem him, ' Hhis Redeemer y fays R. Be- chaiy is the Mejjiah the Jon of David of the ^ "Luke xxiv. 47. ' Lmt, xxv. 48, » Patrick, ibid. G 4. tribe 104 SERMON III. tribe of Judah^ that bleffed Redeemers, who to free us from the obligation of the law became obedient to the law, and therefore condefcended to take our nature upon him that he might have a legal right, the right of confanguinity ^ to re- deem us. The reftoratlon of every part of nature in confequence of this redemption, thus fliadowed out under this folemnity, is clearly and without all ambiguity predift- ed by all the prophets. ^* * The kingdom «* of Chrijl in this world being arrived to ** its full extent and growth ; truth and *' peace, charity and juftice, the true faith, ** the fincere piety, the generous and un- ** afFefted virtue which Chriftianity teaches <* and prefcribes, fhall reign and flourifh ** over all the earth." " He that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in ferufakmjl^all be called holy 9 even every one that is written among the living in ferufalem : ^ the people Jhall be all righteous 3 ^ the iniquity of Ifrael « Scott' % Chrijlian life. " If iv. 3. '^ If, Ix. 21. ^ Jerem, 1. 20. Jhall SERMON III. 105 Jloall be fought for, and there floall be none ; and the fins of Judah, and they Jhall not be found j ^ for God will fet his fanBuary in the midji of them for evermore ; his tabernacle JJoall be alfo with them, and he will dwell with them, and he will be their God and they jhall he his people. When man is thus reftored to his origi- nal holinefs, the earth likewife will recover its original fertility ; for as it was curfed with man fo will it alfo be blejfed with man. * The wildernefs andfolitary place Jhall be glad, and the defer t fiall rejoice and blofjom as the rofe : * the plowman jJjall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that foweth the feed : ^ the mountains jhall drop new wine, and the hills jhall fow with milk: ' God will hear the heavens, and they jhall hear the earth, and the earth jhall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil. With this outward profperity are always joined uni- verfal benevolence, peace, and harmony ; and the whole is attributed to an increafe y Ezech, xxxvil. 26, 27. * If, xxxv. i. * y4m. ix. 13. ■» Joelm. 18. ' Hof, ii. 21, 22. of io6 SERMON III. of knowledge in the duties of religion and advancement in the pradice of holinefs. "^ T^hey jhall not hurt nor dejiroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth jhall he full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the fea -, for the work of righteoufnefs Jhall he peace, and the effect of righteoufnefs quietnefs a?id ajfurance for ever. ' Thefe paffages were underftood in their natural and literal meaning, not only by the Jews, but * by the mod learned and orthodox Chriftians in the ages immedi- ately following the apoftles ^ ^but the lite- ral interpretation and the doftrine con- tained in it at length loft ground, the profeffors of it having the odious charge oijudaifm fixed upon them by fome warm men, who were too fond of introducing on all occafions allegorical and fpiritual refinement. But why did they not charge St. Peter like wife with fudaifn, who writing to the Jews declares in plain terms ** If. xi. 9. — xxxii. 17. * Papiasy Jujlin Martyr ^ IrenauSi Apollinarmi Tertulliarti Vt£ior, Ladantius* ^ See Mr. Mede. bis SERMON III. 107 his expedation of this bleffed ftate ? God had faid by his prophet Ifaiah, ^ Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth -, and the apoftle clearly confeffes his under- ftanding him according to the plain and natural import of the words, when fpeak- ing of the real and fubftantial changes brought by the Lord upon the material world he adds, ^ But according to his pro^ mife we alfo do expert new heavens and a new earth. Why was not the fame objedlioa made to St. John^ who ** in a plain and " fimple narration free from allegory and ** involution of prophetical figures," not only alludes to but quotes the defcription given by the prophet of the happinefs of this renovated world ? ' They fiall hunger no more, neither thirji any more — God fiall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there Jhall be no more death neither forrow ? If. Ixv. 17. In what fenfe the Je^vs underftood this prophecy is plain from R, Saadiah Gaon as quoted by Dr. Whitby on 2 St. Vet. iii. 13. In the end of the nvorld there pall be to t.oe Jeivs a •vjorld full of joy and exultation^ fo that their heauen and earth Jhall be as it "joere nenjo, ^ 2 ?et. iii. 15. ' If. XXV. 8. — xlix, 10. — Ixv, 19. 'Revel, vii. 15.— xxi. 4. nor io8 SERMON III. nor crying^ neither jhall there be any more pain. There cannot be plainer words or expreffed in a more ordinary manner \ and yet they muft be allegorized before the removal of thofe infirmities under which nature labours can be denied. Thofe that do it feem to me to be guilty of the fame error with the Jews by applying that * to the ^Jirjl which is meant of ihtfecond coming of Chrijl -, with this difference however that whereas the Jews will admit of no Meffiah whofe reign does not entirely confift of external fplendor and temporal power ; thefe Chrijiians on the contrary banifh from their idea of Chriji's kingdom every circumftance that does not exadtly ^ The old prophets (for the moll part) fpeak of the coming of Chriji indefinitely and altogether without that diftindion of the frj} and j^coW coming which the gofpel out of Darnel hath taught us. And fo confequently they fpake of the things to be at Chrijih coming indefinitely and altogether ; which we, who are now more fully in- formed by the revelation of the gofpel of a twofold com- ing, muft apply each of them to its proper time ; thofe things that befit the ftate of his frji coming unto it, and fuch things as befit the ftate of Vis fecond coming unto his fecond ; and what befits both alike may be applied unto both. Mede. This diftinftion is remarked and urged by Jujiin Martyr in feveral parts of his dialogue with Trypho a Jew. coincide SERMON III. 109 coincide with the mean and lowly appear- ance of the fon of man. But why fliould the prophecies concerning our Saviour's abafement and humiliation be always taken literally y and thofe that foretel his exalta- tion and glorious appearance be never un- dcrflood but in ^figurative fenfe ? Ought we not rather, as we have feen the former punctually verified, be from thence in- fpired with hope and confidence that the latter likewife will in God's own time be exadtly accomplifhed ? Far be it from me to fuppofe that there is no fpiritual mean- ing couched under the letter ; but while we allegorize every pafl^age, and confine all the prophecies abfolutely and without ex- ception to the firfl: advent of Chrifiy are we not in fome meafure partakers of the crime of thofe ^/coffers who St. Peter tells nsjhall come in the lafi days, faying^ Where is the promife of his coming ? for fince the fathers fell afieep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation ? "" do we ^ 2 Pef. lii. 3,4. ™ See univ. hij}. 'vol. iii. p. '},().-— 'Mede*s luorksy p. 670. To fuppofe thofe prophecies (which foretel the 'vifibility and uni'verfality of Chriji^s churchy accompanied ijuith perfeSl peacgf profperity and hoUnefs, and thofe which foretel the Jlourijhing no SERMON IIL not by fo doing join iffue with the Jewsj and confirm them in their obftinacy and infidelity ? Very different was the Apoftle's method of arguing with them — " repent ye and be converted «V ts iPci,Aet(p3'y}vccf ra^g kiA^oLpTicig vfjum for the blotting out of your fins oTrcof a,v that fo the times of refrejhing ctm-^vx^u^ of reft or comfort may come from the prefence of the Lordf and that he may fend Jefas Chrijly ivhich before was preached unto you y whom the heavens muji receive ujitil the times of ** reftitutibn of all things." Thefe times are here as in all the writings of the fourijhbig ftate of the Jenxjijh church and nation) to have al- ready received their utmofl completion is, in my judge- ment, to give too great an advantage to the Jews and in efFeft to acknowledge that they never were, nor will be fulfilled in their natural and ob-vious fenfe. Whereas on the other fide to afTert that many prophecies relating to the MeJJiah are already fulfilled in our Lord J ef us Chriji — and withal to maintain that feveral others relate to hlsfecond coining and their accomplifliment Ihall ufher in or accom- pany that his glorious appearance. — I fay, the obferving this diftindlion-cfFedually anfwers all the arguments which the Jevjs make ufe of to fupport themfelvcs in their incre- dulity ; it difcovers a perfedl harmony and correfpondence between the prophecies of the old and neiu teflament, &c. Lo'wth^s preface. " Jds iii. 1 9, &c. See Medet Hammond, Raphelius, prophets SERMON III. Ill prophets made to coincide with the com- ing of Chrijly and defcribed as the efFedt and confequence of the repentance and converlion of the Jews ; upon which the gentiles flowing in ** all the ends of the world Jhall remember and turn unto the Lordy and all the kindreds of the nations jhall worjhip before him. That this flourifhing eftate of the church was not abfolutely and fully to take place at our Saviour's firil coming, is evident from his inftrudting his difciples to pray to God that his kingdom might come i for ** that which is to come may ** indeed be in its progrefs, but has not ** yet attained to that ftate of perfedtion *^ which it is to have." But that it will take place before the refurreftion is, I think, hkewife evident ; becaufe St. Paul tells us that immediately after the refur- redlion ^ Chrijl Jhall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the father. Then indeed will be totally compleated that glorious fcheme of redemption, which has been gradually working ever fince • iy. xxii. 27. f I Cor. XV. 24. man's 112 SERMON III. man's unhappy fall : God, whofe ^ tender mercies are over all his worksy has never forgotten that upon a review of them he was pleafed to pronounce them to be good ; he vi^ill reftore them all to their primitive beauty and pcrfedion ; but above all will he remember man the lord of the creation, and reinftate him in the full poffeffion of that happinefs, and thofe high privileges which he enjoyed during his innocence ; with this gracious addi- tion that, whereas eternal life was only implied in the covenant of nature^ it is in the covenant of grace through the fuffer- ings and merits of our blelTed Saviour clearly revealed and exprefsly promifed : for ' where Jin abounded grace did much more abound. The capacities of man as an individual are progreffive ; fo are thofe of human nature taken coUeftively ; and ' God has always been pleafed to accommodate his difpenfations to this law of progreffion : < P/. cxlv. 9. *" Rom, V. 20, ^ See my late learned and pious friend Dr. DurelVs dif- fertation on the chara6ler of the patriarch Abraham, he SERMON III: n^ he brings mankind from nature to grace, from grace to glory. We (to bring at laft this difcourfe to ourfelves) are in a ftate of grace, in a middle ftate between nature and glory, and therefore though llill in a great degree fubjedl to the infirmities of the one, yet at the fame time enlightened with fome rays reflecSled from the other. We have received the gift of faith ^ the jirjl fruits of the fpirit -, yet much of cor- ruption cleaves to us; our original fin, though pardoned, is as yet but imperfedt- ly purged : we are not yet arrived to that blefl!ed ftate which is promifed, when all evil both natural and moral Ihall be to- tally removed ; yet that they are greatly abated no one can deny without doing violence to his own experience compared with the hiftories of former times. The earth, thanks be to God, bears her fruit in due fcafon, neither does the general face of it bear many marks of that curfe which prevented it " whe?i it was tilled from yielding her Jlrength. Though the * 'Rom. viii, 23. " Gen, iv. 12. H praflice 214 SERMON III. pradtice of univerfal righteoufnels, which is the defign of the gofpel, is far from being eftablifhed ; we do not however find that mankind in general gives into thofe abominable exceffes, of which, to the dilgrace of human nature, hiftory both^cr^^ and profane records fuch fre- quent examples. That the influence of Chriftianity with regard to its moft dif- tinguiihing charafter is not totally loft, that fpirit of benevolence which is vi- fible in our public inftitutions is among feveral others an illuftrious proof. That increafe of all and efpecially of facred literature, for which every age becomes more and more confpicuous, and which cannot in this place without the higheft ingratitude be pafled over in filence 3 that knowledge of God, of his works, and of his laws, which a Chrijlian of a mo- derate capacity and refledtion has in a degree greatly fuperior to the deepeft fhilofopher of paganifniy are a happy pre- lude and pledge of thofe more enlighten- ed SERMON III. 115 ed days, when ""' the earth Jl^all be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the fea ; "" for they fdall knonjo me from the leaji of them unto the great eft of thenif faith the Lord, Who does not feel a confcious dignity and a laudable ambition of proceeding ^ from jlrength to Jirengthy '^from glory to gloryy at the very idea of that high ex- cellence with which the nature he par- takes of will be ennobled ? If however any fliould, upon the reflecftion of his own perfonal inferiority, find humiliat- ing and mortifying thoughts arife j let him compare his condition with that of thofe who lived in former ages ; of thofe who are not yet enlightened by * the fun of righteoufiefs, who even now ^ft in darknefs and in the jhadow of deaths and he will find abundant matter of con- folation, joy, and triumph : let him re- "^ If. xi. 9. * 'Jer. xxxi. 34. y Pf. Ixxxiv. 7. '^ 2 Ccr. iii. 18. Mai iv. 2. ^ Luke i. 79. H 2 colle(ft ii6 SERMON III. colled: that as *" God adapts his revela- tions to the capacities of mankind in general, fo likewife does he his demands to the abilities of individuals ; that, if he has not granted him perfedion, he will not exadl perfedion ; that, provided his intention is upright and his obedi- ence fincere, his great creator wuU through the powerful merits and interceffion of his redeemer overlook his defefts, par- don his failings, and by the preventing, flrengthening, and fandlifying grace of his holy fpirit enable him to perform an acceptable duty. If he does not in this world converfe with thofe only ^ which are written in the lamb's book of life 5 if he feels anxiety, pain, ficknefs and other harbingers of his approach- ing diffolution, let him remember that to a true Chriftian death is a paflage unto life, * unto the city of the living God, the heavenly ferujaleniy and to an inyiu- dor. bar, fab. 1. v. c. II. ^ Rev. xxi. 27. ^ Heb, xii. 22, 23, 24. merable SERMON III. 117 merahle company of angels^ to the general ajfembly and church of the firjl born which are written in heaven^ and to God the judge of ally and to the fpirits of juji men made perfeSl, and to Jefus the mediator of the new covenant. [ "9 ] SERMON IV, E P H E S. i. 3. Blejfed be God and the father of our Lord Jefus Chrijiy who hath blejfed us with all fpiritual blejjings in heavenly places in Chrijl, A Seeming or real obfcurity in the ori- ginal has given occafion to feveral different interpretations of the latter part of this paffage. The words, in the explaining of which learned men dif- agree, are h tqI^ eTrapctvloi^ Xpi but St. yohriy who lived a long while after them, had two different and contradictory opinions to contend with. Thofe therefore who deny the divinity of our Saviour very artfully pafs over the arguments which he urges againft their predeceffors, and eagerly prefs into their fervice all the texts which, in oppofition to the other herefy, refpedl his human na- ture and that inferiority, which in the oeconomy of our redemption he was pleafed to take upon him. His gofpel was written when gnojlicifm was at its height, and therefore I prefume intended to confute that as well as the herefy of Cerinthus and Ebiony who ran in the oppo- lite extreme. Againft thefe he firft afferts the divinity of our. Saviour faying that ^ in ^ John i. ]« the S E R M O N V. 165 the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God', and then maintains his humanity againft the other heretics fubjoining, ^ the word was made jlejh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory ; appealing to the fenfes, as he does in my text, for the certainty and reality of his incarnation. This denial of Chrift's real appearance in the flefh, however ridiculous it appears to us, prevailed much and fadly afflidled the church for the firfl two hundred years. It is taken notice of by "^ Ignatius bifliop of Antioch and cotemporary with our Apoftle, who tells us that fome abfented themfelves on that account from public prayers and the eucharift : and it might, if it were neceffary, be purfued through ' John\. 14. Irenaus after quoting thofe paffages out of our Apoftle's Epiftles which I have cited above, adds— Haec autem fimilia funt illi quod in E^vangelio diftum ell, quoniam Verbum cavofa5ium eft et habitaijit in nobis, Iren, 1. iii. c. 18. °* Tnti «9-£e< onT«?, rari^ii cs7r<^<, T^iyartv to hxih wtotv- ^ituf ubrh. Ignat. ad Trail, et ad Smyrn. tif^^Ttvv ii^ui 7m%v(rei4>* Ignat, ad Smjrn, L 7 the x66 S E R M O N V. the writings of all the other fathers to even beyond the times of Irenceus and ^ertullian \ the latter of whom wrote a treatife profeffedly againft it, entitled " De ** Came Chrijli :" in which he makes ufe of this remarkable argument. — '^ T'/joJe, fays he, w/jo think that ChriJVs incarnation nioas only in appearance dejlroy the refurrec- tion of the Jlejld, If his human nature is not allowed^ how can his death be ajferted ? If his death is not allowed, neither can his refur^ reBion be maintained. But if the refurrec- tion of Chriji is overthrown, ours falls of courfe. This argument, I fay, is remark- able ', becaufe it fhews how intimately connedted this article of Chrijl's humanity is with the hope of a Chriftian -, and be- caufe it is evidently the fame which St. Paul makes ufe of in his fifteenth chapter of the frjl epiftle to the Corinthians ; and is therefore a ftrong prefumption that the Apoftle there defends the refurredtion of ■ Qui carnem Chrifti putatlvam putant refurredllonem carnis infringunt. Si Caro ejus negatur, quomodo mors ejus afleveratur ? Negata vero morte, nee de refurredione conilabit. Proinde refurreftione Chrifti it.firmata etiam noftra fubverfa eft. To the fame purpofe St. Cyrilf i\ (p^v vuo-fi^ HV jj c^ei¥^foitm}Tii (peivTUO-fi^ j^ n outkq^x. Cat, iv. 6. the S E R M O N V. 167 the body againft the fame heretics ; and for the fame reafon he joins in another place ChriJVs incarnation and refiirreBiony as truths depending upon each other; charging Timothy to preach and inculcate them — ° remember that Jefus Chriji of the feed of David was raijedfrom the dead, Whilft the miracles of our Saviour, and more particularly his refurredtion, were frefli in the memory of men ; there could be, there was no doubt in the church about his divinity : of this period therefore the enemy of mankind took advantage by tempting them to deny his humanity and the infirmities and fufferings confequent, as inconfiftent with the excellence of his perfon : but, when the fenfe of them be- gan to wear out of men's minds, he bold- ly ventured one ftep further and tempted them to deny his divinity. By the frji herefy his facrifice was entirely exploded ; by the fecond rendered of no effedt. The firft has long ago been entirely forgotten ; but the fecond having come down even to our times under different modifications, it ** 2 Tim. ii. 8, L 4 cannot i68 SERMON V. cannot be an ufelefs or difagreeable em- ployment to enquire into the proofs con- tained in the evangelical and apoflolical writings of that divinity ^ which our church maintains againft all unitarians whatfoever. In order to do this in as clear and dif- tlndl a manner as I can, I (hall proceed gradually ^ and confider Firft, our Saviour's pre-exijience in general. Secondly, his temporal. And thirdly, his eternal pre-exijlence. As the Jirjl particular is included in both the others, I need not labour for arguments to prove it. I fhall therefore content myfelf with quoting a few plain paflfages, which have a general reference to this dodrine. Thus from Chriji's faying to his difciples, "^ as my father has fent me Jo fend I you, we may fairly infer that he, as well as the Apoftles, had a being before he had his miflion. When he tells the P 'John XX, 21. Jews, S E R M O N V. 169 yewsy ^ I know whence I came^ he evident- ly fpeaks of fome place and ftate of life prior to that into which he came : What this place was he tells them foon after. — ^ I proceeded forth and came from God, When he faid that ^ he came down from heaven^ not only the fews underftood him as fpeaking of a real defcefit. Is not this ffas the fon of Jofeph whofe father and mother we hiow ? How is it then that he faith ^ I came down from heaven ? but he himfelf afcertains that meaning by urging to them, What and if you fiallfee the fon of 7nan af cend up where he was before ? In which paflage he plainly afferts that " his afcen- ** fion into heaven would be but a tranf- ** lation of the human nature thither ** where according to a more excellent ** nature he did abide before his incar- <^ nation," From the frequent application of the term coming to our bleflbd Saviour it has been imagined, and not without reafon, that he is emphatically ftiled the g^;^opi/o? he that is coinings he that cometh. When ^ John viii. 14. ' John viii. 42. * John vi. 38. 42. 62. John's 170 S E R M O N V. yohns difciples enquired of him if he was the Mejjiah ; * they Jaid unto him art thou the i^x^i^ivog, " The multitude criedy Ho-* fannah to the fin of David \ Blejfed be the gjO^o^svo^-. ^ Verily I fay unto you ^ you Jh all not fee me, until the time when you Jloall fay ^ Ble'ffed be the l^x^^juvo?. The MeJJiah had been fo ftiled before by the prophet * Ha^ bakkuc in a paffage alluded to by St. Paul^ Yet a little while and the h ifx^f4,ivos he that is coming will come. I fhall quote but one paflage out of the epiflles relating to Chrift's pre-exiflence in general ; but that one is fo full and clear that though it flood alone it would be fufficient to eftabllih the dodlrine. St. Paul recommends our Saviour to the P/6/- lippians as a pattern of humility, ^ who being in the for?n of God — took upon him the form of a fen ant. Whatever is the precife meaning of this paflage, thus much is undeniable -, that there is a contraft, in which lies the whole force of the example * Matth, xi. 3. * Matth. xxi. 9. * Li{ke xui. 35. ^ Habak, ii. 3. Heb, 10. if, y Philip, ii. 6, 7. propofed. SERMON V. 171 propofed, between that ftate in which Chri/i was before and that in which he was after he had taken npon him our nature ; and confequently that he had a being be- fore he was born of the virgin Mary, Ac- cordingly we read in the new teftament of feveral particular periods of time in which he did pre-exifl. Th^frjl period of Ch rift's temporal pre- extjlence mentioned in the new teftament is the time of David, about a thoufand years before he was born, fefus afked the Pharifees, ^ what think ye of Chrijl ? whofe fon is he ? they fay unto him, thefon of David ; he faith unto them, how then doth David in fpirit call him Lord \ faying the Lord faid unto my Lord, ft thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot ^ fool ? If David call him Lord how is he his fon ? And no man was able to anfwer him a word. It is plain from hence that the perfon whora David calls Lord was then in being ; and that he was the Meffiah^ * Matth, xxii. 42, ^c. contrary 172 S E R M O N V. contrary to the artifice of later Jews ' who apply this pfalm to Ezechiasy is aflerted by our Saviour and allowed by the Pharifees themfelves. The next period in which we read of the pre-exiftence of Chrijl carries us about four hundred years higher. For St. Pauh laying before the Corinthians the fpecial favours and advantages vouchfafed to the Jews during their abode in the wildernefs, warns them not to truft too much upon the like fpiritual privileges, nor to commit thofe fins which w^ere the caufe of their ruin, and particularly '' 7iot to tempt Chrifl as fame of them alfo tempted him. ''It was the univerfal belief not only of the primitive Chrifi:ians, but likewife the ancient Jews, that it was the MeJJiah who condudled the Ifraelites by the pillar of cloud and of fire. ^ Behold^ fays God, / * See Jujitn Mariyr^s dialogue againft Trypho, p. 251. Ed. Jebb. and likewife TertuUian ad-v. Mar. 1, v. c, 9. ** I Cor. X. 9. ^ See Dr. A/Iix in his judgment of the Jewoijh church, C. 13, 14, 15. and Mr. Lonx^th on Jfaiah Ixiii. 9. ** Exod. xxiii. 20, 2 1 . fend S E R M O N V, 173 fend an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee iiito the place which I have prepared ; beware of him and obey his voice, provoke him not 5 for he will not par-- don your tranfgrejjions, for my name is in him. He is here indeed called an Angel -, but it is at the fame time declared that he had power to pardon tranfgreffions, and that in him was the name of God. And accordingly the incommunicable name fehovah is given to him. — * fehovah went before the people in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night ; and ^ fehovah looked ufito the hofi of the Egyptiajts through the pillar of fire and the cloud. It could not therefore be a created Angel, for which of them has power to pardon fins ? in which of them is the name of God ? It was ^ the Angel of the covenant, the ^ Angel of God's prefence ; an Angel by office not nature : the Captain of the Lord's hofi ; which title when fofidua heard * he fell on his face and did worfinp and faid unto him, what faith my Lord unto hisfervant ? It was he who • Exod. xiii. 21. ^ Exod,-x\v. 24. « MaL iii. I. ^ If, Ixiii. 9. * Jojh. V. 14, took 174 SERMON V. took up his refidence over the ark, whofe ^glory filled the tabernacle which Mofes built according to his promife and prediction in that divinely-infpired fong of praife and thankfgiving to God for his wonderful de- liverance of his people. — ^ 'The Lord is my firength and my fahation i he is my God and I Jhall prepare him an habitation. Of this glorious refidence the bleffing confer- red by Noah upon Shem was undoubtedly prophetical. — "^Godjloall dwell in the taber- nacles of Shem -, and its further application to our bleffed Saviour is confirmed by St. John when, in manifeft allufion to this habitation and the glory by which the Lord manifefted his prefence, he fays ^ the Word was made fiejh a7id i(7'Kyivacn dwelt in a tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten fon of the father. The next period in which the fcripturcs of the new teftament take notice of the pre^exiftence of Chrift is indefinites but * Exod. xl. 35. * Exod. XV. 2. ■ Qenef, ix. 27. ■ John i. 14. the SERMON V. 175 the antiquity of it is fo far afcertained that it is exprefsly afTerted to have been before Abraham. ** Tour father Abraham ^ fays Chriji to the Jews, rejoiced to fee my d'jy^ and he f aw it and was glad: then f aid the Jewsy thou art not yet fifty years old and haft thou feen Abraham ? f^fus faid unto themy verily y verily ^ I fay unto you ^ before Abraham was I am. It is amazing what pains the enemies of this dodtrine have taken to elude and perplex this moft clear and plain paffage. Some interpret it thus — Before Abraham is made^ what his name fignifies, a father of many nations I am the Meffiah. Others take the words tt^^v aG^^^^ r^iSzuj in their natural meaning ; but to the others they add a ftrange quali- fication, before Abraham was borny I was in God's foreknowledge and decree. Every one of Chrift's hearers was before Abra^ ham in the fame fenfe. Why then fhould they be fo exafperated as to take up ftones to caft at him ? Doubtlefs becaufe they underilood his words in their literal and obvious fenfe, as a diredl anfwer to • John viii. 56, 57, 58. their 176 S E R M O N V. their queftion which refpedted only aftual exiftence. In this refpedt our Saviour af- ferting a priority appeared to them to affert in fadt an eternal exiftence ; and for that reafon they attempted to inflid: upon him P the punifliment which the law de- creed againft blafphemy. I know that the expreffions (Abraham rejoiced to fee my day and hefaw if) are generally underftood in a metaphorical and religious fenfe, he faw it with the eye of faith as a thing to be ac- complijhed in future ages. I verily believe that Abraham did fee the day of Chrijl with the eye of faith ; but I do not take that to be our Saviour's meaning in this place ; for then Abraham muft have feen him only as one who was to come ; and therefore his priority of exiftence to Abra^ hamy which is here afferted, would be not only foreign but in a great degree eon- tradidlory to the occafion on which it is introduced. I cannot therefore but con- P He that llafphemeth the name of the Lordly he jhall furel;p he put to death y and all the congregation jhall certainly Jlone him, Le^vit. xxiv. 16, Thus in the 10th chap, when he fays, / and the Father an one^ the Je'ws took up Ji ones again to Jiont him, V. 30, 31. elude SERMON V. 177 elude that Chrijl here alludes to his fre- quent, and more efpecially to two illuflri- ous, manifeftations of himfelf to the father of the faithful. The firil was in the plains of Mamre^ when he came attended by two Angels in the form and likenefs of man : And "^ Jehovah appeared unto h'wi — ajtd he lift up his eyes and looked^ and lo ! three men Jlood by him. Of two of them the patriarch takes no notice; but to the third he addreffes himfelf, calls him ' Lord, the judge of all the earthy and pleads with him for the cities of Pentapolis. ' Behold now I have taken upon me to fpeak ufito the Lord, who am but dujl and afies. Oh let not the Lord be angry and 1 will fpeak. This perfon, whofe divine majefty is acknow- ledged by Abraham and allowed by him- felf, who has the facred name Jehovah given him by ' Mofesy he furely could not be a mere man or created angel ; neither could he be God the Father ; for " him no man hath feen at any time. We may there- fore, with all primitive antiquity, conclude "^ Gene/, xviii. i, 2. See Juji. Mart. Dial, p. 367. ' V. 25. * V. 27. 30. « V. 22. » John i. 18. M that 178 S E R M O N V. that it was that God who afterwards ap- peared unto "^ Ifaac^ and called himfelf the God of his father Abraham ; to Jacoby "" and called himklf the God of Abraham and Ifaac, to ^ Mofesy and called himfelf the God of Abrahatriy Ifaac y and Jacob ; who is by "" St. Stephen called the God of glory ; " he who always defcended to converfe with men from the beginning, fetting before us the order of that difpenfation which was after- wards manifefted." — He thus appeared in a human Jhape to Abraham^ as a prelude and fymbol of his taking upon him human naturey to lay a foundation (fays * Tertul^ Han) for our faith, that we might the more readily believe that the Son of God was eome into the world, when we knew he had formerly done fo. The other appear- ance, in this place more particularly allud- ed to, was ftill more illuftrious ; for in it Abraham^ having obeyed the command of God bidding him ^ offer up his only begot ^ ten Sony of whom it had been faidy that in Ifaac Jhall thy feed be calledy received him "^ Gene/, xxvl. 24. » Gene/. -xxxm. 13. y Exod. iii. 15. « Aas \\\, 2. * Tertull. cont. Prax, c. 14. *» Heh, ix. 17, 18, 19. even S E R M O N V. \^^ even from the dead in a figure : ^ God being pleafed to reveal unto him by way of myf- tery, how that feed of his ihould make all the nations of the earth bleffed ; and there- fore, for a perpetual memorial of this won- derful revelation, the grateful patriarch ''called the place Jehovah-jireh, becaufe in it Jehovah had beenfeen. The next period, in which the New Tef- tament mentions Chrifi's temporal pre-ex^ iftence^ reaches beyond the flood. *" Chrijl (fays St. Peter) hath once fuffered for fins — being put to death in the flejl:), but quiche?!-- ed by the fpirit : by which alfo he went and preached roig iv ^vAdKy] Trvivf^ctai to the fpirits which are now in prijon {referved^ as he fays in ^ another place, unto judgment) to ^ Mede's Difc. 13. 25. ** Gene/, xxii. 14. See Mr. Shuckford^s Conned, v. II. p. 21. *^ I f*et. iii. 18, 19, 20. ^ 2 Fet. ii. 4. By the confent of the Jewilh nation (fays Dr. Whitby) The generation of the old --world haue no portion in the 'world to come ^ neither jh all they Ji and up in judgment \ for it is faid, My fpirit Jhall not al-waxs Jlri've fjith man — i. e. according to Bifhop Patrick^ My fpirit in my prophets Enoch and Noah fliall not always be endeavouring to bring men to repentance, but fhall proceed to punifh them. Now this punifhment, adds Dr. W. being the drowning of M 2 the i8o S E R M O N V. them Chriji preached^ when once the long" Juffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing. According to the natural and obvious explication of this paffage, in which all the writers of primi- tive chriftianity agree, it was Chriji who preached repentance to the old world by the miniftry of his prophets : of whom Noah was one, being called by our apoftle ^ a preacher of right eoufnefs ; and Enoch an- other, for St. ^ Jiide, fpeaking of the un- godly in his days, fays that to them was applicable the prophecy of Enochy pronoun- cing a fearful deflrudion on the antedilu- vian linners ; behold the Lord cometh with ten thonfand of his faints to execute judge- menty &c. Having thus clearly traced our Saviour's pre-exiftence as far back as the days of Enochy it will not be difficult to conceive that he was the perfon who in the few generations preceding condefcended to the old world, their fpirits hanje been enjer Jitice kept in pri/ony or reJer'Tjed in chains of darknefs, to the judgement of the gnat day. 6 2 Pet, ii. 5. ^ Jude 14. manifeft S E R M O N V. i8i manifeft himfelf to man. And herein we have not only the confentient teftimonies of the cathohc dodlors, but of the Arians themfelves. With him therefore did thofe walk 'who are faid to have ' walked with God ', from ^ his prefence Cain, after the murder oi Abel, went out -y from his face lie was hidy becaufe from that time he was excluded from his fpecial protedtion : he never after this enjoyed that intercourfe with the Mediator God, which he had been pleafed to continue from the begin- ning. It was he who appeared to Adam immediately after the fall, whofe voice when our firft parents heard, ^ they hid them- felves from the prefence of the Lord God. And according to this primitive divinity, the Jerufalem T'argum reads T'he Word of the Lord called Adam ; the T'argum of On- kelos and fonathan — T!hey heard the voice of the Word of the Lord God. And indeed "" " learned men have long fince obferv- ed, that the *^ Chaldee paraph r a fes, almofl: " as often as mention is made in fcripture ^ Gene/, v. 24. ^ Genef. iv. 14. 16. ^ Gene/, iii. 8, 9. ^ See Bifhop BuWs De/ence 0/ the Nkene Faith, p. 28. M 3 *^ of i8i S E R M O N ¥• *< of God fpeaking with us, affifting us, ** and converfing with us, have rendered <* the name of God by [the Word/\ figni- fying, that in thofe places the fcripture treated of the Son of Gody who is called the Word, He it was to whom God the Fa- ther faid, " Behold the man is become as one cfus ; with whom he, as it were, confult- ed when he faid, ° let us make man : upon which pafTage Epiphanhis obferves — T'his is the language of God to his Word and only begotten, as all the faithful believe. This Word ox only begotten Son of God was not only pre-exiftent, as we have al- ready feen from fcripture, within a few days of the beginning ; but, if we believe the fame fcripture, in the very beginning, " Genef, iii. 22. * Genef.i. 26. See Bifhop Patrick, Idem ipfe qui ab initio pfalmavit Adam^ cum quo et loquebatur pater, faciamus hcminem Jecundum imaginefn et fimlliticdinem nojlram^ in novif- iimis temporibus fe ipfum manifeftans hominibus, &c. Jren, adverf. har. I. 5. c. 15. Tertullian calls it Prafatio patris adjilium. de refurr. cam. c 26. Almoll all the fa- thers indeed bring this paflage in proof of Chriji\ pre-ex- iftence; ^eAwj y^avod ort tuv ru vmrtj nefs'i tc^o r'iig iveuii^aTTVi'^ rfft''5 W* Xg/f05 K\iPiOi'i'K6i iTTi tnv ijr^iootviv vi^^iv rviv ytviciv. Hot" »jff»^8» «tvd^(wa^av, if >(9tT tiKovcc EMHN, tiXtJc )^t eiKovx HME- TEPAN. Cyrill. Catecb, x. c. 4. before S E R M O N V. 183 before the creation, before time itfelf : for time and the world began together, time being the meafure of the exiftence of one fenfible thing by the duration of another fenfible thing. That he was in the begin- ning is exprefsly afferted by St. ^ John ; and that that phrafe is in the Hebrew Ian-- guage equivalent to being from eternity y is acknowledged by Grotius, This the Evan- gelift repeats twice, and then adds as a proof of it, that all things were made by bimy and that without him was not any thing made that was made. Human reafon itfelf will teach us, that the creator muft be prior to the thing created, the caufe to the effedl. We fee how careful St. John is, left we {hould in any way confine or reft rain this creation ; for he firft pojitively aflerts, that all things were made by him, and then negatively, that without him was not any thing made that was made. And for the fame reafon St. Paul comprehen- fively tells us, that ^ by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are in earthy vijible and invijibky whether they be P Johnu I, ' Ctf/o^i. 16. M 4 thrones i84 S E R M O N V. throneSy or dominions^ or principalities y or powers ; all things were created by him and for him 'y and he is before all things y and by him all things confji. From this eternal pre-exiflence and this aft of creation our Saviour's divine nature is apparent. He that made all things out of nothing could not be lefs than God. And for this very reafon our apoftle gives Chrift the pre-eminence above MofeSy ^ in- afmuch as he who builded the houfe hath more honour than the houfe ; for every houfe is builded by fome man, but he that built all things is God, In the palTage cited before he is carefully diftinguifhed, not only from the vifible and material, but moreover from the fpiritual and invifible creation, from thrones^ and dominions , and principali- ties y and powers ; by which titles all angels, and archangels, and the whole hoft of hea- ven are comprifed. He could not there- fore be one of them, as the Arians fondly dream j but that Word who ' in the begin- ning was with God and was God, The name '^ Heb, iii. 3, 4. « John i. 1,2. Jehovahy S E R M O N V. 185 Jehovabi the proper and incommunicable name of God, was given to him in all his appearances to the Patriarchs, as * the an- cient fathers prove at large in their writ- ings againft the Jews. By the fame title he is defcribed by the prophets " Ifaiahy ^ Hofea, "" Zachariah, ^ Malachi ; and par- ticularly by "^ Jeremiai, when prophecying of him under the name of fbe branch of Davidy he fays, In his days Jiidah fhall be faved, and Ifrael Jhall dwell fafely ', and this is his 72amey whereby he fiall be called^ Je- hovah our righteoufnefs. He is called * the Lord over ally ^ Gody *" the true God, ^ the great God. In him *" thefullnefs of the God- * The fathers of the firft ages in general teach, that the Son of God frequently appeared to the holy men under the Old Teftament ; yea they explain all thofe appearances in which the name Jeho'-jah and divine honours are given to him that appears (although at other times he is called the Angel, or an Angel) of this very Son of God. He is a ftranger in the fathers who knows not this. — B. Bull's Def. p. 14. This afiertion he proves by quotations from Jufl. hen. Clem. &c. &c. " If. xl. 10. — xlviii. 17. ^ Hof. i. 7. "" Zech. ii. 10, 11. ^ Mai. iii. i. ^ Jeretn. xxiii. 6. * 'Rom. x. 1 2. " Rom. xiv. 12. Heb. i. 8. — iii. 4. ^ I Jc^hn V. 20. ^ I'it. ii. I 3. ® Col. ii. 9. head i86 S E R M O N V. head is /aid to dwell: ^ God protefts by his prophet IJaiah^ that he *will not give his glory to another ; but C/iri/i did really par- ticipate of his glory even before the be- ginning of the world ; for he faith in his human nature — Now father glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. The fame prophet was honour- ed with a vifion of ^ the Lord fitting upon his thro7ie — and above it food theferaphim — and one cried unto another andfaid, holy, holy, holy^ is the Lord of hofs ; the whole earth is full of his glory. Now we are exprefsly told by St, ^ fohn, that in this illuftrious vifion it was the glory of Chrif that the prophet faw. Chrift therefore is the Lord of hofsy the Jehovah Zebaoth ; whofe glory theferaphim fung, as they did afterwards in the revelation vouchfafed to ' St. John^ faying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ^ winch was, and is, and is to come. Thefc titles he himfelf challenges — ^ I am Alpha and Omega, the begimii?7g and the ending, ^ Compare If. xlii. 8. and xlviii. 1 1. with JohnxvVi. 5. s If. vi. I, 2, 3. ^ Jchn xii. 41. ^ Rivd, iv. 8, ^ Jle-vel. i. 8. faith S E R M O N V, 187 faith the Lord^ which is, and which was, and which is to come ; the Almighty. No nature except the divine is capable of divine attributes y yet they are all afcrib- ed to Chriji, That he is the creator of all things^ and therefore before all things, we have already it^n. That he is omnifcient St, Peter teaches us when he fays, ^ Lord thou knoweji all things ; and St. Paul affures us, " that in him are hidden all the treafures ofwijdom and knowledge, and that "" he both will bring to light the hidden things of dark" nefsy and will make ma?2ifeji the counfels of the heart, " God alone knows the hearts of all men j yet Chriji exprefsly claims this knowledge to himfelf, by faying ° all the churches Jhall hiow that I am he which fearcheth the reins and the hearts , and I will give to every one of you ac^ cording to your works.'' He is omnipre^ fent ; for he promifes that, ^wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be prefent in the midji of them. Laftly, * John xxi. 17. ^ Colojf. ii. 3, ** I Cor. iv. 5. * ReiieL il. 29. P Matt, xviii. 20i he i88 S E R M O N V. he is omnipotent -, for ' he is not only the wifdom but alfo the power of God ; 'he is able even tofubdue all things to him/elf, and 'whatever things the father doth, thefe alfo doth the fon likewije -, for as the father raif- eth up the dead and quickeneth them, even fo the Son quickeneth whom he will; for the - Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement to the Son. From hence I argue in the words immediately following, words fpoken by our bleffed Saviour him- felf, that • all men fould honour the Son even as they hojiour the Father. God is a jealous god, and will not fuffer the honour peculiar to himfelf to be transferred to an- other.— It is written, " Thou Jh a It worfiip the Lord thy God, and him only fhalt thou ferve : yet - when he bringeth his firfl- begot- ten mto the world, he faith, let all the angels of God worfiip him. The Socinians them- lelves acknowledge religious worftiip to be due to Chrijl : but to what purpofe do they worfhip him ? for if he is not God, he is ' '^"■- '• 24- ' Phil.m. :i CVTIOC. c^*-z^^ Urj/of?. in Jean. lo. 30. John V. 22. \x ^/f .4. \ ^ lieb. 1. 6. not S E R M O N V. 189 not omniprefent to hear, nor omnipotent to fave them. They indeed make him a God, a nuncupative or titular God, a God by grace and office, not by nature ; and by this diftindtion endeavour to clear them- felves from idolatry ; but in vain : it is the very crime u^ith which the apoflle charges the heathen, ^ they did Jer vice to them which are not gods by nature. We read no v^here in fcripture of religious ado- ration paid to a creature. ^ St. "John in- deed twice owns that he fell at the feet of an angel to worjhip him : but he was re- buked 'y and it is probable that he took him for the angel of the covenant^ the Word of Gody which had fo often before his in- carnation appeared in the fhape of an angel, and might therefore be thought by the apoftle to appear fo after his afcenfion : and the words of the angel, when atten- tively confidered, feem to convey this idea — See thou do it not ; I am thy fellow fer^ vant — i. e. I am not that Angel which thou takeft me to be — worjhip God. ^ GaL iv, 8. / Re'vel. xlx. 10.— xxii. 9. This igo S E R M O N V. This myftery of the union of two fuch infinitely diftant natures as the divine and human in our bleffed Saviour, fo clearly revealed in the word of God, is fo fublime and abftrufe, that I hefitate not a moment to confefs my utter inability to explain or comprehend it. When we confider things belonging unto God, we ought never to forget making a diftindion between giving a reafon for our belief and a reafon of the thing believed. To the firft our underftand- ing is always commenfurate ; the other may be and often is of fuch a nature, as renders it abfolutely impoffible to be the objedt of human knowledge. Who can comprehend, and yet who doubts of, the felf-exiftence, eternity, infinity, and omni- prefence of God ? Who can explain the manner in which cold clay is fitted to re- ceive and preferve a vital union with the foul ? Yet that there is fuch an union every one of us feels, and nobody in his fenfes ever attempted to deny. If therefore, in things pertaining to man, man requires not perfed: knowledge, why in things fu- pernatural and divine fhould his ^ lofty * 2 Cor. X. 5. imagi' S E R M O N V. 191 imagination exalt itfelf againji the knowledge of God? Why fhould he not think it as poflible that God and man Jhould make one Chrijly as that the reafonable foul and body make one man ? That this great myftery however, tho' far above reafon, is not contradidory to it is evident from the opinion, which ob- tained univerfally among the heathen, of their gods appearing in human ihape; an opinion which occafioned the men ofLyJira, when they faw the miracles done by Paul and Barnabas, to cry out, ^ The gods are come down to us in the Ukenefs of men. There feems in general to be a congrui- ty in the reafon of things, that a mediator by office fhould likewife be a mediator by nature y one nearly allied to and having a common intereft with both the parties, who by his interpofal are to be reconciled; credit with the fuperior v^ho is offended, and fympathy for the offender. a Ad$ XIV. X I . Ther^ 192 SERMON V. . There appears to be a particular proprie- ty in the defignation of the Word to the work of our redemption, that he (hould give man a new life who firfl gave him his being ^ that the image of God upon our fouls fhould be repaired by him who is the exprefs image of God ; that through the alone interpoiition of the true and ef- fential Son, we fhould receive an adoptive fonfhip, be make partakers of the inheri- tance ; ^ heirs of God and joint- heirs .with Chrijl, It feems expedient that our Redeemer fliould have been made man, that the fame nature which had jQnned fhould likewife fuffer ; and *" '^ that as mankind by man over- '* come was made obnoxious to death, fo *' by man overcoming we fhould rife to life." This is evidently the apoftle's argument, when he fays to the Hebrews — '^ it became him — bringing many Jons to glory ^ to make the captain of their Jalv at ion perfedl through fufferings ; for both he that fandtifieth atid ^ Rom. \ III. 17. God fent his foN — that "jue might receive the adoption of Jons. Gal, iv. 4, 5. ^ hen, L. V. c. 22. ^ Heh. ii. 10, li. they S E R M O N V. 193 they zvho are fan^ified are all of one^ i. e. na- ture or condition ; for ivhich caufe he is not afamed to call them brethre?i : and again, * for af much as the children are partaktrs of fief} and bloody he alfo himfelf took part of the fame^ that through death he might deftroy him who had the power of deaths &c. Thus did Chrift\ human nature qualify him for fufFering j but his fufFerings muft acquire. their worth and value from fome higher quality : and furely nothing but the dig- nity which belonged to it, by virtue of its union with the godhead, could make his blood fo precious, his facrifice fo merito- rious, as to expiate and fatisfy his father's juftice for the fins of the whole world. Chriji is the mediator not only of redemp- tion^ but likewife of intercejjion ; and we may difcover a fitnefs why in that charac- ter he fhould partake of both natures. His being man makes him more inclined, thro' an experimental fenfe of our infirmities, to pity and fuccour us ; and we, knowing that we have an interceflfor of our own na- * Hd. ii. 14. N ture 194 S E R M O N V. ture at the right hand of God, may ap- proach him with affurance of mercy. It was moreover requifite that he (hould be Godi that the dignity of his perfon, and his relation with the Father, might add weight to his interceffion and confidence to our faith. ^ PFe have not mi high prlejl who cannot be touched with the feeling of our in-- firmittes^ but one who was in all points tempt- ed as we are^ yet without fin, " Me continu- ing for ever hath an unchangeable priejlhood ; wherefore he is able to fave them to the utter- mof that come unto God by him, f^^^S ^^ ever liveth to make interceffion for us, I am well aware of the advantage which Papifts are wont to take of the diftindlion here made ; by afferting, that though there be but ^/^^ mediator oi redemption, yet there may be mafiy mediators of intercefjion. But upon what text of fcripture do they found this aflertion ? We are there taught in exprefs words that ^ that there is one Gody and one mediator between God and men, the man Chrifi Jefus : one Gody in oppofition to the many ^ Heh. iv, 15. 8 Heb, vii. 24, 25. ^ I TVct. ii. 5. heathen S E R M O N V. i9j heathen deities -, one 7nediatory in oppofition to that multitude of inferior demoiis^ whom ^ philofophers looked upon as mediators between gods and men. But to us, as there is but one God, fo is there alfo but one mediator ; who, as our facrijice^ re- deemed us by fhedding his blood upon the crofs ; and, as our high-frieji^ in virtue of his blood thus fhed, intercedes for us for ever in heaven. ^ For tkough there be that are called Gods^ whether in heaven or in ^earth (^as there be Gods many and Lords many) but to us there is but one God the Father^ oj whom are all things^ and we in him ; and one Lord Jefus Chriji^ by whom are all things^ and we by him. It was he who from the beginning took under his fpecial proted:ion, comforted, and blefTed the faithful of all ages. Surely he, whofe ^ delights were in the fons of men while they were enemies, will not now, Orac. "^ I Cor. viii. 5, j6. * Brov^ viii. 31, N 2 when 196 S E R M O N V. when he has reconciled them to God, ceafe to love and cherifti them ? He who guided and protedled the church which "^ was not called by his namcy how much more will he now, when he is folemnly proclaimed and acknowledged its head, prefide over it, be its guardian, direftor, and defender ? " IFho is he that condemneth ? it is Chriji that diedy yea rather that is rifen again^ who is even at the right hand of God^ who alfo maketh intercejjion for us. ** Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace ^ that we may obtain mercy ^ and find grace in the time of need : for ^ To him that over come th will he grant to Jit with him in his throne^ even as he alfo overcame and is fit down with his Father in his throne. « If, Ixiii. ig. » Rom. viii. 34. • Heh. iv. 16. P Re'veLm . 21. [^97 ] SERMON VI. I Cor. xi. 19. T'iere muji be alfo herejies among you. WAS it not for the goodnefs of God> which turns thofe things which are poifons of nature into medicines of grace \ a zealous Chriftian could not but be overwhelmed with melancholy reflec- tions, upon obferving with how much difficulty the mind of man is worked upon to embrace, and how eafily perfuaded to forfake, fpiritual and divine truths. In all the works of art^ time is required be- fore the feeds of decay are introduced 5 but in thofe of grace^ fcarcely is the building raifed, but the beauty of it is defaced by N 3 fomc 198 S E R M O N VI. fome diforder, the pillars (haken by fchifm, the foundation undermined by herefy, and the whole fabric in danger of being over- thrown by apoftacy and infidelity. I pafs over the fatal fedudtion of our firft parents, and the numerous inftances in which their genuine offspring but too faithfully copied after their pattern during the Mofaical dif- penfation. Hiftory, both facred and pro- fane, is full of the earneft expedation with which the Jews looked for redemp- tion in Ifrael by the promifed MeJJiah : yet, when this objed: of all their wiflies and hopes appeared amongft them, with what obftinacy and prejudice did they rejeft him and his doftrine ? They were indeed the firft converts ; but they were likewife the firft apojlates. Scarce was the good feed fown, but * thorns fprang up •with ity and choaked it. Many fell off totally and fi- nally from the gofpel : the few that re- mained were unfettled and wavering ; falfe prophets arofe among them, ** handling the word of God deceitfully^ and ^ corrupting the » l^uke viii. 7. *> 2 Cor. iv. 2, ^ 9 Cor, xi. 3. minds SERMON VI. 199 t?2inds of oihtvs from the fimplicity that is in Chriji, Diverfities of opinions were intro- duced ', feuds, animofities, and fchifms followed ; unity was turned into divifion, the peace of the gofpel into fpiritual war, ^ If thefe things were done in a green tree, what muft it he in the dry ? If the hufbandry of God planted and watered by the apoftles did, even whilft they were alive, thus abound with tares ; how could it be ex- pected that, under the care of their fuc- ceflbrs, it fliould be exempted from them ? Indeed the reverfe is but too well attefted. Even Jerufalemy * the mother of us all, this primogenial church (which for fifteen fucceffions was governed by our Lord's kindred) ^ remained no longer a virgin, than while fhe was under the tuition of James his brother : Ihe was, immediately ^ Luie xxiii. 31. * MviiY,^ QCTntTuv rail sKK^.^rtZ}) « £v 'll^6ToXvfAoti. ConC. Confi. in Syn. Ep. ra uvra 7\oyW) 7ru,Xiv a tyJetev uvT^ S/pe^v o tS KXaToi {(^B-tfX" piet rarp (kuXhv ryiv ixKXy;aicu> ;r*p3'£Vov* tczm ^ \^Ju^o itKOMS ^7ro(p^^f€iii. Eufeb, Ecc» HiJ}. L.iv. c. 22. N 4 ^ upon ^oo S E R M O N VL upon his death, corrupted with ftrange adulterous dodlrines by T'hebuthis^ whofe pride could not brook having Simeon the ion of Cleopas preferred to the bifhoprick before him. That every other church was infefted with them, cannot be denied by any one who is at all converfant with the writings of the primitive fathers, whofe pious labours were chiefly diredted againft the ^ herefies prevailing in their times ; which, though refifted by the conftancy and zeal of many learned champions of Chriftianity, fpread their baleful poifon far and near ; infomuch that, as ^ Eufebius tells us in his life oi Conjiantiney the difputes and divifions among Chriflians rofe to that height, that the pagans took occafion from them to expofe publickly upon the ftage the venerable dodlrines of divine truth to the moft indecent laughter and ridicule. Of thefe and fubfequent divifions mo- dern infidels likewife have not failed to take advantage ; urging, that the diverfity * Epiphaniuiy in a book written for that purpofe, gives an account of eighty herefies which grew up with the gofpel. *• L. ji. c. 61. of SERMON VI. 201 of opinions among Chriftians afFedls the truth of Chriftianity itfelf, is a proof of the uncertainty at lead of the divine authority it pretends to, and renders its principles precarious and problematical. To this argument agalnft the gofpel of Chriji the church of Rome gives great countenance, by ftrenuoufly contending that Unity among the members is a necef- fary mark of the true Church ; which title fhe on that account arrogates to hcrfelf, and denies to the reformed churches ; to ours in particular, becaufe of the diffe- rent opinions maintained within it, and the various fects and irreconcileable commu- nions that have gone out from it. To the infidel we may obferve, that the difputes and controverlies among Chriftians are not about the grounds and principles of their religion, and therefore do not af- fedl Chriftianity in general, the foundations of which remain unfhaken : and though different human explications of fome parti- cular doftrines render the different accep- tation of thofe dodtrines dubious ; yet it by no 202 SERMON VI. no means follows that the doftrines them- felves, much lefs the truth of Chriftianity, which is acknowledged by all the difpu- tants, is thereby rendered uncertain. There are, and always were, and (whilfl our fa- culties remain limited) muft neceflarily ever be, various opinions in every other fcience as well as divinity : yet w^ill any man from thence argue, that there are no certain principles any where ^ that fpecu- lations in philofophy are idle, and arts ufe- lefs ; that no man ought to attempt the recovery of his health or property ; but that all human affairs, all concerns in civil and religious life, lliould ftand ftill ? We are told that there were in ancient Rome people from ' fix hundred different nations, who all followed a different way of wor- fhip : and in early Greece '* there were as ** many religions almoft as men ; for every ** man's religion was his fancy." 'When * For this faft Mr. Collins, in his preface to his Di/cour/e on the grounds, &c. quotes Lipjtus ; but Ltpjius only fays al- moft fix hundred, fexcenta nationes pene in urbem Jiuxerant, De magnit, Rom. 1. 4. c. 5. and this Lipfim in his turn af* lerts on the authority of Dionyftus ol Halicamojfui ', where- as the hiftorian only fays a very great number ; fjcv^l&fv o}- rlig -TTtsiioi oztv/fjjcn. When, Polycarp came to Rome in the time oi Anicetui ; though there was a difference of opinion between them, yet they faluted each other with the kifs of charity : and though neither would give up his opinion,. yer SERMON VI, 229 the primitive church, to break the unity of communion ; let them not tempt him to break the unity of benevolence and cha- rity. Let not zeal for purity be thought a fufficient plea for fpiritual pride and in- tolerance ; for railing accufations againft thofe from whom he differs ; for bitter in- vedlives againft inftitutions which tend to decency, order, and edification ; for odious reflexions on a form of worihip which rea- fon and fcripture approve ; for thofe foul reproaches of fuperftition and papiftical corruption, with which how unjuftly we are charged the common enemy found to his coft, when the church of England to- wards the clofe of the laft century flood alone in the gap, and ftemmed the torrent of popery rufhing in and ready to over-^ whelm the land. Of the truly Chriftian fpirit of forbear- ance and charity let us fet th« example ^ yet they received the Eucharift together j Anicetm in his own church yielding up out of refpeft the confecration of the elements to Polycarp ; after which they departed in peace. This hiftory, he adds, Irenaus recorded, and re- commended for the peace and union of the church, Eufeb* fie, H, 1. 5. c. 24. P 3 let 230 S E R M O N VL let us endeavour to reclaim thole, who have feparated from us, with zeal but with temper. Mutual revilings widen the breach and (hut up all avenues to con- viftion ; if thefe were once open and pre- judices removed, the voice of truth would foon be heard, the altars fet up in oppofi- tion to the altar at Jerufalem be pulled down by thofe that raifed them, and the "^ city be once more at unity in it/elf: then * would Jacob rejoice and Ifrael would be glad \ and the enemies of our holy religion (fully convinced by our concord and unity that ""the kingdom of God is right eoufnefsy and peace y and joy in the Holy Ghoji) would like- w\i& follow after the things which make for peace y '^ be like -minded one towards another according to Chriji JefuSy and together with us with one mind and one mouth glorify Gody even the Father of our Lordjefus Chriji. * Pf. CXxii. 3. a Pf, XIV. 7. ** 1 Cor» xiv. 25. ^ Pom, xiv. 17. *■ Rom, XV. 5, 6. [ This fubjeft was very fully and ably difcuired by ieveral eminent divines during the Popijh Contro- 'i^KA* and particularly by the learned Dr. Hickes. ] C 23' 3 SERMON VII. 2 Pet. i. ig, We have aljo a more fure word of prophecy^ whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. WE have feen in the foregoing dif- courfe how punctually our Saviour's predidion of the fad eftate of the primitive church v^^as fulfilled ; hov7 it v^as infefted with herefies and fchifms, even during the days of the Apoftles, to whom * God bore witnefs withjigns and wonders^ and divers mi'- raclesy and gifts of the Holy Ghojl. God had for wife reafons, fome of which we have attempted to explain, permitted thefe ^ Heh. ii. 4. P4 dif- 232 SERMON VII. diforders to moleft it : yet did he not to- tally abandon it, nor fuffer the faithful ftewards of his myfteries to be entirely unfuccefsful : many that had been feduced were reclaimed by their labours, the wa- vering fettled, and the true believers con- firmed in the faith. It cannot therefore but be highly ufeful for us to enquire into the fteps taken by thefe unerring guides ; that we may be able on fimilar occafions to follow the directions of thefe wife coun- fellors, the advice and the precepts which by the condud and affiftance of the holy fpirit are delivered down in their writings for our admonition, as rules and precedents for Chriftians of all fucceeding genera- tions. The Epiftle out of which my text is taken, was evidently written with a view of preferving the Jewifli converts from be- ing feduced by "^ fa/fe prophets and falfe teachersy who among other damnable here- fies even denied the Lord that bought them. It abounds with warm exhortations and * 2 ?et. ii. I, powerful SERMON VIL 233 powerful arguments againft all dodlrines deilrudive of the true faith ; yet the ad- vice which I juft now read to you is ufher- ed in with a very peculiar encomium above them all, and in a particular manner re- commended by the Apoftle to the atten- tion of his difciples. He had urged to them the truth of their belief from that glorious teftimony given to our Saviour at his transfiguration by God himfelf, "" when there came fuch a voice to him from the ex^ cellent glory y T'his is my beloved Son in *whom I am well pleafed : and this voice , fays St. Peter, which came from heaven we heard when ive were with him in the mount. This was undoubtedly a ftrong and convincing proof: yet he adds, ^ We have alfo a more fure word of prophecy y or (as the paflage might perhaps be better rendered) But we hold, or eftecm, the word of prophecy to be furer, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. But what is meant by the word of pro^ phecyy which is here fo much extolled ? for * 2 Pet, i. 17, 18. ^ V. 19. various 234 SERMON VII. * various have been the expofitions given of it, and confequently of the argument which the Apoftle is fuppofed to make ufe of. I fliall not trouble you with a recital of them ; but without farther preface pro- pofe and endeavour to eftabhfh what I conceive to be the real meaning of the text, and then add fome few obfervations upon it. By the worJ of prophecy in St. Peter I underftand thtfpirit or gift of prophecy; as by the ^ word of wifdom and the word of knowledge in St. Paul are underllood the gifts of fupernatural wifdom and know- ledge 5 gifts which, I apprehend, differ no otherwife from that of prophecy than parts from the whole. That this gift was then plentifully vouchfafed to the church we arc well affured from many paflages in the holy fcriptures : and the perfons fa- voured with it ftand high in the catalogue of church-governors given us by St. Pauh ^ being ranked next to the apofiles and be- * See Bilhop Sherlock^s Difcourfes on Prophecy. *" I Cor. xii. 8. S i Cor. xii. 28. Ephe/,\v. II. fore SERMON VII. 235 fore the evangelijis themfelves. When he lays open to the Corinthians the ftorehoufe of God's graces, he fcruples not to prefer prophecy to all other fpiritual gifts ^ and the reafon is, ^ hecanfe he that prophefietb edijieth the church, Hen.ce may be gather- ed the nature of the gift and the office of a prophet. The gift was, as he explains it himfelf, * underjianding all myjleries and all knowledge \ the office^ to make ufe of this gift for the inftrudtion of the church. ^ For, though there be no doubt but pro- phets were endowed with the gift of fore- knowledge, and did adlually foretel future and contingent events, as a proof of their divine miffion ; yet are they in general re- prefented to us as perfons infpired by im- ^ I Cor, xiv. 4. * I Cor. xiii. 2. ^ The word prophet ^ befides its grammatical import, viz. one nx)ho foretells future euentSy iignifies likewise in the fcripture language a re^vealer of the nvill of God. In this fenfe Abraham is ftiled 2. prophet ^ and fo is John the Baptifi ; though we read of t\o predidions made by either of them. This fenfe the word plainly bears when it is faid Exod. vii. I . / ha've made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy hro - ther Jhall he thy prophet ; i, e. the revealer of what thou the God of Pharaoh fhalt fay to him ; nor does it ever fignify to expound or interpret fcripture otherwife than by vidi'vine afjlatm or gift of prophecy. Whitby on huh i. 57. mediate 236 SERMON VIL mediate revelation with an extraordinary meafure of wifdom, for the underflanding and explaining of the evangelical and myf- tical fenfe of the law and the prophets, that the infant churches might be inftruft-? ed in the myfteries of the gofpel, and coa- iirmed into all truth. To this our Apoftle refers, when he fays that no prophecy of the Jcripture is of private interpretation ; i.c» the expofition which the prophet gives offcripture is not his own private fenti- ment, it comes not from his own private fuggeftion, but from infpiration : "^ for prophecy came not 'ttot^ at any time, by the will of many but holy men of God fpake as they were 7noved by the Holy Ghojl. To thefe unerring guides the Apoftle refers his converts, who were as yet but babes in Chrift ; and when he does fo, it is plain that it is to the fcriptures themfelves that he ultimately refers them ; and thefe he recommends as likely to produce a clearer and ftronger perfuafion, as a firmer bul- wark againft apoftacy and errors, than even his own atteftation of Chrift's glorious ^ 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. tranf* SERMON VII. 37 transfiguration, when a voice from heaven declared him to be the Meffiah. Whether the evidence of prophecy be abfolutely and in itfelf greater than the evidence of miraclesy feems by no means to be (as fome have imagined) the fubjedt of the Apoftle*s argument. In the parti- cular cafe before us he could not, I ima- gine, with prudence infift, or indeed lay any great ftrefs upon the fole authority of miracles. The very perfons againft whom he wrote, though they contradided his dodlrine, pretended the influence of the fame fpirit, the fame commiflion from heaven. The myftery of iniquity had already began to work ; " falfe pro- phets, according to our blefled Saviour's predidlion, had arifen, who were per- " Such was Simon Magus ^ who not only heivitched the Sa- viaritans fo nxjith his forceries that they all gwve heed to him^ j^iis V in. 9, 10. but in many places prevailed upon the people to worfhip him. Such were ihofe whom St. Paul compares to famnes and Jafnbres the celebrated magicians of Egypt, 2 Tzm. in. 8. with many others mentioned not only by ecclefiaftical writers, but alfo by Jofephus the Jewifh hiftorian. l>! hell Jud. 1. 2. c. 23. mitted 238 SERMON VII. mitted to perform flrange and wonderful things : ° they cmne, fays St. Paul^ after the working of Sata?i with all power y and Jignsy afid lying wonders. When revelation was thus oppofed to revelation, and both claimed to have the fame character of truth ftamped upon its doctrines by miracles^ fomething furely belides miracles muft be appealed to, to judge between them. Why then does the apoftle mention any fupernatural occurrence at all ? Why this of the transfiguration in particular, of which there were only three witnefles ? ^ There was a tradition in the earlieft ® 2 Thejf. ii. 9. P Eufeb.hiji. eccUf. I. 2. c. I. Though Eufebius mentions only thefe three Apoftle s, yet Clemens of Alexandria (whom, the hiftorian quotes) adds St. Paul in iht/irji and in the /ixth book of his Mifcellatiies. This great Apoftle had been called in an extraordinary manner to the minifterial oftice by God himfelf, and received the dodlrines which he taught by immediate revelation from Jefus Chrijl. It is therefore not to be wondered at that heretics fheltered themfelves under his authority, and pleaded private tradi- tion from him for dodrines unknown to Chriftians in ge- neral, as well as from the three pillars of the churchy whom our Saviour had chofen to be witnefTes of that fupernatural manifeftation of his glory when God declared him to be his only beloved Son. ages SERMON VIL 239 ages of Chriftianity, that our blefljsd Sa- viour had more particularly inftrudled his three principal difciples, Peter, Jamesy and Joh?i (thofe three who were prefent at the transfiguration) and taught them fecretly and feparately from the reft the myftical fenfe of the fcriptures ; that this fcience was by them communicated to the other apoftles, from whom the Seventy and fome few others received it ; but that it was ne- ver committed to writing, thefe hidden myfteries being referved for the perfe in fcripturis nobis tradiderunt funda- mentum et columni'm fidei noftrae futurum, afterwards de- livered to us in the fcriptures what was to be the ground and pillar of our faith. Iren, 1. 3, c. 1. ^ Auguji, de unit. c. l8. not SERMON VII. 249 not by deceitful Jigns and "wonders^ but out of the law and the prophets^ out of the word of Chrift hi772felf\ out of the works of the evari- geliflsy out of the books of f crip fur e whofe au^ thority is canonical, 'Either^ fays he after- wards with refpedt to the miracles pretend- ed to have been wrought by fome of them ; either there is no truth in what is repor'tedy or if they have really performed any thing miraculous f the more ought we to be upon our guard \ becaife our Saviour {after having told us that deceivers fiall arife who with figns and wonders Jhall, if it were pofjible^ deceive the very eleS) addsy recommending it with vehemence^ ** Behold I told you be- ** fore." Thefe paffages from one under whofe authority the patrons of miracles fo often endeavour to fhelter themfelves might, one would imagine, check their petulance when they infolently call upon us to produce miracles in proof of our dodlrines, and their arrogance when they prefumptuoufly claim an exclufive right to the title and benefits of a church on ac- count of ' the glory y as they term it, g/' their * This is the eleventh out of fifteen notes by which the famous Cardinal Bellarmin pretends to find out the true catholic 250 SERMON VII. pretended miracles. The holy fcriptures are a fair copy of God's will declared by Chriji and his apoftles, God himfelf con- firming their declaration ^ by divine miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghoji : and the au- thenticity of this copy is proved beyond all doubt by the uniform concurrent tefti- mony of all intermediate ages. Whoever therefore have again recourfe to the evi- dence of miracles for the credibility of any of the dodrines of Chriilianity, require an additional feal to what God has already ratified; they depreciate his teftimony, and render all his promifes of none effeft. This the Romanijls mull allow to be their cafe, or contend that their dodlrines arc new, or mifiion extraordinary. If their mijjion is extraordinary, it is not derived from the apoftles with whom ChriJI pro- mifed to be ^ always^ even unto the end of the world: and if their doBrines are new, we only fay with St. Pauly "" If any man or angel preach another go/pel, than that which catholic and infallible church; all of which he takes care to appropriate to the church of Rome only. ^ Heb. ii. 4. 1 Matt, xxviii. 20. ^ Gal. i. 8. Chrift SERMON VIL , 251 Chrifl: and his apoftles preached, let him be accurfed. But if miracles fail, the Romanijls have another refource ; there are, if you believe them, unwritten " traditions preferved in the church : into thefe all faith is refolved, and every Chriftian is enjoined to hold them (whenever the church pleafes to pro- duce them) in equal efteem and veneration with the fcriptures themfelves. We have already obferved on the autho- rity of the primitive writers, that the true faith was firft corrupted by perfons, who pretended to a more perfeft knowledge of the doilrines of Chriiftianity tranfmitted by oral tradition from Chrijl and his apoftles. " This verity and difcipline is contained in the written word and in the unuuritten traditions of the fathers — reve- rencing all the books as well of the Old as New Tefta- ment, of both which God is the immediate author ; as alfo the traditions themfelves, belonging both to faith and man- ners, didlated as it were from the mouth of ChriJ}, or of the holy fpirit, and prejer'ved in the catholic church in a con- tinual JucceJJion. If any one reading over thefe books— in the old vulgar Latin edition, does not hold them ior fa- cred and canonical ; and knowing the hefore-fpecified traditions does induftrioufiy contemn them, let him be anathema or accurfed. Come, of Trent, Sejion ^, Now 252 SERMON VII. Now if tradition perverted the truth fo near the times in which the apoftles lived, nay perhaps whilft fome of them were ftill living; how can we exped: that it fhould at this diftance fecure us from error ? Let us only look back to the earlieft ages of the world, when the want of writing made the ufe of tradition ncceflary, and the long lives of men rendered it lefs liable to ac- cidents. What will hiflory inform us but that error is almod: coeval with truth? Reli- gion committed to the care of fo untrufty a guardian foon degenerated into fuperftition and idolatry ; the law of nature was fcarce written on the heart of man, but the cha- rafters became illegible. God therefore, when he chofe to himfelf a peculiar people^ engraved with his own finger the laws which he gave them upon two tables, and commanded them to be kept with religi- ous care, that the people might have re- courfe to them upon all occafions. ° To the law and to the tejiimony, faith God him- felf through the mouth of his prophet Ifaiah, when the people were in danger of Ifaiah viii. lo. being SERMON VII. 253 being feduced into idolatry. And in the time of general corruption what did the good yojiah do ? ^ He read in the ears of the people the words of the book of the cove^ nanfy and he made a covenant before the Lord to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. We know indeed that traditionary rites and cuftoms obtained much at laft in the Jewifh church : but does not our Saviour fay, ^ in vain do they worjJnp me, teaching for doBrines the commandments of men : for laying afde the commandment of God ye hold the tradition of men'? It is the appointment of God which conftitutes a rule of faith : and can it enter into the heart of man to conceive that our Saviour would appoint that in his church, which he condemns in the Jewifh ? As the gofpel was not to be confined within the narrow bounds of Ju- dea but propagated all over the earth, it was in greater danger of being corrupted by oral tradition, and confequently flood in greater need of being fecured by writ- f 2 Kin£[s ii, 3. < Mari vii. 7, 8. 254 SERMON VIL ing, and committed to the keeping of every Chriftian, as a Handing and public record of the will of God and his own duty. And who that has fuch a record well authenticated would truft to ' vague and uncertain report ? For why (hould the evangelifts or apoftles omit any effential dodtrine, any article neceflary for the be- lief of a Chriftian ? It could not be out of ignorance, even putting blafphemy out of the queftion -, becaufe the traditions, which are fuppofed to contain thefe dodlrines and thefe articles, are likewife fuppofed to pro- ceed originally from them. To charge them with doing it knowingly is to charge them with partiality, with malice, with facrilege % with the fame facrilege that the church of "Rome is guilty of, when by de- priving her members of the ufe of the fcrip- tures fhe ' takes away the key of knowledge, and * Jhuts up the kingdom of heaven againjl 7nen. It is moreover giving them the lie, ' Tflf jS* ky^ipcog T^iyofjtlvec -ruviruj (Mr oXiyev »x \^9VTge oiTTo^ei^iv ; Fcr tbofe t hi figs ivhich ar% fpoke?i 'without being com' mitted to ivriting are of Jhort duration, becaufe they have n$ certainty, Origen, Dial, cont. Marc. * Luke li, 52, t Matt, xxiiu 13. fince SERMON VII. 255 fince they every where profefs that they make known to us the whole gofpel of Cbriji^ the whole counfel of God. But fuppofing there were any fuch ctpof- folic al traditions as are pretended ; they are acknowledged to have been delivered fe- cretly and privately, and defigned for the inftrudion of a chofen few : if fo, then they were not intended for public ufe, and of confequence not neceffary to be public- ly known ; if they were not neceffary to be publicly known, they could not be ef- fential to faith, and therefore cannot be impofed upon us as fundamental articles of our religion. St. Faul tells us that " the holy fcriptures are able to make us wife unto falvation: St. fames that ^ God begat us with the word of truth : St. Peter that "" we were born again not of corruptible feed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abid- ethfor ever. Yet we have been told that * 2 Tim. Hi. 15^ "" Jam. i. 18. ^ I Pu» i, 2 J. St. 256 SERMON VII. it is " ^ a dead letter, capable of different " meanings, according to the difference of ** time, accommodating itfelf to the hu- " mours and maxims of the church ;" that ** ^ to receive it as the only rule of faith is *^ the foundation of atheifm and impiety;*' that *^ it is the church which gives it all << its authority and v^eight," and that ** without the church it would not merit " more credit than the Fables of EJop or *^ the Alcoran of Mahomet T While we wonder at the abfurdity and abhor the profanenefs of tenets like thefe, we cannot without ingratitude omit our thanks to the Almighty for the benefits we enjoy in the communion of a church, which not only refls its belief on the doc- trines contained in the holy fcriptures, but likewife allows every member of it y Cufan. ad Boh. Ep. 2. "^ Bellarm. de 'verh. Dei. iv. 4. Who can read thefe and other like paffages without call- ing to mind the account which Iren^us gives us of the he- retics of his time ? Cum ex fcripturis arguuntur in accufa- tionem convertuntur ipfarum fcripturarum, quail non re6l^ habeant) nequefunt ex authoritate, et quia varie-funt didae, et quia non poflcr ex his inveniri Veritas ab his qui nefciunt traditionem : non enim per literas traditam illam, fed per vivam vocem. Iren^ 1. 3. c. 2. free SERMON VIL 257 free accefs to the laws of his Saviour, whofe "" words are fpirit and life. To lay a reftraint upon the ufe of them is in it- felf fo abfurd and irrational, fo manifeftly contradidtory to God*s great purpofe of re- vealing his will to all men ; that it is juft- ly matter of the higheft admiration, as well as indignation, that any Chriftian church could be guilty of and juftify fuch an enormity, under pretence of preventing mifchiefs which muft arife from the read- ing of them. That fome parts of fcripture are ob- fcure and difficult to be underftood we deny not ; and that ^ the unlearned and unjiable wreji them to their own deJiruBion we like- wife acknowledge. It is what St. Peter himfelf complained of, and yet he did not forbid the ufe of them : he knew that they were holy^ juji^ and good*, and therefore if ** men (whofe curiofity is above their " faith, whofe affedlation of fingularity *' above the care of their fouls) will fearch ** the fcriptures to find out new dodtrines, * Johnvu 63. •» zPet.in. 16. R '' and 258 SERMON VII. N^ <* and if they cannot find them will bring ** them thither ;'* the fault lies not in the fcriptures, but in their own rafhnefs and prefumption : they are, fays St. Paul, ^ proud, knowing nothing, but doting about quejlions and difputes about ivords, whereof Cometh envy, Jlrife, evil furmijings, perverfe difputings of men of corrupt minds, and def titute of the truth. But to argue from abife to non-ufe is not logical. The per- verfion of fcripture cannot with propriety be charged upon fcripture itfelf ^ efpecially when it proceeds, as it generally does, from ignorance, pride, prejudice, or inte- reft. For let a paffage be never fo exprefs, and the fenfe common and obvious ; yet, if the dodrine contained in it militates againft the prepoffeffions of a zealot, fome other meaning muft at all events be con- trived, and the words (though written with ink made of light) tortured till they are at laft obliged to comply with the prin- ciples of the interpreter. ^ I 7/«. vi. 4, 5. To SERMON VII. 259 To prevent or cure thefe diforders, our adverfaries pretend that there is in their church an infallible judge appointed by God himfelf. The apoftles were, if any men can be, infallible judges ^ yet there were in their time (as their own writings fully prove) as many controverfies and differen- ces about matters of faith, as manv and as great herefies and fchifms, as have been iince in any age of the church. InfalUbi" lity therefore is no certain remedy again ft them : but fuppofe it were, where are w^e now to find it ? for, though the Romanifls boaft much of having this infallibility among them 5 yet where it is lodged, whe- ther in the pope alojie^ or in a general council alone ; or in the pope and council con^ ciirringy or laftly in the church diffujive^ are points in which they are nptyet agreed ; and truly (as has often been obferved) no great ftrefs can be laid upon the infallibi- lity of that church, that does not itfelf know where its infallibility refides. The doQrines of Chriftianity arc of two kindr, the moral and the viyJiicaL Thefe R 2 laft 26o SERMON VII. laft may likewife be divided into two claf- fes. The jirjl clafs confifts of what St. Paul calls ^ the principles of the doBrine of Chrijiy the rudiments and groundwork of faith, the fundamentals of our religion, the articles contained in the Creed. The fecond clafs is made up of truths important indeed but not fo obvious ; fuch as the wonderful difpenfations of God towards the amazing work of our redemption, his eternal purpofe even before the world be- gan, his gradual revelations to the patri- archs, the types, prophecies, and various prefigurations of the MeJJiah in the legal worfliip, the calling in of the Gentiles upon the rejedlion of the Jews, and the future glorious ftate of the church when, upon God's calling again hisr chofen people, * the Gentiles fiall come to their light y and kings to the brightnefs of their rijing — Thefe, I fay, and others of the like fublime and abftrufe nature, form the fecond order of myjlical dodrines. Now rightly to appre- «* Ueb.\\. I. « iy: ix. 3. hend SERMON VII. 261 hend and reap benefit fjj^om thefe requiring more ftudy, a greater ufe and improvement of reafon, a founder judgement, and a more enlarged underftanding than God has thought proper to endow every man with ; they are therefore (though highly orna- mental of the Chriftian character) not of abfolute, indifpenfible, univerfal neceffity. But the moral and the firft clafs of the myf-' tical do(flrines, being abfolutely necefTary to the very being of a Chriftian, are there- fore delivered without obfcurity or ambi- guity, are plain and evident to all, even perfons of the meaneft capacity. *^ TheO" <* logy is the profefiion of a few, religion " the duty of all." What {hall we fay then of thofe fublime objefts of the catholic faith, thofe divine myfteries which are confefiedly above the reach of all human underftanding ? Is not the belief of them of abfolute and indif- penfible neceflity ? Undoubtedly it is , and therefore are they, like all the other doc- trines contained in the firft clafs, exprefsly and pofitively revealed 5 and (though their R 3 nature ib2 SERMON VIL nature and relations are utterly inconceiv- able by human reafon, yet) to the truth of them, becaufe they are confirmed by the teftimony of God, human reafon itfelf cannot but give a firm, full, and immedi- ate afient. For ** truth being a confor- •* mity to the nature and reafon of things, " the word of him who fpake alt things ** into being cannot but be infallible ** truth." But is the book of nature full of myfleries, and fliall we wonder at a few in the book oi grace? ^ T^hine own things y fays the angel to Efdras^ and fuch as are grown up with thee canjl thou not know ; how JJjould thy vejfel then be able to com- prehend the way of the highejl ? If fenfible things are above our reach, fhall we re- pine becaufe we cannot grafp thofe that are inviiible ? Let us rather blefs God for what he has been pleafed to reveal clearly, and what reafon cannot fathom let faith contemplate. For though it be utterly impoffible that any revelation from God can be contradictory to reafon, for then ^ Z Efd* i\r. 1 0, 1 1 • truth SERMON VII. 263 truth would be at variance with truth ; yet it is very poffible that there may be truths in that revelation, to the clear per- ception and full comprehenfion of which our faculties are not proportioned ; ^ t/iai^ our faith may not Jland in the wifdom of many but the power of God, And how- ever the pride of man may recoil at the thought of a truth inconceivable by him, yet fober reafon will readily acknowledge and adore the wifdom and the goodnefs of God in propofing myfteries for the trial of our faith, as well as precepts for the exercife of our obedience. They command our attention and veneration j they teach us to fet a due value on the means of grace, to have a juft fenfe of our imperfedlions and the all-fufficiency of God. Humility and piety are twin- fifters, offspring of that ^ wifdom which is from above. The man that cheriihes thefe Chriftian graces cannot but be highly favoured by the divine principle which produced them ; heavenly truths 5 I Cor, ii, 5. ^ James iU. 17* R 4 meet* 264 SERMON VII. meeting with no obftrudlion in their paf- fage to his mind ftrike with full force, and make a deep and lafting impreflion. Such a man as this; a man (who with a becoming awe and reverence enquires in- to that good, perfed, and acceptable will of God ) finds new truths continually emerging, and beaming out their light upon his underftanding : while he con- verfes in the book of God, he converfes with and is partaker of all the privileges and revelations of the Prophets, Evangelifts, and Apoftles ; he converfes with God himfelf : God, by the m.iniftry of his word, fpeaks to him from heaven 5 he fpeaks to his heart and foul fuch com- fort and invincible demonflration, as all the pride of learning and philofophy can never attain to. Thus does the true Chriftian begin here upon earth an intercourfe and com- munion with God, and enjoys through the gofpel a foretafte of that marvellous light, which will be the portion of the faints in blifs i when grace being perfedted in glo- SERMON VII. 265 ry, we ihall view more nearly the * myjiery hid from agesy the ftupendous work of our redemption, the wonders of God's nature, the riches of his goodnefs, and the trea- fures of his mercy. ^ Now we fee through a glafs darkly y but then face to face : now we know in party but then we Jimll know even as we are known. ^ Col, i. 26. ^ I Cor, xiii. 1 2. [ 26; ] Mimmmmmst SERMON VIII Phil. iv. 8. Finally, brethren, ivhatfoever things are truey whatfoever things are honejl, what" foever things are juji, whatfoever things are pure, whatfoever things are lovely^ whatfoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praife, think on thefe things. IT is obferved of St. Faul that, however obfcure and irregular his argumenta- tion may fometimes appear to thofe who want either abilities or attention to trace the connexion of the feveral parts of which it is compofed, yet his general method in all his epiftles is plainly regular and eafily per- 268 SERMON VIII. perceptible to every underftanding. Hav- ing given a folemn teftimony of his afFec- tion by recommending the churches to the peace of God, he begins his difcourfes v^ith doBrinal and ends them v^ith moral pre- cepts i having firft grounded and fettled his flock in the true faith, he then pro- ceeds to recommend a practice fuitable to that faith. It has been my aim and fincere endea- vour to follow the example of this blefled Apoftle : and, having accordingly in my former difcourfes treated of the chief fun- damental points contained in the fpecula- live part of our holy religion, I now pur- pofe, by God's affiflance, to recommend a condudl correfponding to our profeffion ; to prove that not only the htWti oi whatfo- ever things are true, but like wife the prac- tice of whaffoever things are honejl, juft, and pure is required of us as neceffary to falva- tion. The intelleBual virtues indeed In point of order take place of the moral ones, be-^ caufe a rational agent afts in confequence of SERMON VIII. 269 of knowledge : for how, without the knowledge of our duty, can there be an eftablifhed rule of our obedience ? But though knowledge is thus elTential to prac- tice, yet is not practice the lefs neceffary to knowledge. * Who is a wife man^ and endued with knowledge among Ji you ? let him JJjew out of a good converfation his works with meeknejs of wifdom. One of the many devices, made ufe of by the enemy of mankind, is to keep men in extremes of opinion with regard to mat- ters of faith and doctrine : he ^ transfonns himfelf into an angel of light ; and, under the fpecious pretence of faving them from a dangerous error, hurries them away to the oppofite precipice ; paffing over the intermediate fpace, where the faving and profitable truth is ufually to be found at an equal diftance from both extremes. Thus with refpedt to the doftrines now under confideration — A pernicious error was by his artifices introduced in the infancy of the church, by which men were taught to a James iii. 13, ** 2 Cor.xi, 14. believe 270 SERMON Vlir. believe that works alone without faith were fufficient to juftification and lalvation : but, this herefy being confuted by apoftolical arguments and authority, he very dexte- roufly changed the queftion, and inftilled into weak minds the more flattering poifon of the oppofite dodlrine, perfuading them that they might be juftified by faith alone without works : whereas the fcriptures join them both together, exprefsly teaching us that nothing availeth to falvation " except faith which worketh by love ; i.e. a vigorous and operative faith productive of good works, a fincere obedience proceeding from a true and vital faith. And firft, that works alone are not fuffi- cient to procure God's favour, he himfelf has clearly taught us in that comprehen- five epitome of his laws, which he wrote with his own finger, and delivered by the miniftry of his fervant Mofes to his chofen people. The commands of ih^frjl table in^mediately and folely refpeft his autho- rity, and the obedience and wor£hip which « Pal. V. 6. is SERMON VIIL 271 is due to him : from whence this inference naturally follows, that our faith in him and obedience to his authority are the foundation of the moral commandments contained in ihtfecond table. This confi- deration greatly exalts and ennobles mora- lity, interefting the Supreme Being in all our adts of virtue ; which if they proceed from any other principle, inafmuch as they refpedl not God, are at leaft a virtual dif- avowal of his authority. In all our ac- tions as well as opinions are to be conli- dered what the fchoolmen call the mate- riale and th^formale i not only the aft it- felf, but the fundamental ground on which it refts, and on account of which it is per- formed. For it is not the fuperftrudture that fupports the foundation, but the foun- dation that gives {lability to the fuperftruc- ture : let the edifice be ever fo fplendid or ftrong in itfelf, yet (if the foundation be unfound) the whole building muft partake of the weaknefs upon which it relies. ^ There are many truths believed, the d See this point argued with his ufual acutenefs and pre- cifion by Dr. Crackentborp in his Vigiliui dormitanst c. 13. fcriptures 272 SERMON VIII. fcriptures themfelves are received in the church of Rome y yet I am afraid that this behef and acknowledgement have very little of the nature of a true Chriftian faith; becaufe, however true and com- mendable they are in themfelves, they pro- ceed from an antifcriptural principle : they depend upon the infallible authority of the pope enjoining them, a dodlrine which is contrary to and fubveriive of faith. The cafe is the fame with our outward adlions : they may be good in themfelves, but not in the agent ; in them the will of God may h^ performed y hut not. oieye J : for there is a wide difference and eafily perceivable be- tween an aft itfelf and the obedience ob- ferved in that a(ft. Every moral virtue confidered abftradtedly is. without all doubt in the matter of it agreeable to the will of God ; but it does hot follow that the will of God is obeyed in the performance of every moral adlion. It may and too often does proceed from merely human princi- ples, from cuftom, example, convenience, intereft : and, as water will not rife higher than the level of the fpring from which it flows, fo neither can an adl be better than SERMON VIII. 273 than the motive from which it took its rife. Should we therefore allow it even the higheft principle which a mere moral philofopher can claim, the idea of the in^ trinjic beauty and lovelinefs of ^virtue ; yet even then, inafmuch as it wants the con- currence of that which God requires, and which reafon itfelf properly exercifed muft teach us to be the principal duty in nature, i- e. refpedl to his laws and fubinifjion to his authority — wanting that principle it cannot recommend man to God's favour. It has indeed fo far the nature of fin, that it i^ fetting up theunderftanding of man againft the knowledge of God : it is a renuncia- tion of our allegiance to him, a contempt of thofe attributes of power, wifdom, goodnefs, and holinefs, upon which his laws and our obedience to them are found- ed. ^ T^hou art worthy^ O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power ; for thou haji created all things^ and for thy pie a jure, i. e. by thy will alone and divine command. ® Rev. iv, II. Upon this principle it is that the Reman philofopher calls Piety Jujiice to%vards God. Eft enim pietas juftitia adverfum deos. Cic. de Nat. Deor, 1. 1, and 274 SERMON VIlI. and for the manifeftation of thy glory, they arcy and were created. How can God re- ceive glory and honour from his creatures, but by their folemn acknowledgement of his fupreme dominion and authority over them, and their entire dependence upon him ? And how can they fhew that ac- knowledgement but by conftantly looking up to him with a filial fear and reverence, and by directing their actions out of con- fcience of their duty to him, making his will their motive, his laws their rule, and his glory their end. ^ If I be a father, where is ?mne honour ? ^ If you call him fa^ ther, who without refpedl of perfons jitdgeth according to every mans work, pafs the time of your fojoiirning here in fear y i. e. a reve- rential and godly fear, fuch as becometh obedient children. Self-gratification andfelf-fufHciency were the caufe of the firft fin, and have ever fince been the chief ingredients in all fubfequent *" Mai. i. vi. Si Pet. i. 17. If you call him father ivho judgeth — This certainly is the meaning of « TTt^'i^ i7ny^?^eiit* xix. 24. Deut, xxviii. 23. compared with Hag, c. i. )iame* SERMON VIII. 279 name, JJjall receive no reward. The natural reafons of this maxim I have confidered pretty largely ; becaufe it is a point in which many well difpofed perfons are very apt to miftake, the eyes of their minds be- ing dazzled by the fplendor of what are called philofophical principles : as if God required not the heart as well as the head ; as if reafon, while it is exalted by the con- templation of the nature and relations of things, was debafed by the remembrance of him who conftituted that nature and thofe relations. ^ Whatfoever ye doy faith the fcripture, do all to the glory of God. ^ Whatfoever ye do in word or in deedy do all in the name of the Lord Jefus Chrifl, ^ Glo^ rify God in your body and in your fpirit which are God's. God has an entire right over the whole of us by creation, prefervation, and redemption. When therefore we withdraw any part of us from his fervice ; when we make our own reafon our fupreme rule, ^ going about to eflablipo our own righteoufnefs inftead oi fubmitting ourfelves y I Cor, X. 31. ^ Col. iii. 17. * J Cor, vi. 20. *> Rom, x. 3. S 4 unto 28o SERMON VIII. unto the righteoufnefs of God y we invade his right, we rob him of what belongs to him not only by original propriety, but more- over by fubfequent purchafe. And this we are guilty of whenever we glorify him not in owx Jpirit as well as our body ; when our aftions, though morally good, proceed not from fpiritual principles and are not diredted to a fpiritual end. As fuch ac- tions have no refpeft to God, we cannot expedb him to delight in them ; and what he does not delight in, he will not reward. The myftical union between Chr'tjl and his church is reprefented to us in fcripture by the matrimonial union fubfifting between a man and his wife : faith is the bond, and good works refulting from that faith the fruit of that union : all other fruits are out of wedlock, and confequently can have no right to the inheritance. But fecondfyy though good works are not of t\icn\k\yt^fufficienty yet are they ne- cejfary to falvation ^ though faith is necef- Jarjy yet it is not of itfelf fufficient. When SERMON VIII. 281 When Satan drew our firft parents into difobedience, he very artfully began by inftilling into their mind doubts concern- ing the command of God : ^ Teay hath God f aid ye Jh all not eat ? Having once raif- cd fcrupl'es about the law, he boldly urged a total difbelief of the punifhment annexed to the breach of it. ^ Satan faid^ ye fjall not furely die. As incredulity paved the way to fin, fo £i\oyAdi faith introduce righteouf- nefs, and by obedience raife human nature to that flate of excellence from which it was degraded by difobedience. We debafe religion when we turn it into barren fpe- culation ; when we ftudy the law of God merely out of a defire of knowledge, with- out attending to the pradlical excellencies with which it abounds ; when we take de- light in the bare aft of knowing, and neg- ledt the duties which ought to accompany that knowledge ; forgetting that by the good ground in the parable of the fower our Saviour himfelf tells us are meant ' they^ " Gen. iii. I . ** Gen, iii. 4. * huke viii. 15, who 282 SERMON VIII. who not only hear the word, but m an honeji and good heart having heard it keep ity and bring forth fruit with patiefice. It is an acknowledged axiom among thofe who believe any reHgion at all, that the firft principle in religion is to endea- vour to imitate the deity. It has its foun- dation in nature : both our afFedtions and reafon perfuade us to aim at attaining thofe excellencies which we admire in others : even felf-love affifts us in performing this duty. No perfon of any fentiment can re- fled: on any advances, which his nature makes towards a iimilitude to the moft perfect of all beings, without the higheft complacency and delight. This pleafure is greatly encreafed by the additional re- fledion, that he is fulfilling the end of his creation, and acquiring the friendfliip and favour of him whofe favour and friendfhip is man's higheft felicity and honour. ^ God cannot but behold with approbation XsyoVy on raJ 6f.ul^ -tj cf^^'.ov (piXov uv eivi. Plat, de Leg, 1. 4* in SERMON VIII. 283 in his rational creatures, every degree of conformity to that everlafting holinefs and righteoufnefs 'which, being eflential to his nature, conftantly and invariably determine his adlions 5 afld are therefore made the rule and the motive of theirs. With this view he created man in his own image. To renew this image, after it had been defaced by fin, has been the gracious pur- pofe of all his difpenfations. When he felefted to himfelf a peculiar people, this was the general preface and introducflion to the laws which he prefcribed, ^ ye jhall be holy^ for I the Lord your God am holy. And this declaration of God's will is par- ticularly applied by ^ St. Peter to the Chrif- tian religion j the true profeffors of which are faid ' to have put on the new man^ which is renewed after the i^nage of him who created him ; ^ which after God^ y^<^cf^ ^^ov after the fimilitude of God, is created in righteouf- nefs and true holinefs. For this purpofe he fent down ^ the exprefs image of his perfon, S Le'vit, xix. 2. ' I Pet. i. 16. ' Colojf. iii. 10. ^ Ephef. iv. 24. 5 Heb. i. 2. that 284 SERMON Vlir. that we might have a vijible pattern and example of thofe excellencies and perfec- tions which we are required to imitate ; that by the exercife of Chriftian virtues upon Chrijftian principles we might *" be co7iformed to the image of the Son of God, " be viade partakers of the divine nature^ and from a likenefs to Chrift in holinefs now be made like unto him in glory hereafter. As ° the haw was our School-majler to bring us to Chrifly fo is the Gofpel our teacher by which we are trained up for the kingdom of heaven. The duties which it prefer! bes are not only a neceffary condition^ but moreover a neceffary qialification for it. ^ Nothing that defileth can in any wife enter into heaven. Every impurity alienates the mind from God and from every thing that is fpiritual and holy. How then can a foul defiled with fin be a fit companion for thofe fpirits, who are ever employed in the contemplation and adoration of that holy * IRom. viii. 29. " 2 Pet. \. 4. ** QaL iii. 24. p Reu, xxi, 27. Being SERMON VIII. 285 Being who ^ is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ? Purely they are ill qualified to join with the bleffed choir above, whofe very ^ prayers are an abomination unto the Lord : they can be but ill-difpofed to pay continual praifes and thankfgivings to God, who have been always accuflomed to dif- regard his attributes, defpife his wifdom, reje(5l his mercy, and hold his power and juftice at defiance. There can be no plea- fure where the objefl: is not fuited to the faculties that receive it : as therefore a car- nal man can never delight in fpiritual du- ties, nor he that is immerfed in matter re- lifh thofe that are altogether intellectual : fo neither can the envious, the revengeful, and the malicious ( without a miracle wrought in their favour) become capable fubjeds of that happinefs which confifts of peace and univerfal benevolence. For * what fellowjhip hath right eoujhejs with un-^ righteoufnefs ? What communion or agree- ment can envy, malice, hatred, and re- venge have with charity, goodnefs, and '^ Habac, i. 13 *" Prov- xxviii, 9, ^ 2 Car, vi. 14. love? 286 SERMON VIII. love ? They are as oppolite as darknefs to light, as Belial to Chrijl. We muft lay the foundation of our fpiritual building on earth, if we mean to have it iinifhed and perfected in heaven : we muft perform good works in this world, if we Vifh to enjoy the reward belonging to them in the next. When the lawyer afked our Saviour * what he muft do to inherit eternal lif'ey the only rule which he prefcribed to him was obedience. If thou wilt enter into life^ keep the commandments, Chriftianity does not exempt us from any moral duty. Some of the circumftances indeed of the moral law are abrogated ; but its fubitance and authority ftill remain and will for ever re- main in full force. " It is eafier for heaven and earth to pafs than one tittle of the law to fail. The lame lins are forbidden, the fame virtues required, the fame duties re- commended and enjoined in the gofpel and in the law ; but not on the fame terms. The law confidered as a covenant of works t Matt, xlx. 1 6, 17. " Luke -^vi. 17. admitted SERMON VIIL 28-7 admitted of no mitigation : but under the gofpel, which is a covenant of grace, re- pentance reftores the tranfgreflbr to the fa- vour of God, and inftead of perfed: exad:- nefs, the fincere endeavours of a true be- liever are through the merits of Chrijl ac- cepted. But does not this diflblve our obligation to obedience ? God forbid : on the con- trary it makes the obh'gation flridter. We are not only bound by the authority of God's injundion, but by the exprefs com- mand of our Redeemer and Mediator ; we have a clearer knowledge of our duty, and the affiftance of the holy fpirit to perform it : we have better and more explicit pro- mifes, and fuller affurances of reward. Every wilful tranfgreffion under fuch ad- vantages acquires an additional degree of guilt 'y and therefore our Saviour tells us that *" except our right eoujhefs J}:all exceed the flight eoiifnejs of the Scribes and PharifeeSy we Jhall in ?io wife enter into the kifigdom of heaven. They had refpeft only to the out-- ^ Matt, 5. XX. ward 288 SERMON VIIL ward deed -, whereas in a Chrifllan inward intention and purity of heart are required : they made the applaufe of men and their own credit the principle and end of their adions; but to a true Chriftian the glory of God is the end ; love, obedience, and faith in his promifes the principles and motives of righteoufnefs. Hence is Chrif- tian obedience ftiled the "^ work of faith and the labour of love, Chriftian y^//Z> is a vital and operative habit of mind ; it works powerfully upon every faculty, quickens every grace, and makes our obedience wil- ling, eafy, and conftant. Love is a paf- fion of the mind which excites us to ac- tion ; it follows with pleafure, purfues with vigour, and promotes with unwearied application the interell and honour of its objeft : our afFedions are no fooner fixed upon any particular perfon, but our thoughts and defires are immediately eager and rell- lefs after opportunities of fhewing our re- verence and efteem ; we ftudy to pleafe, we try all methods to oblige him, we receive his commands with pleafure, and ^ I nejf, i. 3. we SERMON VIII. 289 we execute them with chearfulnefs. Every motive to love afforded by the golpel is likewife a motive for obedience. ^ if you love me keep my commandments. As obedi- ence without love is flavery; fo love with- out obedience is but an abftraded, wild, and fruitlefs fpeculation, without any foun- dation in reafon and the nature of things. For ** what is rational kve^ but a dejire to ** pleafe the perfon beloved, and a compla- *^ cency and fatisfacflion in pleajing him ? *' To love God therefore is to have a lin- ** cere dejire of obeying his laws, and a de- " light or pleafure in the coiifcience of that ** obedience,'' Men's pradices are the beft indexes of their principles. If the love of God was firmly rooted in the heart, it would foon fhew its power and efficacy by fpringing up into aftion and abounding in every duty, in all goodnels, and righteouf- nefs, and truth. And hence (^becaufe thefe two principles oi faith and love are the main fprings of all our good adions) our obedience by a figure of fpeech naminp- the caufe alone, where together with it the y john xiv. 15. T effedl 290 SERMON VIIL effed: is intended and underftood — by this figure, I fay, our obedience to the laws and commands of God are often in fcrip- ture expreffed by o\xx faith in him, our love of him, and by other caufes and principles which produce or chiefly concur in pro- ducing that obedience. But if love and faith are the principal caufes of good works ; then furely Chriftians, who have fuch fu- perior motives to love God and have faith in him, are of courfe under greater obli- gations to a fincere, conftant, and univer- fal obedience. Without that our love is hypocrify, our faith nothing more than an hiftorical or dogmatical belief, and fo far from faving will condemn us. "" For if we fin wi fully after that we have received the knowledge of the truths there remaineth no more facrifice for fins. He that defpifed Mo" fes's law died without mercy under two or three witnefies. Of how much for er punifij- 7neftt^ fipp^fi y^-i fall he be thought worthy^ who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherezvith he was fantlified an unholy things ^ Ueb, X. 26. 28, 29^ and SERMON VIII. 291 and hath done defplght unto the fpirit cf grace ? The gofpel is a covenant of mercy, and alfo a law of obedience. Jefus Cbriji is our Lord as well as Saviour : he came into the world to refcue us from the dominion as well as the punifi?nent of fin ; ^ that we being delivered from our enemies might ferve him without fear in hoii?2efs and right eoufnefs all the days of our life. ^ He gave himfelf (fays St. Paul) that he might redeem us from all iniquity. It was by no means the de- lign oiChrift to tolerate the pradtice of fin, or abate men any pait of their moral duty : on the contrary he has adopted and per- fedted the moral law ; and having made it a ftandard and rule of obedience to him- felf he has, as lord and lawgiver, enjoined the ftricft obfervance of it, under the title of his commandments, to his difciples as an indifpenfible condition of eternal hap- pinefs. *" Chriji is the author of eternal fal- vation unto all them, and them only, who a Luke i. 74. ^ Tit, ii. 14. Heb. V. 9. T 2 obey 292 SERMON VIIL obey him ; who pay him an acftual and po- iitive obedience and fervice. ^ The man who hid his talent in a napkin was con- demned for negled: of duty ; not becaufe he had fquandered it away, but becaufe he had not improved it. ^ The barren^^-/r^£', an emblem ot thofe who content them- felves with a bare profeffion, was curfed becaufe it bore only leaves and no fruit ; and ^ every tree^ which bringeth not forth good fruity is hewn down and caft into the fre. No human legiflator ever difcovered his mind more clearly and fully upon any fubje<3: than our divine legiflator has upon this. " Why call you me Lordy Lord, and do not the things which I fay ? ^ Not every one that faith unto me Lord, Lord, fhall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven. In the sketches which he has been pleafed to give us of the great day of retribution, he every where tells us ex- prefsly that man fhall be finally rewarded according to his works ; that not only the ^ Luke xix, « Matth. xxi. 19. ^ Matth. iii. 2. S Luke vi. 46. ^ Matth. vii. 21. mere SERMON VIII. 293 mere name of Chriftianlty, and the naked profeflion of the faith without the prac- tice of it, but even eminent and extraordi- nary gifts without obedience to his com- mands {hall avail nothing to falvation. ' Many will fay wito me in that day Lord, Lord, have we not prophejied in thy name, and in thy name caji out devils ? and in thy name done ?nany wonderful works ? And then I will profefs unto them^ I never knew you i depart from me ye that work iniquity. The fame truth is upon all occafions declared to us by his embaffadors. ^ In them only, according to St. Pauly there is no condem- nation i in them only is the right eoufnefs of the law fulfilled^ who walk not after the fejij hut after the fpirit ; they only are the fons of Gody who are led by the fpirit of God. ^ St. James wrote profefledly in defence of this dod:rine \ and St. Johny the beloved dif- ^ Maith. vii. 22, 23. ^ Hem. vlii. i. 4. 14. ' Many of the antients (and our moft excellent Bilhop Bull fubfcribes to their opinion) tell us that the contrary doftrine owed its rife to a miiinterpretation of fome pafTa- ^ts in St. Paul i and that againft this mifinterpretation and the notion confequent upon it the Epifile of St. James^ the Jirft of St. John J the fecond of St. Peter, and that of St. Jude were written. T 3 ciple 294 SERMON VIII. ciple of Ch'ijl , tells us that *" whofo keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perjeBed. " Let no man deceive youy he that doeth right eoufnejs is righteous ; whofoever doeth not righteoufnefs is not of God, And in another place, ° BleJJed are they that do his commandment Sy that they may have right to the tree of life , and may enter through the gates into the new ferujalem. The word which is here rendered by the Englijlj word right is l^ova-ld • which word, as every one who has the leaft ac- quaintance with the Greek language muft know, fignifies not an abfolute inherent right, a right of merit (as the church of Kome infolently teaches) but only a right of permijjion : and therefore the paffage ought to have been rendered, that they may have liberty y may be permitted^ to come to the tree of life. In every claim of abfo- lute right there muft be an equivalence, a natural proportion between the work and the reward. Now what proportion can ™ I John ii. 5. o I John iii. 7. 10. ° Re^jel. xxii. 14. there SERMON VIII. 295 there be between a temporary obedience and an eternal reward ? Befides, our obe- dience at beft is but imperfed: : and were it perfect yet, as it is our bounden duty to God, it could not of right and juflice challenge a reward from him to whom it was due. What title then, what right have they that do God's commandments to eternal life? I anfwer, a \\x\^ by pro7n\fe, a Jlipulated federal right. In every co- venant there mufl be conditions ; in the covenant made, through the mediation of Chriji, between God and man the condition on the part of man is obedience to God's commands, and to this obedience God on his part has been pleafed to annex the promife of eternal life ; and therefore St. Paul calls the gofpel ^ the truth which is after godlinefs in hope of eternal life^ which God that can?20t lie promifed. The fame veracity and faithfulnefs, which wall mofl affuredly beftow the reward upon thofe who fulfil the conditions, is likewife bound to exclude thofe who negledl the terms of the covenant. To what purpofe fhould P TzV. i. I, 2. T 4 men 296 SERMON VIII. men be exhorted to ^ bring forth fruits meet for repentance^ to ' live righteoujly fo- berly and devoutly^ to * put on the whole armour of God, to * put on the new creature which is created after God in righteoufnefs and true hoUnefs^ if after all the Son was to extend his merits, and the Father accept them in favour of thofe who will do none of thefe things ? Such a fuppofition would confound all notions of right and wrong, deftroy all diftin(5lion between virtue and vice, and rob God of his truth, his juftice, and his holinefs — of his truths lince he has " revealed his wrath agamjl all ungodlinefs and unrighteoufnefs of men who hold faith in unrighteoufnefsy and hath excluded all fuch from ^ any inheritance in the kingdom of Chriji and of God : of his jujlice in giving the righteous man's reward to tranfgref- lion and difobedience : of his holinefs, for then * the workers of iniquity would Jiand in his fight, ^ his eyes would behold evil and look on iniquity, •^ Matth. iii. 8. f Tit. ii. 12. Ephej. vi. I I. t Ephef. iv. 24. "^ Rom. i. 18. "» Ephef. v. 5. ^ Ff, V. 5. y Habac, i. 13. I fcarce SERMON VIII. 297 I fcarce need obferve how much this docflrine of the nece£ity of good works has been controverted in almoft every age of the church by fchoolmen ftudious of per- plexing clear paffages with nice metaphy- seal fubtilties and diftind:ions i by weak ignorajit men fond of ufing fcripture terms without underftanding their meaning; and by warm enthiifiajls who find myfteries in the plaineft phrafes, and then work them- felves up into a belief that to them alone it is given to underftand myfleries. What can be plainer, when not darkened by words without knowledge, than the true notion of our falvation by the grace of God ? And yet how has it been mifapplied, with- out any countenance whatever from fcrip- ture, to fupport the dodrine of unconditio- nal eleBion and reprobation? a doctrine fo abfurd that one may well wonder how it could find reception among philcfophers, fo impious that a fincere Chriftian can with difficulty conceive hovv^ it ever could prevail among divines : a doftrine deftruc- tive of the principles of our reafonable na- ture and of at leaft the moral part of divi- nity. 298 SERMON VIII. nity, and contradidory to every covenant which the wifdorn and goodnefs of God has been pleaied to make v^ith fallen man. ^ Walk before me, faid he to Abraham^ and he thou perfeB ; and I will make my cove-* nant between me and thee. If Abraham w^as not a free and rational agent capable of breaking as well as keeping this covenant, to what purpofe was it made ? If his elec- tion was unconditional, why does God re- quire conditions of him ? And if there is no neceflity of faith and obedience, why are they made the exprefs conditions ? Why is he fo highly commended in the iQxi^Xw'c^^ oi \\\^ New T!ejiament, and pro- pofed as a pattern of faith and obedience to all Chriftians ? When God afterwards made a covenant with the Jews, ^ Mofes read the book of the covenant in the audience of the people ; and they faid, All that the Lord hath faid we will do, and be obedient. When fojhua renewed it again, the people fiud '' T^he Lord our God will we ferve, and his voice will we obey. Does it not from ^ Genef. xvii. 1,2. a £xod. xxiv. 7. ^ JoJIj. xxiv. 24. thefq SERMON VIII. 299 thefe promifes and affeverations evidently follow that they were confcious of an elec- tive principle within themfelves ; of fa- culties competent to adl as well as intend, to perforin as well as promife ; of powers fufficient to denominate their good acflions their own, and give their loyal obedience a title to the favour and protedion of God ? The fame obfervation may be made of the covenant of grace ; the many pallages which I have cited, wherein good works are required of Chriftians, being a plain and full proof that as we are rational crea- tures capable of ading with defign and counfel, fo does God exped that by a proper nfe and application of our faculties that defign and that counfel fhould be direded to his honour and glory, and to the performance of thofe conditions upon which he has made our falvation to de- pend. The term grace (which has given occa- iion to this unfeemly notion of juftification without the ufe of any means whatfoever) implies kindnefs and favour, including in it the idea of a fuperior who freely and vo- luntarily 300 SERMON VIII. luntarily beftows that favour. Hence it is ufed in different iignifications and for different gifts, when applied to different perions and on different occafions; but when ufed in general without a reference to any particular inftance, tht free grace of God has only two fignifications. It means either that fpecial ad of his mere goodnefs whereby he was pleafed, without any ob- ligation on his part or claim on ours, to reftore us to his favour through the fatif- faftion of a Redeemer : or it means that other adl of undeferved mercy whereby God, for the fake of our Saviour and thro' the intervention of his merits, will accept of fincerity inftead of perfeftion, of a hearty and honed: inftead of a finlefs and unerring obedience. In the firji fenfe we are faid to be ^ jujl'ified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jefus Chriji ; and in the latter to be ^ jujlifed by graccy not of works, Thefe are not the only paffages out of the writings of St. Paul which have been ^ Rom. iii. 24. •» EpheJ. ii. 8, 9. made SERMON VIII. 301 made fubfervient to the introdudlion of dangerous errors concerning this important dodtrine. He has faid in feveral places that ^ man is jujiified by faith without the deeds of the law : and from hence many even learned men (without paying the lead attention to the numberlefs other pofitive texts of fcripture, and to the nature of that faith and thofe works which are here mentioned) have cried down the neceffity of good w^orks, and attributed the whole oi our jujiif cation lo faith alojie -y as if evan- gelical obedience was no part of the evan- gelical covenant ; and men might in con- tradidtion to the direct words of our Sa- viour ^ enter into life without keeping the commandments. The works which the apoftle excludes from any fliare in our juf- tification he himfelf calls in exprefs terms the deeds of the law : for the right under- ftanding of which it is neceffary to obferve that the converted fews had brought into Chriftianity all their prejudices in favour of the Mofaical law, and urged the necef- * Rom. iii. 28. — V. I. Gal. ii. 16. — iii. 24. ^ Matt, xix. 17. fity 302 SERMON VIII. fity of ftridly adhering to all its rites aild ceremonial performances. iVgainfl thefe patrons of legal fervitude the apoftle of the Gentiles every where aflerts ' the liberty wherewith Chrijl hath Jet us free ; and, in order to fet forth and vindicate the fupe- rior excellence and pre-eminence of the gofpel, he ftrongly prelTes and inculcates the doftrine oi jujlijication by faith in Jefus Chrijl : i.e. by the Evangelical in oppofi- tion to the Mofaical difpenfation. But he does not any where oppofe faith to works of righteoufnefs which are founded in Chrijl y he no where tells us that man is jufliiied by a mere folitary belief^ that an empty fpeculative faith, an affurance, a reliance and recumbence on Chrijiy that laying hold on the fkirts of his garments and wrapping ourfelves up with his righ- teoufnefs will be fufficient to place us in the number of the righteous, and qualify us for the kingdom of heaven. Alas ! this is not faith but folly, this is not hope but prefumption. Why has God made us capable of moral influences, if we are not 5 GaL V. I. fubjedl SERMON VIII. 303 fubjefl: to moral duties ? Why has he im- planted fuch an adlive principle in us, and promifed us the additional affiftance of his holy fpirit, if that principle is ufelefs, that affiftance unneceffary ? Great things in- deed are fpoken of faith ; but they are fpoken of a true Chriftian faith ; which is the caufe and fpring of Chriftian piety, which implies and includes within it the whole and entire condition of the gofpel. It is worthy of obfervation how careful St. Paul is, left we ftiould have any other notion of the faith which he fo much ex- tols. Does he tell the GoJatians that ^ in yefus Chrijl neither circiimcijion avaikth any thmg^ nor uncircumcijion^ but faith which worketh by love ? Left his meaning though clearly enough exprefied fliould notwith- ftanding be miftaken, he more fully ex- plains himfelf in a parallel paffage to the Corinthians — ' Circumcijion is nothingy and uncircumcijion is nothing ; but the keeping of the commandments of God, Is Chrijl in one *» Gal. V, 60 ' I Cor, vii. 19. place 304 SERMON VIII. place ftiled by him ^ the Saviour of all efpecially thofe that believe ? he is in another called ^ the author of eternal f ah at ion unto all them that obey him. He recommends and urges the practice of righteoufnefs by every motive that can influence a Chrif- tian. Even in the midft of that difcourfe, on which the folifidians fo much rely, he draws an argument in favour of good works from that very faith which is fet up in oppofition to them. ^ We are buried with him by bapiifm into death ; that^ as Chrijl was ra'ijed up from the dead by the glcry of the Father^ even fo we alfo Jhould ivalk in newnefs of life. As the bad lives of believers refledt dishonour upon God and his religion , fo the beft fecurity of the honour of Chriftianity is a ftridl ob- fervance of its laws : he therefore exhorts us to lliew ourfelves "" patterns of good works^ that he that is of a contrary part may be afamed^ having no evil thing to fay of us — that we may adorfi the dodfrine of God our Saviour in all things — -" that we may . ^ I Tim. iv. 10. ' Heh. v. 9. ^ Rom. vi. 4. * Tit, ii. 7, 8. 10. ® Phil, ii. 15. be SERMON VIIL 305 be blamelefs and harmlefs, the fo?is of God^ *iviihout rebuke. He prefles them from their fuitablenefs to the profeffion of Chrif- tianity, and (that powerful motive of obe- dience) the will of God. ^ Let your con- 'verfaiion be as becometh the go/pel of Chrljl. ^ Walk as the children of light (for the fruit ofthefplrit is in all goodnefs^ and righteouf nefs^ and truth) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, ' For this is the will of God even your fanclification. They are our call- ing, the great end and defign of the gofpel revelation. ' God hath not called us unto uncleannefs but unto holinefs. ' 'This is a P Phil, i. 27. q Ephef. V. 8, 9, 10. ' I Thejf. iv. 3. ^ I Theff. iv. 7. t T^it. iii. 8. Two learned men, Grotius and Dr. Ham- mondy contend that St. Paul by his exhortation to ma'mtam good nvorks means no more than that Chriflians Ihould fol- low fome honeft labour and vocation. This opinion the latter endeavours to eftabliih by remarking that the word l^ya^i^ is always ufed by the apoftle to fignify bodily la- bour ; but as e^^t^sc^ is not the term made ufe of in this pafTage ; this criticifm, however true, cannot prove what is intended by it. The apoille had in the foregoing verfcs fpoken of oar juftification by th.Q free grace and m^ercy of God in Jefus Chrijl. Left therefore this dodrine fliould be abufed, he here immediately gives a ftri6t and folemn charge to Titus to prefs the neceffity of good ivcrks upon all thofe who embrace the gofpel. The conclufion drawn by the two great men before mentioned does by no means correfpond with the premifes. Can anyone ferioufly ima- gine that St. Paul would in fo folemn a manner uflier in U a matter 3o6 SERMON VIIL faithful faying^ and thefe things I will that thou afirm cojijtantly that they^ which have believed in God, might be careful to main-- tain good works, " Our Saviour Jefus Chrifl gave hi mf elf for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himfelf a peculiar people zealous of good works. More- over, as if thefe motives u^ere not fufficient, he every where makes the praftice of mo- ral duties an abfolute condition of falvation. ^ ^he wrath of God is revealed againji all ungodlinefs and unrighteoufnefs, * Becaufe of thefe things cometh the wrath oj God upon the children of difobtdience, ^ T'he unrighteous fall not inherit the kingdom of God. "^ FoU a matter of fuch mean confequencc ; and fet forth the won- derful love of God in the great work of our redemption merely to infer from it, that men ought to be careful to employ themfelves in fome honeft trade or calling ? As to Grotius*s interpretation of x^.'huv 'i^yov tsre^'i^^ praejfe bonis cperibus — it is furely more agreeable to the context, more worthy of apoftoJical advice, and more honourable for Chriftians, that they Ihould be patterns and precedents of holinefs, the chief and foremoft, eminent and remarkable above all others in the difcharge of moral and religious duties, than that they ihould be examples of diligence and induilry, prefiding and looking over their families in the exercile of a trade however honeft and ufeful. ^ Rom. i, 18. ^ Ephef. v. 6. y I Cor. vi. 9. * Heb. xii. 14, low SERMON VIII. Z^7 low hoUnefs^ without which no ma?i Jljall fi;e the Lord. Upon the whole then St. Paul evident- ly concurs with the other apoftles in car- rying on with the greateft uniformity the caufe of evangelical righteoufnefs, to which alone our Saviour has annexed the reward of eternal happinefs. This righteoufnefs (as has, I flatter myfelf, been abundantly proved) confifts in faith in Cbrijl and obedi-^ ence to his commands. Thefe will throuah the grace of God and the fatisfadlion of Chrijl alTuredly and effedlually procure our juftification and falvation : through the grace of God \ fay, as the principal efficient caufe by which fallen man is reftored to his favour ; through the fatisfaBion of Chrijiy as the meritorious caufe for the fake of which God pardons, juftifies, and bellows eternal life upon thofe who iin- cerely perform the conditions oi faith and obedience required in the evangelical cove- nant. It ill becomes us to pry too curioufly into and dogmatically pronounce upon U 2 God's 3o8 SERMON VIIL God's fccret decrees : but it is every man's bounden duty, written in plain charafters upon the mind of every man, to obey w^ith awe and reverence his exprefs commands. Scripture cannot be at variance with itfelf. We ought therefore fo to temper the fenfc of paffages feemingly contradictory, as to rob neither of that honour and fubmiffion which is due to every part of the word of God. When therefore falvation is afcrib- ed to his^r^^ grace, we ought to conclude that our own endeavours are fuppofed to co-operate with it : when we are exhort- ed to work out our own falvation, we ought not to exclude the concurrence of his grace, by which * his Jirength is made perfeB in our weaknefs. When we are faid to be juftified through yi/V/6, we fhould un- derftand fuch a faith as is productive of good works : when we read of the glorious promifes made to good works, we mufl: con- fine them to fuch works only as fpring from a true Vivdy faith in Je/us Chrijl. ^ What therefore God hath joined together y let not tnan put afunder. Let us not fo abufe * 2 CQr, xii. 9. ^ MattJj, xix. 6. the SERMON VIII. 309 the mercy of God as to refufc him our obe- dience : let us not think fo highly of our obedience as to depreciate his mercy. Let us *^ acknowledge the truth which is after god'* linefs ; fo entirely depend upon the grace of God and the merits of our Saviour, as if our own endeavours were altogether infig- nificant and ufelefs 5 and be at the fame time fo adlive and laborious in the ways of righteoufnefs and holinefs,as if we were able by the ftrength and power of nature alone to ^ work the works of God ^ and ^ lay hold on eternal life. Finally therefore (to conclude with the words with which I began) F/- nally^ brethren^ whatfoever things are true, whatfoever things are honeji^ whatfoever things arejufj whatfoever things are pure^ nvhatfoever things are lovely, whatfoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praife, think on thefe things. « Tit. i. I. * John vi. 28. * I Tim. VI. 1 2. u A Vindication of St. Vz.\Afrom the charge of wijhing himfelf accurjed : A S E R M O PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. [ 3 3 Rom. ix. 2, 3. I have great heavinefs and continual forrow in my heart. For I could wijh that myfelf ivere accurfedfrom Chrijlfor my brethren. I 'TpHERE is fomething fo exceeding- jL ly unnatural in the wifli fuppofed to be contained in this portion of fcripture, that notwithftanding all the pains taken by learned and pious men to explain and qua- lify it, I cannot be induced to think that it ever proceeded from the great Apoftle to whom it is attributed. The very fubjed he is treating of feems to me a moft evi- a If any perfon is defirous of knowing the difFerent modes of explaining and qualifying this pafTage hitherto attempted, let him confult mtftus's DilTertation upon it in the 2d volume of his Mifcellanea Sacra. dent 4 A Vindication of St. Paul, &c. dent and abfolute demonftration to the contrary. In the preceding chapter he fets forth the glorious privileges of God's eledt ; it begins with a triumphant decla- ration that ^ there is no condemnation to them that are in Chriji Jefus, and ends in the fame exulting ilrain, with a firm perfua- fion *^ that neither death, nor lifCy nor angels ^ nor principalities y nor powers ^ nor things pre^ fenty nor things to come, nor height^ nor depth y nor any other creature, fiail be able to feparate lis from the love of God which is in Chriji fefus our Lord, Can it be ima- gined that he would in the very next i^w^ tence wifh to be cut off from that falvation on which he dwells with fuch rapturous ardency of expreffion ? Could he, who was taught Chriftianity by Chrifl himfelf, conceive that his own damnation could in any wife contribute to the glory of God or the happinefs of his brethren ? Such a fuppoiition furely is abfurd and impious : and however the words are modified into a figurative hyperbolical expreflion, denoting the fervency of his zeal and affeftion \ ^ C. viii. I. c V. 38, 39. how-^ A Vindication of St, Paul, G?r. 5 however qualified into an hypothetical or conditional enuntiation , fignifying only that were it pofiible or proper he could wijh to he accurfed from Chrijt ; they ftill feem to contain in them matter at which human nature fhudders, againll which right reafon and Christianity revolt. To refcue the Apoflle from the impu- tation of fo extravagant a declaration is my defign in the following difcourfe : in order to which I (hall endeavour to prove that his words have in reality a very different meaning ; and confirm the expofition which I fliall give of them by fhewing (from a few obfervations on the characfter of the Jews, that of St. Patil, and the do5irines here treated of) that it tends to illuftrate the whole tenour of the Apoftle's argu- ment, and the peculiar manner in which he enforces it upon the prepofTeffions and prejudices of thofe whom he addrefles. * The paflage, as it now flands, is in- * St. Paul, as his manner 15 (fays father S'tmon) expreffes himfelf in fo few words, that we mufl fupply fomething to fhew the caufe of his great forrow ; which the words that follow feem to point at. con- 6 A Vindication of St, Paul, &c. conclufive : it declares the Apoftle's great uneafinefs and forrow -, but makes no men- tion of the caufe or objed: of it. This may be remedied by uniting the two verfcs into one period, and throwing that part of it which we render I could wijh that tnyfelf were accur Jed from Chrift into a parenthefis : for then the context will be full and ex- plicit — / have great heavinefs and co7itinual forrow in my heart for, or on account of my brethren. The fentence, which I difmem- ber as it were from the reft, runs thus in the original ^\j%oijlv\v ^ cuorog tyco etvccf dvccS'if^a^ ccTTo ^ x^i^'i. The word yiv^of^nv does not feem to me to be potential, but barely to denote fomething which the Apoftle had formerly done; neither do I conceive the leaft idea of a wifh annexed to it in this place. It does undoubtedly often fignify to wiJh or pray for : ^ it moreover fignifies ticc^ elvcij vtU — «y;(iS79 ^'fl l3^«»cJ5? eWva/. Etym. Magn. The Lexicons will fupply many other inflances. The word ookHv (tems to be of a fonievvhat fimilar nature. Thus o< #6ic»»T£f l&^'/^Hv Mark X. 42. is the fame as 01 ei^^ovng Matth. XX. 25:. — and ci taTiXet? Luke xxii. 25. Thus in our i^poftle's Jirji Ep. to the Cor. vii. 40. h)y.a ToiiZfj^ ^iS e^i^etv fjgniiies / have the /pint of God. h^h Weivaj, x. 1 2. ^e that A Vindication of St. Paul, ^c. 7 to profefsy and is likewife very frequently fleonaJiicaL One fingle fentence which occurs in almoft every page of Homer will fully explain my meaning. That poet ufually obferves, upon the introdudlion of a diftinguifhed hero, that okog vrcug '^uxzro eivaj i. e. He gloried in beings or he profejfed that he wasy or fimply he was the Jon ofjupiter. St. PauV^ phrafeology is exadly the fame ; and therefore I conclude that in the fame plain, natural, and obvious fenfe of the word he here declares that he himfelf once gloried in beings he himfelf once profejfed that he waSy or fimply he himfelf once was dvclS-e- fjLo, ctVo tS x^is''i : for the words cwrhg iyoo ought undoubtedly in the conftruclion im- mediately to precede toV'^^ not Ava^^ as in our tranflation ; they feem moreover to imply that whatever was the Apoftle's ob- jed: was alfo the objed: of thofe whom he addreffes, cwTog 'iyco I myfelf likewijC as well as you. This objeft was ctvdB-if^ci, eivcq dTro t5 x^i^S ; which words, according to the ^ authorities cited by Dr. Whitby from the that ftands. o h>y.m «»«; (p<>i«y«x{^ xi. i6. he that is contentious • — «7!? hxet <5Jt!9ip«T>j5 ^vccf, xiv. 37. if any man be a prophet. ^ Orig, Chryfoji. Theod. Oec. Phot. TheophyL Greek 8 A Vindication of St. Paul, &c. Greek fathers, are of the fame import as enTiKreiv Ty}$ ^orvii to be an alien from Ckriji^ to be feparated from his love, to fall from the glory and f ah at ion pur chafed by him. The Apoftle is generally, and I think juftly, fuppofed to have the Jewifli excom- munications in view, and particularly that kind of them called ChereWy ufually ex- preffed in Greek by the word a^vclS-if^A ; in which to the deprivation of the commerce and benefits of fociety were added curfes and execrations , and the perfon up- on whom this puniftiment was inflidled ^ was utterly detefled and utterly abhorred, for he was a curfed thing. To this the Apoftle alludes, to (how the wretchednefs of his former and by implication their pre-' fent fituation. / myjelf fays he, likewife once was an ac curfed thing, a?i alien from , Chri/l, cut of fro7n his love, and excommu^ nicated from all jh are in the glory and faha- tion pur chafed by him. And to what ftate more properly, than that wlierein offen- 8 Deut. vii. 26. ders A Vindication of St. Paul,